Saturday, April 19, 2008
The Witch Hunt over BitterGate
Jay Rosen's been killing my comments, so I'm posting this comment here so he can't censor me.
I'm just surprised at how this is being played out among liberal (that is, media) circles.
Huffington Post and Fowler did everything exactly right (except maybe wait a little too long to publish.) Fowler's news judgement was dead on. Fowler broke the rules? What rules? The fact that anyone among Obama's sympathizers (not his campaign, which was smart enough not to wade into this thicket) thinks that a citizen is subject to "rules" about what they may or may not blog on simply demonstrates the left's unerring instinct for fascism. And so Fowler is subjected to the withering howling of the lefties of the left - a series of rhetorical attacks so vicious that Marc Cooper calls it a gang rape of the reporter who broke the story.
I think Jay and Fowler are spot on.
These issues of character and outlook are huge issues - and in a race between "Left and Lefter," those issues of temperament and outlook are fundamental differentiators between the two candidates.
And yes, pluk, they are at least as relevant as the decades old Bush-National Guard issue you and Mary Mapes have been hunting like a white whale for years.
It's not just the rabble-rousers soiling themselves, though. Journos In The Tank for Obama (JITTO, who's members I'll refer to as "jittoheads") have also taken a swan dive into the dung heap with this hysterical Open Letter to ABC.
Yes, journos are more than willing to eat their own young when any of them depart from Obamadorthoxy. So now who's practicing rollback, Jay?
Contrary to the opinions of the reliable idiots of the coastal media centers, reporting on Obama's ties to Ayers and his words concerning the supposedly embitterered rural voters that inhabit the downslope of BO's nose does not constitute 'tabloid journalism,' as the libtard signatories of the open letter claim. And Fowler and Huffpo were not practicing tabloid journalism in bringing those words to the public eye.
Both stories, but particularly Fowler's, speak directly to Obama's electability - which if I were a Democratic primary voter, I'd definitely want to explore, lest we make a mistake of electing another Kerry.
BO's words have a significant bearing on his prospects for winning Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico, and Michigan in a general election. John McCain will not make Obama's rookie political mistakes.
Similarly (though tangentally), Hillary's bald-faced, shameless lying about the Tuzla sniper fire speaks directly to her credibility as commander in chief. I wrote when CBS broke the story that I considered her words to be a slap in the face to everyone who had REALLY dodged sniper fire and IEDs in the service of this country (not to mention the people of Bosnia), and I thought it was an absolutely legitimate story, and certainly a better use of time than blowing 10 minutes on the minute distinctions between one universal health care plan and the other (when both variations will have to be compromised to pass the Senate, anyway).
ABC got it right. Huffpo got it right. And even though Obama screwed up, the campaign got it right when they acknowledged that everything at the fundraiser was 'on the record.'
What's more, Jay got it right. Credit where due.
The shameful attacks on Fowler are inexcuseable, while the hysterics of the Nation/Mother Jones/In These Times/Alternet axis of aggrievement are comedic gold.
I'm just surprised at how this is being played out among liberal (that is, media) circles.
Huffington Post and Fowler did everything exactly right (except maybe wait a little too long to publish.) Fowler's news judgement was dead on. Fowler broke the rules? What rules? The fact that anyone among Obama's sympathizers (not his campaign, which was smart enough not to wade into this thicket) thinks that a citizen is subject to "rules" about what they may or may not blog on simply demonstrates the left's unerring instinct for fascism. And so Fowler is subjected to the withering howling of the lefties of the left - a series of rhetorical attacks so vicious that Marc Cooper calls it a gang rape of the reporter who broke the story.
I think Jay and Fowler are spot on.
These issues of character and outlook are huge issues - and in a race between "Left and Lefter," those issues of temperament and outlook are fundamental differentiators between the two candidates.
And yes, pluk, they are at least as relevant as the decades old Bush-National Guard issue you and Mary Mapes have been hunting like a white whale for years.
It's not just the rabble-rousers soiling themselves, though. Journos In The Tank for Obama (JITTO, who's members I'll refer to as "jittoheads") have also taken a swan dive into the dung heap with this hysterical Open Letter to ABC.
Yes, journos are more than willing to eat their own young when any of them depart from Obamadorthoxy. So now who's practicing rollback, Jay?
Contrary to the opinions of the reliable idiots of the coastal media centers, reporting on Obama's ties to Ayers and his words concerning the supposedly embitterered rural voters that inhabit the downslope of BO's nose does not constitute 'tabloid journalism,' as the libtard signatories of the open letter claim. And Fowler and Huffpo were not practicing tabloid journalism in bringing those words to the public eye.
Both stories, but particularly Fowler's, speak directly to Obama's electability - which if I were a Democratic primary voter, I'd definitely want to explore, lest we make a mistake of electing another Kerry.
BO's words have a significant bearing on his prospects for winning Ohio, West Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Mexico, and Michigan in a general election. John McCain will not make Obama's rookie political mistakes.
Similarly (though tangentally), Hillary's bald-faced, shameless lying about the Tuzla sniper fire speaks directly to her credibility as commander in chief. I wrote when CBS broke the story that I considered her words to be a slap in the face to everyone who had REALLY dodged sniper fire and IEDs in the service of this country (not to mention the people of Bosnia), and I thought it was an absolutely legitimate story, and certainly a better use of time than blowing 10 minutes on the minute distinctions between one universal health care plan and the other (when both variations will have to be compromised to pass the Senate, anyway).
ABC got it right. Huffpo got it right. And even though Obama screwed up, the campaign got it right when they acknowledged that everything at the fundraiser was 'on the record.'
What's more, Jay got it right. Credit where due.
The shameful attacks on Fowler are inexcuseable, while the hysterics of the Nation/Mother Jones/In These Times/Alternet axis of aggrievement are comedic gold.
Comments:
As an Illinois resident, I am painfully aware of Obama's shortcomings. What amazes me is the lack of digging into his connection with Illinois/Chicago politics. As you may know, Chicago politics is (ah,how do I say this politely) not too clean. Check out the Tony Rezko political corruption trial in Chicago Fed Court...Rezko is/was a major financial force behind Obama (bribe masked as favorable real estate deal for Obama, numerous fundraisers, other questionable deals). In Chicago this stuff doesn't raise eyebrows, but I figure the rest of the US would think that Barrak's in the bag. Funny how this hasn't made it into the national mainstream media. BTW don't take my word on this, do some research in the Chicago Sun Times, and Chicago Tribune, over the last year (trial is ongoing).
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