Letters to the Editor
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A gullible press
This is a very interesting article about the fawning and idolatry of the press corp. The process discussed is alive and well in this campaign.
However, I'm looking at the phenomenon from an angle which Greenwald hardly intended. I think possibly the same tactics employed by Rove have been successfully used to destroy the candidacy of Hillary by Obama's campaign. Obviously Obama has many outstanding qualities which have attracted devotees from across the culture, but his campaign has used some calculated smears that I consider to be exaggerated claims about Bill Clinton, namely that he was race baiting. Even before I decided to embrace Hillary's candidacy, I was outraged at the notion that Bill Clinton had consciously and maliciously intended to relegate Obama to the status of the black candidate. He was answering a question posed to him by a reporter about Obama's So. Carolina win and from that encounter all kinds of sinister motives were read into it by an eager press corp dying for salacious and sensational news. The fact that the media picked up on it, spread it, furthered the notion of it, and spitefully used it to tar Bill Clinton with a racist brand was the principal design of the Obama campaign and the press fell for it hook, line, and sinker. This is what I think and I am furious that this line of attack was used. Perhaps the campaign was paranoid enough to believe the accusation but they were also responsible for using the media in a very calculated fashion. It has divided the Democratic Party and possibly imperiled a Democratic victory in November.
Campaigns can get bitter, yes, and Hillary's has done some things I wish it hadn't. On the other hand, there is enough blame to be spread around to all quarters...the media, the campaigns, and the candidates themselves. I guess I am angriest at the media because they have used their power to try to maneuver the outcome of this election. Their motive...plain old sexism, laziness, lack of willingness to be guided by ethical and substantive journalism which demands objectivity, and last, but not least, hubris!