Letters to the Editor
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Always looks bad
If Obama says anything, he is obviously lying. If he refuses to say anything, he is obviously covering something up, because otherwise he would say something. Circular logic.
That is how it works.
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This is not really true..
Substance-free scandal is the only kind that attracts the intense attention of the media hordes.
Monica Lewinsky comes to mind immediately.
That scandal wasn't really substance free since Clinton did indeed engage in a sexual act with the woman.
Was it important to the affairs of the nation? Absolutely not.
But it wasn't substance free.
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Aycharaych
Was it important to the affairs of the nation? Absolutely not.
But it wasn't substance free.
I'm not sure how you're defining "substance," but since things that -- by your own reckoning -- have no importance whatsoever to the nation are somehow included in your definition, we're obviously using different definitions of the term.
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Looking bad....
they aren't illegal they "look bad"
This is, of course the same atmosphere that allows Drudge to continue to operate with impunity. As long as "appearances" themselves can become the story, then the self-perpetuating self-referencing cycle can continue.
Perhaps instead of referring to "the Rezko game" we should instead refer to the "Innuendo circle-jerk"
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Three bad choices and the media gives a free pass on scandal.
Why? Because they are all corrupt and crooks?
That is a given in american politics - it is organized crime and enjoys immunity as long as we occasionally toss a token patsy in the slammer. The war in Iraq makes traditional organized crime look like a kid steal candy from a 7-11.
If you want to find out about scandal in us politics, you have to rely on the foreign press because the american press is just a mouthpiece for the crooks.
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Three bad choices and the media gives a free pass on scandal.
Why? Because they are all corrupt and crooks?
That is a given in american politics - it is organized crime and enjoys immunity as long as we occasionally toss a token patsy in the slammer. The war in Iraq makes traditional organized crime look like a kid stealing candy from a 7-11.
If you want to find out about scandal in us politics, you have to rely on the foreign press because the american press is just a mouthpiece for the crooks.
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Where does the double standard come from?
The thing I don't get is that there have been plenty of scandals around the Bush administration - like the Plame incident - that cause eyes to glaze over. Republican war hawks have always been given a pass on the "draft-dodger" charges that Bill Clinton was hit with for years. Republican sex scandals - and there are many - have gone nowhere. Republican bribery scandals have not brought down the top of the pyramid. WHY? Is it that Democrats are too lawyerly and actually try to use real evidence to actually do something about these things, rather than just plant innuendo? Or is it that everyone knows Republicans are cynical, amoral and soulless and therefore expects this behavior from them, so it's all just Dog Bites Man?
I have never understood this.
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Finally.
Thanks Glenn for writing this.
I have been waiting for weeks for a major news outlet to break down the Rezko accusations and Obama's complete non-involvement. I'm still waiting. It has been so frustrating to see that the mainstream press has felt compelled to mention Rezko in every article now written about Obama. While none of them have presented a balanced and fair presentation of the facts in this case. Doesn't this seem to refute Hillary's claims that the media has been in Obama's pocket?
What has been even more disheartening is the way that Hillary's supporters are also gleefully throwing his name around. I find it ironic that with all of the attacks that the Clintons endured and all of their guilty by association accusations from that same vast right wing conspiracy, there hasn't been more calls from the Clintons to lay off Rezko until there is some verifiable evidence of wrong doing.
At least I can use your post as a reference whenever I continue to argue that this is nothing more than a classic right-wing smear.
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Vince Foster! Vince Foster! Vince Foster!
A guy I know is still beating the "Hillary killed Vince Foster" horse, and this is an otherwise intelligent, successful businessman - and he doesn't bring it up as a cynical distractions ... he really believes it. So the problem isn't just with the press but with the people who, for some reason, are willing and able to compartmentalize their critical-thinking abilities.
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Deceitful yes, worthless no
Perhaps just a semantic quibble, but to those at the Fountainhead of this bile, the mindless (or mendacious) press has great value.
The state of politics since 1994 makes me think often of the Fountainhead (the book). Ellsworth Toohey, the powerful and corrupt architecture critic finally reveals his core motivation: Power is not confirmed by celebrating greatness, but by ability to elevate mediocrity. My only question is whether the press is Ellsworth Toohey, or just his minions. Minions, mostly, I think.
JG
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Thanks, Glenn
Thanks, Glenn, this is an excellent article that confirms what I had kind of thought, but been too lazy to actually go into.
This ties in very well with your previous articles about the press schmoozing with politicians.
From the point of view of an average retail consumer of new, i.e. me, the problem is not that reporters are star-struck, though that is certainly part of the problem, but just that far too often they seem to lack intellectual curiosity and/or the ability to ask the right questions.
If I was a reporter, which thank the Lord I'm not, sir, the FIRST question I would be wanting to ask is "What did Obama do wrong and how does this affect his ability to be head of state of the United States?"
One gets the impression that many successuful journalists in the US, having succeeded in climbing aboard the gravy train, are determined not to fall off, and so this makes them most unwilling to pull the communication cord, no matter what is going on.
Contrast for example this video clip where "Paxo" interviews Tony Blair just before the Iraq war.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JiKqd_grBsM&feature=related