More Journalistic Malpractice-
A Sorry State
I don’t think at any time in our history I have seen anything more depressing than the record of our media this year—a Chris Matthews offering us “tingling” in his leg in lieu of analysis, the media gush over Obama, the hysterical hatred of Palin, all following the relative silence about the success of the surge in Iraq, after four years of IEDs, Abu Ghraib, and Guantanamo as our only Iraqi front page news.
If one thinks I exaggerate, here is an example from today’s Salon from one Cintra Wilson, followed by a quote from Keith Olbermann.
Cintra Wilson
“It is unsurprising that the morally compromised fraternity of
corruption-infested Republican robber barons and war profiteers came up
with this stunt, but we must regard it in the same light as the rest of
their treasonous, criminal behavior. We must regard Sarah Palin as the
Carmella Soprano of the GOP — an enabling wife of organized crime, who
sees, hears and speaks no evil of the boys in her old-boy network for
whom she does this ideological lap dance.
It is a kind of eerie coincidence that Sarah Palin is being sprung on
the public at the same time as the bimbo/frat-boy titty comedy “House
Bunny,” which features a poster of a beautiful young lady with
Playmate-style bunny ears, big, stupid eyes and her mouth hanging open
like someone just punched her.
Sarah Palin is the White House bunny — the most nauseating novelty
confection of the evangelical mind-set since Southern “chastity balls,”
wherein teen girls pledge abstinence from premarital sex by
ceremonially faux-marrying their own fathers.
Sarah Palin is the sexual front of the culture war and the embodiment
of the bold social engineering stance of the new authoritarianism that
Republicans have been employing ever since they stole the election in
2000. As a result of conservative Republican policies, America has
proved itself to be too rife with fraud, bureaucratic constipation,
self-inflicted economic calamity, cronyism and incompetence to effect
any positive movement anywhere at all, even at home.”
Keith Olbermann on the Republican tribute to September 11.
“What we got was not a tribute to the dead of 9/11, nor even a
tribute to the responders, or the singularity of purpose we all felt.
The Republicans gave us sociological pornography, a virtual snuff film.”
More on Those Lawyers
A Crazy Op-ed from the Monterey County Herald
I usually try to reply to critics. But this campaign season, the media has become unhinged as we saw with Palin derangement syndrome. It would be a full time job to reply to all the distortions, but I will select one example as an example of today’s sad journalism.
Recently I wrote (http://victorhanson.com/articles/hanson090808.html) that the Democrats has nominated only lawyers as their Presidential and Vice Presidential nominees in every election since 1976 (Law School dropout Al Gore being the only exception), and that exclusivity was a mistake, both ensuring that their candidates wouldn’t draw on wider experiences, and instead would be reemphasizing legalese and argumentation as the apparently only requisite for government. It was not an attack on lawyers per se, but a warning that the notion that apparently only lawyers are nominated by the Democratic Party for their top posts usually ensures defeat in November.
In response, the Monterey County Herald (http://www.montereyherald.com/contact/ci_10426009) chose to write an unusual, but nevertheless intellectually dishonest and, in toto, disgraceful generic editorial about that column. I will respond in brackets after each of their paragraphs:
Now adding a hypocritical voice to the partisan attack on educated Democrats is conservative columnist and historian Victor Davis Hanson.
(Journalism 1A: present the opponent’s argument first—before resorting to the ad hominems like “hypocritical”, “partisan” and “conservative.” And note the dishonesty: the column was on lawyers in the Democratic Party, not “educated Democrats.” Not a good start, but it establishes a pattern of using their own words in lieu of direct quotations from what I wrote.)
Once known as President Bush’s favorite neocon, Hanson warned voters this week that Barack Obama graduated from Harvard Law School and Joe Biden graduated from Yale Law School, which makes them the worst kind of elites.
(It is again sad to see this sorry lack of journalistic standards. I was never “once known as Bush’s favorite neo-con.” Can the Herald please produce a quote? I did not “warn” that Joe Biden “graduated from Yale Law School” [read the column, again editors at the Monterey paper, and please use quotation marks rather than inventing something I didn’t write]), because, of course, Biden didn’t [he graduated from Syracuse Law School]. And please find the quote where I wrote the “worst kind of elites.” The word “elite” does not appear in my column. I think we used to call this “projection.”)
Hanson’s principal point is that lawyers “usually do not run companies, defend the country, lead people, build things, grow food or create capital.” His secondary point seems to be that lawyers are the opposite of “working mom Palin.” Not Palin the governor. Palin the working mom.
(Note “seems.” Of course, lawyers of the sort nominated by the Democrats do not have the different sort of background as Palin (well beyond being a mother of five), and that is why she has resonated with the public in a way differently than say, a Kerry or Biden. Note how the Herald shifts from suggesting I was attacking “educated Democrats” [I am a registered Democrat] to the narrowness of their training. So which is it?)
What the Democrats needed to win this year, Hanson offers, were “candidates who might have sounded a little rougher, a little less condescending and a little more like most voters.”
(Does the Herald have a clue why Palin is drawing such crowds? Or why in turn newspapers are hysterical about her appointment? A moose-hunting Alaskan governor, mom of five, former small-town mayor really offers something different from the usual law school nominee. That is an empirical fact).
Though he is also bright, like Rush Limbaugh with a bigger vocabulary, Hanson seems to have forgotten that running a country requires more than image.
(Note the condescension. I was waiting for Rush Limbaugh to appear, and behold he did. This is one of the craziest, most incoherent editorials I have ever read, since I wrote the problem is not just image, but the fact that lawyers really do not usually “run companies, defend the country, lead people, build things, grow food or create capital”—but that such diverse experience is invaluable in government.)
Building his own, Hanson has always been quick to mention that he lives on a family farm and not nearly as quick to let on that his mother was an appellate court justice (a lawyer!) and that he received his doctorate from Stanford.
(I don’t think I have mentioned in print that I have a doctorate from Stanford. Please list where I wrote that. “And not nearly as quick to let on that his mother was an appellate court justice (a lawyer!)” In fact, I mentioned that very fact this week on a column on Palin and the old-style feminism! But these sad folks lack the ability apparently to reason: for the nth time, the problem is not lawyers, but the apparent inability of the Democratic Party to nominate anyone but lawyers these last few elections.)
So here we have a highly educated darling of the right, a tireless critic of affirmative action, championing a candidate because of her gender and relative lack of education.
(More ad hominem: “darling of the right.” At this point, one wonders whether the Monterey Herald is serious or writing caricature? So once again, I am not championing Palin because “of her gender and relative lack of education,” but because as a mayor, governor, mother of five, journalist, hunter, fisherwoman, and experienced in the frontier life of Alaska she brings pragmatic and executive experience that we don’t see with the usual law school / to Congress / to run for President. And more strangely still, the Herald gives the game away when they sneer that Palin has a “relative lack of education.” In fact, she has a BA from the University of Idaho—unless that does not constitute education in the Herald’s eyes.)
Apparently the only thing that would make her more qualified, in the eyes of Hanson and the other spinners, would have been for her to flunk some of her journalism and poli-sci classes.
(Here again in lieu of what I wrote, we get the hypothetical “would make her” and “other spinners.” I have been a tireless proponent of the need for education, especially classical education. But just as important, as I wrote in Who Killed Homer? Fields Without Dreams, and Letters From an American Farmer, is pragmatic education to balance abstraction and ground formal scholarly training. That’s why I like Palin. Again, the editors of the Herald only reveal their own values when they think advocating experience with the physical world constitutes flunking journalism and poli-sci classes.)
Not Going Quietly into the Night?
These are confusing times. Print journalism is dying. The wild arena of the Internet is a no-holds-barred slugfest. The media, like the university, has coronated itself as protector of the liberal faith, ever vigilant to smear the supposed yokel who might believe in God, not favor abortion, admire the military, or wish low taxes and less government. That said, what drives the angst is the liberal fear that the majority does not share the views of the annoited, and that barring some unusual variable (Watergate, a Ross Perot candidacy, etc.) a liberal simply doesn’t get elected President anymore. (And never a northern liberal at that).
So we all supposedly suffer from the Kansas Syndrome, in which as helpless dimwits, corporate America and themilitary feast off our flesh, while the brave Ivy League Professor, Foundation President, Senior liberal Senator, community organizer, Newsweek or Time editor, or Hollywood icon bravely calls out in the wilderness to us to wake up and yet is tragically shunned and suffers accordingly on our behalf.
So melodramatic these…(but vicious nonetheless)
Perhaps if the media did go quietly into that good night, we’d mourn it’s passing. The one aspect of the print media I’d miss most is browsing the morning paper over a cup of coffee and reading “Crankshaft” or “Judge Parker!”
One the other hand, the web is a wild place, with monsters lurking in the deep. So, we’ll still have those strange and misguided creatures trying to prey upon our souls though their hate filled words.
My question is whether it’s better to ignore the media’s rages of hate or to address it full on? Is the answer that “it depends?”
When I was at the Army Language School three and a half decades ago, the Monterey Peninsula Herald was a decent newspaper. But by the 1990s it was a rag and remains so today.
Visiting friends in that area, I wrote a brief letter to the editor criticizing their stand on gun control. That letter was returned to my home address in San Mateo County with a curt note saying that out-of-area submissions were not eligible for publications in Montrerrey County.
Of course letters supporting their stand from Colorado, New York, Japan, England, etc etc
were evidently considered “local” as a whole lot of them got published.
The only reason such publications remain in business is that (a) advertisers give them revenue out of habit and (b) technology has lowered their operating costs.
It will take quite some time for them to go broke. In the meantime they live in a fantasy world, imagining they are actually influencing public opinion. N-O-T
Amen!
We need a new media, one that will present the facts and issues as completely as they reasonably can and one that won’t favor anyone. Today’s MSM fails at this miserably and our society is paying a dear price for this. The sooner the MSM goes under and is replaced by something else that isn’t partisan or dishonest like today’s MSM, the better.
In the meantime, I will continue to be amused by how much the MSM harms the people they shill for. At least there is that silver lining in this otherwise very dark cloud to laugh at.
Well, like lawyers, newspaper columnists “usually do not run companies, defend the country, lead people, build things, grow food or create capital” either. In fact, to a degree, they are lay versions of lawyers, using crafted arguments to sway an audience, only without the rigor generally required in a courtroom. Some can be very good and provide useful insight but, also like lawyers, it really seems we have too many of them on the books right now.
Then again, the market is saying we have too many Newspapers as well. And organs like the Montery County Herald are busy proving the market right. Perhaps if they tought Reading Comprehension at those J-schools, newspapers might be in better shape.
Another masterpiece Doc,
Yes, one has to wonder about the media. Have they completely lost it? Cintra’s Wilson’s remarks are something you’d expect to find on some kooky blog rather that in a magazine.
Curious, how Iraq is rarely mentioned anymore. Two of my sons fought in Iraq as paratroopers and did multiple deployments. The stuff they’d report home was quite a bit different than what was appearing on the front pages of most newspapers. It was also discouraging to come home and get lectured by their peers who had superior insights about the war thanks to their college professors. In fact, some friends who used to be friends are no longer friends. The disconnect is just too great.
I have seen nothing yet about Sarah Palin’s son deploying for Iraq yesterday. I would think that if it were Obama’s or Biden’s offspring that we’d have non-stop coverage. I have to give the “pig-lap dancer” credit for keeping the farewell a private affair.
Having sent two kids off to war, more than a few times, I know how this poor woman must feel. Every time you hear about a GI getting killed, you wonder if you’ll be getting a visit from some army people to give you some bad news. How she can run for VP and deal with all that is sign of her strength.
How sad that you have to waste your valuable time refuting some cretin’s editorial. I hope you supplied the Monterey Herald with your rebuttal. Doubt that they will print it however.
I watched that 9/11 tribute video clip and couldn’t understand why so many people claimed offense and insult. Maybe liberals are angry that the republican party would use that as a tool to remind people why we are in Iraq and Afghanistan, something they have been opposed to for a long time. And remain in disbelief about.
With regards to the media, I can’t stand watching any outlets. CNN and MSNBC are obviously biased outlets, but Fox News is heavy-handed bias with a flavor of idiocy in their manner of reporting. It is funny how many liberals I talk with hate Fox News with an animal passion… as if things were personal. FactCheck.org is a breath of fresh air, in the meantime.
I notice VDH is quiet on the lipstick ‘controversy’. I don’t think Obama’s comment was directed at Palin, because he isn’t as well spoken as most claim. Even during that joke he hesitated as if searching for words. The sniggering in the audience, however, seems to imply that they took the joke a different way. In reality, only Obama knows if he actually directed it at Palin or not. It is hard to believe, however, that someone would be so stupid as to intentionally make a comment like that and then later claim, “let’s rise above these petty attacks” by denouncing the McCain Campaign’s crying foul.
I even read an article by some professor who claimed that Obama’s campaign will suffer overall during all these attack ads by McCain’s campaign; while Obama is trying to create a new standard in noble, honorable political discussion the McCain camp just wants to throw attacks at him. Doesn’t he know the Obama campaign is doing the same exact thing, twisting words and portraying McCain’s policies in a negative light?
I wonder what this country will do when their savior isn’t elected this November. I imagine the hysteria will reach a fevered intensity.
Could this be the triumph of The Narrative over reality? And if so, what part have our media and our educators played?
In the first regular season episode of Babylon Five, the lead character repeats advice given by his father: “Forget the propaganda. Concentrate on what you see.” The advice is good. But the advice is also deceptive.
Anyone who had tried to learn to draw has discovered that our mind plays tricks on us. When we try to think of how a think looks in order to draw it, we find ourselves drawing the picture we’ve made in our heads, not what our eyes see. To learn to draw is to learn to see again, to see with your eyes and not your mind.
It’s ironic that the artists and the artsy types are mostly on the Left; they should understand better than anyone how our preconceptions deceive us and how we need to keep pulling ourselves back to the facts before us. But then, the academics among them have made a specialty of inventing systems of preconception (a word not unlike “prejudice”) with everything seen through a funhouse mirror of Gender Studies, Queer Studies, Vandalism Studies, Gang-banga Studies, Spoiled Brat studies, and I’m-Mad-as-Hell-and-I-Want-an-Excuse-For-It studies that are constantly reworked to increase the distortion, until the only thing that is unreal is reality itself.
The left will never understand those of us that live in middle America. They simply cannot believe that we share none of their beliefs, their ideas, or their agenda. As such they look down upon us as dumb yokels living our lives in extreme ignorance. Their condescending disire to rescue us from ourselves does not resonate with most Americans.
Well Doc, I see we have another good thread of comments going here.
I read Krauthammer’s and Noonan’s columns today. Charles seems to think that Palin is a balloon due to come down at some point. Noonan thinks Palin is bullet proof because people like her so much. But Peggy also can’t seem to bring hereself to say anything good about her either.
I think the pundits on the Right are just as out of touch with the real America as the Left is. In a different way perhaps, but still clueless. As poster, Richard pointed out, the elites will continue to look down on us Walmart shoppers as dumb yokels.
A minor point/question for Dr Hanson. Do you really think the current media (I use the term broadly) is worse than the rabid press of the revolutionary war, the articles and the subsequent Washington, Adams and Jefferson administrations? Today’s media may be striving for that level, but its predecessor set a standard for loathsomeness that is difficult to equal, much less exceed.
Who reads newspapers these days on a regular basis? I like the “frontier” reality of the internet, much like the old western saloon where the cowboy rides in, gets a drink, and wanders about the tables listening to what is going on in town.
Wonder why Sarah Palin is on the ticket? Did you notice ‘ole Gibson’s glasses as he asked her questions in that demeaning manner? Just when was the last time I even watched an ABC news presentation: Harry Reasoner has been dead for years!
My university professor pal teaches English. He’s told me that his freshmen students write like 9th grade high school pupils. Makes him sad, makes me worry!
What could tracking a moose in the wilds of Alaska teach anyone about foreign policy? Maybe someone should get to the moose before the bullet or arrow flies and ask it a few questions.
Would Captain Kirk like Alaska as a final frontier, or would he be so dismissive as our media seems to be? Pamela Anderson has some advice for Ms. Palin, but she already put out her movie with the ex. Pride comes before the fall, right?
As to farmers: Aren’t they really gamblers working full time?
See ya in the internet saloon!
Victor I admire your inate tenacity. You and Sarah have similar traits obviously. Are you sure you have not actually lived and survived in Alaska? Keep up the battle sir. Wars are won by one battle at a time as you know better than anyone. Defeat is unacceptable for the good people of our society. Thank you for your strapping on of the armor, as you defend us mere mortals that are all backing you. God Speed my friend.
you guys wanna put mcpalin in charge of the whole vast sinking ship? that’s insane! it’s beyond farce! who would think such a crazy idea would gain any traction at all?
It takes guts to stand up in public and challenge the dominant liberal bent in the press.
Thanks for having the courage (and patience) to fight the fight that many of us are afraid to.
Best,
Nick B
NYC
If Obama is elected, what work will there be for the press and media? It won’t do to mock or attack him all the time. Expect there to be layoffs in journalism. Those who remain will just turn to ridiculing anyone who disagrees with Obama. However, if Obama crosses the press, as with Clinton, they will remind him that they made him (not history) and there will be covers like TIME’s “The Incredible Shrinking President.”
I disagree with most of your arguments, but I’ve gotta agree that you’ve shown us shoddy journalism that misrepresents your words, and grossly so. I appreciate your efforts to appeal to knowledgeable and competent readers. That makes you a rare journalist on any side of the political spectrum. Comparing you to Rush was unfair.
Nevertheless, it’s the sensationalist rant rather than a liberal bent that undermines the formerly democratic potential of the fourth estate. Rush comes up in these stories because he is an icon of the growing tendency to pander to the lowest common denominator in American politics and journalism. At the same time, there are still plenty of news organizations in print, on the internet, and from time to time on the television that actually investigate and report on such lies and distortions as Obama’s deliberate misrepresentation of McCain’s votes on education and McCain’s outrageous lies about lipstick.
Dear Dr. Hanson
The left and sympathising left media seem to have lost touch with reality. As Richard notes, those of us in ‘fly-over’ country are looked upon as irritations to their agenda. It causes fear as they seem to becoming more socialist and Stalinistic all the time.
The question is what retribution will the left seek to punish us with for having Bush during the last eight years if it is a full Democrat sweep of the House, the Senate and the White House guided by the unregulated likes of Soros and the irrational left? They complain when there are lobbyists talking to the right, but there are no checks and balances for controlling the influences of the Soros and irrational leftists.
Mentioning the name of the writer would have been too great a complement.
VDH is a great American.
Hey Doc,
I live in Europe and didn’t get to see the ABC interview with Gov. Palin. From what I am reading on various blogs, Gibson really beat her up and gave her a tough grilling on foreign policy.
There’s something I am missing in all this. When Bill Clinton ran for president he had been the governor of Arkansas. That’s ain’t California, New York or even Texas….it’s Arkansas.
How much foreign policy experience did Slick Willy have before coming president? Why wasn’t he grilled under the hot lights by the likes of Gibson? According to the Dems, Clinton was our greatest president. I guess coming from an “obscure” state with zero foreign policy experience was no cause for concern back then. So why is everybody picking on Palin?
I think Obama’s lipstick remark was a result of his being too clever by half. His audience got the point. The way he framed the comment gave him cover, but there was no doubt that it got the response he was looking for from the audience. Then, right by the numbers, he could respond in that he was shocked, shocked that anyone could even think that he was referring to “the pit bull.” Balderdash!
One of your most accurate and insightful posts, and that is quite an accomplishment considering how good are your others.
VDH,
“But these sad folks lack the ability apparently to reason…”
Personally, I think editorialists like this actually have retained their ability to reason. Their diatribe only sounds illogical to you, because it’s patently untrue. You don’t have to do a lot of deconstructing to see that this is a smear job meant to be consumed by uncritical readers who seek only reaffirmation of their pre-existing and unreasonable views. A factual error in an OP/ED, such as their mistake on Biden’s law school (attributed to you, no less) would normally undermine the writer’s whole argument. Not any more. None of their readers will bother to check, none probably read your article and none will read your rebuttal. The editorialist knows this, and thus the smear works. It’s all perfectly reasonable, you see. Except for the fact we used to expect more from people who put their opinions in writing.
JB:
The people in the “media” of the founding period never attempted to present themselves as objective or nonpartisan as our modern media members do. Newspapers then were usually party organs themselves, and often much of what was in them was straight from the candidate or his camp under a pseudonym. If the MSM would stand up today and say, “Yes, we are a liberal organ of society dedicated most often to electing the Democratic candidate,” it would be a refreshing bit of truth and at least everyone would know. As it is, they are wildly hypocritical with their claim they are objective and bring us both sides or something. The frenzied media of the time you cite, though, never presented itself as some independent observer–it came out for the side it advocated and did so with venom and passion.
Perhaps a link exists between teaching of the emotional and subjective (rather than the rational and objective) and the media’s inability to observe, report, and interpret the reality that confronts them?
James,
I would agree it’s the media’s “sensationalist rant”, not the liberal slant, that’s the problem. I’ve read the NYT for years and can usually recognize the bias. But I can’t stand the cable news shows. Long on opinion and short on objective reporting, interspersed with commercial breaks. Simply mind numbing.
Political news is selling well this election, despite the loss of creditability on the part of the MSM. Expect that they will want to continue making money off the polarized electorate. Regardless of who wins in Nov, this country will remain divided, and in fact the gap is likely to widen. So don’t expect the fourth estate to find that democratic potential any time soon.
For creditability read credibility. TGIF.
Journalists were frustrated for life when they failed the LSAT and couldn’t even get jobs as lawyers.
Rush:
A. He is primarily an entertainer and damn good at it.
B. He understands the power of the media and has become rich thereby.
C. Rush controls his product with an iron fist. There is little about his program that is truly spontaneous.
D. His schtick is getting old and transparent to anyone who is media savvy including conservative listeners.
E. Rush is still the master. He is eloquent when defending conservative priniciples. His political instincts are unmatched. He could make Ayn Rand blush with his brutal brand of conservatism. You can hate him or love him, but only a fool would do anything less than respect him.
Hey Doc,
You are never gonna believe this. Now the AP is reporting a statement made by Obama mocking McCain because he can’t send an e-mail. Of course the AP doesn’t point out that McCain can’t send an e-mail because his war injuries prevent him from typing, combing his hair and tying his shoes. All of this can be found on Lucianne.com
This has to be more ghastly than the lipstick wisecrack. I’d love to see the Messiah try to land a jet on a carrier deck.
Lipstick on a pig, indeed. Miss Piggy’s outraged response will be awesome!
Only Old West Notes defends Gibson. Heh!
“The plan represents an 11th-hour effort by the Bush administration to hammer al-Qaida before the November election, two government officials told NPR.”
Quote from an NPR article today on the recent Special Ops attack inside Pakistan. Of course the “two government officials” are not named and we can only guess as to their motivation for speaking to the press. Later in the article the insinuation that Bush is trying to sway the election with a coup (i.e.,bin Laden’s scalp) is made more explicit by one of these sources: “Why wasn’t this done a year ago?”
I don’t know. Could it possibly have something to do with the recent change in the Pakistani government, for example? Maybe new intelligence? Maybe to counter the Taliban offensive?
Or maybe bin Laden has been dead for 6 months, and Bush was saving the story to influence the election, so now he needs a bit of cover to make the sale to the American people?
Realistically, who knows at this point. But a news organization shouldn’t be floating such insinuations based on unsourced reports. That might also sway public opinion this election, before the facts are known.
And, rest assured, if Obama were to take office in January and launch the same attacks in April, no one in the MSM would question his motivation. Proving his mettle by risking other men’s lives in an attempt to nail OBL would never occur to anyone. Right?
Who would have thought that such enlightened humanists as Wilson and Olberman would be capable of such distorted, hate-filled reasoning?
As for the Monterey County piece, it’s funny because the author is so self-righteous, but incapable of even basic fact-checking, analysis and argumentation… I’ve reached the conclusion that 1) stupid people generally aren’t aware that they are stupid, and 2) their ideological masters will egg them on by assuring them that they actually have something usefull to say. I believe Stalin called these types “usefull idiots”.
The week long hysteria by the MSM preceding Gov. Palin’s speech at the RNC turned out to be the best possible advertisement she could have received: those suspicious of the media were predisposed to watch out of sympathy; those buying into the terrible mom meme were intrigued enough to want to see for themselves what the Blair Witch looked like. The result was that 40 million people got a first hand look at her and were able to listen to her message unfiltered by pundits.
The last time I felt this elated was when bloggers in their pajamas cut Dan Rather down to size four years ago.
I have no issue with left-leaning pundits or celebraties if they would only exhibit a little class. For some reason I am kind of missing Tim Russert right now and wondering how he would have handled this election cycle.
Man I used to watch Chris Matthews’ HARDBALL, back in the day. He was a HUGE CHEERLEADER FOR THE IRAQ INVASION!!! (That’s why I liked his show) He was so down for the war, so blood-thirsty, he should’ve done with show with white plastic fangs and a cape.
I remember Joe Biden was his favorite guest AND BIDEN WAS EQUALLY BLOOD-THIRSTY! Both these guys wanted Saddam’s head on a platter!
I wonder if MSNBC saved that tape…
I think you’re wrong, professor, on the claim that all Democratic nominees since 1976 have been lawyers. Jimmy Carter, Democratic nominee for President in 1976 and 1980 was an engineer, former submarine commander and peanut farmer, but not – to the best of my knowledge – a lawyer.
Oh yes the condescension of the media, hollywood, the left has been in overdrive this electoral cycle. Obama sums up all of their pretenses. I think that is why my Dad loathed the man from the get go. Why is it assumed that we all need saving? I’m sure I’ve read a Sowell essay about it but geez louise “the bad disney movie” will be our next VP. And shady editing of interviews will not stop the Republican ticket.
Unedited Charlie Gibson Palin Interview (edits in bold)
http://marklevinshow.com/gibson-interview/
The only thing more disgraceful than the media treatment of Governor Palin was the treatment of Justice Thomas during his confirmation hearings (with Joe Biden as a lead attack dog). Clearly, racism, religious bigotry, and sexism are alive and well on the Left. What a surprise.
Hi Doc,
I live in Europe so I am not able to get a copy of the New York Times Sunday edition (a blessing, actually). But, I hear that the front page today is a full frontal assault on Palin.
I really don’t have a problem with newspapers stating their own opinions. After all, it’s their newspaper. But, I think when the Times and other publications present themselves as impartial gatherers of the news that’s when the pubic reacts so negatively.
Where are the investigative reports about Obama’s years in Chicago? How about some inquiries into Biden’s expense accounts? Better that the Times and the Washington Post drop the facade and retitle themselves the Democratic New York Times and the Washington Post Democrat.
I suspect if it wasn’t for the subscriptions of public libraries, airlines, etc. These rags would have already gone under. Oh, probably some folks still purchase these papers for the sports, theatre, and coupons.
There’s enough news available on the internet now. Perhaps we’ll decide this year that we’ve had enough and vote the Times and the Post out of business. I’d love to see ABC, NBC, and CBS become 24 hour shopping channels.
The media now reminds me of Bernie Ward’s radio rants…
I am surprised that you are a registered Democrat. Do you tend to vote democratic locally? Have you written a column or paper discussing your voter registration in light of your generally conservative viewpoints? As for myself, I am registered as an “unaffiliated” voter in NC and tend to vote Republican so I understand the value of not belonging to a party as such, but I wonder that you are registered as a Democrat given your thoughts on the party in general.
As a longtime reader of VDH’s columns, and as someone who owns several of his books, I cannot begin to express how depressing it is to see that he has drank the Palin Kool-Aid.
In what universe is this woman qualified to be President, should something happen to the 72 year old cancer survivor whose shoes she would fill? Is you antipathy to Obama and collegiate liberals so intense that it has blinded you?
I believe, perhaps wrongly, that a President Obama would be willing to listen to Dr. Hanson’s thoughts on foreign affairs and the agricultural crisis in this country. He may not agree and take every action he would like, but I do believe he at least has the intellectual honesty and courage to hold two opposing ideas in his head before he makes a sound judgement. Palin, like Bush, seems totally incapable of anything resembling intellectual curiosity. Do we really need 4 more years of that? Can the blame for our current crises really be blamed entirely on the “liberal media,” multi-culturalism and effete elites who don’t know what have never experienced “muscular labor” or shot a moose?
There is nothing vicious or sexist in determining that Palin is a serial liar and a unqualified hypocrite when the facts clearly demonstrate that to be true. Just because some East Coast-based journalists, who went to schools you don’t like or live in cities you despise, made these discoveries doesn’t make it untrue. Media-bashing is yokelism, and it’s about time that people as smart as VDH admit it.