Great Moments in Gaslighting

In “Elizabeth Lauten and the Week the Media Broke,” Dave Weigel writes at Bloomberg.com:

This is just the latest and most ridiculous example of the media judging what was and wasn’t worth covering, and putting the “crazy right-winger” story atop the “yes” pile. Lauten had a teenage arrest reported on by The Smoking Gun, and a Washington Post reporter digging through her (not terribly revealing) college newspaper columns to explain where she came from. School shooters might expect their college writings to be plumbed for insights. But Hill staffers?

Media malpractice like this has consequences. Lauten might have lost her job anyway; staffers have been fired for less in the Age of Twitter. Conservatives, like most people in politics, remember their martyrs. The Lauten story can and will be cited when Republicans want to explain why they don’t trust the press to treat them fairly.

I can think of another story that can be cited when Republicans want to explain why they don’t trust the press to treat them fairly — and funny enough, I bet Dave can too…