Our news media would never, ever report a story about sex and an American politician. They're far too... Uh.
- Bill Clinton
- Eliot Spitzer
- David Vitter
- Vito Fossella
- Larry Craig
- John McCain
- Newt Gingrich
- Bob Livingston
- Mark Foley
- Henry Cisneros
- Gary Condit
- Bob Packwood
- James Marzilli
- James McGreevey
- Gary Hart
- Wilbur Mills
- Wayne Hays
Drudge got the blue dress right, and now the National Enquirer got Rielle Hunter right. In the 1990s, the political press corps "learned" to take every bit of Drudge's bullshit RNC propaganda as something to investigate. Will they now take every tabloid headline of the Enquirer as the paid-for scent of new salaciousness?
If the media would substitute one scandal source for another, this might actually make us better off. Whatever the Enquirer's cash-based sins against the remnant norms of American journalism, at least it's an equal opportunity scandal monger, much different in that from Drudge's clear bias.
That Pollyannish outcome is unlikely, to say the least. The media will instead add an additional source of prurient interest. Oh, there's just so much fact-based, in depth reporting, we can surely spare some of it for yet another time slot for political Jerry Springerism.
From now on, all rumors, all the time.
Update (8/11): Ruben Navarrette Jr. ascribes selective memory to the wingnuts.
Update (8/18): Roger Ailes pwns the wingnuts who think Edwards got a pass because he's a Democrat, first with tabloid assignments, then with this:
Or you could, you know, report on the Bush Adminstration's lies about WMD in Iraq, 9/11, illegal eavesdropping, torture, illegal political firings at the Justice Department and other topics that don't involve one-(right) handed typing.
3 comments:
The Enquirer and Drudge were not involved in Jerry Springer reporting when they broke stories that the big news outlets were ignoring, rather they were providing the public with stories that showed the hypocrisy and lack of character of the politicians in question. I also challenge you on the assertion that Drudge is not as willing to put conservatives in the spotlight when they mess around, just look at how prominently he featured Larry Craig as a most recent example.
Drudge, like a stopped clock, is right every now and then, but the only thing you can count on from him is thrusting the propaganda for Republicans. He'll take on Larry Craig because he was trolling for gay sex.
Hypocrisy and lack of character in a politician?!?! Say it ain't so!
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