OK, so the "A listers" have quite thoroughly laid waste to any pretense of journalistic objectivity or basic professionalism on the part of Joe Klein regarding the whole fiasco of his Repug-friendly stenography on the Democrats' RESTORE Act (noted here by Rush Holt, one of the bill's authors). And Glenn Greenwald has quite thoroughly posted about the moral bankruptcy of Time Magazine as a tool of our corporate media.Bravo, and well done.
So what's next? Atrios (pictured) posts the following...
Wikipedia says Rick Stengel (Time's managing editor) has multiple child rape convictions. While I have neither the time nor legal background to verify this allegation, it's well beyond stupid for Time to employ such a person.Yes, I get it that this uses some of Klein's copout language as to why he didn't know what he was talking about in his original post on the RESTORE Act. And yes, I get it that the point is that Time will apparently print anything without sourcing it if the right person of influence tells them to do so.
But child rape? How nice. What's next, jokes about gas ovens on Holocaust Remembrance Day?
And of course, since this came from Atrios, it was automatically picked up by The Daily Kos and Glenn Greenwald, among others I'm sure (with Greenwald considering this "satire," which I suppose it is of a fashion).
Can someone tell me, however, how this isn't reinforcing the ridiculous stereotype that lefty bloggers are generally nuts? Couldn't we have made this point some other way? As hard as we all work to produce the best content we can, all it takes is something like this to reinforce that notion.
Thanks for giving Limbaugh, the Malkinites and their ilk something else they can use as a distraction (God, I hate it when we do good and then manage to shoot ourselves in the foot anyway).
(Obligatory disclaimer - yes I still read the "A" listers, yes they still get more site traffic than I will, que sera sera, water wet, sky blue; this is a recording...)
3 comments:
I've been following the Joe Klein story by Glenn Greenwald, and now others who have picked it up. This is what needs to be done to pseudo journalists that write the crap Klein spews out. They need to be outed and attacked every time they use a false premise to attack Democrats.
Bob Somerby at The Daily Howler has been outing these slothful, poor excuses for "journalists" for years, using names and quotes, and he opines on the damage he feels they've done to Democrat candidates.
The amazing work by firedoglake on the Scooter Libby trial should have been the moment when the lefty blogosphere (I hate that word, but it does seem to fit at times) should have "arrived" as far as our beloved corporate media cousins are concerned, but this may be it instead. Someone picked up on this over at MSNBC and basically said something along the lines of "well, the cut-and-paste steno days on behalf of the Republican Party are now over" and I thought "not a damn minute too soon"; that should never have been the case anyway.
I really went back and forth on the thing with Atrios since I have about a zillion or so links to his blog, and his work is outstanding ninety something percent of the time. But I think the thing is that he (and many bloggers generally) cater to a demographic that's younger and more urban than yours truly and they tend to more readily consume his "shock value" sort of asides like that. And in no way am I passing judgment on anyone when I say that. It's just that that particular remark set me off, especially given the fact that it would be linked to everywhere, which it was.
Also, I really don't know what it's going to take to cut through the BS perpetrated by Time and other major corporate news organizations with initials that we recognize, but maybe Joe Klein should lose his job over this (and believe me when I tell you that I don't say that lightly). He and his rinky-dink editors who allowed him to carry on in this way (encouraged it, probably) were flat busted primarily by Greenwald as well as Jane Hamsher. Klein absolutely wrote that original column (and I'm disregarding the other apologia on his part that followed...he did it; end of story) based solely on a Republican Party talking point, which is now obvious to the entire universe. There isn't even a pretense of objectivity there. And who knows how long he had been carrying on that way, to say nothing of the hundreds of other "journalists" doing the same thing. Let Klein have to compete for a job, though he'd probably migrate directly to the Washington Post, The Politico or NRO (or maybe even the Inquirer; if they'll publish Santorum, they'll publish any conservative with a pulse). Regardless, Klein should be knocked down from his perch, even if only slightly.
Also, for what it's worth, I met Duncan at a fundraiser for Patrick Murphy at the Black Sheep Tavern a few nights ago. Nice guy, kind of quiet (probably preoccupied with a lot of Eschacon stuff, which was upcoming) but basically cool. Just complimented him on his work and that was that...no big deal.
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