The Washington Post, the newspaper that mentioned “macaca” in approximately 100 articles, op-eds, and editorials about the 2006 Virginia Senate race between George Allen and Jim Webb, watches the video of Rep. Bob Etheridge, North Carolina Democrat, physically assaulting a questioner and concludes it warrants three paragraphs on page C3, in the Reliable Source gossip column.
The opening sentence? “So what really happened when Rep. Bob Etheridge ran into a couple of self-described ‘students’ on the streets of D.C. last week?”
David Weigel, who used the term “hug” in his initial report on the altercation and has been receiving furious e-mails ever since, is cited; the Post should have let him write an actual print story on this. In this news nugget, there is little or no description beyond “grabbing the wrist” of one of the young men.
This is not even bias anymore; this is information management, designed to ensure that those who pick up the print version of the Post never encounter what the blogosphere is buzzing about.
It's more than the blogosphere buzzing about Etheridge - the clip has been replayed relentlessly on Fox News, and, despite their bias, I suspect it even showed up on MSNBC and CNN. TV loves the visual.
It turns out that back when I delivered newspapers as a boy, we were just ahead of our time in shortening the name from "newspaper" to just "paper."
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseAlso see these youtubes for MSNBC's war on truth and morality, regarding their coverage of this incident:
News coverage: External Link
Chris Matthews: External Link
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseThis sort of rear guard action actually will likely end up hurting the Democrats. Instead of a firestorm and a resignation, +/- a Lautenburg-esque last minute ballot change, they get a smoldering bag of electoral poop on their doorstep that will fuel the anti-incumbent mood for weeks. And then they will lose this seat anyway.
It's like a press conspiracy to rip this band-aid off slooooowly.
Thanks, WaPo!
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseWeigel also said that the Coakley aid "accidentally" pushed the Weekly Standard's McCormick to the ground back in January. How would he know the pusher's intent?
It's so strange to see someone giving the Democrat every benefit of the doubt in every case. Wait, sorry, I meant not strange at all.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseHey the WAPO is no more a newspaper than theNY Times. T Williams has it right it's just 'Paper" suitable for the bottom of your birdcage. Wait, I take that back. Why spend the money on the rag.
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbusePapers like this will be gone soon. Their one sided reporting has done them in. In the mean time all of us need to be sure to use multiple sources for "news".
Reply to this commentLinkReport AbuseIt's been sad to watch the media fall apart as the baby boomers (I'm a boomer) infiltrated it, and turned it into a useless rubber stamp for the left, radical left, and anarchists.