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Time Klein Indicts Mainstream Media

Joe Klein of Time Magazine, who was not a Weatherman but is a weathervane of liberal Democratic opinion, blasts the irresponsibility of the mainstream media!

Discussing what the Pennsylvania primary did to Obama, ?who entered the primary as a fresh breeze and left it stale, battered and embittered,? Klein writes:

In the course of six weeks, the American people learned that he was a member of a church whose pastor gave angry, anti-American sermons, that he was "friendly" with an American terrorist who had bombed buildings during the Vietnam era, and that he seemed to look on the ceremonies of working-class life ? bowling, hunting, churchgoing and the fervent consumption of greasy food ? as his anthropologist mother might have, with a mixture of cool detachment and utter bemusement. All of which deepened the skepticism that Caucasians, especially those without a college degree, had about a young, inexperienced African-American guy with an Islamic-sounding name and a highfalutin fluency with language. And worse, it raised questions among the elders of the party about Obama's ability to hold on to crucial Rust Belt bastions like Pennsylvania, Michigan and New Jersey in the general election ? and to add long-suffering Ohio to the Democratic column.

Since all of that ?new? information was old, had long been available to anyone who would look at it, the fact that it lay in plain sight but unseen by our guardian watchdogs in the mainstream media is a clear and telling indictment of the press?s irresponsibility.

Now, it?s true that Klein himself doesn?t see that he?s indicting himself and his colleagues, but that?s nothing new. He doesn?t see many things, such as the relevance of ?so-called character issues? in a presidential campaign. No matter that Klein would no doubt say (actually, he did say) that none of this ?new? information speaks to character and judgment, that it is merely ?sludge,? ?caricature,? ?scurrilous trash.? He either doesn?t see or doesn?t attach any significance to Obama?s elitist attribution of xenophobia, racism, etc., to the bitter clinging of the angry rubes, at least in part because he shares it. Re-read the following:

[All the sludgy trash slung by ABC] deepened the skepticism that Caucasians, especially those without a college degree, had about a young, inexperienced African-American guy with an Islamic-sounding name and a highfalutin fluency with language.

Well, sure. Only poor, dumb whites would entertain any reservations about Obama.

Full post as published by Discriminations on April 24, 2008 (boomark / email).