Joan Walsh says:

Gee willikers, former GOP presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney denounced his latest rival, disgraced former House speaker Newt Gingrich, in his harshest language yet, calling him “zany” in an interview with the New York Times. Beltway folks think that shows Mitt’s fear and ferocity, I think it shows him, again, as an animatron politician devoid of passion who’s stuck in the 1950s. Zany? Gidget was zany. Gingrich is a dangerous huckster, who will apparently say anything to get elected.

Golly gee willikers, Joan Walsh! If you think Mitt Romney is “stuck in the 1950s” for saying the word “zany,” you must be “stuck on stupid.” It wasn’t actually his characterization. It was that of New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny. We can hardly wait for you to update and tell us how silly and out-of-date he is.

Unfortunately, one can’t simply blame Walsh, as the New York Times perpetuated the story – under Jeff Zeleny’s byline, when Zeleny is actually the one who called Newt Gingrich “zany.”
(more…)

Sometimes it’s the questions you don’t ask that are telling.  Case in point: the New York Times account of our event with Governor Palin last night.

Young America’s Foundation hosted Governor Sarah Palin for the keynote address at the opening banquet of our Reagan 100 weekend. This weekend marks the 100th anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. Celebrations are taking place across the country, but this is a particularly significant weekend for our organization—since the spring of 1998 we’ve been preserving Ronald Reagan’s beloved Ranch home in the mountains north of Santa Barbara, Rancho del Cielo. Today Ronald Reagan’s Western White House is a place where young people come to be inspired by the life, the ideas, the character of Ronald Reagan.

Photo credit: (c) Jensen Sutta

And Governor Palin visited the Ranch for exactly the same reason.

The Governor gave a powerful speech at our banquet last night, before an enthusiastic overflow audience. She eloquently and gracefully paid tribute to one of the most significant speeches in American history, Ronald Reagan’s “Time for Choosing” address—while at the same time outlining a vision for America that builds upon President Reagan’s.

The speech was universally well received by our audience of all ages. But the New York Times chose to focus on some of the logistics of the event in their account:

Presidential contenders, regardless of their celebrity, are put through a gauntlet of rituals that require a delicate air of patience as they deal with their admirers. Prospective candidates, particularly if they are courting supporters, routinely sit through dinners and mingle with guests. But in her case, Ms. Palin entered the room only for her speech and left immediately after.

The appearance here was marked by tight security and rigid rules, with guests admonished to stay in their seats when she arrived. (“We’d all like to jump up and give her a high-five, but please stay at your tables,” Kate Obenshain, vice president of the foundation, announced from the dais. “There will be no book signings or autographs.”)

Governor Palin has a remarkable effect on people. For many conservatives, she’s a rock star. When the Governor walks into a room, normally even-keeled and good-natured people tend to forget their surroundings and rush towards her—to give her hug, to tell her how grateful they are for her courage, to tell her specifically how she has touched their lives. Event planning requires adherence to a basic schedule. At a minimum, you have to make it possible for your speaker to take the stage, in the “friendly confines” of tightly-packed and small room. Not an easy task with a superstar like Sarah Palin but our team sought to make the event run smoothly. (more…)

In his New York Times blog, “The Caucus,” Jeff Zeleny takes a look at the Political Fallout From the Supreme Court Ruling and dishes up a bowl of thin gruel for his mostly anguished readers.  Remember Mirror, Mirror, the bearded Spock episode in the original Star Trek, the one about an alternative reality where your evil twin Skippy exists in a separate, malevolent universe?

Well, really, that’s what it’s like to scroll through Jeff’s story and especially the readers’ comments.  Here’s how he starts:

Even before their Massachusetts victory this week, Republicans already enjoyed a multitude of advantages in this year’s midterm elections. The Supreme Court has likely just delivered one more: money. Today’s ruling upends the nation’s campaign finance laws, allowing corporations and labor unions to spend freely on behalf of political candidates…

Am I remembering it wrong, or didn’t Democrats rake in tons of corporate dough themselves last time around?  And, not to belabor the Star Trek metaphor, in what parallel or non-parallel universe have labor unions ever spent freely on behalf of Republicans? (more…)

A quote often attributed to Otto Von Bismarck in the 1930s — but really belonging to poet John Godfrey Saxe over 60 years earlier — tells us that “Laws, like sausages, cease to inspire respect in proportion as we know how they are made.”

“Original Old Media reporting” belongs on Saxe’s list.

In all three cases, the temptation to look away is great. In all three, we must resist. All require strong surveillance to ensure a quality product.

For all of their considerable accomplishments, New Media watchdogs have not done a particularly good job of proactively monitoring wire service and other original-source stories as they move through the assembly line from breaking news to supposedly settled narrative. As a result, as often occurs when legislators and sausage plants aren’t closely watched, product quality is often pathetic, and is sometimes downright dangerous. (more…)