Taylor Marsh – TaylorMarsh.com – News, Opinion and Weblog on Progressive Politics

Read
this article. Finally, someone, Howard Kurtz in this case, wakes up and
calls the press for their lazy approach to Obama, while Clinton is continually
creamed on all fronts.

Clinton’s senior advisers have grown convinced that the media deck is stacked against them, that their candidate is drawing far harsher scrutiny than Barack Obama. And at least some journalists agree. “She’s just held to a different standard in every respect,” says Mark Halperin, Time’s editor at large. “The press rooted for Obama to go negative, and when he did he was applauded. When she does it, it’s treated as this huge violation of propriety.” While Clinton’s mistakes deserve full coverage, Halperin says, “the press’s flaws — wild swings, accentuating the negative — are magnified 50 times when it comes to her. It’s not a level playing field.” Newsweek’s Howard Fineman says Obama’s coverage is the buzz of the presidential campaign. “While they don’t say so publicly because it’s risky to complain, a lot of operatives from other campaigns say he’s getting a free ride, that people aren’t tough enough on Obama,” Fineman says. “There may be something to that. He’s the new guy, an interesting guy, a pathbreaker and trendsetter perhaps.” … .. “Slipping Away?” said a headline on ABC’s “Good Morning America.” “Hillary Clinton’s campaign is teetering on the brink,” Fineman wrote in Newsweek. CBS’s Jim Axelrod said her operation is “reeling.” The Los Angeles Times said she is facing her “most serious crisis.” And a banner headline on the Drudge Report asked: “Is It the End?” … .. Clinton Under A Harsher Microscope?

It’s happened recently out here with the blogs, too. Josh Marshall’s TPM
got into the headline smacking business this week with a ridiculous headline
on Clinton: Hillary Goes on Morning Show Damage Control Blitz. It linked
to an ABC post on her morning show appearances that didn’t say anything about
“damage control.” Last time she did a Sunday news blitz it wasn’t
“damage control.” Everyone was simply amazed by Hillary doing a full
Ginsberg, as they say. But because the race has now tightened, as we
all knew it would, all of a sudden it’s “damage control”? I sent them
an email saying “shame on you.” David Kurtz emailed me back, thanking
me for bringing it to their attention, also saying the headline had been changed.
I never saw it, because by the time I went back it had been removed. But in
the middle of all this, during my radio show that some of you no doubt heard, they uploaded the picture you see here. By the time I
opened another browser it was gone, replaced by a much better picture and a bigger headline. It happened the same day Drudge uploaded
the bad picture of Clinton. Of course, you saw this
“spoof” video, right? What a silly production for a journalistic outfit to upload.
I’m sure they’ll upload a second video on Clinton’s behalf showing her blinded
by Obama’s light. It will come complete with a voiceover of someone talking about
How dare you Hillary. Barack Obama is a rock star. He’s a philosopher. How
dare you ask him about past policy positions. You’re ruining his whole vibe!

Kurtz also quotes the Marc Ambinder anecdote that an Obama staffer “wanted
to know when reporters would begin to look into Bill Clinton’s post-presidential
sex life.” It’s remarkable that it’s taken this long for people to
wise up to the unfair coverage Clinton has received, but Kurtz hits all notes perfectly in his article.

When NBC’s David Gregory interviewed Hillary Clinton Monday during her round of morning-show appearances, he briefly noted her endorsement by the Des Moines Register before asking what had happened to her momentum. He pressed six times for a reaction to her husband’s telling PBS’s Charlie Rose that the country would “roll the dice” if it elected Obama. “So you’re choosing not to answer that question,” Gregory finally said. Moments later, when Meredith Vieira interviewed John McCain, who had also won the Register’s endorsement, most of the questions revolved around how he could win the Republican nomination despite trailing in the polls, with one query about his temper.

Complete with Obama plant-gate pass.

In an online posting Monday, ABC reported that an Obama volunteer wearing a press pass asked the candidate a friendly question about tax policy at an Iowa event. But several of the assembled reporters huddled and concluded that it was not a story, one of them said. Clinton faced a storm of media criticism over a similar planted question.

Who knows, maybe Kurtz saw Bill Moyers’ interview with Ms. Jamieson, and decided to speak up, though if you’ve been watching the press coverage it’s impossible to miss.

This is a real story. It is something I’ve covered for months, often to criticism and disbelief, coupled with abject silence on most blogs, while many blindly bow to Obama. But it reached its crescendo when Tim
Russert inserted himself in the debate, a moment that symbolized pile on time and that’s exactly what the traditional media has done.

Maybe Kurtz’s piece will hit a nerve and Clinton will start getting… … nah. People
like Chris Matthews are having too much fun. But did you notice, Kurtz doesn’t
even mention Matthews’ horrendous behavior. That’s because “Hardball” doesn’t matter anymore.