Monday, February 23, 2009

At Long, Long Last...

My internet service has finally been restored. Yay!

And because it is so late in the day, I would like to share with you this interesting article, courtesy of "I'm A Linda Too," a regular reader at No Quarter yesterday. It is quite something. A bit late in coming, perhaps, but hey, better late than never, right? The title pretty much gives it away: Media Critic Blasts Chris Matthews’ ‘Man Crush’ On Obama:
It has become one of MSNBC host Chris Matthew’s most infamous lines of the 2008 presidential election:

“I felt this thrill going up my leg,” Matthews said the night Obama resoundingly defeated rival Hillary Clinton in the Virginia and Maryland Democratic primaries.

In case you need a little reminder, here you go:



If you feel the need to go take a shower, I understand. Blech. Apparently, Goldberg shared my sentiment:
And former CBS News Correspondent Bernard Goldberg, who has long alleged liberal bias in the media, highlighted that line as indicative of the media’s “slobbering” press coverage of candidate Obama during his campaign for the White House.

“That’s not commentary, that’s a man-crush,” Goldberg declared on CNN’s Reliable Sources Sunday.

Goldberg, the author of the new book “A Slobbering Love Affair,” credits the media coverage of the 2008 presidential election for ultimately resulting in Barack Obama’s victory.

He specifically faulted coverage of the prolonged Democratic primary campaign, during which two historic candidates contentiously squared off.

“I think in elite liberal circles, certainly inside the media, race trumps gender, and that’s why they slobbered over Barack Obama, and took Hillary Clinton to the back room and beat her with a rubber hose,” Goldberg said.

You'll get no argument from me. There is no doubt the media was biased in his favor, running far more positive articles than negative ones. Clinton, by contrast, had more negative press than positive. Surprise!! Um, not so much.

And then, Mr. Goldberg took the media to task for their lack of, well, journalism:
Goldberg also faulted political journalists for not digging up controversial sermons of the president’s longtime pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, until Obama had already effectively captured his party’s nomination.

“These tapes were available, you didn’t have to be Woodward or Bernstein to dig them up,” Goldberg said. “If those tapes had come out six months earlier, certainly a year earlier, I don’t think Barack Obama would have been the nominee.

“I think Hillary Clinton would have been. And I think she would have been the president today,” he continued. “And in that sense, she’s the biggest loser in all of this.”

Uh, no kidding. Even Bernstein is no longer a Bernstein, having fallen into CDS (that's Clinton Derangement Syndrome, for those who don't know), and being a part of that negative press. Even when Clinton was beating the PANTS off Obama, you would scarcely have known it by the reporting...

I do take exception to one comment by Mr. Goldberg, and that is this: “And in that sense, she’s the biggest loser in all of this.

No, Mr. Goldberg. WE are the biggest losers. Our trust in the democratic process is the biggest loser. Our sense of fair play and decency is the biggest loser. The United States is the biggest loser.

But thank you for speaking up. It would have been nice had it been sooner, but I guess we'll just have to take later...

2 comments:

Arturo Ui said...

Being that you've written so eloquently on gay and lesbian issues in the past, I was quite surprised to see you enlisting the input of Bernard Goldberg, a noted homophobic fear-mongerer.

http://pfox.org/Arrogance_by_Bernard_Goldberg.html

Rabble Rouser Reverend Amy said...

Hey, Arturo -

Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it.

I did a search on Goldberg and homophobia, and didn't come up with a whole lot. And while I appreciate your concern, considering how homophobic Obama is, how homophobic and actively anti-gay a number of his close friends are, including the new Chair of the DNC (who is also sexist and anti-choice), it is a bit difficult to take seriously a charge of homophobia against someone who is taking the Obama-fawning media to task.

Honestly, even if Goldberg is homophobic - and again, I found no evidence of it (if you have something, I'd be more than happy to read it), his CHARGES are accurate. Again, the focus here is the well documented "slobbering" media that failed MISERABLY in its duty to the people by not doing their JOBS when it came to Obama. This is not new - it is just that, while a bit too late, some media people are finally starting to speak up.

Thanks for your comment.