Quote of the Day

Via Atrios, Pierce at Altercation;

However, where in hell do we go with that last passage there, about how the haircuts matter because "a healthy chunk of the political press corps" doesn't like Edwards, and how they're staying away from a sauce-for-the-goose position on Mitt Romney's makeovers because of their own private calculations of the relative electability of the two candidates. OK, here's the deal. Every member of that "healthy chunk" of the press corps should be fired. Today. This minute. Without pay or recompense. Let them all walk back inside the Beltway from Cedar Rapids if they have to. I value what I do. I value the work of the people in my business who do it correctly. But, holy mother of god, these people do not do what I do. It's OK to sneer at a candidate if you don't like him? It's OK to create a destructive narrative out of unmitigated piffle because he doesn't kiss your ass with the regularity you think you deserve, or because his press buses don't run on time, or because one of his staffers was late with the Danish in Keene? I watched a roomful of them boo Al Gore seven years ago, behavior that would have gotten them run out of any press box in the major leagues. Do you think one of these jamokes -- or jamokettes -- is thinking, "Maybe we should lay off the haircut thing because of what we all did to Gore in 2000, and look how well that worked out." Please.

Here's what I think -- the majority of people who cover national politics believe that history is whatever happened in the MSNBC Green Room 15 minutes earlier. I believe the campaign is covered by people with a completely unjustified sense of their own superiority, since not many of them understand or ever care about most of the issues, much less the horrendous bills that are going to come due upon whichever of these poor sods winds up with the job. I believe these people care more about their reputation around the bar at the Wayfarer in Manchester than they do about the interests of the people they purportedly serve. And, were I an editor, and someone brought me a story about John Edwards' hair or Mitt Romney's skin, that person would do it once. The second time, the lazy bastard would find himself typing bowling agate on Wednesday night.

Do you understand what that means? This is an issue that drives the narrative, and narratives are what serve people their opinions.

Make no mistake. The vast majority of people in this nation are told what their viewpoints are, and they agree willingly. The twisting of the media is extreme to the point that I nearly gag whenever somebody mentions the "liberal media".

The obvious nature of what is done in the media is totally divorced from the reality of what drives the narrative. You can look at it and say "liberal media" without really understanding what is going on. That's the brilliance of it.

What is the central issue of John Edwards Presidential campaign? He paid $400 for a haircut. If you turn on any of the cable news channels, you will hear pundits debate how a rich man could be an advocate for the poor when he was a trial attorney and is rich. They are not even disguising the issue. They are telling you that a rich man is a hypocrite when he advocates for the poor because he had an expensive hair-cut.

The point of this is, is that the progressive point of view never gets the same benefit of the doubt as a conservative point. The media must try to always find "balance".. so say they are talking about a Republican with a diaper fetish that is fucking prostitutes, or a Republican that is stalking under-age male pages, the media is compelled to find a "balance" to that in their coverage of Democrats.

Hence, John Edwards paid $400 for a hair-cut. That is news in our society. That is important. That demonstrates the hypocrisy of man who champions the poor.

I sometimes wonder if they ever have discussions about these issues in the editor meetings at top news outlets. I suspect there is one guy who says that in the interest of their sponsors, they have to give equal access to both "sides". They have to provide balance in a world that really isn't all that balanced.

And the most amazing thing of it all? Despite the media doing this for 7 years, Americans still hate the conservatives. Imagine what would have happened if the media had simply reported the story as it occurred, without dragging John Edwards hair into the mix to "balance" it out.