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Sunday, January 10, 2010

So what catastrophe is being ignored while the Village is distracted reading gossip about the 2008 election?
Posted by Jill | 7:07 PM
If there was ever an "Exhibit A" about how the Washington press works, and what its priorities are, it's the hubbub in the media these days about the new book, "Game Change", by the hacktacular Mark Halperin and John Heilemann. Both are regular guests on Morning Schmoe, which ought to give you an indication of where their bread is buttered. Today, the morning newsbot on MSNBC was referring to this tome as "The book everyone's talking about, in Washington and beyond."

Do YOU know anyone who's talking about this book? I don't. But here's what is regarded as so vitally important by the chattering classes in Washington:

1. John Edwards was worse even than our sisters told us, and Elizabeth is a harpy. This may be the single most repulsive part of the book, so of course it's excerpted in New York Magazine, complete with really unflattering cartoons of the parties involved. It's kind of a weird account, because its tone is simultaneously primly judgmental of Edwards for not only not being able to keep it zipped, but falling for a line from such a twit of a woman; and nodding understandingly that with Elizabeth holding his balls with a pair of forceps, who could blame him? Perhaps if Rielle Hunter had been 25 with big tits, all could have been forgiven by the Men of the Village. Oh wait...I forgot for a minute...that rule only applies to Republicans.

2. Bill Clinton was having an affair during the 2008 campaign and Hillary's people were wondering how to keep it quiet. Related: Bill Clinton said that a few years ago, Obama would have been bringing him coffee.

3. Harry Reid described Barack Obama in 2008 as "light skinned...with no Negro dialect." This caused Liz Cheney, that well-known advocate of minority rights, to screech at George Will today that Reid is a racist who should resign.

...and on and on and on.

Needless to say, the Republicans get a lot less ink, other than a mention of allegations that Cindy McCain had had an affair (wouldn't you, if you were married to an angerball like John McCain?) and a few tidbits that further demonstrate what is a surprise to no one -- that Sarah Palin is a blithering idiot who is colossally unqualified to be leader of this nation then, now, or ever.

So the very media that so often decries the trivialization of the news is crowing about how this book is "what everyone is talking about." Not health care reform, not the growing crisis in the Middle East in terms of how best to deal with terrorism, not climate change, not 10% unemployment or greedy bank executives and their eight-figure bonuses, not even Tim Geithner's alleged role in essentially laundering TARP money for Goldman Sachs through AIG. Nope. Nothing matters but where John Edwards and Bill Clinton were sticking their dicks and who said what about Barack Obama's race and Cindy McCain's dalliances. The closest thing to a public service these two guys are doing is reminding us just HOW much of an idiot Sarah Palin, who is clearly already running for President, is and always will be.

In case you're wondering about where these authors are coming from, Mark Halperin is the same guy who in 2008 said about that year's elections coverage at a POLITICO conference at USC, "It's the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war...It was extreme bias, extreme pro-Obama coverage." I guess Halperin was out of the country during the whole Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers foofarahs. So presumably Halperin regards it as his job to do whatever he has to in order to rewrite that history -- by writing a gossipy book that is guaranteeed to keep Washington tongues busy. You know, people like Maureen Dowd, who even after George W. Bush, still needs a President Daddy.

And so, almost exactly one year into the Obama Administration, the American people are seeing exactly what their government is: It's a dysfunctional system, driven by corporate cash and media petty grudges and social climbing. It's like high school with bribes. I don't know about you, but I'm not going to sleep particularly well tonight knowing that those whose job it is to keep us informed behave like this:


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2 Comments:
Anonymous embroidery thread said...
Maybe that's what the author indeedly wants to display to us.
1/10/10, 11:58 PM  
Anonymous vitamin d said...
While I believe there is a movement in the evangelical community towards expanding their list of relevant issues...a movement that would likely lead some values voters to reconsider the merits of always voting with the GOP...there must be concern that the Palin selection will do little to advance that shift.
1/11/10, 7:22 AM  
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