Posted on 12/30/2002 9:27:43 AM PST by mikeb704
Last evening I saw a glaring example of a difference between the print media and electronic journalism. In a story on Mayor Richard Daley’s hospitalization, a local television reporter stated it was necessitated by several factors, including the Chicago mayor’s "being nauseous."
My fellow nitpickers will hastily note the wrong word was used. As pointed out in Strunk and White’s The Elements of Style (Third Edition), nauseous means "sickening to contemplate." Now it’s very possible that Mr. Daley was and is in fact nauseous, as least to Republicans who live in Chicago. All three dozen of them. But that isn’t what put him in the hospital. Being nauseated was.
The TV news segment reported that Mayor Daley was in Northwestern Memorial Hospital. As an aside, it was mentioned that two former mayors, Richard J. Daley and Harold Washington, had been taken to the same facility when they died. A film clip was shown of the late Mayor Daley hurriedly walking down a corridor. The date shown under the picture indicated it was taken in 1987. Oops.
Mayor Washington died in 1987. Richard J. Daley went to that big precinct in the sky (sure, I’ll give him the benefit of the doubt) in 1976. Now it’s possible Da Mare was still politically active – perhaps even voting occasionally – in 1987, but certainly he wasn’t rushing down corridors at that point.
Such errors are fairly common on television news. I checked and saw that the Chicago’s major papers had accurately described Mr. Daley as having been nauseated. And I doubt that a newspaper would have made the mistake of showing Richard J. alive and kickin’ and claiming the photo was taken in 1987. Sure, it’s possible. It seems to me, though, that the electronic media, maybe because of the demand for immediacy, are significantly more prone to obvious mistakes. The local stations in particular could really use a decent dictionary.
I do hope that Mayor Daley and his wife, who was also in the hospital for the same illness, are much better by now. Mrs. Maggie Daley, it seems to me, has always been a class act. So much so, I sometimes wonder if she isn’t really one of those three-dozen Republicans who refuse to bail out of the city.
More than 20 years ago the couple lost a toddler son of complications from spina bifada. They asked that contributions be made to an association devoted to that dreadful disease. I sent a modest check. A few weeks later I received a handwritten thank you note from Mrs. Daley. With all the heartbreak she must have been suffering right then, she still had the graciousness to extend her family’s appreciation for a small token of sympathy.
She was diagnosed with breast cancer last summer. Best wishes that 2003 restores her to total health.
* * * * * * * *
A Democrat of the female persuasion about whom I am considerably less enthused is Washington state’s Senator Patty Murray. The Honorable Murray recently took time from her hectic schedule to extol the many virtues of that well-known humanitarian, Osama bin Laden.
According to Vancouver’s The Columbian newspaper, Mz Murray told a high school class that Osama’s "been out in these countries for decades building roads, building schools, building infrastructure, building day-care facilities, building health-care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. It made their lives better."
"We have not done that. We haven’t been out in many of these countries helping them build infrastructure." Ah, yes, day-care centers. That totally explains why those Muslim fanatics want us all dead.
I won’t be too hard on Patty, mainly because it’s apparent she’s dumb as a box of rocks. If you’ve ever seen her picture, you’ll recall the pitifully vacant look in her eyes. A few months ago, Washingtonian magazine surveyed Capitol Hill staffers about the best and worst in Congress. In the category labeled "No Rocket Scientist" our gal was ranked at the very top in the Senate, a not inconsequential accomplishment given the stiff competition. Clearly, the elevator just doesn’t go all the way up. Equally as clearly, this qualifies her for a leadership position among Democrats.
She serves as chair of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, which was responsible for maintaining her party’s majority. You know, that majority that they just lost under her capable administration.
What annoys me is how much of the media, finally ending their wall-to-wall Trent Lott coverage, just can’t find much time or space to publicize Patty’s pronouncement. Making a facetious comment at a gent’s 100th birthday party is a major offense. Providing an explanation for bin Laden’s terrorism is no big deal.
As I wrote a couple of years ago, being a Democrat means never having to say you’re sorry. The sorry media will make sure of that.
I think it's down to 35 now. I moved out some years ago.
Thanks. I'll update my records. Finding replacements is getting increasingly difficult. Few Republicans are willing to move into the city of jerks. . .I mean, the city that works! Yeah, that's it.
But they're usually so loving as in:
Murray's spokesman Todd Webster said, "This is being turned into a circus by the right-wing media outlets and fed by right-wing haters."
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.