'Dimwitted' and In Need of a 'Chaperone': Palin Has Press at Point of Panic

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

"I’ve gotten the scary feeling, for the first time in my life, that dimwittedness is not just on the march in the U.S., but that it might actually prevail." -- Bob Herbert, NYT, 9-13-08

Bob Herbert's item in today's New York Times, She's Not Ready, is not so much political analysis as a howl of MSM shock and outrage. No-o-o-o-o!, Herbert seems to cry. I can't believe this is happening to us! Meanwhile, with condescension worthy of Charlie Gibson, ABC's David Wright suggests that Palin has been in need of a "chaperone" on the campaign trail.

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[just a dude]

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[MarkL]

are you old enough to know or remember what they did to Goldwater 44 years ago?

At 46, I'm too young to have "been there," but I've read about it.

I've known that there was a serious problem with "journalism" in this country for about 20 years or so, when I heard a quote by a student in the school of journalism at MU (University of MO at Columbia, a highly respected school of journalism) who said that she was going to be a journalist "to make the world a better place." Changing the world, or at least the way the world looks, through the media ISN'T journalism: It's propaganda.

Mark

[WVNan]

You are right. Watergate was a left wing media construct from beginning to end and thereafter to this day. They pronounced Pres. Nixon a “crook” and perpetuated that image until the people believe it. One of the saddest things I’ve witnessed in my lifetime.

[WVNan]

Please please send this to Mr. Herbert. He is in serious need of information.

[Lent]

Hahaha! The Greek column demi-god with his panting, frothing and witless hordes, is crumbling before their eyes in favor of a genuine, honest and intelligent American woman.How offensive!

[gusopol3]

it might have had some redeeming value , because I think Nixon got caught in the concept , “well , the other side did thus and so,” but it was clear from the Clinton years that “the other side “ still gets away with anything they please. BTW it must be a FR urban legend that “any one member of Congress” can have the unredacted version of the Barrett report released?

[driftless2]

Most Americans realize that’s a bit ridiculous to expect a governor (and one who was not running for president recently) to know all the ins and outs of Washingtonian foreign policy wonk points. The supreme question is can Palin learn what needs to be learned? I have no doubt she knows more pertinent info and has better insight on a variety of national and international problems than the collected assemblage of Dem pols. I’ll bet on the issue of energy (and a number of others) she can kick the cans of any Dem currently infesting Congress.

[driftless2]

I was only in my early teens, but I distinctly remember the press (which was pretty liberal even then) depicting Goldwater as a nut who would blow the world up if elected. After seeing the disaster of the Johnson admin, I wonder how many average Dems regretted their choice?

Two other things hurt Goldwater enormously: Kennedy's assassination which created a tidal wave of sympathy for his successor and Goldwater's opposition to the civil rights bill. Goldwater later regretted his vote, but given the sympathy for Kennedy's successor (already in office) and the liberal press, it would have been very tough for him to get elected even if he had supported the bill. The country was not used to the limited government paradigm as propounded by Goldwater and Buckley. Reagan would be come through the door Goldwater and Buckley had started to crack open decades before.