Adam Nagourney Takes A Nose Dive With "Crooked, Lying" Piece

[DrFunkenstein]

Adam Nagourney, the NYTimes resident king-maker, has flushed what little credibility he had down the journalistic toilet.

"Throughout the race, Mr. Kerry has been in predicaments where his frank or politically intemperate remarks, purportedly intended for private consumption, have made their way to the public record, by way of the presumably unnoticed microphone."

Gee, that would make you think this happens all the time, wouldn't it? Beyond this latest "gaffe," let's see what all these "intemperate remarks" might be:

1. Kerry tells his aide in an aside that Edwards claims to be the only one who can carry the South, but can't even guarantee his own state.

2. About Dean, he says, You can't make 15 gaffes a week and be president." That, too, was said as an aside after an interview was completed.

3. The infamous "Dean, Dean, Dean."

4. ???

That's pretty much it. Twenty-one paragraphs devoted to this utter non-story, all in the "paper of record." At least Nagourney mentions that some of the Kerry staff are "West Wing" fans.

This guy really does earn his paycheck. And I thought David Halbfinger was a horse's ass - we're setting up a stable!

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/03/13/politics/campaign/13MEMO.html

PS - There is a world of difference between a headline that reads "Kerry Refuses To Apologize About Comment" and "Kerry Unapologetic About Comments." Guess which treatment Bush would have recieved.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. I didn't get that at all

OK, it was snarky. But that's part of the job description. Journalists have to cultivate a cynical, seen-it-all persona. It's kind of like professional wrestlers having to seem mean all the time.

Here's what I took from it: Kerry uses "open mike mistakes" as a highly public back-channel that the Republicans can't complain about without looking like whiners. Which, of course, they are.

Then, too, Kerry may be goading the Idiot Bastard Son. When Kerry has a hot-mike opportunity, he makes trenchant, but polite remarks. When Bush has a hot-mike, he uses vulgar language in that snickering junior-high style he is famous for. Bush can't ad-lib worth a damn. Kerry does it easily.

If Kerry can bait Bush into doing the same thing -- "accidentally on purpose" -- the chances are excellent that Bush will say something that is the equivalent of soiling himself in public.

And Adam Nagourney? He's a waterboy. A spectator with a slightly higher-profile blog than most of us. And he knows it.

--bkl

[Scoopie]

2. OK - don't flame me, but

I don't see anything wrong with any of those statements attributed to Kerry. He sounds like someone campaigning - big whoop!
What's Adam's problem with them?

In any case, one of our local columnists thinks the "crooked" statement summed up the truth nicely.

http://knoxnews.com/kns/opinion_columnists/article/0,1406,KNS_364_2722497,00.html

Oh, did John Kerry goof. With his microphone still on, as he unclipped it after a speech in Chicago Wednesday, he clearly said, "These guys are the most crooked, you know, lying group I've ever seen. It's scary."

Such political candor rarely makes it onto nationwide TV, and Bush partisans were quick to demand an apology. As I say, Kerry goofed. Or did he?

In dealing with the insult, President Bush faces a three-headed hydra. One, it's hard to muster dignity when saying, "I am not a crook," as Richard Nixon found out while trying to explain Watergate. It's akin to Bill Clinton's famous demurral, "I did not have sexual relations with that woman." It reinforces doubts among the skeptical.

SNIP

The point is, a good many Americans think Kerry's remark is the most honest thing yet said in this campaign. Even if it was a goof, for many it nicely sums things up.

Reason No. 98 why local opinion writers are much better - and much more in touch with reality - than national ones.