AP-"wildly irresponsible"

[babylonsister]

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/archives/individual/2008_12/015994.php

THE INEVITABLE PUSH.... It's only been 24 hours, and it's pretty obvious that reports like this one, from the AP's Liz Sidoti, are going to quickly become mind-numbing.

President-elect Barack Obama hasn't even stepped into office and already a scandal is threatening to dog him.

Obama isn't accused of anything. But the fact that Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich, a fellow Democrat, has been charged with trying to sell Obama's now-vacant Senate post gives political opponents an opening to try to link him to the scandal.

There's just no reason for reporting like this. Is Obama connected to Blagojevich's scandal? No, but the scandal is "threatening to dog him." Has Obama done anything wrong? No, but Republicans are going to "try to link him to the scandal."

Well, yes, of course they are. That's what political opponents do. We're supposed to have an independent, professional press that helps the public cut through the nonsense and explain why baseless attacks are wrong. Instead, we get an "analysis" piece like this one.

Jamison Foser noted:

Republicans can try to link him to the scandal. Have they succeeded? Are there actual substantive connections between Obama and the wrongdoing? Because if there aren't, that's the story: Republicans smearing Obama by falsely suggesting he is tied to the wrongdoing.

Alas, Sidoti and the AP don't see it that way. Her report says there are "signs the continuing investigation could still involve Obama." That would be interesting, if it were true, but Sidoti pointed to no evidence to support the assertion.

She added that "more details on the case could be forthcoming." How insightful.

The scandal isn't dogging Obama, but the AP believes it's threatening to dog him. Hmm. All we know at this point is that Obama didn't play along with Blagojevich's tactics, Obama didn't help Blagojevich, Blagojevich was livid with Obama's lack of cooperation, and federal investigators haven't implicated Obama with this mess in any way.

And yet, here's the Associated Press, telling a national audience that this story may mean trouble for Obama. It's wildly irresponsible.

-Steve Benen

[DJ13]

1. The MSM are hungry dogs looking for red meat

They arent rational anymore.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

9. The MSM had better change their tune after January 09

[NRaleighLiberal]

2. Buckle up, it is going to be a wild ride. NT

[whippo]

3. On the other hand, hoping that Obama's name wouldn't come

up is naive.

[annabanana]

7. What you mean "come up" kimosabee?

"there have been rumors"
"some have been saying"
"It has been heard"

[geckosfeet]

4. They are going to try and paint him with this (and more!) for 4 more years.

[Faygo Kid]

5. Liz Sidoti is and always has been a GOP tool and a Judith Miller wannabe.

The doughnut woman.

She's horrid. AP should send her to Faux News, where she belongs.

http://www.jedreport.com/2008/06/ap-scribe-who-s.html

[annabanana]

6. The Republicans don't HAVE to try and link him.... AP, Sidoti and the

usual suspects will do that for them.. cheerfully.

[babylonsister]

11. And therein lies the problem. nt

[lpbk2713]

8. Sidoti is McLame's own Donut Dolly

So much for objective journalism on the part of AP.

How the hell does she manage to keep her job?

[Phred42]

10. The LEFT will get no-where fast until

they get their hands on one complete TV network.

[AndyTiedye]

12. This is How the Mighty Slime Machine Covers Democrats

Republicans, of course, get much gentler treatment:

[OmmmSweetOmmm]

13. There's only one thing to do. The moment PE Obama takes the oath of office, charge Bushco for war

crimes.

[AtheistCrusader]

14. There is no liberal media.

There is no conservative media.

There is just a vicious creature we call the fourth estate that will savagely attack anything and everything while blowing whistles, honking horns, and flashing lights, in pursuit of ratings.

Yeah, there's AM radio, which is conservative, and a couple stand-outs on both sides, but for the most part, it's a total free-for-all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Ly7Btx0Stg

[DebbieCDC]

15. The AP has been shilling for the wingers for years

They are irrelevant.

[eShirl]

16. business as usual for the so-called "liberal media"

[bertman]

17. ULCER ALERT. ULCER ALERT. Get out the Maalox, Babylonsister.

If you let stuff like this bother you, you're going to have one humongous freaking ulcer by the end of Obama's eight years.

He knows this kind of shit is going to be flying at him every day. This is life in the Big League. He can handle it. Have faith.

[babylonsister]

19. I know, this will be non-stop. I do wish they'd act more responsibly. nt

[gratuitous]

18. This from the same gang of idiots

Okay, there's nothing in the indictment, Fitzpatrick has said that Obama isn't involved, the evidence presented so far shows that Obama wasn't involved, and Obama has made an unequivocal statement that he wasn't involved; yet, you never know . . . {Cue sinister music over grainy, slow-motion image of Obama walking away from the camera}

And yet, these same ace reporters couldn't quite figure out if Scooter Libby had any connection whatsoever with Dick Cheney, George Bush or the rest of the Bush administration. Oh yeah, we're looking at four more years of fairness and balance.

[EFerrari]

23. Same idiots who tried to sell the wars, Bruce Ivins, Chavez as terrorist,

some kids from West Virginia as spontaneous torturers, rapes that never happened in a flooded NOLA -- yeah, these are the same people. Oh, and Al Gore was boring, Ohio was clean, and Howard Dean is angry!

Authorized Propaganda.

[zbdent]

20. Sheriff: "Well, we know that a crime was committed ... so we're gonna sic the dogs on

an innocent black man who had nothing to do with the crime ..."

Welcome to the turn of the 20th century ...

[Prophet 451]

21. It's going to be Clinton all over again

Remember the Clinton years? The media endlessly repeated every batshit theory the right threw at Bill Clinton (many of them from David Brock who eventually came out and admitted it was all bullshit), the Rethugs trumpeted them as a way of setting up an endless fishing expedition and eventually found one tiny bit of dirt to impeach him over. Brock was entirely honest about the mindset in his autobiography: As far as the right's power brokers were concerned, the public had no business voting in a Democrat and they were determined to bring him down by any and all means necessary.

Well, they're going to do it all over again to Obama. I can guarentee you that there are already Rethugs working out an excuse to impeach Obama; that there's already Rethugs intending to pull a Gingrich and sabotage every little thing they can; that they will filibuster as often as possible.

The Clinton years were a picnic. The next four years are going to be all-out political war.

[EFerrari]

22. I've been thinking the same thing ever since it was clear a Democrat would win.

But this time, we see the f#ckers coming.

[BlooInBloo]

24. **DUers** complaining about how people treat Obama before he gets into office?

Gimme a fucking break.