THE STUMP MARCH 27, 2012
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I'm not sure this is sign number one, but it definitely makes my top ten list. Over at National Review, Charlotte Hays sides with New York Times reporter Jeff Zeleny in his now-notorious exchange with the former Pennsylvania senator:
On the video of Rick Santorum’s lashing out at Times reporter Jeff Zeleny, Zeleny appears to be trying to do something we wish more reporters would do: ask the follow-up question. He wants to make sure he heard right: Did Santorum really say that Mitt Romney is the “worst Republican in the country” to go up against Obama? Face contorted with rage, Santorum insisted he was only making the charge that Romney is the worst Republican to confront Obama on the issue ofhealth care. (This is a big difference?) The video of Santorum’s response is like a car wreck: You can’t stop looking at it. Alas for Santorum, the outburst doesn’t come across as a mischievous, Newt-like attempt to pick a fight he knows he will win with a member of the media. Santorum’s anger appears all too genuine. Coming on the heels of this performance, Santorum has let it be known that he’d take second place on a Romney ticket. Is Mount Vesuvius not available?
I disagree somewhat--to me it looks more like Santorum is trying to gin up a fight and use Zeleny as a Gingrich-like foil. But that's really beside the point. When National Review starts elevating the Times as a model of reporting protocol at the expense of a GOP candidate--the item's headline is "The Reporter Did the Right Thing"--it's probably time for said candidate to consider dropping out.
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6 comments
Hold out for Secretary of Health and Human Services, Rickster. I for one look forward to the posters captioned "Knock that off or you'll go blind". I leave it to you good people to suggest what the picture on the poster might be.
- Tristan
March 27, 2012 at 1:16pm
Oh PLEASE don't let the GOP win in November. The thought of any of these fools with a shred of power is deeply alarming. PS about time a reporter did the right thing; these guys should have been nailed to the wall ages ago but, instead, we've been playing this stupid game called "Fair and Balanced," in which an elaborate theater of the absurd has been enacted and they've been treated and presented as normal, which they are not. They make the British Right look like Marx.
- Sophia
March 27, 2012 at 1:33pm
Tristan...the first poster going up is that tried and true poster of uncle sam point straight at you with the caption - 'Uncle Sam Wants You! (to stop wasting precious seed)'
- singlspeed
March 27, 2012 at 2:07pm
Yeah, my first thought was that Santorum had a point, a reason to be defensive around the press there, but then I realized that the reporter was essentially on the side of Santorum, asking a follow-up in order to get clarification, which would be to Santorum's benefit. There was no presence of anti-journalistic bias, only an open interrogative prompt, and Santorum blew it by responding with a clear [and profane] example of his natural [Palin-like] desire to project what he *thinks* all NY Times reporters are trying to do to him. It was merely a verbal question, not a published article that misquotes him, and Santorum's incongruous response should embarrass him while emboldening reporters to be more probing.
- Konstantin
March 27, 2012 at 3:07pm
Konstantin, that's correct. Santorum's outburst reinforces the adage that there's no such thing as a bad question, only a bad answer. Santorum specializes in bad answers. Dan
- dbuck1
March 28, 2012 at 8:59am
Funny to compare Newt and Rick's ginned-up confrontations with the news media. Gingrich is all faux-outrage, with the pompous, orotund pronouncements about how the news media focus on such useless trivia or ask such a patently unfair questions that they would NEVER dare ask a liberal, etc, etc. It really resembles nothing so much as a (very fat) cat playing with a stuffed mouse, in which all the rage is primarily for entertainment rather than survival. Santorum, on the other hand, just comes off as an embittered whiner. Maybe it's because Newt has more experience in the "Let's Attack the Liberal Media" game than Santorum, but this exchange really doesn't do much for Santorum as far as anyone is concerned.
- wildboy
March 28, 2012 at 3:11pm