Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
All reporters have their biases. We have to work hard to keep them in check. The fact is that a good reporter will work overtime to fairly cover the folks he's naturally biased against. But good reporters can be hard to find when it comes to covering GOP candidates, it seems.
The good news is that we needed only wait until the first full day of Rick Perry's presidential campaign to learn that the media utterly reviles him. And, as Jennifer Rubin notes, "the secret is out.. the honesty is refreshing actually." It is refreshing. And it's helpful. And we don't need to pretend that they're objective or even remotely rational when it comes to covering the Texas Governor. Saves us all some time.
But still, you have to check out the complete meltdown that folks had over Perry's comments on monetary policy. Here are those comments as reported by ABC News:
Texas Gov. Rick Perry capped off his first full day of campaigning in Iowa on Monday by suggesting that if the Federal Reserve prints more money between now and November 2012 it would be akin to an act of treason.
“If this guy prints more money between now and the election,” Perry said, “I don’t know what y’all would do to him in Iowa, but we -- we would treat him pretty ugly down in Texas. Printing more money to play politics at this particular time in American history is almost treacherous -- or treasonous in my opinion.”
He added, “We’ve already tried this. All it’s going to be doing is devaluing the dollar in your pocket and we cannot afford that. We have to learn the lessons of the past three years that they’ve been devastating. The President of the United States has conducted an experiment on the American economy for almost the last three years, and it has gone tragically wrong and we need to send him a clear message in November of 2012 that new leadership is coming.”
Now you might think that coming off a month where everyone to the right of Olympia Snowe was being called a terrorist in the pages of the New York Times, this statement wouldn't get much coverage. You would be wrong.
Here's the New York Times Washington correspondent Binyamin Appelbaum:
Perry's remarks (abcn.ws/pQ1isc) about Bernanke are horrifying. Full stop. This is a major party presidential candidate?
Well, I know that there are folks on the left who are making sure to condemn Perry's comments (some compared him to the Norwegian mass murderer, for instance, and no I am not joking) -- but pardon me if I sense a bit of inconsistency in the coverage. And I say that as a former neighbor of the Bernankes who thinks Perry's off-the-cuff comments should have been tempered and more considered.
Now, I don't follow Binyamin Appelbaum on Twitter. Maybe he wrote something similarly overwrought when Joe Biden was calling elected House members terrorists. I don't know. But I doubt it.
But how do you even pretend to be impartial after going all 8th-grade-girl-melodrama in response to his comments? The media have perfected the art of Macaca (that's where you write 28 front-page stories in a row about a "controversy" that no one cares about in order to hurt a candidate). But in order for that bias to work, you can't come out of the gate and flip out over someone criticizing the Fed's printing of money. Whether Perry was pandering to Paul voters or not, it's a real issue that people care about.
With so very many of my friends and family members out of work right now, I wish DC journalists were 1/10th as concerned about our sick economy and sky-high unemployment rate as Perry's views on Bernanke.
(h/t for headline to the great @ExJon, which inspired EJHill to give Mr. Appelbaum his own fainting couch above.)
- Comment (12)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (1)
Comments:
Apr '11
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
Is it possible the American voting public has become enured to this sort of thing? The press has been in crisis mode, characterizing any critic of The One as a barely veiled neo-Nazi for 4 years now.
Dec '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
I am originally from Pennsylvania and don't know the lingo of west Texas very well but I don't think "treat him pretty ugly" means what Mr. Appelbaum thinks it means.
They should pace themselves. They'll find a controversy they can gin up over the months ahead, they don't have to make one up yet.
I like the imagery of the fainting couches. I'm going to use it myself.
Dec '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
Another reason to like Perry: the press doesn't.
If they're fer it; I'm agin it. If they're agin it; I'm fer it.
May '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
Perry is certainly starting to grow on me. I feel instinctively that it's all an act, but he doesn't have any major issues in his record that would lead me to believe he is completely insincere (unlike Romney).
May '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
Mollie - I am ashamed of you. Mr. Applebaum obviously has a "condition" and needs his couch.
Dec '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
OK, this might not go over too well, but I see Perry as the Mirror, Mirror version of Bill Clinton.
First, he very much loves people just as Clinton did. He's a back-slapper and very salt-of-the-earth. He genuinely loves mixing it with people and is very comfortable at a state fair.
Second, he is a ruthless political animal. He knows where to twist the knife and how to navigate the waters. He also knows a good metaphor.
But, the differences are: He seems to be a genuine conservative, even when he was supporting the only reasonably conservative Democrat left in 1988, before he went all crazy (Al Gore).
He doesn't seem to have Clinton's libido problems, although there are those rumors that he's gay, based on...nothing, actually.
There is a no parallel to this one, though: Perry's nemesis is a corrupt trial lawyer.
That's pretty good as far as I'm concerned.
Oct '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
The fainting couch description is far more than amusing. A more prudent approach might be an investment in some popcorn and beverages while watching the show unfold. Try to learn something from the script.
Lemming like behaviors have proven of late to solve very little. Painfully amusing to watch though.
Sep '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
At least we can be pretty sure he won't offer one of those fake apologies.
Sep '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
At least we can be pretty sure he won't offer one of those fake apologies.
Feb '11
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
I concur. I'm just back from a visit to the slums at Huff Post.
Definitely, fainting works -- only, it's gotta be the hysterical kind, with high-pitched screeching, profuse sweating, and a red face like a pimple about to burst. The one fainting also has to be a certified member of the best and brightest (picture works, good choice).
These Huff Post progressives, are they always like this in their native habitat? Or perhaps this was an orgiastic mating ritual? For being vile bigots, they're surprisingly well informed about others: I'd not known, e.g., that the GOP had recently mandated diets of cat food for the elderly. That's good to know.
Jun '10
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
Great headline. Great picture. Great post.
Re: Reporters Wear Out Their Fainting Couches On Rick Perry's First Full Campaign Day
I see that Mr. Appelbaum's views on the size and scope of government -- and how that relates to the economy -- are also noteworthy: