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December 16, 2008
Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc
Admittedly, this could be a post hoc ergo propter hoc. But remember when our favorite hack Mark Halperin -- the very serious merchant of conventional wisdom and ridiculous lists -- complained about how the establishment press was "disgusting" in its alleged support for Barack Obama?
That was only a few weeks prior to the press becoming aggressively obsessed forcably "tainting" the president-elect with Blagojevich's stink -- even though numerous analysts and the special prosecutor, along with an internal Obama transition report, agree that there was no nefarious connection. Strictly a very technical professional communication, not unlike any senator/governor situation.
The crazy train is coming. And unless I'm very wrong, Mark Halperin is one of the conductors.
UPDATE: Mercifully I didn't watch today's episode of Morning Joe. But Yglesias writes about today's show:
Given that [the Morning Joe crew] knew there was no evidence of wrongdoing, they should have ceased implying that there was wrongdoing. But they didn’t do that at all. Not, I would submit, because of any failings on Obama’s part, but because Joe Scarborough, Mika Brzezinski, John Heileman, Mark Halperin, and Pat Buchanan don’t care at all about the accuracy of the impression their coverage gives.
So Halperin was on MSNBC mongering the taint, eh?
Even though I didn't see today's episode, the insufferable Morning Joe panelists (or whatever the hell they're called) have engaged in this taint-mongering since the story broke -- all the while admitting that the president-elect, by all accounts, is innocent of any wrongdoing.
And it's no wonder, given their panel of very serious regulars like the very serious Mark Halperin. Not to mention the influence of NBC's Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker who said last week (paraphrasing), "Obama wants to change the tone in Washington? He couldn't even change the tone in Illinois!" Yep. Your "liberal" cable news network making with the liberalism.
Filed under: Barack Obama || Blagojevich || Cable News || Huffington Post || Joe Scarborough || Mark Halperin || Morning Joe || MSNBC || Obama Transition || Taint || Very Serious
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Posted By Bob Cesca | December 16, 2008 11:23 AM
Comments
And Rove is criticizing Obama for not being transparent enough regarding Blago. Rove avoided questions on his role in the Plame outing for years. I will never understand how this kind of in-your-face hypocrisy is allowed to be spread uncontested by the media. They continue to report it as if the source had some actual validity.
I was hoping the media would change...........
Posted by: LameDuckHunting at December 16, 2008 12:28 PM
Hes not only a conductor he's a rabid zombie conductor frothing at the mouth. The only way to stop him is to do what they did to the zombies in Return Of The Living Dead.
Posted by: JennyDemilo ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.bobcesca.com/nav-commenters.gif)
at December 16, 2008 12:52 PM
You've made a Latin-nerd very happy Bob.
Also, I think "taint-mongerer" just became my new favorite phrase.
Posted by: Rogect8 at December 16, 2008 1:21 PM
From Sam Stein @ Huffpo:
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich sent a rather scathing letter to Mike Duncan on Tuesday, accusing the RNC chairman of engaging in "a destructive distraction" by attempting to tie Barack Obama to Rod Blagojevich. In particular, Gingrich hit the RNC for putting out a web ad that made it seem as if the President-elect was hiding a nefarious chapter of his personal history with the embattled Illinois Governor.
"The RNC should pull the ad down immediately," Gingrich writes.
I wonder what Gingrich's motive is? I can't believe he developed a code of ethics overnight.
Posted by: LameDuckHunting at December 16, 2008 1:52 PM
You missed Joe ranting on to John Harwood about how "all these reporters were sent to Wasilla" but no one was investigating Obama! And couldn't quite grasp that there are more reporters in Chicago than in Wasilla, but that not every reporter covers every story.
I.DI.OT.
Posted by: ceu at December 16, 2008 2:06 PM
The honeymoon is over folks. Get ready for the shit to hit the fan. If it wasn't blago-gate it would have been something else. These people cannot fathom a country without strife that is trying to work through real problems. As long as we pay credence to these miscreants we will give them a voice.
Posted by: willpen at December 16, 2008 3:25 PM
Obama needs to place Rev. Wright and Bill Ayers in the middle of Blago's mess. That would work.
Posted by: MelodyMaker at December 16, 2008 6:59 PM
One more West Wing reference and you get a set of steak knives.
Posted by: Chez at December 16, 2008 8:58 PM
>>One more West Wing reference and you get a set of steak knives.
Yes! And can they be steak knives crafted by a blacksmith named... Paul Revere?
Posted by: Bob_Cesca at December 17, 2008 8:33 AM
