arianna huffington is not news
by Jeremy P. Jacobs
Published: May 10, 2008
It what will likely be remembered as one of the most ridiculous and unproductive story lines of this campaign, the New York Times dedicated a good chunk of a page Friday morning to whether John McCain voted for George W. Bush in 2000. For those readers unfamiliar with the story, conservative-cum-liberal Arianna Huffington said last week that McCain, at a Los Angeles dinner party just after the 2000 election, said he did not vote for Bush. The story picked up speed as Bradley Whitford and Richard Schiff, two actors who starred on the Emmy-winning “West Wing” television series, said they were also at the dinner and heard the same thing.
The McCain camp has, predictably, responded forcefully. “She’s a flake and a poser and an attention-seeking diva,” Mark Salter, a McCain strategist, told The Washington Post.
Let’s put aside Whitford and Schiff’s remarks, both of whom have donated large sums of money to the Democratic candidates this year. Salter’s assessment of Huffington isn’t far off. Since before her liberal conversion, Huffington is known for saying whatever she thinks her audience wants to hear. Clearly, her remarks on McCain’s vote in 2000 are welcome fodder at her Huffington Post, a safe haven for selective, liberal-biased news. Let us not forget that the Huffington Post was founded as the liberal alternative to the Drudge Report.
So why did the New York Times dedicate nearly a third of a page to this story, which at best deserves a short entry on a liberal blog? There is no way to verify who McCain voted for in 2000. Let me repeat that: there is no way of actually determining who McCain voted for. The truth, the object of journalism, is unattainable here.
Moreover, even if McCain did say he didn’t vote for Bush, who is to say he wasn’t just playing to his company at table, which was clearly liberal (something with which Huffington should be able to empathize)? And, couldn’t McCain have just forgotten who he voted for? (He is old.)
As I am writing this, MSNBC is running a segment with “McCain: I voted for President Bush” on the graphic at the bottom of the screen. It is no wonder the public is frustrated with the press. The current relationship between the press and the public is at best strained and at worst volatile. I received angry e-mails from several friends of mine over articles and columns I wrote last week that, to these readers, unfairly criticized Barack Obama. At the same time, the press holds the public in disregard for the rapid rise of blogs and “citizen” journalists who purport to know how to practice journalism.
If journalists want to regain the trust of the public, we need to return to focusing on deeper reporting on issues that matter. Sure, there has been little difference between Obama and Clinton on the issues, so it is understandable that their campaign strategies have been the focus of much of the coverage this primary season. And sure, a newspaper’s primary task is to provide a record of each day’s developments in the campaign. But with the Democratic nomination all but wrapped up, now would be a good time to start discussing the vast policy differences between Obama and McCain - how about we start with, oh, I don’t know, Iraq? Or how about the economy?. And this Huffington comment isn’t a development in the campaign, it is conjecture from an attention-starved liberal blowhard trying to get in the newspapers. And it worked.
Every election year, I pray that the media does a better job covering the presidential race, which is an enormous and difficult undertaking. If Arianna Huffington and Matt Drudge continue to play a substantial role in influencing news coverage this year, it’s safe to say this will be the worst year yet for the press.
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(15)
May 10th, 2008 at 6:38 pm
Good stuff!
There’s a fine line between news, commentary, and yammering. This generally falls into the later category; pointless rambling whereby someone tries to set someone else up so they can exclaim “gotcha!”
Miss Huffington is a fairly well spoken woman who can often raise a good point, but this is clearly not one of them. She had to know there’s no way to legally determine if this is true, other than what McCain might say (Which, as you mentioned, could be no more than pandering to a crowd), so why bring it up? Certainly not in the interest of journalistic integrity, so one has to search for other reasons she might have brought this up.
Unfortunately, even finding an ulterior motive for the report in question is difficult - Did she share this statement to hurt McCain? One could imagine that it would help him! But, she’s probably less than inclined to seeing him as the Big Cheese, so why? To weaken the Republican party and make it more difficult for them to unify behind him? To create the image of a backstabber, someone who is less “maverick” and more “maniac?”
Like the number of licks to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know.
May 11th, 2008 at 6:24 pm
Not only is this a terrible non-issue (well captured, by the way) who could really blame him? In 2000, G.W. Bush sunk his primary bid by painting his adoption of a needy child as an illegitimate affair with a black woman. That’s like voting for the kid who gives you wedgies in the class president race.
But really, can you blame the news media? They have so much time on their hands to cover so little.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:47 am
What’s interesting about the coverage is that there’s no way for McCain to look good while addressing it. He has to either alienate the moderates (whom he’s been working to alienate since 2004) or the GOP. I think his best bet would be to just plead the fifth and say “None of your business!” like he ethically should. Let’s see how he handles it.
Take it away, John:
“I voted for Bush in 2000 and 2004. And not only that, far more important than a vote, I campaigned everywhere in America for him. I enjoyed it. I campaigned with him. I did everything I could to get him elected and re-elected president.”
Ouch!
He might as well go on to say that the whole Bush presidency was his idea in the first place and it was the most fun he’s had while in office.