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E-mail Will Bunch W's "runaway bride" and the 'gotcha' story that wasn't gotten What planet is Pulitzer Prize-winning Los Angeles Times media critic Davi d Shaw living on? You have to question off the bat any column on journal ism that takes its cue from a speech by Karl Rove.
the me dia has just become too gosh-darned cynical for its own good: Cynicism is the default position in the news media these days. Politicians often do lie and cover up and advance programs for their personal gain rather than the pu blic good. And the journalist's age-old mission to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable is as valid today as it was a century ago, when Finley Peter Dunne first put those words in the mouth of his tavern owner-cum-philosopher Mr Dooley. But some people do go into politics to perform a public service. And even those who are primarily motivated by a lust for power, wealth and/or eg o gratification aren't necessarily thus motivated in everything they do. One often gets that impression from reading and watching the news, though , and that mind-set has helped to poison the political process in many w ays, as Rove (and others) have pointed out.
Mitch Albom, it seems like Shaw filed his Sunday piece too far ahead of time. If he had turned on his TV Saturday night, he might have seen the highlights of his so-c alled media "predators" in action, surrouding their prey -- and doubled over in raccous laughter, not the slightest bit cynical.
White House Correspondent's Association dinner , and unless you just returned this morning from a trek in Kathmandu, yo u've surely seen the video of "Desperate Housewife"-turned-comedienne La ura Bush -- over and over and over. The only break has been the endless blather about a "runaway bride" who has breathlessly captivated the enti re nation by doing something -- just a tad more spectacularly -- that th ousands of Americans, including your blogger, have done before her: Back ed out of a wedding.
The two stories kept looping together, overlapping and back a nd forth, so by the time we left for work we thought that Laura was W's "runaway bride," or something like that.
William Douglas wrote for Knight-Ridd er Newspapers: The first lady's surprise skit brought down the house and illustrates her shifting role in the president's second term -- from a so-called tradit ional first lady whose primary duties were ceremonial, to a more active and visible partner with a meaningful portfolio. Never mind that Laura Bush's monologue was a FAKE NEWS STORY, as real as that yellow-cake uranium in Niger.
a professional joke writer, Landon Parvin, and wou ld have gotten just as much laughs, and would have been just as authenti c, if delivered instead by Jay Leno. In fact, Laura Bush has never seen "Desperate Housewives," although the j oke guaranteed non-stop play on ABC, which has become the 24/7 "Desperat e Housewives" network, airing even more FAKE STORIES about the show to t he point I swear Charlie Gibson thinks Wisteria Lane is a real address h e can pinpoint on a Google map. And Laura Bush telling a scripted joke isn't news anymore than is a troubled woman walking out on a wedding and panicking. There's one striking thing we didn't see on all the First Lady video overkill, and t hat was any of the guffawing journalists -- that pack of predators -- bo lting from their fancy tables to cover a big breaking news story. He started a war on false pretenses, and more than 1 ,500 Americans -- and an untold number of Iraqis -- died.
The story broke right around the time that Laura Bush was telling a joke about he r husband jerking off a horse. If, as Shaw insisted, "'Gotcha' j ournalism is the order of the day," then surely this was the ultimate 'g otcha' story -- the leader of the free world, caught in a bald-faced, an d deadly, lie. That's why we've been anxiously waiting for the American press to pick up and banner the news.
For B lair, Iraq Issue Just Won't Go Away" -- that seems to barely hide the ne wspaper of record's apparent contempt for the issue. And it's being played exclusively as "a Tony Blair story," as if Britain were some kind of bizarro world and the PM's dealings were with some ant i-matter George W Bush, not the real one, that guy over there guffawing in a tuxedo. Maybe the Bush-and-Blair-lied story needed a cute name t hat plays off "Desperate Housewives" or some Julia Roberts movie. If onl y they could have called the scandal "Mystic Memo," or "Sleeping With th e Contrived Enemy." Actually, some of her movies are too perfect a fit - - "Conspiracy Theory," or "Dying Young." Hey, maybe David Shaw was right -- at least for this media predator. Posted on May 2, 2005 08:44 PM Comments Why, oh why, can't we have a competent press corps - instead of a press c orpse?
Susie from Philly at May 2, 2005 10:39 PM But Will, damned near the entire US press corps was in the tank for invad ing Iraq from the get-go. You could tell by how they worked to marginali ze anyone who spoke out against it. Compare this to how they vigorously debated -- and in many cases, opposed -- Clinton's going into Kosovo. Nobody took Arianna Huffington and the Republicans out to the rhetorical woodshed. Nobody ever tried to suggest , as they would later suggest of Michael Moore, Nancy Pelosi, Dennis Kuc inich, and Howard Dean, that opposing the President's decision to go to war made them wackos. I guess this is what happens when one party tried to uphold the FCC's ant i-trust regulations and the other party not only gutted them, but also l owered corporate taxes yet again. Since media conglomerates are big corp orate businesses, they're nowadays much more likely to help the Republic ans (and a few bought-off Democrats) afflict the afflicted and comfort t he comfortable.
Phoenix Woman at May 3, 2005 08:26 AM A Simple Premise: Children are not born to hate, they are taught to hate. Unfortunately, more often than not they use this knowledge in the worst possible way. htm Free streaming audio and lyrics of the song everyone who is passionate ab out politics should hear.
Martin at May 3, 2005 08:31 AM David Shaw lives in a very comfortable home, in a very comfortable sectio n of Los Angeles, and drives a very comfortable car to his very comforta ble office (when he's not commuting from his very comfortable (and tax d eductible) home office. He dresses in very comfortable clothes and dines (very comfortably) with all of his other comfortable peers as well as artists, writers (like the very comfortable roger l simon), and they have very comfortable discuss ions. You can see why he (and his peers) may no longer be interested in afflict ing the comfortable.
First Karl Rove of all people calls somebody else cynical, and then a clueless Putzpuller prizewinner fails to note that healthy skept icism is a key element of worthwhile reporting. Skepticism is not cynicism no matter what your Rogets, or Karl Rove, may say. I long for the day when such a healthy skepticism resurfaces.
jimmyjeff at May 3, 2005 09:06 AM I have to disagree that the focus on Laura is misplaced. Seems to be that it's a big deal when the first lady makes a joke whose v isual punchline is the the image of the President jacking off a horse.
danielua at May 3, 2005 10:10 AM Even though Laura did not write the jokes, she did deliver them well. And I think she established her independence from the Bush Dynasty. She now has George W, her mother in law, father in law, and the rest of the Bus h Dynasty where she wants them. No, the words were not written by her, b ut deep down I think she meant them. After all, isn't humor most effecti ve when it's close to the truth? What she needs as a follow up is an int erview with Jon Stewart's Daily Show. Everytime George W pulls his cornp one act on TV, I'll be visualizing Laura interrupting.
Shag from Brookline at May 3, 2005 10:17 AM The first lady's surprise skit brought down the house and illustrates her shifting role in the president's second term -- from a so-called tradit ional first lady whose primary duties were ceremonial, to a more active and visible partner with a meaningful portfolio. I'm still not seeing how telling some jo...
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