Somerby: The Cult of the Offhand Comment

[depakid]

Sadly, the cult is alive and well at DU. Then again DU is just a message board, not a national network, licensed to profit from the public airwaves in return for serving the public interest.

"Last night’s debate was, in many ways, a high mass staged by priests of that cult. Why, so many offhand comments were flying around that we even revisited Hillary’s cookies! But surely, the evening’s most ludicrous question was the one Shapiro cited. (Sorry—we don’t have a transcript.)

ABC News had traveled about, taping questions from Pennsylvanians. Which question was presented to Obama? A woman asked him to explain why he doesn’t wear a lapel pin.

Should that question have been selected? You can make a case for almost anything.

...But ABC News had less than two hours, and the world is full of complex issues. At some point, journalists have to set their priorities. And by the way: If ABC taped a lot of citizens, surely someone looked into the camera and asked Obama if he’s a Muslim—or if it’s true that he won’t swear on a Bible. Did someone ask Clinton about all her murders? At some point, a news org has to show some judgment about which questions to pick.

In fairness, no misinformation was involved in that woman’s question. Obama doesn’t wear a flag pin, and he once discussed his reasons—probably unwisely. But at some point, news orgs have to judge the value of the questions which get asked.

Obama called it “a manufactured question.” For our money, that may not be great politics, although it’s certainly true (in part). But in one especially clownish recent episode, Republican congressman Jack Kingston appeared on The Abrams Report to discuss Obama’s missing flag pin. Unfortunately, Kingston wasn’t wearing a flag pin himself. This discussion ensued:

KINGSTON (2/27/08): I think that there are these questions that the American people want to know about. I mean, you know, when you listen to why he doesn’t wear an American flag button, it`s a very convoluted answer. And, you know, American flag buttons—I’ve been in politics and you have been around politicians for a long time, Dan. Everybody wears them, from the mayor to county commissioner, to members of Congress to the president.

It’s curious that suddenly, there’s a guy who doesn’t want to do it. And if you put that with the wife’s comment, the first time in her adult life she’s proud of America—you’re running to be the number one cheerleader in the country. So I think these questions aren’t off limits.

ABRAMS: All right. Congressman, first let me ask you—you’re not wearing a lapel pin, are you?

...in a different cultural era, Kingston would have been mocked to the death for showing up without a flag pin to criticize Obama’s lack of a flag pin—and he would have been roasted over hot coals for that last, indefensible comment. But we don’t live in an era like that. We live in this political era—an era in which ABC News decided that the woman’s question was more important than the million global issues they failed to get to in last night’s debate.

“The political media are a broken institution. Hopeless,” Digby wrote last night. This morning, when we went to ABC News to see if they’d posted a transcript, we found this story at the top of their page, with a photo which was simply delicious:

Kim’s Embarrassing Panty Pic
Reality star Kim Kardashian successfully pleads with "pap" to erase picture.

More: http://www.dailyhowler.com/