Greider (Nation/P.I.): Dean's brand of politics given a rough ride... [View All]

[regnaD kciN]

In 40 years of observing presidential contests, I cannot remember another major candidate brutalized so intensely by the media, with the possible exception of George Wallace. Howard Dean contributed some fatal errors of his own, to be sure, but he also brought fresh air and new ideas, a crisp call to revitalize the Democratic Party and at least the outlines of deeper political and economic reforms.

The reporters, as surrogate agents for Washington's insider sensibilities, blew him off. Dean's big mistake was in not recognizing, up front, that the media are very much part of the existing order and were bound to be hostile to his provocative kind of politics. To be heard, clearly and accurately, he would have had to find another channel.

For the record, reporters and editors deny that this occurred. Privately, they chortle over their accomplishment. At the Washington airport I ran into a bunch of them, including some old friends from long-ago campaigns, on their way to the next contest after Iowa.

So, I remarked, you guys saved the Republic from the doctor. Yes, they assented with giggly pleasure, Dean was finished -- though one newsmagazine correspondent confided the coverage would become more balanced once they went after Sen. John Kerry. Only Paul Begala of CNN demurred. "I don't know what you're talking about," Begala said, blank-faced. Nobody here but us gunslingers.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/161239_focus22.html