Conason - Drudge leads evil GOP sliming of Kerry

[StlMo]

There he goes again!


Matt Drudge and the GOP smear machine
are back in the Democrats' pants.

By Joe Conason


Feb. 13, 2004 | Is American politics suddenly returning to the bad old days, when Washington journalism became frenzied with sheet sniffing and keyhole peeping? That seems to be the default program of the right-wing media machine whenever Republican poll numbers sink into the red zone.

Late Thursday morning -- with George W. Bush's credibility damaged on several fronts as reporters demanded answers to questions about his National Guard service that should have been asked years ago -- the Drudge Report defamed his leading Democratic challenger with a "world exclusive" smudge of personal dirt.

...

Once again, Drudge has raised questions -- but they may not be the ones he seeks to raise. The first is about journalistic standards. The second is the identity of his anonymous sources.

Journalists must ask themselves why the rumor of a private peccadillo deserves their attention and resources in the 2004 campaign. The press faces a more important issue: learning from its own failure to report the false rationale and abused intelligence that drove the nation to war.

...

http://www.salon.com/opinion/conason/2004/02/13/drudge/index.html

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[StlMo]

1. Note to self: (Salon.com publishing dates can be misleading)

Prior post on this article:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=34578

[Skittles]

2. perhaps this crotch-sniffing crap will not work this time

Americans grew mighty weary of the 70,000,000 dollar Clinton witch hunt that produced nothing except the end of an eight year period of peace and prosperity.

[PATRICK]

3. Joe nails it

Although I am interested in what kind of journalist Polier really is too, since she works for AP and I am positive I have seen blatant shilling for the WH position in one of her bylines lately.

This incident is a sign of desperate and rushed weakness on the part of the sleaze GOP machine. Good time to brush it off and get it over with. The only hope they could have had was to stir the fires of the lowest Dem fears and disunity, which I am sad to say has been their main success but I hope a limited one.