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Amazing: The AP issues a biased birth announcement

Submitted by Ironman on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 21:37
in

Congratulations are in order for Bristol Palin and Levi Johnson, who have welcomed a son into the world. 

As for the Associated Press, not so much....

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081230/ap_on_re_us/bristol_palin_baby

ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The teenage daughter of Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, whose quest for the vice presidency began to go downhill the day she announced the pregnancy, has given birth to a son, a magazine reported Monday

Hmm, the daughter's news came out before this event, which the Associated Press seemed to think went pretty well for the Alaska Governor

 http://www.ksl.com/?nid=155&sid=4180481

NEW YORK (AP) - Barack Obama apparently isn't the only "rock star" in presidential politics this year.

After days of intense media coverage about Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin's qualifications, more than 40 million Americans tuned in Wednesday to see for themselves what they thought of her.

The huge audience for Palin's acceptance speech rivaled that for Obama's address at the Democratic National Convention six days earlier, and set a tough standard for the top of her own ticket. John McCain was to accept the GOP presidential nomination on Thursday.

You know, it might have been classy to have avoided a political cheap shot in a birth announcement. It might have been professional to have at least made an accurate statement in taking a shot. I think most rational observers would have identified the Katie Couric interview as the point where Governor Palin's fortunes waned......but maybe that doesn't fit the narrative the elite media want to promote.

You see, no one with Sarah Palin's background and family was supposed to get this far. Now, if her maiden name was Kennedy, I'm sure this story would have been written a slight bit differently.

We are going to have to work overtime to keep the AP from trying to put anything positive about the Republican party and its candidates in the Orwellian "memory hole" over the next few years. Even if it means using a birth annoucement as a partisan hit piece.

 

   

 

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Have to agree with you

Submitted by acinphx on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 21:55.

I'm not a fan of Governor Palin and don't generally buy into a lot of the "elite media" paranoia that's bandied around (too Rush Limbaugh for this libertarian/moderate) but even I have to agree that the AP's announcement is ridiculous and demeaning to the girl.  An inaccurate description of the pregnancy's purported ties to her mother's political fortunes is a gratuitous cheap shot.

I disagree, though, that it was Sarah Palin's background and family that damaged her candidacy, at least for me.  It was her own lack of interest in and knowledge of national and international issues that made her unacceptable to me, and her willingness to repeatedly recite falsehoods about her record in Alaska long after her claims were disproven by credible sources.  There have been many candidates, and presidents, of humble origins and that in itself is not a disqualifier.  I think you do her and the party a disservice in promoting the idea that it was her background and family that concerned many voters, including Republicans.  I think it's more useful to recognize her real shortcomings and if she's smart, she'll recognize that her future viability in a general election depends on convincing voters beyond the base and do the hard work needed to prepare herself.  Note that I did not call her stupid, just uneducated in critical and complex issues.  Whether she decides to educate herself will determine her future political fortunes.   

You're right her humble

Submitted by T D Williams on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 22:30.

You're right her humble origins were not a disqualifier for the American people.  That's why 45% of the electorate voted for her.  (Same thing happened with Ronald Reagan.  Media didn't like him.  He was dumb, went to a downscale college, and was a B actor.  The American people, however, loved Reagan.)

The political elites and the media didn't like an upstart from Alaska, and a woman at that.  She didn't give them a tingle up their leg.  So, they bash her every chance the get.

Lincoln faced something similar.  The New York Times sniffed at Lincoln's success in taking the nomination away from their favorite, Seward, who was bright, college educated, and part of the approved political establishment.  Honest Abe was just, well, "[t]he youngster who, with ragged trousers, used barefoot to drive his father’s oxen and spend his days in splitting rails . . . ."

Your comment seems to agree

Submitted by acinphx on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 22:53.

Your comment seems to agree with and substantiate mine, that it was not her background and family that were most damaging.  It also seems to substantiate that there are better uses of time and effort than rantng excessively about the "elite" and the media when there are numerous instances of candidates being elected despite the fact that the existing "elite" were not supporters.  I just think time is better spent discussing and honing policy, messages and candidates.  For me, and many I know of all political persuasions, the obsessive ranting about the media and "elites" just sounds like a lot of resentful whining and has been carried to a point that it seems many in the GOPare demonizing people simply for being educated, like the mere fact of being educated makes one an "elite" and therefore suspect or unwelcome.  It's time to get out and find creative ways of addressing issues and reaching voters with a meaningful message!!  I also can't understand it from the perspective that the influence of newspapers and major media outlets is clearly, and rapidly, declining.

actually, I was just noting you agreed the AP got it wrong

Submitted by Ironman on Tue, 12/30/2008 - 06:33.

For Wicca's sake, elitism is alive and well among liberals and especially the media.  I live 16 miles from Yale and they are insufferable. I'm rather sick and tired of the concept that your value as an individual is whether some Ivy League admissions officer took a shine to some essay you wrote as a 17 year old; or in way too many cases ( for both parties) the "Fred Dorfman" rule kicked in.

well, whatever her shortcomings

Submitted by Ironman on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 22:03.

I think a story about the birth of her grandchild was a really sleazy way for the press to raise them.  I'm sure there will be plenty of future opportunities to critique Governor Palin. The decision of the press to choose this venue confirms all the stereotypes they have so richly earned, however.  

Looks like

Submitted by Warner Todd Huston on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 22:44.

Looks like the AP excised the special "downhill" comment because your link now does not have that word in it.

they are the professional press of course, they have standards

Submitted by Ironman on Mon, 12/29/2008 - 22:48.

like editing their stories after the first version already goes to press