Yay, Politico named you to a perfectly arbitrary list! Look, I don’t have any serious problems with Rep. Edwards and she has so far demonstrated the kind of values I want to see in my Rep. that we weren’t seeing in Al Wynn. But trumpeting insidery lists from Politico is the path to faildom. Politico, in the larger sense of people in congress working for us, does not matter one bit. In fact, its an impediment to getting things done in congress thanks to the noise it shoots out.

Members of congress shouldn’t be trumpeting it when Politico lauds them. In fact, the less Politico is involved in congress, the better for democracy.

Now, of course, Mrs. Obama is doing the thing First Ladies have done from time immemorial, drawing vital media and public attention to issues they think need to be highlighted. Laura Bush did it, Hillary Clinton did it, Barbara Bush did it, etc.

There’s really nothing new here. But I guess Henderson has her Politico b.s. quota to fill so she’s got to write a story (always critical of the Obamas, as the Politico does) to whip up questions that nobody besides congressional bobos like Darrel Issa are asking.

People like Nia-Malika Henderson make me cheer for the oncoming death of the mainstream media to happen in double time.

It’s like George W. Bush giving a lecture on competence with a straight face.

The reality: Oh, Bill Clinton is the first person to become an ex-president in the 21st century, you say? The funds being used are federally marked out so ex-presidents aren’t pushed to become Viagra pitchmen? The main complainer about this is a right-wing pressure group (the “National Taxpayers Union”)?

Give me a freaking break.

And it likely won’t be the last. The urge to get things out to Drudge and Co. trumps the need to actually practice journalism.

When asked about the House Democratic leadership, Rove said: “This last election was a very close election, and I think they misread the results. They think they’ve got some mandate to raise taxes and blow up the budget. It’s just unbelievably out of touch with reality.”

Karl Rove, October of 2006:

When host Robert Siegel pointed out to Rove that major public opinion polls showed Democrats with a significant advantage over Republicans during an October 24 interview broadcast on NPR’s All Things Considered, Rove told Siegel, “You may end up with a different math, but you’re entitled to your math, I’m entitled to the math.” Rove also said, “I’m looking at all these [races], Robert, and adding them up, and I add up to a Republican Senate and Republican House.”

As usual, Mike Allen – who has professed his admiration for conservatives like Matt Drudge and Hugh Hewitt and who called Democrats “bloodthirsty dogs” – didn’t bother to ask Rove what orifice he pulls his “analysis” out of. Mike Allen just wrote it down like the good little worshipful White House stenographer he is, then sauntered away satisfied with his big “get”.

Well I Do Declare!

Regardless of what you think Fred Thompson is (I think he’s just another Republican no-nothing know-nothing who has nothing to offer America), the fact of the matter is that the right is falling all over themselves in praise of him and he’s beginning to lead in polls. The press and the right would like to have the old-style Democratic party, the one that lets the right and the media do all the talking and all the definition of the players in an election.

They have written the script and the Howard Dean-led DNC has the nerve to not play along, because that’s the sort of behavior that previously lost us the House, Senate, and White House. The establishment, in this case The Politico and The GOP doesn’t like it when the left fights back. They hate it when we simply show up because they start losing.

They would rather the DNC not have a research operation that simply does what the RNC’s operation did in the past. It would be much more amenable to the Politico and Mike Allen, much more “civil” if the Democrats would just be a dear and lie down and play dead.

It isn’t going to happen.

Get a room.

The Politico’s chief political correspondent, Mike Allen, has a problem. He loves conservatives. Conservative bloggers, conservative talk show hosts. He acts like a lovelorn puppy dog when he’s around them. A few weeks ago Allen couldn’t stop humping Matt Drudge’s leg, now he moves on to Hugh Hewitt.

Imagine if a supposedly neutral news reporter said that his favorite blog was Daily Kos, or that his favorite pundit was Atrios. It might cause you to doubt his neutrality, and for good reason. Yet along comes Mike Allen on Hugh Hewitt’s radio show and he gushes over former Bush/Cheney web guru and Giuliani hire Patrick Ruffini, while also professing his love for Hewitt’s blog. Furthermore, he takes the McCain spin about their fundraising as gospel, as if the Lord himself had dispatched the information.

Mike Allen: Well, we can’t know that, because I agree with what Patrick Ruffini wrote today on one of my favorite blogs, Hughhewitt.com, that money doesn’t tell you everything. But it does tell you a lot of important things, including, as I mentioned, the quality of the organization. Now what we got from Senator McCain’s campaign today was straight talk. They were frank about the fact that they did not do as well as they should have, or wanted to. Maybe it’s a little like the President saying he’s not satisfied with progress in Iraq. It’s kind of a no duh, right? But they were forthright about that. Senator McCain, before he went to Iraq on camera, was forthright about saying he was not satisfied with it. They are taking steps to change it, and so I think that his supporters will appreciate that, and I think that that was what people expected from Senator McCain.

Mike Allen is just the latest quiver in the conservative arsenal. And he’s one of The Politico’s “studs” on their journalistic ranch.

Stop the presses!

Mike Allen is now quickly becoming the poster boy for the failure of the mainstream press. They’ve spent over a decade now being so indoctrinated into the right wing noise machine that they carry its water without even noticing. Allen thinks that with one side of his mouth he can tout himself as an unbiased reporter, then on the other side make fat jokes about Al Gore, describe Barack Obama as living in a bubble, and in general do the work of the RNC and get the Politico traffic from Matt Drudge.

This is not journalism. It isn’t objective reporting of the facts. It’s dishing nonsense in order to placate a political party and movement, and the Politico and Mike Allen are serving them up fat, slow, and over the plate.

MORE COVERAGE:
>> Drudge flagged Obama hit piece on Politico — which presented admittedly “trivial” inconsistencies — apparently one hour before it was posted
>> Drudge and the Politico — poisonously joined at the hip
>> Hell Hath No Fury Like Mike Allen Scorned
>> Rookie mistakes plague The Politico
>> Thanks for the lessons, Politico!
>> A Bad Week For The Politico

PREVIOUSLY:
>> The Politico’s Mike Allen: Democrats Are Bloodthirsty Dogs, Gushes Over Fox News & Matt Drudge, Makes Fat Jokes About Al Gore

The Politico, the hot new DC insider publication, hypes itself like this: “journalism that insists on the primacy of facts over ideology”.

So Mike Allen (e-mail here), the publication’s “chief political correspondent” and a certified member of the beltway cocktail club set, appears on Matt Drudge’s syndicated radio program. Ok, fine. Drudge reaches an audience and Allen’s function is to get the Politico’s name out there. But then, this man who is supposedly a top person at a publication that isn’t just another partisan outlet proceeds to sound like any other right-wing hitman. Allen calls Democrats bloodthirsty for having the nerve to serve their oversight function. He squeals like a schoolgirl with a crush when he tells conservative gossipmonger Matt Drudge that Drudge is an idol and someone he sets as his home page in order to take direction from, then he gushes about the success of Fox News’ propaganda network. Then the cherry on top, Allen simply dismisses the substance of why former Vice President Al Gore is testifying in front of congress on global warming – why bother, there are fat jokes to be made, and attacks on Gore’s speaking style to be done.

This isn’t the first time Allen and the Politico have carried water for the right. And it won’t be the last, but this is the sort of “journalism” that passes for being fair in the modern world. You’ve got to kick Democrats in the teeth and kiss the rear end of Republicans in order to be seen as “serious”.

Something smells.

UPDATE: As a follow up, listen to CNN’s Ed Henry on The Ed Schultz Show. Henry reports the news, doesn’t slag either party, and doesn’t suck up to Schultz.

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