During the two minutes between Roland Martin and Jeffrey Toobin’s two attacks on Sarah Palin after her speech at the Republican convention on Wednesday night, veteran journalist Carl Bernstein also criticized Republicans, since in his view, the Alaska governor’s speech demonstrated "that the Republican Right is running this election." CNN correspondent John King then reacted to Bernstein’s assessment, and offered some constructive criticism of the difference in coverage between the two conventions: "...[L]anguage matters in what we do, and I don't necessarily disagree with the point of what Carl was saying -- but we do speak a different language when we talk about this party [the Republican Party], and I think that's why we're often criticized." He then scolded the media in terms of labeling:
KING: To say the Right is running the Republican campaign -- if that means these people are the Right, then Carl's exactly right. But we didn't say, during the Democratic convention... all those delegates down on the floor -- you know, many of them were members of the Left.
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Bernstein, after making his "Republican Right" comment, labeled Palin a "cultural warrior," and continued using the mantra in the press about the governor’s qualifications: "[S]he showed she's going to be a great cultural warrior, which is something very different than a qualified vice president. She might be a great Republican Secretary of the Interior -- 'drill, drill, drill' -- but ask the question -- and I think the Democrats will ask this -- suppose something happens to -- were to happen to John McCain between now and the election. Would this be the Republicans' candidate for President of the United States? At some point, we're going to go back to the qualification question."
The veteran journalist then issued a lament of the "culture warrior" aspect to Palin’s speech: "A great cultural warrior speech -- the tragedy of this election might be that we have now returned in this country to the cultural warfare that John McCain, above all other politicians in this country, said had to end, as has Barack Obama, and now, it looks like we're really fighting it out."
John King then made his "language" remark, and went into detail about his point: "To say the Right is running the Republican campaign -- if that means these people are the Right, then Carl's exactly right. But we didn't say, during the Democratic convention, the teachers' unions and the SEIU and the AFL-CIO -- are they running the Obama campaign? And all those delegates down on the floor -- you know, many of them were members of the Left."
In response to King, co-host Anderson Cooper added an additional observation along the same lines, which CNN senior political analyst Gloria Borger agreed with:
ANDERSON COOPER: I will also say I didn't hear people talking about who was the speech writer for any of the Democrats' speeches.
GLORIA BORGER: Right.
COOPER: It seem we're only highlighting who the speech writer is for her speech.
—Matthew Balan is a news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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I've always liked John
September 4, 2008 - 01:57 ET by MikeknaJI've always liked John King, and now it makes sense - it's not just because he gets to play with that cool video board. He's kind of like the CNN Chuck Todd.
He always seems to try and play it down the middle, which is what you should do. I honestly have no idea what his political leanings are, and that's one of the highest compliments you can pay someone in the media these days.
"Look, when Keith anchors, he plays it straight down the line.”
-MSNBC President Phil Griffin
http://www.xanga.com/mikeknaj
Yes it's all about the 'language".
September 4, 2008 - 01:58 ET by mastersofdeceitYes it's all about the 'language".
That was kind of the point I was trying to make here.
They throw our "hard right" etc, or "an attack on________ (fill in blank with whatever the theme is that you're trying to influence public opinion)
My jaw actually dropped at this post.
mastersofdeceit..
September 4, 2008 - 10:28 ET by Gary HallIt's as if the MSM reporterrs are sitting there with their shoulders pulled in - they appear uncomfortable in their skin with Republicans all around them - don't want to get any of it on them.
And kodoos to John King for his little effort, but this statement..
.. come-on John, spit it out, will ya - was a wee bit weak... "but we didn't say... uh uh uh uh you know, many were members of the left." No John. You folks didn't, and you don't, say dozens and dozens of things, labels, smears, etc., that are said in almost every single discussion about the R's, when you are at a D(ic) event. But why could you not bring your self to simply say, "We didn't label them the "left wing," at every turn. We didn't express fear at what they are at every turn." (;~> gary
Amazing
September 4, 2008 - 02:19 ET by well99John King means there is still a few real journalist out there.Kudos to Anderson.Also on Fox Mort and the gal on tonights panel mentioned about speech writers and Bret called them on it.No one mentioned speech writers during Dems or any other Repubs speech.
From MenaceNBC, what do expect?
September 4, 2008 - 02:39 ET by spiderdanI almost tuned into MenaceNBC tonight just to see how these imbeciles would react. Since I boycott NBC across the board -- even football, as much as it might hurt -- I will defer to those of you willing to subject yourself to the gutteral spew of Olbermann and company.
Since many in the media believe they have some "influence" on gullible viewers, legitimate and informed Americans should fully expect septic tank dwellers -- Matthews, Olbermann, et. al. -- to be defensive and publicly nonchalant about obvious attacks on their dubious agenda and betrayal of basic journalism to promote that agenda.
They'll lose another presidential campaign -- just as they ushered in the defeats of the past two extraordinarily flawed Democratic candidates. We can only hope a new generation of legitimate journalists will occupy these seats and provide unfiltered reports of news and events, stressing facts, not their personal bias or opinion.
John King: "But we didn't
September 4, 2008 - 04:10 ET by TEJohn King: "But we didn't say, during the Democratic convention, the teachers' unions and the SEIU and the AFL-CIO ...."
Either King is completely ignorant of the Democrat party or he is fraudulently disguising Democrat delegates as merely a bunch of union members. The delegates to the Democrat's convention were almost entirely members of the pagan and atheist left, the Marxists, the socialists, the tree huggers, the earth worshippers, the race baiters, the feminists and/or the fundamentalist homosexualists. That's the Democrat party, especially their delegates.
John King is tops
September 4, 2008 - 07:49 ET by mitchfloridaI really do respect John King. .. would like to see him take over Meet the Press on NBC . . That would be a good catch for them
Bernstein can't get over
September 4, 2008 - 06:11 ET by midnight cowboyBernstein can't get over his 15 minutes of fames ended in the 70's. His response to Palin's speech was ready before she delivered it.
She showed she's going to be a great cultural warrior, which is something very different than a qualified vice president.
Palin never mentioned anything about cultural or social issues in her speech. Bernstein is just an old bitter Washington journalist hack whose only claim to fame was that a Nixon turncoat spoon fed him the dirt on Nixon. Boy that's tough investigative reporting Carl. Too bad you lost your retirement package when "deep throat" revealed himself" What a loser.
Bernstein is wrong
September 4, 2008 - 14:31 ET by Captain KirockHey Cowboy, I totally agree. There has always been a perception (maybe unfair) that Bernstein rode Woodward's coat tails.
Also, Bernstein is wrong: if, as he put is, the extreme right/conservatives were controlling the GOP, John McCain would not be the candidate right now.
Bill Hemmer made the jump
September 4, 2008 - 09:03 ET by d1carterBill Hemmer made the jump from CNN to Fox News. Is it getting so bad that John King may be looking to jump off that sinking ship. CNN and NBC have now lost all credibility.
The liberal media have gone
September 4, 2008 - 12:22 ET by deerjerkydaveThe liberal media have gone way over the line with Sarah Palin. When we see people like John King call his colleagues on it, it shows how bad its really become.
It's good to see some journalists at least slightly concerned about their integrity or the integrity of their news organization. We need more of it.