Here's something you don't see every day: a liberal, female editor of a leading liberal online magazine stating with cameras rolling that most press members "Hate, hate Hillary Clinton."
Yet, that's exactly what occurred Sunday morning when Salon's editor-in-chief Joan Walsh spoke some truths about the media's love affair with Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, as well as their disdain for the former first lady (video embedded right).
Also surprising was Walsh's view of liberal assertions that the Rev. John Hagee is as big an issue for Sen. John McCain's candidacy as Rev. Jeremiah Wright is for Obama's.
But, before we get there, here were Walsh's comments about media bias during this campaign:
I was struck when I got to Iowa and New Hampshire in January by how our media colleagues were just swooning over Barack Obama. That is not too strong a word. They were swooning. I was at a speech, I remember it, I will write about it some day, in Manchester, and every, the biggest names in our business were there, and they were, they could repeat some of his speech lines to one another. It was like a Bruce Springsteen concert where the fans sing along. And, you know, I respected it to some extent. He's a towering political figure. Of our generation, he's probably the best politician, he's inspiring. And, reporters, white reporters, black reporters, reporters of every race, we want to get beyond racism in America. So, he was, he was inspiring, I understood it, they're humans, they responded. The downside though is that they hate, hate Hillary Clinton, most of them. Hate is not too strong a word.
Fascinating. Yet, maybe more so, especially given Frank Rich's column in the New York Times Sunday, were Walsh's not so liberal views concerning Hagee's connection to McCain:
It is a different relationship. Hagee deserves a lot of criticism. But, you know, he's gotten it. McCain deserves more criticism for embracing Hagee and going after his endorsement, but he is not his pastor. So, I really don't think it's comparable.
Wow. I've had my run-ins with Walsh before, but I must say I found her candor and impartiality this morning to be quite refreshing.
Brava.
