The story filed by Politico's Jennifer Epstein after President Barack Obama's campaign appearance in Upper Marlboro, Maryland yesterday seemed evenhanded enough.
Unlike Josh Lederman at the Associated Press, who, as I noted yesterday, failed to report that it happened at all, Epstein even got around to describing how many of those in attendance left the event early: "... once the president started speaking, the crowd began streaming out, a few at first, but then by the dozen once Obama was about 10 minutes into his talk. Still, the vast majority of the large crowd stayed for the full event." However, given that Time's Zeke Miller described "a traffic jam next to the pool's tables as folks tried to exit the gym," Epstein may still have been sandbagging her readers. More remarkably in a 6 p.m. tweet, she acted like a frustrated campaign worker instead of like the reporter she allegedly is (HT Twitchy):
Well, here's an idea for Jen, who clearly was not the only reporter who failed to come up this novel idea: Why didn't you ask those leaving why they were leaving?
I know, I know. That would mean working. It would mean possibly offending the ultra-touchy White House minders whom we already know pressure pool reporters to censor their output.
So from Epstein's perspective, it may have been best for her and her online publication not to rock the boat. But not for us.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
