What is the result of an incredibly fawning newspaper puff piece about a new senator in which the subject of the story displays her supposed independence from President Barack Obama by voting for every piece of his legislation? An extremely hilarious demolishment of the story by an astute blogger. Such was the case with McClatchy Newspapers reporter Barbara Barrett whose puff piece article about new North Carolina senator, Kay Hagan, was amusingly demolished by blogger Bane Windlow of Carolina Politics Online. To get the full flavor of Windlow's demolishment of Barrett, I will place his comments in [brackets] following Barrett's over the top puffery. You can tell where reporter Barrett is coming from just by reading the first paragraph of her paean to Senator Hagan trying passing itself off as an authentic news story:
The Democrats' newest female star senator, Kay Hagan, surged into office last fall, swinging on the coattails of Barack Obama and his progressive message of change.
Gee! I wonder where reporter Barbara Barrett's political sympathies lie after reading that intro? A clue might be the use of the term "Barack Obama and his progressive message of change."
And now for the splendid dissection of the puff piece article by blogger Bane Windlow in the [brackets]:
But since taking the oath of office, Hagan has signaled repeatedly that she won't fall in lockstep with her president.
[Except she’s done exactly that. What has she bucked her party on other than the tobacco regulation bill?]
In her first three months in Congress, Hagan has criticized Obama's budget...
[Oh yeah, she criticized the hell out of it, right before she voted for it.]
...sponsored an opposition bill to a piece of tobacco regulation legislation that he supports...
[So that’s what makes her a moderate? She opposed Obama on one piece of legislation? Opposing tobacco regulation doesn’t make Hagan a centrist in any way. Tobacco is a major cash crop in North Carolina so her stance on this is to protect the industry in her state. Congressman John Dingell (D-MI) has opposed auto emissions standards for years, but he is certainly no moderate. He just happens to represent a large constituency who works for the automotive industry in Detroit. Other than that, he’s just as far left as the rest of the freedom haters in his party.]
...and joined a conservative-leaning group of Democrats calling themselves the “Moderate Dems.”
[Oh, that must be it. She joined a coalition calling themselves moderate and they’ve accomplished absolutely nothing. In fact, Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN) was the only “Moderate Dem” to vote against the reckless 2010 fiscal budget they just passed last week.]
[After all of this fluff, Barrett more or less admits that she can’t point to anything at all to back up her claim.]
Still, she has voted with Obama on every major piece of legislation so far.
[So what the hell was the point of this entire article, just to remind people that Hagan is a “moderate” because she says so?]
In fact, Hagan has cast “yes” votes on all of Obama's major legislation: the new bailout bill for banks, the economic stimulus package, the expansion of state children's health insurance and a new anti-discrimination law.
[I guess the entire Democratic party in the U.S. Senate is one big moderate group based on Hagan’s votes.]
That was just after Hagan joined the Moderate Dems, a group of southern and Midwestern Democrats with more conservative leanings, led by Sen. Evan Bayh of Indiana.
“Senator Kay Hagan has opted to take a path that is a bit disconcerting to a lot of us here at home,” wrote Betsy Muse, a supporter from Monroe, on her blog at the liberal-leaning Web site BlueNC. She worried that Hagan “may not be as open-minded as we might like.”
[Get out of here. Really? Take a gander over to BlueNC and read some of the thoughts of these people. Most of them are extremist whack-jobs on the fringe of society. They would have complained that Stalin wasn’t Communist enough for them.]
Your humble correspondent will be sure to keep the NewsBusters Eye of Sauron focused upon the liberal puffery of Barbara Barrett in the future...and on the hilarious demolishment of such puff pieces by blogger Bane Windlow of Carolina Politics Online.
Think Margaret Dumont and Groucho.
H/T: McClatchy Watch
