Bernard Goldberg thinks the American people - yes you - are too stupid for words.
Reported by Chrish - July 5, 2007 -
Michelle Malkin subbed again today 7/5/07 for Bill O'Reilly (that's the 8th time in 7 weeks, but who's counting). We were spared her Talking Points and went right to a conversation with Jane Hall and Bernie Goldberg, on the topics Al Gore III and Scooter Libby. Goldberg, who seems to have quite the superiority complex (book titles include "100 People who are screwing up America" and the recent "Crazies to the left of me, Wimps to the right") thinks only three people from Manhattan to Malibu know or care who Scooter Libby is.
Malkin asked if a private matter in a public family is fair game for the press?
Jane Hall's position was a little confusing. She said that in light of Gore III's prior arrests, this is a legitimate news story, but since Al Gore is not "yet" running for president it shouldn't be covered for days and days (as if to say that if he was, it would be okay to obsess on it.) Asked by Malkin if she thought Gore III was getting a kid-glove treatment from the press in comparison to Jeb Bush's daughter, or the Bush twins, Hall replied (essentially) that the Bush twins are made fun of for being unserious lightweights, but Jeb Bush's daughter was a personal tragedy and was not treated badly in the media. Malkin of course disagreed.
Turning to her like-minded guest, Malkin brought up recent article in the NYTimes about Rudy Giuliani's kids and asked if he sees a double standard? Goldberg contended that he doesn't care about politicians' kids, but thinks it would be a legitimate question for a reporter to ask "What kind of household did this kid grow up in, that he turned out this way? What was his relationship with his father?" Nice passive-aggressive smear, that one. Again, he asserts, he wouldn't ask because he doesn't care. But just a few months ago the NYTimes, the bible of liberal journalism, ran a story about the relationship between Rudy Giuliani and his two sons (sic).
Comment: Don't tell my conservative Republican NY uncles that the NYTimes is a liberal paper. They'll have to cancel their subscriptions after all these decades.
Comparing apples to oranges, candidates to non-candidates, Goldberg concluded that because the Times did a profile on Giuliani's son and daughter and the reasons why they are not campaigning with him this time around, it's fair to blindly speculate about the Gore family. Hall thought the NYTimes article was tacky but pretty much called Goldberg on comparing a candidate to a non-candidate.
Without citing any specifics, Goldberg said that the media will cover anyone's private problems regardless of party, but they "salivate more" when it's a conservative Republican.
Turning to Scooter Libby, Hall said she thought the media played it straight down the middle: this is what Democrats said, and this is what Republicans said. We found out that Bush has issued very few pardons (comment: because the do-nothing Republican Congress did no investigating for 6 years...) and we were reminded that this had to do with the rationale for going to war, and she thinks the media was more than even-handed. Even with all the "above the law" captions? asked Malkin. Obviously our fair and balanced moderator has a little problem with the media coverage, so she turned again to fellow right-winger Goldberg for a more FOX-friendly outlook.
Unfortunately, Goldberg was skipping like a scratched 45 (look it up, young'uns) and was stuck on whether it was a legitimate story - pssst, that was the Gore segment! He opined that the Libby story was a legitimate news story but maybe the media should stick with things that the American people actually care about! As examples he cited the war in Iraq (not covered on FOX), taxes, and immigration, which are all divisive campaign issues. He remarked then that there aren't 3 people who aren't "partisans" who know who Lewis Libby is.
Comment: He must be referring to people who watch FOX News exclusively, and their premier legal show "On the Record" specifically, where the Scooter Libby trial was never covered. Coincidentally, Melanie's excellent post also notes that SCOTUS Justice Antonin Scalia's daughter's case was also not covered. She was arrested for DUI and child endangerment because she had 3 children in the car with her when she was arrested.... speaking of media coverage of impaired "children" (she's 45) of public figures.
Libby's virtual pardon is not a big story in the rest of America, he says. Hall disagreed and reminded him that polls show that a large percentage of people were paying attention and cared. Goldberg said that people can't find Kansas or England on a map, can't name the VP or the Secretary of State, but we're supposed to ask them what they think of the Lewis Libby commutation? "I don't care what the American people think about these things."
Got that? You're all eedjits, and if someone from the media didn't bring it up, you wouldn't spend two seconds thinking about it. Now go watch American Idol and let the pompous a88holes worry about the governing and laws and such.
Here's the whole quote:
"Except for partisans, you can't find three people who live between Manhattan and Malibu who even know who Lewis Libby is. This is an example of a story that's big in the liberal bubble in Washington. It's not a big story amongst regular folks in the rest of America.""We go to the American people and we ask them if they can pick out Kansas on a map and they can't. We ask them if they can pick out England on a map and they can't. We ask them who the Vice-president is, they don't have any idea. Who's the Secretary of State? "I don't know." Then we go to them and ask them what they think of the Lewis Libby commutation? I don't care what the American people have to say about these things."
