New story up on Yahoo! News via the AP:
Palin to Media: Leave my Kids Alone
What's pleasantly surprising here is that the AP writer pulls few punches in debunking Palin's incessant whining and two-facedness (is that a word? Well, it's a story about Palin, so anything goes). This is the same AP (though not the same writer) that gave us the most pathetic 'fact-check' in history after the first debate. So we could've used a little more of this in the 2008 election, and we'll see if the AP still has the stones to do this if/when she runs in 2012 (more on that below) - but for now, it's a welcome sight.
The truth-based journalism starts right at the top.
ANCHORAGE, Alaska – Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin is going on the offensive against news organizations and bloggers she says are perpetuating malicious gossip about her and her children. But political observers say the former Republican vice presidential candidate can't have it both ways: trotting out the children to showcase her family values, then trying to shield them from scrutiny.
Then the author of this piece - Rachel D'Oro - actually DOES A LITTLE RESEARCH and digs out some detail on how pre-election Sarah differs ever-so-slightly from post-election Sarah:
Her decision to strike back at news organizations seems to contradict the governor's earlier statements on how politicians should respond to media coverage.
Months before she was named John McCain's running mate, Palin attended a leadership forum in Los Angeles and was asked her opinion on then-Sen. Hillary Clinton's allegations that she was being unfairly treated by the media during the primaries.
Palin said Clinton did herself a disservice to even mention it. The governor said it bothered her to hear Clinton "bring that attention to herself on that level."
But then my favorite piece in the article:
"I'm not whining about the treatment of the press, but I am calling reporters on the family aspect of this," she said. "I think it's unprecedented in some respects what I have seen with my children."
It's not unprecedented. The children and spouses of high-profile politicians always draw attention.
That's something awfully close to truth-based journalism there. Too bad we couldn't have seen more of it when the election was still at stake. I'm not much of a tinfoil hat guy myself, so I don't think there something sinister at play. I just think the midst of an election, journalists get more obsessed with (or maybe have been bullied into an obsession with) fairness rather than objectivity - where 'fairness' is defined as an equal number of positive and negative mentions of each candidate, regardless of what they've done (or failed to do) to earn said positive mentions.
That said...if I were a tinfoil hat guy, I'd be interpreting this as an early salvo in the coming battle for the GOP's soul, that the corporate base is going to work, early and often, at marginalizing the theocrat base.
Share your thoughts on Palin diaries, won't you please....