Very early on Thursday morning, I posted a diary here criticizing Politico's Kenneth Vogel for writing probably the most absurd attempt to smear the Obama administration yet.
By Thursday afternoon, attacks on the Politico piece were everywhere, from Salon to Media Matters to
HuffPost to the DNC itself.
The Plum Line's Greg Sargent quoted the DNC's Brad Woodhouse:
"lowbrow...amateur hour...one of the silliest stories that I've ever seen."
What sort of bizarre association was Politico attempting to make? Had the troubled publication finally decided to take the final leap and become the next World Net Daily?
Well, thanks to an exhaustive recent article by Media Matters on the latest smears of Kevin Jennings by the right wing, it now seems clear that Politico has not only taken the leap, but is currently in free fall.
As we all know, the right wing and Fox News has lately (and pathetically) been trying to pull a Van Jones on the administration's Department of Education official, Kevin Jennings - facts be damned. Their latest anti-Jennings strategy?
You guessed it: comparing Jennings to Roman Polanski.
On Thursday, Media Matters posted this article, detailing the efforts of Fox News and the right-wing echo chamber to associate Jennings with Polanksi:
I highly recommend reading the entire MM piece, but for the sake of time, here are some of the relative quotes:
Fox News contributor and New York Post columnist Kirsten Powers:
Jennings "should be fired" because "there needs to be zero tolerance for this kind of stuff ... like the Roman Polanski stuff."
Rush Limbaugh:
"So if you wonder why the libs are really ticked off that Roman Polanski might be extradited," look at Jennings.
Sean Hannity:
"...Just like with the Roman Polanski thing. This is about children."
"We've been dealing with the issue of Polanski for the last number of nights here on this program, and I'm shocked...and more than a number of Hollywood liberals are saying we should not put him in jail." Guest Rev. Jacques DeGraff responded, "In New York City the hero of the Super Bowl two years ago is sitting in a prison cell right now because actions have -- actions have consequences." Hannity then interjected: "Except if you're Kevin Jennings."
Ann Coulter:
"You have all of Hollywood and -- and media elites defending Roman Polanski for anally raping a 13-year-old. And now you have this guy who's written the introduction to Queering Elementary Education. I mean, that is the issue here."
Jeffrey Lord in American Spectator:
"a left-wing philosophy that doesn't blink about adults sexually preying on kids" is "showing up" in Polanski petition, "placement of Mr. Jennings."
And on the heels of this recent and ugly little Polanski/Jennings smear conveniently came along - yep - Politico's Kenneth Vogel and his sad little article that surreally conflated Obama and Polanski in some - one can only speculate, here - attempt to contribute to the efforts of the right wing to suggest that all Democrats are pedophiles.
So instead of being the odd, one-off smear story this first appeared to be, this ludicrous piece by Vogel that attracted a bit of attention on Thursday is yet another example of Politico simply repeating and extrapolating from whatever the current right-wing talking point happens to be at the moment.
And we can safely now add Kenneth Vogel, along with Glenn Thrush and Mike Allen, to the growing list of Politico's writers who seem to be taking their cues from the RNC.