Well, apparently Ed Schultz doesn't know very much about Bachmann, either.
We know that because Ed thought the recent Minneapolis City Pages profile and interview of Bachmann was just wonderful. Ed said he "read it on the plane" before interviewing its author Matt Snyders. (Spelled "Synders" on "Schutlz's" show, unfortunately.)
It's very disappointing to me to learn that Schultz--who's devoted so much airtime to Bachmann's craziness--is still so ill-informed about her that he saw the City Pages profile/interview as something valuable. Schultz could have gotten the same background from reading her Wikipedia page, even though conservatives on Wiki are consistently "editing out the bad stuff."
Why do I say that Snyders' profile was sucky and sloppily researched? Well, let's see, I don't know...I guess it's because it's a front page story about Minnesota's most controversial politician AND IT LEAVES OUT THE FACT THAT SHE CLAIMS THAT SHE'S RECEIVED PROPHETIC VISIONS FROM GOD. How about that omission, as an example of suckiness/sloppy research? Oh, and IT LEFT OUT THE FACT THAT SHE CLAIMS THAT SHE'S BEEN RECEIVING INSTRUCTIONS ON LIFE CHOICES AND POLITICAL MATTERS DIRECTLY FROM GOD, THROUGHOUT HER LIFE (see the video below.)
Sorry about the caps, but...(continued)
... but I don't know how any fair-minded journalist or editor can consider their reporting "competent" if they leave out a fact that important--leave it out of their "wonderful profile." And sorry about the caps again, but the stuff in the caps has been common knowledge among us Bachmann watchers since 2006. So here's the video with prophetic visions and conversations with God, AGAIN:
And all of this has been available on YouTube and in the Dump Bachmann blog since 2006, but I'm damned if any of it has made its way into journalists' profiles of Bachmann yet. Three years and counting; I guess Schultz hasn't seen it either. Either that, or he doesn't think the fact that God is conversing with Michele Bachmann is "worth mentioning on the show."
And that's just one omission. There's tons of other stuff that the City Pages could have put in there, but chose to leave out. I know there's tons of other stuff, because I've been writing about this politician for six years in newspaper columns and blogs, I made an entire comic book series out of what I've gathered about her over the years, and I got page after page of citations to back all that stuff up. In the City Pages, I would have settled for just "three" never-before-seen-in-print revelations about Bachmann--instead we got nothing.
And Snyders' "interview" with Bachmann? Gimme a break. Bear in mind that Schultz knew that the City Pages interview wasn't really an interview when he was talking to Snyders on the air. Snyders was not allowed to interview Bachmann in person; the City Pages had to submit questions to her in advance. Snyders candidly admits that accepting that deal was "better than nothing," but that's debatable.
Ah, no it isn't, it's not debatable at all--accepting that deal meant that Bachmann could use the Minneapolis City Pages to present her message, the way she wanted to present it, at length--and that amounts to giving her free, on-the-record political advertising. All that, in return for the right to make a false claim about having scored "the complete interview" with Michele Bachmann--when in fact no such thing occurred.
So the emphasis in Schultz' interview is on the Snyders profile of Bachmann, rather than the quality and value of Snyders' interview with Bachmann. And unfortunately, Snyders makes claims about Bachmann on the air that he did not include in the profile he is being praised for. These Snyders' claims are valuable and true, and they accurately describe Bachmann's operating style as a demagogue. Sadly, Snyders did not include this tough analysis of her political style in the print profile.
It's as if those valuable insights only occurred to him "after" he'd gotten access to Bachmann in return for giving her a sweetheart interview deal. It's as if he was only willing to deal candidly with Bachmann's status as lunatic fringe hatemonger "after" fellow journalists began to whisper about the lack of courage and ethics in the City Pages profile and interview. The obvious but tough analysis by Snyders here--absent from his print stuff on Bachmann--may be his attempt to redeem himself and his paper from charges of "stenography for Bachmann in return of access," charges of "doing a really sucky, sloppily researched profile."
As for Mr. Snyders, I'd like to tell you that he gives a very powerful visual impression of intelligent, informed confidence during his facetime on television. He has the makings of a TV news personality. You can see this astonishing career take off in the video posted here:
Here's where you can see the Schultz/Snyders video, courtesy of the Star Tribune:
http://www.startribune.com/...