Some of you may (but probably did not) read my
diary entry from yesterday complaining about the abysmal reporting of the CBS Evening News's Gloria Borger. I had no intention of writing a follow-up entry, but her report tonight was
even worse than yesterday -- an impressive feat.
(rest on flip)
As with yesterday, Gloria neglected to discuss the potential implications of Alito's appointment on the future of our country, but rather chose to focus on the drama in the hearing room. The Democrats were much too harsh on poor Judge Alito yeseterday, causing Mrs. Alito to tear up after Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) had eliminated the necessity for further discussion and debate over Judge Alito's judicial philosophy by letting everybody know that he had the sense that Samuel Alito "seem[s] to be a decent, honorable man."
Today, she followed up on the aftermath of the crisis over Mrs. Alito's hurt feelings with a scathing account from a former Alito clerk, allegedly a liberal Democrat, who was upset that Democratic Senators would oppose the appointment of his ultra-conservative former boss:
The Senators of my own party, people who I typically financially support, people who I would generally want other people to vote for, they are smearing a man of honor and integrity, and I am quite frankly ashamed of my party at this time.
Gloria went on to report that Mrs. Alito was "beaming" today during the hearings and that a crowd chanted her name as she walked into the capitol this morning.
She was basically a cheerleader. The RNC wouldn't have assembled a more pro-Alito piece.
Even Bob Schieffer could see that her report thoroughly insulted the intelligence of his viewers, so he followed up with a quick interview with Legal Analyst Jan Crawford Greenburg to let his viewers know that he isn't a shameless GOP shrill -- just Gloria Borger. Greenburg finally provided the first actual analysis of how the Alito appointment might affect to the Supreme Court: "Well there is little question, Bob, that he would move this court to the right."
In depth reporting, by CBS.
I continue to be dumbfounded, day after day, by how absolutely terrible the media in our country is. I could probably write a diary like this every day with a new, legitimate complaint not voiced by anyone else in the blogosphere. Media Matters hits the big ones, but it's really disheartening to see the state of journalism not covered there.