Sirotablog
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. David writes about political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties.
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August 31, 2007 7:25 AM
Time Mag Slams Media For Edwards Coverage; Says Reporters Making "A Dumb Argument"
Two weeks ago, I asked a pretty simple question: What is real-life hypocrisy, and what is faux hypocrisy manufactured by the political Punditburo in lieu of actual reporting? I asked this question in the wake of right-wing Denver Post columnist David Harsanyi screaming from the ramparts about how John Edwards is supposedly a hypocrite for having an ownership stake in an investment fund that has ownership stakes in some subprime lenders. I asserted that just because a candidate wants to change the laws that govern the land (in this case, lending laws) doesn't mean they don't live in the current world as it is, and certainly doesn't mean they are a hypocrite. It doesn't mean they've made a smooth political move - but again it doesn't even come close to meaning they are a hypocrite.
Shocker, my view hasn't really broken the Washington Punditburo's fabricate-a-gotcha rituals - though finally, at least one of the big traditional media outlets has actually taken the time to report the Edwards situation accurately. None other than Time magazine sets the record straight this week about Edwards, and indirectly indicts the absurdly biased and irresponsible behavior by campaign reporters and pundits alike.
Here is the excerpt:
"Another challenge is that much of the attention he's gotten recently has been the unflattering kind, stories that question his sincerity and assail his image as a fighter for the little guy by focusing on his pricey haircuts, huge house and hedge-fund job. These viral attacks, spreading from the Drudge Report and other blogs to newspapers everywhere, make a dumb argument. They assume that someone who's wealthy can't be a sincere advocate for poor and working people. By that logic, the healthy can't speak on behalf of the sick, or whites on behalf of people of color...Here's what would truly be hypocritical: if Edwards spoke out on behalf of the disadvantaged while pushing policies that benefit the rich. This he does not do. He favors boosting the capital-gains tax rate for families earning over $250,000 and closing the loophole that allows fund managers—like those at Fortress Investment Group, where he earned almost $500,000 in 2006—to get taxed at just 15%. 'He wants to take money away from the people who paid him,' says deputy campaign manager Jonathan Prince. 'That's not hypocrisy. That's sincerity.'"
That's exactly right. No one is saying Edwards' moves have been perfectly smooth, but the idea that his actions are somehow hypocritical or that they undermine his credibility on the major issues he's campaigning on (and has made his life's career about) is just ridiculous.
And let's be clear: On the flip side, we know what true hypocrisy is. To refresh your memory, here are some examples (in no particular order):
- U.S. Senate candidate Bob Schaffer (R-CO) grandstanding and telling his fellow school board commissioners to disclose their conflicts of interest, and then himself refusing to disclose his own conflicts of interest.
- Mitt Romney (R) campaigning for governor aggressively billing himself as pro-choice to the point where he gets angry at his opponent for saying otherwise; And then, just a few short years later, campaigning for president declaring he's the greatest anti-choice leader in contemporary American history.
- Presidential candidate Fred Thompson (R) billing himself as a down-home political outsider even though he's spent most of his adult life as a corporate lobbyist in Washington.
- President George Bush portraying himself as a plain-spoken cowboy and independent entrepreneurial businessman even though he grew up an aristocrat and had his personal fortunes built by massive public subsidies secured by his father's financial and political network.
- Presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani (R) presenting himself as the strongest candidate in the race on homeland security issues, even though his single defining homeland security experience was negligently contributing to the health plight of New York firefighters.
- Presidential candidate Hillary Clinton (D) billing herself as the candidate of "change" and the candidate who will represent the middle class, at the same time Businessweek reports that she is allowing Wall Street titans to "refine" her economic policy platform.
Now, I'm not naive. I realize it is probably more fun for reporters and pundits to fulminate about John Edwards' haircuts and to make up gotcha narratives - all while giving probably the most serious speech in the last last 30 years of presidential campaign politics just 275 words on page A15. It is more fun, and requires no actual work, reporting or thinking - you know, those old fashioned and unfortunately outdated tenets of "journalism." But at least one magazine managed to get the story right about Edwards - and about the media. It's not much - but it is a start.
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About David Sirota
David Sirota is a political journalist and nationally syndicated newspaper columnist at Creators Syndicate. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Hostile Takeover. He lives in Denver, Colorado. His daily blog can be found at CREDO Action. He contributes regularly to the Denver Post's Web site, is a senior editor at In These Times magazine and is working on his second book. He has been profiled in Newsweek and the Rocky Mountain News and is widely known for his reporting on political corruption, globalization and working-class economic issues often ignored by both of America's political parties. Sirota serves as co-chair of the Progressive States Network, a 501(c)3 organization that supports state legislators and that is a partner of CREDO.
You can subscribe to Sirota's e-mail newsletter by going to davidsirota.com and signing up in the lefthand corner. To find out more about Sirota, download his official biography or see his recent media appearances. You can e-mail him at sirota@credoaction.com.
The views expressed on this blog are his own, and do not necessarily represent the views of Working Assets (publisher of CREDO Action) or the institutions Sirota works for.
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Discussion
I'm starting to believe in miracles again. Let's hope there's a domino effect. If only Edwards didn't have that revolting accent... there I go, letting my personal taste get the better of of rational judgment. Why can't we draft Dean? He is the best man. We need a screamer. At least a male. Great informing as always. This blog may not have many followers, but those of us that are, are the best informed on the circuit. And there's no censorship... yet. I don't do the ones that do. Neither should you. P.S. I also agree with Time and this blog that wealth is not an impediment to standing up for the poor and middle class.
Mr. Edwards has been an icon to me since I heard him speak on Labor Day in 2004. As a UAW member I appreciate his message, I love his passion. I was worried then as I am now, he is commonly percieved as a 'girly-man' to quote a fool. It's amazing to me that you could stand him up next to W and give them each a microphone and not end up with everyone at his side. His views are on, his message is clear, and I truly believe he is doing it for the right reasons.
The only remaining question is when will Sirota go to work for him so we can win this thing?
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Stand for something or fall for anything.
http://www.ExcaliburBooks.com/RedAlert/
http://www.ExcaliburBooks.com/Articles/Papers/patriotism.html
When a politician is from the south, it is hard to believe that he or she will stand up for unions as history has taught us how anti-labor union politicians from the south from Jesse Helms to Bill Clinton were. Of course, that's not to say that there are no northern ones either as Bayh and Schumer have shown their contempt on the working class. In the case of Edwards, what really KILLED his candidacy in 2004 was his vote for the China PNTR. I'm sure the DLC hacks will do it to him again like they did in 2004. By the way, wasn't Edwards a member of the DLC until he left the Senate? If that's the case, should he win the White House and if his money making history are any indications, his credibility looks very flakey and shakey. Sorry.
I don't think John Edwards was ever a "full-fledged" member of the DLC. He probably flirted with it just like John Kerry did. Probably got to DC thinking all Democrats were the same, listening to Bob Shrum who helped in his Senate campaign, and felt like that was the way to go, until he learned better.
Look at Obama. He claimed to be against the war in Iraq, and then got to the Senate and started voting for it. I guess leaving the Senate can be very liberating. You get there, and you tend to go with the group.
I do remember him being a "New Democrat" at one point, as Sirota and Novak have talked about before, in their reports about how the Washington elite can't stand John Edwards.
If the Republican establishment, the establishment Democrats, and the establishment media can't stand John Edwards, then they don't see him as a phony, so why should you?
Right on!! David, you have it right!!
Good, really, really heartwarming story.
It does my soul good - finally. John Edwards is far and away the best candidate of the group: he gets it!! Economic justice, compassion, human rights, poverty, global warming - and LOBBYISTS!!!!!
The blasted media has finally been told!!!
But, we in the One Corps will not be denied!! We have been waiting a very long time, almost forty years for a candidate as good as this one, and we will not be denied!!
Karita Hummer
San Jose, CA
SCV 4 Edwards, Co-Captain
Edwards is way better than the two "front runners" who are out kissing up to the K-street oligarchists for their campaign money.
Democrat Losership Committee take note! I refuse to vote for either Clinton or Obama that would be too much like voting for a Republican.
I'm going for Edwards, even if I have to write him in!
During the last election, when the Republicans managed to divert the attention of millions away their failed policies and from real issues that actually affect peoples' lives by stirring up non-issues like abortion and gay marriage, John Edwards was passionately trying to get out his message about "two Americas (one for the top 1%, one for everyone else)".
He got no coverage and no one heard.
Until progressives get a 24/7 TV counterpart to Faux News, they will continue to be unable to get their message out. Until progressives are able to secure enough influence with the now corparate-owned mainstream media by using progressive monies to buy into those entities, they will continue to be unable to get their message out.
The bottom 99% of Americans are overworked, underpaid, and just plain "too tired" to seek out the truth regarding which party actually represents their real self-interests and the interests of America. The message must be put out there for them, daily, in simple, repetitive, non-time-consuming, easily accessible form. The neocons realized this twenty years ago, a rather unfortunate turn for America and Americans, since the neocon agenda is all about greed, lies, the creation of a ruling corporate class, and the subversion of the rights of the "unwashed masses" (vis a vis The Constitution an the election process)to sustain their power indefinitely.
In short, in spite of all the grassroot movements springing up to "take back America", the truth is that cannot be done without significant help from and serious involvement of the mainstream media.
And as they are currently pretty much entirely owned by the neocons, either progressive "big money" gets out there, buys up as much media, especially TV, as it can, and then starts hammering away, 24/7, relentlessly and repetitively, ad nauseam if necessary, or ... or America as founded and as we know it, is over.
I hope Edwards can do something about the McCarthyism that is going out of control in this country especially in his own home state of North Carolina where people are arrested by the NC State Police on the highway for having "Impeach Bush" bumper stickers. In fact, a friend of mine told me that while going though I-95 North, it was only 70 miles after crossing the VA/NC border that police would be less likely to go after autos with "Impeach Bush" bumper stickers.
As the son of a labor union organizer and lifelong liberal Democrat, I have waited a very long time for a Democratic candidate to sound like a Democrat-- to speak with force about class and social and economic inequality. John Edwards sounds like a Democrat.
HOWEVER, the uneasiness that some people feel about his wealth, the manner in which he acquired his wealth (medical malpractice cases), and how he uses his wealth cannot be dismissed as simply a "dumb argument". There is a big difference between the healthy advocating for the ill, or whites fighting for racial justice (health and race not being matters of choice) and a rich person who has chosen to live extravagantly claiming to be a champion of the poor. The choice to buy a 28,000 sq foot house says something about Edwards' sensibility, his values, his self-experience, and his sensitivity to those he claims to represent. What it says, of course, is a matter of debate. At the very least, he seems tone deaf.
There are many of us who, while we would vote for Edwards, remain restrained in our enthusiasm because of questions about (to use a word that's been beaten to death) his 'character'. Is he the real deal, or has he simply found a workable political niche for himself? And can you really lead a revolution from a North Carolina castle or the chair of a $400 a pop hair stylist?
Maybe. Maybe in this Gilded Age anything is possible. I hope so, but I'm not betting on it.
What president hasn't had a castle. It seems to go with the territory. Bush's ranch is modest. Vote for Lara. How about Carter. Maybe there's another peanut farmer out there.
Re: despain
You must be from the Twin Cities, because I saw that speech at the Union Labor Day Picnic on Harriet Island in St. Paul. It was, in a word, AWESOME! OMG, the crowd was huge and was putty in his hands! I heard more than a few people lammenting the fact that Edwards wasn't the Presidential candidate...
Oh, and awesome job as always, David!
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