Tuesday morning quarterbacking: Why is everybody so mad about Palin and Gustav coverage today?

As the GOP begins to rev up what looks to be a full-on resumption of their convention, starting today, the carping about media coverage this week has already gotten off to an expected bitter start.

Some political junkies have criticized national news anchors for peeling away from St. Paul Monday to await Gustav in New Orleans, saying the storm could have been covered by remote. This neat bit of Tuesday morning quarterbacking ignores the fact that no one knew when coverage plans were made just how bad the storm would be or how well New Orleans would respond to it. It also ignores the fact that the Republicans offered little more than perfunctory activities Monday, themselves wary of looking as if they were celebrating as the Gulf Coast drowned.

Fortunately, Gustav weakened before landfall and the city's levees held. But the uncertainty of local officials should give everyone pause -- the fact that the Crescent City didn't endure another horrific disaster seems more a result of luck than anything else. And reporters had to be there, in case luck went the other way (though I haven't gotten any press releases from the networks yet, Katie Couric said she was headed back to St. Paul today and I expect all the major anchors to follow suit if the RNC offers a regular slate of activities).

The other complaint regards the treatment of GOP VP nominee Sarah Palin, particularly news that her 17-year-old daughter is pregnant. While the McCain campaign is blaming rumors in the blogosphere for forcing them to reveal Bristol Palin's state, Radar Online is saying a story by the National Enquirer forced their hand, revealing the name of the teenage father, Levi Johnston.

So some folks are dinging national media for talking about the story, saying it's unfair to focus on the teenage daughter of a candidate -- even though that candidate brought her entire family onstage with her to accept McCain's job offer, citing her experience as a mother and wife as qualifications.

My fave moment on TV yesterday had nothing to do with Gustav coverage; CNN's Campbell Brown took apart a McCain representative by simply asking what decision Palin made as head of Alaska's National Guard that qualified as foreign policy experience.

For a media biased toward conflict and scandal -- which is the real bias that has tilted coverage of this election -- Palin's growing list of problematic background issues will make for lots of juicy reporting to come.

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Comments

[Today's Headlines]

Beltway Bandit - Several of your points are on target, particularly your observation regarding Palin's executive experience.

She has actually made decisions regarding the lives of people, in the largest (land-wise) state in the U.S., with a multibillion dollar budget.

Obama counters that with a reference to the hard work he's done managing his campaign. Sorry, but no contest there (and in reality, his campaign managers actually manage his campaign).

But when you, and Deggans, suggest that Palin's family is "fair game" simply because they appeared on stage with Palin is unfair to the extreme (and not very nice).

Piling on to Palin's 17-year-old daughter (as the Daily Kos and several liberal columnists have done) simply serves to make the Dems smell bad, pointing to their willingness to engage in the politics of personal destruction.

Terrible strategic move, as it's likely to create a backlash among voters across all party lines. Yes, Obama has said the right things regarding these nasty attacks and accusations, but he hasn't exactly criticized those Obama sympathizers who continue doing so. And he only did so AFTER letting a campaign spokesman come out with a sexist attack on Palin. That's a tactic borrowed from the Clintons.

By contrast, it's entirely fair to attack Michelle Obama, but NOT because she's Barry's wife - it's because she is an adult, actively out there stumping for her husband. Palin's daughter is a child, and is not out there stumping for her mom.

And, Deggans, when you question Palin's "experience as a mother and wife" simply because her daughter, being human, made a mistake leading to pregnancy, isn't that sexist?

The fact that she and her husband did (apparently) sit down with their daughter, talk about the pregnancy and let her know that they would be supportive of her and her child points to a compassionate way of handling this family issue. Dems only like "choice" when the choice is to end the life of the unborn child.

Contrast this with Obama's approach, who said that if one of his daughters got pregnant, he wouldn't want her to be "punished with a baby."

Don't forget that Obama himself was born to an 18-year-old woman - should she be attacked because of that? (the "family issue" goes much deeper with Obama, but it would be unfair to focus on that - his accomplishments, what little there are, ought to be the focus).

Aren't you happy that Barack's mom was pro-life, that her "choice" was to let her unborn child live, and that she didn't put the lockstep liberal political stance ahead of her respect for human life?

Don't fret about Palin's "problematic background issues" - her fishing-license violation and her husband's DUI arrest 22 years ago pale in comparison with Barack's admitted use of crack, his intimate friendship with the anti-Semitic, America-bashing, victimization-politics-promoting "Reverend" Jeremiah Wright and domestic terrorist Bill Ayres.

The more we find out about Obama's associations, the more frightening the possibility that someone like could be in the Oval Office.

Did the Dems even vet Obama, or did they think that nobody would notice his lack of qualifications and his scary associations?

Dems, and their liberal mouthpieces in the media, are hopping mad about Palin in part because it points to the huge strategic move they made by NOT asking Hillary to be their party's nominee for VP. Instead, they asked an old white man who has been a partisan voter in the Senate for 30 years, effectively taking the "change" rhetoric off the table,

With 18 million votes, Hillary more than deserved to be picked as the Dems' VP nominee, and there's a good chance that an Obama/Clinton ticket would have been a clean sweep for the Dems (so Obama would have had Bill as baggage; so man up and tell him to stay away).

But Hillary wasn't even given the courtesy of being vetted as a VP nominee. For a party that prides itself on diversity, the Dems' sexism is pretty surprising, and offputting - for Dems AND everybody else.

[Ron]

Eric, you're right & I'm not giving FEMA a pass, but it was that joke of a Msyor, Ray Nagin, who failed to evacuate his city. It was also Mayor Nagin who did not have any emergency shelters stocked and ready. Finally, it was Mayor Nagin who directed people to go to the Superdome, knowing that it was not equipped to handle the situation.
FEMA definitely dropped the ball after the storm had passed, but the primary culprits are the local & state governments, whose job it is to insure that their citizens are prepared.

[beltwaybandit]

No doubt Williams did a good job. But are you saying that a "lesser" reporter could not have gotten the same information out?

And, because ONE of the big name anchors is on the scene, are the people best served by having ALL of them at the expense of Presidential candidate coverage, which on both a scale and time basis has far larger impact on Americans?

As badly as I feel about the folks in New Orleans or anywhere else, there is a bigger picture at play.

[Eric Deggans]

FEMA was responsible for getting help to New Orleans after flooding devastated the city. They didn't do so for at least four days, and people died waiting for help. Many more suffered cooped up in the Superdome, promised food, water and supplies that took long days to arrive.

Dead bodies were left in the streets and people scavenged for food and water like animals. NBC anchor Brian Williams, who had the foresight to hole up in the Superdome during Katrina doucmented a lot of it. THAT's the value of having big name journalists in town when a disaster strikes...

[beltwaybandit]

Regarding the media coverage of weather/politics.

I've never understood what value it is to have a national news anchor standing someplace in a recently devastated area "reading the news". The camera tells the story just fine.

Of course, I also don't understand why we need reporters from every network and local station standing in the wind getting blown around screaming at us over the noise. it only adds comedic relief to an otherwise dangerous story. I'd rather see the meterologists on all the time helping us understand what's happening and what will occur next.

Finally...I think it is horrific to hear of people dying like they did in Katrina, largely because of local and state government squabbling and federal government post-storm releif efforts being mishandled.

But...we need to keep things clear. The federal government was never responsible for evacuating New Orleans in 2005...the Mayor and Governor were and they mishandled it.

And the nation is NOT responsible for rebuilding New Orleans. I'm sorry, because you choose to live on the shore, near a river or in the case of New Orleans, 4-7 feet UNDER sea level...the taxpayers should not be responsible for rebuilding your home when the inevitable happens.

Thus, all the follow up media stories calling for rebuilding of damaged areas with federal tax dollars is misguided and they should be focusing on the more important issues: Presidential election cycles. It is still a less than 10 point race and could be closer next week.

[beltwaybandit]

The media push on Palin is understandable.

For an outspoken supporter of right leaning policies packaged as "Family Values" and support for abstinence in lieu of sex education to prevent teen pregnancy, the development of her teen daughter being pregnant is an important story that should be covered. It goes directly to a part of what the GOP says it stands for.

And I concur with your point...she brought her family on stage...that makes them fair game regardless of what Repubs or even Obama say. Same goes for his family as well. Yes, Michelle and Cindy are fair game given they are campaigning.

American newspaper reporters used to dig this stuff up. They are largely still on the job (the best ones, anyway) and still missed it. Luckily we have the National Enquirer digging up first the Edwards lies and now this impactful development.

Another point of interest...it will be interesting to watch whether Palin is defended by the same folks who ran to Hillary's defense every time the media turned up the heat or if she is left dangling because of political affiliation...and the fact she is not Hillary.

We have seen equally inexperienced candidates get similar treatment from the plitical press over the years (Obama comes to mind).

However, I wonder how it plays out when the fact that of Obama, McCain, Biden and Palin, only Palin has actual executive experience in the political arena and NONE of the others do.