Sunday, July 01, 2012

Today's Globe: 6 *more* pages of Scott Brown fluff

After taking a whack at Elizabeth Warren for an entire month with near-daily headlines about manufactured racial bating stories, what would the Boston Globe have in store for Scott Brown, now that they've decided we're into electoral politic's hard hitting journo season?

Fear not, dear readers, the Globe had six entire pages dedicated to Scott Brown today, covering
  • the scandal about how Senator Brown's dead set against health care reform, while his daughter benefits from it and even Chief Justice Roberts ruled for it 
  • the Senator's reluctance to debate in New Bedford or Worcester to answer questions relevant to those communities, even while his opponent agreed to one of his radio debates 
  • why Senator Brown's saying he's for keeping student loan rates affordable, when he's the principal guy behind blocking current efforts in the Senate
Oh, hell, what did it cover? 
For Brown, campaign an all-out family affair 
Senator's wife and daughters now helping to soften image of the man with the truck 
WRENTHAM — Scott Brown is at the stove, preparing bacon and cheese omelets, tossing eggshells into the sink with scarcely a glance, each one a perfect shot. Gail Huff is at the breakfast table, reminiscing about her early days as a TV reporter, talking up her husband’s cooking. But the star of the show is the fridge. 
A standard issue side-by-side ­model, nearly every inch of its face is plastered with snapshots and magnets, children’s drawings and certificates of achievement, ticket stubs and local press clippings. The collaged photos show daughters Ayla and ­Arianna through the years — Girl Scouts, Little League, prom night, college — but there are glimpses of Brown and Huff, too. 
One shows him a decade ago, a ­little-known state legislator in full Gene Simmons makeup and giant shoulder pads, one more anonymous KISS fan rocking with his tongue out. Another from 2010 shows how much their lives have changed: Huff hugs the real Gene Simmons, after he invited them backstage because he wanted to meet Brown, the man who wrested Ted Kennedy’s Senate seat from the Democrats.
That's just the first three paragraphs. Dear god, help us all.

On the off chance that there's anything important happening in Massachusetts or the country at large -- oh, I don't know, like a jobs crisis or hundreds of thousands of Massachusetts citizens being under water on their mortgages -- I sent a letter to the Globe's writer of this fluffenuttery goodness. Here were my last few words for him.
He's running an entire campaign dedicated on steering the campaign away from any kind of serious issue or problem facing Massachusetts or the country, constantly engaging in Straw Mans and issues that have no bearing on regular people. Why is the media enabling him? 
There are serious issues in this race and the voters of Massachusetts deserve a media that's going to hold our Senators' feet to the fire, especially during political campaigns. That is your responsibility as a journalist. Please live up to it.
Pretty please?

Meanwhile, it's time to resurrect the Fake News tag, because when there's critically important stuff going on in Massachusetts and around the world, stories like this are a steaming pile of crap.

1 comment:

massmarrier said...

Coupled the Glib/Glob/Globe penchant for seeking sensational, conservative op-ed pieces (for balance?), this is all too typical. Wingers decry what a liberal paper it is, but even their columnists brown nose Brown. I respect U.S. Senators too, but as my mom used to say when she was exasperated, "For crying out loud in a bucket!"

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