Quotes of the day

Now, in the latest revelations from the Journolist archives, The Daily Caller reprints Journolist emails regarding Trig. And obsessed with Trig they were, filling 15 screens in The Daily Caller post…

[T]he focus was on whether to jump on the bandwagon promoted by Andrew Sullivan and many others that Trig was Sarah’s grandchild not child, and that Bristol Palin was the real mother. As documented here before, this was a very widespread point of attack immediately after Sarah was nominated, and by no means limited to Andrew Sullivan.

Some of the comments, to be fair, were benign and even protective. For example, Mark Kleiman of the Reality Based Community [sic] was all in favor of attacking Sarah on numerous points, but warned others “But leave the kid alone.” Ezra Klein, founder of the Journolist, wrote: “By all accounts she’s a wonderful mother, and devoted to her fifth son [sic]. Leave this be.”

***
It’s tough to fittingly describe these numerous members of the mainstream media who actively engaged in the debate about this conspiracy back when I was first introduced as John McCain’s running mate, and it’s impossible to legitimize any “prominent” media publication that continues to traffic in this bizarre narrative today. It wasn’t just a few fringe characters in that JournoList discussion. It included writers for major newspapers, magazines, and online news publications. Those participating in this immature exchange in attempts to plant seeds of doubt and falsely accuse even included a famous historian.

This JournoList exchange exposes the warped nature of today’s media, thus explaining why many of us are forced, in fairness to the public, to utilize other mediums to communicate until the mainstream media wakes up and begins respecting the public’s intelligence and desire for truth in reporting. There is a sickness and darkness in today’s liberal media. With revelations like the JournoList exchanges, may the light keep shining to expose the problem.

***
By the way, the conspiring on the right goes beyond this: The Daily Caller appears to be deliberately picking subjects from J-List threads that will get it maximum pickup from the conservative media — and right-leaning outlets are obliging.

The Daily Caller builds stories by cherry-picking from threads about Fox News and Rush Limbaugh — and gets rewarded with pickup on Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. It does a story transforming J-List discussion about Sarah Palin into “coordination,” and Palin — who’s fast becoming a media figure in her own right — responds by giving it a big push herself. And on and on.

The real story here is that right wing media are engaged in a coordinated, conspiratorial effort to pretend that J-List proves that there is a Vast Left-wing Media Conspiracy, when the evidence conclusively shows otherwise.

Blowback