Saturday, July 12, 2008

To be FAIR about it ...

Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting's magazine, Extra!, has a nice article in its current issue by Peter Hart on the construction and maintenance of the image of The MaverickTM.

Hart's focus is the MSM's ongoing contribution to this canard. While there is arguably a bit of cherry-picking here, the direct quotes, from some of the nation's best-known reporters, are staggering both in number and in shamelessness of fawning.

The web version of the article contains numerous external links, for which Extra! deserves praise. In case you miss it, I'll repeat one of them here, Jonathan Chait's article, describing how he fell into the trap, and how he finally realized he was in one.

Both Hart and Chait also do yeoman's work in laying out the extent of McCain's history of changing positions on virtually every major issue. One thing is clear: we need a more powerful word than flip-flop.

[added] Bonus Chait, responding to McCain's attempt at pushback.

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