Political Porno

Now that it's become clear that Obama's campaign has been knowingly receiving a ton of fraudulent donations, Steyn weighs in with this:

This should be Journalism 101. I'm not the guy who made Obama's fundraising a story. The media did that when they ran hundreds of puff pieces marveling at his record-breaking cash haul, and in particular the gazillions of small donors. Isn't the fact that his website has chosen to disable basic fraud protection procedures at the very least a legitimate addendum to those stories?

Yes, it should be Journalism 101, but good luck with that. As I've said a few times during this election cycle, this is the way it is. "Should" has gone out the window, and it's never going to come back. You can't ask the hacks to dedeem themselves. They don't see any need for redemption. The only thing you can do is fight back.

Oh, would that it were so. The new "can't beat 'em, join 'em," attitude of the right wing punditry is beyond defeatist, it's laughable.

I didn't mind the media ignoring "B girl," the spun woman who claimed that a man carved a B on her face. I knew that story was bogus the second I saw her picture. An enraged 6'4" man takes a knife to a woman's face and leaves chicken scratches? Please. But the media's treatment of the fraudulent donations story has been a joke.

So what's new? There is no more Journalism 101. 24 hour news has changed journalism from a fact-checking endeavor to a reality TV program. One look at the sets and the hair-dos on today's TV news tells you everything you need to know. It isn't about the news, it's about the way it's presented, and baby, you'd better fit the mold before showing up for a screen test.

Look at it this way: you could go to acting school, bust your ass at auditions, learn your craft, buck the 80% unemployment rate of your chosen career, and maybe, just maybe, make a living at it. Or you could go to journalism school, learn how a journalist should think and behave, get on TV right away, and find fame. When a reporter hopes to "go network" they don't mean they want to cover harder stories and do a better job. They mean they want to be really famous, as opposed to hometown famous.

These days, every TV news reporter is hot with an H-O-T. CNN might use Candy Crowley to distract you now and then, but fact is, if you aren't under 50 with big breasts and a bee stung lip, you're out of luck. When's the last time you saw TV reporter that you wouldn't shag after a Bud Light and a two minute conversation beside the jukebox? If you think ability is the primary criterion for hiring a reporter on any news program, you need to put down the crack pipe.

To trust any of these hacks is a serious mistake. They hold gala dinner parties where politicians are in attendance. Trust? Sell me another one. I believe that any reporter who parties with a politician should be fired. Since they're all doing it, there wouldn't be any TV news tomorrow morning. What a tragedy.

Did you see that roast a couple of weeks ago, where McCain and Obama had a chance to rip on each other? Cute, huh? It's called the Alfred E. Smith dinner, and it's been going on for decades. The attendance list should make you want to barf. Politicians and reporters, all sitting down to dinner to enjoy some champagne and fine food. "Look, there's Hillary Clinton! Hey, look, there's Brian Williams, the anchor of NBC News!" Everyone was gussied up in white tie and tails, drinking good wine while the economy tanked. Then we're supposed to believe these wanna-be movie stars when they go on TV the next day with a hangover to tell us they're holding their dinner partner's feet to the fire? Right.

Coulda, woulda, shoulda. Waiting for reporters to get back to reporting instead of playing their part in the next episode of Political Pornography is like waiting for me to hit .300 in the World Series. It ain't gonna happen.