Fantasy Politics USA

Pennsylvania Governor, Ed Rendell, was scheduled to give the closing speech at the Shorenstein Center sponsored panel discussion which included NBC’s Tom Brokaw, ABC’s George Stephanopoulous and CBS’s Bob Schieffer as moderators. He instantly smashed any sense of unity within Democratic party by saying, “Ladies and gentleman, the coverage of Barack Obama was embarrassing. It was embarrassing.” Rendell said, “Running for the most important office in the world, Obama got basically a free pass.” He really took offense of the MSNBC’s coverage calling it “absolutely embarrassing.” Rendell then claimed, “MSNBC was the official network of the Obama campaign.” Rendell, who was a Clinton supporter during the primaries but now supports Obama, went on to say that Chris Mathews “loses his impartiality when he talks about the Clintons.” It was about this point that moderator Judy Woodruff chimed in and said, “Why don’t we let Governor Rendell sit down,” which was met by applause from the crowd of media types. Apparently they did not want to hear what Rendell had to say. They would rather sweep any signs of disunity within the democratic party and the media under the rug. Woodruff tried to dispel any rumors of unfairness in the media and especially MSNBC by saying Matthews and Keith Olbermann are “not the only voices” on MSNBC. It is funny this same group would be quick to call Fox News biased, but are OK with some bias at MSNBC. It is that fine separation between news and commentary that keeps creeping into each other. It will never get fixed as long as they keep shutting down those that try to point it out. Rendell gave an opposing point of view after the others almost broke their arms patting themselves on the back claiming the media coverage of the presidential campaign has been largely fair, focused on important issues and relatively free of sexism. Rendell was right, and they should have heard him out, instead of shutting him down.
Alan Cosgrove