Big Lizards:Blog:Entry “Exploring the Limits of Newsy Nonpartisanship”

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March 21, 2012

Exploring the Limits of Newsy Nonpartisanship

Hatched by Dafydd

So I start reading this APNews (pronounced "ape-news," I think) article about a new clue to the disappearance of Amelia Earhart -- digital analysis of a 1937 photo shows what could be part of Earhart's Lockheed Electra; but midway through, the subject of the piece changes abruptly and mysteriously.

The piece starts out fine:

A new clue in one of the 20th century's most enduring mysteries could soon uncover the fate of American aviator Amelia Earhart, who went missing without a trace over the South Pacific 75 years ago, investigators said Tuesday.

Enhanced analysis of a photograph taken just months after Earhart's Lockheed Electra plane vanished shows what experts think may be the landing gear of the aircraft protruding from the waters off the remote island of Nikumaroro, in what is now the Pacific nation of Kiribati, they said.

The story continues in this vein... until paragraph twelve (of eighteen). Then the first discordant note sounds:

"If you ever want a case of finding a needle in a haystack, this is at the top of the list," he at [sic] a State Department event where Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood gave their support and encouragement to the privately financed project.

Clinton? LaHood? What on Earth do they have to do with Amelia Earhart? I don't think either one could tell an aileron from an altimeter. Nevertheless, the next six paragraphs are all about -- you guessed it! -- Hillary Rodham Clinton.

We discover that "Hell to Pay" Hillary hails "Earhart as an inspiration to Americans in difficult times;" that she considers Earhart "a [sic again] unlikely heroine for a nation down on its luck;" that "after a long decade of war, terrorism and recession, there are some who are asking whether we still have what it takes to lead." Blast that Bush!

But like Franklin Roosevelt, she reassures us that "we can be as optimistic and even audacious as Amelia Earhart;" and despite the Obama administration's stubborn refusal to enact an official Amelia-Earhart policy, Hillary Clinton "cheered the searchers on" nevertheless.

In her concluding remarks, the entirety of which appears to have been shoehorned into the story, she pulls out all the stops of her campaign speech:

"Even if you do not find what you seek, there is great honor and possibility in the search itself," she said. "So, like our lost heroine, you will all carry our hopes ... We are excited and looking forward to hear about your own great adventure."

The story has morphed, willy nilly, into a rousing paean to Hillary Regina... inexplicably prefaced by some maunderings about a wayward pilot. Can the Ass. Press get any more subtle than that?

Great Honk, must every "news" story between now and November 6th be recast as a commercial for Obama's reelection -- or for Hillary's inevitable ascension from the tomb of 2008 to the opalescence of the Oval Office?

Hatched by Dafydd on this day, March 21, 2012, at the time of 2:25 AM

Comments

The following hissed in response by: snochasr

Does anybody think she has serious hope of achieving the nomination, let alone the Presidency? Surely these are just old habits and aspirations making one last futile gasp of hollow oratory? And the ongoing wet dreams of a press addicted to their own former glory as king... er, queen-makers?

The above hissed in response by: snochasr at March 21, 2012 5:09 AM

The following hissed in response by: GW

Off topic, but did you read the news reports about the dog attack in London. According to the AP:

"Officers from Newham went to an address in Stratford, East London, to make an arrest when they were attacked by a Pitbull. Four of the officers suffered serious injuries and the fifth PC has minor injuries. A dog unit and armed officers from CO19 Specialist Firearms Command were called to the scene following the attack.
Pit Bulls have a particular reputation for viciousness. That is not true of all dogs of course. For instance, Bo, the Portugese Water Dog being lovingly raised by President Obama and the first family . . . ."

Well, not really from AP, but would you be surprised if it were?

The above hissed in response by: GW at March 22, 2012 10:30 PM