Jim Rutenberg at the New York Times gets a scoop!
Apparently, even after a brutal campaign, most Americans will make an effort to get behind the president-elect. Seriously! I’m not kidding. I read it in the New York Times, where Jim Rutenberg showed off his deep investigational reporting skills.
Interestingly, though you have to read between the lines, a corollary is that newspapers will continue the bludgeoning of candidates who lost and were not endorsed by the newspaper. How? Well, many journalists will voluntarily clean up conversational speech when quoting public figures. Not Rutenberg, who attempted to take comments graciously intended by Sarah Palin and ensure that she comes across as less than elequent, though still not anywhere near the Joe Biden level of gaffery.
“Let us, let us — let him — be able to kind of savor this moment, one, and not let the pettiness of maybe internal workings of the campaign erode any of the recognition of this historic moment that we’re in. And God bless Barack Obama and his beautiful family.”
A nice sentiment, but not exactly poetry in motion.
Interesting that in a story about others burying the hatchet, Rutenberg keeps swinging. But wait, you might argue, the quote reads as if Rutenberg is quoting Palin verbatim, perhaps transcribed from tape. Isn’t that fair?
Sure, as long as it’s across the board.
And now, here’s my scoop. Rutenberg will never quote Obama with the same standard. Never, after hearing this, will he write:
“luh-luh-luh-luh-luh-luh-luh-luh let me sort of describe my overall policy”
