HORRIBLE WaPo story on Kerry rally Sunday -- HORRIBLE

[grasswire]

I'd say this reporter needs a nap! Or a reassignment.

I've snipped the worst of the sentences from the story and put them all together below.

His crowd -- 20,000 or so -- is cheering, chanting his name, waving signs and all that. But Kerry himself is conveying distraction. He keeps fidgeting while he is being announced by local congressman Sherrod Brown. He removes his brown canvas coat and then starts stalking around the lip of the stage, summoning an aide -- press steward Jim Loftus -- and telling him to summon another, trip director Setti Warren. Kerry whispers something briefly to Warren and hands him his coat. This fuss has transpired during much of Brown's introduction and in view of many people in the crowd -- and could have probably been avoided had Kerry simply thrown his jacket over a bale of hay....Kerry keeps saying how focused he is and how he's "fighting" for every vote, not wasting "a single minute." But this doesn't preclude sprinting through a lot of those minutes. Kerry has a knack for being at once long-winded and also eager to be done. If it's possible to meander in a hurry, that's what he did Saturday. "We need to make a fresh start in Iraq," Kerry says in Ohio, in a voice strikingly louder than it has been. "John Kerry is not rooting for bad news," says Richard Holbrooke, the former United Nations ambassador who is advising Kerry on foreign policy. He repeats this four times in a five-minute interview.
"I've got your back," Kerry has been telling local audiences recently, the latest of several rallying cries in the course of his campaign. The line gets big applause, even though Kerry often delivers it in a too-slow, overenunciated cadence -- "I'iiiiiiive Gooooottttt Youurrrrrrrr Baaacckkk" -- like an aging preppie who's trying to talk like the cool kids. One woman asks, simply, how she can convince her Republican friends that Kerry will keep them safe from terrorists in the post-9/11 world. Kerry's answer devolves into a sprawling résumé recital -- about, among other things, his work to normalize relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, his investigation of the BCCI bank in the 1980s -- that goes on for 12 minutes. A simple "I will wake up every day thinking about how to keep you safe" would probably have sufficed. "We love you, Senator Kerry," a woman yells. "Please stay and take my question." "I can't folks, I really gotta go," Kerry says, jittery but unwilling to shut off questions -- or answer them quickly or simply. As more hands go up, Kerry's body language becomes more desperate, his arm flailing, hands spread almost pleadingly. "We have 26 days, folks" (actually there were 24), Kerry says, talking fast. "I have to be a lot of places."

The reporter is Mark Liebovich = [e-mail]. This is NOT labeled as "analysis." It's a news story. A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE pathetic, twisted story.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22830-2004Oct10.html

[AngryAmish]

1. Liebovich is subhuman filth

People like him have no business in journalism or a job of any kind.

[JI7]

2. what a shitty ass article, so the guy is eager to answer legitimate

questions from citizens and this prick has a problem with it ? because he doesn't give empty talking points as the shitty chimp does ?

[Arancaytar]

3. "I will wake up every day thinking about how to keep you safe"

Sort of like what Chimp has been spouting? This was the best quote I remember from the first debate. Better even than 'hard work'. I mean, look at it.

"I wake up every day thinking about how to keep America safe."

Well, I wake up every morning thinking about how to make a million dollars. Do I look like a millionaire to you yet? :P

[JI7]

4. and someone who takes the time to get out to a rally

which involves hours , especially if they are in an area where they could have a chance of meeting the candidate probably REALLY wants an answer to the question rather than a feel good empty statement.

[linazelle]

29. And your point is?

Are you also resorting to RW tactics of picking apart Kerry's words? Kerry made a statement that shows what his focus will be whereas Bush's "hard work" was pure gibberish uttered over and over and over...

I don't see how any person with a brain could compare the two.

[arewenotdemo]

44. excellent point!

that IS what the dolt says!

Liebobich outed himself with that one.

[zulchzulu]

5. Great...a whiney fuckup who dares to call himself a "journalist"

Get this twit a gig on Faux Snooze. It sounds like he just made the demo tape.

I've met these whiney types along the way and they want to story without working the dealio. They want to be Murrow with the temerity of a swine like Stone Phillips.

Piss off.

[The_Casual_Observer]

6. Smart ass trying to write like the New Yorker

but he has no talent, so we get this instead. It isn't news, funny, amusing, witty, and, isn't interesting. It looks like it was written by a high schooler.

[cheshire]

7. 20,000 people Way to Go Kerry/ Piss on BS story./20,000

[Diogenes2]

8. Tried to send an e-mail to this guy

telling him he is a disgrace to his profession... returned as undeliverable. Are you sure this is the correct address?

[grasswire]

10. sorry...

....I transposed the e and the i

[e-mail]

[Diogenes2]

17. Thanks for the correction! Message resent...

Text of message:

This reprehensible polemic against Senator Kerry (disguised as a "news" article) represents a new low in journalistic integrity. Which choir are your preaching to, & who is paying you to do so? You are a disgrace to your profession.

[venus]

24. Just sent an email. Thanks for your post. n/t

[Pirate Smile]

30. We need to send e-mails to his boss as well.

[grasswire]

9. I think I'll write a note...

....to the publisher and tell him that the interns are turning in shoddy work and really need to be better supervised.

Copy to Keith Olbermann, perhaps.

Where is MWO when we need it?

[goodwalt]

11. I'm sick of writing complaining e-mails, but

I live 1000 miles from DC. If any of you DUers live locally, please, please, oh pretty please, sucker punch this guy for me. I'm actually, kinda, sorta kidding- but the idea of this sort of retaliation is gaining momentum in my head. A buddy of mine has a blog-spot entitled Conservative Fighter. He got into it on air with a local Repug shock-jock the other day, and offered to whip his ass. On the phone we laughed about making him a "real" conservative fighter, and video taping him cold cocking a series of local conservative TV and radio personalities. No, it wouldn't be worth the legal consequences, but I would sure pay good money to see that video. Just rambling here. I really am a very civilized sort, and it is a sad commentary on where we are in this country when big Ghandi fans like myself yearn to see opposition mouthpieces swallowing teeth.

[Blue_Tires]

12. horrendous writing and observation

i'm a journalist, and i still have a couple of friends working for the post...I expected better from them than this

[mzmolly]

15. My thoughts exactly I couldn't figure out if "horrible" was referring to

the article or the events. I'm not a writer by any means, but I did better in my 10th grade composition class then this fool is today. *yawn*

[mikehiggins]

13. Sounds like a Colbert pre-written report on Daily Show

Oh, actually, no it doesn't. Colbert (its FRENCH, damnit!) is usually pretty funny.

This guy is just lame.

[grasswire]

14. the bio

Mark Leibovich covers the national business and technology industries for The Washington Post. A three-time nominee for the Pulitzer Prize, he previously wrote about Silicon Valley for the San Jose Mercury News.

(So why is he covering the Kerry campaign?)

Here's his smarmy mug:

[life_long_dem]

16. About BCCI

I sent an e-mail to the John Kerry website a few days ago asking why he doesn't bring up the BCCI issue. I felt that the B/C camp has been giving the wrong impression about Kerry's stance on terrorism. They claim he has never done a thing in regards to fighting terrorism. But, if it wasn't for him shutting down that operation there would certainly be alot more terrorist financing today.

I would guess many here have sent similar e-mails to them. This is the first time I have heard John Kerry mention BCCI. Maybe it has been part of their plan all along. Either way it is good news.

I'm sure most everyone here knows about BCCI but for those who don't here is one link:

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2004/0409.sirota.html

[SoCalDem]

18. Looks like someone flunked "reporting 101"..

or he's paid by the word... or by the insult

I edited it for him..pointing out the "mark-downs.. I give him a D-.

____________________
His crowd -- 20,000 or so -- is cheering, chanting his name, waving signs and all that. But Kerry himself is conveying distraction. He keeps fidgeting while he is being announced by local congressman Sherrod Brown.

He removes his brown canvas coat and then starts stalking around the lip of the stage, summoning an aide -- press steward Jim Loftus -- and telling him to summon another, trip director Setti Warren. Kerry whispers something briefly to Warren and hands him his coat.

This fuss has transpired during much of Brown's introduction and in view of many people in the crowd -- and could have probably been avoided had Kerry simply thrown his jacket over a bale of hay....Kerry keeps saying how focused he is and how he's "fighting" for every vote, not wasting "a single minute."

But this doesn't preclude sprinting through a lot of those minutes. Kerry has a knack for being at once long-winded and also eager to be done. If it's possible to meander in a hurry, that's what he did Saturday. "We need to make a fresh start in Iraq," Kerry says in Ohio, in a voice strikingly louder than it has been.

"John Kerry is not rooting for bad news," says Richard Holbrooke, the former United Nations ambassador who is advising Kerry on foreign policy. He repeats this four times in a five-minute interview.
"I've got your back," Kerry has been telling local audiences recently, the latest of several rallying cries in the course of his campaign.

The line gets big applause, even though Kerry often delivers it in a too-slow, overenunciated cadence -- "I'iiiiiiive Gooooottttt Youurrrrrrrr Baaacckkk" -- like an aging preppie who's trying to talk like the cool kids. One woman asks, simply, how she can convince her Republican friends that Kerry will keep them safe from terrorists in the post-9/11 world.

Kerry's answer devolves into a sprawling résumé recital -- about, among other things, his work to normalize relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, his investigation of the BCCI bank in the 1980s -- that goes on for 12 minutes. A simple "I will wake up every day thinking about how to keep you safe" would probably have sufficed. "We love you, Senator Kerry," a woman yells.

"Please stay and take my question." "I can't folks, I really gotta go," Kerry says, jittery but unwilling to shut off questions -- or answer them quickly or simply. As more hands go up, Kerry's body language becomes more desperate, his arm flailing, hands spread almost pleadingly. "We have 26 days, folks" (actually there were 24), Kerry says, talking fast. "I have to be a lot of places."

The reporter is Mark Liebovich = [e-mail] . This is NOT labeled as "analysis." It's a news story. A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE pathetic, twisted story.

[SoCalDem]

19. 1289 words vs 840.. He "BallParked" it with his own biases..

Apparently he was asked to give a certain number of words, and probably he didn;t want to cover Kerry in the first place..

Here's what his piece SHOULD have been,,,:
I used CAPS WHERE I INSERTED WORDS...

_________________________________

John Kerry, Stumping as Fast as He Can
By Mark Leibovich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 11, 2004; Page C01

ELYRIA, Ohio -- This is one of those impeccably advanced rallies of a late presidential campaign, a spectacle to convey a sense of Almighty Momentum. John Kerry stands amid foliage on an athletic field here Saturday, fresh from another solidly reviewed debate performance. His stage is iconically adorned with hay bales, apples, pumpkins, flags and John Glenn. His crowd -- 20,000 or so -- is cheering, chanting his name, waving signs and all that.

He begins his stump speech with a few references to the Boston Red Sox and Friday's debate. He then REMINDS THE CROWD about the lost jobs and the decline in international stature that President Bush has overseen.

Kerry's schedule took him from Ohio to Fort Lauderdale and a Saturday night "town hall meeting," and then on yesterday to New Mexico, where he will give a speech and prepare for the last debate, which will be held Wednesday night in Tempe, Ariz.

The candidate is beginning to place greater emphasis on domestic issues, says spokesman Mike McCurry. The thematic shift will segue neatly into Wednesday's debate, which is to focus on domestic issues, long considered a strength for Kerry. Iraq remains -- judging by Kerry's events this weekend -- the emotional center of his campaign. It remains the topic on which he appears most fully engaged, on which his speeches have been at their most brisk and authoritative and his audiences most responsive.

"We need to make a fresh start in Iraq," Kerry says in Ohio, in a voice strikingly louder than it has been. He contrasts his four-point plan for Iraq with Bush's "four-word plan, more of the same." When Kerry's not talking about Iraq, you sense he misses talking about Iraq.

While domestic concerns might be "winning issues" for Kerry, foreign policy has long been a greater source of interest for him. Some Democrats and campaign aides -- interviewed before and after Friday night's debate in St. Louis -- expressed some concern that Kerry, when he discusses domestic issues, will lack the passion he displays when the subject is Iraq.

Until recently, Iraq was a tricky issue for Kerry. Is it a winning issue for him now? Perhaps in a purely political sense, but the campaign will not speak of it in such terms.

Even as he makes a transition to domestic issues, McCurry says, Kerry has comfortably settled on Iraq as a vehicle to discuss what he sees as Bush's broader failings -- the president's inability to recognize and rectify mistakes, his stubborn decision-making, the perception elsewhere in the world that he is arrogant. "Iraq is a way for Kerry to talk about candor," McCurry says. "The candor to acknowledge the things that need to be addressed."

Aides say Kerry is using a two-tiered strategy in which his events will focus on domestic issues of local importance (jobs in Ohio, health care and prescription drugs in Florida) while leaving events in Iraq to dominate national news.

"I've got your back," Kerry has been telling local audiences recently, the latest of several rallying cries in the course of his campaign. The line gets big applause

Kerry also has a new sign and banner slogan: "Fighting for us," a credo signaling Kerry's commitment to fight for "regular people" against big, powerful interests.

"I volunteered to fight for this country and I will always fight to defend this country," Kerry says at Broward Community College Saturday night. He appears for nearly 90 minutes, giving a long speech and answering a series of questions. "The president hasn't shown the the strength to get the job done in Iraq and bring the troops home," Kerry says to a standing ovation, his biggest of the night.

"The president didn't fight for that. I will."
One woman asks, simply, how she can convince her Republican friends that Kerry will keep them safe from terrorists in the post-9/11 world. Kerry's answer INCLUDES, among other things, his work to normalize relations with Vietnam in the 1990s, his investigation of the BCCI bank in the 1980s -- that goes on for 12 minutes.
And there are more questions

-- about Haiti, education, the Middle East. An aide whispers to Kerry that it's time to leave, but hands keep jumping up.
"We love you, Senator Kerry," a woman yells. "Please stay and take my question."

"I can't folks, I really gotta go," Kerry says, jittery but unwilling to shut off questions –He tells a Haitian American man who asks about medical liability that "John Edwards and I will be the Nixon-going-to-China of tort reform."

"We have 26 days, folks" (actually there were 24), Kerry says, talking fast. "I have to be a lot of places."
He takes another question.

[bush equals idiot]

20. I saw it. Put an alert up on here when it was on.

Kerry killed. John Glenn said it was the biggest crowd he has ever seen anywhere in Ohio.

Screw that guy. He's a shit salesman with a mouth full of samples.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

21. What the fuck was THAT?

Worst. Article. Ever!

Undeniable anti-Kerry bias, coupled with terrible, terrible writing. Oh my gosh.

[SeveneightyWhoa]

22. OH MY GOD: folks, compare this to Leibovich's report on a BUSH rally...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39938-2004Sep21.html

The contrast is absolutely striking. Unbelievable.

[venus]

25. Thanks. Made me send another email to this fart. n/t

[sherilocks]

32. Me too, I am fed up with this and

I'm not going to take it anymore.

[JI7]

27. does he mention Bush only allows supporters into his rallies

and Kerry allows anyone ?

[prolesunited]

34. If you read and compare the two articles

The bias LEAPS out at you — the word choices, details, overall tenor, etc. If he was an actual journalist, you would be able to read both stories and not have a clue about who will be getting his vote.

[Minimus]

50. better

get me a bucket :puke:

[venus]

23. This reporter is nuts. It's hilarious. n/t

[liberal N proud]

26. I was at that rally and I did not get that message>

I don't remeber it the way this reporter did.
I will be writing this guy later thim morning.
This I would think would be liable

[linazelle]

28. My response to Liebofilth

Do I detect some bias in your coverage of Kerry? If I don't, then please show me a comparable piece by you where his opponent's grimaces, smirks and hyperactive hyperbole are mentioned. How is it that you arrived at a description of Kerry's walking as "stalking"? What's the difference between stalking and walking energetically--could Kerry have energetically walked to the front of the stage versus stalked? If not, why?

The point I am making here is that you chose words which negatively describe Kerry but you don't make a case for those choices. Your personal political agenda jumps out from the "story". I mean really. Here you have 20,000 people show up without signing loyalty agreements and searches to hear Kerry speak and when they applaud you try to discount Kerry's appeal because he's "like an aging preppie who's trying to talk like the cool kids"?

Good "story" but next time, I'd stick to facts and the truth if I were you.

[sherilocks]

31. I just emailed Leibovich and the ombudsman at

the Washington Post. I am so damned sick of these reporters following the Kerry campaign who report this kind of garbage. Kerry should eject them from the press plane, at 40,000 feet.

[markus]

36. Do you have the ombudsman's email?

Does anyone have the link to the full original story?

[sherilocks]

37. Here are the links and the email address

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39938-2004Sep21.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22830-2004Oct10.html

[e-mail]

[Radio-Active]

33. I'm a young guy, and I liked it when he said>

"I've got your back". Kerry really meant it..and he wasn't "trying to be hip".

This reporter obviously hates Kerry, and that is coloring his writing.

[CBHagman]

35. The Post under Donald Graham is Bush Whoredom.

Okay, so they let a few people like E.J. Dionne and Dana Milbank stick around, and of course there's Tom Toles. They even run Harold Meyerson's opinion pieces and "Doonesbury." But basically it's slanted towards Bush. They shoehorned the phrase "popular wartime president" into articles for 18 months after 9/11, despite the fact that it was clear Bush had many enemies and the country basically has remained divided. The Post also never misses a chance to assure us that we all "love" Laura Bush and that Teresa Heinz Kerry is "too exotic" for the American voter -- never citing a poll to back up either assertion.

Their editorial page has bent over backwards to justify the war in Iraq and minimize the vast protests that greeted Bush overseas, including during his state visit to the U.K., which turned out to be more house arrest than walkabout.

They fired Colman McCarthy, and Herblock and Mary McGrory have left this Earth. The Post is hanging on by its fingernails, and I only read it because the alternative, a candy-colored Moonie rag called the Washington Times, is too horrible and shallow to contemplate.

[liberal N proud]

38. I sent message to the reporter and it was returned

filtered out.

[sherilocks]

40. The original message had a typo and

inverted the i and e. should be

[e-mail]

[shmendrick]

39. It was in the Style Section

Long time reader, first time poster.

I live in DC and subscribe to the Post.

I would just like to point out that this story was NOT in the "News" section, which is the front page, but in the Style Section -- i.e. the "Life" or "Living" section. This is the same section with the movie and music reviews, the comics, fashion, and the like.

This was NOT supposed to be a news story, and to say it was is disingenous. This is supposed to be "lighthearted," and "funny," and EVERY SINGLE PERSON reading it is supposed to know that.

Now, you may not find it lighthearted or funny, and that's fine. But to say it was presented as "News" and then to get outraged about it, is a bit like saying that there were WMDs in Iraq -- something that is not true.

(I hope that this post doesn't get me labeled as a freeper, or a disrupter -- I am neither. I just wanted to correct some facts, and to say that people may be getting outraged over nothing).

[sherilocks]

41. I read it in washingtonpost.com and here is the byline

John Kerry, Stumping as Fast as He Can

By Mark Leibovich
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 11, 2004; Page C01

BTW-welcome to a first time poster.

[shmendrick]

42. thanks

Thanks for the Welcome.

Just to let you know the the "A" section is the news section, and the "C" section is the Sytle section.

Now, this is still a biased article, especially when you compare it to the other "lighthearted" treatment of Bush.

However, it is not presented as a news article.

[sherilocks]

46. Not to prolong this but

a reporter has an ethical obligation to report facts without bias no matter where his or her article appears. This is journalism 101. If the article was an op-ed piece, I would have no basis for questioning his journalistic integrity, only to disagree with him. But it is listed as a news report, and a sleazy one at that.

[rocktivity]

43. Well, that's even MORE insulting!!!

It SHOULD have been on the news page--it WAS news! To reduce a political event that will determine the future path of this nation--indeed, this planet--to "lightheartedness" is abominable. Thank you very much for pointing this out, Shmendrick--if THOSE are the facts, this unprofessional cowardly asshole is going to get a piece of my mind, too!

:headbang:
rocknation

P.S. Welcome to DU! :hi:

[newyawker99]

47. Hi shmendrick!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[grasswire]

49. unfortunately....

....the millions of people who access The Post from the Internet have no way of knowing that the story is an analysis unless it is so labeled.

Henry Allen writes for the Style Section. Henry Allen is drop-dead funny. Leibovich, a tech-business writer, is no Henry Allen.

[BlueNomad]

45. The first thing

to hit me in the face this morning after poor Christoper Reeves' unexpected death was that lame article. It is absolutely long and absolutely disparging.

I have actually come to the conclusion that some of these guys actually envy Kerry and Edwards. I mean true blue (green) to the core. Face it, they're poised, good looking, rich, their wives have the nerve not to take shitfrom them, and they have the nerve to still want to be Democrats, to have a social conscience? WTF? the nerve of them. All this challenges their Neanderthal world order view. Write the ombudsman about it. You'd think with 20,000 Americans showing up for the rally you could find one good thing to say....

[grasswire]

48. kick and the boss's email

Len Downie, boss. [e-mail]

Howard Kurtz, media critic: [e-mail]

Dan Froomkin, WH Briefing reporter: [e-mail]