The National Review hearts Jake Tapper
April 07, 2009 9:03 am ET by Eric Boehlert
We admit we don't read every print issue, and we can't possible read every dispatch posted online, but we're having a tough time remembering the last time the conservative National Review, which practically gave birth, many decades ago, to the whole you-can't-trust-the-liberal-media mantra, profiled a member of the mainstream Beltway press corps, and that profile contained no substantial criticism of his/her work. Rather, the entire point of the piece was to heap adulation on the Beltway reporter. (NR cover line: "ABC’s Jake Tapper isn’t afraid to go against the grain of the liberal consensus in pursuit of a story.")
Seriously, I think this might be an historic occasion and one that needs to be documented and honored. Maybe up until now NR just couldn't find a subject as deserving as Tapper, who NR really, really admires. (Paging Jeff Gerth....) They're not alone of course; it was Tapper who was recently singled out by Rush Limbaugh for avoiding the "butt boy bubble" of the White House press room. (Phew, no anal poisoning for him.)
Did we mention, NR really hearts Tapper?
He’s one of the last remaining journalists in America who take the responsibilities of their jobs seriously, and thus place a premium on their credibility.
And that's just the second paragraph. NR's Mark Hemingway can barely contain his admiration for the hard-driving Tapper:
No mainstream journalist was tougher on Obama during the campaign. Considering the fact that much of the media gave Obama the kid-glove treatment, Tapper’s reporting was essential.
The Beltway reality check though, comes courtesy of blogger DougJ at Balloon Juice:
Of course, being the subject of a fluff piece from a right-wing publication increases Tapper’s professional status. Similar treatment from a left-wing one would be a career killer.
Tap Jacker is the new poster boy for right-wing journalism. Why are the righties sooooo embarrassed to admit their conservative agenda?
“It’s always nice to be complimented — if that’s what that was,” he tells National Review Online. “Believe me, I don’t doubt there will come a day when Mr. Limbaugh and National Review consider me once again to be part of the ‘MSM,’ either too tough on Republicans or insufficiently tough on Democrats.”
Complimented? Rush doesn't consider you a butt boy, Congrats!! Or should I call him Mr Limbaugh like Jack does?
I then remind him, that they did hammer him with that for every single day for months, before everyone in the world, almost, decided that those stories were irrelevant. See, thing is, for conservatives, if they see a positive story about any democrat, even if it is true, they have an issue with it, as in, that's just media bias, you'd never see a Bush story that was this glowing. Of course, they forget about the Bush years, conveniently when he received fawning press coverage over and over again for really no good reason. And they also forget the Clinton years and the Gore years when not only did either of them receive hardly any positive coverage, but stories were being made up out of whole cloth about the Clintons to bring them down, and get them out of the White House.
Their memories are short.
I agree 100%. The Right-Wing blogosphere still harps about it to this day. It seems they have the notion that if the media had beaten that dead horse even further into the ground, McCain would have....won?
I know its saddening to them that the PEOPLE decided what they thought was important and not the media, but that's the facts. Not to mention that obviously their lives seemed to be so pleasant during a recession, that they decided that what some radial fringe pastor said in the PRIVACY of his own church, was more important than the fact that they and their friends and family were suffering.
Not to mention that it probably ticks them off that Wright or Ayers hasn't ended up in the cabinet, moreso than the fact he didn't get sworn in on the Koran...
We admit we don't read every print issue, and we can't possible read every dispatch posted online,-MMfA
This is all we really need to know about this thread.