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August 30, 2008
Shocker: Historians who Donated to Obama Don't Like Palin
So unconventional was McCain’s choice that it left students of the presidency literally “stunned,” in the words of Joel Goldstein, a St. Louis University law professor and scholar of the vice presidency. “Being governor of a small state for less than two years is not consistent with the normal criteria for determining who’s of presidential caliber,” said Goldstein.Let's throw a little nuance on their opinions, shall we?...
Palin, on the other hand, is a total “wild card,” said Stanford historian David Kennedy.
GOLDSTEIN, JOEL
SAINT LOUIS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF LAW
6/16/08
$250 Obama, Barack (D)
KENNEDY, DAVID M
STANFORD UNIVERSITY/PROFESSOR
4/20/07
$2,300 Obama, Barack (D)
Five minutes on OpenSecrets netted me that information. Fred Barbash and David Mark, the reporters for this article, couldn’t be bothered to do the same? Let's just say it doesn't come as much of a surprise that two guys who donated to the ticket running against McCain and Palin aren't all that impressed with her. A simple line providing information about their donations would allow the reader to put their comments into some context.
I have no problem with the media quoting liberal scholars who may disagree with the policies of a particular president. Quoting scholars who have actually donated to the candidate this sort of criticism helps, though, is just journalistic malpractice. Either find scholars that didn't donate to the candidate, or be upfront about their donations.
Update - I was so irritated by Politico's story that I sent an email to McCain's campaign pointing out the rather partisan nature of the sources. I got a nice thank you from the campaign for the info and voila: Slublog gets results. Now at the bottom of that story:
UPDATE: After reading this article, the McCain campaign issued the following statement: "The authors quote four scholars attacking Gov. Palin's fitness for the office of vice president. Among them, David Kennedy is a maxed-out Obama donor, Joel Goldstein is also an Obama donor, and Doris Kearns Goodwin has donated exclusively to Democrats this cycle. Finally, Matthew Dallek is a former speech writer for Dick Gephardt. This is not a story about scholars questioning Gov. Palin's credentials so much as partisan Democrats who would find a reason to disqualify or discount any nominee put forward by Sen. McCain."Okay, who knows whether it was my email or that of another who exposed the Obama-lovin' scholars, but since this is the blogosphere, I take full credit. :-D
Posted by slublog at August 30, 2008 02:45 PM
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Comments
You do always have to wonder when an article quotes, "John Smith, an instructor at Yadda-Yadda Univ., states that . . . ." with all the authority of telling you this, so therefore, John Smith MUST be some kind of expert on the subject speaking for either a lot of students or other professors at the school, as if he has some sort of insight.
When in all actuality, John Smith is the writer's next door neighbor's brother-in-law and he taught a class one summer session on Basketweaving 101 five years ago.
Posted by: Kath at August 30, 2008 03:14 PM