I spend a lot of time criticizing the mainstream media because they deserve it. Instances of class are so rare they are almost startling. Here are two:
• Washington Post columnist Sally Quinn, who on Aug. 29 knee-jerkily joined most of the mainstream media in slandering Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s parenting skills and her ability to do the job of vice president with five children, has apologized for her comments. On “The O’Reilly Factor” last night, Quinn had this to say (emphasis added):
You pointed out the other night that you thought I was being unfair and that I had judged her before I heard her speak and that I knew anything about her and I think you were right. I thought that she was amazing in her speech. She was funny and smart and poised and confident and she gave a great speech, beautifully delivered, and I think she is going to be a formidable opponent. So all of that, I think I was wrong about her. And I didn’t know anything about her.
Well, good for her. My respect for Quinn went up a few notches last night.
• Dan Barkin of The News & Observer did something today that no one in the mainstream media has done. He wrote a column pointing out that being a mayor is actually a very demanding job. Rather than joining his MSM colleagues in immediately denigrating Sarah Palin’s years as a smalltown mayor, Barkin used his first-hand observations of his own mayor, Jody McLeod of Clayton, to come to this conclusion:
There are thousands of Jody McLeods around the country, more of them running small towns than big cities. They have a substantial day-to-day impact on their residents. I’d swap 535 of them chosen at random for the incumbents in Congress and expect results that wouldn’t be worse and might be better.
The pundits are having fainting spells about Sarah Palin’s resume, but mayors do learn how to listen to the people and get stuff done.
