Meet the Press (Senate debate series)

I shook Pat Buchanan's hand once because he offered it.
Courtesy, lads.

 

Where I work, they won't even let you put a political bumper sticker on your car. You don't see the possible perception problem here? What if a tour group is going through your newsroom that day and they see it? Just affirms whatever prejudices they might have about journalists. (This argument cuts across party lines.)

If I came on here and said I was going to shake DeWine's hand and wish him good luck, I'd get filleted. Rightly so. If he offers his hand, it's one thing. But I'm not going to go out of my way to do it, like you apparently are with Brown.

And to equate wishing good luck to a political candidate and a token "good luck" to a coach is ridiculous. I'm sure you don't really care who wins the sporting event the coach is participating in.

 

OMG! And what if there's a cataclismic nuclear accident and I'm the only voter left in Ohio, and it's a Thursday and what's left of the legislature passes a law that you can only vote for people you've shaken hands with, and aliens zoom down... ?
Puh-lease. Our shop doesn't allow involvement in campaigns, either, but shaking a guy's hand and wishing him well hardly rises to that level. Are you really concerned about bias, here? Or are you sharpshooting me because Brown's a dem? Or just overly concerned with minutiae in general?

 

Because Brown's a Dem and liberal. You wouldn't hear a whisper if you'd said it about DeWine.

 

John McCain visited our shop once to talk to our editorial board -- yes, Republicans do it too -- and I shook his hand and thanked him for his service. (Boiler plate, yes, but you don't get the chance to shake a U.S. Senator's hand every day.)

My exchanging pleasantries with McCain? Nothing questionable there, because he won't ever get my vote for anything.

And Lyman, spare us the conservative-persecution complex this time. On the Bush-Saban thread a while back, posted that you would jump at the chance to have dinner with Bush (or any president), and nobody "filleted" you for that.

 

Yes, I would. Apparently you didn't read my posts thoroughly, or only read what you wanted to read. Can't say I'm surprised, though.

To complete your coach analogy, answer this: If DeWine came through your newsroom, would you go out of your way to shake his hand and wish him well, like apparently you're ready to do with Brown?

 

It isn't a persecution complex if you're really being persecuted.

 

If an SportsJournalists.com conservative happened to come on here and say he was looking forward to shaking a Republican candidate's hand in his newsroom, every lefty on the board would chime in with their selective outrage and lessons in objective journalism. And every one of you know it.

 

Yeah, I know how shocked I'd be.

 

As stated before, conservative poster wrote not long ago that he would have dinner with the current president, and nary a peep was heard. On that same thread, someone tried to paint Saban's refusal to have dinner with Bush as a reflection of how loathsome the president is, and many of the board's resident liberals, me included, said that was a stupid parallel to make.

But if making shit up to feel persecuted makes you feel better, have at it.

 

No, I wouldn't. How does that complete my analogy? Is the hypothetical tour group that's been following me since the Brown visit going to take notice of that, then write all journos up as pinko lefty communists?
Jesus, you're comically pathetic.

 

Damn, y'all are a bunch of whiny little bitches.

I've had roughly 50 conversations with college coaches this football season. At the end of almost every one of them, I've shook the coach's hand, thanked him for his time and wished him well the rest of the way. Guess I should start packing my shit up since I'm obviously biased and unfit for the profession.

How the right has been able to push this idea that the media has a liberal bias is astounding to me. As proven by the last two elections, this country is rather evenly split. It's absolutely idiotic to believe that newsrooms would be any different. For every newsroom in which a majority lean to the left, there are just as many which lean to the right. For every liberal talking head, there's a conservative talking head.

So, just stop with the "oh, poor, pitiful us" bullshit. We all know better here. And the rest of the country is slowly realizing it as well.