Evil Bush Operatives Out to Get Edwards

The Seattle Times is clearly excited about the choice of John Edwards as Kerry's running mate. How do I know? Well, first, it's noteworthy that there are FOUR stories (including the front-page headline AND the full-page Close-Up section) dealing with this in the A section, as well as two pieces in the Op/Ed section. One thing I have learned about the Seattle Times (which is probably true for all newspapers) is that by simply noting the number of stories on any given topic, you can pretty much tell what the Times wishes to emphasize, and what it wishes to hide. Or, it's perhaps more accurate to say that the number of stories reflects the importance the Seattle Times places on any given story. Abu Ghraib? Tons of stories. Sarin gas or Americans beheaded? Minimal stories.

Second, the stories themselves are very telling. When the Times reported on Vice President Cheney's strengths and weaknesses with regard to the upcomming elections (in Monday's paper), they trotted out his connections to Halliburton and made reference to "Fahrenheit 9/11", a factually inaccurate piece of propaganda. In today's stories dealing with Edwards, are there any quotes from Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity or any other popular right-wing pundit? No. Instead, when the Times did try and (lamely) present potential Edwards weaknesses, they used murky, non-specific sources like "Republican Operatives", the "Republican National Committee" and the "Bush Campaign". This was particularly true in the piece "GOP Welcomes Edwards-with a Blast" in which Edwards' critics are made to sound sneaky and devious. Near the end, we read "Taking the high road as his political operatives tried to undercut Edwards, Bush politely welcomed the senator...".

So, let me get this straight, Bush's (evil) operatives go around "undercutting" Edwards, while apparently "Fahrenheit 9/11" is a perfectly good reference source when discussing Vice President Cheney. Hmmm...