July 08, 2004
TEST YOUR DETECTION SKILLS
Only those with the most highly-developed media sensibilities will be able to locate any trace of bias in this Marian Wilkinson report:
On hearing the news that the good-looking, charismatic Senator John Edwards had been named as his Democrat challenger, Vice-President Dick Cheney got on the phone to welcome him to the battle for the White House.
These will probably be the last warm words Mr Cheney has for his Democrat rival until election day in November. With unfavourable comparisons already being drawn between the silver-tongued, vigorous senator and Mr Cheney, the aloof, heart-attack-prone Washington insider, the Republican machine has gone into overdrive.
Drab, scaly Marian is the United States correspondent for the aloof, error-prone Fairfax newspaper group.
Posted by Tim Blair at July 8, 2004 05:43 PM
Marian forgot to mention that the good-looking, charismatic Edwards wanted to heroically serve in Vietnam on Kerry's four man boat. But, by the time the good-looking, charismatic Edwards was old enough to serve, Kerry had already won the Vietnam War, and so the good-looking, charismatic Edwards heroically and bravely went to law school.
Posted by: perfectsense at July 8, 2004 at 07:33 PMWilkinson isn't a journalist. She's a propagandist.
Posted by: superboot at July 9, 2004 at 12:54 AMHey Tim, just out of interest, whadaya reckon Fairfax pays her..?
Posted by: jafa at July 9, 2004 at 01:27 AMI don't know where Ms. Wilkinson is from, but in my neck of the woods, the term "silver-tongued" is usually coupled with the word "devil". God protect us from good-looking, charismatic, "silver-tongued" politicians who are usually Anti-Christ wannabes. Not that J. Edwards is. I'm just sayin'.
Posted by: Rebecca at July 9, 2004 at 01:32 AMBoy, Freud could have had a field day with that article. Is it possible for a journalist to swoon over a politician any more than that woman just did? (Unexplicable Clinton looooove excluded.)
Posted by: PW at July 9, 2004 at 01:50 AMOh, God. I love the Fairfax press and their deep knowledge of all things American:
...John Kerry, picked Senator Edwards as his running mate in a bid to reach out to swinging voters especially in the Midwest.
And if there's one thing Midwestern swingers love, it's a Southerner. Maybe she wrote this after reading the NY Post story on Gephardt, and had to hurriedly change it.
The reaction to Senator Edwards is one signal that the Republicans are worried.
Hahaha! No, doofus! It's a sign that the campaign is on! Does she think the opposing party is going to issue a press release saying, "The candidate has excellent credentials and will make a fine Veep. We're throwing in the towel."
Maybe that's how they do it in Australia.
(At least she didn't whip out Polly Toynbee's "silver-tongued gun".)
Posted by: Angie Schultz at July 9, 2004 at 02:33 AMRebecca - I agree 100%. Marian is obviously too dumb to realize that "silver-tongued" is NOT a compliment.
And the Cambridge Dictionary of Idioms agrees:
silver-tongued: a silver-tongued person speaks to someone in a pleasant way and praises them *in order to persuade them to do what they want*.
Emphasis mine. Synonyms would thus be manipulative or dishonest flatterer.
(http://dictionary.cambridge.org/define.asp?key=silver.tongued*1+0&dict=I)
Sheesh. My BS detector went off the scale on this one. Maybe Marian wants Edwards to chase her ambulance?
Posted by: The Real JeffS at July 9, 2004 at 05:28 AMHeart attack prone? Cheney's been coronary-free for most of Edwards' political career.
Posted by: Alan K. Henderson at July 9, 2004 at 02:25 PMDrab? Scaly? I think she looks lovely. The spitting image of Samantha's mum, Andorra, in Bewitched. And by her colourful descriptions I imagine she has just a touch of Mame, only a little more liberal.
Posted by: Romeo at July 10, 2004 at 01:24 AM