NYT DealBook's Dishonest Salvo at Elizabeth Warren Over Calling Out an Unqualified Nominee for Treas

http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/27893-new-york-times-dealbook-s-dishonest-salvo-at-elizabeth-warren-over-calling-out-an-unqualified-nominee-for-treasury-post




Senate Banking Committee member Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) asks Treasury Secretary Jack Lew questions during a committee hearing on Capitol Hill in Washington, May 21, 2013. (Photo: Drew Angerer / The New York Times)

Tuesday, 09 December 2014 10:08
By Yves Smith, Naked Capitalism | News Analysis

Even though Andrew Ross Sorkin and his mini-empire, the New York Times DealBook, are reliable defenders of their Big Finance meal tickets, they’ve managed to skim above, if sometimes just barely above, abject intellectual dishonesty. But DealBook has published not one but three pieces in as many weeks in defense of an unacceptably weak Obama Administration nominee for an important Treasury post, the Under Secretary of Domestic Finance.

The candidate is Antonio Weiss, a Lazard mergers and acquisitions professional who was elevated to head of investment banking in 2009. There’s no doubt that Weiss is accomplished. The non-trivial problem, as Elizabeth Warren and others have pointed out, is that Weiss’ experience and skills have absolutely nothing to do with the Treasury role.


Also see: Antonio Weiss Is Not Qualified to Be Under Secretary for Domestic Finance: http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/27861-antonio-weiss-is-not-qualified-to-be-under-secretary-for-domestic-finance


What is striking is the way that Sorkin and his colleagues have launched what amounts to a media war against Warren in defense of Weiss, and have shameless resorted to a drumbeat of Big Lies in the hope that their messaging will stick. The fact that they can’t even mount a proper case on its merits speaks volumes about Weiss’ qualifications for the job.

Even more striking is the contrast between the obsessiveness of DealBook’s campaign for Weiss with the way other media outlets, including finance-oriented ones like Bloomberg and the Financial Times, are sitting out this fight, limiting their coverage to reporting. The exceptions are the right-wing leaning Washington Post and the even more right-leaning Wall Street Journal editorial page. The Post editorial in support of Weiss served to show its ignorance of finance and lack of interest in understanding what the Treasury job entails. The Journal completely ignored the issue that Warren raised about Weiss’ lack of relevant expertise. Merely “knowing something about finance” is the bar they set for this job.

FULL story at link.