The Public Editor: The Scrutiny of Sarah Palin

By CLARK HOYT
Published: September 6, 2008
STEVE SCHMIDT, John McCain’s chief campaign strategist, told The Washington Post last week that the news media were “on a mission to destroy” Sarah Palin and that The Times in particular had written “an absolute work of fiction” about how she was vetted before becoming the Republican vice presidential nominee.

Karl Rove, the architect of President Bush’s two presidential campaigns and now a commentator for Fox News, said The Times “got it wrong” about the vetting of Palin. Former Senator Fred Thompson accused the newspaper of trying “to drag her down” by focusing improperly on her children.

Scores of readers joined the chorus. The Times was on a “witch hunt, covering every rumor available, even the basest,” said Gene Jemail of Santa Rosa, Calif. Denise Wagner of El Paso said 17-year-old Bristol Palin’s pregnancy was “none of your business” and accused the newspaper of using it as “fodder for political purposes.”

I heard from only a few who seemed to agree with Thomas Hilton of San Francisco, who worried that, because “The Times has long been under attack by conservatives trying to ‘work the refs,’ ” the paper might be gun shy about reporting the negative parts of Palin’s record.

In our instant-news and celebrity- obsessed culture, Palin went from Sarah Who to conservative rock star in less than a week. In less than two months, she could be elected vice president to serve under the oldest president, at 72, ever elected to a first term, and one with a history of recurring melanoma. Intense, independent scrutiny by The Times and the rest of the news media of Palin’s background, character and record was inevitable and right.

more:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/07/opinion/07pubed.html

bah

Family of criminals. Two brothers in the big house for serious crimes, husband picked up repeatedly for DUIs, son picked up for various traffic offenses, public fight and more recently for running meth lab and daughter charged with numerous traffic violations. Throw in brothers and father's neoNazi beliefs and you have a hit. Enquirer is having a field day gathering information about this "klan." Native Alaskans already know all of this. Is this a family of values?