Nithing of the Week

Surely everybody remembers how upset the Right-wingers became when Newsweek published on their cover a photograph of Sarah Palin in a running outfit – a photograph Palin voluntarily posed for – a photo which, as MediaMatters tells us, “a photo that was originally taken for a recent issue of Runner’s World, and which has no obvious connection to Newsweek’s coverage of Palin.” They called it sexist. I don’t think it was, but that wasn’t all Newsweek did. MediaMatters goes on to tell us that “Newsweek’s lousy judgement extended beyond the cover: The magazine also ran a gratuitous photo focusing on Palin’s legs, and another photo of a “disgusting Sarah Palin-as-a-slutty-schoolgirl doll.”

Poor taste, poor judgment. And no real explanation or apology forthcoming. I expected better of Newsweek. But their show of poor taste has been trumped – and then some – by Time.

But Right-wing rage turned into hypocrisy when Mark Halperin photoshopped an image of Senator Mary Landrieu (Democrat-Louisiana), whom earlier Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh had called a prostitute for voting for healthcare debate. The photoshop shows Mary Landrieu with semen in her hair.

Mark Halperin “was named editor-at-large and senior political analyst for TIME in April 2007″ after working at ABC News for 20 years. He apparently missed his ethics classes. His upbringing might also be called into question – certainly his integrity as a journalist. I realize that journalistic standards have plummeted in recent years, but Halperin’s egregious deed has surpassed all my expectations. I had thought such vileness limited to FOX News.

I was wrong.

And nobody has said a word in outrage. In fact, Michelle Malkin, of FOX News, defended Halperin by saying this:

And lefty concern trolls, spare me all the over-the-top outrage about Rush and Beck. Their jabs at Landrieu are nothing compared to the unending attacks on Sarah Palin.

It’s difficult to know what to do when there are so many targets, but since I have to settle on one I’ll settle on the most gratuitous. Malkin is a hypocrite of the worst kind – and a not-very accurate one at that – but Halperin has gone beyond the pale – as did Limbaugh and Beck in their original attack.

There is no room for this kind of behavior in public discourse. News media should not indulge in spreading this sort of salacious crap, but should denounce it. Instead, they spread it around. Where is the outrage? Why do we tolerate this?

Those last questions are, I suppose, another post altogether. For now, I will name Mark Halperin (with Limbaugh and Beck earning dishonorable mention) as a nithing. Let them stand shamed and condemned before all for their vile and reprehensible behavior.