Ah the Politico: total piece of crap
Remember when the Politico launched and they were all like “Hey, we are like totally going to change the way politics are covered” and all that? They were going to revolutionize Political Journalism and it was going to be awesome! Here’s a kickass example of their superb new age of covering politics! Via Kevin Drum, on the front page of the Politico Monday:
Romney spent $300 on makeup ‘consulting’
Presidential candidate Mitt Romney recorded $300 in payments to a California company that describes itself as “a mobile beauty team for hair, makeup and men’s grooming and spa services.”
Romney spokesman Kevin Madden confirmed that the payments — actually two separate $150 charges — were for makeup, though he said the former Massachusetts governor had only one session with Hidden Beauty of West Hills, Calif.
I’m a Democrat who doesnt like Romney at all and I think this story is dumber then dirt. As Kevin wrote:
Seriously. Can we just stop this stuff? Does anyone really think that the problem with presidential campaign coverage is that it isn’t vapid and half-witted enough already? Jeebus.
Amen. Sadly, thats really all the Politico has to offer, which is why I don’t find myself reading it ever. I can do without a thousand stories on John Edwards’ haircuts, thank you very much.
Update: Atrios says it well:
Yes the Politico sucks. No I don’t care how much Mitt Romney spends on makeup. Yes, all intelligent people know that politicians need to figure out how to look good on the teevee. Yes, this costs money. No it isn’t news.
Also worth a read is the Glen Greenwald piece Atrios links too. As its stuck behind the annoyaning advertising wall if you aren’t a Salon.com member, here’s a brief excerpt:
One of the reasons why vapid petty-personality “journalism” of this sort has so disadvantaged liberals and so advantaged right-wing fanatics is because the latter are not only willing, but droolingly eager, to exploit these sorts of themes, while liberals in general are highly reluctant, almost embarrassed, to do so. Thus, even after months of John Edwards being mauled in every media venue as a result of the Pulitzer-worthy haircut “scoop” by The Politico’s Ben Smith, these are representative reactions by liberals to the Romney “story”:
snip
The real issue here — aside from the complete lack of journalistic standards at the Politico, which is old news by now — is whether this trashy, worthless item will be given anywhere near the coverage and attention which the Politico’s equally trashly, equally worthless Edwards item received. It goes without saying that the hordes of right-wing commentators who spewed one Edwards hair insult after the next will not do anything similar with Romney. Their utter lack of consistency is far too established to be worthy of commentary.
God the Politico sucks.
Yes, talking about $100 here or $500 there is meaningless tripe. But talking about spending $150k on one’s wardrobe since September while talking about “wasteful spending in Washington” out of the other side of your mouth is a pretty big scoop!