Associated Press reporter Nedra Pickler — or, as the blogosphere has taken to calling her, as though she were a Batman villain, “The Pickler” — has become a favored target of liberal bloggers looking for conservative media bias. She’s even inspired a watchdog website, complete with (admittedly kinda funny) pickle-themed illustration.
Yesterday, on “Tapped,” Nick Confessore took down Pickler once again, this time charging her with “a subtle accusation of hypocrisy that, on closer inspection, amounts to a non sequitur.” In a story about White House criticism of John Kerry’s quoting Scripture during a speech at a church, Pickler mentions that Kerry’s “support for abortion rights is at odds with Vatican teachings.” Says Confessore:
What Pickler’s aiming for, one gathers, is to rebut Kerry’s implicit charge that Bush is a hypocrite (for claiming to be a good Christian while in fact neglecting the poor) with a counter-charge that Kerry is a hypocrite because he’s a pro-choice Catholic.
Perhaps Pickler isn’t the problem: As Jonah Goldberg puts it (in what he admits is a sweeping, “and therefore unfair,” generalization), Confessore might share with his peers the “generalized ignorance or silence of mainstream liberals about their own intellectual history.” Conservatives and libertarians are in touch with their intellectual forefathers, claims Goldberg, while liberals are “intellectually deracinated.”
Asks tbogg: “Not to be an anti-intellectual or anything but, let’s say you’re at a party, wouldn’t you slowly move over towards the guys discussing which bar has the best hot wings if someone brought this up?” (Admittedly, we like good wings, but that’s not exactly a stirring call to intellectual arms.)
Moving from a sophomoric response to an actual sophomore, we’ve been waiting desperately for some fresh posts from Kyle Williams, homeschooled conservative columnist. Nothing too meaty of late, but we highly recommend checking out the cover of Kyle’s book, which puts “America’s Youngest Pundit” in front of a billowing American flag, Sean Hannity style.
And speaking of Hannity, Suburban Guerrilla mocks the boast made on his website of an “exclusive” interview with National Security Advisor Condi Rice.
Rice has, as you no doubt know by now, appeared on more talk shows of late than Dr. Phil, and will now testify publicly in front of the 9/11 Commission. “I guess it depends on what you mean by ‘exclusive,'” the Guerilla explains sardonically.
–Brian Montopoli
Brian Montopoli is a writer at CJR Daily.