The Washington Post’s resident “conservative” blogger, Jennifer Rubin–perhaps in her zeal to prop up Mitt Romney?–has gone after “the conservative media,” accusing them of an “embarrassingly bad” record this cycle.
Rubin writes,
in this presidential primary the conservative media has been far worse than many mainstream publications in analyzing the candidates’ weaknesses and recognizing problematic issues and performances. With some notable exceptions (Ramesh Ponnuru of National Review, Quin Hillyer of American Spectator, David Freddoso of the Washington Examiner and Jim Pethokoukis of the American Enterprise Institute come to mind), the conservative media chose to circle the wagons rather than report accurately and analyze smartly the serious missteps of those who, for a time, occupied the top tier in national polls.
(Emphasis mine.)
This strikes me as, at best, an example of painting with a broad brush. First, it’s hard to define exactly what she means by “conservative media.” Presumably — based on the positive examples of exceptions she cites — this isn’t a case of confusing conservative activists on Twitter with center-right journalists — nor is she exclusively criticizing talk radio. Personally, I consider myself a writer who has a conservative philosophy — not necessarily part of the “conservative media” Rubin decries — but I’m guessing she would lump me into that rubric.
Assuming I’m in some way at least partly representative of this group, consider my May 15 column on Rep. Michele Bachmann’s earmarks, farm subsides and high staff turnover. Was that an example of “circling the wagons” around Bachmann? There was also my March 26 piece which called out Newt Gingrich for flip-flopping on a Libyan no-fly zone. … And who could forget my October 12 column (Herman Cain was flying high by then) titled, “Why 9-9-9 is dumb, dumb, dumb“? And in terms of “analyzing the candidates’ weaknesses and recognizing problematic issues” I would draw her attention to my September 28 piece: Why Rick Perry should take his immigration problems very seriously.”
I’m just one example, of course. Let’s assume Rubin does not mean to include me in the ranks of the “conservative media” — then surely she would include Michelle Malkin, who has written many serious, but critical, posts pointing out problems with both Gingrich and Perry.
My point is this: There are plenty of right-leaning journalists and bloggers doing serious vetting.
So why the frustration and anger directed at the “conservative media”? My guess is this has more to do with their continued criticism of Mitt Romney — and their ignoring of Rick Santorum (both Rubin favorites) — than it does for any wagon-circling…