Wednesday, September 23, 2009

The Associated Press: Biased or Clueless?

My first thought when reading the foolish assessment of Sarah Palin's alleged foreign policy shortcomings by the Associated Press, through their writer Jeremiah Marquez, was that Marquez is a partisan hack. The offending passage:

Palin...was ridiculed during the campaign after contending her state's proximity to Russia gave her foreign policy experience.

"You can actually see Russia from land here in Alaska," she said.

Yes, she said those words, but not in that context. Palin, responding to a question, first listed real foreign policy accomplishments. The two I remember her tell of are that she negotiated one of the biggest governor-to-foreign-nation business deals in history (the natural gas pipeline through Canada), and that she was Commander of the Alaska National Guard, and as such was responsible for the protection of a huge part of the U.S. border. Then she mentioned Russia's visibility for fun.

So are Marquez, and by extension the Associated Press, partisan hacks? Perhaps. Or maybe they're lazy and ignorant, unwilling to dig beneath the mainstream media veneer to find the truth. Or maybe they're lazy, ignorant, partisan hacks.

Monday, September 14, 2009

Been Busy!

Sorry for being away for a while. I've got a number of projects going, including this new blog featuring my wife's work. I hope you'll check it out. Don't worry, jgapinoy will be back soon.