Carl Cannon has written the definitive piece on the press and its unfair treatment of Sarah Palin in Politics Daily. I’ve known Carl for many years. As he says in this piece, he is not a Republican or a conservative; I think he’s a little more liberal than conservative, but with various views on various issues, many not predictable. But most of all he’s a reporter. He doesn’t like lies and he doesn’t like b.s.; he tries to understand what he’s covering and to report it accurately and fairly, whatever the consequences.
His passion for reporting accurately and fairly comes out in this piece. It’s a damning indictment of what much of the press has become by a guy who wants it to be what it should be. I remember some years ago, back during the days of the Clinton administration, a conversation with the late Deborah Orin of the New York Post, another wonderful and fearless reporter. She was angry because after she asked the press secretary (I think it was Mike McCurry) a tough question, he brushed it aside and no one else in the White House press room pressed him for an answer. “It wouldn’t have happened,” she said, “if Carl Cannon was there.”
