The bloom is off the Bodfield

Posted by AzBlueMeanie:

Some of you will get the double-entendre joke in the caption.

There was a flowering of hope among readers of the Arizona Daily Star that after that talentless hack WATB Daniel Scarpinato left the Star and the editors finally got around to naming an experienced reporter with some cred to take over the political writing at the paper, Rhonda Bodfield, that there would be a marked improvement in both the quality and content of political reporting at the Arizona Daily Star.

Sadly, the experience of most readers over the past year has been a resounding disappointment. That flowering of hope among readers of the Star has died. The bloom is off the Bodfield.

I have previously written about how much I despise the "Political Notebook" gossip column that the editors of the Arizona Daily Star prefer to actual hard news political reporting. For the editors, politics is to be treated like Hollywood entertainment reporting in Variety. It is not straightforward news reporting. It takes a thread of fact and laces it with commentary and opinion, like we do here. It belongs on the op/ed page. But the Star publishes this political gossip column in the news section of the newspaper. That is a violation of the wall of separation between news reporting and the opinion page. The management of this newspaper is to blame.

Today's "Political Notebook" gossip column in one in a continuous stream of crap that flows from the pages of the Arizona Daily Star. Ala. blogger claims a role in Giffords-office vandalism

David Safier previously has written a series of posts here about how Bodfield used this act of vandalism at the offices of Rep. Gabriel Giffords to call teabagger Trent Humphries on her speed dial and make this story about how the teabaggers deny any culpability and, to suggest a conspiracy theory (they love that crap) that some Democrat did it to cast aspersions on the teabaggers. (I think they pretty much achieved this all by themselves by spitting on an African-American congressman and calling an American hero, Rep. John Lewis, a "nigger." Calling Rep. Barney Frank a "faggot" is something that even Republican congressmen have resorted to in the past.) Today's gossip column identifies a "blogger" from Alabama, Michael Vanderboegh, who called the Star after the story went online to say he's been asking his readers to break windows in government offices across the country.

Had this story not been treated as Hollywood gossip column entertainment news, Bodfield might have done some actual research and reported on who this asshole actually is. Here is how Justin Elliot reported the story. Vandals Attack Dem Offices Nationwide | TPMMuckraker:

Pinson, Alabama-based blogger Mike Vanderboegh has been tracking the breaking of windows at Dem offices after issuing a call Friday: "To all modern Sons of Liberty: THIS is your time. Break their windows. Break them NOW."

It's far from clear whether Vanderboegh's call to arms has anything to do with the incidents around the country.

The Kansas City Star identifiesVanderboegh as a former leader of the Alabama Constitutional Militia.

His blog, Sipsey Street Irregulars, identifies with the so-called "Three Percenter" doctrine: "During the American Revolution, the active forces in the field against the King's tyranny never amounted to more than 3% of the colonists."

The March 19 post says:

They will send the Internal Revenue Service and other federal police to do this in thousands of small Wacos, if that is what it takes to force us to submit. This arrogant elite pretends that this oppression is for our own good, while everyone else understands that this is about their selfish, insatiable appetite for control over our liberty, our money, our property and our lives.

Elliot's report details five separate incidents of vandalism on Monday alone across the nation. Think Progress has more Vandals hit at least five Dem offices nationwide, threaten to ‘assassinate’ children of pro-reform lawmakers:

The local Rochester ABC affiliate now has more information on the upstate NY vandalism, including an assassination threat against the children of lawmakers who voted for health reform:

No one was inside when the brick was hurled through the Democratic Party Headquarters on University Avenue. Attached was a note quoting conservative Barry Goldwater: “Exremism [sic] in defense of liberty is no vice”. […]

[Rep. Louise] Slaughter has been at the center of the push for reform. Last Thursday she received a chilling recorded message at her campaign office. “Assassinate is the word they used…toward the children of lawmakers who voted yes.”

The FBI is now investigating.

Pictures of the note attached to the brick thrown at the Monroe County Democratic Committee headquarters:

That misspelled Barry Goldwater quote is the kind of "local angle" news reporting our local yokel news reporters love to focus on so much. Still think that this a story about dueling press releases from teabagger Trent and the local Democratic and Republican Party chairmen, Rhonda? Or do you think maybe, just maybe, there is something more substantive to report here that the shallow reporting in the Arizona Daly Star is failing to report?

Next Bodfield reports that the Quitta from Wasilla, Sarah Palin, wrote on her Facebook page: "We're going to fire them and send them back to the private sector, which has been shrinking thanks to their destructive government-growing policies."

Here's what Bodfield's shallow reporting entirely failed to report about Palin's "targeting" of Democratic House members, from the top story on Countdown with Keith Olbermann Tuesday night. "Sarah Palin releases a target list of Democrats to go after in the next election. In marking the districts she uses gun cross-hairs. And in a separate message, she tells supporters to reload."

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Let me explain this to you Rhonda, since you are obviously clueless about this subject. The right-wing fringe groups speak to one another in coded language. Don't take my word for it. Call The Southern Poverty Law Center and ask to speak to one of their experts on right-wing fringe groups and they will be happy to explain it to you. It's called news reporting.

Here's a helpful decoding for you (highlighted). Tuesday, March 23rd – Countdown with Keith Olbermann:

Palin supplies her flock with a hit list of 20 Democrats to target in the midterm elections, “all House members who voted in favor of Obama-care and represent districts that Senator John McCain and I carried during the 2008 election. We‘re going to fire them and send them back to the private sector, which has been shrinking thanks to their destructive government-growing practices.”

Palin then provides supporters with a map of the districts currently held by the targeted Dems, location through gun cross-hairs.With three of the 20 Dems retiring, Palin wants to focus attention on holding the others accountable for their disastrous vote. “Warning, we‘ll aim for these races and many others.”

Sarah Palin [took] time off from negotiating a multi-million dollar reality show deal to Tweet “common-sense conservatives and lovers of America, don‘t retreat; instead, reload.”

And that Harris Poll (out today) that Lawrence O'Donnell references is what you actually should be reporting on with Sister Sarah and Tom Tancredo coming to town this weekend. “Wingnuts” and President Obama:

What Republicans, Democrats and Independents think

There are – no surprise here – huge differences between what Republicans and Democrats believe. Majorities of Republicans believe that President Obama:

• Is a socialist (67%)
• Wants to take away Americans’ right to own guns (61%)
• Is a Muslim (57%)
• Wants to turn over the sovereignty of the United States to a one world government (51%); and
• Has done many things that are unconstitutional (55%).

Also large numbers of Republicans also believe that President Obama:

• Resents America’s heritage (47%)
• Does what Wall Street and the bankers tell him to do (40%)
• Was not born in the United States and so is not eligible to be president (45%)
• Is the “domestic enemy that the U.S. Constitution speaks of” (45%)
• Is a racist (42%)
• Want to use an economic collapse or terrorist attack as an excuse to take dictatorial powers (41%)
• Is doing many of the things that Hitler did (38%).

Even more remarkable perhaps, fully 24% of Republicans believe that “he may be the Anti-Christ” and 22% believe “he wants the terrorists to win.”

While few Democrats believe any of these things, the proportions of Independents who do so are close to the national averages.

In short, Republicans are a minority party of batshit crazy individuals. Inciting them to violence in coded language like Sarah Palin does or expressly like Alabama Constitutional Militiaman Mike Vanderboegh did is dangerous, reckless and irresponsible. It's all fun and games until someone gets killed, now isn't it?

Finally, Rhonda Bodfield reported on a Democratic campaign event — I know! Rhonda was at the game! I know this because she sat behind David Safier who tells me that Bodfield came late and left early. And it shows in her reporting of the LD 28 House Democratic candidate debate.

The only thing Bodfield found newsworthy of reporting, in the style of the Political Notebook, was a quote making fun of Marlena Fineberg, a political novice who is a $500 threshhold candidate. Classy. Way to phone it in, Rhonda.

I have heard from sources that Marlena Fineberg was so discouraged by her performance and chances of winning that she has indicated to party leaders she is considering withdrawing from the race. Today's article in which Bodfield makes fun of her probably seals the deal.

You can bet that Rhonda Bodfield and the editors of the Arizona Daily Star will fill columns of newsprint with lots of photos this weekend when Sarah Palin is here for John McCain, and Tom Tancredo is the guest of a teabagger event for Republican candidates running for Congress in CD 8.

A Democratic campaign event barely gets a mention, and only for the purposes of mocking someone.

So how does it feel when the shoe is on the other foot, Rhonda?