The LA Times Whiffs On The Kerry Grade Story
Which major newspaper is missing yesterday’s best story?
New York Times: Kerry’s Grades Near Bush’s While At Yale
Boston Globe: Yale grades portray Kerry as a lackluster student
Washington Post: Kerry’s Yale Grades Similar to Bush’s
Los Angeles Times: Kerry Makes His Military, Medical File Available
Yes, in an 853 word piece, LA Times staff writer Stephen Braun manages to avoid any reference at all to the biggest piece of news to come out of Kerry’s long-delayed release of his Navy records. He writes that the records “contained no bombshells, and his enemies were still not satisfied.” Braun uses much of the piece to beat on the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth.
The best part is this: “… Kerry’s reluctance to provide easy access to records that buttressed his war resume remains one of the more puzzling aspects of his campaign strategy.”
Perhaps Braun should have checked the websites of his competitors before filing his story — they’ve got the answer to that puzzle.
Kerry’s poor grades are news. If John Edwards had done poorly in college, it would not merit much attention — his campaign did not make his intellect a selling point. But Kerry did. If these records had been released last fall, Kerry would have been the butt of late-night talk show monologues, SNL skits, Onion stories, and the rest of the panoply of mass market humor. No wonder he stalled.
Does the LA Times story — or, rather, non-story — reflect its lefty bias? Probably. But in this case they are even farther out than the NY Times and the Washington Post, which can still recognize a good story when they see it.
[Welcome, Kausfiles readers! Here’s a followup post on coverage of the Kerry grades story, and more of our Election 2008 Live Team Coverage! here. We’re also the proud owners of the internet domains villaraigosa2009.com and antonio2009.com (Mr. Mayor-elect, we’re waiting for your call)! Subscribe to our feed and see if we ever do anything else interesting again!]
Technorati Tags: 2008 Election, John Kerry, LA Times, Los Angeles Times, media
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June 8th, 2005 at 1:47 pm
I find it odd that Kerry who touted his intelligence was an even worse student than Bush…. whereas, Edwards (who was more interested in “connecting” with voters saying he is a regular guy) graduated summa cum laude from UNC!
June 9th, 2005 at 4:35 pm
Great point regarding the SNL/late-night talk show fodder. Sitting here, I can almost visualize a “Dumb and Dumber” bit.
June 9th, 2005 at 5:43 pm
Edwards went to undergrad ar NC State, not UNC.
June 9th, 2005 at 8:31 pm
NC State, not UNC? Well, that sure explains the summa cum laude.
;->=
June 10th, 2005 at 9:09 am
Am I Burnt Out, Or What?
You know you have a case of blogger burnout when your favorite blogging duty is to chastise the LA Times for its leftist bias and you miss the fact that the rag wrote a long article yesterday on John Kerry releasing his service records but failed to ev…
June 10th, 2005 at 12:54 pm
When did Kerry make his “intellect” a “selling point” during the campaign? And even if he did, what would any of that have to do with his grades in college his first two years? No one cares about Bush’s grades at Yale; the reason he has a rep for being a moron is that he constantly does (and says) moronic things.
June 10th, 2005 at 1:53 pm
Our followup post referenced above discusses the origins of the “intellectual” appellation. The “Kerry is smart, Bush is dumb” meme was pervasive during the campaign. Do your own Google searches and see how many hits you get. The news is not Kerry’s grades per se; we don’t think you have to be an “A” student to be President, although it probably helps. What IS news is that the “Kerry’s bright” assumption was wrong, but some organizations like the LA Times can’t or won’t see a good story right in front of them.
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