Hurricane Palin

While I've been struggling to sort through my thoughts on the "Sarah as Mom" phenom and get my next post up, Sally Schwettmann sent along this link from slate.com. You don't have to get far into to realize it's from the "media criticism" corner.

Here's an excerpt from the piece by Jack Shafter:

Journalistic mayhem is a fine description for the last couple of days of Sarah Palin coverage. Starved to the point of collapse from the restricted-calorie diet served at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, the press needed a news feast to restore its powers. With the Republicans' convention lite staring them in the face, the ravenous press corps decided to switch the menu from St. Paul to New Orleans. The evening news anchors—NBC, CBS, ABC—were all defecting to the Gulf Coast over the weekend. But then the press scented the lard-fried Snickers bar that was Palin. Now that Hurricane Gustav has fizzled, there is only one disaster story to cover, and she's it.

Shafter notes, for example, the media's coverage of Bristol Palin's pregnancy, while linking it to the "eagerness with which politicians deploy their children as campaign props." On that note, may I say how unimpressed I was to see young Levi's photo (yes, the one you've surely all seen by now, in the hockey uniform) both in the New York Times today and on the Today Show. Give the kids a break -- which means they shouldn't be compelled to play this convention game. Why'd we have to fly this kid down from Alaska, for heaven's sake? It's looking like the Republicans using "family values" any way they can.