One of the MSM "tribe" finally has had enough

[n2doc]

James Fallows (former Carter speechwriter)

On the Birth Certificate Idiocracy
APR 27 2011, 12:56 PM ET
1) "And you know it." The "affably" acid comments in the first 20 seconds of this clip (from the White House) almost justify the whole birther extravaganza. Well, actually, they don't --and don't even come close. But the hyper-controlled Obama's decision to let out that bit of bile about how the press works, including dropping the affable mask for a few seconds with the punchline "and you know it," reveals the real feelings of every politician about the instincts and workings of the press. (I wrote about this in Breaking the News.) It's fascinating to see how Obama instantly, perhaps instinctively, lightens the mood again with a heartier-than-needed laugh, and his super-radiant smile, at a mild witticism someone calls from the crowd. But that doesn't take away the edge of the way he began.


(video of press conference)
1A) You can hear a more deliberate and in a way tougher version of this "the press is crazy" analysis for about 45 seconds, starting around time 2:00. There is another little drip of acid at time 2:35 when he talks about "most of the same news outlets represented here."


best part:

5) Speaking of carnival barkers: Every member of the political press knows that the chance of Donald Trump becoming the 45th President of the United States is zero. I say that the chance of Sarah Palin becoming president is extremely low but greater than zero. I will take any bet at any odds against Trump becoming president, for reasons I'll boil down to this: the same circumstances that would make Obama so vulnerable that a Trump could beat him (economic, political, military, or social chaos of any kind you want to imagine), would simultaneously motivate the Republican party to choose a "real" candidate with the best chance of winning the election and running the government. That is, if the Republicans think they have a serious chance to win, they're not going to blow that chance with Trump.

My real point is: knowing for sure that Trump's "lead" in the GOP polls now is a quaint artifact of name recognition, and knowing that there is no chance that his "colorful" background and prima donna manner could stand the long grueling, humiliating ordeal of the primaries and the caucuses and the endless interviews, how long will the press keep acting as the megaphone for this carnival barker? Why aren't they jumping all over him now, for the patent idiocy of his "birther" claim, rather than acting as if somehow he has scored a point by making Obama react? In reality, he'll be on the stage with the press' megaphone until people get bored with him -- which gradually but undeniably has happened to Palin.

more
http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/04/on-the-birth-certificate-idiocracy/237941/