Joan Vennochi
Vennochi goes after "Ernie Boch III," the not-the-car-dealer trying to organize a boycott of Howie Carr's advertisers:
The blogosphere opened up the public conversation to new, thoughtful voices, but it should not provide a shield to hide biases and private agendas.
Oh, excuse me, Miss High and Mighty. Read more
So Vennochi writes an entire column on whether the state should throw another one of those no-sales-tax days and then, out of the blue, ends the thing like this:
... What's Patrick really thinking?
Maybe that his friend Barack Obama is going to be president, that he will be going with him to Washington, and that the Massachusetts budget mess will be someone else's problem.
So that's it, then, Joan? Patrick has gotten bored with state government faster than Bill Weld? Or did you just realize on deadline your column on the sales tax was a paragraph short? Or as the Outraged Liberal puts it:
There's a name for stories and columns that praise/criticize an individual for an action that requires group action, then uses the standard political rumor of the day as an explanation for said action.
It's called phoning it in.
Mike Mennonno gets us started with the core algorithm for the system:
... Vennochi's modus operandi seems to be to broadcast the nasty message of "the most cynical pundits and radio talk-show hosts" on the right while pretending she's above them with little caveats like "that is a harsh conclusion I do not share." It's as artless as it is disingenuous. ...
Ryan Adams has had an interesting e-mail exchange with the Globe's Joan Vennochi about the intersection of columnists and bloggers (although I question his assertion that columnists are supposed to be unbiased, and I wonder if Vennochi assented to have her e-mail made public).
Joan Vennochi writes that Tom Reilly's rejection of Chris Gabrieli as a running mate because he wouldn't release his tax returns and his selection of Marie St. Fleur, who was a tax deadbeat, just doesn't make sense.
Where have I read that assertion before? Oh, yeah, yesterday on Blue Mass. Group.
What is interesting in Vennochi's column is that this is the second time somebody has fed her potentially embarrassing e-mail about Reilly. Somebody seems to have soured on him.
The Outraged Liberal wonders why a columnist is breaking news, not the Globe State House bureau (hmm, for that matter, one might ask why Blue Mass. Group is breaking news, not the Globe State House bureau).
Because otherwise people might start wondering about a campaign that lies about its involvement in what Blue Mass. Group is calling KillerCokegate.
Andy at Mass. Revolution Now would love to hear Reilly address the issue:
... Why doesn't Tom Reilly have the courage to raise the legitimate issue himself? Is he so weak of a person that he is afraid to hit a competitor in a respectable manner, in the light of day? If so then he certainly doesn't have the cajones to stand up to Sal and Trav and we DO NOT need that in our next governor. Or is it that Reilly just prefers dirty politics? I don't know. Tom Reilly, your staff shouldn't be answering for this one, you should. I expect a live press conference from you tomorrow anything less than that will prove that you prefer dirty politics. ...
Earlier Reillygates:
Bechtelgate
Dead-teengate
St.-Fleurgate
Commentgate
Sco: How many times is Joan Vennochi going to write the same column?
... Does she get a kickback for every "Democrats have no message" or "Democrats are reeling" column that she writes? ...
On the Chimes at Midnight, Elias dissects Tubby Harrison, the pollster Vennochi quotes to prove her contention that the Dems are adrift:
... His imperial high noon goes bck to 1986 and the race to succeed Tip O'Neill in the fabled Eight Congressional District. late in the primary tubby pimped a poll for the Boston Globe claiming that George Bachrach had pulled ahead of Joe Kennedy amongst "those most likely to vote". So the Boston Globe had a merry few days second guessing a Kennedy whilst Joe's campaign went into crisis mode.
Two weeks later, Kennedy took Harrison, Bachrach, A scion of the Roosevelt family and the Boston Globe out into the back yard and beat them all about the face and neck with a big electoral shovel. ...
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