The farcical game of the one-sided “gotcha” question "On Saturday afternoon, two of the Washington Post’s crack political correspondents accosted Governor Scott Walker in the lobby of a JW Marriott hotel and asked him whether he believed that President Obama is “a Christian.” As is always the way with silly questions, this inquiry elicited a silly answer. And, as it was foretold, that silly answer provoked a maelstrom inside the bubble. "Had Walker been asked, “To which religion does President Obama claim he adheres?” he might well have responded without making headlines. But he wasn’t. Instead, he was prompted to weigh in on a question that he could not possibly answer: namely, whether the president is, in any meaningful sense, what he claims to be. “Told that Obama has frequently spoken publicly about his Christian faith,” Dan Balz and Robert Costa wrote excitedly, “Walker maintained that he was not aware of the president’s religion.” And the critics screamed bloody murder."
. . .
" . . . Rather, they wanted a specific response, and they were determined to crucify their man if he didn’t give it to them. That, I’m afraid, is not journalism; it’s entertainment. Their goal wasn’t “asking questions”; it was enforcing a catechism. "
"Halperin attributed the positive coverage in part to the historic nature of Obama’s candidacy. But he also noted that only a few hands had gone up in the crowded room when the audience had been asked how many had voted for George W. Bush. “I find it curious that far more time and media energy has been spent on Sarah Palin’s time in Wasilla, Alaska’s, city government in the last eight weeks than in looking at Barack Obama’s dozen years in Chicago politics and government over the last 18 months of his candidacy,” he noted dryly. And Ms. Palin was only running for vice president."And we all know how free Chicago’s government is from corruption and juicy stories."
