Hatchet Job on Romney Poses as News
New York Times At It Again

by Herbert I. London
January 23, 2012 at 4:00 am

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/2772/new-york-times-romney

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Attempting to parse the language in the New York Times has become an easier task than in the past, due, in no small part, to its transparently hostile view of Republicans and the consistently admiring stance towards President Obama.

For example, on 12/25/11 in a profile of Mitt Romney during his Harvard Business School years, Jodi Kantor wrote: "And unlike Barack Obama, who attended Harvard Law School more than a decade later, Mr. Romney was not someone who fundamentally questioned how the world worked or talked much about social policy topics."

Several pointed questions emerge from this tendentious sentence: How can Ms. Kantor be sure that Barack Obama questioned how the world worked while a student at Harvard? How can she assert that Mitt Romney did not discuss social policy topics? And what is meant by the word "fundamentally"?

Ms. Kantor cannot possibly answer any of these questions. No one can. Her assertions are not based on fact, probably not even on hearsay; they are based entirely – most probably – on her confidence in what Obama may have written about himself. The contrast she presents is precisely what she wants the reading audience to believe. For many, it may be compatible with a deeply held impression. But is it true?

This was, after all, a front page story designed to provide key insights into the character of a leading Republican candidate. The article is simply a hatchet job that suggests Romney was an ambitious student without deep convictions, a pragmatist who did not immerse himself in deep introspective thoughts -- presumably unlike her preferred candidate.

Of course, drawing on the experience of a man in his twenties to draw conclusions about his present convictions is faulty to begin with. However, despite two autobiographies, very little is known about Barack Obama at Occidental College, Columbia and Harvard Law School. His grades and transcript have not been revealed -- despite his repeated promises of "transparency." Although he was the editor of the Harvard Law Review, he published no articles -- about his legal reasoning, judicial preferences or anything else. This period in his life may have been fraught with philosophical examination, but Ms. Kantor has no way of knowing that.

This throw-away sentence in a long piece about Romney shows only a clear and abiding bias and an undeviating effort to exalt the President and indirectly undermine the candidate.

It has been said by many before that the New York Times is the extension of the Democratic party. It is less a newspaper and more a partisan organ. Keep in mind the use of the word "fundamentally." It is a "weasel word" designed to provide undeserved cover. She is also apparently sure that Obama questioned and talked and drank from the well of wisdom -- also attributable to the view of Ms. Kantor.

Reading the New York Times with a jaded eye is (almost) fun: it allows you to see that the paper of record is a public relations operation for the President and has as much to do with news as an ad for Coke. Unlike Coca Cola, however, that promises to slake your thirst, the New York Times just makes you thirsty - for the news.