WILL WEISSERT and STEVE PEOPLES open their June 2015 article of Rick Perry with a recollection, in the very first couple of sentences, of an event from… November 2011.Naturally, it is a mishap, something negative.
Needless to say, this is compounded in the AOL report by the necessary watering down of the Texas Governor's economic record (generating "more than a third of America's new private-sector jobs since 2001", with the phrase "an oil and gas boom fueled much of that economic growth") and by mention of "a felony indictment on abuse of power and coercion charges" against him.
The New York Times also recalls the 2011 event, with a headline reading Rick Perry, Shrugging Off 2012, Announces He Will Run Again for President and with a description of Perry's "oops" as nothing less than "a political disaster", again in the introductory sentence.
Neither the brain freeze nor the affair involving a drunken public corruption prosecutors (mentioned only in passing by the journalists) are un-newsworthy, of course, far from it, and reporters are supposed to assess everything pertaining to an economic boom (or an economic downfall or any issue at all, for that matter, large or small).
But why the double standards?
Compare with the treatment of America's leftist party the very week (!) that it was revealed that a leading Democrat was (firmly) embroiled in a private email account scandal,What story did AOL then choose to lead its Clinton family news? Hillary didn't pioneer the pantsuit in DC.
No mention, or little mention, of records and past (family member) indictments in a Democrat's case.
Few attempts at an assessment (over the past sis-seven years) of Barack Obama's economic record.
Few attempts at charging Obama (as a candidate or in the White House) for his foot-in-the-mouth flubs (remember Dubya?).
(No, MSM outlets like the New York Times are more concerned with Obama's "Legacy".)
Good job, mainstream media "professionals".
Related: Republicans Denounced as "Lizards" (in 2015), as "Reptiles" (in 2010), and as "Reptiles" (in… 1860!)
And: How electoral “firsts” work — The modus operandi is for the media to constantly harp on the fact that their preferred candidate suffers a handicap because he or she is different, which requires them to malign America as a very dark place
