I swear I tried to ignore the Cory Booker “story” today, since I can’t really imagine why a toss-off comment defending private equity firms from a guy who may be running as a “centrist” for governor of a state that’s half in the New York media market is surprising or matters a whole lot. But then Harold Ford piled on, unfortunately playing to type, and apparently Team Mitt is talking about nothing else. Hell, the RNC, in a move that may not please Chris Christie, is circulating a “I stand with Corey!” petition.
Oh well. I know I’ve already quoted Dave Weigel once today, but he really does sum up the hypocrisy of the Romney camp on this manufactured story, and how silly the whole thing is:
Last week, as the Joe Ricketts/Jeremiah Wright storm raged around her, WaPo blogger/Romney sympathizer Jennifer Rubin called on the media to stop falling for the lastest campaign crap. “Unfortunately,” she wrote, “the way the media works, in herdlike fashion, as soon as a major outlet holds up the next ‘shiny object,’ other outlets follow suit. Well, the New York Times is covering it! News judgment goes out the window, and any sense of proportion fades not only for the outlet that first held up the ‘shiny object’ but for the whole news corps.”
My question: Does Bookergate qualify? The Romney campaign is spending all day “messaging” Cory Booker’s Meet the Press comments, raising the stakes with a profoundly dramatic video ad that’s intended to further the “Booker SLAMS Obama” story. Did you know that former congressman and frequent Morning Joe guest Harold Ford is a “key Obama supporter,” and not just a has-been now working for Merrill Lynch?
Hilarious. Next we will probably be told that the Booker/Ford one-two is an indication that Obama is alienating his African-American base, which is famously cozy with Bain Capital.
