Curiously, an Atlantic article that points out Old Media was “late to report” on John Edwards’ extramarital affairs and corruption makes its own strange omission from the story. Somehow, blogger Hampton Dellinger forgets to mention even once that Edwards was, indeed, a Democrat. Yet five times the piece mentions Republicans in order to cast aspersions on the Grand Old Party.
This one can be chalked up to one of our favorite games, the “name that party” game, where one can read an entire story about a troubled or criminal politician without once being told that the subject is a Democrat.
In his piece, headlined “Why the John Edwards Trial is a Bigger Deal Than You Think,” Dellinger goes into detail about Edwards’ prosecution and tries to describe what is so unusual about the situation.
But it is telling that Edwards is never fully identified as a former candidate for the Democrat nomination for President. On the other hand, Dellinger spares no effort to name Republicans, perhaps to provide mitigation for Edwards. While he never uses the word “Democrat,” he goes for the throat of any Republican he can connect to the Edwards case, even if tangentially.
First off, Dellinger smacks around Sheldon Adelson and Foster Friess for spending “tens of millions” in the 2012 Republican presidential primary due to the left’s most hated Supreme Court decision, Citizens United. Then he spends a dense paragraph scoffing at “Republican U.S. Attorney General” George Holding, who Dellinger says is trying to make a personal political career out of his involvement with the Edwards case.
I suppose one might imagine that everyone knows who John Edwards is, but making such an assumption violates good writing for one thing, especially when a large portion of the article is used to cast aspersions on the opposing party.
Further, with all the swipes at Republicans and the subsequent lack of the word Democrat appearing anywhere at all, one might think that, in the little bio of Dellinger posted on the page ,The Atlantic might have felt obliged to let its readers know that Hampton Dellinger is himself a former Democrat politician, a failed candidate for North Carolina Lt. Governor. Were readers made aware of this, they might understand why Republicans come under special scrutiny in a story about a Democrat’s indictment and trial.
As Doug Ross quips, “There really are two Americas: the Democrat-media elites who think they are our betters, and the rest of us.”
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