First, I need to apologize to Kevin Woster for my criticism in an earlier post, to wit, that he had skipped any mention of the central role of Argus Leader political reporter Dave Kranz in the dustup over "Nothingate." Kevin discusses Kranz in his second article in a series "Blogs change campaigns."
As for the piece by Randell Beck in Sunday's edition of the Argus Leader, it's more of the same tiresome "don't trust the blogs, only trust the Argus Leader" intonations we've come to expect.
Take, for instance, this passage:
Nowhere else could South Dakotans get the kind of in-depth journalism about the candidates and the issues that they found in the Argus Leader.
Consider this remark in light of the fact that, by October 12, 2004, the Argus Leader had ignored or buried over 60 stories about Sen. Daschle published in other mainstream media outlets like the New York Times and Roll Call, well-known bastions of right-wing zealotry. That's hardly "in-depth journalism" on the part of the Argus Leader. It's facts like these that prompted my post mentioned by Beck in his column, which Beck ridicules but fails to address in its substance. How did that post "overreach," Mr. Beck? You never tell us.
Beck also discusses the controversy over the Kranz-Daschle college relationship:
Yes, Kranz and Daschle had attended SDSU, the former graduating in 1968 and the future senator a year later. And yes, there had been a mock convention.
No, Kranz was not a member of the political science club. But he, Daschle and roughly 30 other students had wanted to stage a mock GOP convention until a teacher, reacting to then-President Lyndon Johnson's decision not to seek re-election, suggested to them a Democratic convention would be more interesting and timely.
Compare Beck's passage with what David Kranz himself wrote about the event for the September 4, 1976 edition of the Mitchell Daily Republic:
More familiar faces are returning from other parts of the country to South Dakota. Tom and Laurie Daschle, aides to Sen. James Abourezk in Washington have been reassigned to Abourezk’s Sioux Falls office.
Daschle is formerly of Aberdeen and his wife is the daughter of PUC commissioner Mrs. Norma Klinkel. We went to college with Daschle at South Dakota State University and worked together on a mock political convention.
Daschle masterminded one of the most successful participation events by students of an unrequired nature when he headed the political science department’s convention project. Well over 650 students got involved in the event which was patterned after the Democratic convention that year because of the general interest.
I remember our tireless search to find a renowned public speaker to address the convention such as McGovern, McCarthy, Humphrey or some other prominent Democrat. With no takers, we finally found a popular young state senator from Salem to address the group. His name was Richard Kneip.
Notably absent from Beck's column is any mention of the "bombshell memos" which you can access on the right side of this blog. These memos detail how Kranz collaborated with Democratic staffers. Why won't you respond to those memos, Mr. Beck?
Beck is correct that we must read skeptically. That is hardly a revelation. The old aphorism "Don't believe everything you read" has been around for quite some time. It seems, though, that Beck has trouble believing the same rule applies to the Argus Leader. It was skepticism of the Argus Leader that sparked the rise of the Dakota Alliance blogs. And Beck's response to the skepticism was anything but welcoming. Instead, Beck stooped to ad hominem attacks, and even made stuff up (it was rather gutter-like). That's hardly a comforting invitation to rely upon Beck's "high standards."
Recent Comments