What the heck? TIME is floating a story about how Democratic Detroit Mayor Kwame Kilpatrick’s resignation today could be a boost for Obama’s bid for the White House, at least in the state of Michigan. No doubt it was written by a liberal reporter grasping for something, anything positive after Sarah Palin dismantled TIME’s candidate of choice last night. I smell desperation.
About the Mayor’s overdue resignation and forthcoming jail time, TIME says
If Detroiters are happy, Barack Obama’s campaign is thrilled. The Democratic nominee called on Kilpatrick yesterday to resign, saying through a campaign spokesman that “Mayor Kilpatrick’s ongoing troubles and the serious charges against him have been a distraction that the city cannot afford.” They have also proven to be a distraction Obama could not afford in a state that may be one of the nation’s closest contests in November. Kilpatrick’s very public troubles have angered many of the white suburban voters that Obama needs to win over. From an inauguration that was celebrated with official “club crawls” to reported stripper parties at the official mansion that sparked the initial probe into his case, the mayor who wore flashy suits and a diamond in his ear has courted the wrong kind of attention. The danger to Obama’s campaign is that years of salacious headlines about a young black man in power will bleed into voters’ views of his own groundbreaking candidacy. “Michigan is really close. He has to go if we’re going to have any chance at winning over the folks in Macomb County,” said one senior UAW official, who asked not to be identified.
The Kilpatrick scandal has also damaged an already weakened Democratic brand in Michigan. Governor Jennifer Granholm is nearly as unpopular as Kilpatrick, and was dragged into the mess when the Detroit city council asked her to hold public hearings to determine whether the mayor should be forced from office, a power the governor has under Michigan law. The hearings began yesterday, and their suspension in the wake of Kilpatrick’s guilty plea now allows Obama to become the most visible Democrat in the state heading into the fall campaign. Obama will need the next two months to make up for what was already a late start in a state he skipped during the Democratic primary season. “We’re introducing him to people who don’t know him or whose picture of him is still incomplete,” said Obama state director Amy Chapman in late July. Wall-to-wall coverage of Kilpatrick has made it difficult for the campaign to define Obama for voters — and to perform the second task of redefining John McCain, who is well known in the state and campaigned there earlier this year. “Our other challenge,” said Chapman, “is for them to not feel comfortable with McCain.”
First, TIME somehow manages to NEVER mention specifically that Kilpatrick is a Democrat, but instead beats around the bush and simply alludes to that fact by saying his scandals have “weakened the Democratic brand,” etc.
Second, if and when Republican Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens goes to jail (as he should), will we see headlines from TIME wondering if his resignation will give McCain-Palin a boost? Fat chance. It’s more likely we’ll see attacks from the Obama campaign that tie Palin to Stevens’ corruption, and TIME will be right there with Team Barry, pushing the meme like the dutiful foot soldiers they are.
Also, TIME fails to mention Obama’s previous relationship with the criminal mayor. As Hot Air has catalogued, Obama was busy singing Kwame’s praises as recently as last year, two years after TIME named Kilpatrick one of America’s worst mayors. Obama even refused to call for his resignation before he finally did yesterday, when it was apparent that Kilpatrick was in fact going down for good.
Today’s most rediculous spin award: TIME.
