Media Madness

As Momentous a Matter as Global Warming

Sometimes one might be tempted to discouragement or despair at how inane and superficial and partisan many media outlets are.  We ourselves are rarely so tempted, because our expectations, being low, are rarely unmet.  In these matters, surprise on the upside is as rare as a sole cockroach.  On the other hand, our low expectations are frequently not just met, but exceeded on the downside.

Here is a classic.  Scott Walker, by some measures, is the leading Republican for his party's choice as its US presidential candidate.  That means he becomes a target.  Media celebrity wannabes consequently are circling to get him to say something outlandish, to make a mistake so they can have their "gotcha moment" in the sun, thereby enhancing their flaky careers.  They salivate over the opportunity to add to their wafer thin cv's the claim, "I single handedly destroyed the presidential prospects of Scott Walker", or something like that.  Who can really claim to understand the deep ruminations of a cockroach.

The particular "gotcha" strategy being deployed by one hack is to get Walker to opine upon whether Pressie Obama is a Christian--or not.  This momentous issue, upon which the nation hangs with bated breath, has been written up and duly published in Time magazine, thereby signalling in passing how besmirched and pathetic that masthead has become.

Scott Walker Still Isn’t Sure If President Obama Is Christian

• Philip Elliott / Dana Point, Calif. 
• Time Magazine

Aug. 1, 2015

Bloomberg—Bloomberg via Getty Images Scott Walker, governor of Wisconsin and Republican U.S. 2016 presidential candidate, speaks during The Family Leadership Summit in Ames, Iowa, U.S., on Saturday, July 18, 2015.

Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker still isn’t sure President Obama is Christian.

“I don’t know,” the Republican presidential candidate said Saturday during an appearance before 450 donors to the political network backed by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch. “I presume he is,” Walker continued when asked if he has had time to check since he set off a firestorm in February when he couldn’t answer if the President is Christian.

“You’re not going to get a different answer than I said before,” Walker said toward the end of a Q&A session moderated by Politico’s Mike Allen. Walker said he’s never asked Obama about his faith. “As someone who is a believer myself, I don’t presume to know someone’s beliefs about whether they follow Christ or not unless I’ve actually talked with him.”

Obama is Christian, attends Christian services and has spoken frequently about his Christian faith. During his 2008 campaign, he was held to account for statements made in his Christian church in Chicago. His harshest critics often—wrongly—contend that he a is Muslim.  That’s not enough to settle the matter definitively for Walker. This is as far as he would go: “He said he is, and I take him at his word."

Well, that little ploy failed dismally.  No doubt with little mental equipment left in the the "reporter's" brainbox he will persist in asking the question.  In six years time there will be headlines emblazoned across Time's front cover: "Walker is still not sure Obama is a Christian".

Now, of course the gotcha moment they were after is for Walker--an evangelical Christian--to state that he did not believe Obama was a Christian, whereupon he would be slam dunked as a narrow, sectarian, extremist bigot (add as many pejorative adjectives as you like).

What Walker may have rejoined would be to point out that determining whether Obama was a Christian or not was a matter well above his pay grade.  We recall that was Obama's deflecting retort to Rick Warren when asked whether he believed the unborn child was a human being.