MEDIAWHORES ONLINE  

19 March 2019 | The Gore-ing Has Started


Out of the gate, let me say that I have no personal inclination or opinion about Beto O'Rourke. None at all. And yet I can't help but feel that the media has decided to give him the Al Gore treatment. ThinkProgress, the Atlantic, New Republic and The Guardian all pounced on him in extremely negative posts about how phony he is, no one knows what he stands for and asking the big tough question: "what does he believe?"

Now the BBC has joined in with their version, asking if he's more style than substance. Well, okay, that's fine, except none of these pieces, **not a single one** took stock of the fact that O'Rourke visited every county in Texas during his failed run for the Senate. Did it not dawn on them that perhaps they could ask anyone who attended his town halls, rallies, whatever, what they thought of him? Did they all walk away unimpressed, or with more questions about what he believes than they had when they first arrived?

No, we're not going to get that at all, because that would be informative and substantive. Instead, we have a media narrative developing that he stands for nothing or is just lying about standing for something. How exactly is it a secret that he has sided with Big Oil interests? In Texas, no less. Was no one really paying attention? Of course, a state race is not the same as a national race, but I remain perplexed (I don't really know why) how a number of media outlets have acted as though he just showed up, fully formed, last week to announce his candidacy for the Democratic nomination.

As I said, I have no personal connection to O'Rourke. I never sent his Senate campaign money. I would love to have seen him defeat the execrable Ted Cruz. But it is exasperating to watch a slew of negative posts about him appear over the weekend, all of them vaguely parroting the other. Again: a developing narrative that will not improve from those outlets at all.

Welcome to your Gore-ing, Mr. O'Rourke.