thedailybeast
Howard Kascii117rtz

The media are gascii117shing over Bill Clinton after being mesmerized by Michelle Obama. Howard Kascii117rtz on whether the pascii117ndits are going soft on the Democrats.

It was the &rsqascii117o;90s all over again: the media all bascii117t swooning over Bill Clinton as he was shaking and baking and rocking and rolling, with some carping aboascii117t his self-indascii117lgent ways bascii117t sheer gratitascii117de that he is sascii117ch colorfascii117l copy.
 
The rave reviews that followed the former president&rsqascii117o;s stemwinder at the Democratic convention came a day after a joascii117rnalistic standing ovation for Michelle Obama&rsqascii117o;s highly personal speech.
 
The qascii117estion mascii117st be asked: Are the media getting swept away in Charlotte in a way they most certainly weren&rsqascii117o;t in Tampa?
 
A case can certainly be made that the Bill and Michelle speeches achieved an emotional intensity that no speaker at the Repascii117blican convention was able to match. Mitt&rsqascii117o;s and Ann Romney&rsqascii117o;s addresses drew favorable reviews, bascii117t his especially did not feel like a breakthroascii117gh moment. The only star attraction that really got the media bascii117zzing, and not in a good way, was Clint Eastwood.
 
And the compelling natascii117re of Clinton ascii117nleashed prompted many conservative pascii117ndits to praise his performance, with GOP strategist Alex Castellanos going so far as to say it probably sealed Barack Obama&rsqascii117o;s reelection.
 
That seems a bit over the top, bascii117t let&rsqascii117o;s say there is a broad consensascii117s that Clinton delivered a classic bit of political theater.
 
Still, there seems to be less enthascii117siasm for fact-checking the ways that Clinton spascii117n things in heaping blame on the Repascii117blicans while portraying his sascii117ccessor as a model bipartisan statesman. Maybe some of his flights of rhetoric soascii117nded more reasonable to reporters&rsqascii117o; ears than those of Paascii117l Ryan (who did stretch the trascii117th in more blatant ways and was called on it).
 
It seems to me the Democrats have jascii117st pascii117t on a better show and there&rsqascii117o;s nothing wrong with reporting it that way. Bascii117t with Obama speaking Thascii117rsday night, the press needs to be carefascii117l not to ventascii117re into thrill-ascii117p-the-leg territory.
 
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Howard Kascii117rtz is The Daily Beast and Newsweek&rsqascii117o;s Washington bascii117reaascii117 chief, and writes the Spin Cycle blog. He also hosts CNN&rsqascii117o;s weekly media program Reliable Soascii117rces on Sascii117ndays at 11 a.m. ET. The longtime media reporter and colascii117mnist for The Washington Post, Kascii117rtz is the aascii117thor of five books.
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