Carol Platt Liebau: Senator Johnson's Medical Condition

Wednesday, December 13, 2006

Senator Johnson's Medical Condition

As much as any Republican would like to see the GOP take control of the Senate, of course all prayers go out for Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, who was hospitalized after displaying some disturbing medical symptoms.

But -- unless inside information not being shared with the public is available to insiders in the MSM -- the tone of the reporting on Johnson is remarkable. Take the linked story, which notes that the senator was hospitalized "weeks before his party was to take control of the Senate by a one-vote margin" (emphasis added). Other news accounts on television have used similar verb tenses, in some way suggesting that control is now likely to shift -- something that strikes me as implausible, given that Johnson has neither been diagnosed with any dire disorder, nor even remotely approached the issue of stepping down at this early date.

3 Comments:

Blogger Bachbone said...

Leave it to the AP to write about their side losing Senate control rather than be solely concerned about the Senator's condition. Let's all wish him a speedy recovery from whatever felled him.

11:00 PM  
Blogger Greg said...

I was appalled as I watched Fox News this morning. They played an audio clip of the Senator struggling to speak during a conference call. At one point he said something like, "This is frustrating."

I thought it was a low point in "journalism" to play that audio clip. Disgusting! What was the purpose? Was it simply because it was available? Who made it available?

Couldn't they simply report on his condition and the possible political ramifications? Did they have to show such a lack of class and dignity?

5:45 AM  
Blogger eLarson said...

Big Media definitely look like vultures circling, don't they?

It's pretty sick.

I mentioned the news about Sen. Johnson to my wife. She didn't know the Senator personally, but she has worked with his staff quite a bit. She was shaken and asked "how is he?"

I could only admit that I didn't know because the reporting consisted solely of "what if he dies?" speculation.

7:50 AM  

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