BY DAN
KENNEDY
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Friday, August 06, 2004
SLIME MERCHANTS AT WORK.
Based on what I've heard so far, it sounds like Rush Limbaugh and
Matt Drudge are sliming Globe reporter Michael Kranish. What a
surprise.
Kranish reported
today that George Elliott - Kerry's former commanding officer, who'd
once defended Kerry and had then gone on the attack against him - was
defending him again, sort of. Now we learn that Elliott is back to
attacking
Kerry, and claiming that Kranish misquoted him. A very strange story
indeed.
Limbaugh and Drudge think they know
what happened with Kranish. They've learned that Kranish wrote the
introduction to a book - which they describe as the "official"
Kerry-Edwards campaign book - and that therefore Kranish is in the
tank.
Limbaugh calls
Kranish "a paid Kerry political biographer!" (Gratuitious exclamation
point his.)
Drudge writes:
"BOSTON GLOBE journalist Mike Kranish has been commissioned to write
the foreword of the Kerry-Edwards campaign book - just as he is
covering the campaign in an official capacity as a journalist for the
BOSTON GLOBE!" (Gratuitious exclamation point and CAPITAL LETTERS
definitely his.)
But wait. Drudge triumphantly links
to this
piece by New York Daily
News reporter Paul Colford as alleged proof of Kranish's perfidy.
Yet it seems to me that it doesn't say what Drudge thinks it says.
Colford reports that PublicAffairs has canceled plans to publish a
book called Kerry/Edwards: Their Plans and Promises, which was
to include an introduction by Kranish. Instead, Public Affairs will
"bring out an authorized edition of the Democratic duo's personal
campaign manifesto," to be titled Our Plan for America: Stronger
at Home, Respected in the World. There is absolutely
no
mention of Kranish's being
involved in that project.
In fact, on the evidence thus far
it seems that Kerry/Edwards was to be an unauthorized
book on the Kerry-Edwards campaign. It makes sense. Kranish is the
co-author
of John F. Kerry: The Complete Biography by the Boston Globe
Reporters Who Know Him Best - which, by the way, is not
especially kind to Kerry. That book, too, was published by
PublicAffairs. No doubt the publisher saw an opportunity to take
advantage of a relationship it already had with Kranish.
I still want to know more. In
particular, there's a weird reference in Colford's piece about
excerpts of the now-canceled Kerry/Edwards book having been
available on the Kerry-Edwards website. But the idea that Kranish
would risk his job by taking money to write part of an official
campaign book - or even to do it for free - strikes me as
preposterous.
posted at 10:43 PM |
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MEDIA LOG ARCHIVES
Dan Kennedy is senior writer and media critic for the Boston Phoenix.
