Washington Post Writer Richard Cohen Disappointed In Journalism Practiced By Harry Reid, Washington Post

Richard Cohen is a man who writes for the Washington Post. His job, from his past body of work, seems to be to express concern about things, but mainly things that make no sense to be concerned about. You sound smarter that way. Today, Richard Cohen is concerned that Harry Reid has forever taken politics into the gutter by not being Richard Cohen. 

Reid is where he loves to be: the center of controversy. He has accused Mitt Romney of paying no taxes for 10 years. Romney denies the accusation and challenged Reid to put up or shut up. In an apparent response, Reid repeated the charges on the Senate floor. Countless aides have echoed their boss. They and he attribute their information to a source they will not name.

Whether such a source exists, really, is beside the point. It could be that someone did indeed tell Reid that Romney paid no taxes for 10 years. Journalists get that sort of tip all the time, and their responsibility is (1) to check it out and (2) identify the source. Reid has not done the latter and apparently has not done the former, either. The truth is that Reid doesn’t really care if the charge is true or not. He would prefer the former, but he’ll settle for the latter.

HAHAHAHA, no, you dumb. Reporters just write down things people say, then get quotes from other people in response to whatever was said. You don't identify anyone,  you just give them adjectives like "senior" or "inside" or "throbbing."

Eventually, other reporters give out Pinocchios or Pants on Fireses or something else that reduces all of politics to things you said when you were six, but then everyone on Twitter hates them because they did it wrong and like three months too late.

No, seriously, though, Harry Reid should elevate his discourse to match Mitt Romney, and hold press conferences and fundraisers with his sources for crazy, irresponsible shit . That is a much better way of dealing with things, and at the very least will get you the respect normally afforded Jennifer Rubin, who is currently telling her Hungry Man meal how Mitt Romney will one day warm it and make it yummy.

[ WaPo ]