Why no one likes political reporters

Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation Poll, MoE ±3.1 Our political reporters, whom the public dislikes (see Daily Kos/SEIU State of the Nation poll: Everyone agrees'the political media sucks), are tying themselves in knots trying to claim that the hard-hitting Bain ad (using real people) and the racist Romney ads/attacks about welfare are the same, totally equivalent, and yadda yadda.

There has been no shortage of ridiculousness in the 2012 presidential campaign, but for the first time, it seems possible that each side may be paying a price for their over-the-top ads.

The Romney campaign's new welfare ad and a Democratic super PAC ad featuring a man who essentially blames Mitt Romney and Bain Capital for his wife's death have broken new ground (or crossed the line) in an ad war that is constantly ratcheting up.

And in both cases, there is anecdotal evidence that they could be doing more harm than good.

That's exactly why no one like political reporters. They can't deal with substance so they hide behind process.

Jay Rosen:

Now I ask you: What is the job of a political journalist today? Is it to describe the reality of American politics, as a 'straight' reporter would? Or is it to defend reality and its 'base' in American politics, more like a fact checker would? I know what you're thinking: the press should do both! But this is exactly what's missing in the [same reporter as above link, different piece] Aaron Blake item. There is no tension in it between insisting on truth and describing what works. Truth has seemingly become irrelevant

"Who cares if the guy's wife died for lack of health care? No one disputes that, but that's not the point," say the reporters. Well, that is the point. "She died later," say the reporters. She died. And she died because her lack of health care directly led to her cancer being undetected. "The ad makes it sound like Romney's fault." Bain is responsible for taking away this guy's health care for his family, and the Romney campaign's telling answer to that is he should have moved to Massachusetts, where Romneycare, the godfather of Obamacare, would have allowed her to have insurance.

When conservatives heard that, they went ballistic.

That's the truth, reporters. Cover it.

The searing, brutal ad, which is tough to watch, tells it like it is. Why don't you and your colleagues cover the reality of having cancer without health insurance in this country? You might learn something useful about this race.

FYI: Mitt Romney doesn't cause cancer. He just wants to repeal the insurance you'll need if you get cancer.
— @LOLGOP via TweetDeck