How To Spin a Story, by Tom Moran

by: huntsu

Sun Jan 08, 2012 at 09:45:53 AM EST

In between Moran says that 'On the merits, it was a crazy move."  He presents, without any direct quotes or sources, a number of "juiciest" rumors that make Menendez look bad.  He also examines the political "backfire" this will cause with the state and federal Democrats, again without any direct quotes or sources.  Then he explores the revenge factor, and states that Menedez might be doing it because he doesn't like fellow US Senator Frank Lautenberg.

Finally Moran reveals that Menendez has a stated reason for blocking the -- and Menendez provided it to Moran before Moran engaged in all the gossiping in the column -- appointment:

Menendez said he asks a routine set of questions for nominees to the Court of Appeals, and she blew several of them. He blocked Shwartz's nomination in secret, using one of the arcane rules of the Senate, because he didn't want to besmirch her legal reputation, he says.

Once he was accused, however, of blocking her out of revenge on Nobile, Menendez felt he had to go public.

"She misapplied the law and I was taken aback," Menendez says. "I waited to talk to my chief counsel, who was there, and said, 'Did I get that wrong or did she misapply the law?' And he said, 'No, she misapplied the law.' "

Huh.  That could be true, and actual rational reason for denying someone a position that is, as Moran says above, is "just one step below the U.S. Supreme Court."  

So after gossiping about possible terrible things people could think without using any named sources, and revealing a compelling reason to oppose a nominee, Moran ends with this:

Not a good start to 2012 for the junior senator from New Jersey.

It's the kind of gossip and innuendo that we loved in the old days of PoliticsNJ, back when Wally Edge ran the show and it was essentially a gossip sheet.  We expected it there, because that was what it was all about.

But the Star-Ledger is not a gossip sheet, and the senior editorial writer is not an anonymous gossip columnist enjoying the inter-personal bickering and fighting among the political class.

This column could have been written in a factual way that presented both sides evenly, that provided the information that people thought Menendez was acting improperly but that Menendez denied it.  Instead Moran's column is structured to portray Menendez's use of Senatorial Courtesy in the absolute worst light, going through all the innuendo and supposition before providing the senator's position. Such a spin is easy to do for any writer of skill and even easier for such a writer with a huge platform.  

It makes you wonder if the pot is calling the kettle black, and this is a column "based on lust for revenge or jealousy."