Media Circle Wagons to Protect Wendy Davis From Bio Falsehoods

It is not as though the media would have to quit their ongoing political assassination of Chris Christie to give the brewing scandal surrounding Texas Democrat Wendy Davis’s bio falsehoods the attention it deserves. The media can do two things at once. But other than clearing the way for President-in-waiting Hillary Clinton, the media is desperately circling the wagons to downplay a legitimate scandal that could take down a rising Democrat star.

For two days now, NBC’s Chuck Todd has failed to mention the scandal even once during his hour-long MSNBC political show “The Daily Rundown.” Todd’s reasoning for passing on this unbelievably juicy story just isn’t convincing:

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@notalemming @NolteNC @WendyDavisTexas @DailyRundown you do realize that I’ve been downplaying the competitiveness of this race, don’t you?

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) January 21, 2014

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@NolteNC @notalemming wouldn’t call it indifference. But we make calls on coverage all the time depending on relevance

— Chuck Todd (@chucktodd) January 21, 2014

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There is no question in my mind that if Davis were a rising Republican Golden Girl, her bio falsehoods would have captured a lot more of Todd’s energy than a second-to-last mention in First Read. Todd might have a show on MSNBC, but because he is considered a top-guy at NBC News and is one of the smartest guys in his field, he should be held to a much higher standard than Toure and Krystal Ball.

Speaking of NBC News, here is what NBC’s Mark Murray responded with when I mentioned his lack of energy towards the Davis story:

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@NolteNC I wouldn’t say that. It’s clearly a problem for her. Will be interesting how Abbott/GOP use it against her, and how she responds

— Mark Murray (@mmurraypolitics) January 21, 2014

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Apparently, the Davis story will only be “interesting” when the GOP uses it against her. This is a typical tactic with our media: make it a “GOP attacks Wendy Davis story” instead of a “Wendy Davis lied about her bio” story. That mitigates the scandal for Davis and allows Murray and Todd to backfire the scandal on the GOP with a trumped up “sexist GOP overreach” narrative.

Oh, wait, MSNBC is already doing that:

Right pounces on news that Wendy Davis embellished life story

Since her historic filibuster against anti-choice legislation last summer, Wendy Davis has vaulted from a little-known Texas state lawmaker to a bona fide national progressive star. And her long-shot bid for governor this year in a state that hasn’t elected a Democrat statewide in nearly two decades started to look a little less long-shot with the news last week that she’d raised over $12 million.

That’s a much better headline for Davis than “Wendy Davis embellished life story.” Even better for Davis is Chuck Todd saying to the rest of the media that the story shouldn’t be given any serious air time (nothing to see here!).

The unbiased, objective, not-at-all liberal Washington Post is describing Davis’s bio myth-making as a simple “gaffe” and wonders how much it really matters.

Describing the falsifying of your biography and possibly committing perjury as a “gaffe” is anti-science. A gaffe is a mistake. Up until her appearance on “The Today Show” last week, Davis couldn’t stop repeating the false mythology she had created for herself.

 

 

Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC