Is it bias?  Is it sloppiness?  Mere cluelessness?  Or a clumsy attempt to defend Dede Scozzafava, the famously liberal Republican congressional candidate for New York State’s 23rd district?

Dede Scozzafava and Doug Hoffman.

I’m talking about a recent post by Josh Kraushaar on Politico’s The Scorecard blog.  It attempts to conjure outrage out of the ether over a video ad by an anti-Scozzafava group (view the ad at Rhetorican.com).

What is the ad’s horrible offense? It calls Scozzafava a progressive and it outlines the progressive causes she supports.  In other words, it tells the audience who Scozzafava “is”.  Note that Mr. Kraushaar displays no outrage when the Daily Kos endorsed Scozzafava for her proggressive views.

But wait.  There’s more!  Kraushaar’s post – as of this writing – refers to the ad as a Republican dirty trick.  Thing is, Scozzafava “is” a Republican, at least in name.

I dunno.  Maybe Mr. Kraushaar got a little mixed up, because if there’s a Republican dirty trick in NY23 it’s the GOP’s support for Scozzafava.  The national party stands by Scozzafava over conservative Doug Hoffman.  It’s a dirty trick the party is playing on conservatives everywhere, and on the conservative cause.  People who know about dirty tricks have a name for this type of conduct: sabotage.

That aside, Kraushaar’s distorted view of this whole affair is enough to make anyone feel jaded, but I can’t tell whether he wrote the post at issue in his sleep, whether he sincerely believes what he wrote, or whether he is just trying to stretch the facts to attack Republicans…while defending a GOP candidate.

I know.  I’m rolling my eyes and shaking my head, too…

Jehuda is an attorney and TV producer. He lives and works in the L.A. area and blogs regularly at Rhetorican.com.

Jehuda AKA The Rhetorican article archive.