There is an old journalism adage: "When you can't cover the story, cover the coverage." That accurately describes the essence of the Gonzo account of the McGovern Presidential campaign.
Doug Brew, who parlayed an assignment to cover the 1980 Ronald Reagan campaign for Time magazine into the coveted White House correspondent slot, once summarized the attitude of the big league journalists: "Monkey see; monkey do."
The hell with Thomas Eagleton's medical records and the fact that they were the keystone story for Nixon's reelection; on the morning of Friday February 28, 2014, we had a 10 a.m. reservation for a computer and at 7 a.m. the Perils of Pauline question was could we pump out the necessary keystrokes, transfer the column to the thumb drive, and get to the computer appointment without getting soaked in the much needed rain storm that was helping to break the drought in California and then get it posted on time?
Our efforts to get press credentials for the 1968 Democratic National Convention had failed. Our attempt to get a press pass to cover this weekend's Oscar pageant had been unsuccessful. A word to the wise is sufficient. Our efforts to secure a Press Pass to the 2016 Republican National Convention will begin this weekend.
Isn't the decision about where to hold that event being made this weekend? Isn't Cleveland the front runner?
As New Jersey's governor Chris Christy's Presidential hopes are nibbled away by the piranha-icle mainstream media, the question now for political pundits (resorting to sports clichés) will be who is going to be the next Republican party bum-of-the-month? Our prediction is that the man who gets the nomination will sit out the primaries and then listen to a committee begging him to break a deadlock. (Hint: His initials are J. E. B.)
[Note from the photo editor: Photos of a protest in Berkeley have been popular for almost fifty years. The tradition continued last Sunday when members of the Shugden sect protest of a speaking appearance by the Dalai Lama drew extensive news coverage.]
Hunter, on page 300 of the Campaign '72 book, writes: "Later that night, at a party on the roof of the Doral, a McGovern staffer asked me who I would have chosen for the VP . . . and finally, after long brooding, I said I would have chosen Ron Dellums, the black congressman from Berkeley."
Now the dick jockey will play Ted Nugent's "Journey to the Center of the Mind," Rattlife's "Great White Buffalo," and As I Lay Dying's song "Nothing Left." We have to go check out the San Francisco History Expo being held this weekend at the Old Mint. Have a "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro" type week.
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