Page Visits Über Alles

For a moment, I thought I was at the National Enquirer website. Listed under "Friendly Fire" on TPM's homepage, the headline read: "Gore Slams Obama As Climate Change Failure." Hot damn! The Gloves Are Off! Obama Is Gonna Get It Now! Food Fight! Or so TPM implied. Page visits uber alles, I guess. Even grossly misrepresenting Al Gore's comments is not out of bounds. Because that's exactly what TPM and many in the online media world are doing. Yes, the former VP criticized the president near the end of a 7,000-word essay in Rolling Stone. "President Obama has thus far failed to use the bully pulpit to make the case for bold action on climate change. ... without presidential leadership that focuses intensely on making the public aware of the reality we face, nothing will change," Gore wrote. But he also recognized Obama's achievements in the face of nearly total opposition. In fact, Gore directed most of his ire at the news media for framing climate change as a "he said-he said" argument instead a truth vs. falsehood issue. It's a shame that the lefty blogs are more interested in whining than lending a hand in confronting the real culprits: Republican flat-earthers and corporate interests. Moreover, this tiresome tabloid approach to political discourse by opinion leaders like TPM isn't helping matters. Read Gore's piece here. It's quite a tour de force.