In a New York Times article assessing post-Foley GOP House election prospects today, reporter Adam Nagourney makes this assertion:
Talk radio hosts, working off a list of talking points distributed by Republican Party officials, recounted how two decades ago, House Democrats stood behind Representative Gerry E. Studds, Democrat of Massachusetts, after he engaged in sex with a male page.
Talk radio hosts working from GOP talking points — as though they were taking marching orders? I didn’t detect in the story that Nagourney had interviewed any talk show hosts to ask them if they were reading from a Republican game plan. Nor did he even quote any on-air remarks.
On the other hand I have seen and heard the Studds reference made in countless news articles, opinion pieces, and in broadcast media. It’s a widespread no-brainer comparison point. But not to Nagourney, who thinks talk radio hosts have been pushing it because Republicans told them to.
