Deep down Mark Halperin knows what is wrong with political coverage. The problem is that, despite realizing it, he continues to make the same mistakes. In The Way to Win Halperin described the freak show which dominates political coverage. He noted how Matt Drudge often presents unsubstantiated information as fact which is then repeated elsewhere. However instead of using this knowledge to improve political coverage he called Drudge “the Walter Cronkite of his era” and continued to repeat unsubstantiated claims from Drudge, along with many Republican talking points, as news.
In an op-ed in The New York Times Halperin again shows that on one level he knows what is wrong with political coverage which concentrates on the horse race as opposed to whether the candidate is capable of making a good president. He admits he was wrong in presenting past coverage which cared more about whether a candidate like George Bush could present the illusion of being principled than what he was actually advocating and whether he was qualified to be president.
The question is not whether Halperin can articulate what is wrong with political coverage but whether he can change. Based upon his response to understanding what is wrong with the freak show in the past, I’m not very optimistic.
