How media narratives are born

The ever-more-pathetic Jake Tapper of ABC News on Nightline tonight, about Obama and Pennsylvania:

He leaves here having gone through some horrible scandals.

Oh, really? Maybe he left Pennsylvania having gone through a horrible gauntlet imposed by Tapper’s colleagues George Stephanopoulos and Charlie Gibson, assisted by Hillary Clinton, but I don’t remember anything that would qualify as a “horrible scandal.” And even if some people think that Wright or Ayers or the bitter/cling utterance qualify as “horrible scandals,” that term (both the “horrible” and the “scandal” parts) is obviously debatable enough that a responsible journalist shouldn’t casually declare them “horrible scandals” on a news program.

Oh, did I say “responsible journalist?” Never mind. These guys on the TV news aren’t responsible journalists — they’re two-bit pundits who provide play-by-play commentary on the presidential campaign as if it’s a Monday night football game.