Glenn Greenwald drops ten tons of irony after dissecting an inane biographical interview of Attorney General Michael Mukasey by the Associated Press in a post called “The Associated Press fails to reveal Mukasey’s favorite color”:
This is why the Founders bestowed constitutional primacy to a free press. Just think about what the Government might be able to get away with — the kind of creepy propaganda they would be able to disseminate — without our ornery watchdogs serving as a vigilant check on the behavior of high political officials.
Heh, indeedy.
I remember growing up reading a magazine called Sports Illustrated for Kids. Like the name describes it, it was a reduced version of Sports Illustrated that featured a lot of how-to articles for different sports and questionnaire style interviews of popular athletes. I was able to learn what Wayne Gretzky’s favorite food was or what Jerry Rice felt the first time he caught a touchdown pass. While these were quite enjoyable to a ten year old child, I wouldn’t really consider Sports Illustrated for Kids a pinnacle of journalistic rigor.
The Associated Press interview of Mukasey by Lara Jakes Jordan strikes me as an inappropriate replication of Sports Illustrated for Kids journalism with one of America’s most controversial and infamous government officials.
Hold Fast 
As a journalist myself, I know the reason that other journalists write these kind of puff profile pieces is because they’re easy copy. Each news organization allows one of these to be written per candidate, it’s considered to be their “free ride” to get their position and platform out there, a microphone. They do it for just about every candidate, and to me it makes for very boring reading.
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Simon, Mukasey isn’t running for anything.
He is a government official. He is the TOP LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER IN THE COUNTRY.
He’s also a late entry into the George W. Bush protection racket and cult of secrecy.
Senator Schumer assured constituents that Mukasey would get into Bush’s inner circle and be a voice of reason, and caution, and in general a force for good.
That Mukasey has done the opposite is a travesty. and more of a story than people have understood.
Mukasey essentially now holds that if the “President does it, it can’t be illegal.”
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I’m with Fred on this – well put.
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