Lynn Sweet

New Yorker Obama Cover Art Brouhaha Distracts from Reporting in Cover Article
By Ken Shepherd | July 15, 2008 | 2:46 PM EDT

In her July 15 column, "'Tasteless cover,' fascinating story," Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief Lynn Sweet lamented that the fuss over the New Yorker's satirical Obama cover art sucks all the oxygen out of the political newsroom. As such, it leaves almost incombustible the otherwise potentially explosive reporting by reporter Ryan Lizza, who penned the New Yorker cover feature (emphasis mine):

WASHINGTON -- The shame of the controversy over the cover of the latest edition of the New Yorker -- portraying Barack and Michelle Obama in the Oval Office, her wielding an AK-47, him in a turban and robe outfit suggesting he is a Muslim -- is that it draws attention away from a very good story inside by Ryan Lizza about Obama's Chicago political roots.

[...]

The cover hides an in-depth story about Obama's political roots, taking us to Hyde Park, the Gold Coast and Springfield. Lizza brings us inside Obama's Chicago political world and the political culture that spawned the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Among Lizza's scoops:

Chgo Sun-Times' Sweet Live-blogged Michelle Obama on 'The View'
By Ken Shepherd | June 18, 2008 | 1:43 PM EDT

Chicago Sun-Times Washington Bureau Chief Lynn Sweet spent an hour of her life today that she'll never get back: live-blogging Michelle Obama's appearance on "The View." You may recall Sweet from a previous NB post noting her story on how "Obama's Ayers connection never bothered anyone" in Chicago, or from this one where I credited her with noting a 2007 Obama gaffe involving the number of fatalities in a tornado-ravaged Kansas town.Sweet joins our very own Justin McCarthy among the very few people who have ever been paid, literally, to watch the Barbara Walters-produced gabfest. You can find her three "View" posts here:

'Obama's Gaffes Start to Pile Up' -- Lynn Sweet in March.... 2007
By Ken Shepherd | May 27, 2008 | 1:59 PM EDT

Barack Obama's penchant for gaffes is hardly anything new, but as the Illinois Democrat has come closer and closer to becoming the official Democratic presidential nominee, it seems the mainstream media have become less and less likely to note his gaffes. A cursory Web search finds a few instances of the mainstream media picking up on Obama gaffes in 2007, when Sen. Clinton was well ahead of Obama in the polls and was widely expected to be marching towards coronation in Denver. "Obama's gaffes start to pile up" read the headline for a March 28 Lynn Sweet column. March 28, 2007, that is:

WASHINGTON -- Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign, 46 days old on Tuesday, has run into some speed bumps, created because of a series of missteps magnified because he is under microscopic scrutiny. It's too early to say whether the gaffes slow Obama's momentum -- or if they become barricades, extracting a more significant price for the Illinois Democrat's White House bid. They are getting noticed. Consider the items that have been accumulating since Obama announced on Feb. 10:
William Ayers' Blog: Reparations for Iraq, Afghanistan; Pull Out of Entire Middle East
By Ken Shepherd | April 18, 2008 | 6:51 PM EDT

Weather Underground leader turned-academic William Ayers is now so docile that it never really "bothered anyone in Chicago," that Sen. Barack Obama had any connection to him, wrote Chicago Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet in the April 18 paper. Along those same lines the Washington Post's Peter Slevin argued that the '60s radical was now "considered so mainstream" in Chicago "that [Mayor Richard] Daley issued a statement on Thursday praising him as a 'distinguished professor of education' and a 'valued member of the Chicago community.'"

But while he may have forsaken violence long ago, as his blog attests, Ayers's politics are far from mainstream, and go far beyond the standard Democratic arguments to withdraw from Iraq. For example, Ayers wants to pay reparations in Iraq AND Afghanistan and practically withdraw the U.S. military from the entirety of the Middle East, even in countries that have longstanding security arrangements with the U.S.

Taken from an April 13 blog post titled originally enough, "End the War" (emphasis mine):

Howard Kurtz Bashes Media's Presidential Campaign Coverage
By Noel Sheppard | February 17, 2008 | 9:47 PM EST

I'm not sure what got into Howard Kurtz Sunday morning, but the Washington Post/CNN media analyst, and "Reliable Sources" host, really laid into the press for their horrible coverage of the presidential campaign.

Maybe more surprising, Kurtz voiced his displeasure with both print and television news coverage, as well as what was being written and said about the candidates on both sides of the aisle.

So go get some popcorn, and prepare yourself for a media bashing guaranteed to put a smile on your face: