Conservative Blogger Catches Reporter Hugging Senator Who Happens To Be Her Husbamd

July 18, 2012

Comments

A conservative blogger thought he had caught Cleveland Plain Dealer columnist Connie Schultz being overly affectionate with a United States Senator, what they actually found out is how stupid they are:

Connie Schultz, a Pulitzer prize-winning columnist and wife of Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, posted an E-mail exchange between herself and an unnamed, unwitting conservative blogger to her Facebook page Tuesday night.

The blogger emailed Schultz on July 9 to say, smugly: “Dear Ms. Shultz, We are doing an expose on journalists in the elite media who socialize with elected officials they are assigned to cover. We have found numerous photos of you with Sen. Sherrod Brown. In one of them, you appear to be hugging him. Care to comment?”

Schultz, of course, is married to Brown. She wrote back a day later: “Dear Mr. [Name Deleted]: I am surprised you did not find a photo of me kissing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen. He’s really cute. He’s also my husband. You know that, right?”

A week has passed, but Schultz says she’s received no response from the blogger. “Waiting, I’m waiting….” the columnist wrote on her Facebook page Tuesday.

Schultz has said she will not identify the blogger publicly, which is probably fine considering he’s likely hiding under a rock somewhere out of embarrassment

21 responses to “Conservative Blogger Catches Reporter Hugging Senator Who Happens To Be Her Husbamd”

James Joyner

July 18, 2012 at 4:30 pm

Well, I ask you, could there BE a greater conflict of interest? Surely, being married to the man is greater than simply hugging him. The blogger didn’t know how right he was!
Chad S

July 18, 2012 at 4:31 pm

Im guessing its a Brietbart cultist.
EddieInCA

July 18, 2012 at 4:42 pm

A better response would have been:

“I am surprised you did not find a photo of me f***ing U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown so hard he passes out from lack of oxygen.”

THAT would have been even better.

But that’s just me, maybe.
DRS

July 18, 2012 at 4:45 pm

Always be true to yourself, Eddie.
Herb

July 18, 2012 at 4:50 pm

@Chad S:

“Im guessing its a Brietbart cultist.”

I’m guessing not as they seem like the type who would have published without seeking comment.

As far as I’m concerned, this blogger isn’t an idiot for not knowing this. They did the smart thing for seeking comment. That’s how reporters learn things, by asking questions and talking to people.

If anything, though, this blogger seems to think there’s some problem with reporters and politicians socializing. It’s part of the old “cocktail party/liberal media” crap that just seems so……..well, dated.

The media landscape has changed significantly these last few years. It’s high time people’s theories about it should too.
Doug Mataconis

July 18, 2012 at 5:06 pm

@Herb:

Surely, though, you would agree that there’s a difference between reporters and politicians (or politicians aides) socializing at cocktail parties and such and a reporter having a romantic relationship with a politician?

For the record, though, Schultz has always handled her relationship with her husband appropriately. When he ran for Senate the first time, she took a leave of absence from the Plain Dealer until after the election. She has done the same thing this election cycle. Although, since she’s an opinion columnist and not a reporter, it’s not like she was in a position to write stories about the race. Nonetheless, her actions strike me as the right thing to do.

Additionally, I have family and friends in the Cleveland area and she has been one of the most popular and most well-respected journalists in the area since long before her husband thought of running for office.
Chad S

July 18, 2012 at 5:28 pm

@Herb: They have this new invention called “google” now. If you google “Connie Schultz” there’s a box on the right which lists her husband as “Sherrod Brown.” The blogger’s tone was clearly not fact-checking and is more confrontational.
PJ

July 18, 2012 at 5:32 pm

@Herb:

As far as I’m concerned, this blogger isn’t an idiot for not knowing this. They did the smart thing for seeking comment. That’s how reporters learn things, by asking questions and talking to people.

The blogger could have started with reading Connie Schultz’s or Sen. Sherrod Brown’s Wikipedia page, that would have given the blogger the information s/he needed.
And the tone in the blogger’s email is far from seeking comment, asking questions, or talking to people.

The blogger is an idiot and should learn how to research.
PJ

July 18, 2012 at 5:33 pm

I totally agree with Chad S.
Herb

July 18, 2012 at 6:10 pm

@Doug Mataconis:

“Surely, though, you would agree that there’s a difference between reporters and politicians (or politicians aides) socializing at cocktail parties and such and a reporter having a romantic relationship with a politician? “

A difference? Absolutely. A difference that really matters? Not so sure. I’d say it depends on the type of romantic relationship. A hook-up, or even an extra-marital tryst….yeah, I can see how that would be an issue. But a marriage? I think would be less of a concern, especially if both parties were established pros.

(Thinking about Mitchell and Greenspan or even Matalin and Carville.)

@Chad S:

“They have this new invention called “google” now. “

Yes, I know. I suspect that’s where the pictures of them hugging came from.

Using Google as one’s only source though is a huge mistake. Besides, the horse’s mouth will trump a google search any day of the week.

@PJ:

“And the tone in the blogger’s email is far from seeking comment, asking questions, or talking to people.”

This I totally agree with. I actually think this blogger thought he “caught” her in some way, and probably should have started with Google/Wikipedia –and maybe even ended there. I also think this blogger is out to prove some theory about media bias they have, which they haven’t updated (though they should).

I mean, yes, we know the media is biased…but it’s also free. “Publishing isn’t a job. It’s a button.” When the Daily Caller is getting White House credentials, I think we can put the whole “liberal media” crap to bed. Of course, there’s a liberal media.

It’s mixed in with the conservative media and the libertarian media and the nerd media and the mommy media……
Doug Mataconis

July 18, 2012 at 6:20 pm

@Herb:

I think the difference would be a hypothetical romantic relationship between a reporter and a politician or government official that they cover on a regular basis, with that relationship remaining clandestine. The relationship between Mitchell and Greenspan became public knowledge soon after it began, the same goes for the Carville-Matalin relationship, although since neither is a reporter the second is not really analogous.

My question was more aimed at a hypothetical scenario involving a relationship that was being kept secret, which I think would be inappropriate for the journalist.
al-Ameda

July 18, 2012 at 6:22 pm

You’d think that this was some kind of script for a West Wing sitcom, something like that.

Honestly, why does any one bother to write fiction any more?
Fiction just cannot compete with reality (aka, non-fiction)
Diane Sheehan

July 18, 2012 at 6:49 pm

Does anyone else find it amusing the headline calls someone stupid, but has a spelling error in it?
Herb

July 18, 2012 at 7:01 pm

@Doug Mataconis:

“a hypothetical scenario involving a relationship that was being kept secret, which I think would be inappropriate for the journalist.”

And the politician!

On this we can agree.
Tsar Nicholas

July 18, 2012 at 8:11 pm

I actually thought the Cleveland Plain-Dealer went out of business years ago.

In any event, and putting aside the self-parody of a liberal columnist at a liberal newsrag being married to a liberal Democrat Senate hack, to me the funniest part of the story — in sort of a tragicomedy vein — is that there are so many right wing bloggers who still are so obsessed with the dying print media. Why the hell bother? Yeah, they’re biased. Sure, they’re corrupt. Indeed, they’re airheaded. Of course, they don’t fulfill any role other than perhaps providing tax loss writeoffs to the likes of Knight Ridder, McClatchy and Tribune Co. What’s the point? Nobody of consequence reads any of those rags. Aren’t there other items on which the right can focus their attentions, oh, say, policy points, winning elections, etc.?

Shit, if the right wing blogosphere spent 1/10th of the time it devotes to OCD’ing about the cratering media towards more productive and salient fare perhaps they’d actually accomplish something useful, like getting their political agendas actually implemented in real life.
An Interested Party

July 18, 2012 at 10:28 pm

I actually thought the Cleveland Plain-Dealer went out of business years ago.

That newspaper, along with everything else that you make that claim about, will last a lot longer than your shtick…
anjin-san

July 18, 2012 at 10:39 pm

Ah, the right wing “gotcha” media at work.
Bennett

July 18, 2012 at 11:18 pm

@Tsar Nicholas:

self-parody of a liberal columnist at a liberal newsrag being married to a liberal Democrat Senate hack

You mean like a Republican appointed Supreme Court Justice married to a paid conservative lobbyist? I noticed that Browns wife took leaves of absences during his political campaigns. This one is not within your swing zone big guy.
michael reynolds

July 18, 2012 at 11:49 pm

I actually thought the Cleveland Plain-Dealer went out of business years ago.

Tsar beats his one joke to death. Digs it up, beats it again.
Chad S

July 19, 2012 at 8:19 am

@Herb: Thats simply ridiculous. The blogger only emailed Schultz with the expectation of a confrontation. If they had bothered to spend all of 30 seconds to google her, this wouldn’t have happened.
Herb

July 19, 2012 at 11:21 am

@Chad S: No doubt. That this blogger thought he had a “gotcha” just shows he has hacky instincts.

That he reached out to Schultz –and more importantly backed off after getting pwned– showed he doesn’t always use them.