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Procrastinating on August 2, 2016

No More Mister Nice Blog: WE'VE ENTERED THE CENTRIST HANDWRINGING PHASE OF THE KHAN STORY

Live from the American Press Corps' Self-Made Gehenna: Steve M.: We've Entered the Professional-Centrist Handwringing Phase:

NPR's Steve Inskeep... is praising an op-ed by Errol Louis... who didn't like the Khizr Khan speech...

Another grieving parent, another conversation-stopping personal attack on the rival party’s candidate. We’d be better off without the highly produced moral grandstanding.

American politics crossed this line a long time ago. Smith didn't just emerge from obscurity at this year's Republican convention--she's been a regular on Fox News for years. Here she is on Mike Huckabee's Fox show more than three years ago angrily wishing Hillary Clinton a happy Mother's Day:

I want to wish Hillary a happy Mother's Day. She's got her child. I don't have mine.

Does Louis seriously believe that Smith's speech led to the "Lock 'em up" chants... think Christie's mock trial just rode a wave Smith's speech created? Did he listen to the rest of the speeches? Has he paid attention to bloody-shirt right-wing rhetoric on Benghazi... from the most obscure websites to the halls of Congress?... Since the start of his campaign, Donald Trump has been talking about victims of crimes committed by undocumented immigrants; the father of one victim, Jamiel Shaw, spoke at the Republican convention and said Trump was "sent from God." Louis has overlooked that, I guess, because there's no Democratic analogue for it. I guess it isn't problem unless both sides do it.

Khizr Khan's speech wasn't expected to be a centerpiece of the Democratic convention -- Donald Trump is making it one because he thinks he has to hit back whever he's attacked. Hillary Clinton has moved on to speeches with Warren Buffett -- she's not exploiting the Khan family. Louis is wringing his hands about our coarsened political culture. He should have noticed that the coarsening started many, many years ago. It seems to have drawn his attention only when Democrats responded.

Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?

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