Adele Ferguson

THERE SEEMS to be a “deteriorating relationship” developing between the media and politicians, Reliable Sources talk show host Howard Kurtz opined the other day, as if he hadn’t noticed it had deteriorated a long time ago.

Depending on who the candidate is, of course.

Mitt Romney was hassled in Poland while walking back from laying a wreath on their Tomb of the Unknown Soldier by reporters who shouted “What about the gaffes?” not once but twice, first a male reporter, then a woman.

Romney wisely kept his mouth shut but one of his aides responded angrily that they were disrupting a sacred ceremony. When the reporters persisted, the aide said “Kiss my ass,” a remark for which he apologized later.

It’s the media that should have apologized. The media would never ever have done the same to the President who is treated by them the way the Pope is treated in Italy, sacred and above reproach, no matter what he says or does,

Kurtz commented that the news coverage of Romney’s overseas visit had resulted in zeroing in on the gaffes and playing down the good things that happened like the president of Poland endorsing him.

SAMPLE HEADLINES: “For Romney, trip ends with more baggage than planned, “Romney’s overseas trip produces hits and misses,” “Romney’s overseas trip wastes one opportunity, seizes another.”

Why do they write about gaffes and not about the economy? Kurtz asked his panel. Bill Press wasted no time in saying. A veteran liberal talk show regular, he blamed the Romney crowd for not devoting enough attention and time to serving the media, “which pays a lot of money to follow these things. They are understaffed and they get very few chances to ask questions.”

What he didn’t say was they don’t write about the economy because President Obama doesn’t talk about the economy. Romney does but criticizing the president’s lack of ability to deal with it isn’t in the media play book. They are determined to re-elect the president by any means necessary.

Take the statement by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid concerning Romney’s refusal to make public all his income tax returns for the last ten years. “The word’s out,” said Reid, “that he hasn’t paid any taxes for ten years. Let him prove that he has paid taxes’ but he hasn’t.”

Word from whom? A “credible” source. What credible source? An investor in Ronmey’s former business, Bain Capital. Name him. Silence.

WHY, ASKED KURTZ, isn’t the media concentrating on making Reid reveal his source and prove his accusation, rather than continually prodding Romney to pony up more returns. There’s only one person who can disprove what Reid said, said Press, and that’s Romney. “What Reid did may be diabolical, but it was brilliant. He is a politician.”

Ed Rollins, a Republican political strategist, said he thinks Romney should reveal more returns just to get the subject off the front pages.

Romney is no dummy. Does anyone really believe that he would avoid paying taxes while planning his first run for the presidency four years ago? Or that he would confide in a cohort at Bain that he didn’t pay any taxes?

Democrats would be wise to distance themselves from Harry Reid. Who knows when you may get in the way of his ambition and orders from his White House bosses and then what might he say about you the media will run without checking its truthfulness?

(Adele Ferguson can be reached at P.O. Box 69, Hansville, Wa., 983240.)