Sigh

I really can't stand the Post's media columnist Howard Kurtz, and this article in today's paper is a good example of why. It's about some CNBC "reporter" named Erin Burnett. The whole point of the article is that she's supposedly really pretty and has a knack for snappy on-air commentary. But it somehow elides the fact that she is apparently retarded.

Until today, this woman had only entered my radar screen twice. A couple of months ago, there was a segment on the Today show about the fact that a lot of the Democratic candidates are making inequality an issue in the campaign. She did like a two minute segment pointing out that the stock market was way up, unemployment was low and our income tax system is really progressive. And that was it!

No mention of say increasing health care, education and housing costs; the switch from pensions to the more risky 401(k)s and IRAs; the decline of unions; the increasing share of regressive taxes like state income taxes, sales taxes and payroll taxes as part of the overall tax burden. No discussion with any of the many people who have written entire books about this subject in recent years.

No, it was just "America is like totally equal. Please stop worrying about this and buy more awesome GE products." In fact it was so dumb, I actually complained to Red Fraggle about it when I got to work.

And then a couple of weeks ago, there was the kerfuffle about Chris Matthews being creepy to her when she appeared on Hardball. And it's true, he really was creepy. But listen to what she was actually saying when she was allowed to talk:

People should be careful what they wish for ... if China ... is to start making, say, toys that don't have lead in them, or food that isn't poisonous, their costs of production are going to go up. And that means prices at Walmart, here in the United States, are going to go up too. So, I would say China is our greatest friend right now. They're keeping prices low.

Words fail.