Snarky Journalism: Washington Post's Dana Milbank

I'm not a Kucinich fan, but I'm annoyed by Dana Milbank's article, Kucinich's Battle Against Cheney Not So (Im)Peachy Keen, in today's Washington Post.

Rather than an intelligent discussion on the wisdom (or lack thereof) of Kucinich's drive to impeach Vice President Cheney, Milbank used the article as an occasion to make sly digs at a presidential candidate for whom he obviously has no respect.

There were the inevitable snarks about Kucinich's appearance:

[...] Standing perhaps 5 feet 6 inches tall in shoes, he wore a solemn face as he approached the microphones, which nearly reached his eye level. He beckoned to aides, who handed out thick binders detailing the case."

Kucinich read at length from his articles of impeachment,undeterred by rush-hour traffic noise on Independence Avenue ("I'll wait till the truck goes by here," he said at one point) and wind that ruffled his text and the few strands of his hair that were insufficiently weighted by Brylcreem.

Milbank made sure readers knew that other Democrats weren't taking this seriously:

[...] A reporter from the Cleveland Plain Dealer encouraged USS Kucinich to contact planet Earth. "But Nancy Pelosi says this is not going anywhere," she pointed out.

And this:

[...]

Rep. Rahm Emanuel (Ill.), chairman of the House Democratic caucus, was equally dismissive -- "Dennis can do what he wants; I'm not going to support it" -- but used the occasion to try out some Cheney material: "This is the biggest setback for the vice president since oil went under 65 bucks a barrel."

While we can surmise this is a ploy by Kucinich to grab some attention, I'm wondering what tone Milbank (or Rahm Emanuel for that matter) would have taken if Clinton or Obama had been the one to call this news conference.

Not that that is likely to happen; it would ruin Clinton's new centrism, and Obama couldn't find a way to wax poetic on the subject.