It might be no surprise to regular readers that Us isn't taking the high road here. But one has to wonder whether the extra punch isn't somehow linked to the magazine's overlord, confirmed Barack Obama worshiper Jann Wenner.
Editor in chief Janice Min assured me that Jann, he of "Rolling Stone" fame, was vacationing and played no role in the story.
"Reporting on the people who are going to lead the country in an aggressive way is what the press should be doing," Min told me.
There's aggressive and then there's nasty. And Us clearly tilts toward the latter.
The magazine opens with a scene in which Palin "giggled along" as a radio shock jock trashed one of her political opponents, seeming to make sport of the woman's bout with cancer -- an episode the governor apologized for this year.
Although real questions have been raised about Palin, such as whether she meddled in the discipline of a state trooper once married to her sister, Us already has satisfied itself that these are full-blown "scandals." And the magazine assures us the troubles are spreading "as fast as flies at a Labor Day picnic."
Other weaknesses in the snark-heavy, precision-light Us account don't merit a retelling here. But you get an idea of how the story tilted when you find that the magazine scanned a target-rich environment for experts to confirm McCain's VP dilemma and came up with two giants -- a "commentator on Yahoo" and a Democratic party strategist. Oh brother.
When I suggested the magazine had put too much spin on its story, Min offered as proof that I was wrong this non sequitur: "The writer on the piece is a McCain supporter."
OK, I didn't expect the frothzine to bowl me over with Wall Street Journal or New York Times quality stuff. But here's why slipshod accounts like this aren't so trivial: In an ever-more diverse and distracted world, some readers don't have time to seek out other accounts.
And there are a gang of partisans waiting out there who will blur the lines, lumping Us Weekly and the Enquirer and others in with serious news organizations that still try to get it right.
We heard it for the second day running Wednesday. The Republicans devoted much of their energy to knocking down the mythical, monolithic "media." A group of Republican women led by Carly Fiorina faced down a room full of reporters at the convention center here and demanded that the Palin "smears" stop.
