Authentication

Daily Howler: Carl Bernstein defines dishonesty down on an appalling book tour: "HEIR TO CLASS TRAITOR: In today’s Times, Paul Krugman’s discusses the mainstream press corps’ love affair with “authenticity.” As you know, John Edwards is “inauthentic” because he owns a great big house. By contrast, Fred Thompson is highly “authentic” because—well, because they just say that he is! At one point, Krugman notes the role this fuzzy concept now plays in our quickly devolving “public discourse:”

'KRUGMAN (6/11/07): Talk of authenticity, it seems, lets commentators and journalists put down politicians they don't like or praise politicians they like, with no relationship to what the politicians actually say or do.'

And yes, that’s pretty much all there is to it. “Authenticity” became the press corps’ favorite buzz-word in 1999, along with its silly handmaiden, “comfortable in his own skin.” And let’s state the obvious: When the press corps adopted such subjective markers as key standards of measure, they were giving themselves the right to tell whatever story they choose. It’s perfectly easy to shape a narrative in which any candidate is most “authentic.” As long as our standards of measure are so subjective, there’s no real process of assessment being conducted at all..."