Izott better than PBS?!

An article by one Froma Harrop complains about Hillary-bashing in the press of late, including the coverage of the comment from Sen. Leahy that Clinton ought to quit for the good of the party. Here is the criticism:

The latest collapse started some days ago on what is normally a four-star destination for good journalism, PBS's "NewsHour." The news summary started off with this: "Clinton's fellow Democrat in the Senate, Patrick Leahy of Vermont, today urged her to leave the race for the good of the party."

The "fellow Democrat" also happened to be one of Barack Obama's most ardent supporters, but whoops, they forget to mention that. For days even mainstream media were portraying Leahy, Connecticut Sen. Chris Dodd and other members of the Obama team as "elders" thinking only of the party.

I agree that, if true, that is some biased coverage of the Leahy comment. However, I can plead innocent to this crime. For I included this caveat in an earlier post about the comment:

It should be noted that Leahy is an Obama supporter, so it is not as if he has any kind of neutral-observer/elder-statesman gravitas here.

Dude! I'm like so even-handed.

Senator Leahy: "Hillary Clinton is naked!"

Finally a prominent Democrat goes ahead and says it:

Sen. Patrick Leahy has gone where no Democratic leader has dared go. It's time, the Vermont senator said, for Hillary Clinton to get out of the presidential race. "She ought to withdraw and she ought to be backing Senator Obama," he told Vermont Public Radio.

It should be noted that Leahy is an Obama supporter, so it is not as if he has any kind of neutral-observer/elder-statesman gravitas here. But still, by publicly stating the obvious he could end up starting a chorus of Democrats urging Clinton to wrap it up.

If enough voices chime in, the question of whether Clinton should withdraw will start to dominate the news cycle--a development which may or may not be good for the party. On the one hand it might actually push Clinton into withdrawing, allowing the Democrats to consolidate behind Obama and finally begin campaigning for the general. On the other hand, it may further alienate Clinton's many, many supporters, who already feel like their candidate has been unfairly maligned by the media and many in the Democratic leadership (e.g. Nancy Pelosi).

Of course, the best option would be for Clinton to withdraw unprompted, her campaign dying a natural death--but it seems like if this was going to happen, it would have happened by now.