The self-proclaimed "objectivity" of the mainstream media took another hit last week when the Sun-Times' Neil Steinberg did a "Harry Reid" on the Oberweis campaign.
Now that's quality journalism -- if you're TMZ...or CNBC...or the Sun-Times nowadays.
Of course, despite his clear enjoyment at the opportunity to use numerous charged adjectives to vilify Oberweis, Steinberg seemed ready to wet his pants when it came to the Pierog-sourced tidbit about Oberweis parking his car in a handicapped spot at his golf course.
Giddy like a school-boy, Steinberg pontificated about the excuses Oberweis' might use to cover-up his abuse of, and injustice to, the handicapped.
Well, we actually contacted the Oberweis campaign to find out what was going on. What we learned was that Oberweis does indeed have a serious back problem. One that causes him pain when walking or standing. However, he is able to swing a golf club.
Now before everyone (including Steinberg) lifts their eyebrows, it ends up there's precedent -- Casey Martin.
For those of you unfamiliar with Martin, he's a professional golfer and current men's coach at the University of Oregon. Casey (pictured below) suffers from a birth defect, which make it difficult for him to walk the course during play. Because of this the PGA Tour allows Martin to use a cart instead of walking the course as others are required to do. You may have seen Casey on television recently as he was competitive in this years US Open. He's also a younger man than Oberweis.
Obviously these kind of facts need not bother a seasoned mainstream journalist like Neil Steinberg -- or Rich Miller who slavishly repeated the story on his blog.
After all, it's just par for the course for the left-leaning media.
