Conrad goes off on media....again

Sen. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) has become visibly frustrated with the media, venting against the press at least three times this week about sensationalist stories and misconstrued quotes.

When asked by a reporter today about using reconciliation to pass healthcare reform, Conrad refused to answer, saying his comments are too often misrepresented.

"I tell you, I so hesitate to answer that because I've done it in settings like this before and then I read headlines that are just so wildly off of what I said," he said in response to the healthcare question.

He continued:

"It is just so frustrating to try to answer that question and then read what is reported that I said, which has almost no relationship to what I said. So, I'll tell you, I'm very reluctant to answer anything of any complexity, because it seems like there are certain people in the media who -- all they are interested in is a headline. They don't care one whit about context or any kind of balanced answer, which I try to give, because it's not a situation that's given to a headline. So I'm kind of reluctant to answer."

That testy response seemed to be a contiuation of remarks Conrad made earlier today at a committee hearing, when the North Dakotan lambasted the media for focusing too much on the controversies and "side issues" of healthcare reform rather than what he considered more substantive parts of the debate.

"I don't know what's happening as a culture, but when we have the national news media obsessing over Michael Jackson, and obsessing over side issues, and giving no basis of information to people to make judgments on things that really matter to our economic future, we have a really big problem," he said.

And on Tuesday, Conrad went after cable news programs that "obsess" over "death panels."

"I think the media have done a grave disservice to the American people for chasing every rabbit of an issue that matters very little to dealing with has to be done," Conrad said. "And I'm not talking about — I'm largely putting the finger of blame on network media that has a minute and a half on a story and never has a chance to explain to people what are the things that really matter to this debate. Instead, they obsess on things that are a complete side issue."