A recent Martin O’Malley campaign event held in Iowa during bad weather had only one person in attendance, but the Dem presidential candidate went ahead and tried to convince the man to vote for him (apparently unsuccessfully).
The one-attendee campaign event was widely reported, but Politico’s Glenn Thrush lectured any media involved in mocking the story:
Kudos to @MartinOMalley for campaigning in a snowstorm/talking to a voter. He's trying, &dumping on him for doing so is herd press bullshit.
— Glenn Thrush (@GlennThrush) December 30, 2015
Thrush got agreement from some industry colleagues:
Real talk –> https://t.co/badT4orvPw
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) December 30, 2015
This is right. And I have done this myself. https://t.co/VsrbZNuMB7
— Chris Cillizza (@TheFix) December 30, 2015
you are right. actually running for president is so much more admirable than snarking about someone running https://t.co/xVR6n33VrB
— John Harwood (@JohnJHarwood) December 30, 2015
O’Malley made the finger-pointing media’s job easier because there were so few people to circle the wagons around (too soon?).
@GlennThrush Not sure it's fair to criticize the press for their response to a press release, which is designed to seek attention.
— Easy Reader (@Real_Food) December 30, 2015
O’Malley even joked about it during an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” so is he part of the “herd press” too?
