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My personal musings about anything that gets on my radar screen--heavily dominated by politics.

2004-02-15

Anybody Else Notice. . .

One aspect of the parallel scandals issue that has gone completely un-commented on--at least as far as I can tell--is who is keeping the story alive. In the case of the Bush National Guard issue, it started again with Terry McAuliff, bounced through several elected officials, received a "no-comment" from the leading Nomination Candidate, went back through the DNC chairman, and is now a full-blown "thing" in the elite press corps. In the case of the other scandal (which Hugh is referring to as "it"), it started on an independent website and was picked up only by the foreign press.

In other words, one non-story was created by party officials, has been remarked upon by party officials, and is being kept alive by the mainstream press, while the other story. . . hasn't. In other other words, people who should be expected to behave responsibly have gotten a free pass and media help with a Big Lie, while different independent sources have gotten stony silence with what might be a truth. Don't begin to tell me for a minute that there isn't a double standard here. When a major party levels baseless and incendiary charges there is an abundance of coverage and little skepticism of motives; when an independent reporter levels an accusation--with some substantiation--there is silence. And let's not forget the nature of the charges--one is a felony and a disgrace, the other is tawdry but meaningless.

At the very least, the Democrats should have to pay a price for stooping to these depths. Unfortunately, the people most needed for that sort of accountability are complicit in the act.
Posted by: Michael / 2/15/2004 02:25:00 AM

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