News Media Deliberately Bury Massive Democrat Scandal
July 24, 3:28 PM1 commentShareThisRSS Email Print If you do a Lexis Nexis search for the terms, "New Jersey" and "corruption" over the last week, there are 217 stories across the various types of media. Less than a third of them even bother to mention that nearly 100% of the 130 elected officials arrested (or who have plead guilty) in this massive corruption ring since 2001 were Democrats.
William Jefferson, Tim Mahoney, Charles Rangel, Chris Dodd, Barney Frank, Bill Richardson, Tom Daschle, Tim Geithner, Kwame Kilpatrick...and now a massive statewide Democrat scandal...where is the media with the endless questions about "Democrat hypocrisy" and "the Democrat culture of corruption?"
Compare the coverage to any Republican scandal, real or invented--invented meaning scandals in which all the charges ended up getting laughed out of court or otherwise thoroughly debunked (Tom Delay, Bush-coke, Bush-National Guard, Ted Stevens, etc.), or in which someone else admitted to committing the non-crime (the Lewis Libby witch hunt), or in which it was never unethical until a Republican did it a fraction as much as Democrats (Alberto Gonzales), etc.
It took 10 months for the news media to run as many stories on Vice Presidential candidate John Edwards knocking up his mistress (while dragging his wife around the country for cancer-pity votes) as they did on Sarah Palin's daughter getting knocked up (hundreds of stories in the first few days alone).
Or, you can compare the coverage by looking at individual Republican scandals. Here is how the Associated Press reported on the Ted Stevens "scandal" (which was later debunked--after his career was destroyed, as usual):
Ted Stevens Indicted, Longest-Serving GOP Senator
The corruption investigation of Alaska back-room deals began in 2004, mostly targeting state legislators and businessmen. On Tuesday, prosecutors aimed much higher with federal charges on the other side of the continent against Ted Stevens the nation's longest-serving Republican senator.
...He is accused of lying on his annual Senate financial disclosure reports between 1999 and 2006 an indictment that caps a lengthy FBI investigation that has upended Alaska politics and brought unfavorable attention to both Stevens and his congressional colleague, GOP Rep. Don Young. Both are running for re-election this year.
Stevens' indictment further damages Republican prospects in the November election as Senate Democrats, who now enjoy a 51-49 majority, try to capture a filibuster-proof 60-vote majority. Stevens faces both Democratic and Republican challengers who are trying to capitalize on his legal woes.
...He said that in line with Senate GOP rules he was temporarily giving up the ranking positions his seniority has given him. If the Republicans were to take over the Senate, the party's most-senior senator would be in line to become president pro tempore, a mostly symbolic title but one that would make him third in line for the presidency after the vice president and speaker of the House.
...Tuesday's charges tarnish one of the most powerful and savvy of the GOP lions in the Senate. Stevens has coasted to re-election six times in Alaska but this year is in what has been viewed as the toughest race of his career against Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich.
...Throughout the investigation, Stevens has remained an iconic figure in Alaska. A moderate Republican, he has served almost 40 years in the Senate, where he unabashedly steered money to his remote and sparsely populated home state. He often drew criticism from outside Alaska for going around the traditional appropriations process to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars for pet projects.
Tuesday's indictment comes a year after another Republican senator, Larry Craig of Idaho, pleaded guilty to charges arising out of a Minneapolis airport men's room sex sting.
Another GOP colleague, Arlen Specter of Pennsylvania, said, "I've known Ted Stevens for 28 years, and have always known him to be impeccably honest."
The last sitting senator to be indicted in federal court was Republican Sen. David Durenberger of Minnesota, who was charged in 1993 with conspiring to file fraudulent claims for Senate reimbursement of $3,825 in lodging expenses.
When it's a Republican "scandal," whether it's legitimate or not, it becomes a non-stop, front page carnival of "GOP" this and "Republican" that. But when it is a Democrat scandal, even one with overwhelming evidence of guilt, it's like pulling teeth to get the same news media even to mention the party of those involved.
In Chapter 2 of my book, the section called, Did I Mention He Was a Republican? explores this tireless media campaign to associate Republicans with corruption while burying actual scandals against Democrats at every turn. This is a well-documented practice of the news media and it has been going on for a very long time.
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