From William Jefferson to Christopher Dodd to Charlie Rangel to John Edwards, the major media don't have much taste for telling you about corruption these days. The likely reason: All are Democrats.
In contrast, if the party label were different in any one of those cases would be a "problem" for the entire "Republican Party."
Folks, we're not making this up. It's provable fact.
Just consider the case of South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford.
"Sanford's extramarital affair a problem for GOP," blared a headline on MSNBC's Web site over an Associated Press "analysis."
"Sanford's affair admission rekindles a grand old problem," intones a broad-brush headline from the Seattle Times over a column from The Washington Post . "For a Republican Party down on its luck," says the column by Dan Balz, the Sanford case "draws more unwelcome publicity to a party that needs but cannot seem to get any good news."
Gee, could it be because the news writers have a blindspot?
Consider the case of one William Jefferson.
The former -- you heard it here first -- Democratic congressman from Louisiana was convicted last week on 11 of 16 corruption charges involving the taking of hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes. In one of the most blatant, banana-republic corruption cases in this country in years, Jefferson was found to have stored nearly $100,000 of his bribe money in a freezer at home.
Did you see any headlines anywhere that suggested Jefferson's case was a problem for the entire Democratic Party? Or that it was a trend of Democratic corruption?
Nope -- despite the fact that Democrat Sen. Christopher Dodd of Connecticut and Democrat Rep. Charlie Rangel of New York have serious ethical problems of their own to unravel.
Then there's John Edwards. Not exactly a private figure -- he was a Democratic vice presidential nominee only a few years ago, and a presidential candidate more recently -- Edwards was exposed as a serial liar and cheat for having an affair with a videographer while his wife was battling cancer. Now, a grand jury is reportedly investigating whether there were campaign laws broken when the woman was spirited off to seclusion and comfort by well-to-do Edwards supporters while he ran for president.
But as far as the media are concerned, like Jefferson, Dodd, Rangel, et al., Edwards' problems are only about him, not the party. No one at the Post is writing that Edwards, Jefferson or anyone else with a "D" behind his name "draws more unwelcome publicity" for the party.
Indeed, Jefferson's outlandish acts and conviction barely got mentioned in the major media last week -- and when it was reported, two of three major networks left off his Democratic Party affiliation. CBS News didn't even report the conviction the day it happened.
That's how you prevent a trend. You ignore it.
From the Monday, August 10, 2009 edition of the Augusta Chronicle
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