On Thursday's "Today" show when co-host Meredith Vieira asked NBC's Washington bureau chief Tim Russert if there would be any "fallout for the Democrats" from the Spitzer scandal, Russert asserted: "Probably not....that story pretty much leaves the front pages."
However, last year, when Senate Republicans David Vitter and Larry Craig were in the news for sex scandals the "Today" show wasn't so quick to let those stories rest and predicted they would have a lingering impact on the party and even conservatism as a whole. As the MRC's Tim Graham reminded NewsBusters readers earlier this week, the "Today" show, ran headlines trumpeting: "Conservative Crisis," and "Craig's Crisis: The Last Straw for the GOP?" Co-host Ann Curry used the scandals to bury Republicans on the August 29, 2007 edition of "Today":
Well let's talk about the political fallout. First it's been a rough year for the right. Let's list them. Congressman Mark Foley, conservative pastor Ted Haggard, Senator David Vitter. All involved in scandals, accusing them of inappropriate conduct. So the question's gotta be asked, why do these kinds of scandals seem to be following Republicans, lately?
Then on the August 30 show, co-host Matt Lauer asked Tom DeLay the following:
In 2006, the Republican party was also hit with distracting scandals involving Congressman Mark Foley's inappropriate e-mails to male congressional pages, and lobbyist Jack Abramoff's corruption case, that brought down several prominent Republican Congressmen. This year, the phone number of Republican senator David Vitter turned up in the records of a Washington, DC escort service, and now, recent polls show voters prefer a Democrat over a Republican by 51 to 27%, and at least one poll found the most popular choice among Republican presidential candidates is "none of the above." The question now: can any of the damage be reversed?
Fast forwarding to the current Spitzer scandal "Today" has deemed his problems will have no damaging effect on the Democratic Party as a whole. The following exchange is from the March 13th "Today" show:
VIEIRA: Let's talk very quickly about Governor Spitzer's resignation. He was a superdelegate for Senator Clinton. So she loses his vote. Beyond that, do you see any other fallout for the Democrats?
TIM RUSSERT: Probably not. There had been some references to any time there's a story about sex and men, this would focus attention on former President Bill Clinton, but I think that's probably just been a day or two story and now with the new governor of, of New York in place on Monday, that story pretty much leaves the front pages.
—Geoffrey Dickens is the senior news analyst at the Media Research Center.
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Morality is so subjective
March 13, 2008 - 11:30 ET by rbosqueMorality is so subjective with the MSM crews. Beneath the rubble of this disaster is the Governor's family. (sad)
Spitzer brought himself down, not the prostitute. No one forced him to indulge on women. I guess the lethal cocktail of money, power, and temptation is too much for some people.
Soooo, true.
March 13, 2008 - 14:18 ET by Syriusrb,
You wrote...No one forced him to indulge on women. - It would have been much better and acceptable for the conservatives if he had indulged on men like Sen. Craig did? Cheaper, too, right?
As a dear friend had said,"I'd much rather have the problems of the rich, than the problems of the poor."
Spitzer is worth how many tens of millions of $$$?
You go, Spitzer! At least you're not a gay republican bashing gays. Just a hypocrite. How much is your wife going to be worth after this is over? Idiot!
Syrius
"...the dire consequences to society when people begin to believe that by
renaming someone to erase their humanity opens the door to the
devaluation of everyone's life..."-dscott
"How much is your wife
March 13, 2008 - 14:24 ET by fitzfong"How much is your wife going to be worth after this is over?"
A lot. But probably not nearly as much as his criminal defense attorney(s), his civil attorney(s) and (if she has more self-respect than ambition) their divorce attorneys.
fitz, You got that
March 13, 2008 - 14:56 ET by Syriusfitz,
You got that right!
Syrius
"...the dire consequences to society when people begin to believe that by
renaming someone to erase their humanity opens the door to the
devaluation of everyone's life..."-dscott
One thing I've noticed the
March 13, 2008 - 11:39 ET by marpelOne thing I've noticed the MSM and some conservative pundits doing is trying to psychoanalyze Spit-Into-The-Wind-Sir.
How about sparing us the "Poor Eliot" crap. Can't we just admit that this man has no common sense? All this "he wanted to be caught" and "his wife should have paid attention to him more" is a bunch of garbage.
Repubs held to higher moral standard
March 13, 2008 - 12:01 ET by SouthJersey1953It 'falls off the front page' because America EXPECTS the Dems to act immorally. Only the Repubs are expected to live moral lives....
The real double standard is
March 13, 2008 - 15:58 ET by kgThe real double standard is when it is a corrupt Democrat it is a personal problem only. When it is a corrupt Republican it is a party problem with predicted dire party problems.
"Forget change, I want improvement!"
I think that is because
March 13, 2008 - 16:03 ET by balboaI think that is because they are two different parties.
Blatant Bias
March 13, 2008 - 12:09 ET by allanfHow sweet of Tim. In 2006 I thought that Mark Foley's first name was "Republican". For this scandal, NBC could not muster the word "Democrat"
NBC's Washington Bureau Chief Tim Russert is so biased and one sided in his analysis one would think he is a former high level Democratic operative.
The Truth
March 13, 2008 - 14:57 ET by kdoliverHey guys and gals,
Tim spoke the truth. There will be VERY little fallout for the Dems over this. Why? Because the media will not focus on the party of the moron. The print guys will move it off the front page, tv will slow down and finally stop coverage, and it will not effect BHO or HRC.
http://thelazytriathlete.blogspot.com/
when Senate Republicans
March 13, 2008 - 12:26 ET by motherbeltwhen Senate Republicans David Vitter and Larry Craig were in the news
for sex scandals the "Today" show wasn't so quick to let those story
rest and predicted they would have a lingering impact on the party and
even conservatism as a whole
The operative word there is "predicted." They were, in effect, predicting the fact that they were not going to let the stories die.
Their First Name was Republican
March 13, 2008 - 12:54 ET by allanfGee I thought Vitters and Craig's first names were both "Republican". It certainly seemed that way from the press coverage, (Republican David Vitter over and over).
Do we have any readily
March 13, 2008 - 12:30 ET by balboaDo we have any readily available comparison to how a Republican governor was treated during a scandal? Seems like I've seen examples of Republicans senators and representatives. What about Governors?
The press seemed to have a
March 13, 2008 - 12:57 ET by fitzfongThe press seemed to have a really good go at Evan Meacham and Fife Symington in Arizona in the '90s...but neither were involved in sex scandals, to my knowledge. Spitzer, though, is unique even to the Democrat Governors like McGreevey...for he really put himself front and center as a self-righteous superhero. He was aggressive and reckless and seemed not to care that he damaged innocent people along the way. He charged full force with his head down, running over everything and everyone in his way. He made himself a high-value target and the people he screwed over are going to come back to get a few kicks at him while he's down.
The irony of Spitzer's fall
March 13, 2008 - 13:12 ET by balboaThe irony of Spitzer's fall is pretty amazing. You can't be Mr. Law & Order and then dabble with the prostitutes.
Yeah, kind of a Jack McCoy
March 13, 2008 - 14:04 ET by fitzfongYeah, kind of a Jack McCoy on steroids.
well, a RINO anyways
March 13, 2008 - 17:09 ET by UndercoverConservativeBut do any of you remember the hype and fallout Arnie suffered here in CA because he's been accused of grabbing some gal's butt? Or when some bimbo (Huffington IIRC) accused Arnold of being an abuser of women because he'd tossed around Lokken's character in Terminator 3? The media ran with it like the movie roles were real and Arnold really beat up on women. Sadly they never mentioned he only beat up on nonhuman cyborg women from the future out to take over the world...Hillary's in trouble then! :P
"to call an illegal immigrant an "undocumented alien" is the same as calling a streetcorner drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist".
Vampires
March 13, 2008 - 12:32 ET by KC MulvilleAgain, a group of people utterly incapable of reflection. I mean, the liberals made a fuss about the GOP scandal within the past year. Either they're too ignorant to notice the staggering double standard, or they just don't care.
I actually heard a commentator complain that it's unfair that they expect Spitzer to resign, when the GOP had Larry Craig and David Vitter and they never resigned. As if the GOP invented the idea of staying in office despite a scandal ... hello? ... Bill Clinton? ...hello?
Not to mention Chappaquiddick ...
I'm sure Potato Head wants
March 13, 2008 - 12:44 ET by fitzfongI'm sure Potato Head wants the story to leave the front pages. I'm also sure that most of the newspapers want this story off the front pages...and will eagerly bury any new information in the Home & Garden section. However, this one ain't going away as fast as libs like Potato Head want it to go. Vitter, Foley, and Larry Craig may have been somewhat visible before their "scandals" broke, but they weren't the high profile, steamrolling, enemy-making, career ruining, "moral crusader" thugs that Spitzer is. This extortionist clown Spitzer made it his business to publicly humiliate his political enemies and he leveraged fear of future bankruptcy to get large corporations to remove innocent CEOs that he didn't like. He shamelessly abused his power with the endorsement of the media and trial lawyers. In essence, Spitzer made himself into a huge, seemingly untouchable target. Now that Spitzer's been harpooned, Potato Head expects the thug's litany of enemies are just going to walk away and the story ends? This is just the beginning, pal. It's time for all the good people he's hurt to come back and pick at his corpse. I expect Spitzer's name to come up a lot in the next few months...and his association with the Clinton campaign should be devastating.
They Are What They Are
March 13, 2008 - 13:16 ET by rammingspeedMeredith Vieira and her gang from the MSM are hard core, in the tank liberals who also hate conservatism and anyone connected to the republican party.
They are disgraceful - miscreants - for their bias and lack of self examination. There is no controlling authority, so they act with impunity, and they know they'll never be brought to task.
But there's nothing we can do, except to keep ourselves informed about them.
Craig is still in the
March 13, 2008 - 13:38 ET by mattmCraig is still in the news. Anytime there's a case of airport-bathroom funny business his name is brought into the story somehow...
If Craig is a "family values hypocrite" - he is so inasmuch as his private behavior. Spitzer's hypocrisy is much more damaging in that he championed himself as a crusader against corruption, while being corrupt himself.
It's not just that Dems don't get hurt by sex scandals, they don't get hurt by ANY scandals - at least their Party doesn't, because they have the MSM PR machine runnign cover for them.
Cold Cash ???
March 13, 2008 - 13:40 ET by LionKingWhat's the latest on Cold Cash Jefferson (D-LA)? He seems to have been forgotten.
http://www.citizensforethics.
March 13, 2008 - 14:15 ET by mattmhttp://www.citizensforethics.org/taxonomy/term/751
fallout for dems
March 13, 2008 - 14:45 ET by DFLowerHow can there ever be any fallout for democrats when every news story buries the D affiliation and is ignored as much as possible?
Morality
March 13, 2008 - 17:01 ET by MountainmamaMorality is no big deal with democrats. That is why we have the double standard in the press. They are the party that says good is whatever you want it to be. They only reason they want to hide their actions is so they can get elected come election time.