Mimicking NBC's Matt Lauer on "Today" with Tom DeLay a few weeks ago, the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz chose Monday to address a number of political scandals in America, all of them of course dealing with Republicans.
Yet, there was a brewing campaign finance scandal conspicuously absent from Kurtz's list. Need a hint what it might be?
Maybe Glenn Reynolds' comical quip will help: "Hsoot, it's on the tip of my tongue..."
Yep. Nowhere was Norman Hsu to be found. Instead, here's what concerned Kurtz (emphasis added):
As Army Gen. David Petraeus's long-awaited testimony last week failed to sway the debate over the war, partisans on both sides castigated the media for what remains a blurry picture of Iraq. Why, they ask, can't journalists cut through the fog and deliver an accurate portrait of how the unpopular conflict is going?
This frustration with journalism extends to a slew of other controversies. Is Sen. David Vitter being truthful in denying involvement with a New Orleans prostitute who was paid by Hustler magazine? Is Sen. Larry Craig dissembling when he denies soliciting sex in a men's room? Did Alberto Gonzales give faulty testimony and make misstatements about various Justice Department controversies or is he a liar?
Why can't news organizations resolve these disputes? Are they afraid to take a stand? Or is there no realistic way to do what the critics demand without becoming partisans?
I've got another question, Howie: Why can't news organizations ever fully discuss Democrat controversies with a similar comprehensiveness and attention given to Republican scandals?
And, maybe more important given your role as a media analyst, why can't you?
—Noel Sheppard is the Associate Editor of NewsBusters.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
OJ
September 17, 2007 - 10:29 ET by JDWWhy did Hsu get bail and not OJ?
JDW
CFR: Chung, Riady, Hsia, Trie, Huang, Hsu, Paw... Who's looking?
Why can't news
September 17, 2007 - 10:38 ET by motherbeltWhy can't news organizations resolve these disputes? Are they afraid to
take a stand? Or is there no realistic way to do what the critics
demand without becoming partisans?
Um, yes, Howard, there is a way to do that (and your own commentary is Exhibit A in "how to NOT to do it!") You do it by asking the tough questions of BOTH sides. By treating Democrats and Republicans the same.
Is that concept too simple for you geniuses in journalism, Howard?
also...
September 17, 2007 - 10:47 ET by MrShyWhat exactly does "Why can't news organizations resolve these disputes?" mean?
Resolve these disputes?? Is that their job? Again, it's hilarious enough that all the media does is spotlight scandals -- even the most lightweight ones -- by Republicans only.... but on top of that, the lefty MSM is pointing a finger at itself for.... not "resolving these disputes"?
They are completely partisan/biased AND they have a God-complex.
"You ask if I have a God complex? I AM God."
- great line, from a great movie, by a great..... oh shoot, it's yet another Hollywood moonbat, and one of the craziest and most radical... (but he's still a darn good actor :))
...let's talk about a
September 17, 2007 - 12:40 ET by TruthMonger...let's talk about a little bit of grandiosity? Narcissism? Hubris...?!?!?
What a generation...
Things will get much better when they're gone...maybe only 3 or 4 decades to go? Barring the dreaded cryogenic freeze:(...
Their Frustration
September 17, 2007 - 11:36 ET by mattmThe MSM is frustrated by the fact that their obvious propaganda* is failing to persuade everyone to adopt their view. This is pretty good evidence that their view is wrong.
They can't afford, politically, to simply report the facts, because to do so might just undermine their agenda.
*("...deliver an accurate portrait of how the unpopular conflict <that is a subjective judgement> is going..."How much more obvious could it be?)
"Truth is the enemy of the Left." - Publius
Hypocrisy
September 17, 2007 - 11:39 ET by geminicontenderMSM is the worst. I have cancelled my paper. I live in California and it seems all the editorials are from the NY Times, Boston Globe.....you get it. Same thing with tv MSM's. Only report what can hurt the other party. Ignore ALL questionable Democratic plunders so as not to awaken the public of how inept, unlawful and inconsiderate these people are. I've had enough, how about you?
I stopped taking the paper
September 17, 2007 - 11:48 ET by mattmI stopped taking the paper in 1988 when they highlighted the phony "October Surprise" that was intended to help Dukakis defeat GHW Bush.
Jefferson
September 17, 2007 - 12:30 ET by iveseenitallJefferson, Reid, Feinstein, Conyers, Burger, et.al. Right on, where's the " journalistic integrity", Howie? (sorry for cursing).
NEVER.NEVER trust a "liberal"
Menendez, Corzine,
September 17, 2007 - 13:10 ET by fitzfongMenendez, Corzine, McGreevey, Newsom, Villaraigosa, Kennedy, the entire Democrat party in New Jersey...
Journalistic integrity?
September 18, 2007 - 00:17 ET by MikeBJournalistic integrity? Ive, that is as big an oxymoron as political ethics. Unless you were telling a joke, shame on you for using those two words in the same sentence.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
Pun Discrimination
September 17, 2007 - 12:49 ET by Junk Science SkepticEven though the left has the support of nearly 100% of the MSM, Hollyweird, and billions in funding from Soros and his ilk, the best "wit" they've been able to summon is a few lame rhymes, one of which is mostly a rip-off from the sixties. Yet as lame and shopworn as these one-liners are, the get repeated in the MSM over and over, like a three-year-old who has just learned to tell his first joke.
Meanwhile, along comes this guy Hsu (pronounced "shoo"), providing a potential gold mine, no, make that a diamond mine, of terriffic pun fodder, and solely because he's involved with the Clintons, tens of thousands of truly funny puns and one-liners are being left to die on the vine.
Sure, there are few folks like Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit who are breaking the pun blockade, and Dennis Miller will eventually tap this Hsu store of material, but apart from these few guardians of equal pun rights, the rest of our culture bears the shame of pun discrimination for keeping these puns shackled.
A pun is a terrible thing to waste. Free the puns.
Thompson/Giuliani 2008
"Dennis Miller will
September 17, 2007 - 14:49 ET by Khyris"Dennis Miller will eventually tap this Hsu store of material"
LMFAO. Flawless execution sir!
The MSM wants to bury
September 17, 2007 - 12:56 ET by robert108The MSM wants to bury Hillary's campaign scandals quicker than a cat coverin' crap.
And thirty years ago,
September 18, 2007 - 00:20 ET by MikeBAnd thirty years ago, they'd have got away with it. But today, thanks to talk radio and the internet, the LibMedia will be as successful at burying Hillary's campaign scandals as a cat trying to cover crap on a marble floor.
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
The other scandals
September 17, 2007 - 13:11 ET by ThisnThatThere are other investigations that need to be made:
Jefferson's freezer contents
Harry Reid's land deals
Feinstein's husband's schemes -- why did she resign the MILCON subcommittee and why did her staffers try to revise the Wikipedia articles?
Sandy Berger -- where are those missing documents?
Maxine Waters' family income of $1M
James Traficant, guilty of fraud, expelled by Congress, and unlike Republicans Foley and DeLay, actually found GUILTY and serving 8 years in prision.
___________________________________
If you can read this, thank a teacher. If it is in English, thank a Soldier. - My barber
James Traficant, guilty of
September 17, 2007 - 15:16 ET by motherbeltJames Traficant, guilty of fraud, expelled by Congress, and unlike
Republicans Foley and DeLay, actually found GUILTY and serving 8 years
in prision.
TnT...why does this need investigating? He is already out of Congress and in prison....
motherb Trafficant guilty
September 17, 2007 - 15:21 ET by Jack Bauermotherb
Trafficant guilty of fraud -- and a terriblly funny hairstyle, if my memory serves me well. (Wheels on Fire)
Ah, yes! Check it out!
September 17, 2007 - 22:02 ET by Scout Finchhttp://www.dailynugget.com/images/traficant.jpg
Is that a hedgehog sleeping
September 18, 2007 - 00:22 ET by MikeBIs that a hedgehog sleeping on top of his head, or is that the worst toupee/combover in the history of mankind?
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
}}---> Hillary & Hsu
September 17, 2007 - 19:15 ET by Cool ArrowHillary will doubtless claim this was all part of a "sting" against Norman Hsu.
Never mind, I'm getting my criminals mixed up.
~LYDSEXICS UNTIE!~