Cantwell Aide’s Sex Scandal Gets Little Press Coverage

It must be wonderful to be a Democrat and know that your indiscretions are very unlikely to get much attention by media minions only willing to cover the crimes and shortcomings of folks on the opposite side of the aisle.

Take for example James Michael McHaney, an aide to Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) who NewsBusters reported had been arrested last Friday for trying to lure a thirteen-year-old boy into a sexual encounter.

Not only did this get buried on Friday so as likely not to take focus away from Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) looking regal and presidential during that day's hostage crisis in New Hampshire, but also once the Associated Press deigned to actually inform subscribers on Monday that something potentially nefarious had occurred, press outlets either continued to ignore the subject, or buried it nicely so that precious few would be made aware of it.

On the television side, according to LexisNexis, the only outlet which felt this newsworthy was CNN which aired its only report on this matter during the 6:00 AM EST "American Morning" Tuesday:

KIRAN CHETRY, ANCHOR: Well, a senator's aide busted in a sex sting topping your "Quick Hits" now. An aide to Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington was fired last Friday just hours after the FBI arrested him for allegedly trying to set up a meeting online with someone he thought was a 13-year-old boy. James McHaney is being held without bond. He'll have a court hearing tomorrow. Cantwell's office says it will cooperate with the investigation.

That's it. One brief mention from CNN Tuesday before most of the nation was even awake. Not one more report on the subject the rest of the day.

Mark Foley and Larry Craig wish they were so ignored, don't you agree? 

Sadly, that's better than the rest of the television media, as ABC, NBC, CBS, and MSNBC all totally boycotted this deplorable event.

According to LexisNexis, not one mention by any of them.

The print media didn't do much better (h/t JammieWearingFool).

The New York Times carried 100 words of the AP piece buried nicely on page 28 of Wednesday's final edition. The Washington Post gave it 275 words on page 2 of its Metro section Wednesday.

Marty at JWF reported:

The Boston Globe also devotes a single paragraph, with the same AP dispatch.

The New York Post relegates it to a Page Six item.

And, as Porky Pig used to say, that's all folks.

Must be marvelous to be a Democrat, dontcha think?