This has been happening so much in the past few years that it is reaching the point of redundancy to report on it. A politician is caught up in a major scandal and/or corruption. The media dutifully reports on it but leaves out one key factor. The political party of the fallen politician. And can you guess which political party is ALWAYS missing from these reports whenever such an affliliation is conveniently purged from the news stories? That is your Blue Book exam question, boys and girls. If you had answered "Democrat" you would have been absolutely correct. Such was the case today when Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel reporter Paula McMahon conveniently neglected to mention anywhere in her news story the political party of disgraced Broward County, Florida Sheriff Ken Jenne who pled guilty to federal corruption charges involving tens of thousands of dollars he allegedly received from sheriff's office contractors and employees:
Former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne left federal court on Wednesday barred from voting or holding public office, unable to own a gun and required to submit to random urine tests.
It was a humiliating end to a 35-year career in public service that made Jenne the county's top law enforcement official and a political powerhouse.
Jenne pleaded guilty on Wednesday and could be in federal prison before Thanksgiving: His sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 16 before U.S. District Judge William P. Dimitrouleas. He is free on $100,000 bond and needs permission to travel beyond Key West and Fort Pierce.
Ms McMahon continues to lay out more details about this sordid corruption scandal involving former Sheriff Jenne but the "D" word remains missing even though she described Jenne as a "political powerhouse." As is often the case, the political affiliation of a county sheriff is not nearly as important as it would be to most other elected officials. In the case of Jenne, however, politics were at the very center of his professional life since he was a career politician. In 1978 Jenne was elected to the Florida Senate where he was to remain for the next 18 years, eventually rising to the position of Senate Democratic Leader. In 1998, Jenne was appointed as Broward County Sheriff by Florida Governor Lawton Chiles to succeed the previous sheriff who had passed away. The sheriff's office is generally acknowledged to be the most important political position in Broward County and career politician Jenne was certainly not shy in playing politics which is why neglecting to mention his Democrat affiliation in McMahon's story is so noticeable by its absence.
Okay, boys and girls. One final question for your Blue Book exam. If former Broward County Sheriff Ken Jenne had been a Republican, do you think this fact would have been mentioned in Paula McMahon's Sun-Sentinel story? I won't give you the answer now but you will earn bonus points in correctly guessing whether his political affiliation as a Republican would have been mentioned in the first or second half of the news story. Thank you, class. And tomorrow's lesson will be on how the term "Culture of Corruption" is applied to only one of the political parties.
UPDATE: The editorial board of the Sun-Sentinel is now actually expressing sadness in The Slant over the fact that Ken Jenne is no longer Sheriff under the entry of Another by-product from Ken Jenne's fall:
Fallout from the Ken Jenne debacle will hurt one unexpected group of Floridans -- abused and neglected children. Jenne wasn't shy about using the former Broward County sheriff's department to handle cases involving troubled youngsters. It was a priority for the former sheriff that made his department one of the state's five sheriff's offices to receive state social services funding for its role in curbing those types of crimes.
Given the state's looming budget crunch, Jenne will be missed. He'll no longer use his clout in Tallahassee from his days as a state senate leader to make sure the sheriff's department gets its fair share of state funding. So, don't be surprised if BSO under new management either backs off or is forced to reduce its committment to protecting troubled children.
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Not again! Ugh..
September 6, 2007 - 09:13 ET by Sergeant ROCKNot again! Ugh..
Bias
September 6, 2007 - 09:35 ET by allanfI agree there is a bias in the news media. After watching the Larry Craig fiasco unfold, I believe Republicans are complicit in this bias.
Democratic reporters are fed a one sided line of a "culture of corruption" by Democratic operatives. Rather than actively fighting back, Republicans acknowledge their corruption by immediately disowning a member of Congress in difficulty. That attitude led to a complete loss of Republican leadership in the House of Representatives as Gingrich, Livingston and Delay were purged, all without conviction of a single crime. With Delay gone, the Republicans were left with an effective House After the Democrats unleashed the "Mark Foley" scandal, the House leadership quickly disowned him.
But it was too late, and the House was lost. That loss is a failure of leadership. Words like "culture of corruption" stick because Republicans acknowlege their own corruption by immediately disciplining members who may have done no wrong. How can you deny being corrupt when you immediately admit to it?
The bald fact is, none of the members above were convicted of a single crime. Only Delay was indicted, by a DA with questionable motives.
In the Larry Craig incident, only one Republican has come to his aid, Arlen Sprector. One former (and sorely missed leader), Tom Delay, had the willingness to point out Democratic Corruption to the news media. Where is the rest of the party?
Don't expect a Democratic news media to police itself. Republicans must point out the lack of balance and fire of a laundry list of Democratic corruption to the press. If Republicans have Abramoff, Democrats have Hsu, There are Jefferson, Feinstein, and Harry Reid’s shady land deals. There is Patrick Kennedy driving under the influence of drugs.
It is one thing to remove a member convicted of a felony. But a misdemeanor? Or mere allegations. Once you are down this road, it will never stop. Your opponents know that if they push you, you will fold.
With all this, Republicans chose to disown Larry Craig for disorderly conduct. What's next? Removing a member for speeding?For those who say you are acting on principle, I ask, how does being a minority party help achieve Republican principles?
What's next?
September 6, 2007 - 09:35 ET by Sergeant ROCKWhat's next? Removing a member for speeding.
You have a point there. It would appear that Republicans are being led by the MSM to discharge their own. The question is, what was it in particular that caused such disdain for Craig by the MSM? Or, was it just that Craig was a target of opportunity?
Hypocrisy
September 6, 2007 - 09:47 ET by allanfFor the media, Craig was just another Republican target. What gave the story legs was that Craig was disowned by his own Republican leadership. The media just accused him of "hypocrisy". They could not blast him for a possibly gay pickup attempt, because the media is pro gay rights. The Republicans pushed him out. Who in the party rose to his defense?
If Craig were a less principled man, he could have announced he was switching parties, because Democrats are more tolerant of alternative lifestyles. The New York Times would have run editorials lionizing his courage.
Then the media would have moved on to blasting the Republicans for being intolerant.
Craig and the Republicans should have said that a member’s personal life is off limits, and one can be gay without supporting gay marriage. In terms of hypocrisy, they could have asked reporters, "do you support police provoking gay men in rest rooms? Isn't there serious crime to stop?"
You cannot expect the news media to recognize its own bias, if you refuse to point it out.
Talk about complicit -
September 6, 2007 - 11:38 ET by TruthMongerTalk about complicit - please take a look in the mirror. Here is the tack the repubs should have taken:
CRAIG IS NOT A GAY BATHROOM CRUISER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did everyone here me in the back this time:)?
Protest Craig's conservative abandonment - vote Democrat in 08'
Is anyone keeping a tally?
September 6, 2007 - 09:38 ET by rbchaffeIt would be interesting to see a tally of the number of such articles, with a number of such articles for democrats vs republicans.
Good idea
September 6, 2007 - 09:41 ET by Sergeant ROCKThey should have a ticker on this website with a running total. Much like the left likes to do with body counts and deficits.
Actually someone
September 6, 2007 - 11:45 ET by TruthMongerActually someone does tally that stuff here - right, mastheads? can you permanently post the numbers on a stats page sometime and watch the tally grow - maybe something like this:
MSM anti-repub stories today: 142 Anti Dem: 0
Bush troops dead today: 2 Bush total troops dead: 3156
US aborted children today: 3000 Total: 46,391,004
Protest Craig's conservative abandonment - vote Democrat in 08'
I e-mailed the reporter to
September 6, 2007 - 09:41 ET by WiggyI e-mailed the reporter to ask her why she left out his party affiliation. I doubt that I will get an answer. If I do, it will probably be spin or snotty.
There's amillion ways to
September 6, 2007 - 11:47 ET by TruthMongerThere's amillion ways to spin it - but wouldn't it be great if we could get some MSM editors on here to at least grace us with their BS excuses once in a while?
Another great idea from me. I should head over to the ideas thread...
Protest Craig's conservative abandonment - vote Democrat in 08'
I received a response from
September 6, 2007 - 13:36 ET by WiggyI received a response from the reporter. She says that if I check the archives, I will see that it has been pointed out he is a Democrat. She goes on to say that it is a Democratic County and I would be hard pressed to find anyone who does not know he is a democrat. That statement seems like she is saying that only people in that county will be reading the article. Apparently she does not seem to get the idea that the internet is global and not just local. She closes it out by saying she just did it to save space. Gee, it doesn't seem like it would take much space to put "(D)" after his name.
LOL! Get Email updates
September 6, 2007 - 13:38 ET by Clear thinkerLOL!
Get Email updates from Fred http://socialnet.imwithfred.com/email_alert_july_26.html
like I said - a million
September 6, 2007 - 13:49 ET by TruthMongerlike I said - a million ways to spin - MSM bias excuses 101
I guess nobody ever knows who the local Repubs are - they're just so modest:)! Everyone knows all of the Democrats! Why, I have absolutely all of them memorized in my city, county, state, and region - don't you?
Protest Craig's conservative abandonment - vote Democrat in 08'
Reporter Wants to Save Space
September 6, 2007 - 17:39 ET by P.J. GladnickLOL!!! That's HILARIOUS! She actually stated that she couldn't squeeze a "(D)" after his name because of space limitations?
Wiggy
September 6, 2007 - 18:18 ET by BlondeThis is entirely too funny:
She closes it out by saying she just did it to save space.
Not that I'm surprised considering the source. The Sun Sentinel has been a liberal rag forever, and protects its own.
I also notice how her article did nothing to mention how Jenne ran the BSO like Bob McNamara ran JFK's Dept. of Defense....Management by Objective. Jenne should have been fired over THAT scandal. His whiz bang computer software and "managing" cases.....closing them out to produce false results..."successes".
But Jenne's been a big cheese in Broward democratic politics for a long time, so of course there's no (D) in this story. Personally, I'm hoping he takes a bunch of his pals down with him (the lawyer he has is an indication that this may be the case).
Care to place any bets that when Jenne's friends go down in flames that there will not be a (D) after their names either?
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive
She did it to save
September 6, 2007 - 22:41 ET by MikeBShe did it to save space?
Let me see: d-e-m-o-c-r-a-t...that's eight letters. R-e-p-u-b-l-i-c-a-n...that's ten letters.
They will drop an eight letter word that is material to the story to "save space", but will include multiple uses of a ten letter word? Don't they want to save space on stories of republican scandal too? Is it germane to the story only if the miscreant is a republican?
"A communist is someone who reads Marx. An anti-communist is someone who understands Marx." Ronald Reagan
I never heard Mike Nifong's
September 6, 2007 - 09:43 ET by RobElz7I never heard Mike Nifong's party affiliation mentioned until he lost his law license, although I always suspected he was a democrat. If he were a republican, that would have preceded his name from the time his case started falling apart.
Dirty Word
September 6, 2007 - 09:45 ET by Sergeant ROCKThe word Republican would have been in the title of every article too. You can bet on that!
Republican Broward Sheriff
September 6, 2007 - 09:49 ET by P.J. GladnickRepublican Broward Sheriff Pleads Guilty to Corruption
That is what the headline would look like if Jenne were a Republican.
Comparrison
September 6, 2007 - 09:54 ET by Sergeant ROCKAn interesting study would be to compare an article where the party affiliation is not mentioned when they're a democRAT to that of a similiar article where the party affiliation is mentioned when they're a Republican.
Rob, As a former resident, I
September 6, 2007 - 11:31 ET by Chris NormanRob, As a former resident, I can testify that there are very few Republicans in elected office in Durham County, NC. I'd be surprised if there was even one. Nifong thought it was a safe thing and was playing to his political base...
The dogs bark, but the caravan moves on.
- Arabian Proverb
Two Articles
September 6, 2007 - 10:41 ET by ricklailTwo headlines from the Raleigh N&O:
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/crime_safety/story/693996.html
http://www.newsobserver.com/print/wednesday/front/story/692554.html
In the second story it took them a long time to mention he was a Dem.
A bonafided and certified member of the beer guzzling, NASCAR watching middle class.
Mistakes
September 6, 2007 - 11:35 ET by Sergeant ROCKIn the second story it took them a long time to mention he was a Dem.
That was a fact-checking error on the part of the editor. I'm sure that they'll be consequences for such flagrant negligence.
"political powerhouse" is a
September 6, 2007 - 18:26 ET by Khyris"political powerhouse" is a very strange choice of phrase...
Normally I wouldn't think twice about neglecting to mention the party affiliation in this case, as sheriffs are supposed to be non-partisan elected officials; they don't make policy, they just enforce it (or illegally and selectively choose not to in the case of sanctuary cities.)
The "political powerhouse" phrase is enough to make me wonder, but in this one case, not enough to make me rush to judgment... unless the sun sentinal has had a habit of referring to sheriffs, judges, and other non-partisan positions by party affiliation? A habit which conveniently ceased at this point? Can anyone find anything like that?
Krhrys
September 6, 2007 - 18:37 ET by BlondeMake no mistake about it...here in Broward County the Sheriff's office is extremely political....and partisan all the way. Always has been. Since I was a little kid, actually.
So although your point is a valid one, it doesn't apply in this case. The omission of Jenne's party is extremely biased. Either the Sun-Sentinel didn't wish to disturb it's lib readers by pointing out the obvious (note....that which we all know, apparently...from the author's e-mail to a poster above) or they were just being willfully ingnorant, which is business as usual for the liberal media.
If it had been a former sheriff of ours, the notorious Nick Navarro (R), head star of that old "Cops" TV show....the (R) would have been ingloriously sprinkled through the article.
David Gregory, do you know which damn network you lie for? ~ Uncle Jimbo, @Blackfive