The Clarence Thomas book story wasn’t the weirdest book story on the front page of Saturday's Washington Post. That would be Bob Thompson’s story on presidential daughter Jenna Bush and her new book on an HIV-afflicted single mother titled "Ana’s Story." Here’s the first sentence: "Jenna Bush wants to clear up this pregnancy nonsense right now." Having dropped that bomb of a rumor on page one, the Post then leaves that matter totally unresolved for six paragraphs, until the jump onto page A9:
"‘I’m not pregnant,’ she deadpans, then throws her head back and laughs. Voice raised, she repeats the point for emphasis. [This means the reporter suggested he didn’t believe her?] It’s as if she’s trying to outshout the din of unsought celebrity that has engulfed her since she was in her teens. "I’m not even pregnant!" she says. (Italics theirs.)
As a whole, Thompson’s story is balanced, matching the Bush critic’s desire to get the daughter to bash her father’s policies (nice try, no thanks) with the details that make the daughter look sincere (she’s donating all the book’s proceeds, for example). But the beginning screams, "We had to fly some catty rumors so we wouldn’t look like Bush publicists." But aren’t the nation’s leading newspapers supposed to do better than that?
The photo collection that accompanies the story is also a mix of positive photos and some snarky ones. "Jenna yawns during her father's second inauguration" is one. "Jenna gets a kiss at the 2005 inauguration party from Henry Hager" is another – it looks like a steamy romance-novel cover. They both inspire the thought "The Post would never do this to Chelsea."
The same goes for a courtroom photo of Jenna with this caption:
Jenna's college days were marked by a flurry of tabloid appearances -- brushes with underage drinking, tales of ditching Secret Service agents and late nights closing down hot dance clubs. In 2001, she faced two misdemeanor charges -- one for being a minor in possession of alcohol, and another for attempting to use a fake ID to purchase alcohol. She pleaded no contest to both. Here, she appears at the Austin Community Court with her lawyer in May 2001.
But it’s not just "a flurry of tabloids" that loved that story. So did the nation’s allegedly dignified liberal broadsheets. Apparently they still do.
