Paula Jones

Sad to see Ed Schultz suffer such sudden memory loss on live national TV.  On his MSNBC show this evening, discussing Herman Cain's handling of the various allegations against him, Schultz: found it odd that Cain's wife had come to his defense; said he'd never "seen anything like this in American politics;" and claimed that by criticizing his accusers, Cain had hit "a new low in American politics."

Do any of the following sound an echo with Ed?:

Worrying that there are "[t]oo many lingering questions about his conduct with women," the Washington Post editorial board complained in the November 14 edition that GOP presidential hopeful Herman Cain failed to satisfactorily answer reporter Maria Bartiromo's "legitimate question" at last week's CNBC debate: "Why should the American people hire a president if they feel there are character issues?"

"If the accusations are true, they depict a man who attempted to use his position of power to coerce sexual favors from subordinates or vulnerable women," the Post lectured, concluding that "[T]he public has a right to as much information as possible to weigh the competing accounts and to make a determination about Mr. Cain's fitness for office," even if, in fact, "The truth may be impossible to discern."

But in 1994, the Post's editorial board had a decidedly different take about Paula Jones's allegations of sexual misconduct by President Bill Clinton.

"With Herman Cain, let's remember here, Sean, we have nobody on the record, we have no specific allegation of anything that's happened," NewsBusters publisher Brent Bozell noted on last night's Hannity, contrasting the "avalanche" of Cain coverage with the minimal coverage the networks gave to Paula Jones, Kathleen Willey, and Juanita Broaddrick's allegations of sexual harassment and, in the latter case, rape. [video of "Media Mash" follows the page break; MP3 audio available here]

In the 8:30 half hour of Tuesday’s "Today," NBC’s Matt Lauer interviewed Washington lawyer Robert Bennett on his new book "In The Ring." Lauer began by noting Bennett’s been in all manner of Washington scandals. But Lauer and Bennett chose to hone in on just one: Paula Jones. Lauer didn’t suggest there was anything wrong with what Jones said Bill Clinton did at a Little Rock hotel room, in dropping his pants and asking her, a stranger and a state employee, to kiss his penis. Instead, as usual, the Jones case was defined as a "vehicle" for "Clinton haters," the "hunting of a president." Clinton was not the predator. Jones was:

LAUER: You say allowing that case to go forward against Bill Clinton was, was the equivalent of hunting a president. Why do you say that?

BENNETT: Well, well it was. What happened is Paula Jones' case became a vehicle by which the Clinton haters were trying to shut up his message and defeat his election in 1996.

It seems appropriate that the person who wrote the following will now be writing for Newsweek (HT to NB's John Stephenson, who posted on this Tuesday evening):

Yes, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga ("Kos") apologized the next day; you can decide for yourself whether it suffices.