For the second day in a row, The Washington Post showed it was bored by the IRS scandal by putting the hearings story inside the paper.
Instead, the top of Wednesday's post seized on the favorite liberal scandal du jour: "Military chiefs lament sex assaults but reject Senate bill." Their Post Express tabloid screamed this front-page headline: "CAN THE MILITARY CURE ITS 'CANCER'?"
This is also the second day in a row that the Post has saved room on the front page to attack the ethics of Virginia's Republican governor, Robert McDonnell.
The IRS hearings were on A-2, and below the hearings story was a story about lavish IRS spending.
Michelle Obama confronting a lesbian heckler and threatening to leave a fundraiser was placed on A-7. At least reporter Peter Wallsten slipped in that while the White House press corps' pool reporter quoted Michelle as saying "Listen to me or you can take the mike, but I'm leaving. You all decide. You have one choice." The heckler was removed from the room.
Wallsten added "Obama's suggestion that she would leave was not included in the official White House transcript." Transparency fails again. The headline was "Michelle Obama confronts protester at fundraiser in D.C. home."
The budding Obamacare scandal drew a story on A12 by Sarah Kliff. It was blandly headlined "Sebelius defends fundraising efforts: Obamacare outreach criticized. Secretary says she made five calls to companies." The HHS secretary told a House hearing she made five "outreach calls" to seek funding to promote Enroll America, a group aiming to promote participation in the "Affordable Care Act."
Sen. Lamar Alexander said her attempts to push private companies and foundations to publicize Obamacare were "arguably an even bigger issue" than the Iran-Contra affair, where the Reagan administration sought out private donors and other nations to fund the Nicaraguan rebels.
