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October 04, 2006

This Halloween: Ghost of Mapes

 

 

While it’s clear that former Congressman Mark Foley is a creep, making political hay out of it is creepier; it tells me that not only are you not disgusted with what Foley did, you celebrate it because it empowers you, the amoral, pro-death, pro-child-emancipation-like-The Netherlands far Left.

 

But now it appears thanks to Drudge that another Mary Mapes scandal at another major mainstream media news network is afoot just before another close election. It’s difficult to say, but in the very least, ABC made an error about the age of the congressional page (who was apparently 18 – not 16 at the time of the IMs) with which it broke the story and that error went in favor of hyping the story and helping Democrats.

 

Pro forma, dare we say.

 

One Democrat strategist on Lou Dobbs yesterday differentiated Foley’s vile behavior from Clinton’s vile behavior because Monica was “considerably older” than Foley’s page. At the time, “considerably” actually translated into three years. Now however, we know it means one year with both intern and page of legal age.

 

So why didn’t the entire Clinton White House resign? Apparently, it depends on the meaning of the adverb “considerably”; as in, the Democrats as a whole are known by nearly everyone to have "considerably" lower moral standards than Republicans, so an infraction by the member of one party is “considerably” more shocking than an infraction by a member of the other. In other words, we come to expect it from the Dems.

 

Better yet, why doesn’t New Mexico governor Bill Richardson resign after all of the stories of his sexual improprieties including alleged unwanted sexual advances with staffers at the state capital? The same Richardson, by the way, who "'Declares War' on Sex Offenders" (see pdf). According to one former high-ranking insider with whom I’ve spoken, Richardson’s sexcapades are practically legend in Albuquerque. Why might that not be nationally newsworthy for a likely Democrat presidential frontrunner for 2008? All the while unprovable accusations – and at times easily disprovable accusations about Virginia Senator and likely 2008 Republican presidential hopeful George Allen are aired at hurricane-force speed by the sycophant mainstream media once again before being vetted. Or are we saving Richardson’s scandals for a time when Hillary might use them?

 

It’s beginning to appear that MSM errors go to favor Democrats like department store checkout errors generally go to favor department stores.

 

Naturally, we can predict the reaction from MSM: Those right-wing bloggers at it again, conspiring to create baseless conspiracy theories alleging a culture of bias. When you drop say, a ball, and it always falls off to the same side on level ground, we look at how you dropped the ball. In my business that’s called troubleshooting. When there’s nothing else to account for why the ball keeps dropping off to the same side, we call that bias.

 

While our fair leftover hippies in the newsroom may claim the answer is still somehow blowing in the wind, it’s a doubtful story coming from those living in an ideological blue-state vacuum.

 

We in the real world know better. Michelle Malkin is right, the boy that was outed is the real victim. But in another way along with that boy is every American who is played by politicians and media elite more interested in victories and scoops than showing respect and doing what's right. And then there were the pages, interns, and other staffers of yore who never saw a day of justice.

 

 

Posted by Martin at October 4, 2006 11:46 PM

Comments

So if the kid, wasn't a kid, but was a legal 18 year old, what is the point? Could the same be true for the others he instant messaged? Did he wait until they were of age? If so, this entire thing is a big nothing put out there to bolster the Dems and make the Republicans look bad. I have a feeling the others were not 18, don't you? Why else would Foley have been so quick to leave office?

Posted by: Debbie at October 5, 2006 12:06 AM

I have a feeling at least one if not more of the others were under 18. As you said, why else would he resign? Still, even if all were over 18, what he did was despicable. This type of behavior is probably more institutional than we know and there’s little doubt it creates a hostile work environment for poli-sci students trying to get their bearings in a big, big world in Washington. A politician should be hanged by his fingernails either way. I have little doubt there are other politicians right now who are wiping hard drives and burning papers, blankets, and forking over hush-money. Or maybe not. After all, a Senator drowned a mistress and got away with it… but then, he was a Democrat, wasn’t he?

Posted by: Martin at October 5, 2006 12:36 AM

Yep, there are all kinds of skeletons in closets in Washington. I'm sure some were under age in the Foley case, must be. What I'm waiting for is information that he actually met with and perhaps had sex with one of them. Then the political poop will really hit the fan.

Yes he is a pervert and I have no sympathy for him or anyone like him.

Posted by: Debbie at October 5, 2006 08:00 AM

I have to link to this as well Martin..well put my friend! :)

Posted by: Angel at October 5, 2006 02:09 PM

Neurologist Oliver Sachs describes a certain kind of brain damage that keeps people from converting short-term memory into long-term memory. The fact that anyone believes Drudge after his many hoaxes proves that this condition is common on the political right.

Why don't you keep some kind of record of what Drudge writes and go back and mark through the stories that turn out to be fiction? Is he still peddling the one about the IMs being a prank? Do you still remember that he was peddling it? Will you remember tomorrow? How about the WMDs that were found in Iraq? The Clinton-book-sales-are-slow lie? The Blumenthal- beats-his-wife-story?. The DNC Nagin story? The Gore SUV-at-Cannes-story? The Laurie David e-mail story? The Jimmy Carter physical-searches- without-a-court-order-story? The Kerry intern story?

Posted by: Laney at October 7, 2006 11:06 AM

Laney, thanks for posting your thoughts; they're always welcome.

As far as I know, there is no disagreement among media outlets or the original page and his lawyer that he was 18 at the time of the IMs. Since that is the fact for which I cite Drudge, I'm a little confused about your point.

But I understand that everyone needs a Saturday morning rant du temps en temps, especially when mindful of how frustrating it must be to have to read and piece together scraps of facts from regional papers like the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, let alone filter those Reuters newswire images, n’est ce pas?

Posted by: Martin at October 7, 2006 12:03 PM

Uhm, the IMS were a prank. Check the statements of Edmund's lawyer. As for WMDs being found in Iraq, they were found in Iraq. Do some research, child!

Posted by: InRussetShadows at October 14, 2006 06:09 PM