The Republican Media- no. 7

Talking Points Memo ran on 8/30/07 an item inspired by a story of CNN the previous day. Entitled "Summer of Scandal" and subtitled "Republicans, Democrats Exposed," the report included host Wolf Blitzer referring to "dirty laundry... touching both political parties" and correspondent Carol Costello claiming "... both parties are not going to relax if and when he's (i.e., Senator Larry Craig) gone; they're going to be waiting for the next bombshell." It cited Mayor Anthony Villaraigosa of Los Angeles, involved in an affair with a woman covering his Administration for Telemundo; and James McGreevey, who resigned as Governor of New Jersey in 2004 after having an affair with a male aide.
More recently, scandal has touched one Democrat- William Jefferson, U.S. Representative from Louisiana, indicted in June for bribery. Twelve (12) Republicans have been caught up in scandal. They are the following: 1)Thomas Ravenel, Louisiana State Treasurer and then-state chairman of the Giuliani campaign, indicted for possession and distribution of cocaine; 2)Lisa Murkowski, U.S. Senator from Alaska, against whom a group has filed a complaint for buying a house at far below market value, constituting an illegal gift; 3)Ted Stevens, U.S. Senator from Alaska, under FBI investigation for his relationship with an oil field services contractor- Bill Allen of VECO Corp.- who had been convicted for bribing state lawmakers; 4) Don Young, U.S. Representative from Alaska (is there a pattern here?), also under F.B.I. investigation for his relationship with VECO; 5) David Vitter, U.S. Senator from Louisiana, client of "D.C. Madam," Deborah Palfrey; 6)Larry Craig, U.S. Senator from Idaho, who pled guilty to disorderly conduct in Minnesota for soliciting sex with an undercover male police officer at Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport; 7)Bob Allen, state representative from Florida, charged with solicitation of prostitution after allegedly offering to perform a sex act upon an undercover police officer in the bathroom of a public park in Florida; 8)John Doolittle, U.S. Representative from California, whose Washington-area home was raided by the F.B.I. and whom The Washington Post reports "helped steer millions of dollars in military funding to one of the defense contractors tied to the bribery case" of former U.S. Representative Randy "Duke" Cunningham of California; 9)Tom Feeney, U.S. Representative from California, also under federal investigation for involvement in the Abramoff corruption case; 10)Rick Renzi, U.S. Representative from Arizona, target of an F.B.I. investigation in a land swap deal; 11)Pete Domenici, U.S. Senator from New Mexico, being investigated by the Senate's Select Committee on Ethics for the phone call he made to David Iglesias, later fired as U.S. attorney for New Mexico, to intimidate Iglesias for not yet having indicted local Democrats for corruption; 12)Heather Wilson, U.S. Representative from New Mexico, whose phone call to Iglesias about the same matter(s) has provoked an interview with Iglesias by the House Committee on Official Standards of Conduct.

Had the report by CNN, emphasizing an alleged bipartisan problem of corruption, been broadcast by Fox News, it would not have been notable. We expect that from GOP TV. However, presented by CNN- previously derided by Repubs as the "Clinton News Network"- it demonstrates the Repub bias of the mainstream media.