The American Spectator : Al Gore and the Media Protection Racket

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Al Gore and the Media Protection Racket

By Jeffrey Lord on 6.29.10 @ 6:10AM

CNN Hires Kathleen Parker as Weigel resigns from Post and Frum throws a Times covered book party.

The Al Gore police report is disturbing.

To be specific, it's 67 pages of the quite graphically disturbing, as posted here by Red State.

You are reading the news of this police report -- originally filed in October of 2006 -- only because the National Enquirer scooped the story. In June of 2010. You did not read it in the Portland Tribune, which has been on this story since 2007 and failed to tell its readers until the Enquirer broke the story. The Tribune's explanation for this is to be found here.

Then there's the interesting news that Kathleen Parker, she the "conservative" columnist who has gained renown in liberal quarters for Palin-bashing, has been selected by CNN to partner (so-to-speak) on a new political chat show with Client Number 9 for a rousing -- according to press reports -- $700,000. Client Number 9, of course, would be former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, who was identified as such by the investigating feds curious about the ex-crime busting state attorney general's passion for expensive prostitutes. Said passions led to Mr. Spitzer's resignation as governor.

Next up is the recent news that the Washington Post's David Weigel (who has occasionally written here at TAS), hired to blog about conservatives, has resigned after e-mails came to light that suggested he hoped Rush Limbaugh died and said that Matt Drudge should "handle his emotional problems more responsibly and set himself on fire." Not content with this, the Post's longtime media reporter Howard Kurtz tells us Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller has Weigel writing behind the scenes that "conservatives were using the media to 'violently, angrily divide America' and lamenting news organizations' 'need to give equal/extra time to 'real American' views, no matter how [expletive] moronic.'"

Last but not least, the Sunday New York Times of June 5, featured a front-page story in its Sunday Styles section on a Washington book/dinner party hosted by David Frum for Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the considerably brave Somali-activist-turned-Dutch parliamentarian who is now, but of course, the target of the same Islamic jihadist thinking that launched on Salman Rushdie, not to mention the world.

So what do we have here as we look at these four, seemingly unconnected events?

What does the almost three year absence of the Al Gore-Portland-police-problem story from the Portland Tribune, CNN's hiring of Parker, Weigel's resignable sentiments from the Post and the Times story on the Frum party tell us about the state of the Establishment or liberal media -- and of conservatives and conservatism itself?

First, the Portland Tribune. The explanation offered for withholding the story sounds eminently reasonable on the surface. Clearly, the paper's editors felt they needed verification of the guts of the story -- the information included in a police report about the former Vice President. The problem here is that the existence of a police report is itself a story.

Let's go back to today's granddaddy of political scandal reporting -- Watergate. What happened in the first few hours of this story? The Washington Post was tipped off to the story only by a longtime contact who told the paper of -- a police report. From that scanty info on a burglary attempt at the Democratic National Committee's Watergate Headquarters, information was published -- verified information -- almost instantaneously.

What happened next is important. Not understanding exactly what they had on their hands, the two young reporters Woodward and Bernstein did not realize that one of the people they named -- James McCord -- was "the security coordinator of the Committee for the Re-election of the President." They simply made a rookie mistake and didn't follow up. But what they had done -- reporting the basic fact of the police report on the arrest, which was a fact, not speculation -- launched the Associated Press on a quest to learn more about Mr. McCord. Then the news was out -- and the next piece of the puzzle was provided.

The question here is why didn't the Portland Tribune publish what they had? Well, says the paper, all they had was an unverified police report. What is missed here is that a police report on a former Vice President of the United States -- a man who has emerged even in political defeat as one of the most listened to voices on the planet on environmental issues and global warming -- existed. The report itself existed. It was fact. And hence news.

Had Woodward and Bernstein held the news of the names of those listed in the Washington, D.C. police report until they could verify that there was some actual confirmation of high level involvement -- possibly by the President himself if not his senior staff -- Watergate would have fizzled and faded away almost immediately. It was precisely because the initial Post report set off a chain reaction in the media that others -- notably the Associated Press in the beginning hours -- jumped on to the story and began looking where Woodward and Bernstein had "embarrassingly" (in their later words) failed to look.

The Tribune dismisses as nonsense the idea that they would not have held back if the subject in the Portland police report was named George W. Bush or Dick Cheney. We'll take them at their word. But there is a disturbing problem here nonetheless.

What problem?

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About the Author

Jeffrey Lord is a former Reagan White House political director and author. He writes from Pennsylvania at jlpa1@aol.com.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (69) | Leave a comment

Eric Cartman| 6.29.10 @ 7:06AM

Algore's Top 10 Pick Up Lines!

10) That's not a sex-poodle in my pocket, I'm just REALLY glad to see you!

9) You look cold - can I warm your globes?!

8) Oil spill? I'll show you and oil spill!

7) Come up to my room and I'll show you my hockey stick graphs!

6) Wanna ride in my SUV? it's a stick shift!

5) Tipper who?

4) It rubs the lotion on it's skin.

3) You're so hot, you make my tree rings tingle!

2) Come over here and lip-sync my IPod!

And Algore's # 1 pick up line:

1) Would you like to see my South Pole?!

Lullabys, Legends and Lies| 6.29.10 @ 7:50AM

Eric: I know I shouldn't encourage you, but you inspired me to join in too.

Do you want to see my Nobel Peace Prize?
Come and sit on the lap of the guy who almost was President.
Do you want to see a "real" hanging chad?
Have sex with me, because it'll reverse Global Warming!!
Do you want to be in my next Oscar winning movie?

Melvin| 6.29.10 @ 8:06AM

"I know somehthing like this, is where money is exchanged for services, but couldn't I just trade you some carbon credits?"
Having been born and raised in the Portland Metro Area, this cover-up isn't surprising in knowing the people in the area.
I guess we should be thankful at least Al Gore was asking for sex from the same species. For some reason that area and neighboring Washington State has this thing for bestiality.

Eric Cartman| 6.29.10 @ 2:33PM

Eeesh! Do ya think he's a Furry, too? Excuse me, I have to bleach my eye balls and burn them.

Eric Cartman| 6.29.10 @ 2:20PM

You're probably right about not encouraging me! LOL But let's have fun anyway :-)

11) Wanna play "Hide the Data"?

12) Guess what body part I just named "Data"?

13 ) Would you like if I "peered reviewed" ya (if ya know what I mean!).

algore| 6.29.10 @ 4:33PM

I'm thsuper thserial boy #4, I killed ManBearPig!

Exthcior!!

Eric Cartman| 6.29.10 @ 5:50PM

Oh no! It's you! Ahhhhhhh! Stay away from me! Ahhhhhhhh!

Kipling| 6.29.10 @ 8:27AM

Pretty good, Eric.

Here’s one about Mr. No-Controlling-Authority:

Bill Clinton and Al Gore are in Hell. Al is up to his neck in boiling ordure while Bill is up to his knees. Al says, “Bill, I may have lied about global warming and groped a masseuse here and there, but you raped and abused women, sold our country’s high tech secrets to Red China in return for campaign contributions, failed to stop Osama bin Laden, bombed another country in the middle of your impeachment trial to distract attention from a tawdry sex scandal, were disbarred for lying in a federal court case, the list goes on and on. How come I’m in up to my neck but you’re in only up to your knees?” Bill smiles down at Al and says, “ ‘Cause I’m standing on Hillary’s shoulders.”

With apologies to P.J. O’Rourke.

Flee| 6.29.10 @ 11:37AM

LMAO.....

Eric Cartman| 6.29.10 @ 6:08PM

Kipling: LOL I can't remember what joke that was - but good pick up :-)

Alan Brooks| 6.29.10 @ 8:32PM

No matter how Rightwing some of you are, you have to admit Gore was an alternative to Bush in 2000, a legit alternative. I really don't dislike the Bushes, but when the Kennedys aimed for a hostile takeover while Papa Joe was alive you didn't like it? For good reason you didn't like it.

Clinton nee Publius| 6.29.10 @ 10:16PM

Gore was only an alternative if we were all going to be getting rainbow powered unicorns. Gore is just another liberal-progressive looking for someone to shake down for some money while wearing the guise of a Senatorial Robin Hood. In the end, just another liberal thief looking to force the rest of us to support his pathetic existence at our exclusive risk and expense and as the price of allowing us the honor of continuing to breath.

Maybe he is an alternative in that demented sphere of "world socialism" where you and the other corrupt criminal co-conspirators live, but re-writing history here isn't going to work. You'll need a better line than telling us that having liberal-progressive thief would be as good for America as they have been in other places - which is to say none.

But hey, you keep laying out the b.s. and I'll keep laying into you. It's a fair division of labor and gives me the opportunity to show what a failure the liberal-progressive movement has been - as in 100% of the time. I hope you'll take this as bait and give me an excuse to go through the entire Al Gore record and then we'll compare it to the actual historical record of George Bush and let everyone decide for themselves.

How would that be?

danfromatlanta| 6.30.10 @ 9:24AM

Algore was the altetrnative to Dubya, but you can't seriously consider him to have been a serious alternative. He would have been a bigger disaster than Bubba. He's an enviro-wacko that would have pushed the country to economic suicide by trying to eliminate the internal combustion engine! Can you imagine how that primadonna would have dealt with 9/11? Thank God the American people had the wisdom to get that idiot out of government power!

Bill Hussein O'Stalin| 6.29.10 @ 7:31AM

As their viewership and readership numbers go down, the liberal establishment is simply rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

I doubt if anyone of intelligence takes these people seriously, including many of their friends. It's the way liberalism works. You must be a liberal first, last and always or you've broken the liberal creed.

There was one other famous example you could have used, that of Senator Edwards.

All through the campaign the MSM sat on the story of his love child and his affair until it became evident that Edwards was no longer a viable candidate. Then they milked it for all it was worth.

If there are any citizens left who do not realize the propaganda machine of the left is on stage 24/7 do yourself a favor and don't handle your own finances. You're a sucker.

RAMIII| 6.29.10 @ 1:33PM

You'd be surprised at how many people still believe what they are seeing on Network "News" and reading in their "News"papers.

Charles Collins| 6.29.10 @ 7:56AM

Yet a Republican Senator taps his foot in an airplane and it leads the news for weeks.

Louis Jenkins| 6.29.10 @ 8:16AM

I blogged on this scandal last week in the TAS. No one picked up on it, although it may have been too early. So what else is new? A former VP, and then a presidental candidate, democrat none-the-less, can do what he wants to. Again, it shows us what we're up against. We cannot win the MSM battle. Thank the Lord for the Enquirer.

AlexKeyWest| 6.29.10 @ 9:06AM

The reason the al-Gore storey came out when it did is that just days before al-Gore critized Obama's handling of the "Spill"

Clinton nee Publius| 6.29.10 @ 9:50AM

Let he who is without sin cast the first stone. I was never an Algore fan. I have to admit I detest his phony environmentalism and the entire CCX criminal conspiracy makes me sick.

I want that on the record.

I find these kinds of articles to be a disgrace and they kind of get me angry. All publications make editorial decisions and hide those things their editorial board find embarrassing to their own preferences, so putting on the hood and pointing the finger is good for laughs, but as far as it goes I am left to wonder how many times something similar could be said about TAS.

LaneyB| 6.29.10 @ 11:02AM

This "comment" makes no intelligible sense.

Clinton nee Publiush| 6.29.10 @ 10:11PM

I'll try harder next time.

RAMIII| 6.29.10 @ 1:39PM

What exactly do you, "Clint", think is worth reporting? Do you show your "outrage" *you're a fake* when this kind of stuff is reported about Republicans !the next day!?

You are a HYPOCRITE, because you don't even believe the thing you claim to be "kind of . . . angry" about!

Clinton nee Publius| 6.29.10 @ 10:03PM

Sorry you feel that way.

Margie| 6.29.10 @ 3:23PM

Cast the first stone.. well I suppose if you aren't guilty of that sin you wouldn't have a problem with casting a stone in that direction. The woman who was about to be stoned by the hypocrites was repentant and Jesus told her to "go and sin no more." No problem. That's where the division is made.

Ken (Old Texican)| 6.29.10 @ 5:11PM

Margie, fellow Christians, "Go and sin no more"...
Do any of you remember the rest of that story?
His disciples asked..."what are we to think of this?"

Jesus responded...(paraphrased), her sins, and they are many, are forgiven, for she loved much.
(end of story.)

Margie| 6.30.10 @ 6:47PM

Oh yeah, Ken, that's right! "Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven little, loves little." Lk. 7:47.

"Above all hold unfailing your love for one another, since love covers a multitude of sins." 1 Pe. 4:8

Clinton nee Publius| 6.29.10 @ 10:07PM

Perhaps and that speaks to my point. When we see the hypocrisy in the Republican Party and the continuation of the culture of corruption that just builds more big government, I am disturbed when TAS gives the Republicans a pass.

Forgive me, I was a straight-ticket Republican for 30 years but I won't vote for a Republican ever again. Republican or Democrat, they are the same. In the end, they take my money, they take my liberty and they think I should be grateful they have deigned to allow me to live. They only care about continuing their games at our expense and our risk and when it comes to really doing what counts these people are always - ALWAYS - AWOL.

I'm just tired of it. My money, my passion and my vote goes for Tea Party candidates or nobody.

My apologies for offending my conservative friends.

Jenny| 6.29.10 @ 10:08AM

If it makes anyone feel better - these Establishment, Eastcoast liberal elite are important only in their own little world of New York City. Those of us outside of New York don't read society pages and couldn't care less who wore what and who spoke to whom.

I lost all respect for female East Coast reporters who felt the need to mock Sarah Palin because she didn't go to the right Ivy-league school and spoke with an accent different then their own. She speaks like us and to us. You speak for your own selfish interests, Ms. Parker and Ms. Heather MacDonald.

Stephanie| 6.29.10 @ 1:22PM

And Jenny, they hate her and slam her because she has 5 children. How DARE she! Oh, and she loves her husband.

Clinton nee Publius| 6.29.10 @ 10:10PM

I used to believe in Sarah, but my inside information tells us that she is just another player who has fallen victim to the Washington power game. I loved her to death and it absolutely shattered my heart, but it appears Sarah is fast becoming just another establishment Republican who will tow the line and talk a little trash, but in the end the corruption will dictate that it will be bold talk and very little action. I wish it weren't so but the givens were given and the reality is what it is.

Earl| 6.30.10 @ 5:42PM

I'm also quite afraid your right. Some of her picks in the primaries, completely ignoring others much better, showed this too well. Disheartening. The whole darn thing is so disheartening.

Earl| 6.30.10 @ 5:44PM

Sorry, that should be:

I'm also quite afraid "you're" right.

Margie| 6.30.10 @ 6:52PM

Geez Louise.. but nobody's gonna be perfect. Never ever ever!!

Can't ya's back the best we've got and make sure these Communists are voted out of office?

hudson duster| 6.29.10 @ 11:23AM

Once again I am reminded how outmoded my journalism practices were compared to the standards nowadays. I don't remember ever quibbling about a police report or worrying about it being "unsubstantiated" - what were they waiting for, video? I can't even imagine the concept of an unsubstantiated Police report. They had the fat fool and every reporter should have been all over it and salivating at the same time.

Anthony| 6.29.10 @ 11:33AM

Since before Uncle Walter, the corrupt MSM have been apologists for their elitist leftist kin in government and elsewhere. Nothing suprising here.
Elitism is rampant, and their distain for bourgeois values palpable. Even those "conservatives", like Parker, fall prey to their own hubris. It's no wonder Sarah Palin is public enemy numero uno to these peacocks.
Algore epitomizes the ultimate fraud of the Left. His evangelical belief in AGW borders on the insane, yet his life style does not suffer. People are toys for his amusement and pleasure. Nero was a monk next to this pig.
Meanwhile, the MSM cover up and lie. Dan Rather chased after faux memos on a non story, while the real memos from East Anglia University remain unmentionable by the elites.
Let's hope the collapse of the Left, in all its manifestations, occurs before the demise of America. It looks to be a close race.

Joellen| 6.29.10 @ 3:33PM

Dont forget the infamous Peggy Noonan, who swooned over Obama yet had nothing good to say about Sarah Palin. I know I wont forget.

Not to get off target - anybody surprised with Joe Liberman's remark on how to copy COMMUNIST CHINA in regards to the internet!

JmsA| 6.29.10 @ 10:58PM

Peggy who? As to good old Joe Liberman, he's doing what he does best, being a liberal democrat.

Joyce| 6.29.10 @ 11:37AM

Bravo! Jeffery Lord! All of it needed to be said and you did a superb job of doing it. The hypocrisy is stunning in the main stream media.

Ted Agnew| 6.29.10 @ 1:06PM

There is no journalism. Just left wing propaganda. the Pulitzer Prize should be named the Joseph Goebbles Award. After all, "journalists" are nothing but stenograpehrs for the Democrat Party. Lying Frauds.

Marc Jeric| 6.29.10 @ 1:10PM

I thought that America had fallen irretrievably into the socialist abyss with that disbarred felon Clinton and his cattle futures super trader Hillary (named for the conqueror of Himalaya 10 years before he conquered it), and with the globaloney warming scam Al Gore of the massage parlor fame. But all that was an amateur performance in comparison with Abu Hussein al-Mombassa (or whatever Kenyan hellhole that marxist Muslim was born in), our Community Organizer-in-Chief.

Pete| 6.29.10 @ 1:11PM

How long would it have taken the Trib to run a DNA test on the stains on the masseuse's clothing to verify her story? As Deep Throat himself had trilled, "Follow the spunk."

Jed Skillman| 6.29.10 @ 1:16PM

All of these Mainstream Media exposes paint the same picture; the media is rife with lousy reporting and hypocrisy.

But, so that we don't forget -- like Gen. McChrystal --it is a story we need to hear continually. This particular report was a gem. It almost came across as "light humor".

Next, how about a story about the non-reporting of the "Blago" Trial in Chicago...while a reporter rents the house next door to Sarah Palin in order to dig dirt on her.

Stephanie| 6.29.10 @ 1:25PM

Next, how about a story about the non-reporting of the "Blago" Trial in Chicago...

Is this because they fear he may incriminate our dear leader? hmmm?

American Skepticator| 6.29.10 @ 1:53PM

So what was the justification for American Spectator tip-toeing around this story for the days that it did and then having Lord write a "think piece" encompassing /enshrouding - actually skirting the Al Gore story itself.

It's the "let's you and him fight" syndrome. Lord does not want to actually soil his journalist's hands with the sordid details. He will dangle the subject for poster's fo fill in the blanks.

One longs for the days of Bob Tyrrell's rolicking no-holds-barred reportage of Bill Clinton and trailer park trash, troopers, all of it. And not because it was sordid. Because it described the kind of man who gulled his way into the White House with a plurality vote. We knew about Gennifer Flowers before he was elected. We elected not to believe it. Paula Jones came forward, to get back her "good name" and was referred to as trailer trash. Later we knew about Juanita Broaddrick. Her story was doubted because "she did not come forward immediately". Kathleen Willy was doubted because she was a Bill Clinton campaign worker and a social climber. When Monica Lewinsky became the subject of discussion with Kenneth Starr, Clinton's secretary gathered and stored Lewinsky's pathetic mementoes of what she considered her Grand Love Affair. Cheap gew-gaws one might get in gift bags at conventions or hotel gift shops. Pitiful little fat girl treasured them.

All of the "Lech Feelys" in the Democrat Party have enjoyed a wall of silence from the press from JFK on down and enough enablers surrounding them to walk them straight through the Pearly Gates

Even you, Jeff Lord have not seen fit to taint the reputation of Al Gore. Instead you tell us a story we already know. MSM is in the tank - and going down for the third time.

I know why the masseuse therapist did not report this immediately. Just like Juanita Broaddrick, jut like Paula Jones, both of whom were lured to hotel rooms by a powerful man - they thought they would not be believed. The perpetually smiling (former NY Times) Judy Miller on Fox News joined the chorus with "Why didn't she come forward before?"

Think about it. She probably thought,"I am a fifty year old woman in a questionable line of business. Who is going to believe I am only a masseuse? Who is going to believe St. Albert of Global Warming had it in him? Those who didn't think he was gay thought he was impotent. Viagra makes strange bedfellows. They will say,"She went at ten at night...." If he had ordered a massage at 2 in the afternoon, it would have been "What was she doing going there in the middle of the day?" I went when I was called. A doctor making house calls goes at ten at night, too, but who is going to believe. . ." And she was right. NO one believed her. But the Enquirer. And that is under scrutiny, because SHE WAS PAID FOR THE STORY!. My question is if you have a true, if salacious story to tell, why would you offer it free to a paper so the could make millions with it? It is not true, Al Gore can sue and make millions. Carol Burnett did.

Look, the story here is not that the masseuse was almost raped. The story is that we have a Nobel Prize winning ex-Vice President - fat, bloated, lying hypocrite - still working off his hostilities that he could not steal the election.

Thank you, TAS, for finally taking the side door into this subject.

Matt X| 6.29.10 @ 2:07PM

Good column.

copp| 6.29.10 @ 2:26PM

Great writing. It IS fun watching the old media death pangs. It's possible the expression "pick up your socks" may have replaced "pull up you socks" - thanks to Moms all over. But maybe not.

Lisa| 6.29.10 @ 2:40PM

Mr Lord has such a way with words.

buckeyeman| 6.29.10 @ 3:04PM

I recall arguing with my brother as a sophomore in college over the coverage of Teddy Kennedy's "oops" on Chappaquiddick Island. Years later it came out that Teddy swam back Martha's Vinyard and went to his hotel room to sleep off his drunk. The media at the time lauded his heroic attempts to save poor Mary Jo but the truth was quite different. Nothing has changed in forty years.

Seek| 6.29.10 @ 3:45PM

To criticize Sarah Palin isn't necessarily to "mock" her. There are plenty of good reasons why she should have been left off the GOP presidential ticket in 2008. But I doubt her thin-skinned culture-war enthusiasts have the patience to hear them. Kudos for Kathleen Parker for having the guts to admit publicly what many conservatives (like myself) only could admit privately: She was way out of her league.

JmsA| 6.29.10 @ 11:01PM

As my varsity football coach used to say, those who produce, play. As far as Mrs. Palin is concerned, she has been producing and thus she continues to play.

Margie| 6.29.10 @ 4:28PM

Sarah Palin is the epitome of conservatism. Thin skinned so-called conservatives who speak as you do about her are no conservatives.

Ken (Old Texican)| 6.29.10 @ 5:17PM

Margie,
Seek...
is an unrepentant communist...stuck on stupid.

Sarah IS out of her league. These twerps are bush-leaguers, and Sarah is a big leaguer.

AmSkeptic| 6.29.10 @ 5:31PM

Pete::

Test the DNA and compare it to what? They had to sneak Bill Clinton away from a White House social event and I think what they did next was probably home entertainment for the Pervert-in- Chief. You may not find Al Gore that cooperative. Unless they go with a subpoena in hand.

The argument will be "he's out of office, so this is not a story." That was (almost) the argument with Edwards. He dropped out of the race, so it was not a story.

Nick| 6.29.10 @ 7:17PM

algore, a.k.a. Forrest Gore:

"Mama always said, 'Life is like a lock-box.' You never know when you're going waste $9 million on a mansion, then have your wife leave you, then have the story of how you did your best 'Bubba the pervert' impression and make people sick all over the world."

periwinkle| 6.29.10 @ 8:57PM

Part of - make that most of or all of - - the problem is we no longer have reporters. We have journalists. That can mean anything, it can mean something or it can mean nothing. And it's usually the latter. These so-called journalists are a bunch of snot-nosed undergraduates employed in a decaying trade. The last good "reporter" was Michael Kelly and he died in Iraq. The current crop do nothing but slouch in the White H0use Press Room - rarely ask a follow-up (with the exception of Major Garrett) and go with whatever pap is fed them.

How many years ago did Michael Isikoff have the story on Monica Lewinsky? How long was the story spiked by Newsweek? And for what reason? How did it finally get forced out? My recollection is that it was Drudge .

But when it is a Republican - and it is, all too often, of late - they can't get it to print fast enough, rarely even bothering with the protective "alleged" shield.

It surprises me that the pompous oaf, Gore, doesn't just say, "So what? I wasn't in the Oval Office with an intern. You seem to have forgiven Bill Clinton that little miss-step." And he would be quite right in saying so. If I were Laura Bush or Barbara Bush and my husband was asked to co-sponsor a welcoming party for the Second Coming of the Lord, I would say, "Not with Bil Clinton, you won't." Yeah, I know - he was, after all, the president and he is a good fund-raiser. And we have lowered our standards to where we tolerate just about anything in the highest office in the land.

How forgiving would we have been if one of the unmarried Bush daughters had gotten herself pregnant at 17? Would Bush have been a viable candidate? I am not condemning Sarah Palin or her unlucky daughter. I am asking if Bush had been running for president and Jenna or Barbara was 17 and pregnant and "engaged" , would he have had the party's support ? And wouldn't we have had a field day if Chelsea had gotten in a jam? Hillary's is a rotten mother, can't even control one kid and wants to write our Health Care Program.

We worried so that Bill Clinton was "teaching our nation's kids" it's all right to have oral sex. And yet we are perfectly willing to have a woman president who was not able to teach her eldest daughter, with any success, about pre-marital sex.

Now, I will stand back and let the rains of Hell pour down on me.

We are as hypocritical a Al Gore in many ways.

Why is it that people seem to just melt in the presence of celebrity? You see them in Louisiana today, cordial to Joe Biden, when they ought to be saying "Joe, you can't be a smart ass, but try not to be a dumb ass, either. Go back and give your boss a message - tell him that somewhere in the world there is someone who knows how to plug the damn hole - and he should find that someone. But it won't be on a golf course."

bluecollarbytes| 6.29.10 @ 9:14PM

I think many professional opinion-theorists like Kathleen Parker simply ride the 'middle wave' of whatever they perceive popular opinion to be....Just Like our professional politicians. Parker's opinion is rooted in her career goals. Good luck to a "Larry King's" death over at CNN.

JmsA| 6.29.10 @ 11:03PM

blucollarbytes,

Good post. Your opinion about Ms. Parker couldn't have been more spot on.

blarset| 6.30.10 @ 12:47PM

Free press unbiased by government cronyism. Unaffiliated with politics and free to report for A Free watchful eye on our liberty's. Blog America free! It is up to us.

Yosemeti Sam| 7.1.10 @ 2:18AM

" ... The protection racket."

LBSM PEN1 - Leftoid Backstream Media Public Enemy No. 1 !

pdx_native| 7.2.10 @ 4:27PM

This article is wrong in every way possible:

The mainstream press immediately jumped on the latest iteration of the story: Within 24 hours of the National Enquirer exclusive, CNN and other large outlets reported on it.

The idea of Portland Tribune being part of the liberal media bias / conspiracy is laughable. Any person who spent two seconds on Google would find out that the Tribune *is* the loyal opposition in Portland, owned by Pamplin Media Group, which brings Limbaugh, Hannity and other conservative elites to Portland's media. PMG is generally hated among the majority liberal population of the town. The newspaper would have loved to print the piece that'd take down Gore.

I mean really. The spate of articles and blog posts like that of the Spectator are an amazing demonstration of how uninterested in facts and reality the far right is.

gc| 7.2.10 @ 4:28PM

So basically we should just get all our information from Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin. And be really nice to them and let them take turns as Queen and never question anything they say. And if somebody comes out of the woodwork hollering that the owner of the Spectator tried to rape them but they're not going to answer any questions about it, the press should go ahead and publish a big headline. Because asking questions is Old Media. And Establishment. Not like the Spectator, which isn't even a little bit bitter that Watergate revealed Nixon to be a douche. Or something like that.

gc| 7.2.10 @ 4:36PM

For example, just today I saw a headline about how Jeffrey Lord allegedly asked a massage therapist once to do his adductors and she was really creeped out. I can't believe the Spectator didn't follow that.

The American Spectator