Even before they were sworn into office, Republican freshmen in
the 112th Congress had already shocked the political press corps in
the nation’s capital.
A group of the incoming GOP representatives scheduled a
fundraiser with country singer LeAnn Rimes as the star attraction
and this event was treated by Politico
reporters
Ken Vogel and Marin Cogan as the biggest scandal since
Teapot Dome.
How dare those Republicans try to raise money to get
themselves re-elected?
This kind of ginned-up controversy typifies the political
double standards that suffuse the work of America’s political
journalists. Anything can be portrayed as scandalous as long as it
involves Republicans, because the GOP is presumed to be The Party
of Wrong and Evil. Yet no Democrat’s words or deeds, not even the
most heinous crime, can ever qualify as evidence that the
Democratic Party is anything but a force for all that is Good and
Right.
Call this the Mary Jo Kopechne Memorial Principle of
Journalism: Ted Kennedy’s drunken Chappaquiddick revel that
resulted in the death of a young campaign aide never prevented
reporters from hailing him as “The Lion of the Senate” who was,
among other things, taken seriously as an advocate of women’s
rights. And really, who could find anything amiss in a “waitress sandwich” between two
Democrats?
By way of comparison, former Sen. George Allen once made a
sarcastic
remark, which is why he is now called a “former
Senator.”
Democrats can go to prison for corruption (Rep. William
Jefferson of Louisiana) or be censured for ethics violations (Rep.
Charlie Rangel of New York) and no reporter ever considers this a
reflection on the Democratic Party in general. Yet every would-be
Woodward and bush-league Bernstein knows in his heart that GOP
politicians are all crooked, so that an army of intrepid
investigative journalists stands eternally ready to pounce on the
Pulitzer Prize to be won by exposing a Republican scandal. And
while they wait for the next great “-Gate” to come along, they
amuse themselves by making nefarious Nixonian mountains out of the
routine molehills of politics.
This attitude of the press puts Republicans permanently on
the defensive and induces a flinch reflex to accusations of
wrongdoing. So it was with the LeeAnn Rimes fundraiser, hosted by
11 recently-elected Republican lawmakers led by California’s Jeff
Denham. Two weeks ago, conservative blogger Matt Lewis reported
that tickets to the event were $2,500, with $50,000 “Platinum
Sponsor” packages for VIPs who bought eight tickets. For good
measure, Lewis added some juicy tidbits about the featured
entertainer, who had recently performed in a “Sexy Santa” costume
and once admitted to having an extramarital affair.
Headlined “LeAnn
Rimes Headlines Pricey ‘Swearing-In’ Event for GOP Freshmen,”
Lewis’s item at AOL’s Politics Daily site was enough to send
Republicans scurrying for cover as if they had themselves been
caught in flagrante delicto with Rimes. A spokesman for
John Boehner said that the incoming Speaker of the House wouldn’t
be attending the suddenly scandal-tainted event, and the
Politico reporters had no trouble finding anonymous
Republican consultants to tut-tut the very idea of hosting a
fundraiser that was “in direct contradiction to
the image that leadership is trying to portray,” as one of them
said.
Raising large sums of campaign money at big events with
famous singers would damage the Republican image. Apparently, GOP
consultants are advising congressmen to beg for tiny sums at small
events featuring obscure entertainers.
The idea that it’s wrong for Republicans to raise campaign
cash was a favorite theme of the press corps during the recent
mid-term election. In the final weeks of the fall campaign,
reporters parroted accusations made by the Democratic National
Committee that “secret foreign money” was funding the GOP. Voters
in key congressional districts were bombarded with TV commercials
that warned: “Karl Rove. Ed Gillespie. They’re Bush cronies… .
They’re stealing our democracy, spending millions from secret
donors to elect Republicans to do their bidding in Congress.”
Reporters who actually bothered to check out those accusations
never found any smoking guns and the voters didn’t seem the least
bit scandalized, handing the GOP its
biggest House majority in more than 60 years.
Lost amid all the headlines about Republican fundraising,
meanwhile, was the fact that the Democratic Congressional Campaign
Committee raised over
$162 million in the 2010 election cycle — some $30 million
more than was raised by the
National Republican Congressional Committee — and in district
after district, Democrat incumbents significantly out-raised their
GOP challengers. In Pennsylvania’s 10th District, for example,
Democrat Rep. Chris Carney raised more than $1.6
million for the campaign and was beat by Republican Tom Marino,
who raised less than
$700,000. Marino was one of the freshmen who co-hosted Tuesday
night’s LeeAnn Rimes fundraiser and, like other Republicans in
swing districts, he knows that when he seeks re-election next year,
he’ll face a well-funded Democrat opponent whose sources of
campaign cash will never be treated as a headline-worthy scandal by
the political press.
Beyond the shocking news that Republicans were raising
money to get re-elected, there were no immediate reports of
scandalous wrongdoing at Tuesday’s event. There were evidently no
drunk-driving incidents, nor any reported fatalities among GOP
campaign aides. And Mary Jo Kopechne could not be reached for
comment.
