Oh Waterboy!

The MSM loves Bush so much they're always content to be the Republicans' waterboy, no matter what kind of reality says otherwise. Take this latest for example in regard to the Abramoff corruption:

Dorgan has asked some of the toughest questions in the committee hearings probing the $82 million Abramoff and Michael Scanlon charged their tribal clients. As the Associated Press reported last week, Dorgan had his own dealings with Abramoff's circle.

I'm sure the Washington Post will tell you they're just playing fair and pointing out that corruption exists on both sides. However, there are three oversights with that claim.

One, the reporters, James V. Grimaldi and Susan Schmidt, suffer from a failure to perform any real journalism. To begin with, there isn't a single quote in the piece. Furthermore, much of the body of the article comes from an AP article, and probably the beltway buzz that only cool Washington DC insider reporters know. Apparently these reporters also never learned how to cite their sources in journalism school. I would've gotten booted out of college in a split second if I ever wrote something like that. On top of the piece being a recycling of older - week old - news, this article neither adds anything new to it nor do the authors bother to talk to anyone on Dorgan's side to balance out these charges. If I want to see unsubstantiated charges thrown against Democrats, I need go no further than to the Republican slime machine. I go to the press for a modicum of honesty and even-handedness, not to see them carrying water for the Republicans and doing the same thing as the slime machine.

Two, I'll be damned if these reporters could even be bothered to do any investigative journalism on this issue. A couple hours after these charges were levied against Dorgan, Kagro X over on Kos posted this great response:

Oh, so that's where the evidence came from. A lawyer for the Louisiana Coushattas. He didn't tell the FBI, though. He told the AP. I wonder why he would do that? And who is this lawyer for the Coushattas?

Well, the story tells us his name is Jimmy Faircloth, Jr. -- although they also misidentify him as Jimmy Fairchild in the same article.

And who's Jimmy Faircloth? (And why doesn't this page list his $2000 contribution to Bobby Jindal?)

Jimmy Faircloth is a Republican lobbyist. Why is he giving "new evidence" about Byron Dorgan? And why is he giving it to the Associated Press? And why is it being portrayed as evidence of actual wrongdoing? And why are we playing along?

A blogger was able to dig up this information in a minimal amount of time. How is it that two reporters with the Washington Post behind their backs can't get at least the same, if not more information in a week? A simple Google search for "dorgan faircloth" will reveal, in the first three links, a clear rebuttal and opposite view to the bullshit in this article. I can't be bothered to read or trust what I read in the news if I know that the people who make the news aren't doing their jobs.

Three, the claim that the reporters intimate with

Democrats are hoping to capitalize on Republican ethical woes. But as The Washington Post reported in June, some prominent Democrats, including former senator Thomas A. Daschle (S.D.), Sens. Harry M. Reid (Nev.) and Byron L. Dorgan (N.D.), were among beneficiaries of the largest campaign contributions from Abramoff's associates and clients.

Is, in other words, Democrats do it too so we're only being fair.

Well, I hate to break it to the beltway press, but it just aint so. Are Democrats involved in corruption scandals? Undoubtedly. Should they be hung out to dry? With all speed. But there is a huge difference between the amount of corruption in the parties, and it totally misrepresents the issue at hand when you try to compare the Democrats to the Republicans on equal footing. It's like comparing a slap on the back with torture methods at a secret CIA prison in eastern Europe and saying that they both cause harm. By writing this article and implying just that, these reporters continue to carry water for the Republicans.