The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

A Short Lesson in Liberal Media Bias: Has Alex Koppelman Forgotten Fitzmas?

Posted on | May 12, 2013 | 32 Comments

Scandals always highlight the disparity in how differently the media treat Republicans and Democrats. We are grateful to Alex Koppelman for this latest example:

It’s a cliché, of course, but it really is true: in Washington, every scandal has a crime and a coverup. The ongoing debate about the attack on the United States facility in Benghazi where four Americans were killed, and the Obama Administration’s response to it, is no exception. For a long time, it seemed like the idea of a coverup was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.
On Friday, ABC News’s Jonathan Karl revealed the details of the editing process for the C.I.A.’s talking points about the attack, including the edits themselves and some of the reasons a State Department spokeswoman gave for requesting those edits.

How many millions of words were wasted by liberal journalists on the phony Valerie Plame “scandal,” and who ever could have doubted that it was a Democrat “obsession” — a ginned-up mountain of paranoia inspired by a minor molehill of events?

Does no one else remember how liberals pretended that Valerie Plame’s employment status at the CIA was America’s most closely-guarded national security secret, until that afternoon in July 2003 when Richard Armitage mentioned her to Bob Novak? And have we completely forgotten that the real scandal — the story Novak was actually trying to report — was the mystery of how Plame’s husband Joe Wilson, a diplomat with no genuinely relevant expertise, got the assignment to travel to Africa on a CIA-sponsored trip to investigate British intelligence reports that Iraq had obtained uranium ore from Niger? Has it also now been forgotten that, because Novak would not identify his sources, Democrats and the media (but I repeat myself) launched a witch hunt that blamed Karl Rove and/or Dick Cheney for “outing” Plame, who was not exactly a secret agent, thus leading to an investigation that resulted in the prosecution and imprisonment of Scooter Libby?

For the love of God, have we forgotten “Fitzmas,” the 2005 rumor that special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald’s federal grand jury was about to indict Rove or Cheney or both? Who could ever forget the ridiculous farce of “investigative journalist” Scott Leopold “reporting” in May 2006 that Rove had been indicted? I’ll bet Alex Koppelman recalls that fateful day — June 13, 2006 — when it was announced that Rove definitely would not be indicted.

All of that ridiculous “PlameGate” nonsense was taken very seriously by the mainstream media, as though it were a real scandal that might implicate the president in High Crimes and Misdemeanors, and yet it was transparently absurd from start to finish.

So fast-forward: Terrorists kill a U.S. ambassador and four other Americans in an attack on the consulate in Benghazi, and Obama administration officials — obviously concerned about political fallout during an election year — begin stacking up lies like cordwood. Everything we know about the matter leads to the conclusion that the administration failed before, during and after the attack, that they consistently lied at every step of the way, and that they’re quite likely still trying to hide the truth, especially in regard to who gave the “stand down” order to cancel a Special Operations rescue.

According to Alex Koppelman, however, this was just a “Republican obsession” until Jonathan Karl of ABC reported it, even though Stephen Hayes of the Weekly Standard had previously reported the same basic story about the edited Benghazi talking points.

Here’s a breaking story Koppelman might want to investigate: For a long time, it seemed like the idea of liberal media bias was just a Republican obsession. But now there is something to it.

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers!





 

 

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Category: Libya, Media Bias, Scandal

Comments

32 Responses to “A Short Lesson in Liberal Media Bias: Has Alex Koppelman Forgotten Fitzmas?”

  1. Scribe of Slog (McGehee)
    May 12th, 2013 @ 6:33 pm

    The Plame non-scandal contributed in a real way to the elevation of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid to the House Shriekership and Senate Majority Liarship, respectively.

  2. robertstacymccain
    May 12th, 2013 @ 6:45 pm

    Right: It was all part of the Bush era anti-war drumbeat in the media.

  3. Finrod Felagund
    May 12th, 2013 @ 7:03 pm

    It’s just like how the media only cares about the plight of poor people when there’s a Republican in the White House. When’s the last time you saw an MSM article on the subject? Probably not since 2008.

  4. SDN
    May 12th, 2013 @ 7:56 pm

    I’ll bet Alex Koppelman recalls that fateful day — June 13, 2006 — when it was announced that Rove definitely would not be indicted.

    And the fact that it sealed Scooter Libby’s fate. The jury foreman and a couple of the jurors were interviewed within the week after the verdict and admitted that they really wanted to convict Rove or Cheney but since they weren’t going to be indicted they convicted who they could reach.

  5. Greg Zima
    May 12th, 2013 @ 8:27 pm

    Greg Zima liked this on Facebook.

  6. jsn2
    May 12th, 2013 @ 9:02 pm

    “…this was just a “Republican obsession” until Jonathan Karl of ABC reported it…”

    Obamas’ stenographers Leftwing journOlists will never credit Steve Hayes for the work he did proving the obama administration lied to hide the true nature of what happened at Benghazi, he works for The Weekly Standard and Fox. The credit will go to a lib just as any Pulitzer prizes that may be awarded for reporting on this story will only go to fellow stenographers. That will pass as proof of their “neutrality” in political reporting, at least in their feeble little minds.

  7. Richard Reed
    May 12th, 2013 @ 9:27 pm

    Richard Reed liked this on Facebook.

  8. robertstacymccain
    May 12th, 2013 @ 10:01 pm

    What happened to Scooter Libby was so obviously wrong that every time I hear a liberal whining about something being “unfair,” I’m like, yeah, tell it Scooter Libby.

  9. Teeing it up: A Round at the LINKs (Late edition) | SENTRY JOURNAL
    May 12th, 2013 @ 11:21 pm

    […] THE OTHER McCAIN: A Short Lesson in Liberal Media Bias: Has Alex Koppelman Forgotten Fitzmas? […]

  10. CTLO34
    May 12th, 2013 @ 11:44 pm

    Had Bush offed Joe Wilson, ambassador without portfolio (LOL) and “CIA Day school mom” (the bumper sticker on her van she parked at Langley), Valerie Plame, maybe media would demand investigations. Actually they demanded investigations for much less. Or how about the scandal that Geo. HW Bush flew in an SR-71 to do some dastardly deed. Yep, democrats and media were irate. Or rather, the charges were so serious they HAD to be investigated. Now we have clear evidence somebody a the very highest levels changed the essential facts surrounding a terrorist attack, and evidence brave Americans were willingly abandoned, yet some in the media (and idiots like Pelosi) try and sweep it under the rug. And we haven’t even gotten to the abuses of the IRS!

  11. Bill Gryan
    May 12th, 2013 @ 11:58 pm

    One of the more entertaining examples of media bias was with John Edwards and his mistress. There were rumors and suspicion, but the press wouldn’t touch it. Nothing to see here, folks, Edwards will make a fine president someday.

    They had to be SHAMED into covering the affair by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER of all things. Same thing happened with Benghazi, although there’s nothing amusing this time around.

  12. Adjoran
    May 13th, 2013 @ 12:28 am

    The internet itself was profoundly affected by just such a case of media coverup. When Michael Isokoff investigated the Monica Lewinsky story, Newsweek refused to publish it, so he leaked it to what was then a fledgling news hub site.

    Today, even MSM reporters check Drudge first to find what stories are hot.

    Unless Pickering testifies who ordered him not to interview witnesses for the ARB report (my bet: he refuses or takes the 5th, no big names will be casualties, MSM will continue to cover for Obama and Hillary. But their power will be blunted, and that is a good thing.

  13. Scribe of Slog (McGehee)
    May 13th, 2013 @ 12:29 am

    That SR-71 thing always makes me laugh. At the time it allegedly happened, Bush was a private citizen and the planes in question were controlled by a CIA director appointed by Jimmy Carter.

  14. PapayaSF
    May 13th, 2013 @ 12:44 am

    Indeed. I remember the claim of the supposed pilot that Bush “sat right next to me” for the trip, which will be surprise to anyone who has ever seen the cockpit of an SR-71.

  15. Patrick Carroll
    May 13th, 2013 @ 12:59 am

    The Valerie Plame thing was a total made-up non-issue, Complete bull-excrement.

  16. Patrick Carroll
    May 13th, 2013 @ 1:01 am

    I’m building an SR-71 rocket, for the fun of it.

    How weird!

  17. Patrick Carroll
    May 13th, 2013 @ 1:03 am

    “next to me”

    as if.

    Been to RAF Mildenhall, seen that.

  18. Theodore P. Savas
    May 13th, 2013 @ 1:38 am

    Stacy–pithy sir. Pithy.

  19. Theodore P. Savas
    May 13th, 2013 @ 1:42 am

    Who can forget Democrat Congressman Tom “Ears” Foley who said something like, “It is not the evidence that is important; it is the seriousness of the charge,” when referring to I believe his desire to investigate Bush the elder’s role in Iran hostages, which was completely bogus.

  20. egoist
    May 13th, 2013 @ 6:34 am

    Slowly but surely they (MSM) working toward their own demise. You can see it in their earnings; the ever decreasing thickness of their pubs; the urgency in protecting their stories. I think if you could – somehow – plot these on a graph, we’d wave it all off as a dying force.

  21. shenanniganist
    May 13th, 2013 @ 6:45 am

    Quite likely more people read The Weekly Standard piece than Koppelman’s in the New Yorker. But yes Republican obsession or some such

  22. nadadhimmi
    May 13th, 2013 @ 7:30 am

    All Benghazi questions can be answered with a quite simple explanation; raacism, raacism raacism and also shut up.

  23. Jag Nation Expat
    May 13th, 2013 @ 8:03 am

    The sad thing is that most people still think it was Cheney or Rove who “outed” Plame, and have never heard of Richard Armitage.

  24. Scribe of Slog (McGehee)
    May 13th, 2013 @ 8:54 am

    Raaaaacism is spelled with five A’s.

  25. Bill Gryan
    May 13th, 2013 @ 9:02 am

    Clinton-appointee Richard Armitage, that is.

  26. Ed
    May 13th, 2013 @ 10:12 am

    Liberalism is how stupidity manifests itself.

  27. Bob Belvedere
    May 13th, 2013 @ 10:36 am

    Karl was late to the party and he didn’t even have the courtesy to bring some booze.

  28. Dusty Thompson
    May 13th, 2013 @ 11:42 am

    Liberal Democrats are the ENEMY of America… They hate Capitalism and thus hate ALL true Americans. The time to fight back using weapons instead of words was yesterday…

  29. Dusty Thompson
    May 13th, 2013 @ 11:46 am

    Like everything else a Libidiots say or does… Libidiots are Americas gravest threat…

  30. Dusty Thompson
    May 13th, 2013 @ 11:47 am

    They may be on their death bed but they are still kicking and screaming like any other dangerous fool waving a gun around while blind and drunk…

  31. Quartermaster
    May 13th, 2013 @ 6:06 pm

    Didn’t get the memo I guess.

  32. Red_Right_Returning
    May 13th, 2013 @ 7:48 pm

    A beast is most dangerous when it’s wounded and scared.