Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Lawmaker Pleads Guilty: Guess His Party

An Idaho Senator was busted by policemen in a bathroom sting at Minnesota's airport. So how did the Minneapolis Star-Tribune lead their story?
U.S. Sen. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican, pleaded guilty to disorderly conduct in Minnesota this month after being arrested by a plainclothes police officer investigating complaints of lewd conduct in a men's restroom at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.


Note that the senator's party identification is prominently placed near the beginning of the story, where it is impossible to miss. This is quite different behavior from how the media typically reports when a DEmocrat is found guilty of something. Case in poin t- Senator Jim Metzen's arrest for drunk driving- indisputibly a more serious offense than being cited for "lewd conduct" whatever that may be. However, something interesting emerges- in the coveragte of Metzen's arresst, his party identification is mysteriously missing! He is identified as 'DFL', which appears to be the Democratic Party's identification in Minnesota, but to someone unfamiliar with Minnesota poltiics, this would not properly identify the party of the offender- I had to read several other sstories before I discovered exactly what 'DFL' stood for.

it would be nice if the media would show some consistency in this area and actually identify transgressors in both parties with their party identification. I don't care whether the perpetratrator is Denmocrat or Republican, but i wouldd like to know if one of my elected officials does transgress the law. And I want to know which party he or she is a member of. Pity the Press don't seem to share that goal- unless the politician in question is Republican, of course.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

LOL!!!!

Grand, sweeping generalizations of this type are just blowing smoke unless you can back it up with some real facts and links. All I see here is whining.

And for the record, it took Fox News about a day to admit that "Idaho Senator Larry Craig" was, in fact, a Republican.