Shut Your Fat Face Tim Russert

Watching Tim Russert disgrace himself yesterday on Meet The Press was a solid reminder of just how nothing of a story this Rove liberal-media-started-storm has become. Whenever interviewing someone intelligent like Ken Mehlman, who's able to methodically and convincingly explain why Rove did nothing wrong, the liberal media is left with this last question of refuge to justify their sorry get-Rove campaign:

"If a Clinton aide had done this wouldn't Republicans doing exactly what Democrats are; calling for him to be fired?"

Well, David Frum has the answer for them, and it's "No." Funnier still, is that his bit of history not only proves Republicans wouldn't act the same --- it proves the liberal media didn't act the same when a Clinton aide did what Rove's accused of:

As a matter of fact, a Clinton aide - not a top aide, but a political appointee - did release personal information about one of Clinton's accusers, highly embarrassing information at that: I am referring of course to former Assistant Secretary of Defense Kenneth Bacon's decision to release Linda Tripp's 3-decade old arrest record to New Yorker writer Jane Mayer.

Bacon's actions - unlike anything Karl Rove is said to have done - were clearly illegal. And what happened in that case? Basically a big pile of nothing. There was never much media interest in the matter, and when eventually Bacon was reprimanded and issued an apology of sorts, the matter dropped from sight. Tripp's reputation suffered irreparable permanent damage; Bacon went on to a distinguished post-governmental career as president of Refugees International

So there's our answer to Kurtz's hypothetical. Had this story involved a Clinton aide, the best guess is that what would have happened is: At least as far as the major media are concerned, he'd have gotten clean away with it.

Comments

[Jack Tanner]

"If a Clinton aide had done this wouldn't Republicans doing exactly what Democrats are; calling for him to be fired?"

Maybe so but like Joe Wilson the person would have been the toast of the town amongst the MSM.

[Stephen Rourke]

"Shut your fat face Tim Russert"?

That's the voice of someone who likes "freedom" as a slogan, and not a reality. I mean, if a loyal employee of GE isn't loyal enough for you, what level of dissent are you willing to tolerate?

[Lance Uppercut]

You're equivicating the outing of a classified, covert CIA agent to the re-release (arrest records are public info) of Linda Tripp's rap sheet? Um. . . not quite. You'd have a better case comparing Bush to Jesus and Rove to Judas.