[Speed Gibson,
Friday March 17, 2006 at 12:11am]
Access Uber Alles
Remember when our national news media got a little too cozy with Saddam Hussein before the war? If we had been too tough on him, they explained, he would have kicked us out of the country!
Remember when Rush Limbaugh was forced off ESPN for saying something plausible, thoughtful, but oh so politically incorrect? The "issue" didn't even come up for a couple of days, but when it did, Chris Berman and Tom Jackson went nuts, engaging in slander to distance themselves from Rush - and really themselves as well. I could only surmise that it was made plain to ESPN that "access" to players was at risk if they didn't. (And by the way, Rush was right.)
Now we have the case of State Senator and Majority Leader Dean Johnson, once again in trouble for lying. His words were plain and recorded. His explanations have wandered far from the original transgression. I find it particularly amusing that Johnson doesn't understand why even a clergyman felt it necessary and justified to secretly record the conversation.
But the Minneapolis Star Tribune is apparently not all that concerned. "Majority Leader 'embellished' conversation with justice" is the latest headline. And I have read nothing about his prior "statements" regarding the Yecke rejection and the sudden 9:30 pm adjournment last summer. Why? Johnson's angry rebuke of the unknown pastor who taped him, perhaps just to protect himself, suggests an answer. If the Star Tribune were to treat him like a Republican, or even just take his words at face value, Johnson might have stopped talking to them. The loss of access to the head of the Senate would be embarrassing, having to simply quote the Associate Press.
I can hardly wait for the Editorial.
Remember when Rush Limbaugh was forced off ESPN for saying something plausible, thoughtful, but oh so politically incorrect? The "issue" didn't even come up for a couple of days, but when it did, Chris Berman and Tom Jackson went nuts, engaging in slander to distance themselves from Rush - and really themselves as well. I could only surmise that it was made plain to ESPN that "access" to players was at risk if they didn't. (And by the way, Rush was right.)
Now we have the case of State Senator and Majority Leader Dean Johnson, once again in trouble for lying. His words were plain and recorded. His explanations have wandered far from the original transgression. I find it particularly amusing that Johnson doesn't understand why even a clergyman felt it necessary and justified to secretly record the conversation.
But the Minneapolis Star Tribune is apparently not all that concerned. "Majority Leader 'embellished' conversation with justice" is the latest headline. And I have read nothing about his prior "statements" regarding the Yecke rejection and the sudden 9:30 pm adjournment last summer. Why? Johnson's angry rebuke of the unknown pastor who taped him, perhaps just to protect himself, suggests an answer. If the Star Tribune were to treat him like a Republican, or even just take his words at face value, Johnson might have stopped talking to them. The loss of access to the head of the Senate would be embarrassing, having to simply quote the Associate Press.
I can hardly wait for the Editorial.