Rod Blagojevich Is Not the Political Norm

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Try using the same standards when writing an opinion piece as you used in your 40 years of reporting the news. Unless of course you want to finally admit, you've been writing opinion all along.

Michael Cur of NY 8:50PM December 18, 2008

For decades Mashek provided reliable unbiased reporting. What he does now is write an OPINION piece for USN&WR-he clearly labels it as an opinion piece. So, why expect something else??
Still, He calls Gov. B as the unfolding FACTS appear to indicate: corrupt...yes, despite the fact that he is a Democrat.
And, he calls the Obama connection as facts so far appear to indicate: unlikely involved in the Gov's corruption. Accurate.
What is telling is the radical Right's insistence of guilt for Obama without facts.The rush to label Obama as corrupt says it all: facts don't matter, guilt/innocence don't matter. Investigation doesn't matter-the Right just wants him damned NOW. All based loosely upon guilt by association. Yup, that's how Mccarthy did it and how Nixon did it, and some other notables in history.
There is obviously lots more to come out. Give it a chance to happen. It's too soon to scream cover up, proclaim guilt or anything else-especially in the midst of a wide ranging sensitive Justice dept. investigation. Oh, YES, there IS an investigation happening...well, how about that?
Who among you, if falsely accused, would not want a thorough investigation to uncover the truth? Anyone? Better yet, who among you would not want the whole truth uncovered before being accused? ANYONE? Oh, it's so quiet....
In short, your accusations of guilt are coming too fast, too frequent and too capriciously to be credible. I think there is an old story - something about the little boy who cried wolf....

Clos of CA 2:21PM December 18, 2008

The main difference between political scandals is in how they are presented. Generally (as is the case in this article) media members tend to revel in reporting scandal from one end of the political spectrum and make excuses for scandals from the other end of the political spectrum. For instance recall the Justice Thomas hearing when the man was accused of jingling keys behind Anita Hill years and maybe even decades post facto. That turned into a media circus in spite of any real evidence or even a particularly serious charge. Compare that to this Illinois issue - instead of even digging into the situation, in order to protect Obama (who may indeed not have been deeply involved) they are lining up to accuse the governor of being "insane." He is the scapegoat.
Obama may indeed be clean, but there are questions to be asked. Why did the Obama camp claim to have had no contact with the governor's office, but also claim to have rejected any offers from the governor? Both cannot be true. The president-elect may not be involved at all, but most media members have a default slant and tend to give some politicians the benefit of the doubt and assume others are guilty until proven innocent (or worse, often guilty by association).
What this author is right about is that there is plenty of scandal to go around from all parties. We don't care about your opinion, Mashek. Why don't you just try objectively reporting the news?

David A. Pafford of NM 2:15PM December 17, 2008

Right wingers just can't stand the truth.
Never have, never will.

LKR of VA 10:25AM December 17, 2008

Typical Lefty Loony BS is more like it.
A dem gets caught with his hand in the cookie jar and typical Mashek turns it into an attack on repubs.
You call that "reporting." Don't call what you do reporting or journalism. Be authentic, Mashek. You're only lying to yourself. Mashek, You are no reporter.

Michael Cur of NY 7:22AM December 17, 2008

Mashek's take on this is accurate.
We'll see where the truth lies when all the facts come out. No need to rush to judgment, especially if there are no facts evident to support that (mis)judgment.
Of course,if one's only aim is to dirty their opposition's reputation-unjustly and wrongly-well, guilt by loose association is a tried and true tactic of the Republican Right's smear machine. But, it is NOT honorable, NOT accurate and Americans in general are tired of it and "wise to" those tactics. After all, that is exactly what brought us the current administration and all the pathologies acted out by it. What a mess they've made!
Isn't there something about, "Painting all with the same broad brush...",R.L.?

CL of CA 1:30AM December 17, 2008

Mashek, hack for the left, mentions "...Right wing Republicans drawing Obama into the 'web' of scandal." I think you've got it turned about John. Obama emerged from the crooked "web' of Illinois politics and scandal - Isn't there something about, "Spiders from the same web weave similar lies."?
Sorry, best I could do... didn't want to use that, "Birds of a feather..." thing again.

R.L. Schaefer of CA 7:44PM December 16, 2008