Summer of Scandal

Listening in to one of the cable outlets this morning I heard one of the anchors proclaim this is the “Summer of Scandal” for the Republican Party. Cue the music: Larry Craig? Bad. Ted Stevens? Bad. David Vitter? You get the idea.

What I found particularly irritating with this sensational coverage is the fact that two scandalous issues have unfolded TODAY and yet the media makes scant reference. Could this have anything to do with the fact that the focus of these two scandals involves Democrats?

First, the front page of The Wall Street Journal has a headline proclaiming “Democrats Race to Return Cash From Big Donor.” It seems that Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and several other Democrats have received thousands of dollars from a businessman and fundraiser named Norman Hsu. Never mind that Mr. Hsu has an outstanding warrant for his arrest in California and that he has been accused of shady fundraising techniques. Thus far today, I haven’t heard one peep on the cable outlets regarding Mr. Hsu’s fundraising or Senator Clinton trying to unload his donations just as quick as she can.

Oh, and then there’s the article in The Washington Post this morning about the 527 group called Americans Coming Together (ACT) that spent countless millions seeking to defeat Republicans in the previous election cycle. ACT, closely aligned with the Democratic Party and fueled with cash from billionaire George Soros, was just fined more than $700,000 dollars for violating campaign finance laws in the 2004 election.

While the group had claimed that the $70 million they had spent in expenses during the 2004 election were for get out the vote and voter registration drives, it seems that the FEC found that ACT spent money on “clearly identified federal candidates in a manner that could only be paid for with federal funds.” Or, they broke the campaign finance laws so championed by Democrats to clean up corrosive influence of money in federal elections. How rich.

So I’m waiting patiently by my television to hear breathless coverage of the summer of scandal, discussions on how two fundraisers closely aligned with electing Democrats have been accused of breaking the law. Both of these stories are in print coverage today, but don’t hold your breath and wait to hear it on the cable outlets — they are far too busy trying to talk about Republicans and sex. No media bias here.