Off to Wait

BTW, Adam, have fun at the taping and with your buds afterwards. College days and pals are special. My son, Adam, wife Susie (I know, it’s scary isn’t it? At least my daughter isn’t named Edith. That would just be too weird.) and I spent the day driving to Raleigh to get a tour of the NC State campus. Adam is really excited about going there next fall. Of course, State’s one of his ol’ Dad’s many (7) schools of matriculation. I would have to admit I enjoyed my time there very much, but the early ’70’s and “The Road” were making their siren call and after succumbing to their charms, the adventure really began. Good luck with the show. “Hi” to Tom.

When my friend’s daughter was in high school and getting about 15 brochures a day from colleges, we agreed that the funniest was from the University of Michigan. She got a lovely letter inviting her to become part of the “Michigan family.” Yes — all 12 gazillion of them. The potlucks at the reunions are pretty impressive. Of course, we have to rent a lot of chairs…

Dee, that’s 12 gazillion one.

I can claim to be either a Wolverine or a Troll. I get more mileage out of Wolverine.

Re: prosecutor-purgegate

http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/10349.html

What explains the failure of the mainstream media to cover the purge scandal for so long, and so many other scandals? Do you think somebody just set up newspaper editors to cheat on their wives, and threatened to tell if the editors wouldn’t play ball when they come back some day and ask for something?

It wouldn’t be that hard to do, when you think about it. People wouldn’t talk about it.

Sadly, I’m guessing that the Tufts grads will be attending not to cheer you on, but instead simply to boo Mo Rocca and the other Harvard kids.

Also, we don’t need March Madness in Medford, Massachusetts! We’ve got JumboCast! Go Jumbos!

Swan, there are a lot of reasons for media complacency (and lobster knows there’s been plenty for the past six years). However, in this case there is one slight mitigating factor - it probably seemed like a local story in the areas where the attorneys were fired, and not a story in other areas. If they hadn’t pushed it by firing them all at once and done it over several months instead, they probably would have gotten away with it. Papers don’t have unlimited resources, so they’re normally not going to look all around the country to see if any other areas are experiencing the same things.

Responsible congressional hearings, relentless if necessary, reveal the importance of important events, if by nothing else then by sheer force of both the investigation and the ability to place whatever is uncovered in its proper context, in this case relative to the actual magnitude of the trashing of Justice, the rule of law, and the importance of the guiding precepts which are the foundation of our Constitution and concept of the rule of law.

I have to say I think the Washington press corps is generally too acclimated to things like this, just as it was to accepting the least critical, most White House accommodating spin regarding the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, which was, regardless of whether “laws were broken” or proof of a crime was too difficult to establish, far more abominable than the current banana Republican firing of the USAs for doing their jobs. Just stop for a moment and consider the enormous implications for any clear-eyed view of a White House that would reveal the identity of a CIA agent in one of the most secretive, crucial areas of CIA work. Then add in the reason. I still cannot comprehend that any baseline sense of honorable, Constitution-honoring, treason-eschewing conduct on the part of the President and Vice-President of the United States is so utterly absent from serious mainstream journalism generated in the nation’s capitol.

I guess sexy scandal still trumps serious analysis, and is damned sure easier for lazy journalists. It also makes editors happier, best I can tell. It’s not that serious journalism isn’t out there, it’s that it gets short shrift.

Does anyone else think that Toles makes Gonzales look like a cross between a turtle and Kim Jong-Il?

Dave, there was a time when the personal lives, unless it involved an arrest, of our leaders were not reported on. Among the Washington press corp during the Kennedy administration, JFK was referred to as the President-Erect. The public really didn’t know about his tom-cat ways until long after his death. LBJ would regale the press off-the-record about his sexual exploits. I’m sure most of the reporters probably knew about FDR and Lucy Mercer.

The Carter Playboy interview seemed to be the crack in the dam for allowing the Press to report anything they felt like. That and Gary Hart in the ‘84 primary campaign. I always figured that the Lewinsky business was none of mine, but the business of Bill and Hillary. I certainly don’t need the press to tell me that from time to time we elect some randy dogs to office.

What bemuses me about the whole purgegate scandal is this: they didn’t fire all 90-howevermany USAs when the Bush administration came in. They could have; everyone has pointed out repeatedly that the USAs serve at the president’s pleasure, which they do. Other presidents have done this. No one would have said a thing if they had. But they had to wait until the midterm elections in Bush’s second term, when things weren’t going so well, and then cherry-pick the USAs who had pissed them off and not been “loyal Bushies” (a term that boggles the mind all by itself), and then lie about why they fired them. Do they just lie for the fun of it, like eight-year-old boys making up stories to tell Mom??

Oh, you get a big ol’ “Go Jumbos” from the Chicago Tufts Alliance. Seriously, it was such a pleasure, everyone LOVED the event.

Steady and true - rush along, brown and blue!

Thanks again.

Adam, you should definitely tell your graduation story one of these days. The 2nd hand version I’ve gotten from Kristin is hysterical, and I think she has forgiven you for grabbing her diploma out of her hands on the day.

Bob