No party label for Democrat scandals

By Thomas Lifson

One the most comic aspects of liberal media bias is the well-established pattern of identifying politicians caught up in scandal by party only when they are Republicans. Democrats rarely if ever are identified by party. The past week supplies a good example courtesy of the New York Times and AP, arguably the two organizations which do the most to shape national political coverage.

In a Times editorial today on the outrageous abuse of taxpayer funds by Newark's former mayor Democrat Sharpe James, his political affiliation is nowhere mentioned.

Sharpe James, the former mayor of Newark who was indicted this week on corruption charges, has for years exhibited a finger-in-the-eye arrogance. Still, the 33-count indictment against him is stunning, most of all for the list of luxuries he allegedly charged to taxpayers of his impoverished city. Among the standouts: multiple tropical vacations and a trip to Florida to test drive a Rolls-Royce.

The same goes for the AP, as pointed out by the blog Nalert.

A federal grand jury indicted a former Newark Mayor, Sharpe James, on corruption charges Thursday, accusing him of fraud in the sale of city-owned land and using city credit cards to spend extravagantly on himself and several women.

The 33-count indictment charges Mr. James with allegedly facilitating and approving the cut-rate sales of city-owned land to a female companion.

But when Senator David Vitter was reported to have used an escort service, the Times ran an AP story in which "Republican" was the fourth word of the story. They just couldn't wait to trumpet the GOP affiliation:

Senator David Vitter, Republican of Louisiana, apologized Monday for "a very serious sin in my past" after his telephone number appeared among those associated with an escort service that operated here for 13 years.

The fact is that when he was in office, Sharpe James was a power in New Jersey Democratic politics and was supported by every prominent NJ Democrat office-holder in his two election contests against the honest Cory Booker, who won the second contest and now serves as mayor of Newark. Reader s are urged to view the excellent 2005 movie Street Fight, about Booker's first losing contest against James, who comes across as a corrupt thug. But that didn't stop the likes of Jon Corzine and Jesse Jackson from supporting him.

It is a measure of the contempt that the liberal media have for their readers that they engage in transparently obvious manipulation of the news like this. But of course, readers increasingly reciprocate the contempt, and ultimately the New York Times and AP (among others) are paying a steep price for their hypocrisy.

Hat tip: Ed Lasky