Pro-Franken Piece Now At CBS Site

FRANKENVIRUS SPREADS

Essay Gets Top CBSNews.com Billing



While there may have been just one especially outspoken supporter of Al Franken's embarrassing attempt at confronting US Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia last week, mainstream media liberals sure know how to make it count.

Late Tuesday, CBSNews.com gave John Nichols of The Nation top billing for his "Al Franken V. Antonin Scalia" piece. While the site's opinion section does also feature conservative commentaries, they sure seemed happy to highlight this Op-Ed with a major headline and prominent real estate.

Addressed previously here at the Radio Equalizer, this essay resembles a slowly-spreading virus, destined to undermine the truth in a manner appropriate for CBS News.

And, there are additional reasons to revisit Nichols' "ethics" points, it now turns out.

First, a refresher from his Op-Ed:

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is, supposedly, a very smart man. Indeed, he is frequently referred to as the intellectual giant on the current high court.

Yet, when Scalia was confronted by comedian and social commentator Al Franken with a basic question of legal ethics, it was the funny man, not the "serious" jurist, who proved to be the most knowledgeable.

The confrontation took place last week in New York City, where Scalia was the guest of Conversations on the Circle, a prestigious series of one-on-one interviews with Norman Pearlstine, the outgoing Time Inc. editor-in-chief.

After Pearlstine tossed a predictable set of softball questions to the justice, the session was opened to questions from the audience. Up popped Franken, the best-selling author and host of Air America's The Al Franken Show.

According to a scathing article that appeared in the Scalia-friendly New York Post, "Franken stood up in the back row and started talking about ‘judicial demeanor' and asking ‘hypothetically' about whether a judge should recuse himself if he had gone duck-hunting or flown in a private jet with a party in a case before his court."

Franken's reference was to Scalia's refusal to recuse himself from deliberations involving a lawsuit brought by public-interest groups that said Vice President Dick Cheney engaged in improper contacts with energy-industry executives and lobbyists while heading the Bush administration task force on energy policy. A federal court ordered Cheney to release documents related to his work with the task force, at which point the Bush administration appealed to the Supreme Court.

Here, we discussed how Nichols failed to mention anything about Franken's own ethical considerations:

Why didn't more lefties race to Franken's rescue when this first broke? Did even they see the irony in pressing Scalia over ethics issues, given Air America Radio's sleazy corporate behavior and Franken's awareness of it (previously proven by Michelle Malkin and myself), despite his dishonest denials?

In keeping with typical leftist intellectual dishonesty, The Nation's John Nichols omits any mention of the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club scandal, where $875,000 in taxpayer grants were diverted to the liberal radio network.

How does that really compare to Scalia's hunting trip, or his dinner with Cheney?
While it's convenient to pin it all on the New York Post, until The Nation is ready to come clean on the Gloria Wise scandal, they haven't a leg to stand on here. "Ethics" and "Al Franken" really don't belong in the same sentence.

That confronting Scalia resulted in the one time Al didn't get his legendary "Frankenfluff" treatment, probably wasn't coincidental.

If Nichols is in the mood, he might address another potential ethical consideration: Air America Radio's ties to The Nation.

Whether substantial, or informal, there's no denying a cozy relationship exists between the liberal radio network and this supposedly "progressive" magazine.

How does that affect the outcome of a piece like this?

Consider that events featuring visits and/or speeches by Air America personalities have been sponsored by The Nation, among other connections. After a Google search, I found examples in several places, including these:


--- a July 2005 event on ethics, "torture and lies" featuring Randi Rhodes, sponsored by the publication

--- a 2004 election debate party the network and magazine sponsored jointly

--- Air America's Laura Flanders writing for The Nation, here (at this page, she's listed as a regular contributor)

--- and more here regarding Flanders and the periodical


In addition, if anyone at either The Nation or Air America Radio would really like to open up, perhaps they could confirm ongoing talks over potential program sponsorships, specifically regarding the weekend show hosted by Ms. Flanders?

That would be mighty helpful, but we won't hold our breath waiting for an answer.

Whether The Nation's ties to Air America could rightly be called cozy, or informal, might they take a step back: in throwing the "ethics" word around, aren't there "ethical" questions that fairly apply to them, as well?


--- Shouldn't The Nation disclose any ties to Air America and its personalities when covering them?

--- Since they've chosen to ignore Air America's sleazy corporate behavior, especially the Gloria Wise Boys & Girls Club funds transfer scandal, can they outline how it is they believe they should have credibility when writing about Franken and company?

While we hate to nitpick, these questions are certainly every bit as important as whether Cheney and Scalia were seen dining together.

After all, why shouldn't the left be held to the same standards they expect of us? Otherwise, they're living in glass houses and throwing boulders.


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Franken/Scalia: CBS

Fluff and Fluffy (the dangers of too much puff piece press coverage): by Pete at IHillary for the Radio Equalizer. Visit Pete's site to see his entire collection of gags!