Posted by The Green MilesIn a Bush administration lousy with incompetents, cronies, and crooks, it's hard to stand out. But Lurita Doan managed to rise above the crowd.
Doan's scandals and ludicrous denials are the stuff of legend. As administrator of the General Services Administration, she used the power of the federal fovernment to help the Republican Party, handed out no-bid contracts to her friends, and tried to block investigations of corruption. Eventually, Doan resigned in disgrace (a hallmark of the Bush administration -- refusing to fire anyone for cause, no matter how reprehensible their conduct).
Today, Doan has new career -- bashing the Obama administration. She's a "contributor" to Federal News Radio (and its sister station, WTOP-FM). Her column is titled Leadership Matters, but one glance through her archive and you realize it might as well be titled Why I Hate Obama This Week.
While Fox News at least pretends to be "fair and balanced," Federal News Radio (and WTOP, since Doan appears there as well) doesn't even bother. Doan is their only regular opinion columnist with no liberal counterpart.
Doan joins Michael Gerson (Washington Post) and Karl Rove (Fox News, Wall Street Journal) as former Bush administration officials now cashing paychecks as members of the mainstream media. The lesson? No matter how badly conservatives screw up our government, policy and public life, they can always find a home in the media.
Now, why don't we see failed liberals like John Edwards out there bashing conservatives on a daily basis? Two reasons. First, for all his failings, Edwards still has more class than a career scumbag like Karl Rove and has better things to do with his days than hurl spitballs at Mitch McConnell.
Second and more importantly, the mainstream media excommunicates liberals from public life for any transgression, while conservatives are never held accountable. Look at fringe right-wingers like Pat Buchanan, Newt Gingrich, Alan Keyes, and Bill Kristol -- all scandal-ridden, frequently and horribly wrong, or both, yet all regularly seen on TV and in print. Meanwhile, liberals like Phil Donahue, Dan Froomkin and Michael Moore are persona non grata for the crime of loudly questioning the Iraq War and torture.
Remember that next time you hear anyone react to the phrase "liberal media" with anything other than unrestrained laughter.
