MSNBC contributor Jonathan Alter provided a case study of how the liberal media are all too eager to flog Republican scandals to death while ignoring or downplaying Democratic scandals. During an appearance on Sunday’s episode of Disrupt with Karen Finney, While discussing Chris Christie’s bridge controversy, Alter brought up the Obama administration’s IRS scandal. Said Alter to the host, a former Democratic National Committee communications director: [Listen to MP3 audio here [1].]
"You mentioned the IRS scandal. Who can even really remember that? And that was only last year."
For her part, Finney remarked, disparagingly, that the Republican base
could probably remember the IRS scandal. Alter added with a sneer, “[I]t
can be very hard to rev that up if there are not ongoing revelations.
If there were ongoing revelations in the IRS matter, that would still be
a story.”
As a matter of fact, there have been ongoing revelations in the IRS
story. But the media have censored those revelations, giving the
impression that it’s not a story anymore.
Just last Wednesday, two lead congressional investigators in this
scandal, Reps. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Jim Jordan (R-Ohio),
disclosed that the Justice Department had chosen an Obama donor to head
its investigation of the IRS scandal. Issa and Jordan sent a letter to
the DOJ charging them with a conflict of interest, and the Washington
Times reported on this development. However, after nearly a week, none
of the three major broadcast networks (ABC, NBC, and CBS) have mentioned
it on their morning or evening news shows.
The three major networks have also failed to mention that, in early
December, Rep. Issa accused the FBI and the IRS chief counsel of
stonewalling his investigation. Nor did they mention the emails,
obtained by Judicial Watch in late October, that showed that former IRS
official Lois Lerner illegally gave the confidential tax information of
several Tea Party groups to the Federal Election Commission.
The networks have failed to report that Dr. Ben Carson was targeted by
the IRS for the first time ever after his now-infamous National Prayer
Breakfast speech in which he criticized, albeit mildly and quite
respectfully, President Obama’s policies in front of him. Nor did they
mention the newly released emails in September that contradicted Lois
Lerner’s assertion that the IRS’s targeting was the work of two “rogue”
employees in Cincinnati.
There are many more examples of IRS scandal developments that have gone
unreported by the three major TV networks. (You can find a
comprehensive list here [2].)
Alter is dead wrong to say there are not ongoing revelations in the IRS
scandal. The mainstream liberal media outlets just don’t have the
courage or the honesty to report them. But they can’t wait to reveal all
the latest news about Christie’s bridge scandal. They would much rather
tear down a Republican governor than put a serious dent into a
Democratic president and his administration.
Below is a transcript of the relevant portion of the discussion:
JONATHAN ALTER: Both Christie and Obama are very skillful when they're in trouble. Remember how Obama handled the Reverend Wright situation during the campaign? But substance eventually counts. Documents count. We now have smoking e-mails in this case. So will a lot of this eventually pass? Yes, because scandals always pass. You mentioned the IRS scandal. Who can even really remember that? And that was only last year.
KAREN FINNEY: The Republican base, probably.
ALTER: But it can be very hard to rev that up if there are not ongoing
revelations. If there were ongoing revelations in the IRS matter, that
would still be a story.
FINNEY: Very true.
ALTER: The reason this is a real danger to Chris Christie, is that with
the investigative machinery now in gear, there will be ongoing
revelations, ongoing documents that are coming out. And you will see a
lot of new news pegs to keep this story in the headlines in the weeks
and months ahead.
FINNEY: Absolutely. But I do – I have to say, I love how everything
that happens, somehow the Republicans make it about Obamacare and
Benghazi. That is skill.
-- Paul Bremmer is a News Analysis Division intern.