“It is useless to attempt to reason a man out of a thing he was never reasoned into”

Jonathan Swift
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"The Democrats have moved to the right, and the right has moved into a mental hospital." - Bill Maher
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"The city is crowded my friends are away and I'm on my own
It's too hot to handle so I gotta get up and go

It's a cruel ... cruel summer"

Friday, January 14, 2005

the word "alleged" excuses everything: leaps of faith and jumps to conclusions

A few days ago we facetiously asked if the Amarillo Globe-News editors would insist on "compassion" for Republican drug fiend Rick Roach as they did for Republican drug fiend Rush Limbaugh. We were particularly interested in what the ghostly voice that speaks sans byline on the opinion page would say. The specter that haunts the left column of the page is, after all, supposed to be the "voice of the newspaper," and is supposed to consistently speak the "historic stance" of the paper.

Today, the AGN ghost had this to say:

"Roach was quoted in Thursday's Amarillo Globe-News as saying he plans to defend himself 'zealously.'

Good for him.

Roach is innocent until proven guilty."

Fair enough. But we wondered if the AGN had been so fair to other people who were accused of misbehavior. Like, for example, Democrats.

So, we went back to the Globe-News archives circa February and March, 1998. This was a period of time, you will remember, when President Clinton had been accused of certain lapses of judgment and spousal fidelity. It was also a period of time when nothing had been definitively proven about those lapses.

We found editorials by both opinion page editor John Kanelis and by the Ghostly Voice. And though all took care to use the word “alleged,” it’s quite obvious that the writers had rushed to judgment:

"We're left to wonder and worry" (Feb 1, Kanelis)
“Absent a full explanation, millions of Americans are left to wonder about the character of their president.
And to suspect the very worst.”

"The silence is deafening" (Feb 4, Ghostly Voice) condemns
“[s]ilence from feminists regarding President Clinton's alleged peccadilloes with young Monica Lewinsky”

"President's conduct does matter" (Feb 15, Kanelis)
“So, if at the end of this tawdry investigation all we have is proof that the president fooled around with a twentysomething White House aide, what does that say about his judgment or his sense of personal responsibility? It says he doesn't live by the code of conduct he preaches for everyone else.”

"Clinton loses trust day by day" (Feb 22, Kanelis)
“Clinton's prolonged silence on this matter only gives credence to the views of many - yours truly included - that something improper did happen. The longer the president dawdles, the more time that lapses before he sets the record straight, the more that his treasured legacy gets tarnished by the increasing belief that he no longer deserves our trust.”

"Clinton still has job to do" (Mar 23, Ghostly Voice)
“Sure, the president has some serious political troubles that might be of his own making. He has some questions to answer about allegations of sexual misconduct. Bill Clinton also has a job to do.”

"Doesn't character matter?" (Mar 24, Ghostly Voice)
“The assumption that all the alleged lying and charges of possible perjury concerning the Oval Office are confined to the president's so-called love life is a very dangerous assumption to make.”

Of course, Clinton was guilty of the affair. More than likely, Republican Rick Roach is guilty, too. It’s always a leap of faith to assume a forced neutrality and suppose that someone might possibly be innocent when it looks otherwise. The justice system has to make this leap of faith every single day. Individual citizens, newspapers and bloggers may make it or not as they choose.

The Amarillo Globe-News will make a leap for Republicans that they will not make for Democrats. That’s all we’re sayin’.

SPACEDARK


UPDATE: Tres Chicas has a good wrapup of the Rick Roach (Republican) matter.