Mobile Press-Register ~ Publisher heal thyself

J.D. Crowe's work is pictured for two reasons. First, he provides some balance to the P-R's leanings. His recent Troy King's Office of Inflatables was priceless. Also, his take on Don Siegelman being released from prison is relevant. I'm still waiting on the P-R to eat their crow after The Don's release yet they are apparently intent on nothing of the sort.

The P-R is often the most right leaning paper of the clearly Conservative Newhouse triad. Their reporter Eddie Curran was in the lead in revealing questionable (note I didn't use illegal) behaviors by then Governor Siegelman that eventually resulted in his prosecution. I believe strongly in "comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable" so to a large extent I'll avoid piling on Mr. Curran. In a prior post from February I note the P-R bragged, "The former governor was prosecuted by career federal prosecutors who were spurred on by stories in the Press-Register."

A couple of weeks ago I posted Mobile Press-Register engages in Big Lies on their parroting right wing talking points urging drill, drill, drill. They did the same thing with a recent Editorial shilling the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's flawed and biased "study". (Here's a good chance to mention one hundred of their employees running up a $8,204 bar tab at merely one sitting.) The person or persons writing their Editorial pages are seemingly in the tank.

However, today's Rove-style justice? is a classic. It ranks up there with February's Sleight of Hand where the P-R's reporter Barry Lyman claimed Siegelman being shackled immediately was standard treatment only to have the body of the reporting hardly support such a claim. I hope the P-R's editors selected the title of Mr. Lyman's work or otherwise I'd need to point out his interesting surname. Then again, the B'ham News' Mary Orndorff did perhaps even worse when she claimed Karl Rove has submitted a "written statement to Congress". They were answered by his lawyer, hardly under oath, and from and to a wing nut GOP Congressman Miss Mary.

While I'm pleased that today's P-R Editorial mentioned Alaska's Senior Senator Ted Stevens being charged, this was likely long overdue. "A Bridge Too Far" applies yet I'll leave off a link for those willing to use The Google via Senator Steven's "tubes". Even flaming lefty sites have given Bu$hCo some snaps for isolating The Hulk (also known as Mr. Crankypants) in some matters at DOJ.

The P-R noted the falls of Ohio's Bob Ney and California's Randy "Duke" Cunningham plus the charges facing Arizona's Rick Renzi. I recall posting Bama GOP thinks we need more convicted leaders recently where I go over a list of the many, many on that side of the aisle currently facing charges. That Rick Renzi was being investigated by the Feds way back in 2006, only to have that process slow down for the election that fall followed by U.S. Attorney Paul Charlton, the fellow leading that effort, being one of eight Prosecutors canned, was left out.

Ney and Cunningham were of course caught up in the Abramoff scandals yet no mention was made of the missing e-mails from Karl Rove and others in Bu$hCo related to this investigation. Neither did the P-R comment on the faulty logs on Black Jack's many visits to the White House. "Fruit" was flowing. Any reference to Susan B. Ralston, a top aide to Karl Rove who had to resign for her ties to Abramoff, was also omitted.

Of course there was no reference to the related guilty plea by Michael Scanlon, likely especially certain given his past work with Alabama Governor Bob Riley. The whole of the Tom Delay money mess remains ripe for inquiry which surely the P-R knows. Former Bu$hCo FDA head Lester Crawford, a native son of Demopolis no less, who pled guilty to some white collar stock shenanigans didn't make the cut.

The P-R would likely dismiss allegations by former Reagan and Daddy Bu$h Attorney General Dick Thornburgh that the prosecution of Cyril Wecht is driven by politics. Also, I've already wondered how Al.com would cover Wisconsin's Georgia Thompson.

The P-R also failed to note allegations that DOJ stalled an investigation into the New Hampshire phone jamming by GOP operatives. I'm almost done ... Karl Rove's increasingly clear involvement with the outing of the CIA's Valerie Plame is also avoided.

With all of the above just as a lead, the most revealing portion of the P-R's Editorial follows:

Democrats were so busy trying to haul the former presidential adviser before Congress to testify about alleged Republican efforts to politicize the Justice Department that they probably missed the news about the latest victim of Rove justice: Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens.

Did the P-R miss the news of Internal Justice Dept. Report Cites Illegal Hiring Practices? Monica Goodling, Kyle Sampson, ... are noted by name and yet I surely think they are fall gals/guys, as was perhaps GSA's Lurita Doan. I also recall last week's reporting that For White House, Hiring Is Political revealing what we've all known about how this administration operates. What about Miers and Bolten ordered to answer congressional subpoenas which of course will help bolster efforts to haul Karl Rove before Congress? Did the P-R miss this coverage? The P-R also missed sister publication B'ham News claiming in February in their "precious little reason to believe ..." dodge that "it's certainly not as if Rove is above playing dirty."

Before the Mobile Press-Register starts pointing fingers about anyone "missing the news" perhaps they ought to take a look in the mirror. They continue to show a downright stubborn and perhaps even pathological approach to Don Siegelman's case. John Gunn

UPDATE ~ August 25, 2008 - I'll be out of pocket on the 31st of August so unable to celebrate the anniversary of Karl Rove leaving the Bu$hCo payroll in 2007. How the Mobile P-R references Rove's DOJ might be correct given those he left in place and the culture of corruption he so represented.