Alberto Gonzales was battered and abused across the network morning-show front today. I’m guessing CNN’s Miles O’Brien was roughest, pounding on him to answer the question when (or if) he will resign. Gonzales may have mishandled this. He may be no Ashcroft. But Gonzales should not be judged without considering the massive media double-standard on this puny scandal. Here’s your breakfast drinking game: Have a drink every time the networks mention that Bush fired eight U.S. attorneys, and Clinton fired all 93 U.S. attorneys in 1993. It’s a drinking game in which you’ll never get drunk.
No one in the media demanded that Janet Reno should resign in 1993. Of course, at that point in her tenure, she was still trying to find the ladies’ bathroom. (Felonious Webster Hubbell, the legendary embezzler, was the man really in charge at that point, and he wasn’t even confirmed yet.) ABC and CBS didn’t even mention the mass firings. NBC and CNN mentioned it in passing.
Moments like these are when conservatives need to focus not on Gonzales, but consider how the “mainstream” media are so transparently partisan that they omit any and all information that doesn’t help the Democrats. If you’re going to judge Gonzales (and by extension, Team Bush), ask yourself: why aren’t the Bush people reminding the media of Clinton’s 1993 firings? How can they constantly lead with their chins?