two republicans, getting a pass

I see two utterances this week where the mainstream media treatment would have been dramatically different if the words had been uttered by a Democrat.

First was John McCain's nonsensical assertion on CNN that the "surge" was working so wonderfully that there were many neighborhoods in Baghdad where it was safe for Americans to walk the streets. He also said that US commander in Iraq, General David Petreus, rode through Baghdad in an unarmored Hummer. (Yeah, with attack helicopters and tanks and a company if infantry accompanying him, maybe. Petreus isn't stupid or suicidal.)

McCain was grotesquely wrong of course, and CNN Baghdad reporter Michael Ware called him out on it, to Wolf Blitzer: "Honestly, Wolf, you'll barely last twenty minutes out there. I don't know what part of Neverland Senator McCain is talking about when he says we can go strolling in Baghdad." Wow, a rare moment of candor on CNN. Kinda neat.

Not necessarily responding to McCain, retired general Barry McCaffrey recently said, "[N]o Iraqi government official, coalition soldier, diplomat, reporter, foreign NGO [nongovernmental organization], nor contractor can walk the streets of Baghdad, nor Mosul, nor Kirkuk, nor Basra, nor Tikrit, nor Najaf, nor Ramadi, without heavily armed protection."

But if you do a Google search for McCain's statement, all the commentary about it is from bloggers. Apart from CNN itself, no mainstream media source seems to have picked it up. Isn't this news? I mean, McCain is either showing that he is mentally incompetent (although the current example shows that doesn't necessarily disqualify him for the GOP nomination) or he is lying thru his teeth and expressing contempt for Republican voters by expecting they'll believe that line of crap.

As is so often the case with a Republican, he's either a blithering idiot, or he's lying. Or both, of course. Nice job, media. Even Joe Lieberman isn't stupid enough to come up with that.

Then later in the week, New York mayor Rudy Giuliuni said he'd consider including his wife in cabinet meetings. Nurse Judith Nathan Giuliani herself confirmed she'd offer advice if he asked.

Now, offering advice to the president is a legitimate prerogative of a presidential spouse. But do you remember back in 1992 when the Clintons made noises about getting two-for-one, and all the talk about the sort of role Hillary Clinton would play in a Bill Clinton White House? The reaction was scathing, and by the end of the campaign they had Hillary baking cookies to avoid looking like she would be playing an active, unelected role in the administration. If anybody in the mainstream media has played that card against Judith Nathan Giuliani (hey, isn't that like "Hillary Rodham Clinton?" How long before the "Nathan" disappears?) I haven't seen it.

Again, I don't give a rat's ass if President Rudy asked First Nurse Judith for advice, and even to sit in Cabinet meetings. I'm just waiting for the mainstream media to jump all over her the way they did Hillary.