The year of living “scandal free”

Jonathan Turley relegates his analysis of the allegedly “scandal free” Biden administration of the past year to his personal site. He puts it this way in his heading: “The Media Celebrates a Year of Free From Political Scandal and Press Scrutiny.” Professor Turley dryly tees up his assessment of the media celebration:

There is ample reason for the White House and many in the media to celebrate the lack of scandals in the Biden Administration because it was a collective effort.

Of course, four years ago, the media was all-in on the Russian collusion allegations. The media was doing non-stop coverage of the Steele dossier with little scrutiny or effort to uncover those who funded it. The dossier was later discredited and American intelligence warned that Russian intelligence may have used it to plant disinformation. While the Clinton campaign repeatedly denied funding the dossier, it was revealed (after the election) that not only did the Clinton campaign fund and push the dossier but also allegedly lied to Congress, the media, and the FBI. Clinton campaign chair John Podesta allegedly denied such funding to congressional staff. According to reports, sitting next to him was Clinton attorney Marc Elias (who was later found to have funded the dossier through the Clinton campaign’s legal account).

The only thing more impressive than the relentless coverage of Trump scandals in 2017 was the relentless avoidance of Biden scandals in 2020. The media did give passing coverage to the host of Biden false claims and stories that range from saying that he was “arrested trying to see Nelson Mandela” to his evolving Amtrak claims to reinventing his positions on foreign wars like Afghanistan. There were also federal violations by Biden officials and allegations of improper presidential influence on pending investigations. However, when it came to scandals that could implicate the President in more serious misconduct (or contradict his past denials), the media was thoroughly uninterested.

Consider just three of the Voldemort scandals of 2020, or those scandals which must not be named by the media…

Professor Turley’s column deserves more attention than it will attract on his personal site. I want to take the liberty of drawing it to the attention to interested readers.

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