Here’s a point that hadn’t occurred to me in Robert Samuelson’s Washington Post column today. Samuelson is discussing the propriety of an avowed left-liberal partisan like Howell Raines moving from an editorial page editor position to editor of the news pages. No-one questions Raines’ talent or qualifications. And he may well do a superb job. That’s not the point. What’s at issue is that no-one seems even to be concerned at such an appearance of obvious ideological bias in a news editor of the most important paper in the country. “Suppose, hypothetically, that the Wall Street Journal had named Robert Bartley, its fiercely conservative editorial page editor, to run its news columns,” Samuelson asks. “Questions surely would have arisen (and properly so) about his suitability — about whether he might use the news columns to promote conservative views. Similar questions apply no less to the liberal Raines.” Except that such questions are never asked .. because most journalists are left-liberal, and they assume that they are better at restraining their biases than those evil, selfish conservatives. Circular, innit? Good for Samuelson for breaking the circle.
THOSE D.C. COPS: Aware that conventional police work hasn’t done much good, the D.C. cops have been taking seriously the claims of a New Jersey man in a mental hospital with a police record, who says he knows where Chandra’s body is buried. Here’s the story. And I thought it couldn’t get any weirder. Who are they going to talk to next? Mickey Kaus? He has a fascinating theory about that missing watch-box …
SUSAN LEVY: Fact-checking my next TRB, I came across a quote again from Susan Levy: “”I don’t care if [Chandra]’s been allegedly sleeping with somebody. That’s irrelevant. All those things are just stories; maybe they’re true and maybe they’re not.” She said this on June 7 over a month after Chandra went missing, and long after she knew of the affair with Condit. When pressed by Connie Chung, why didn’t Condit simply repeat this quote from Chandra’s mother? Like many others, the Levys went from trying to find their missing daughter to venting their frustration on Condit. I hope they feel better now.
The Dish 