Hey Hardup,
What would the reaction be if this had happened under Clinton? Lets set up the scenario:
It's late 98/early 99 (at the peak of the Impeachment debacle) and it is found out that a person with no formal journalism training that works for an Arkansas Democratic organization and is a HOMOSEXUAL escort (gays don't bother me at all but most of America is quite fixated on them) has been lobbing softballs at Mike McCurry for months asks President Bill Clinton a question like "Mr. President, with people like Bob Livingston, a person who has private sexual predilictions so profoundly disgusting that even Larry Flynt is distressed about them and with others like Bob Barr, who is on his fourth marriage and with Henry Hyde who admitted to sexual affairs in his 40's (which he calls his youth) are so set to overturn an election and put you in prison for lying about sex, well, how do you deal with people who have so divorced themselves from reality?"
A major league shit-tsunami would have ensued (Hell, Faux News might have set up another channel just to harp on it 24/7) that would have been headline news in every paper and the lead story on every newscast for months. Remember, the wingnuts are still complaining about freaking Watergate being "a liberal conspiracy" and such bullshit. We'd still be talking about it today for christ's sake. Yes, it is a double standard and it is now impossible to argue that the media is "Liberal", because if it was, you'd never hear the end of this story. As it is, you have to search to find it.
I can't (and won't) speak for LD and Dittman, but what could they possibly say? It was either the biggest security breach in American history or he was planted by the White House as a stooge, those are the only possible options, because no one post 9/11 is getting that close to the President under a psudeonym unless it's a mistake or a purposeful act. Not an enviable choice for a Bush supporter.
And for my Canadian friends, please remember that a record amount of people voted against Bush in America and that he is the least popular second term President in recent history. Unlike Clinton, who was at 68% approval on the day he was impeached, Bush has only been that high once, right after 9/11 and is lucky to get a 50% approval in most polls. I can't (and won't) apologize for people in Kansas and other places that thrive on ignorance (go ahead and flame me, but it is against the law to teach evolution in Kansas and that is ignorant). How the hell is a kid going to get into a college (other than Bob Jones or Oral Roberts) when he/she doesn't even understand the basis on which all science is based?. Geez, I bet a bunch of brilliant future academic leaders are going to be coming out of that shithole.
I do love my country, but it is becoming a foreign, ugly place. A society cannot regress, it can only hope to progress if it is to have any sustainability. I've worried about a creeping facism for a while now (even under Clinton) but under Bush half the country seems to be goosestepping lustily towards Nuremburg. There were good Germans who tried to stop Nazism, and I for one plan to be a good American (I'm not running ANYWHERE, if needed I will fight for my freedom, but we're not there yet as far as some armed insurrection being required) and try to monkey wrench the facist machinery now being constructed. Is the machine here yet? Of course not, but the chains of slavery are always put on a person one link at a time until finally the chains constrict the person totally. BTW, when I say facism I don't mean brownshirts and swastikas and all of that, American facism will be much more subtle and hence, much harder to defeat.
Mahalo
Gonzo