US - Media's 'scandal' double standard

It certainly is.

Ten years ago, when the Clinton administration was rifling through the FBI files of former Republican officials, it was extremely distasteful to object. Here is Brian Williams in June of 1996, after the [Clinton] White House admitted collecting FBI reports on 338 GOP officials (later revised upward to more than 900) and after Bob Dole compared it to Nixon's enemies list: "The politics of Campaign '96 are getting very ugly very early. Today Bob Dole accused the White House of using the FBI to wage war against its political enemies, and if that sounds like another political scandal, that's the point."

At that time, Washington Post media reporter Howard Kurtz admitted the press blew the FBI-files story. Why? There was a "feeling that ... a political snooping operation was not the kind of thing they expected from the Clinton White House, whereas if hundreds of files had been obtained by Ed Meese in the Reagan administration on Democrats, I think this story would have rocketed to the front page."

Now we're observing that role reversal. Granted, the scope of the NSA database is much larger. But it's also less personal than FBI files, full of raw personal allegations. How's that for a double standard: The Clintons built a treasure-trove of personal data on their political adversaries, and the networks called the Republicans who objected "ugly." But when NSA builds a database to discover terrorists in America, it's time to impeach the dictator.

The Clintons were absorbed in database creation -- not to protect the country, but to protect and perfect their grip on power. "Secret System Computerizes Personal Data," declared a June 26, 1996, front-page article in The Washington Times. Reporter Paul Rodriguez detailed how the White House Office Data Base tracked personal information on those who visited the Clintons, including their Democratic National Committee donation records. Network coverage? Not a word on ABC, CBS or NBC.

Seven months later, the Los Angeles Times and Time magazine "broke" the story again, discovering the Clintonites routinely turned over personal information of supporters to the DNC, mingling White House funds and party-building activities. Then CBS and NBC aired one story. ABC did not. But again, it was a Republican allegation, not a Los Angeles Times story.

What else would you expect from the left wing media?
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