When ultraliberal Henry Waxman ran the House Government Reform Committee, The Washington Post didn't often suggest he was a fierce partisan or ideologue. Instead, former Washington Post managing editor Robert Kaiser praised him in a book review headlined "Moustache of Justice." (The Waxman lovers even have a mug.)
Kaiser cooed, “Henry Waxman is to Congress what Ted Williams was to baseball -- a natural....Waxman has been one of the most effective members of Congress for 35 years....This is the voice of David, whose career has featured the slaying of one Goliath after another.” This is not how the Post is treating Waxman’s "feverish" successor Darrell Issa.
In Thursday's edition of the Post commuter tabloid Express, Issa was called "The Right’s Watchdog." Waxman was a Hall of Fame player, he was David slaying multiple Goliaths, but he was not "The Left's Watchdog." In a small unbylined part of a graphics package, the Post sneered:
"After more than two years of feverishly chasing after almost every alleged misdeed by the Obama administration, Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., the chief congressional watchdog, now has the administration squarely in his crosshairs on two controversial issues."
When liberal journalists hatA few inches away, a leftist watchdog was simply "Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y" under the headline "Media Shield Law."
This was condensing a Paul Kane article for the main paper, which began: "After two years of feverishly chasing any hint or suggestion of wrongdoing by the Obama administration, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) may finally be having his moment."
Might we suggest that Mr. Kane and his Post colleagues could be described as "feverishly chasing any hint of suggestion of wrongdoing" when the politician is a Republican....like their current "Chefgate" scandal-hounding of Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell.
PS: NPR's Carrie Johnson did that the other day, too on the DOJ-AP scandal: Issa was a "fierce critic" of Obama, but Patrick Leahy and the ACLU were not given the hostile adjectives: "California Republican Darrell Issa, a fierce critic of the administration, said the Justice Department was behaving like it's above the law. Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, who normally defends the Obama White House, said he's troubled and wants an explanation. As for the civil liberties community..." Then the ACLU spokesman expressed shock at the AP surveillance.
