Wow. As any reader of Jessica McBride knows, she's loath to bow to reality.
But the report that her hero USAT Steven Biskupic nearly got the ax -- likely because the GOP felt he came up short in finding voter fraud and went so far as to say there was no conspiracy -- pushes her to do so. Albeit on her own, uh, idiosyncratic terms:
Let me be blunt. Yes, Biskupic was apparently granted a "reprieve," but the fact that Steve Biskupic was even considered for firing by the Justice Department at all is outrageous and not defensible (unless there is something we are all missing here). If there is something legitimate we are missing, let's hear it. It does call into question the firing process of other U.S. attorneys, unfortunately. I wonder if any of the others were Steve Biskupics (David Iglesias seems the most likely candidate).
So more than a month after the rest of the world realizes the White House dumped Iglesias because wouldn't pursue BS voter fraud cases and wouldn't attack Democrats on the White House timetable, Jessica starts to think something fishy is going on in Purgegate.
Of course, this recognition of reality also comes after weeks of ridiculing the suggestion that the state GOP would complain about Biskupic, "smacking" down callers who tried to talk sense about the USAT purges and mocking the notion that there's anything fishy about Karl Rove's keen interest in press clippings about alleged voter fraud in Wisconsin (Jessica: Karl has so many hours in the day. There is going to be an explicit political reason for any reading he does.)
Now, obviously Jessica is changing her tune because her previous efforts to obfuscate, trivialize and "not get" Purgegate are increasingly less tenable. So, while the Brawler is glad to see Jessica start to see glimmers of light (though she really has to stop calling the pursuer of Georgia Thompson, Cynthia Alicea and Kimberly Prude as "courageous"), her poor deductive reasoning and inability to see facts plainly underscores she should not be teaching journalism.
All that said, is there any hope for the perpetually clueless Patrick McIlheran, who's still, at this late date, pimping Iraq-al Qaeda connections? Why doesn't the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel hire a flat earth columnist to balance all the columnists who believe the world is round?
Jessica is just trying to soften her tone because she is nervous about her "thugs electing a thug" comment about the McGee race blowing up. After watching Imus' spectacular fall, she is nervous.
Posted by: Lillian | April 14, 2007 at 11:29 PM