Patterico's Pontifications

8/6/2005

New York Times Inquiry into Roberts Adoption Hits Big Media

Filed under: Judiciary,Media Bias — Patterico @ 12:19 am



The Dallas Morning News reports that Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison has denounced the New York Times‘s decision to investigate, to some degree, the adoption of John Roberts’s children.

P.S. Meanwhile, Michelle Malkin prints letters from some of her readers on the topic. The letters are eloquent, insightful, and appropriately angry.

P.P.S. And from Malkin’s trackbacks, I see that Wonkette mocks Malkin’s outrage — gee, all they did was investigate. If the story never runs, then no harm, no foul.

Let the investigation of Wonkette’s personal life begin. (That is, if anyone really cares.)

16 Responses to “New York Times Inquiry into Roberts Adoption Hits Big Media”

  1. I read somewhere that the oil slick Wonkette leaves when she swims out to meet the troops can be seen from space…

    Glenn (ac1b40)

  2. “Let the investigation of Wonkette’s personal life begin. (That is, if anyone really cares.)”

    Do you even read her blog?

    actus (a5f574)

  3. Actus (or anyone who thinks this kind of prying is OK) —

    Let’s say the next president is a Democrat and appoints a woman to the Court. What would your reaction be if a conservative newspaper investigated whether she had an abortion, whether or not they found anything?

    Kevin Murphy (6a7945)

  4. Kevin:

    Why stop at whether she had an abortion or not? Let’s see who she’s ever slept with. If she ever had an affair or not.

    What other personal affairs might shed light? We’ve already made video rentals fair game. Perhaps her medical records should be laid open, after all, she’s going to be a public figure.

    And then folks wonder why we can’t get top-notch people into government service any more….

    Lurking Observer (14bf7a)

  5. Do you even read her blog?

    Nope. Saw her silly comment through Malkin’s trackbacks.

    Patterico (756436)

  6. Patterico,

    Why stop at her personal life? Surely she has close relatives we can slander, and then mock that.

    Leigh (6ad34a)

  7. “What would your reaction be if a conservative newspaper investigated whether she had an abortion, whether or not they found anything?”

    I commented on this earlier. It depends what they do with it. I can see it being highly newsworthy that the president had to have a back alley abortion, or had faced serious as applied undue burdens on her because she lived in a state with backward laws.

    “Why stop at whether she had an abortion or not? Let’s see who she’s ever slept with. If she ever had an affair or not.”

    I can’t imagine people caring whether the president has affairs. Can you?

    “Nope. Saw her silly comment through Malkin’s trackbacks.”

    Ya, it didn’t seem like you were familiar with her work.

    actus (a5f574)

  8. Ya, it didn’t seem like you were familiar with her work.

    And am unlikely to become so.

    Patterico (756436)

  9. I’ve spent a total of about ten forgettable minutes reading her blog. You could check out today’s less than sophmoric entry about big gay judges, bananas, and getting “behind” Roberts’s nomination.Her rhetoric doesn’t rise to the level of Animal House, much less sarcasm. The idea of anyone wasting time or resources investigating this no-talent’s private life is risible. Don’t worry, Wonkette fans. Her “right to privacy” is secure.

    martin (fb2430)

  10. Well, after reading that, I had to look at Wonkette’s website, just to see what it was. And on it found, “Without our sponsors, we’d be nothing.”

    Does that mean she’s not nothing already?

    Of course, since her website gets more visitors than mine . . .

    Dana R. Pico (1d6514)

  11. Kevin Murphy, I would have no problem with a conservative newspaper investigating the circumstances under which a Democratic pick for the Supreme Court adopted children.

    As for abortion, if for example a Democratic pick for the Supreme Court had publically stated that she had had an abortion to end a pregnancy resulting from rape I would have no problem with a conservative newspaper looking into whether she was actually raped.

    Of course the standards for publishing a story are higher than the standards for initiating an investigation, particularly for a newspaper like the New York Times which claims to limit itself to the news that is “fit to print”. But I think objections to a preliminary investigation are wrong.

    James B. Shearer (fc887e)

  12. Lurking Observer, I believe as a result of the Bork incident a law was passed making video rental records private.

    As for good people in government, I believe what happened to Paul O’Neill is a bigger deterrent than the loss of privacy. Of course Roberts doesn’t have to worry about the same thing happening to him since once he is on the court he can do what he likes. In his case the pay cut is probably a bigger issue.

    James B. Shearer (fc887e)

  13. I think that a point has been missed. When the Zoë Baird and Kimba Wood nominations had both been derailed due to nanny problems, it pointed out to our good friends at The New York Times that such personal life foibles could be used to great effect to stop nominees. Then nanny problems stopped Linda Chavez and Bernard Kerik (who had mistress problems as well), people the Times really opposed, and the editors of the Grey Lady saw the power they could have.

    If we had already seen a nomination derailed by questionable adoption practices, no one would even blink about the Times looking into Mr and Mrs Roberts two adoptions. Because no such thing has yet occurred, it looks smarmy. If it turns out that there was some sort of questionable action in the Roberts’ adoptions, then the end will have justified the means as far as a lot of people are concerned, and there won’t be any complaints the next time an adoptive parent nominated for a federal position by a Republican president has his adoption records investigated.

    But, let’s assume that the Times actually finds something wrong with the adoptions of the Roberts’ children. That gives us two results:

    1- Judge Roberts’ confirmation possibly fails (which the Times wants to happen; and
    2- The Roberts’ children possibly get taken away (about which the Times doesn’t care one bit).

    Dana R. Pico (a9eb8b)

  14. I love to hear the defenders of this nonsense, as they put cramped conditions on the abortion hypothetical, but oppose any limitation in this case.

    Sounds like people are confusing “Whatever works” with a principle.

    Kevin Murphy (6a7945)

  15. “Lurking Observer, I believe as a result of the Bork incident a law was passed making video rental records private.”

    So the Bork nomination did have some beneficial effect on privacy.

    actus (a5f574)

  16. And locking up Japanese Americans had the beneficial effect, fifty years later, of making Americans realize how fragile our rights actually are.

    And lynching black Americans did have some beneficial effect in that it outraged other Americans into supporting civil rights.

    Somehow “beneficial” is not quite the word I would apply.

    Lurking Observer (ea88e8)


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