Is the Washington Post Story on Menendez Rathergate II?
One thing I didn’t get to post about yesterday because of the Paul filibuster was a set of updates on the flawed Washington Post story purporting to debunk the Daily Caller pieces on Menendez. We can’t lose sight of this: it could be the next Rathergate.
First, as I reported the other day, Tucker Carlson said they claimed they tried to contact him but didn’t.
Time stamps show the WaPo’s Carol Leonnig emailed me more than 30 minutes after posting her story on us, then pretended I didn’t respond.
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 5, 2013
Second, as the Daily Caller has reported, the Washington Post airbrushed out the central error of their story without acknowledging error. This is huge. The original story read:
[T]he women’s videotaped claims, with their faces obscured, were played on the conservative Web site The Daily Caller. The news site reported that ‘the two women said they met Menendez around Easter at Casa de Campo, an expensive 7,000-acre resort in the Dominican Republic.
This was quietly changed to this:
“the videotaped claims of two women, made with their faces obscured, were posted on the conservative Web site the Daily Caller.”
As the Daily Caller explained, this “ma[de] it ambiguous whether the two women who appeared in TheDC’s video are the same ones Leonnig identified as retracting their allegations against Menendez.”
Third, the affidavit they relied on? I’m just saying, that thing seems suspect.
Somehow I think we haven’t heard the last of this story. Keep it in the forefront of your mind.
What I love is the affidavit comes from an “under investigation for corruption” family member of Menedez’s Miami donor … and the WAPO ran it without even checking anything. Did not check veracity. Did not try to contact the new hooker. Did not even bother going to the Dominican.
Wow. Reporting is dead at the WAPO.
Comment by Rodney King's Spirit (951136) — 3/7/2013 @ 7:57 am
R.I.P. Alvin Lee, guitarist/singer/leader of Ten Years After
Comment by Icy (3fa9ab) — 3/7/2013 @ 7:59 am
sleazy propaganda sluts are sleazy
but checkit has the fascist fascist wapo actually discovered non-essential piggy piggy federal worker whores?
i’m sure a florid correction is pending
Comment by happyfeet (8ce051) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:03 am
Also suspect? That two Republicans operatives were chaperoning these two women (or perhaps not these two women) last fall to ABC, who didn’t run with the story because of “doubts of the womens’ veracity and identity”.
Apparently, the Daily Caller had no such reservations.
Comment by Kman (5576bf) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:09 am
Lucy Ramirez lives.
Comment by SarahW (b0e533) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:10 am
Did the WaPo even consider who was providing an affidavit?
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:18 am
Raise your hands if you are shocked that kmart is rushing to the defense of horrible reporting, Menendez, and Melgen.
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:19 am
JD, I found Kman’s snark about ABC not running the story to somehow … not exactly prove his point.
Yet again.
Comment by SPQR (768505) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:20 am
#4. So Kman,
1) So you can see how bias works. One outlet goes and the other stays. You proved the point most make the MSM is biased.
2) No comment on WAPO running the story with even less? DC at least went to the Dominican and did interviews.
3) What about the other prostitutes?
4) What about the corruption charges and influence peddling?
5) Where were you when (D) operatives ran stories about George Bush and John McCain in the NY Times????????
Hypocrisy has no bounds but in this case, facts don’t support Menendez at all.
Comment by Rodney King's Spirit (951136) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:20 am
It’s all Pavlov, all the time, JD.
Comment by Simon Jester (c8876d) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:21 am
Congratulations, Kman. You’ve discovered the trvth: Menendez didn’t engage in any questionable activities whatsoever. Perhaps we should all just leave him alone, lest one of his associates/admirers launches a SWATting campaign against his perceived enemies.
Comment by Icy (3fa9ab) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:21 am
#6 WAPO did nothing. They simply took a piece of paper as gospel and wrote the entire article in their underwear while playing Black Ops III on their PlayStation.
Comment by Rodney King's Spirit (951136) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:22 am
And FWIW, how Chris Christie could find nothing about Menendez’s activities in Hudson County NJ proves to me he is a politician above all.
Comment by Rodney King's Spirit (951136) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:23 am
Well, the same criticism works both ways. Either the Daily Caller or WaPO (or perhaps both) went ahead without checking the veracity of the underlying facts/claimants.
Comment by Kman (5576bf) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:29 am
Kman isn’t intersted in speaking truth to power, he’s only interested in speaking power to truth.
Comment by Elephant Stone (3c3ae3) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:29 am
Yes, and his power is derived from that DimBulb in Searchlight.
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:40 am
You are not even trying today, Kmart.
Comment by JD (31065f) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:44 am
America’s MSM is the new Pravda.
Comment by Kevin P. (1df29c) — 3/7/2013 @ 8:47 am
The best thing about KMan is that when he pollutes a comment thread, it’s fun to watch the attempts to fish him back out of it.
Comment by Pious Agnostic (6ff605) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:08 am
Sure, dude. Menendez finally ponied up $58.5K in January 2013 for two trips he took to soapland on Dr. Feel Good’s private plane in 2010 because the story the Daily Caller broke in late 2012 was way, way off.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:11 am
He’s like a hockey goalie: Swimming on ice and going nowhere.
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:12 am
I haven’t staked a claim here. I’m just saying one media outlet is going to look pretty stupid. The Daily Caller has been pimping this since November, so they’ve got more to lose.
Comment by Kman (5576bf) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:13 am
In a way I agree. The WaPo doesn’t have much to lose. Anymore.
Forbes: The Washington Post Is In Even Worse Shape Than You Think
Maybe the WaPo ought to run another anonymously-sourced story about a GOP senator having an affair with a lobbyist to try to boost circulation.
Then get back to criticizing the Daily Caller for its sleazy reporting.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:36 am
Amazing, isn’t it, the vitriol brought forward as a reaction to Kman’s very reasonable statements. Were these people equally vocal when the members of their own party have been involved in similar scandals? And there have been plenty. Need I list them?
Simply said, the jury is still out on these allegations about Menendez.
Comment by Perry (329aa5) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:47 am
Keep bridging those gaps, Perry.
Comment by JD (31065f) — 3/7/2013 @ 9:59 am
Perry wrote:
Well, that’s just it: Republicans caught with their penises where they ought not to be usually have just enough dignity left to resign, or at least not run for re-election. The Anthony Weiners of the world, well, they try to hang on as long as they can, and “men” like Garry Studds keep getting re-elected and re-elected and re-elected.
Of course, the GOP hasn’t been completely free from such problems, but Republicans certainly excoriated then Speaker Dennis Hastert for not taking care of the Mark Foley case firmly and promptly.
The mainstream media are holding back on this story for one, and only one, reason: if Senator Menendez is forced to resign, Governor Chris Christie will appoint a Republican to fill his seat; were the governor of New Jersey a Democrat, they’d be after the story full bore.
Comment by The Dana who remembers (3e4784) — 3/7/2013 @ 10:33 am
Sometimes I feel like these are all small, meaningless pushbacks to the dominance of the Left.
But all of it taken together has taken us forward. Rand Paul’s exciting, substantive challenge yesterday would not have been possible without it.
Carry on, brave bloggers! The tide is turning.
Comment by Patricia (be0117) — 3/7/2013 @ 10:50 am
Men have been dingling their dangles where they shouldn’t since the dawn of civilization. Pretending to have moral superiority on this issue won elections in the 80′s, when televangelists could deliver and the internet didn’t exist, but a it’s a losing issue in 2013. At least, it’s a losing issue barring some massive cultural shift in the US that goes counter-trend to the rest of Western Civilization. Republicans are going to continue to be marginalized on a national level due to this non-issue nonsense. I do not believe that John Q Voter cares whether or not some guy got laid on vacation. Killing people with drones or tanking the economy are just a smidge more important.
Moreover, the hypocrisy on these issues, especially from the Christian right, make the whole thing laughable. Every time a Ted Haggard or Larry Craig gets caught getting his groove on, team R look like tools. We’re men. These things happen. Go fix the economy, numbnuts.
Look at the candidates we lose because of this nonsense – Senator Jack Ryan would have made an Obama presidency a pipe dream. How in the hell does taking your wife to a swinger’s club in Paris make you a bad Senator?
In carlito’s world, the Republican response to “did you hear that Senator Menendez patronized prostitutes in the DR?” would be – “yeah, so?”
***None of the above excuses the media bias, just kind of a meta-comment for your consideration.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 10:56 am
prostitute are how you get the hepatitis I think
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 10:57 am
Perry: Need I list them?
Please, please list them.
They’ve all been driven out of office by a relentless media.
Comment by beer 'n pretzels (6ef50f) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:00 am
Well, Vitter hasn’t been. But then when his scandals broke it helped that his wife already knew about those issues for years. He had told her. And he publicly apologized.
Which is an entirely different standard of conduct then Menendez is displaying.
Especially this little ploy of getting his big money donor to arrange for some third hook who wasn’t even in the DC story to claim she lied about have sex with Sen. Menendez (D-Shady Lady Ranch).
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:14 am
Carlitos – I pretty much agree. I am just sooooo tired of the double standard. His interventions on Melgen’s Medicaid and port security seem like far bigger deals to me. That, and he is now the chair of the foreign relations comm.
Comment by JD (31065f) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:18 am
Thanks JD. I tend to get lost in the forest, and miss the trees. I made the same point on Medicaid in one of the other threads. Chair of foreign relations – yikes.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:20 am
feets, don’t ever change.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:25 am
what a magnificent and convincing argument…
“Nothing to see here, move along.”
“Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.”
“Everyone else does it too.”
“You guys are just as bad.”
it’s the “Perman Defense”, good for every occasion that you have no actual facts to back your case…
Comment by redc1c4 (403dff) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:27 am
It isn’t so much about Menendez cavorting with (underage?) prostitutes, as it is about lying about it and covering up the misuse of his Senate office to feather the nest of his party pal pimp with taxpayer money.
Comment by ropelight (0ea0bb) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:27 am
It;s not Rathergate, because there are no forged documents involved, detectable by clever analysis.
Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:31 am
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 10:56 am
The point is that the actual corruption is a hard case to prove, especially on the internet.
The hooker angel, OTOH, is very easy.
But, like you say, most people don’t give a Rat’s Patootie until you mention that the hooker is underage, and his travelling to the DR to engage the services of said underage sex-worker is a violation of Federal Law, a law that Menendez may or may not have voted upon while on The Hill.
That is the low-hanging fruit of this story, and the one that – if he were a Republican, or the Governor was a Democrat – would have already caused his departure from the hallowed halls of Congress.
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:35 am
Oops, not an “angel”, but an “angle”.
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:37 am
Wow. I just googled, and it looks like the age of consent in the DR is 18. If that’s the case, he should have stayed in DC or New Jersey, where it’s only 16.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:39 am
So they made it a federal crime to fly from your state/district (where the age of consent is 16) to have sex with a girl who’s 17 in a country where the age of consent is 18. Hmm.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:45 am
It’s to Protect the Children!
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 11:47 am
Are you quite sure of that?
He said with a small but confident smile.
Comment by Patterico (1810a1) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:06 pm
Sammy knows things, P
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:07 pm
carlitos wrote:
Losing Seven of Nine makes you an idiot, that’s how.
Comment by The Trekkie Dana (3e4784) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:14 pm
carlitos asked
Yes, actually.
Comment by The Trekkie Dana (3e4784) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:17 pm
that’s a really stupid law I think
for the record I do not have a passport even
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:18 pm
Losing 7 of 9 says much about you.
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:21 pm
Jeri drives a really nice car I bet
she’s a very hard working lady
probably like a mercedes or something
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:22 pm
askeptic, I’ve tried to explain before that it’s all very grown-up to view the corruption as more important, it’s very difficult to prove. You really need to get a warrant for a wiretap as they did in the Rod Bagojevich case (YouTube audio [profanity] “I’ve got this thing and it’s f***in’ golden….“). Or at least one very stupid politician. Unless you have something in writing or on tape both the pol doing the favors in exchange for cash and the scammer who’s willing to pay-to-play can simply deny that anything of value was ever exchanged for something in return.
Two of of Sen. Menendez’s (D-Kit Kat Spa & Saloon) big money contributors are already in prison. The Bigica brothers of Hoboken. It’s entirely possible that Melgen was stupid enough to do what the Bigica brothers did; use each other and family members as straw contributors. But then, as with the Bigica brothers all Menendez has to do is pretend he’s shocked to find out that his good friend Dr. Melgen illegally violated FECA campaign contribution limits.
Personally, I think traveling abroad to hire underage hookers is a pretty big deal, too. As we’ve seen as the WaPo story falls apart hookers are very unreliable witnesses. If you pay them you can get them to say they lied on a video they never even appeared on. But there’d be other witnesses. You can’t sneak girls into a gated resort without the staff noticing. That’s why the girls have who want to work the hotel bar when the Secret Service is escorting the President to Cartagena have to pay a few people off. The staff will notice.
Plus there’ll be credit card receipts if the Senator bought anything himself, flight logs, people who may not have seen him with the girls but can at least place the Senator there, etc.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:22 pm
The purpose of that law is to prevent pedophiles from jetting off to Thailand and sodomizing little boys without any fear of prosecution, but the way the law is described on the DoJ site, it would apply to Senator Memendez:
The law also defines “minor” as any person under 18 years old. You fly to Paris, fornicate with a 17 year, 11 month old cute little French girl, even if you had never heard of her until you met her there, and you are in violation of the law.
Comment by The realistic Dana (3e4784) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:24 pm
it says you have to have intent
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:24 pm
Actually it’s a federal crime to travel abroad to have sex with anyone under 18. It doesn’t matter what the age of consent is there.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:27 pm
i still think it’s a dumb over-reaching law though cause what happens in thailand stays in thailand as far as I’m concerned
this corpulent gay man down the hall from us in the building where i used to work used to always come back from thailand and pop in and ask lots of questions about video editing software
I would think oh good heavens
but you know you just can’t get excited about stuff like that
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:28 pm
Moreover, the hypocrisy on these issues, especially from the Democrat Media Complex
Christian right, makes the whole thing laughable.carlitos – FTFY. You’re right, these things happen. Just think about the fair and balanced way the media covers it when it happens to somebody on the left. Who knew that Jesse Jackson had an out of wedlock lovechild and paid hush money to keep it quiet? When a Democrat presidential candidate was boinking a bimbo on the campaign trail, the only outlet willing to pick up the obvious story was the National Enquirer. Now, the media is trying to keep a lid on jailbait hookergate. All coincidence I’m sure.
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:34 pm
Bob swears up and down his multiple trips to Bangkok are just because he’s a huge fan of The Man with the Golden Gun. He like to visit all the locations where they shot it.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:37 pm
“but you know you just can’t get excited about stuff like that”
Mr. Feets – It sounds like the corpulent gay man from down the hall did. NTTAWWT
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:38 pm
happyfoots wrote:
Actually, I agree with you: I do not see how the United States can make an action taken outside of its legal jurisdiction a crime. But it is still the law, and if it happens to garrote a Democratic senator, well, I’ll settle for it being declared unconstitutional after Mr Menendez is gone.
Comment by The Dana who isn't a lawyer (3e4784) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:40 pm
speaking of garroting I almost just went to lunch with a web page what’s talking about “Extraterritorial Sexual Exploitation of Children” on my monitor
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:44 pm
Comment by Patterico (1810a1) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:06 pm
Oh, great, now we are going to be treated to an eleven comment continuing series of stream of consciousness by Sammy on the word “forgery”.
Comment by SPQR (768505) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:44 pm
LOL.
Daley, you might have missed my disclaimer above.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:52 pm
Gary Glitter had a good time in Southeast Asia until he got thrown in the Greybar Hotel.
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:54 pm
“Daley, you might have missed my disclaimer above.”
carlitos – I probably did. I just get tired of all the kneejerk Christian Right BS that gets trotted out.
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:55 pm
ABC News version of the Menendez prostitute case:
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/robert-menendez-prostitution-scandal-happened/story?id=18664472
What Dominican official? And how can he confirm it?
ABC interviewed thhree women. None of them gave any identity cards with the real names and their stiories were almost word fopr word the same.
Q. Was this a dirty trick aimed at people trying to expose Menendez? That’s posisble too.
ABC was contacted only right before the election.
Comment by Sammy Finkelman (d22d64) — 3/7/2013 @ 12:56 pm
I’ll remind anyone who cares that I found the patterico site from the old “Oh, That Liberal Media” site, so the topic is of interest to me.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:07 pm
Carlitos is right.
It’s only “the Christian right” who are opposed to an almost sixty year old Senator having sex with teenage girls !
After all, we know that there aren’t any Democrats who give a crap about stuff like that.
Comment by Elephant Stone (ab8de9) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:08 pm
Why did the Doctor leave two of Seven of Nine’s Borg implants in place?
Comment by The Star Trek fan Dana (3e4784) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:09 pm
That is not what carlitos was saying.
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:10 pm
feets @ 52….
Yes, the website says “with the intent”, but what does the LAW say?
DOLLAR to a DoNut that if some businessman overseas for a conference of some-sort, engaged in sex with an underage sex-worker and emailed pix back, or bragged about it on his blog, whatever, where it came to the attention of some Crusading District Attorney (USA-type), they would bring a prosecution .
They will get you for the act (see Gibson Guitar) whether or not you had the intent.
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:17 pm
Dana, you mean Two of Thirty-Six
Comment by SPQR (768505) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:17 pm
Jeri had 36 implants?
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:22 pm
She may have 36 implants, but only 2 are visible.
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:28 pm
I’m sure you’re right about the underage sex thing, regardless of how the law is written.
But they screwed Gibson over the Lacey Act. Which is strict liability. It doesn’t matter if you had intent or not. Actually in many cases they flag people for investigation for violating the act when people call and ask how to comply with it ahead of time.
Guitar Frets: Environmental Enforcement Leaves Musicians in Fear
There are lots of really stupid federal laws.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:32 pm
The Gibson guitar case was/is noxious.
Comment by JD (b63a52) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:35 pm
Perhaps we need a Constitutional Amendment restoring Mens Rea to the Federal Code.
Of course, weeding out about 98% of what is in the Federal Code would be a good start also.
Comment by askeptic (b8ab92) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:36 pm
Bingo.
Most of everything in life you can cut by 10% and it will be fine. The Federal Code, you can cut by 90%.
Comment by carlitos (49ef9f) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:48 pm
They will get you for the act (see Gibson Guitar) whether or not you had the intent.
they do not value the freedoms of me and my countrymen, these ones
it’s endlessly disheartening
and each time i go to bed I sigh like I’m Peggy Noonan
Comment by happyfeet (4bf7c2) — 3/7/2013 @ 1:54 pm
What happens in Thailand stays in Thailand . . .
Unless you get the gift that keeps on giving — then it comes back with you; and it doesn’t need a passport.
Comment by Icy (3fa9ab) — 3/7/2013 @ 2:09 pm
Perry defending Dad and Kman.
Cuckoo birds of a feather . . .
Comment by Icy (3fa9ab) — 3/7/2013 @ 2:10 pm
Most of everything in life you can cut by 10% and it will be fine.
Except a federal budget. Then 2.45% will bring on Armageddon.
Comment by JD (31065f) — 3/7/2013 @ 2:12 pm
“That is not what carlitos was saying.”
JD – It’s not what I’m saying either. Media hypocrisy is what is on the table. Killing or minimizing stories about sex scandals on the left while magnifying them when they involve people, especially members of the “Christian Right” as if that had special meaning.
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/7/2013 @ 2:21 pm
“Unless you get the gift that keeps on giving — then it comes back with you; and it doesn’t need a passport.”
Icy – Explaining to better half why she has to take pills for your “kidney infection” is always a good time.
Comment by daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 3/7/2013 @ 2:23 pm
Sorry, Daley. Mine was in response to ES.
Comment by JD (31065f) — 3/7/2013 @ 2:26 pm
The Washington Post recently announced they are dropping the independant(fixed term contractual) position of ombudsman and replacing it with an employee readers represntative. An ombudsman can, without fear of reprisal, challenge ethical and journalistic lapses in print. An employee readers reperesentative is less likely to.
So just when they need one, things like this happen.
Comment by Corky Boyd (c2186d) — 3/7/2013 @ 6:43 pm
Corky, that’s industry best practices at all the leading papers. Leading in shedding subscribers, that is.
Comment by Steve57 (60a887) — 3/7/2013 @ 7:21 pm