Howard Kurtz takes a cheap shot at Democrats

The Washington Post’s media critic, Howard Kurtz, usually does a great job at his job as a media analyst. He consistently offers insightful and cutting commentary on what’s going on in the news industry and is respected throughout the industry for his work.

After reading Kurtz’s work for many years, I’ve noticed a tendency for his articles/columns to tilt a bit in favor of conservatives, but it rarely interferes with the content of his work and it’s never so blatant as to be offensive.

Until today.

Kurtz has a daily online column that the Post runs in addition to his articles published in the paper. While he almost never actually reports or uncovers news and events, Kurtz tells his readers how the media is covering news and events.

Today, Kurtz wrote about the personal difficulties of West Virginia Gov. Bob Wise (D). Wise has admitted to having an extramarital affair during his term in office and has apologized to voters and his family. Making matters slightly worse, Wise’s mistress is a government employee, so technically she works under Wise’s authority.

Not unexpectedly, Kurtz wrote about how the West Virginia press was covering the scandal and how those stories may impact state politics, with links to relevant articles and editorials. However, he also felt it necessary to throw in an editorial comment.

“Just what the country needed: another Democrat who can’t keep his zipper zipped,” Kurtz said.

This is ridiculous and unnecessary. There was no need for Kurtz to take this cheap shot in a partisan fashion. He could have just as easily commented on “another politician” or even “another governor,” but instead he went with a low blow against Democrats.

Perhaps to try and bolster his case, Kurtz’s piece today mentions a handful of other high-profile Dems who’ve been caught philandering, including Bill Clinton, JFK, and Kentucky Gov. Paul Patton. I guess he forgot to mention FDR, Jesse Jackson, Henry Cisneros, and Gary Hart.

I’m not defending the actions of any of these men. I think what they did with their personal lives is wrong. I’m not even going to make the case right now about how these are personal matters that have no place being dragged through the media mud.

I am, however, going to argue that Kurtz is way off-base if he thinks Democrats are the only ones with “zipper problems.”

Just in the last few years, the public has learned of enough high-profile Republican philanderers to fill a football team.

When New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani, for example, was found to have been cheating on his wife, Kurtz wrote that the media was beginning to cover the story that “every New York reporter believes but few have dared to hint at in print” (Aug. 4, 1997). Kurtz didn’t have any snide remarks about “another Republican who can’t keep his zipper zipped,” only that it was pretty obvious to everyone in the city that Giuliani wasn’t being faithful.

A year later, Kurtz noted that three “prominent Republican House members” had acknowledged “past infidelities” during the Lewinsky scandal, but Kurtz merely covered media reports about the affairs and conservative allegations that the Clinton White House was involved (Dec. 19, 1998). There were no nasty asides about how Republicans keep getting caught with their pants down, so to speak.

Just off the top of my head, I can think of plenty of prominent congressional Republicans who have admitted extramarital affairs just within the last few years: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.), former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.), former Sen. Tim Hutchinson (R-Ark.), Rep. Henry Hyde (R-Ill.), Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), Rep. Dan Burton (R-Ind.), former Rep. Helen Chenoweth (R-Wyo.), former Rep. Bob Livingston (R-La.), and former Rep. Bob Barr (R-Ga.).

As hard as I try, I can’t think of that many Democrats. Does that mean Republicans are worse than Democrats? Or that the GOP has bad family values? Or that there’s something about Republican ideology that makes GOP lawmakers more likely to cheat on their spouses?

Of course not. People make mistakes and they have to face the consequences of their actions. No political party has a monopoly on virtue or vice.

If you wanted to let Howard Kurtz know what you thought of his cheap shot at the Democratic Party, feel free to email him. I already did.