But we’ll never know, because the press had a ‘hands off’ policy with Chelsea. There was a conscious decision amongst the major news media to not follow and report on her. They felt it was an abuse of her privacy, and that she had a right to grow up and go to college without every little mistake making the front page. When Rush Limbaugh stepped out of line and made a disparaging joke about her, he was lambasted, and rightfully so.
It sure was nice to see the press act responsibly for a change, but apparently that attitude only applies to Democrats, because they’ve been following the Bush kids like bloodhounds.
C’mon, Sam. The Bush kids are 1) over 18 and therefore adults and 2) have committed a crime. If Chelsea was pulled over for speeding, I’m sure the media would have covered it.
But I admit that I don’t watch TV news. Has the media really treated the Bush kids unfairly when the law was not involved? You’re going to have to give us something more tangible. IMHO, when an adult commits a crime or misdemeanor, it’s fair to make that public knowledge.
You mean like when Perata, the California legislator who authored some of the state’s toughest gun control laws, used his political clout to obtain a permit to carry a concealed handgun in a county where hardly any such permits are issued?
Did any of you know that one of Al Gore’s daughters was actually kicked out of college while he was VP? Probably not, because the press refused to cover it. I have no idea what she was booted for, but it had to be fairly serious for the daughter of the VP to get kicked out. But again, we don’t know why because the press refused to cover it (According to Slate, that was helped along by Al making a few phone calls to network news department heads and such).
This isn’t a serious crime, guys. This is a college girl over 18 trying to have a brew with her friends in a restaurant, and running afoul of a very stupid law that’s largely ignored anyway. From what I understand, “someone” in the bar actually called 911 over this, which is why the cops showed up in the first place. Bob Novak thinks it was a Democratic operative paid to follow the kids and dig up dirt. I, on the other hand, think Bob Novak is insane. Still, this is a pretty trivial story, and yet it made the front page of the NY Times. Chelsea would have had to have killed someone to rate that kind of coverage.
No, I haven’t heard about Gore’s daughter getting kicked out of college, Sam. Do you have a cite for that? But unless it involves a criminal arrest, I don’t think it’s particularly comparable to the Bush Bust. Hell, we occasionally hear about Hollwood celebs getting in trouble for underage drinking. Why should we expect the press to behave any differently with the daughters of the most prominent politician in the world?
I think Sam Stone may be conflating a couple of incidents.
If he’s referring to either of the two that I know about, I shan’t describe them here, since they both occurred when the children were minors, except to say that one of them is eeriely similar to the recent Bush case.
As to reporting on the story, minty, I think the amount of emphasis is key here. If the stories appeared on page A16 under the Macy’s ad, I don’t think most people on either side would be as whipped up as they are now.
But sheesh! Ms. Bush made the complete cover of both tabloids in NY. The entire front page was a photograph of her and a large-type bad pun (Bush Bashed! or some such thing that is typical of tab headlines). The coverage was way, way out of proportion to even the least charitable description of what happened. It’s like she was OJ or something.
Oh lord, what is journalism coming to when the tabloids are blowing a story out of proportion?
Seriously, though, I don;'t think the mainstream press has given undue attention to this story at all. The night of the latest bust, ABC news didn’t even mention it until 20+ minutes into their broadcast, and even then it was just Peter Jennings briefly saying that Jenna was being investigated again. CBS did not mention it at all. Here in Austin, the local paper relegated the story to the Metro section. USA Today had a blurb on the front page, but only a relatively short story inside. And the online version of this week’s Time magazine (which even I think often betrays a liberal bias) mentions it only in a Margaret Carson column that says she feels bad for the President because of the attention given to his dumbass daughters.
In fact, the only journalists I’ve heard paying a lot of attention to this story is the usual conservative radio circuit, who are all complaining ad nauseum that the liberal media is paying undue attention to the story. One right wing nut job talk show host I heard last week (last name was “Savage,” IIRC) even claimed that Ted Turner was running a tape of Jenna loaded at a frat party “around the clock” on CNN. Total nonsense, of course.
What’s more, she doesn’t have to be. I have seen Chelsea close-up and shaken her hand, and I can say without reservation that she looks fine.
Most of the Chelsea-is-ugly talk stems from the fact that a.)when Bill was first elected, she was a geeky-looking 13-year-old, and b.)to this day, she doesn’t photograph particularly well.
She may not have the sorority chick good looks of the Bush or the Gore daughters, but I’d take her over them any day of the week.
[/brief hijack]
The comment about Gore’s daughter being kicked out of college came from Tucker Carlson on ‘Crossfire’ Friday night. You can read a transcript of the exchange between him, Michael Kinsley, and Paul Begala at http://www.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0106/01/cf.00.html The segment discussing Bush’s daughters starts about 2/3 of the way down.
Note that neither Kinsley or Begala contradicted that story, and both of them are partisan Democrats (and I actually like both of them quite a bit - especially Kinsley, who has always struck me as being one of the more principled commentators around. He has a good sense of humor, too.)
Can anyone do better than a stray comment on “Crossfire”? I try never to believe anything I hear on talk radio without confirmation, Crossfire is as dumb as talk radio (on both sides of the table).
But it was a suspension, not a permanent expulsion. It wasn’t necessarily college, nor was it necessarily Gore’s daughter.
The police were not involved, and the person was a minor.
And beyond that, I’m not going to do in this thread exactly what I deplore about what the press is doing to Ms. Bush.
Neither the person involved in the earlier incident nor Ms. Bush was elected to anything. They are not formal or informal advisors to their respective parents (although one Gore girl, not involved in any of the incidents above, is such an advisor and therefore fair game if she should do something untoward). Until one of these crazy kids leads a squad of police cars in a slow-speed chase on a California highway, leave them alone.
I agree that the young ladies involved were not elected to anything. And private matters should be private if the person has not done anything personally to put the spotlight on themselves. However, where we part ways is the point when they’ve intentionally done something that puts the spotlight on themselves.
And that is criminal behavior. I can go on the internet and for a fee, pull the criminal record of anyone convicted in Texas. Florida allows it for free (for those in prison/jail). I can pull the criminal record of people in Michigan for free, too (since I operate a non profit service, otherwise, it’d be a $5 charge).
You spelled out the circumstances of the OJ chase, let me ask you directly - where would you draw the line for the young Bush ladies? Obviously not at criminal behavior per se, would a felony do? (oh, but wait, didn’t we discover that the utilzation of another’s ID for fraudulent purposes could be charged as a felony?) Ok, so maybe just not drinking related? How about pot possession? Selling drugs? Drunk driving? armed robbery? passing a bad check?
The defense of ‘well they’re just doing what all other college aged folks did’ doesn’t pass, either, unless of course, you expect the cop writing you the speeding ticket to buy it too.
You seem to be under the misimpression that I believe the citation should not have been issued or that it should be illegal to report on it.
Neither is true, and I have not said, anywhere, anything that would indicate that it is.
I’m just saying that it is poor form to make a big deal out of it, and that “the fruit doesn’t drop far from the tree” and the rest of the cheap shots are exactly that: cheap shots from people unable or unwilling to make a coherent political argument based on the merits of an issue.
I think it makes a big difference if the politician uses his family in his election material.
If Mr. Illdoanythingtogetelected wants to claim that he represent family values, while his opponent doesn’t, then I think it’s perfectly fair to expose Mr. Illdoanythingtogetelected’s adultery.
If Mr. I appears regularly with his family on the campaign trail, and lectures the public on controlling teenage behaviour, and how well-brought up his kids are, then he has placed his family in the media spotlight.
If he then lectures us on drugs and automatic penalties, then his family should not be exempt from that area either.
Hmm. then maybe you could tell me who posted under your name the quote I referred to in my post, where it was said
, which seemed to indicate that only an event of the OJ significance should warrent more than a simple line on the last page of the ‘society news’ or something. So, my question to you still remains unanswered - exactly how big of a crime would have to be alleged before you figure they should get significant ‘press’?
To me, they got the right amount for the first one - a simple yea, it happened, and coverage of the plea. This second one coming so quickly after the first, is IMHO, fair game. The young lady had just been in front of a judge for the same thing! That sort of thing always generates more attention in the press - guy robs store, gets bailed out and robs again??? you bet they’re on the front page.
I agree on the cheap shots concept (shots about Bush not being able to control the country since he can’t control his daughters, speculation about if she has a drinking problem, the ‘apple not fall from the tree’ garbage et al), which should go triple for the ones about Chelseas’ looks, wouldn’t you say? But the level of press coverage, IMHO, is appropriate given the facts - this person who is arguably the most recognizable underaged person in Texas, decided that she could try again using some one else’s ID, at a point in time where the judge’s comments to her should have still been ringing in her ears.
OK, you convinced me. Clearly, Al Gore’s III’s suspension from St. Albans for alcohol and suspected marijuana possession, and the fact that he got off lighter than the kid with him (who was expelled) should have received more press. Happy, now? Because if you’re not, there are other children of democrats whom I can slime, including another Gore offspring.
The direct answer to your question is “exactly as big a crime as would justify similar coverage of a non-famous private citizen.”
See, now I know that you’re being contrary just for the heck of it. Because you can’t possibly be serious. It was a suspected misdemeanor charge of passing a fake ID! No charges at all have been filed! This is appropriate? On that day, New York changed it’s oppressive jury sequestration system. The FBI reported that crime levels had essentially stopped dropping. A police captain got busted for stealing money from drug dealers. The Rudy/Donna/Judy show was in full swing. And you seriously think a suspected misdeameanor fake ID case from 1,500 miles away where no charges have been filed is a good front page? Remind me to never put you in charge of publishing anything.
More like quintiple. I hold people who do that in such low regard that I cannot find the ability to respond to them outside the pit. They are trolls, nothing else.
**Al Gore III etc. I was on record as school crap not newsworthy, criminal charges, newsworthy. Seems to me to be a fair enough distinction, but hell, the stuff w/Gore III could have been charged as a crime, so, yea, it should have been talked about.
** hmmm. Disagree here. Criminal conduct is always available to be publicized. There were several ‘escapes’ from the correction center that I worked at. One recieved lots of press, including TV coverage. Why? 'cause the woman involved was pretty, and climbed out of a hotel window wearing a skimpy nightie to avoid the cops at the door, and hitchhiked her way back to town. Should she have gotten that level of press? Shrug. but she put herself in the position of gaining it by her actions, as did Ms. Bush. And yes, any person doing exactly the same crime within 2 weeks of going to court would get publicity. On the other hand, I don’t recall Mr. Bush begging for her picture to not be published when she danced w/her dad at the inaugeration, or reporting about her hospitalization for appendicitus right?
So your issue seems to be the specific covers on those newspapers, not the mainstream other press then, eh? well, I’d agree with you that it wasn’t the most important news of the day. Frankly, if my own local paper is any guide, “most important” isn’t the general thought when deciding what’s on the front of the newspaper - it’s :‘what will sell papers’. So here in Lansing MI, you’d think that Tom Izzo is the most important person in the state (headlines “Izzo’s Staying!!!” :rolleyes: ). Apprarently the owners of the papers involved felt that Jenna’s face would sell more newspapers than the police commissioner’s.
STOP THE PRESSES!!! 19 YEAR OLD COLLEGE GIRL HAS A BEER!!!
Sounds like front page material to me, Chief! We better get a man on the scene.
Both Manhattan and I have been saying that the media was correct in leaving Chelsea and Al Gore’s kids alone. Lots of people applauded them for that, including almost everyone on the right except for perhaps Rush Limbaugh (who was skewered by his own allies on the right, btw, for his Chelsea comment).
But hey, the Bush kid buys a beer, and let’s run with it as our top story!
You know, kids make mistakes. If someone had followed me around university with a video camera, they could have gotten some pretty wild footage. Maybe even enough wild footage to destroy my life, had I been famous. I guarantee you that Chelsea did some things she’s not proud of, as did we all. And I’ll bet she’s doubly glad that there was no camera in her face to record it. A pity the Bush girls can’t get the same courtesy.
