The Argus Leader blog has a blurb about how Tom Daschle "sometimes got a pass from the media":
You can disagree about what newspapers need to butt into – I sometimes do – but there’s one thing I’m certain of: My bulldog of an editor plays target practice with any clay pigeons, regardless of party.
I can almost hear the collective breath taken in protest: “But what about Daschle?”
Truth be told, former Sen. Tom Daschle never failed to irritate me with his mealy-mouthed liberal pieties while in Washington and common sense, down-home good ol’ boy charm here in South Dakota.
And I do think he sometimes got a pass from the media, the Argus included, but for different reasons than you might think.
For one thing, when he mouthed Democratic boilerplate, I think reporters covering him reasoned, “Well, what’s he supposed to say, after all? He’s the ranking elected Democrat in the nation.”
Another reason: As helpful as our parent company, Gannett News, is in covering D.C., we just don’t have the money to send someone from South Dakota to Washington (although I’m up for the trip, boss, if you ever can spare a dime).
I'm going to have to argue with this on a couple points. For one, you don't need to send someone to Washington D.C. to cover our politicians. South Dakota bloggers in 2003-2004 did just fine sitting in their pajamas behind computer screens. And ranking Democrat or not, the Argus still failed to expose other discrepancies in his record. To use one example, if he decided to tout the Democratic line on abortion, while previously being against it, then that's a sign of shifting with the political winds and not sticking to your principles. Remember that Daschle once told ministers in 1986 that abortion was "murder" but then he was on the NARAL/Emily's List team. And it's an issue the Argus could've easily covered without being in Washington. Not to mention Daschle's refusal to answer a South Dakota reporter's question on his duplicity on the issue: he said one thing in DC and another in SD. That's only one issue out of many. The 1986 Daschle was pro-life, anti-gun control, anti-income tax increase, and pro-balanced budget amendment. He changed on all these issues in 18 years. Where was the Argus scrutiny?
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