Buh-bye, Lurita

KT, thanks so much for this diary. I was hoping it would get a mention.

Bush's persistent cronyism in filling government positions is one of the undercovered stories of the last eight years.

Karen-

So, for Congressman Davis, Doan's entrepreneurial spirit should trump US law. Today's Republican Party!

"What took so long?" Well, Drudge didn't trumpet the Doan "scandals" on his page. Politico didn't run a week of critical articles, Fox News didn't take the cue and start pummeling Bush night after night, CNN never got the word so Blitzer and company barely mentioned it.

Think about all the steps in ratcheting up the rhetoric that would have happened had this been a Democratic and not a Republican administration. You might begin to see an answer your question.

As the loyalist of the loyal bushies, I'm surprised she doesn't have her Medal of Freedom yet. Maybe that is still coming.

The system works. There was a bipartisan investigation, and a bipartisan demand from Congress that she resign. She's gone, just like "Cold Cash" Jefferson.

No, wait....

KT: Was this covered by you guys and gals while it was going on? I know TMP and Thinkprogress were covering it. But I don't remember a lot of hits coming from what are considered the major news outlets.

If I stand before Congress and admit to multiple and consistent violations of federal law, can I also get off with just resigning?

If so, where do I sign up for such special dispensation, 'cause I have a few moneymaking ideas floating around in my head.

. . . what Ralph said. The press chose not to really cover the story, so there was no story.

In the next administration, as President Obama deals with one made up scandal propagated by the slime machine after another, and the media dutifully chatters on and on about them, I'm sure KT won't have to ask her question even once.

Makes me sick to think about it, but nothing in the media's behavior today leads me to believe that won't happen.

Karen, you would make my life much happier if you could show me how I'm wrong about this.

Please.

Smedley: ...Doan's entrepreneurial spirit should trump US law. Today's Republican Party!

Spot on Smedley, and then folks wonder why our government is far in debt and sinking deeper every day, and our wonderful GOPers can still say It would be a shame if this decision had anything to do with the hyperbolic and unfounded allegations of Scott Bloch and others who were after her just to claim another administration scalp

Maybe we should go after Davis'....

Today, May 1, is both Loyalty Day:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/04/20080423-1.html

and the National Day of Prayer:

http://www.ndptf.org/home/home.html

Take that, Karl Marx!

I'll be celebrating by burning a flag inside a pentangle.

@Robert Sullivan.

If the point your trying to make is that Jefferson should be long gone by now then it's a good one. If your point is that party affiliation has anything bearing on the tendency for corruption and that pointing to one person engaged in wrongdoing can somehow exonerate someone else, well then your suffering from severe moral myopia and deserve to be ignored. And trust me, that's the kindest phrase I could come up with.

TPM posted this the day before the MSM; and, of course TPM had a series of articles on the Doan's Doings.

Cold Cash Jefferson is a CongressCritter who was RE-ELECTED after the CC episode which says something about voters and loyalties. Doan was a Party Hackette and appointed by El Presidente. Significant difference.

Thanks anyway KT.

As Atrios points out, there is not a single reference to her in Time's database:

http://www.eschatonblog.com/

Do your job, Time. Please.
Better still, try reporting the news.

Paul -

Thanks. My point is the former, plus a gentle reminder of the tendency here to go easy on "frindly" wrongdoers.

Both of them should be long gone.

KT here--

As I recall, it was the Washington Post that actually broke this story, which was subsequently followed up by Henry Waxman in hearings.:

http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/07/first_those_briefings_for_gsa.html?xid=rss-swampland

From the Time website...

Search Results:
Your search for "jeremiah wright"
found 74 results

Search Results:
Your search for "lurita doan"
found 0 results

.............

The answer to your question might be found in there somewhere.

Kt here--

Here's the original link, for those of you who seem to be under the impression that the MSM was ignoring the story. It was Page One in the Washington Post:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/25/AR2007042503046_pf.html

atrios provides an answer via 'time' archive search:

Search Results:
Your search for "jeremiah wright"
found 74 results

Search Results:
Your search for "lurita doan"
found 0 results

KT here--

And here's what we wrote about another line of investigation into this whole mess:

http://time-blog.com/swampland/2007/04/connecting_the_dots.html

KT: Breaking the story is one thing. Some outfit usually does. Covering it is completely another. What we are pointing out to you is that after the story broke it was not covered.

"Here's the original link, for those of you who seem to be under the impression that the MSM was ignoring the story. It was Page One in the Washington Post"

Was this a National Political story, worthy of attention by TIME's National Political Correspondent at some point in the past year?

There were more mentions of Obama and arugula in your magazine.

Don't try to duck and cover, Ms. Tumulty.

KT here--

Gy: And my reminder to you is that, in this case, "some outfit" was part of the much-maligned MSM--doing work that is not easy to do.

If the "liberal media" spent as much time on the blatant corruption of the Bush Administration as they did on ridiculous stories like who Obama's friends are, it probably wouldn't take so long. This is a prime example of that.

Other topics more worthy of Time webspace than Lurita Doan:

Search Results:
Your search for "american idol"
found 360 results

Search Results:
Your search for "paris hilton"
found 154 results

Search Results:
Your search for "flag pin"
found 25 results

................

Snark aside, but "lack of public pressure" is an entirely reasonable answer to "What took so long?"

If we shrug off cronyism and incompetence because hey, it's business as usual and what are you gonna do, why expect anything to change?

Unfortunately, cronyism and incompetence are far more than academic abstractions of interest only to gadflys and nerds. Hurricane Katrina made that point rather dramatically.

If we'd rather talk about flag pins and American Idol, though, we get what we deserve....which is apparently cronyism and incompetence.

KT here--

Doc: It was indeed "worthy" of my attention, which is why it got it. But I am, as you said, the national political correspondent. I do a lot of things around here, but I can't do everything, and my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent.

So Karen, your point is that there was one story in the Washington Post so that means the MSM did their job? Your original post was "what took so long?" Usually these issues require follow up by the media in order to reach critical mass. See John Edwards haircut.

For an example similar to the Doan story see the NYTimes Military analysts propaganda story. (cue crickets)

In a couple of years when you ask what took so long on the General's story will you point to the ONE front page story in the NYTimes as evidence that the media properly covered that story too?

KT here--

Okay, guys, I think that all this bile being directed at me is totally unreasonable. Joyous: That "ONE front page story" took two years and a lawsuit for the NYT to get.

KT here--

I'm disengaging from this conversation, and going back to health care, yet another of the 10,000 topics that is "worthy" of my attention. You guys may discuss among yourselves.

This is not bile.
It is an anguished cry for people like you to please, for our country's sake, start doing your job.
If your work is going to be sanctioned and protected by the First Amendment (and it should be), we'd like for you to use your position to create discourse on some things that are more weighty and consequential than John Edwards' haircut and Barack Obama's bowling scores.

A National Political Correspondent should have found the mass politicization of the Federal Civil Service more worthy of a few follow-up stories. I won't go into whether that would have hypothetically happened under a diferent administration.

"Okay, guys, I think that all this bile being directed at me is totally unreasonable."

I don't think anyone is blaming you personally. But it's a little naive to be surprised when some people point the finger back at the news media, and Time in particular, to answer "What took so long?"

Most people recognize the enormous value in actual investigative reporting that the news media provide. That is a function that they perform better than almost anyone else. But as others have pointed out, if the story dies from disinterest after the initial report, well...it's not a surprise that nothing would come of it.

> my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent.

So was Marcy Wheeler's.

The search engine doesn't reflect the reporting you did on the GSA briefings, Karen, but a lot of this stuff was in the public domain, or connected to areas more amenable to the DC bureaux. Scottie Jennings, Karl Rove's little helper, was a busy bee.

KT: Sorry if I hurt your feelings.

Robert Sullivan-

Apparently, the only thing the Feds have found on "Cold Cash" Jefferson was the cold cash in his freezer. Surprisingly, having cash in a freezer is not against the law.

"Joyous: That "ONE front page story" took two years and a lawsuit for the NYT to get."

Which, of course, makes it all that much more sad, disappointing, and infuriating that other print and TV news outlets are trying to let the story die.

smedley -

If I remember correctly, you're wrong. I think they also have recordings of Jefferson discussing the "possibility" of taking a bribe. It's circumstantial, but a very strong circumstantial case, which is why it is still underway. Furthermore, the House has the power to remove members that it believes to be corrupt, even if they have not been convicted. They have exercised that power in the past.

Karen, I appreciate what you do here. Surely you know by now that we take our frustrations with Big Media out on the Swampland posters. I don't think I have been hard on you. I have, however, been very critical of your cohorts here. As far as I can remember, you have not made the kinds of laughable entries that your fellow Swamplanders have made.

The bile isn't directed at you, Karen. It is directed at your profession. It is directed at people like Chris Matthews, Tim Russert, Charles Gibson and Brian Williams. Also towards people like your co-worker(Yeah, the one who once wrote a biography about Woody Guthrie). There was barely any coverage of the US Attorney scandal. Hell, Donald Siegelman spent time in jail because of it. The media didn't do its job on the lead up to the Iraq misadventure. That is why we are PO'ed. Do you ever wonder why the commenters consistently post links to Glenn Greenwald here? Do you ever watch Hardball

I was trying to ask if you ever watched Hardball. And have you ever noticed the sexist comments Chris Matthews makes?

Search Results:

Your search for "lurita doan"...

Did You Mean "lurid don" or "lurid dan" or "lariat don" ?

Robert-

Yes, and there are other Congressmen under investigation, including Jerry Lewis. Should all of those under investigation just quit? It would be fine with me. But, they, at least have to face the voters. Doan was appointed.

"Joyous: That "ONE front page story" took two years and a lawsuit for the NYT to get."

The story was covered in The Nation five years ago:

TV's Conflicted Experts
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20030421/interns

Oh for pete's sake Karen. "Bile"? You have a peculiar definition of that word. What a cop-out.

I read all of the comments before your decision to dis-engage with the commenters. I did not see anyone calling for you to lose your job. That would have been 'bile'. I did not see anyone telling you that you suck, or accusing you of being a dull-witted operative of the GOP propaganda machine, or any harsh language directed towards you. All I saw was mere disagreement.

The point stands regardless of your tender feelings being hurt by our dissatisfaction with the MSM; the WaPo covered the story once and then it virtually disappeared. Whether you personally covered the story or had sources inside GSA is almost immaterial; there were/are other MSM reporters who could have covered it, and they didn't. This is what took so long.

Would it have been beyond your skills to, you know, find sources or develop sources, if you had thought this story of interest? Surely hardly anybody in the MSM had sources close to Rev. Wright prior to this faux-scandal blowing up into a big story.

Finally, I apologize for the 'bile' directed at you by politely disagreeing with your assertions and backing up my arguments with facts.

"Joyous: That "ONE front page story" took two years and a lawsuit for the NYT to get."

she really doesn't get it. I mean she seems to be trying but just doesn't understand.

The NYT story was a great story. It was the complete lack of follow-up that is the problem (like this story)

And if she thinks that this is "bile" then she hasn't spent much time on these internet tubes. she was being rightfully criticized for failing to do her job.

But I guess for the multimillionaire press corps that is "bile."

And, Robert:

Your line "Jefferson discussing the possibility of taking a bribe" reminds me of Nixon who, after a similar discussion, threw in "but that would be wrong. Heh heh."

smedley -

Granted. Then again, Jefferson has been accused of a more serious offence. They should both be history. We have a right to expect more from our public servants.

(The good citizens of Louisiana have a long history of repeatedly electing well-known criminals. Frankly, I don't put much weight on their endorsement.)

The only excusable reason I can think of for Lurita Doan getting away with keeping her job for so long without the kind of media scrutiny she deserved, is that there is so much corruption and illegality going on in the Bush regime that it is simply impractical to investigate and report upon all of it.

In that sense, Doan was small potatoes. But, come on Karen. It's still no mystery why she kept her job for so long. Must I really remind you of what happened when Howard Dean got a little too excited when rallying his troops???

@Robert -- In our defense, the education stinks in Louisiana and most of the poor don't even go to school to get the crap education. Some of us make it out....others..well they stay and vote.

she really doesn't get it. I mean she seems to be trying but just doesn't understand.

Oh, I think she gets it. She's smart. She just can't admit we are right. I've seen this dynamic over and over in my life. When someone is caught dead-to-rights, an honest and self-confident person 'fesses up. Other people will resort to the tactic of coming up with a red herring as an excuse to disengage from the argument.

I'd say that by throwing out the ludicrous and wholly-unsubstantiated accusation of being intemperate commenters flinging bile at her and quitting the debate, Karen has by default admitted that we're right.

Robert-

The lefty blogs have vigorously tried to get the Congressional Black Caucus and the Democratic Party of Louisiana to force Jefferson out. He is an embarrassment.

It took so long because incompetence and corruptions are the bushies' hallmarks.

lsumarkb -

I apologize for being harsh. Louisiana is a beautiful state with great people. For some reason - and you may be correct in citing poverty - it just seems to be taking Louisiana longer to shake off the corrupt "machine politics" that were once found in state and big city governments across the country.

I get rather impatient with folks who equate the party of Jack Abramoff, Duke Cunningham, Mark Foley, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, Katherine Harris, Ted Stevens, Rick Renzi, Larry Craig, and David Vitter (oh how I could go on and on) with the party of William Jefferson.

In one party, there is a culture of corruption. In the other, there is one corrupt member. Can you tell the difference?

As Atrios points out in his subtle way, searching for "lurita doan" on Time's website gets zero hits.

What he fails to point out is this table:

'Rev Wright': 201
clinton 'sniper fire': 49
arugula: 25

I just spent 4 weeks in the States and got to see American political journalism up close and personal. Honestly if Bush rounded all of you up and sent you to Gitmo it would be the first positive thing he'd done for America. And the only concern I'd have would be whether you were all being water-boarded (as in, I'd be upset if you weren't).

How you can post a story like this after years of silence - without mentioning your own complicity - is truly disgusting.

I wasn't offended, I was just citing the reasoning behind it. The corruption is due to the poverty and education (or lack thereof). The smart and powerful and wealthy feed on it like Barrack explained in the bitter comment. People who don't know any better just believe what they are told. It seems to me that eventually you wake up and notice you are still in the same detriment you were before but hey some people are ok with not doing anything and living on welfare even if that life is crap.

Yesterday in the health care thread KT said commenters were cranky and as evidence cited comments referring to McCain's health care plan as Bush-Lite and Crust listing what the problems were.
Later in her update link her expert called it Bush lite and then reprinted Crusts concerns.
Today she askes What Took So Long and gets a list of reasons and calls it bile.
I guess we are left to only say "Great job Karen"

I still find it egregiously insulting to our collective intelligences, that a well-known reporter for Time - who surely didn't get where she is without having an extraordinarily thick skin - bails out of engaging her commenters on this issue with the lame excuse that we're flinging bile at her. Nobody called for her to lose her job, nobody called her names, nobody suggested she is a witless dupe of Karl Rove.

That's some pretty goddamned weak tea, Karen.

You want to know the definition of bile directed at MSM reporters? Go check out what happened on the right-wing blogs when the NYT published photos of Rumsfeld's house WITH HIS PERMISSION. "Treason" and "traitor" were the kindest things that were said about your colleagues.

Bile. Jesus. I think I just threw up in mouth a little.

I guess we are left to only say "Great job Karen"

Indeed.

may be correct in citing poverty - it just seems to be taking Louisiana longer to shake off the corrupt "machine politics

I'd be more inclined to blame a high degree of polarization between the major city and the outlying balance of the state.

Compare Illinois where poverty is significantly less of an issue but the machine style politics is still alive and well.

Karen, the "bile" is because you asked such a profoundly stupid question. It's not that you, in particular, suck (although the reporting in Time is so often focused on ridiculous garbage, as Kevin Lyda demonstrates above). It's that whether anyone outside your daily/weekly readers ever learn what you've reported is entirely determined by a bunch of idiots consisting of Drudge, Fox News, CNN, and the various hyper-inflated talking heads at ABC and NBC (CBS doesn't seem to have any pull anymore).

Paul -

Interesting insight. New York fits that description, and had Tammany Hall (sp?) for decades, but were eventually able to throw it off.

Kevin, that's a little harsh.

As Karen says, she can't cover everything and is not personally at fault for the collective failings of the american press.

Not that I think the collective press should be let off the hook for failing to press the Bush administration on so many things.

The Bushies' approach has been to say, "So?" and often the press has failed to follow up. And I think the cronyism problem is one of the under reported stories. On the other hand, the republicans were in control of just about everything for the first six years, and the republican congress was complicit with the executive at stonewalling just about everyone on just about everything.

It will take years to sort it all out.

If the president in question were named 'Clinton' I bet this would have merited developing some sources at GSA.

"Go check out what happened on the right-wing blogs when the NYT published photos of Rumsfeld's house WITH HIS PERMISSION. "Treason" and "traitor" were the kindest things that were said about your colleagues."

Interesting side-note: If you've read "The Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass," you may remember the evil slavebreaker named Mr. Covey. He's the guy who beats Douglass (and others) unmercifully, until Douglass learns the value of violent self-defense and beats the crahp out of him. (I'm sure Joe Klein disapproves of that scene. Too immoderate of Douglass to have done that.)

Appropriately, it's Covey's house where Rumsfeld now lives. I bet he's kept all the whips, bits, and other instruments of slave torture.

And for those of you who watch Fox: I'm talking about Frederick Douglass, not Stephen Douglas.

"I do a lot of things around here, but I can't do everything, and my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent."

With all due respect, I should hope Time's National Political Correspondent would either have sources within the GSA or, when a story of this magnitude is brewing, know how to find some.

Imagine if Woodward and Bernstein had said, "Oh, too bad, we don't have sourcing" at the FBI, CREEP, etc. I mean really. That's your job.

I'm completely fed up with American "journalists." It's with a good bit of irony that I note this topic has come up while your colleague Joe Klein continues to flog the dead horse that is Rev. Wright.

Five years ago President Bush strutted beneath a "Mission Accomplished" sign aboard the carrier hsip Lincoln, and we watched as the MSM slobbered over the entire made-up spectacle. How many in the MSM noted that the Lincoln was indeed within helicopter range, making his pilot stunt completely unnecessary? Or that the President kept the Lincoln and its crew offshore for hours so he could sleep, instead of heading into port after its 10-month voyage?

Zero.

But the MSM continues to peddle the myth that Bill Clinton closed two runways at LAX so he could get a haircut--which is completely false.

Until the "liberal" media admits it has a bias problem, nothing is going to change.

Paul and Robert --

A good insight yes but I lived there most of my life. Its hard to explain but while things are segregated in schools and shops, the actual living areas are not. Yes, of course there are some "black" areas and some "white" areas but New Orleans and Baton Rouge are wide spread areas with no very many suburbs like you would think of in major cities. Its just kind of a melting pot of sorts. Again, its hard to explain if you don't live there.

edit: not* very many

"What took so long" is indeed an interesting question that could have been the subject of a valid journalistic inquiry. It has been 13 months since Waxman's hearing and the one WP article about the matter (and the Hatch Act violation apparently took place prior to the 06 elections). Evidently, Ms. Doan has sponsors that simply do not care about her lawbreaking and her blatant politicization of the GSA - Tom Davis is certainly one, but I am sure there are others in the Bush administration. A good article on the subject at this late date would have queried Davis and others about their actions; would have linked to TPM's excellent coverage of the issue, would have quoted from the IG report, would have provided historical context as to why the Hatch Act was enacted and how often it has been enforced. Context could also have been provided by comparing this scandal to the myriad scandals of the Bush administration. It would have been particularly appropriate today - which is "Law Day" - to mention the importance of the rule of law.

But we read none of that in Time; let alone any other MSM outlet. American journalism these days is shoddy and infantile. And merely pointing out that obvious fact is considered "bile."

Print like Time and WP probably take a lot of heat for cable news. You compare the number of posts - even as Swamplanders roll their eyes at the idiocy - on Rev. Wright vs. this issue, and there's no contest. But because cable news is so completely in the bag, those stories will be ignored. I know I've jumped on Karen many times, when she's not the problem.

So, Karen and others are pressured to discuss the "issue of the day" because it's being discussed. What they write about those issues will get far more Drudge links and TV appearances, while the frontpage WP story will be ignored. And we'll all jump on her for adding her voice to the megaphone and not discussing the WP story.

Media needs to police its own and ignore the cable news megaphone when it rounds up conservative shills to read the mind of a man no one wants to interview.

After all, if KT discusses Lurita because it's newsworthy, from her valuable real estate in the political discourse, other people might discuss it because it's being discussed. If she's the only one discussing it, she will stand out and form a niche by being the only place you can go to read about the important issues. It's even more likely if it makes it into the print edition.

It's only a small step, and objective reality will have to reclaim it's territory inch by inch in the alternative universe of our political discussion, which so long as cable sets the agenda, will continue to bare no resemblence to the very real issues of War, terror, torture and our imperiled position as a superpower.

silly patroclus... "Rule of Law" only applies to Democratic presidents caught in the grave matter of lying about oral sex.

Karen,

I'm sorry you took my post as direct criticism of you. I thought we'd all beaten that horse to death. None of us are mad at any particular journalist (oh wait, scratch that). We think the INSTITUTION of the media is dreadful.

My point was (and I find it hard to believe that you didn't get it) that the NYTimes covered the story, and you are right, they covered it very well. But how much coverage have you seen about that same story? ...and in two years will you be asking, "why did it take so long to get rid of domestic propaganda?"

Lurita Doan is not a black preacher associated with the Democratic candidate for president, so no one in the press cared.

Seriously, Karen. I respect many of your entries here, your mission, and your work. But until and unless everyone working in the political press gets busted down to $30k a year and is forbidden to attend parties held and attended by the people you're supposed to be covering, this really isn't going to get any better.

I think you meant "I 'doan' know what took so long"!

KT here--

Okay, guys, I think that all this bile being directed at me is totally unreasonable. Joyous: That "ONE front page story" took two years and a lawsuit for the NYT to get.

Posted by karen tumulty | May 1, 2008 10:07 AM

karen tumulty:
KT here--

I'm disengaging from this conversation, and going back to health care, yet another of the 10,000 topics that is "worthy" of my attention. You guys may discuss among yourselves.

Posted by karen tumulty

Karen raises a very important point, though it looks as though she's not reading any longer. Two years and a lawsuit is a lot of investment to fight the forces that be, when they could get Drudge links and cable news appearances for discussing Rev. Wright. And the least offenders, like Karen, tend to take a lot of the heat, even when they try to do a good job.

I hate to say this, but about the only way you're going to balance things out is to start threatening to bust up media monopolies, bring back the Fairness Doctrine, etc. unless they start replacing unwatched shows like Glenn Beck with non-Republican, independent voices people might actually watch. They need to protect CBS and the NYTs, two of the most maligned organizations because they have yet to be absorbed into the huge telecoms where they can be badgered and controlled.

Telecoms use their media arms to lobby government, not to inform viewers or garner ratings. It's to promote their tie-ins, craft the public discourse, and threaten/reward politicians for furthering their interests. Until we start using our own media mafia, it's not going to get any better.

They need to be put on notice that if Dems win -- and there's not much they could do to prevent it -- they could suffer bitterly for the one-sided, biased, GOP water carrying.

I do honestly believe KT is one of the good guys... (good, as in earnest, not liberal)

Meme, the sad thing is I really don't think that anybody here has it out for Karen, like we do for Joe Klein. The other sad thing is that she chose to chicken out of the debate. If we had a good point - and we do - why not just admit it? Not like she's going to lose her job over it!

I too believe that Karen is basically one of the good guys. But even the good guys in our thoroughly corrupted media have blind spots, and Karen just demonstrated one.

I'm reminded of this quote from Upton Sinclair: "It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends on his not understanding it."

I'd be more inclined to blame a high degree of polarization between the major city and the outlying balance of the state.

I think that's a reasonable assumption, Paul, but it's not true. Having lived in Louisiana for 20-odd years and participated in some of the shockingly nasty local and state races, I can assure you that the only city mouse/country mouse rivalry in Louisiana is New Orleans vs. the Rest of the State.

The conservative Christians/Baptists and racists in the northern part of the state have always hated New Orleans, and the disturbing intolerance that has emerged in Lafayette and other formerly laissez-faire cities in the southern part of the state as voter rolls have gone from Democratic to Republican has accelerated since the advent of talk radio.

Baton Rouge has always been a good cross-section of the state, (it is the capitol, obviously) and things there are pretty appalling if you've ever lived in a growth-minded medium-sized city. There is no effective mass transit, a growing radical Christian community, segregation in all but name, and a pathetic infrastructure that strangles the city coupled with a rabid NIMBY population who want something done - as long as it doesn't affect them.

Of course, now that the democratic population of New Orleans has been scattered to the four winds, you may not have to worry about Jefferson too much longer. People are giving up and moving out as New Orleans becomes even more polarized, with gentrified neighborhoods and warlike zones growing further apart and into sharper contrast. New Orleans is slowly becoming Metairie, the white flight suburb that nurtured David Duke.

KT does good reporting, has limited time and resources, and doesn't tend to lapse into cabloid trivia. We understand that. Plus, this story's old news: the time to run with it was when bloggers were doing the forensics on those Rove-shop briefings, and it was allowed to wither on the vine.

There was, at the time, a wider story to be derived from the White House's refusal to enforce the Federal Hatch Act. The only penalty for violating the Hatch Act is to lose your job. But that didn't happen: Cookie Doan's departure apparently only comes because her vocal criticism of the department's IG went a step too far. In short, she thought she was bulletproof.

What commenters are trying to puncture is the illusion that 'what becomes a story' has nothing to do with the people empowered to report on it for the dailies, broadcasters and newsweeklies. It doesn't take a conspiracy theorist to suggest that this administration is well aware of what will make a story wither, and that it's incumbent upon the press to look precisely at those parts of government where someone's doing the 'nothing to see here' act.

The stenography department at Time is alive and well. The journalism department appears to have been downsized, however. Too bad about that.

Although Karen is long gone, it should be noted that a review of the comments reveals criticism of Time failing to cover Doan in any way, shape or form, but I'm not seeing anyone pointing a finger directly at her. The oversensitive reaction from her may mean something, however.

Wow. Just wow. Karen Tumulty bows out of the discussion with this remark:

"I'm disengaging from this conversation, and going back to health care, yet another of the 10,000 topics that is 'worthy' of my attention."

Searching Time.com for her work reveals that the last 5 stories she's published here have ALL been about the horse race. Not a single word about any of the issues, unless you consider Jeremiah Wright an issue:

"Tell Me How This Ends?" - Clinton v. Obama and how the party's decision will get made http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1734642,00.html

"Obama Tries To Dig Out" - first line echoes GOP talking points, "There was little nuance in Barack Obama's news conference..." http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1736085,00.html

"Obama's Bitter Lesson" - its first line uncritically describes "Barack Obama's dismissal of small-town voters as narrow-minded, churchgoing gun nuts" and it gets worse from there (Barack, being black himself, should know better than to call people "bigoted") http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1731872,00.html

"The Players" - MORE about how the Democratic Party will make up its mind http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1734899,00.html

"Can Ed Rendell Deliver for Clinton?" - bizarrely trivial personality-based horse-race nonsense http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1727469,00.html

In fact, the search has to go back to March 21st to find a Karen Tumulty story on an actual issue (REAL ID). And before that, probably October (Graeme Frost, if you count him as being separate from the horse race).

Entire months go by with her writing nothing but horse-race talking points and *she* lectures *us* on how we need to stick to the issues. Amazing.

In an earlier post KT wrote

KT here--

Doc: It was indeed "worthy" of my attention, which is why it got it. But I am, as you said, the national political correspondent. I do a lot of things around here, but I can't do everything, and my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent.

The italicized portion highlights something that has always frustrated me. Reporting is apparently limited to talking to people, more specifically; to people calling reporters and telling them things or giving them documents. By 2005 it was clear that there was a rich panoply of corruption to be examined in the Bush administration. Just pick an agency, try to figure an angle, formulate a hypothesis, look for evidence to test the hypothesis, then call staff employees for the compelling anecdotes or additional leads. Write the expose. Collect Pulitzer. Repeat.

Josh Marshall was able to win a Polk because national news organizations would not devote resources to a story that he initially published for anyone with internet access. Whereas the WPost and NYTimes competed on Watergate, no national news organization cared about the US Attorney story; no one person could call one of their reporters and give them the story. No traditional reporting means no story. JMM was able to continue to collect data from a variety of sources to break the larger US Attorney story.

The emphasis on personal sourcing is also why some readers of this site find the McCain BBQ and the incestuous DC party circuit so infuriating. If reporters based stories on data rather than personal contacts such social events wouldn't be such an issue. But if your job (the information used for stories) depends on your friendship with people in power then its hard to see how outlets like Time are anything other than PR outlets for the DC establishment.

I think Karen should look at this as disappointment with DC journalism in general, and less with herself as a reporter. From what I've read of her stuff, if we had more of her type, we'd be in better shape as far as our national media goes.

That said, why didn't Time devote print resources to this story? Take a look at this testimony: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WHYIX0thvB8

I mean, this would make a good story, no? It's amazing how someone could keep that straight a face and repeatedly lie to congress. Someone like that has to have incredibly large clankers, and virtually no sense of shame.

Maybe there would be more of a sense of shame if our journalists actually gave us the coverage that we needed.

I'm not sure what to make of Karen. She links to stories that are worthwhile. She seems like she's trying to do her best. Then all of the sudden:

It’s hard to know which was worse about Barack Obama's dismissal of small-town voters as narrow-minded, churchgoing gun nuts: the original arrogance of his remarks or his repeated attempts to explain them.”

I do think she's doing here best in an indifferent corporate environment but I don't expect we'll see her resigning in protest anytime soon either.

(@KT)
If you return to read this, please forgive the third person.....

I do a lot of things around here, but I can't do everything, and my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent.

Amazing. Absolutely amazing. If I don't have sources inside an agency I can't write a single word about high-level, White House-led corruption in that agency and I have to write about frivolous issues instead. That is COMPLETE baloney.

I do a lot of things around here, but I can't do everything, and my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent.

Amazing. Our once great nation has no chance. No chance at all.

I do a lot of things around here, but I can't do everything, and my sourcing at the GSA is non-existent.

There's an old adage for lawyers Karen...never ask a question of a witness unless you already know the answer.

In this case, you made the mistake of asking "Why it took so long for Ms. Doan to get fired," when you clearly weren't aware that TIME hadn't printed word one about her since her over the top funny testimony before Congress that she could remember absolutely nothing about the meeting at which witnesses had said she clearly violated the Hatch Act, but that she could remember that cookies were served.

Karen....I know you and other journalists must field tons of vituperation every day....I guess it comes with the territory.

But honest to God...can you somehow put yourself in the shoes of American citizens like us who have sat here for nearly eight years and watch their "elected" leader conduct the most incredible and continual litany of corruption, lies, favoritism, constitutional violations, contract fraud, and appointment of huge numbers of incompetents chosen only for their ideological purity while the two institutions best in a position to do something about it....the Congress and the Press essentially watch it pass by with essentially no action.

We are begging the traditional media to do their jobs....begging you and what do we see?

Just recently we see a network reveal that the highest levels of this administration, despite repeatedly lying to us all about the facts, engaged in detailed discussions about how to torture prisoners and were clearly, in fact, the driving force behind the abuses at Abu Ghraib and other secret and illegal prisons. And what did the rest of the media do with the story...NOTHING. In fact ABC, which broke the story, almost immediately turned to headlining its website with a story about a dog who found its way to its master's funeral.

What more can I say about two so-called network journalists spending nearly half of an entire Presidential debate totally ignoring just about every major issue the nation's voters are really concerned about.

What more can I say about a report that scores of retired military officials had been appearing for years on major media outlets as supposed independent analysts when in fact they were being paid to deliver the administration's lies justifying a war which is destroying us,....and the story gets essentially no mainstream coverage after it first appears?

What can I say when I read that a blog reporter had to spend well over a week with his hand in the air before Dana Perino would recognize him at a White House gaggle....and then only because another reporter courageously forced her to stop ignoring him. His questions were about the military analysts story. All that time, while he was trying to get recognized so he could ask a question which should have been asked immediately after the story broke, supposedly "professional" journalists from the networks, major newspapers, and big media outlets like TIME magazine NEVER asked those questions. Why?

Why is it only Helen Thomas who has the courage...and the tenacity to keep trying to ask the questions which should have been asked by all of you folks? Why when she turns around in the White House press room and looks at you and wonders when you are going to follow her lead, do you all apparently wind up staring at the ceiling?

And if you had any sense of embarrassment Karen, you might ask yourself why folks in the blogosphere, like Josh Marshall have been pressing and asking and probing and turning up the maneuvers of an administration bent on gutting the US Attorney system to put in place only party loyalists and to gut the Social Security program? Marshall truly deserves a Pulitzer for his work, yet your organization, with all of its high powered resources and supposed connections, has ignored that story and scores of others.

so Karen - hopefully you can now better understand the reasons for our "bile." In closing....let me ask you and the folks at TIME: What is taking you so long?

I think a lot of national media are really "busy" these days. They work super "hard".

And a lot of that time is spent with endless telephone calls (texting) and meetings with peers reaffirming gossip, er, news stories and jockeying for professional advantage.

So I understand KT's bitterness :) but it is just a fact that Doan and how she abused her position so egregiously has always been a far more important story than haircuts and wright. Actually, the real story is the endless ability of republicans to smear democrats as "girly, weak, effeminate, out of touch elitist" with those kinds themes.

TIME did totally fail on this story, which is why it is ironic that a TIME journalist should feel this way.