Such as this one.
A member of U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell's staff has been charged in federal court after a sting operation in which he allegedly solicited sex from what he thought was a 13-year-old boy.
James Michael McHaney, 28, was charged Saturday in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., with using a computer to arrange a sexual encounter with an informant posing as a boy, according to court records.
Cantwell fired him immediately, but has not said whether he was using an office computer. The on-line conversation occurred during lunch hour, so it is likely that he was.
And I would have skipped this one if I hadn't seen how the Seattle PI treated it. Their on-line story, which you can find here, is not the same as the story in the print edition. The print edition story has just four paragraphs instead of the nine in the on-line version. The PI hid the story, as best they could, at the bottom of page B2. And they gave it this headline: "Cantwell aide fired, held on sex charge". You'll notice that headline reverses the order of events. But it puts Cantwell's reaction first, which must be what the headline writer intended.
Would the Seattle PI have treated this story the same way if McHaney worked for a Republican senator? Almost certainly not.
Cross posted at Jim Miller on Politics.
(Those in other areas may be interested in this detail from the Seattle Times story: Before joining Cantwell's staff in 2006, McHaney worked on the John Kerry presidential campaign, and before that he worked for Congressman Richard Gephardt, the former House Minority Leader.
The print edition has an error, giving Ohio as Gephardt's home state. Actually he represented a Missouri district in the St Louis area, for many years. The on-line story has been corrected, stealthily, I suspect.)
Posted by Jim Miller at December 04, 2007 06:18 PM | Email ThisAs today's liberals believe, conservatives are pigs and monkeys.
The facts are that conservatives give far more to charity, that conservatives are far more mentally healthy, actually are interested in replacing themselves with children an believe in something beyond themselves, are interested in quality education, find rewarding excellence a good thing.
Piles of pathetic feelings and emotions unattached to reality facts and history, like posters of the ilk of uncl witz, are actually to be pitied, as their pure disgust with the ability of normal people to take care of themselves and obsessive need to control belies the tenets of real liberalism: tolerance, diversity, respect for others beliefs.
uncl witz, what a sad excuse for a human being you are.
Stuff it, pal.......
Pathetic. Maybe before you pass from this earth, you will get a clue......people actually have brains and can take care of themselves.
Posted by: Hank on December 4, 2007 08:58 PMCantwell probably wanted to have a threesome with her aide and the kid, knowing what sick twisted pieces of garbage Democrats are... The LIBERAL media keeps throwing in "he was fired" and "former aide" trash. They would have shown no mercy to a Republican in a similar situation. Maria Cantwell is probably crying right now because an innocent child wasn't brutally raped by that queer. Liberals are a disease that need to be eradicated.
Posted by: Northwest Patriot on December 4, 2007 09:13 PMHe wasn't "former" at the time.......
Posted by: SouthernRoots on December 4, 2007 09:32 PMI am sorry to say but this one is not going to have legs.
I also agree with #11. NW Patriot, maybe you should refer to your self as Stars-and-Bars.
Posted by: This is Such Non News on December 5, 2007 12:24 AMIt is even more interesting in light of her support of certain Congressmen with blocks of cash in their freezer ...
Sounds as though her office is the Washington D.C. branch of Duke University.
Posted by: Jay on December 5, 2007 05:20 AMAnd Jay @ 14: The evidence (perhaps his work computer), probably "convicted" him on site. I'm all for due process, but from Cantwell's perspective, political expediency (former staffer, anyone?) probably outweighed due process in this case.
Posted by: Saltherring on December 5, 2007 05:55 AMI wonder if the federal employee union will take this matter up and make sure this individual gets all the rights he should be entitled to for continued employment.
Posted by: swatter on December 5, 2007 07:07 AMIn case you are not familiar: Studds' case meant molesting underage boys. In 1983, Studds acknowledged committing statutory rape against a 17-year-old page and making advances toward two others (although he refused to apologize).
Because he only committed rape and didn't do anything serious like send perverted text messages, but mainly because he is a Democrat, he was not immediately driven out of his party like Mark Foley, but was reelected repeatedly even after his admission. He didn't retire from Congress until 1997.
Posted by: JDH on December 5, 2007 07:44 AMAt some point we gotta fight fire with fire.
PROOF @ Gallup:
http://www.gallup.com/poll/102943/Republicans-Report-Much-Better-Mental-Health-Than-Others.aspx
four years.
Posted by: chardonnay on December 8, 2007 06:20 PM