McGreevey's Strategy: I'll 'come out' and they won't notice my criminality.

What classic Dem. party maneuvering! Ahh, takes me back to the Kennedy years, and of course the epitome of wild, self-involved exercises of power, the 8-year Clinton debacle. McGreevey is going to attempt to garner sympathy in advance of the coming REAL reasons why he's leaving. Nobody cares, especially in New Jersey, if he's gay or had an affair, even a homosexual affair. Standard liberal tactics; play the victim, trash the accuser, obscure the facts. In Army terms, McGreevey is 'preparing the battlefield' for the coming revelations.

Both Fox News and the NY Times hint that there are much bigger things coming about this scandal. I hear that there are extortion allegations, a sexual harrassment suit that contains some very 'newsworthy' details, much more patronage, and possibly national security concerns. I think McGreevey's coming out now to negate the extortion demands.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,128836,00.html

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/13/nyregion/13identity.html?hp

From their article, the NY Times is already on board with the McGreevey 'I'm a victim' strategy, no surprise there. Watch for future articles of sympathy. But on the other hand the writer, James Barron, seems to be very circumspect about supporting McGreevey. It's very possible that his sources are giving him some rumors that have warned him off the sympathetic angle. For the NY Times to be unsympathetic in a story like this there must be something truly awful in it somewhere.

As for Fox, I'm starting to wonder if they suddenly have decided to take a large step to the left in their coverage of the news. The wussy Swift Boat story coverage, the careful McGreevey story, and I've noticed a lot more of Kerry's campaign sound bites on Fox News Channel lately, much more than George Bush's. I wonder what made them think, if they do, that they were too far 'right'? Are they starting to believe the NY Times/Washington Post/LA Times/CNN/ABC/CBS/NBC strategy of claiming liberalism is mainstream?

Moderates and conservatives stick by their principles even though it often costs them in terms of opportunties, public perception, and personal attacks. That has always been my attraction to Fox News, they were the most balanced coverage available and they stood their ground, not caring what folks thought or said about them. They were not as far right as the Washington Times, but well right of the liberal Washington Post. Times seems to be a-changin', now I'll have to be a bit more selective in viewing habits.

The other interesting angle of this story is its possible impact on the Kerry campaign. The Republican backlash in NJ might be enough to give the state to Bush in the election - a very welcome and unexpected bonus for him. McGreevey is very cynically insisting on staying for another 2 months, long enough that NJ doesn't have to have a special election that would further enable the Republicans in the state to take power. Personally, unless there is a true 'bomb' in the details of McGreevey's resignation, I don't think it will be enough - Kerry's hold on the media is too strong. The majority of the media will downplay this enough to minimize the negative impact on the Kerry's chances.

But one can always hope!

Adios MF,

Doug