Mullings A Political Cyber Column By Rich Galen

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Blinders

Friday, June 8, 2001

A consistent whine, here at Mullings Central, has been the different standards of coverage applied by the media to Republicans as opposed to those applied to Democrats.

As an example: Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) is now the President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate, which is a pretty big deal.

According to the U.S. Code Title 3, chapter 1, section 19:
"If, at the time � a Speaker [of the House] is to begin the discharge of the powers and duties of the office of President, there is no Speaker, or the Speaker fails to qualify as Acting President, then the President pro tempore of the Senate shall � act as President."

Cheney, Hastert, Byrd. That's the line of succession.

On March 4, 2001 - not March 4, 1931, but three months ago - Robert Byrd was interviewed for Fox News Sunday by Tony Snow. According to Deborah Orin's NY Post column yesterday morning, Byrd said: "There are white
n - - - - - s. I have seen a lot of white n - - - - - s in my time. I'm going to use that word."

Orin's piece gains currency by quoting "GOP strategist Rich Galen [who] said: 'If Bob Byrd were a Republican, it's hard to believe Democrats and the Al Sharptons of the world wouldn't be storming Capitol Hill to prevent the elevation of a man who used the N-word on TV. Not 25 years ago, but three months ago.'"

Many interviews in Washington are done in a format known as "live-to-tape." The rules of engagement are that the camera rolls and the interview will be used in its entirety - no stopping and starting during the interview, and no editing by the broadcast medium after the fact.

This differs from an interview in which the reporter does 8-12 minutes of tape and you both know only 45 seconds will make the newscast.

As an accommodation, the Byrd interview was done in his Senate office. After he used the "N" word twice, there were the expected pleas from Byrd's staff for Fox to excise that portion before going on the air.

Mullings had the opportunity to chat about this matter with some of the folks at Fox at the time. The decision was reached that the issue of editing would not have come up if the interview had been done live on Sunday morning from the Fox studios, as is almost always the case. Therefore, they left it in.

If Byrd were a Republican instead of a Democrat, and his bio included:
-- Having been a member of the Ku Klux Klan,
-- Having participated in a filibuster against the 1964 Civil Rights Act, and;
-- Having voted against not just Clarence Thomas, but also against
Thurgood Marshall to be Black Justices of the U.S. Supreme Court;

there would have been huge demonstrations demanding the Republican leadership renounce the offender and the political chatter over this would have crowded out Jeffords, Jenna, Barbara, McCain AND Daschle.

Byrd's racial slur was treated then, and is still being treated, as the minor, could've-happened-to-anyone, no-harm-no-foul, slip-'o-the-tongue use of the "N" word by an 83-year-old former bigot. There was no follow-up reporting such as asking colleagues, staff members or constituents if they had ever heard Byrd use the "N" word before in conversation, in anger, or in jest.

After the incident, Byrd's office released a statement in which Byrd was quoted as saying, "In my attempt to articulate strongly held feelings, I may have offended people."

Ladies and Gentleman may I present Robert Byrd, President Pro Tempore of the United States Senate and chairman of the Mark Furman Caucus.

In listing the people who were helpful during my visit to MSNBC I forgot to mention Diana Banister (of Mullings sponsor Craig Shirley's office) who got the ball rolling by suggesting me to the MSNBC booking department.

Oh, here's a late-breaking second case in point: Bill Clinton went to the French Open (Just � Just let it go.) to watch Andre Agassi who promptly lost to Frenchman Sabastien Grosjean.

Clinton said he "was really bad luck" for Agassi.

If Clinton had been a Republican, someone in the press would certainly have asked Al Gore to comment on the question "Do you think Clinton was 'really bad luck' for you, too?" But no one did.

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