Allow me to blame the title of the column because God knows, I am no Cal Thomas fan. But when "Mamma Mia" is linked to the downfall of John Edwards, well, who can blame a Frog for taking a second look?
I skimmed past the obvious attempt by Thomas to write Edwards into the cast of the musical, past his pointed finger at the media for not reporting the story, past his reference to the mainstream press as "...enablers in the Edwards mess..." .
I started reading at about the point Cal goes on to infer "but let a Republican stray (Larry Craig, Mark Foley and David Vitter are some recent examples) and it immediately becomes front-page news."
Let me refresh your memory, sir.
The St. Petersburg Times sat on the Mark Foley story for almost one year, reportedly respecting the family wishes of the young man involved. If the story had been reported--if all hell had broken loose months earlier instead of emerging as an October 2006 surprise--the Adam Walsh Act might never have made it through Congress.
With Foley at the helm, my guess would be that the AWA battleship would've been rightfully sunk.
Edwards' private choices effected his family. One family.
Six hundred thousand American citizens and their families are impacted by today because the St. Pete Times decided against reporting the Mark Foley story.
In the words of Malcolm X, "The media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power."
It's the misuse of that power which troubles me most.
