I'd like to jump out ahead of a story, if I may, and demand an apology from Hardball host Chris Matthews. Last week, when the Lewis "Scooter" Libby guilty verdict was announced, he repeatedly referred to Federal Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald as "virginal." "Doesn't he know how the game is played?" asked Matthews, marveling at Fitzgerald's integrity.
Since Matthews and his guests routinely refer to Fitzgerald as a Republican (despite Fitzgerald's refusal to declare a party), you can see why Matthews was so stunned to find an ethical Bush appointee. In a year that includes The Walter Reed Army Hospital disgrace, Duke Cunningham, Jack Abramoff, Tom DeLay, and last week¹s admission by the FBI that they have grossly overstepped the bounds of the Patriot Act -- amidst all that -- Matthews saw Fitzgerald as honest and blurted out the word "virginal." It reminds me of Senator Biden and Karl Rove's recent description of Barack Obama as "articulate," as if they had never encountered a well-spoken black man before.
And now here's Matthews, acting as if the sight of an ethical Republican in Washington is so astounding that Fitzgerald looks "virginal." Surely Matthews has encountered an ethical Republican before, or at least read about one. I admit it's difficult to find one in current public life. But somewhere, in a rest home for Eisenhower Administration retirees, or perhaps the last living Coolidge appointee widow, somewhere there is an ethical Republican public official out there. It may sound odd to use The Huffington Post to demand apologies for GOP ethical integrity, but I urge Matthews to get out ahead of this faux pas before Republican critics jump on him. And they would too, if they weren't so busy demanding a Presidential pardon for the latest convicted felon in their ranks.
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