Joe Conason Talks with BuzzFlash.com About His New Book, Republican Hypocrisy and the Sins of the Mainstream Media
(snip)
CONASON:…So the attitude of the Washington press has been very protective of people like Tom DeLay and Newt Gingrich. They couldn't exactly avoid the Bob Livingston story because he resigned on the floor of the House, so that Larry Flynt wouldn't expose him. But none of them were too interested in why. And I’ll tell you -- I talked to the investigator who looked into Bob Livingston’s lifestyle at the time, and it was Baroque. I mean, he made Clinton look kind of mundane.
BUZZFLASH: If I recall, Larry Flynt said this wasn't a guy who occasionally had an affair. He was like a serial Romeo, he said.
CONASON: You know, he was terribly afraid of being exposed. He would never have been able to show his face in public again. Now he’s down there as a lobbyist, and it’s almost as if none of this stuff ever happened to him.
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BUZZFLASH: The Bush administration, according to Jim Moore, author of Bush’s Brain, sort of runs on this two-track approach, which is Karl Rove kind of plans and leaks innuendo through various people and media outlets. And Bush sort of stays above the fray. He’s the front man. He leaves that to Karl. He may know. He may not know. Probably doesn't.
CONASON: Oh, he knows.
BUZZFLASH: Probably doesn't care. I mean, he knows Rove’s doing the smear jobs; but not necessarily everything he’s doing.
CONASON: Well, it’s Upstairs, Downstairs, you know? I mean, Bush is a patrician. He’s from a nice family with a lot of money and some kind of social background. Karl Rove is a sort of lower middle-class guy who never went to college. Of course he’s going to carry the garbage out. This is a division of labor in American society; it's perfectly reflected in that relationship.
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http://www.buzzflash.com/interviews/03/08/01_conason.html