Q: What's orange, smells like an ashtray and bourbon, and might be having an affair?

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Friday, Sep 24, 2010 12:30 ET
War Room
Page Six, Dana Milbank casually mention John Boehner affair rumor



http://www.salon.com/news/john_boehner/index.html?story=/politics/war_room/2010/09/24/boehner_scandal_rumor

Sometimes, a member of the serious press likes to get in on the gossip action by reporting that someone or other is spreading some sort of rumor. This doesn't happen all that often, because editors tend to strip unsubstantiated gossip from copy at grown-up newspapers, but Dana Milbank gets this tidbit in at the end of his column today:

"Can I keep this as a souvenir?" the minority leader asked. He carried the cookware back to his Suburban, but before his security detail could whisk him away, Boehner was intercepted by a liberal blogger trying to implicate him in a sex scandal.

This was no way to treat a founding father.

Well! Just enough information to get the rumor out there, but not enough to actually allow a reader to figure out how trustworthy the source is.

That's why we have the New York Post's Page Six, which goes into the details of the rumor at some length, while ostensibly attacking the liberal blogger for spreading it. (A classic Page Six move.)

The supposed news is liberal blogger smearing Boehner. But Page Six is really reporting the smear itself:

A blogger from liberal Web site The Daily Kos pierced through Boehner's security detail at yesterday's unveiling of his leadership policy "Pledge to America" to ask if he was sleeping with a lobbyist from the Printing Industries of America.
<...>
The lobbyist who was named in the confrontation and then was contacted by he Daily Kos blogger Lisbeth Lyons denied the accusations. "As you can imagine, I was stunned by such a question," Lyons said. "I found it to be highly insulting, particularly as a female political professional, as well as unfounded. Beyond that, I have no further comment on the matter."

Insiders on Capitol Hill are buzzing about an upcoming New York Times exposé that will detail an alleged Boehner affair. Sources say the Times is looking for the right time to drop the story in October to sway the election, similar to how the Times reported during the 2008 presidential campaign on an alleged John McCain affair that supposedly had taken place many years before and that was flatly denied by the woman in question.

[madrchsod]

1. do you mean he may have been putting...

his ball in a different hole?

[HereSince1628]

3. The allegation is he is challenged to keep it a hole in one.

And he's apparently not been recording some of his strokes!

[mopinko]

9. i think it is about

only putting his putter in the old bag.

[Echotrail]

12. lisbeth lyons - 2nd most popular search on Google in the last hour

"Hotness:On Fire"

[theothersnippywshrub]

2. Is this her?

[Binka]

4. OMG Love It! n/t

[Laf.La.Dem.]

6. very funny

The cheeto color is right :rofl:

[malaise]

18. Getting up off the floor

:rofl:

[xchrom]

5. delicious -- positively delicious.

the 'rumor' -- not the girl in the tub full of cheetos.

[gratuitous]

7. Well, if it's a hot story that may damage a Republican, and the Times has it

Look for it to show up on page C36 about 18 months after the election. The Times sat on its story about domestic spying by the Bush administration until well after the 2004 election because they didn't want to affect the outcome. I mean, gee whiz, why should the electorate be informed before going to the polls, ya know?

So, if Boehner is having an affair and the Times has the goods, they'll splash it everywhere as soon as it's safe to do so. In the meantime, Republicans get to do what they do best: Act all outraged and victimized for accurate reporting on their own misdeeds.

[Bitwit1234]

8. Bet if it was a Democrat it would be front page news and

the number one topic from now til election day on the republican medias number one hits.Runaway bride, runaway bride, balloon boy balloon boy=====

[librechik]

21. it's different if you're a democrat. Boehner will slide on this.

[rocktivity]

10. Time to buy a new irony meter!

:nuke:

Insiders on Capitol Hill are buzzing about an upcoming New York Times exposé that will detail an alleged Boehner affair. Sources say the Times is looking for the right time to drop the story in October to sway the election, similar to how the Times reported during the 2008 presidential campaign on an alleged John McCain affair that supposedly had taken place many years before and that was flatly denied by the woman in question.

Would this be the same New York Times that sat on the "Bush wired for debate" story FOR A YEAR because it might have "influenced" the '04 election?

x(
rocktivity

[Echotrail]

11. Look forward to reading the promised NYT exposé!

If this is true, Boner might soon be spending all his time with divorce lawyers. Unless he has an open marriage.

[Barack_America]

13. I love the smell of scandal on a Friday afternoon. nt

[mitchum]

14. You left out pear-shaped; he's built like bush's boyfriend, Victor Ashe

[PBS Poll-435]

15. Garfield the Cat

:cry:



Oh wait...




:blush:

[Roon]

16. It's not easy being orange. eom

[Gold Metal Flake]

17. R for thread title.

Kneeslapper!

[Swamp Rat]

19. LOL!

:D

[SidDithers]

20. The lobbyist in question...

Sid

[political_Dem]

22. "Family Values" at its finest.

And "Family Values" in GOP-speak means having a "saintly" pill-popping wife at one end while having the Jezebel-like, bubble-headed mistress as a side dish.

The sad thing is type of blatant hypocrisy is always frequent despite it being played down.

[Scurrilous]

23. K & R

:thumbsup: