Thursday, June 30, 2005

Baseball, Republicans and Anti-Semitism,

Earlier I read, and blogged about Rep. Tom Davis and his slimy anti-capitalist efforts to prevent George Soros from becoming a minority investor in the Washington Nationals.

Somehow, I missed the best part of the story. But I am in good company. As the great Timothy Noah points out, the New York Times missed it, too.

Let me break it down:

1 - Davis is trying to keep the Soros group (that's a misnomer, actually: Soros is a minority partner) from buying the Nationals, obstentiously because Soros gives lots of money to Democrats.

2 - In trying to block Soros, Davis is openly trying to tilt the field to a group led by Fred Malek, the president's friend, fundraiser and former business partner in the Texas Rangers. But Malek is more than a close personal FOB (Friend of Bush) As you may recall, he is also the man President Richard Nixon sent to weed out a "Jewish cabal" from the Department of Labor. It's why we call him "The JewCounter"

For reasons I can’t fathom, the Times didn’t mention the anti-Semitism angle, even though this is an issue that forced Malek "to give up an appointment as deputy chairman of the Republican National Committee in 1988." They Times had time to talk about Soros having been convicted for insider trading in France, but not one word about Malek's official anti-Semitic acts.

Even worse, no one in the media seems to be playing by the Clinton-rules. Back in 1995, the allegedly mainstream media would have gone to town with a story like this. It would have been like 6 shark attacks, and 5 runaway brides, and we would have been subjected to an endless succession of Republicans on TV bemoaning the corruption of baseball, Mom and apple pie at the hands of Bill and his corrupt friends.

But today? Sharks, baby. It's all about the sharks.

No comments: