Fresh Loaf

OK, I’m biased. I’m Sugg.

But Monday, I hinted that the news about Attorney General Alberto Gonzales finally being run out of office might have been timed to coincide with Michael Vick’s crash and burn in a Richmond, Va., federal court. I wrote: “I’ll bet … the cable and network news devote much more time to the dog abuser than they do to the Constitution abuser.” My only error was not including the AJC in the list.

In the Tuesday paper, Vick rated about twice as much space on the front page as did Gonzo. Inside, the Constitution abuser got about five-sixths of a page, while the dog abuser got more than 1.5 pages — plus about two-thirds of a page in the Sports section.

Yep, ol’ Rove knew how to time this one.

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It must be a coincidence. I’m sure the Bush regime wouldn’t try to time the announcement of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales’ resignation with today’s circus in Virginia involving Michael Vick pleading guilty to charges stemming from dogfighting. Nah, Bush wouldn’t be so craven, would he?

An old spin tactic is to announce bad news at a time when the media are distracted. Bush has been good at that. Gonzo, who likely has committed perjury more than once in recent months, and who has been unrelenting in his attacks on Americans’ constitutional liberties, finally has been run out of office. His likely replacement, Michael Chertoff, will be worse.

But Vick rides to the rescue, press-wise, by falling on his sword in Richmond today. The suspended NFL star rightly deserves every bit of punishment he gets, and much more. But I’ll bet (or as Vick does, I’ll give some money to associates who will bet) the cable and network news devote much more time to the dog abuser than they do to the Constitution abuser.

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