Media Smears Paul Clement

Reason 6,742 why today's media is trash:

Two former top Justice Department officials emerged Wednesday as figures in the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal as prosecutors disclosed plans to turn over some of the officials' correspondence to defense lawyers preparing for trial in the case.

The officials are former Solicitor General Paul Clement and David Ayres, one-time chief of staff to former Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Sounds bad, right?  If you keep reading, a few paragraphs down you'll see this line:

There's no public indication that either Mr. Clement or Mr. Ayres is implicated in wrongdoing.

Stating that someone is not implicated in wrongdoing hardly makes a good lede.  So let's trash Paul Clement, even though everyone considers him ethical.  Such stories make good "news."

If we are all wrong, and Clement is really a scumbag, the media should report this.  They should attack Clement with vigor and zeal.  The problem is that there is no evidence that he has done anything wrong.

Right now, the media is smearing him due to his (very loose) association with Abramoff.  There is no evidence that Clement did anything illegal yet alone unethical.  Rather, he (like dozens of innocent people) simply exchanged e-mails with Abramoff.

If that's what amounts to "news" among serious people these days, I'll stick to reading "Above the Law" and "The Dirty."