The Media Won't Cover Leland Yee's Alleged Gun-Running Because They're Democrat Operatives with By-Lines

The only thing I can do with this Glenn Reynolds column is endorse every single word of it. It is absolutely right.

Yee told an FBI agent that, in exchange for $2 million in cash, he’d fill a shopping list of weapons, which he took personal responsibility for delivering, according to the indictment. He also allegedly “masterminded” a complex scheme bring illegal weapons into the country, agreeing to “facilitate” a meeting with an illegal arms dealer to arrange for the weapons to be imported via Newark, N.J. In arranging all of this, the indictment said, Yee relied on connections with Filipino terrorist groups who could supply “heavy” weapons, including the Muslim terrorists of the Moro Islamic Liberation Front. Yee allegedly noted that the Muslim terrorists had no reservations about kidnapping, extortion and murder.

This all sounds like news. You’ve got charges of huge bribes, rampant hypocrisy, illegal weapons and even a connection with foreign terrorists — and from a leading politician in an important state.

But — and here’s the part Hollywood would miss — outside of local media like San Francisco magazine, the coverage was surprisingly muted.The New York Timesburied the story as a one-paragraph Associated Press report on page A21, with the bland dog-bites-man headline, “California: State Senator Accused of Corruption.” This even though Yee was suspended, along with two others, from the California state senate in light of the indictment.

CNN, home (also until last week) of Piers Morgan, whom Yee had praised for his anti-gun activism, didn’t report the story at all. When prodded by viewers, the networksnarked that it doesn’t do state senators. Which is odd, because searching the name of my own state senator, Stacey Campfield, turns up a page of results, involving criticisms of him for saying something “extreme”. Meanwhile, CNN found time to bashWisconsin state senator and supporter of Gov. Scott Walker, Randy Hopper over marital problems.

But there’s a difference. They’re Republicans. When Republicans do things that embarrass their party, the national media are happy to take note, even if they’re mere state senators. But when Democrats like Yee get busted for actual felonies, and pretty dramatic ones at that, the press suddenly isn’t interested.

Read the rest.

If he hadn’t been forced out of the race by being arrested, what would Leland Yee have done with the California secretary of state post? There’s a question that no one in the media will even think of pursuing.

CNN’s excuse about not covering mere state senators rings especially hollow to anyone who has watched Texas politics over the past year. Do a site search of state Sen. Wendy Davis and you’ll find a whole lot of CNN stories about a certain state senator.

Here, here, here, here, here, here…just a sample of CNN stories about state Sen. Wendy Davis — Democrat.

In fact, the only reason that Wendy Davis is the Democrat governor nominee in Texas is her adoring media coverage. Absent that, she’s a leftist state senator in a red state who would be fighting just to keep her state senate seat. Without the ridiculous media hype, she would not have even run for governor.

Everyone knows why MSNBC isn’t interested in the Leland Yee story. He’s a Democrat and they’re open leftwingers. But CNN is still supposed to be a news network. They have no excuse for omitting the Yee story. It’s obvious that the only thing stopping them from covering Yee is that, if the charges against him are true, the anti-gun gun-running Democrat is the biggest hypocrite in the political universe. But the likes of CNN are right behind him.