What A Mess

For John, BLUF:  The corruption of sexual misconduct in Hollywood and Hollywood East (DC) continues still.  Nothing to see here; just move along.

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Everybody knew ...

From Mr Rob Eno, in the daily mailout from Conservative Review, 28 November 2017.

Here is the lede plus one:

Cokie Roberts stunner … Appearing on ABC’s “This Week,” veteran broadcaster Cokie Roberts said something that, if true, means the Washington press corps covered for Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., who has recently been accused of being a sexual predator.  Regarding Conyers, Roberts said, “Don’t get in the elevator with him, you know, and the whole— every female in the press corps knew that, right, don’t get in elevator with him.  Now people are saying it out loud.  And I think that does make a difference.”  You need to see it to believe it.

Wait, what?  Roberts is admitting that at the very least she “knew” it wasn’t safe to be in an elevator alone with Conyers.  Roberts covered Congress for ABC News primarily 20 years ago in the 1990s.  Conyers has been in Congress for 52 years.  Roberts’ job at ABC was to hold members of Congress accountable.  If we are to believe Roberts, she knew that Conyers was a danger to women and she did nothing about it.  Why?  Is it because he held views she liked?  This is a stunning admission of bias.

And, if you don't like the opinion of a local man gone to the big time, there is, from New Jersey, Emeritus Law Professor Ann Althouse, Madison, Wisconsin, asking the hard questions.  And the Comments at the post are great.

Her Blog Post is titled (based on what Reporter Cokie Roberts said):

"Don’t get in the elevator with him, you know, and the whole—every female in the press corps knew that, right, don’t get in elevator with him."

"Now people are saying it out loud. And I think that does make a difference."

So Professor Althouse asks:

The question, of course, is why didn't she or any of the other women in the press corps say it out loud?  And what are you still not saying out loud?  Are you just waiting until somebody else exposes one of the politicians you have been protecting or is there no one else you're just hanging back not talking about until the day comes when you'll be saying, once again, oh, yeah, we all knew that?

It isn't like this is new.  It is like Ms Linda Tripp said.  Nothing has changed, except some of this is now out in the open.♠

In the 1980s I had a couple of tours in the Pentagon.  On one of them I was there with two of my cousins, also in the Air Force.  One of them, EE, told me that her fellow female officers, who worked on Capitol Hill, told here there were three people one did not get into an elevator with alone—Senators Bob Packwood, Chris Dodd and Ted Kennedy.  Two questions:

1. Why didn't Ms Roberts mention those three senators?
2. Did you ever vote for Senator Ted Kennedy?

And remember Hollywood (and Broadway) with the phrase "casting couch", which was current when I was young.  In fact it goes back to the 1920s and 1930s.

So, is it much deeper, but all of us are covering for someone, or is this it?

Regards  —  Cliff

♠  I blame Donald Trump, God Bless Him.