That can’t be, there’s no such thing as media bias

ABC News recently reported that House Speaker Dennis Hastert is under investigation by the FBI in connection with the Abramoff scandal. However, the AP reports today that the Justice Department said that Hastert is not under investigation.

Pressed by reporters, [Justice Department spokeswoman Tasia] Scolinos said: "Speaker Hastert is not under investigation by the Justice Department."

Hastert's office later issued a statement calling the ABC report "absolutely untrue" and demanding a full retraction. ABC had no immediate comment.

Now, you might be asking, what would cause a highly respected news agency like ABC News to report a story that is so obviously false. Well, we can only speculate, but it seems rather suspicious that this false report came out just a few days after the Washington office of Congressman William Jefferson (D-LA), who is facing bribery charges, was raided by the FBI.

After that raid, many Conservatives, including Michelle Malkin, said that the Democrats could no longer claim that there is a “culture of corruption” unique to the GOP. The Dems have their own problems.

So, after reading this report, my BS alarm went off. Could it be that ABC made up the story in an attempt to take heat away from the Dems? If Hastert really was under investigation, that would certainly push the Jefferson story to the back page. I’m not sure, but it certainly seems suspicious. I wonder if Bill Burkett is involved in this.

–J.E. Heath
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