Ken Berwitz

I write a lot about Chicago politics and I write a lot about our wonderful "neutral" media taking sides - almost always on behalf of Democrats.

Here, from Ed Morrissey at www.hotair.com, is a pretty clear example of why I do so.  The bold print is mine:

Cohen drops out of IL race; Update: Video added

posted at 9:30 am on February 8, 2010 by Ed Morrissey

Along with Scott Cohen’s departure from the Illinois lieutenant governor race goes the potential for months of blog posts.  Just think about it: we could have written endless stories about Cohen’s race, complete with quotes from the apparent myriad of legal actions against Cohen over the last few years, while Cohen ran on the slogan, “They never convicted me!”  Alas, it just wasn’t to be:

Illinois Democratic Lieutenant Governor nominee Scott Lee Cohen announced Sunday evening that he is withdrawing from the race amid revelations about his personal history.

Cohen, a millionaire pawnbroker and cleaning supplies company executive who emerged the victor in last week’s primary, had been accused of holding a knife to the neck of his ex-girlfriend, a prostitute, in 2005.

It has also been revealed in recent days that Cohen had once been accused of abusing an ex-wife. Cohen has also acknowledged using steroids for a period of time.

Cohen announced his decision to drop out of the race this evening at a Chicago bar.

In a bar?  Well, why not?  The setting does seem somewhat appropriate for a man who apparently lacked the insight to understand that domestic-violence accusations and an arrest for putting a knife to a prostitute’s neck might just be considered political baggage, even in Chicago.  Using “roid rage” as an excuse isn’t exactly a winner, either.

There are actually two mysteries still left to explore.  What made a man with this many skeletons in the closet spend $3 million of his own money to run for statewide office?  And what made most of the media ignore these allegations until after the primaries, even after some of them arose in the Chicago Sun-Times beforehand?

In case one is tempted to see Cohen’s withdrawal as a victory over Chicago politics as usual, his withdrawal after the primary means that state House speaker and power broker Michael Madigan gets to hand-pick the Democratic nominee, at least according to Politico.  Maybe that blog potential hasn’t entirely dissipated after all.

That last bold-print paragraph says a lot. 

In how many states could a candidate think for even a second that he could overcome such a background?  Evidently as a Democrat in Illinois, Scott Lee Cohen thought he could.  And, throughout his entire primary campaign, he was right too.  The media heat turned up only after people from Cohen's sordid past came forward - people who could easily have been found if investigative reporters were looking.

Why did most media look the other way on his behalf?  Well, we talk about that alot in here, don't we?  I have to think that media's inclination to gloss over Democratic improprieties was what gave Cohen the chutzpah to run in the first place.

Hey look what they did for that community organizer fellow who became a senator and aspired to higher office.  They couldn't find any information about the racist USA-hating church he was invested in for almost 20 years, or about that "guy I knew from the neighborhood" who, far from being a casual acquaintance, turned out to be the guy who hired him to give out $50 million dollars in Annenberg Challenge grants. 

If Illinois media could so blatantly and dishonestly cover up for Barack Obama, then why not Scott Lee Cohen?  I mean, it's not like he's a Republican, is it?