Hot and cold running scandals

In response to NYT Turns Up Heat on Menendez, Melgen:

Good call on the media response to the Menendez sex scandal.  They’re very sensitive to the perception that they’ve been led into a story by alt-media right-wing scoopers.  I think they studied the Rathergate scandal and the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth from the 2004 election cycle, and took some deliberate steps to insulate themselves from undesirable reality even more.  The left-wing media bubble is, if anything, thicker than ever.  They seem willing to let Fox News keep its ratings as long as its exclusives serve as a dumping ground for stories the rest of the media doesn’t want to follow.  How many of us right-wing blogger types exited the 2012 election genuinely astonished that stories we gave extensive coverage simply never got anywhere near the mainstream media culture, even though they were important and well-documented?

The other thing about Bob Menendez and his adventures in the Dominican Republic is that the sex stuff is sexy, while the potentially far more serious corruption allegations are relatively stale for the low-information voter.  Those alleged hooker frolics are a narrative violation (War on Women!) but maybe not much of a legal one.  And it’s pretty clear which the MSM and their Party pals consider worse, isn’t it?  Most of the heavy-duty corruption allegations can be spun away, unless the FBI finds some real smoking-gun material among Meglen’s papers.  Democrats don’t get grounded for questionable aviation, as the voters of Missouri can tell you.  The activities of their donors are almost entirely irrelevant.