Quite an interesting double-standard in the media: the Swift Boat Vets "smeared" Senator Kerry in 2004 by reminding voters what he said about American soldiers serving in Vietnam in front of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations in 1971. Former KKK-member Robert Byrd is the elder statesman of the Senate according to the Washington Post. And Meredith Vieira apologized to Jesse Jackson when she brought up his infamous Hymietown quote when he appeared last month on The Today Show.

But check out the subtext of this LA Times piece on former Senator Fred Thompson's salad days as an actor:

So can “Law & Order” actor and former Sen. Fred Thompson (R-Tenn.) become the first presidential candidate with this credit? Thompson played a white supremacist, spewing anti-Semitic comments and fondling an autographed copy of “Mein Kampf” on a television drama 19 years ago.

His colleagues say that he was just an actor putting everything he had into playing the role of a charismatic racist, named Knox Pooley, in three episodes of CBS’ hit show “Wiseguy” in 1988. “Do you call Tom Cruise a killer because he played one in a movie?” asked show creator and writer Stephen J. Cannell.

I realize that the LA Times is published from the show business capital of the world, but even they should know that much of what appears on CBS is make believe--and not just its news shows.

Update: Ed Morrissey wonders how the L.A. Times could have "missed this cultural phenomenon taking place right in their own back yard". Well to be fair, they miss all sorts of other things taking place in their backyard, so why should this be any different? Ed also asks the Times this:

When Warren Beatty flirted with running for governor, did you ever write articles worrying that voters might think him to be a murdering thief (Bonnie & Clyde), a Jewish mobster (Bugsy), or a Communist sympathizer (Reds)? Didn't think so.

I always knew there was a certain amount of cognitive dissonance amongst the left whenever an episode of The West Wing aired, but now I'm actually starting to wonder if they knew it was only a TV series.