Iraq Spy's Dem Ties Obscured in Press Reports

Accused Iraq spy Susan Lindauer worked exclusively for some of the most left-wing Democrats in Congress, but Americans who get their news from the mainstream press aren't likely to learn about her political predelictions.

Of the 120 main press reports so far on Lindauer's arrest yesterday, only 12 expressly identified her former employers as Democrats. In a career that began in 1996 and ended in 2002, Lindauer worked as a press aide for Sens. Carol Moseley Braun and Ron Wyden, and House members Zoe Lofgren and Peter DeFazio.

Instead of reporting on Lindauer's Democratic ties, the press zeroed in on the fact that she's a distant cousin of White House chief of staff Andrew Card, with a Lexis Nexis search turning up a whopping 71 press accounts noting the GOP family association.

The New York Daily News, for instance, even ballyhooed Lindauer's White House connection in its headline, "Kin of Bush aide nabbed as spy for Iraq." The paper saved news of the accused spy's Democratic pedigree for the third-to-last sentence of its report.

Editor's note:
Gerald Posner reveals how Bill Clinton could have prevented 9/11 – click here for details

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