A Tale of Two Pundits

Pundit #1:  General Wesley Clark (D-AR), 2003

I think it is a very strange thing that CNN chose a potential Democratic presidential candidate to be one of the key commentators on the war . . . could they not see the obvious conflict of interest there? The man was privately organizing to run. All kinds of Democratic activists and financiers have been talking to him, and yet here he is on CNN pretending to be an impartial observer.

--Larry Sabato, speaking about Wesley Clark to the National Review, April 17, 2003 (exactly four months prior to Clark's announcement that he planned to run for President)

I had a very clear understanding with CNN that if I ever decided to go forward in considering becoming a political candidate that I would at that point, leave CNN. That's what I did in June.

--Wesley Clark, speaking to Fox News about his June 2003 separation from CNN, on August 26, 2003 (20 days prior to announcing his candidacy)

So?

So well before Wes Clark decided to run for President -- before the draft movement even really caught fire  -- bigfeet like Larry Sabato were complaining that it was unseemly for CNN to employ Clark as a military analyst, simply because people were attempting to lure Clark into the race.  And Clark himself recognized that if he even considered running, he ought to disassociate himself from CNN.  And he did separate himself well in advance of his candidacy, well before he committed to running.  What we can take away from this is that the ethical standard for pundit-candidates is either A) they should quit their pundit gigs as soon as they're discussed as possibilities (the Sabato Standard), or B) they should quit once they, themselves, are considering a candidacy (Clark's position).

Pundit #2:  Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN), 2007

Date that Fred Thompson formed his presidential exploratory committee:  June 1, 2007

Date that Thompson wrote his most recent blog entry, and recorded his most recent podcast/radio commentary, for ABC Radio: June 22, 2007 (that'd be two days ago)

Number of times that Thompson's employment by ABC was mentioned in a (remarkably insipid) February ABC puff piece on Thompson's defense of since-convicted felon Scooter Libby: Zero

Links to Thompson's ABC Radio blog from his official campaign blog: "As widely distributed as oxycodone HCl in Rush Limbaugh's bloodstream"

Number of times that Larry Sabato has complained about ABC's decision to continue employing an active presidential candidate: Zero (as far as I can tell -- lemme know if I'm wrong, Larry!)

ABC Radio's phone number: 212.735.1700