Americans have been known to push the limits of the rules of their jobs hoping that they will not be caught and suffer consequences. In the case of public figures, we have trusted the press, the Fourth Estate, to inform us of egregious breaches of public trust. Anyone remember Watergate?? The Pentagon Papers?? Anyone remember real reporters? In the burgeoning case of recent Secret Service transgressions, the Mainstream Media has not only failed in its duty, it has been complicit in enabling the abusers.
During the 2008 campaign when Agent David Chaney posted, on his Face Book page, a photo of himself leering at the posterior (“checking her out”, as he described it) of Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin, he lost his job. The photo and the story of his dereliction of duty in ‘guarding’ her was widely published. But nestled within this scandal was a much bigger scandal. When a young prostitute in Alaska saw the photo, she recognized Chaney as a client whom she had serviced after having been introduced to him by her pimp. The part of this story which the MSM has steadfastly refused to investigate is that Shailey Tripp’s pimp was named Todd Palin, yes THAT Todd Palin. Follow below the orange crumpet for more….
Tripp has credit card receipts from Chaney and from Palin. There is a long, well documented trail of damaging evidence against Palin and the Alaska political establishment which is reprised in Tripp’s Book, "Boys Will Be Boys: Media, Morality, and the Cover up of the Todd Palin Shailey Tripp Sex Scandal". She has submitted to lie detector tests to verify the accuracy of her claims. Todd Palin has never denied her allegations. Despite a barrage of appeals to major media outlets in regard to this bombshell development, no interest could be elicited. I personally contacted Diane Rehm and Rachel Maddow whom I held in high regard as principled truth seekers who would dig into Tripp’s allegations, but all efforts by me and by others, were met with a stony wall of silence. Malia Litmann spent an entire year filing FOIA document requests in regard to Secret Service issues, only to be similarly rebuffed. An enterprising reporter could contact Malia about the threats to her family which resulted from her persistence.
So, the behavior of the SS agents is deplorable, but, had the press done its job back in 2008, we’d have known of this internal corruption years ago and possibly the rot would have been rooted out. As it is, our President and his family live in danger and with no confidence that the force which is pledged to protect them, is actually willing to or capable of, doing so.
This travesty reeks of collusion between the highest echelons of our government and the most prestigious members of the media which is supposed to speak truth to power. The tacit message to the Secret Service staff from the disinterested and incurious press, was that no behavior, no matter how unseemly, will/would be relentlessly investigated and publicized. I want to read the book by a fearless Matt Taibbi-like reporter who will follow up and reveal to us the full extent of this calumny and, importantly identify the people in power who have successfully kept a tight lid on the coverage of this chain of events.