Read this: ItĢƵ ‘classified!’
I used to enjoy a good political scandal.
Finding misplaced government documents doesn’t count.
Back when they found hundreds of classified documents down there at Mar-A-Lago, that was a nice, juicy, eye-rollable event worthy of a column or two.
But since President Biden and ex-vice president Mike Pence have both been caught with secret government papers in their homes, that doesn’t seem like much of a rare act of careless handling of the nationĢƵ most precious secrets.
It appears to be commonplace.
Bah!
It would be so much more fun to try to make the finds at BidenĢƵ home more innocent than the finds at Mar-A-Lago and PenceĢƵ Indiana home. But why bother?
They’re all guilty of whatever itĢƵ called when you mishandle classified documents.
Or, as Jesse Watters of Fox News says, “Now we have to show both sides.”
ThatĢƵ quite an admission.
All I can do now is keep score.
Republicans – 2, Democrats – 1.
So far, the FBI hasn’t taken a look into Barack ObamaĢƵ, Bill ClintonĢƵ, or Dick CheneyĢƵ archives.
Any minute now, that score could be tied.
ThereĢƵ no sense trying to twist yourself like a pretzel to defend your side while attacking the other side about these retrieved documents.
That is, unless, of course, you’re Ted Cruz.
Senator Cruz was on Fox Business News, being interviewed by TrumpĢƵ former economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, when he sounded the alarm about getting the FBI to ransack the home and business of Joe BidenĢƵ son, Hunter.
Cruz wound up and he spouted, “If these classified materials, in particular, implicate Burisma, Ukraine, Communist China, payments going to Hunter Biden or Joe BidenĢƵ brother or the Biden family, then this shifts from a political problem to a very serious problem of criminal liability and major crimes.”
That was a mouthful.
But thereĢƵ more.
Kudlow told Cruz they’d just found some documents at the Indiana home of Mike Pence.
You could then hear the screech of tires in CruzĢƵ throat.
“HeĢƵ explained where these came from, what his office has put out is that in packing up the vice presidential offices that there were a couple of papers that were classified that was inadvertently put with non-classified materials. That was a mistake, but thereĢƵ no reason to think this was anything but inadvertent. That is very different from what Joe Biden has done,” Cruz said.
Some people are reflective. Others are not.
Cruz simply failed to reflect on how a presidentĢƵ son, who hasn’t been accused of misplacing any documents, should be under an FBI investigation, while an ex-vice president, who freely admits he did something, should be given a pass.
ThatĢƵ what makes Ted Cruz the master of false outrage.
While awaiting the revelation about the next batch of newly discovered classified documents, I’ve decided to move onward.
Hey! Have you heard about ex-president TrumpĢƵ exciting golf adventure?
Well, it seems he won a golf tournament a week ago.
According to Mr. Trump, he was competing in a senior golf championship at his Trump International Golf Club in West Palm Beach, Florida, and he won it all.
He immediately posted the result on his social media platform, Truth Social.
“A great honor,” he boasted. “Competed against many fine golfers and was hitting the ball long and straight. The reason that I announce this on fabulous TRUTH is that, in a very real way, it serves as a physical exam, only MUCH tougher,” he concluded.
I found that to be an achievement. In lying.
Trump may have played a good round on one of the days of that two-day tournament. But he didn’t play on both days.
He’d given a eulogy at a funeral in North Carolina on Saturday. He only played in the tournament on Sunday.
In other words, thereĢƵ no way he could’ve won that tournament.
According to famed sportswriter Rick Reilly, “Guy cheats like a 4-year-old at Monopoly.”
Knowing Trump, the only piece of paper he doesn’t keep in his Mar-A-Lago office is his scorecard for that tournament.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.