Fox's Kilmeade: Why is no one looking for Obama's drug dealer? David Edwards and Muriel Kane

Published: Monday October 20, 2008





Print This Email This A dirt-digging article about Cindy McCain which ran in the New York Times on Saturday has outraged the McCain campaign and has struck even critics on the left as pointless and intrusive.



Salon's Glenn Greenwald described the article as "just generally dissecting her private and emotional sphere for no apparent reason beyond idle voyeurism," pointing out that the writer had even trolled Facebook in order to contact adolescent classmates of Bridget McCain.



The hosts of Fox and Friends also raked over the Times article on Monday, with Brian Kilmeade suggesting, "Would you say at the very least it's a little aggressive as compared to, maybe, picking up Barack Obama's biography? ... In there, he talks about buying drugs. Why not try to find that drug dealer? ...Why not find out more about one of the Obamas, like Michelle Obama?"



Kilmeade was echoing Cindy McCain's attorney, John Dowd, who complained about the forthcoming article in a letter (pdf) to the Times earlier this month, writing, "It is worth noting that you have not employed your investigative assets looking into Michelle Obama. You have not tried to find Barack Obama's drug dealer that he wrote about in his book."



Dowd formerly represented John McCain during the Keating 5 scandal in 1990-91 and was also Monica Goodling's attorney last year when she attempted to avoid testifying in the US Attorney scandal.



Steve Doocy agreed with Kilmeade that it seems strange nobody in the media has made any apparent attempt to research Barack Obama's use of marijuana and cocaine as a teenager in the 1970's. "Have you heard any stories about any of those people who did drugs with him?" Doocy asked. "Have we heard anything about any of those people? Absolutely not." As he spoke, a banner on the screen helpfully asked "Need to cancel NY Times?" and provided an 800 number.



When Doocy raised the issue again with several Fox pundits in a follow-up segment during the next hour, National Review editor Rich Lowry asserted that a double standard must be in effect, because George Bush's "alleged cocaine use ... was an obsession of the media in 2000."



"Barack Obama has come clean and admitted to it," countered Democratic strategist Julie Roginsky, "whereas George Bush never did."



Although there was a "two-week frenzy" in the summer of 1999 over Bush's alleged cocaine use, followed by occasional attempts to raise the issue during the 2000 campaign, it was never seriously examined by the media.



Doocy, for his part, ultimately seemed less interested in media double standards than in prying into Obama's teen drug escapades. "Let's hear from some of those guys who sat around and ate all the brownies," he urged.



This video is from Fox Fox & Friends, broadcast October 20, 2008.









Download video via RawReplay.com







