McGurk the Jerk

Why does it have to be wrong or right?
Why does it have to be one way or the other?
Won't somebody please, please tell me
--Why Does it Have to Be (Wrong or Right)?
Restless Heart
________________

The flagrantly smarmy Brett McGurk withdrew his name yesterday from consideration as U.S. Ambassador to Iraq. Fellow blogger and whistleblower Peter Van Buren did yeoman's duty exposing McGurk's unfitness for the position @ his site, WeMeantWell.

Van Buren has covered the situation with aplomb, and my intent is not to add anything further to the story, but to note the pass the media has given McGurk by stating it was merely a matter of "some racy emails", making one think the hapless McGurk fell prey to being skewered for some foolish indiscretion revealed and magnified by some overactive prude (Obama pick for Iraq ambassador withdraws after racy emails.)

In fact, it was not a too-daring epistolary faux pas that knocked him out of the running. McGurk (like our recent hero (not), Colonel Johnson) was having an affair with Wall Street Journal writer Gina Chon while in Iraq. The WaPo reports that he "later married" Chon, making him seem like a do-right guy making an honest woman of Chon, but they fail to mention that he was already married at the time to the erstwhile Mrs. McGurk -- a moral and legal lapse.

Chon was trading information from upcoming WSJ stories with McGurk, while he slipped her things she requested -- much beyond the helpless flirtation suggested by the headline. As an employee of the National Security Counsel at the time, the emails suggest he provided Chon insider information in exchange for her favors. McGurk, 39, was a weak candidate with nothing to recommend him, so it is hard to understand why the Obama administration stood by their man (until he withdrew his nomination.)

If you're scanning the daily heads, we commend you; that's more than most. But if you want to get the rest of the story today, it's a mosaic affair.

Meanwhile, Bradley Manning -- another leaker of information to the press -- languishes in some prison cell, with nary a hope of appointment to any post, no matter how menial.