If it truly was an accident that the beginning of the 60 Minutes episode chronicling Karl Rove's machinations to unseat the former Democratic governor of Alabama happened to get blacked out in only one state--Alabama--that surely is a fortuitous coincidence.
As the NYT reported today, the Alabama TV station in question is managed by Robert M. Bass, who along with his brothers has contributed thousands to the Bush administration over the years. The station was also thoroughly hostile to Don Siegelman throughout the Justice Department's multi-year assault on his office.
The CBS connection had been fine before the 60 Minutes program aired. It broke off just as the program was going on.
Chris Hayes
If it truly was an accident that the beginning of the 60 Minutes episode chronicling Karl Rove’s machinations to unseat the former Democratic governor of Alabama happened to get blacked out in only one state–Alabama–that surely is a fortuitous coincidence.
As the NYT reported today, the Alabama TV station in question is managed by Robert M. Bass, who along with his brothers has contributed thousands to the Bush administration over the years. The station was also thoroughly hostile to Don Siegelman throughout the Justice Department’s multi-year assault on his office.
The CBS connection had been fine before the 60 Minutes program aired. It broke off just as the program was going on.
This latest broadcast incident is only a narrow aperture into the broader Siegelman scandal, in which the former Democratic governor was denied office and subsequently jailed as the result of what 52 former state attorneys general (Republicans and Democrats) have called “irregularities” in his prosecution – that is, what was manifestly a concerted political attack, flamboyantly executed (thus far, with impunity).
If you didn’t see the CBS investigation, you can catch it here:
Chris HayesTwitterChris Hayes is the Editor-at-Large of The Nation and host of “All In with Chris Hayes” on MSNBC.