Whites of Their Eyes

Apparently, the way to get traffic these days is to weigh in on Marc Dann. Because I'm Refreshingly Out of The Loop, you won't get anything real juicy here, though. But a comment thread here drew me in, so I thought I'd elaborate on my non-commenting...

There's a difference between ethical problems, professional problems, personal problems, and political problems, and my appropriate response as gallery peanut depends on the kind of problem I'm addressing. When the A.G.'s office says that emails between Dann and his scheduler are not public records, it could hypothetically be because they showcase an abuse of power (ethical problem covered up unethically), because the A.G.'s office is in such disarray that it is inadvertently but blatantly taking multiple simultaneous positions on a legal issue (professional problem), because releasing them would show perfectly legal exchanges that nevertheless would destroy his marriage (personal problem), or because he made unflattering jokes about something like Ted Strickland and Appalachia (political problem).

Of course, it is probably some combination of two or more of those things, and "political problem" is going to be one of them. The more that comes out, the worse things look... and there's a lot left to come out. But I'm holding my fire while there's still a chance I might have some pity.