Gary Condit’s flacks have to look pretty long and hard these days to find something — anything — which will let them go on the offensive against the media avalanche of stories adverse to their client (like plowing the sea, as Bolivar famously said). But yesterday’s Washington Post gave them a pretty good shot at it.
The Post has done what I think is a pretty admirable job reporting this story thus far — even though they do seem to be working in pretty close concert with the Levy’s PR firm. But their story about an affair Condit allegedly carried on with a then-18 year old woman is a textbook example of a story that just doesn’t seem to have any relevance to this case.
We already know that Gary Condit is … well, how shall we say it? … a bit of a man about town? Unlike the Anne Marie Smith case, which has an arguable relevance to the Levy story, this one seems to have none. Plus, the alleged paramour herself first wouldn’t confirm the relationship and then actively denied it.
The entire evidence for the affair apparently hinges on the woman’s father’s say-so. A lot of other news outlets apparently had a shot at this story and took a pass — a number with reputations far beneath that of the Post.
Did Condit have this affair too? Who knows? But more to the point, who cares?
