The Bottom Drops Out

In journalism, when an interview or a major media event first happens, there are nearly always easy if not critically important questions to be asked when the first round of information emerges.

In the case of the resignation of Nebraska's now ex-Lt. Gov. Rick Sheehy, the Omaha World-Herald did a stellar job of investigative journalism, by asking the right first-round questions, and performing some serious journalism.

We now have all kinds of exacting details about the hours Sheehy spent flirting when he should have been performing work for the citizens of Nebraska, and even more details about the Bellevue doctor with whom Sheehy was having an affair. We even have a seemingly exhausting "tick-tock" that tells us when the World-Herald asked for information on Sheehy, and how they conducted their investigation.

The problem we're noticing now, however, is that both national and local media conveniently seem to think the story is over, now that the bottom has dropped out of Sheehy's political future.

Everyone from the local TV stations, to the local newspapers, to the conservative-leaning Nebraska political rumor-blog Leavenworth Street have already moved on to speculating about who might be running for Governor in Nebraska in 2014.

The questions almost no one seems to have the courage to ask are the same questions we began asking on Monday:

Who knew about Sheehy's affairs - and who would benefit politically from this information coming out now, just as the 2014 pre-election machines are beginning to rev up?

While Gov. Heineman did admit to the World-Herald he'd heard rumors of Sheehy's outside relationships, we know more than a few people in both the Nebraska and national news media and political scenes who also knew about Sheehy's dalliances.

Those people speculating that Gov. Heineman may have been looking to replace Sheehy with another better-behaved second in command more suitable for grooming for the Governor's office may have missed a key piece of news. Heineman has explicitly said he does not want his new appointee to become a candidate for governor in 2014.

We're more than willing to admit at least one member of our staff had heard, over a year ago, both rumors and confirmed accounts of questionable actions in public by Sheehy. Since neither kind of information involved Sheehy performing official state business while acting inappropriately, our staffer scoffed, but did no further digging. Being a cad may offend the ethical sensibilities of many, but it's not nearly the worst thing an elected official has done in his or her private time - and unless that official breaks the law, it's not a story.

That said, the individual who spurred the World-Herald to dig beyond the rumors may not even be someone in Nebraska politics. For the record, we've already got our eye on a few potential players, with means, motive, and opportunity, on both the local and national levels.

The public may never truly know the answer of why this information came out now, instead of earlier - or who was really behind the politics of the story.

After all, in a 24-7 image-focused media world, once the primary story drops into the proverbial drink, out of view and no longer with photogenic images to go along with the story, modern media executives quickly lose interest in paying for the work of investigative journalism.

At least in this case, we're very glad the World-Herald went swimming in the muck, and came up with the truth.

GOP Cannibalism

You can't say we didn't warn you.

We know a few Republicans and conservatives who - even in the face of mounting evidence to the contrary - continue to insist that there is no GOP 'civil war,' nor will there be any time soon.

But the political events of the past few days - both nationally and in Nebraska - indicate otherwise.

Republicans have been eating their own an awful lot lately, with the latest members on the menu including former U.S. Senator Chuck Hagel, and Rick Sheehy, the just-resigned Lieutenant Governor of Nebraska.

Senate Republicans' cannibalistic hunger for the blood of their former colleague was on full display during Hagel's confirmation hearing last Thursday to become the next Secretary of Defense, which was the subject of much discussion on the talking heads shows this weekend.

Republicans on the Senate committee grilled Hagel with out-of-context quotes, and attempted to bully Hagel into an oversimplification on whether the Iraq War was good or bad. Even if the Senate Republicans' reasons for attacking Hagel may have been less than honorable, it was obvious Hagel was at best unimpressive and unprepared at the hearing. Hagel's appearance may have just been an act, however, based on White House advice to not react to the all-but-certain filleting his former Republican 'friends' were sure to give him.

As we noted in the links section of our extended edition last Friday, for all the attempts to tear Hagel apart politically and cook his nominating goose, the tribal GOP war hawk attacks on Hagel don't appear to have shifted any votes.

As Roll Call's Meredith Shiner noted last week, prior to Thursday's hearing, Hagel was thought almost certain to be confirmed. After the hearing on Friday, Slate's Dave Weigel re-confirmed Shiner's assessment, noting that Hagel's nomination may already have 57 votes. That number may be even one more vote closer to 60, as Sen. Mike Johanns also has announced he'll vote to confirm Hagel because - like him or not - Hagel is qualified for the job.

Republicans in Nebraska also appear to be cannibalizing their own, which became evident in the sudden resignation of Lieutenant Gov. Rick Sheehy over the weekend.

Sheehy, the GOP's leading candidate for Nebraska's 2014 Governor's race, suddenly stepped down after an Omaha World-Herald investigation revealed Sheehy had made thousands of personal calls to four different women on his state-issued cell phone.

With rumors of infidelity going back almost two years, Sheehy's dalliances were not new information to those in the know in Nebraska's political scene or political media, including some of our staff. Sheehy's wife even filed for divorce, in July of 2012. That Sheehy's infidelity was relatively common knowledge in Nebraska political circles actually raises even more questions:  Who was in a position to know Sheehy was using state equipment for personal business? Who benefits from this information coming out now? Specifically, which Nebraska Republican benefits from there being a much more open Republican field for the 2014 Governor's race?

If you're a member of the GOP political establishment, at any level, the only advice we have for you after these and other similar events, is this: Watch your fellow Republicans very carefully. They're hungry - and apparently, desperate.

Good luck, cannibals.

Friday Funday: Cuddling Up With A Killer

As usual, today is Friday, and while there is still plenty of political news to discuss - from the hypocritical grilling of Secretary of Defense nominee Chuck Hagel by Senator John McCain, to the out-of-context and bogus attacks on Hagel by the overzealous freshman political-climber Ted Cruz - we'll leave those kinds of discussions about ethics and politics for another day.

Fairness, however, is a topic we're more than willing to tackle today.

For example, in no way is it fair that when we began gathering content for today's edition, the temperature outside our Lincoln, NE office was bitterly cold, in the single digits, with snow everywhere we could see. Meanwhile, the temperatures outside both our DC and South Florida offices weren't even below freezing.

It was so cold in Lincoln last night, if we'd had a cat in our office, we might have thought about curling up with the little furball for warmth - if we hadn't also recently discovered what kinds of homicidal maniacs cats are.

According to a study released this week in the journal Nature Communications, domesticated cats that either live outdoors, or are allowed to roam outdoors part of the time, kill between 1.4 billion and 3.7 billion birds a year. The little buggers also exterminate somewhere between 6.9 and 20.7 billion other small mammals - like mice, moles and voles - annually.

If you happen to be living in a home ruled by cats, these statistics may not exactly surprise you much, especially if you're a good cat servant.

The tendency of cats to pounce, scratch, chomp, pee on, or beat to death anything they decide they don't like - regardless of the desires of the humans they live with - is a common trait of virtually all felines. It's one of the reasons some members of our staff are dog people more than they are cat people.

Another reason is that on a cold day like today, if the cat living with you doesn't want to snuggle up with you, no matter how cold you might be, that creature isn't going to land in your lap. Unless the cat changes its mind and decides to jump from the couch onto you, you're just out of luck.

The rule is, dogs have owners. Cats have staff.

We know our stereotype of the domesticated cat isn't entirely fair.  Some cats are more like dogs in their temperament, and our staff members have been blessed to know a few of those over the years.

Still, science doesn't lie, and that scientific study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute makes it clear: your little "Furball" may be more of a homicidal maniac than you ever knew.

If we didn't know any better, we'd think cats were perfectly suited to politics.