Dem
51
GOP
49
When Brittney Griner was detained by the Russian government, it got a lot of attention. This is understandable (which, take note, is not necessarily the same thing as justifiable) since she's a celebrity, and since she was pretty clearly popped under questionable pretenses. And when she was freed, Paul Whelan quite suddenly joined her in getting a lot of attention, primarily from the right-wing media. This is understandable (again, not necessarily justifiable), since he has been in custody longer, and since he's white, straight, male and a veteran. Those who held Whelan up as a symbol of how out-of-whack the Biden administration's priorities are did not generally mention that Whelan was dishonorably discharged, or that Russia was not willing to give him up. After all, we must have our narratives.
Yesterday, it was announced that the Biden administration has secured the release of Taylor Dudley, who has been in custody over a year. The heavy lifting here was done by former governor of New Mexico and current director of The Richardson Center for Global Engagement, Bill Richardson, who managed to extricate Dudley without having to trade anyone for him.
In theory, this should be a perfect ending from the vantage point of the right-wing media. After all, Dudley is a straight, white, male veteran and he was retrieved without having to give up, say, a spy or a terrorist or an arms dealer. This is exactly what Tucker Carlson, et al. said the Biden administration should be focusing on back when there was so much whining and groaning about Whelan. However, covering the Dudley release would mean giving credit to a Democratic president, which would be considerably worse than death by Scaphism as far as the Foxes and Breitbarts and RedStates of the world are concerned. And so, there was little to no coverage from that part of the media spectrum (and we checked multiple times throughout the day yesterday). This might just say something about the true priorities of those outlets.
Meanwhile, the non-right-wing media covered the story, but we doubt it's going to get attention for more than one cycle. After all, Dudley is not a celebrity Black lesbian. Nor is he a cute blonde female college student (you should strongly consider clicking on that link). There's little to no controversy here, and, in contrast to the Griner release, no right-wing kvetching. So, there's no basis for thought pieces about the standard thought-piece subjects. Too bad, because Richardson in particular deserves a lot more praise and attention than he's actually going to get. Although, if he keeps doing good work through his organization, there could be a Nobel Peace Prize in his future, per the Jimmy Carter playbook. (Z)