Another Opportunity to Play Name That Party

Clyde Haberman takes note of the long list of New York politicians who have felt the sting of handcuffs, investigations, and convictions in the past several years as part of a story noting the most recent addition to the rogue's gallery - Rep. Vito Fossella, who was arrested for DUI in Virginia over the weekend.

He makes special note to mention that Fossella is a conservative Republican, while leaving out the party affiliations of all the other crooked politicians listed.

The latest entrant in the rogues’ gallery is Representative Vito J. Fossella of Staten Island and Brooklyn, who was arrested a few days ago in a Virginia suburb of Washington and charged with driving while intoxicated. His blood-alcohol level, the police said, was 0.17 percent, more than twice Virginia’s legal limit for drivers.

He was so sloshed, they said, that he had trouble reciting the alphabet. That’s pretty drunk. But perhaps, to be charitable, he had not been put to a fair test. The officers who stopped him say that he blew it when he was asked to rattle off the letters from D to T. But it could be that the congressman, a conservative Republican, was thrown off his stride by being ordered to start with the letter D. No doubt, D automatically meant Democrat to him. The demand probably unnerved him. Hey, it could happen to anyone.

Mr. Fossella could be jailed for five days if convicted. Not good. Perhaps worse for him, his future political life may be in peril. It is generally not considered advisable for a politician to be identified in tabloid headlines as Vino Fossella.

What could happen to anyone who isn't a Republican is that a story listing other disgraced politicians leaves out the party affiliations of all those other characters. Fossella deserves whatever criminal sanctions warranted as driving under the influence can have deadly consequences but New York Times readers deserve better than what was reported.