This time the Florida girl gone wild had apparently decided to knock over a Penney's, or
at least snatch some underwear. In 1995 "Noell Bush" was caught, arrested, and sentenced
to a $305 fine. The person arrested attended a boarding school where it's been confirmed
that, yes, the governor's daughter was enrolled. "Noell" even has the same name and
birthdate.
A paper in Flagstaff broke the news Thursday -- yet other news outlets won't touch it.
Florida officials released her from jail because they thought she had a clean record. Now
they're thinking she's going to need a bail bondsman. Why this vast journalistic
conspiracy of silence? While the Florida judicial system processes the new information on
yet-another Bush family scandal, the newspapers obligingly look away...
It's been said any whiff
of scandal involving liberal politicians gets vetted and pumped up through a pipeline of
conservative pundits -- but that there's no corresponding fluffers for Bush-bashing. Add
aggressive stone-walling from the Bush family, and you get a press corp that's cowed into
submission.
All signs suggest reporters should steel themselves for more controversy in the future. Noelle's release was part of a program
to lessen jail crowding by not detaining any Bush daughters gone loco if it's their first
offense. The obvious conclusion, of course, is that there's more to come.
