the kicker

Should The Press Report…

April 14, 2008

Via Michael Calderone, in the wake of recent Spitzer (and Paterson) news, Crain’s New York Business polled New York voters and asked them, among other things:

“Do you think the press should report limited illegal drug use by a politician when they were much younger?”

The results:

In any circumstances: 40%

If they used heroin: 13%

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If they used cocaine: 10%

If they used marijuana: 3%

None of these 39%

No response/Refused: 4%

Maybe Crain’s should have asked, “Do you think the press should run on the front page a piece about a politician’s apparently very limited illegal drug use (just a “bit part” in a “young life,” really)?

Liz Cox Barrett is a writer at CJR.