One good reason for mistrust of the media has to do with stories about whether a certain politician is, or is not, on a list to be considered for an appointment. The current example is Gov. Gregoire and the list she may be on to be the new Solicitor General.
Gregoire has given the standard non-denial denial, making the usual points about how she's here to serve the state in tough times, never say no, blah, blah, blah. That's the routine: brush off the talk in such a way as to keep it going. It's flattering attention, and besides everybody plays this game and the media play right along.
But what's really going on? One view, held in the Republican camp, is that Gregoire was keeping the story alive as a way of throwing Dino Rossi off his plans to announce he was running against Sen. Murray. Might be a governor's race? Sure beats going to D.C. Hmmm. Another line of speculation is that Gregoire was playing games with timing so as to give likely Democratic candidate Congressman Jay Inslee the best shot at the race. As long as the media will indulge these speculations, it's easy to game the system this way.
For what little it's worth, here's my take. Gregoire is really eager to get out of Olympia. She has lots of ambition for herself, and so would probably jump at the job. She's probably not going to get it since her lawyering skills are pretty rusty by now and she's not exactly an ideal person to be arguing big cases before the Supreme Court (not an orator, gets tense and defensive, etc.). And the boosting of her name and the possible vetting may result in a lesser Department of Justice position, positioning her for Supreme Court appointment some day (fat chance). Soon we can speculate on Justice Gregoire!
