MSM Misses Mark on Santorum

The valiant press release transcribers who make up the MSM have done it again.

Senator Rick Santorum, noted right-wing hypocrite, has been flogged far and wide because his personal charity, "Operation Good Neighbor", failed the Better Business Bureau overhead test. Seems the BBB thinks they should should give away 65% of the money they raise and they actually give away only about 40%. Oh, yes and there's a lot of crossover between the campaign staff and the charity staff and the charity runs out of the campaign office. Unseemly.

But the guts of the story are the overhead numbers. Santorum kept 25% too much or gave away 25% too little, take your pick. His staff's response that proper accounting rises his actual beneficence to 45% doesn't help much.

But, if the MSM could have risen from its torpor long enough to remember that the BBB is a fairly toothless dragon regarding ethical enforcement among businesses (you recall that big story about the BBB cleaning up false advertising practices among aluminum siding salesmen ? You don't ? Me neither. ), they might have summoned the energy to Google "charity, overhead, percent" and they might have found "Charity Navigator" or something like it.

Then we discover that a foundation like Operation Good Neighbor, which only raises money for actual charities that do actual good works, is held to a far different standard. Santorum should actually be giving away 95% of what he raises and limiting his overhead to 5% instead of lining the pockets of his staffers and cronies with "charity" money.

His shortfall isn't 25% as the Van Winkles of the press and the BBB would have us believe, but 55% ! He is giving his pals more than he gives the actually needy. The "bad press" he has received is a slap on the wrist at worst and, more accurately, a gift.

I am sorry to report that it appears that even the blogosphere has missed this one.

To arms ! To arms ! The hypocrites are coming !

Please, please, Oh Best Beloved, stay awake and

Stay Naked.