WHITEWASH – AT 7:05 P.M. ET:  I've been disappointed in some of the reporting by the Washington Post following the Arizona tragedy.  The Post's editorial page has been restrained and responsible, in contrast to that of The out-of-control New York Times, but the reporting still has the tinge of the view from the left.  The paper has made important strides in the last two years to free itself from the grip of biased reporting.  But attempts to whitewash the actions of Arizona authorities over the years, in their reaction to complaints about Saturday's alleged shooter, are a bit of a setback.  Consider: 

The Pima County Sheriff's Department on Wednesday released reports from 12 cases in which its officers interacted with the family of Jared Loughner, files that provided evidence of the accused gunman's troubled childhood but contained no obvious foreshadowing of the rampage that killed six and left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) critically wounded.

Look, if there was any obvious foreshadowing, the guy could have been detained.  The problem here is that we're talking about 12 cases, plus 5 cases from the college he attended.  At what point is there enough information to place in the federal database, which would have prevented this guy from buying a gun?

The story lets the sheriff's office off too easily, especially since this sheriff has become a liberal darling in the last three days, announcing his political views for the world to hear.

None of the cases involves Loughner, 22, making violent threats, using a firearm or hurting anyone. The most serious case involved a small-time drug arrest in 2007, when a sheriff's deputy reported finding a marijuana pipe in Loughner's pocket.

I love the term "small-time drug arrest.  That is an editorial opinion.  Why wasn't that drug arrest in the federal database?  I don't know the answer, but the newspeople should have asked.

But other cases provided a window into Loughner's early life, in which friends have said he became increasingly isolated and at odds with his parents. In 2004, police were called to Mountain View High School at 9 a.m. because of an intoxicated student.

Combine this with the five reports from his college of class disruptions and frightening behavior, and we have a case that should have allowed official intervention.  It's been reported that Arizona has a low bar for such intervention, yet nothing was done.  And the story doesn't even delve into it.

There is some good factual reporting here, but the mainstream media has been far too lax in questioning how a man with the alleged shooter's background got so far without any clamping down by authorities.

January 12, 2011