There are some myths about the Jack Ryan debacle that I want to clear up for out-of-state readers. They seem like things that the conservative spin machine would push on a national level, particularly to redstaters far from Illinois who never heard liberal-media/hypocritical Democrat stories they didn't like, but to be fair I don't know if these are actually being propagated. So they're proto-myths right now; nonetheless, I want to nip them in the bud.



Myth #1: The media unfairly targeted Ryan.

The Tribune and ABC pursued Ryan's sealed divorce records in the same manner they pursued similar records of Democratic candidate Blair Hull in the primary. I don't recall the "where's the right to know?" hue and cry then.



Myth #2: Democrats are hypocrites for lambasting Ryan, against whom nothing is proven, while defending Clinton.

It's true that the sex-club allegations are just he-said/she-said, and are nothing illegal or (what I would consider) adulterous. But the Democrats didn't say a peep about the Ryan allegations. Leading Illinois Republicans, with the exception of outgoing Sen. Peter Fitzgerald, got together and vowed not to campaign with or for Ryan. They're the only ones to whom this mattered.