Yeah, why DON'T we hear more about G. Gordon Liddy?

I remember hearing, during the height of the Don Imus blowup last year, that the I-man was going to appear on the Rev. Al Sharpton's syndicated radio show. My first reaction: "Al Sharpton has a radio show?"

So when I read this morning Steve Chapman's column in the Chicago Tribune about John McCain's chummy relationship with unrepentant Nixon fixer and convicted felon G. Gordon Liddy, including the tidbit that McCain had recently appeared on the G-man's radio show, my first reaction was, "Wait. G. Gordon Liddy still has a radio show?" And then: "Why aren't we talking about this?"

Well, I'm a hired media critic, so I can answer my own question. The reason we don't talk about McCain's association with unrepentant violent radicals is the same reason we don't talk much about Joe Biden's campaign-trail gaffes. Namely, neither Biden's garrulousness nor McCain's consorting with far-right crazies gives most people new information about either man.

Liddy links: His radio show | His speaker's bureau

In other words, John McCain has already been linked to Rev. Hagee and other elements of the religious right. He's bragged about being pro-Bush (back when he was trying to win primaries). The idea that Liddy -- a creepy guy who once plotted to bomb the Brookings Institution -- adds a new wrinkle to this is a narrative than only dedicated Democrats could sustain for very long.

On the other hand ... maybe we should be talking about Liddy, at least until McCain stops talking about Bill Ayers. What changed it for me was Sarah Palin's relentless attacks about Barack Obama's alleged links to the former Weather Underground bomber -- "palling around with terrorists" will one day be used ironically, I predict, perhaps to name a punk band or a website -- and was reinforced by Ayers' name surfacing in the last presidential debate.

Chapman's excellent column reminds us that not just media folks in the tank for Obama feel a sense of outrage over the McCain campaign's hypocrisy. Chapman owes allegiance only to his personal beliefs, which are libertarian to their core, and this aloofness from any political party serves him well at times like this. (Compare with Frank Rich, whose columns I could practically write now.)

Chapman writes:

Liddy, who as a convicted felon is forbidden to possess a firearm, has bragged about keeping guns in his house and using them for target shooting. When I asked the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms what an ex-con could get for firing a gun, even at a target range, I was told it's a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

For at least a decade, this unreformed criminal and enemy of democracy has been McCain's loyal friend, supporter and contributor. It may be a mystery just why the Republican nominee consorts with a lawless radical. But it's no mystery why he doesn't want to talk about it.

Great point. For the next 12 days, when someone mentions Bill Ayers, I will think G. Gordon Liddy.

Previously on TV Barn: I reviewed Rory O'Connor new book about shock jocks and observed that Imus 2008 edition was just as outrageous as ever but no longer pulling in the kind of media attention as before.