Arizona's top blogger Greg Patterson began compiling a list of Janet Napolitano's gaffes long before she became Secretary of DHS.

Folks are asking why Janet Napolitano–after being a US Attorney, Attorney General and Governor– has managed to make such a fool of herself in Washington.

Here's the answer in one incredible sentence from Saturday's Arizona Republic.

A moderate Democrat, Napolitano navigated Arizona's political scene for most of two decades without major turmoil or embarrassment.*

That astonishing piece of self deception by the Republic's Dennis Wagner sums up a decade of non-feasance by the mavens of corporate media.  That's why Janet is in trouble–with a decade of protection from a deluded and sycophantic press, Janet was lulled into thinking that she was made of Teflon and that her frequent gaffes would be ignored on the national stage as well. 

Many of the individual reporters–to their credit–wrote about some of Napolitano's abuses and frequent gaffes, but the corporate media management was so busy fawning over her that no one ever bothered to put all the pieces together and write a comprehensive report to expose that Janet was ethically challenged, heavy handed and clueless. 

It's not just Wagner, from editorial boards and columnists to the publisher herself, the corporate media had their lips so firmly planted on Janet's backside that they couldn't see the forest for the…trees…whatever.

I knew that the die was cast when I saw this entry on the Arizona Republic's April 2004 lobbyist disclosure.

CLARK-JOHNSON, SUE     NAPOLITANO, JANET   Flowers   93.08

(You will recall that Sue Clark-Johnson is the hapless publisher who helped drive the Republic into the ground, then was promoted to the Gannett Corporate office and helped drive the entire chain into the ground and then retired–and was promptly appointed to the board of Arizona Public Service.)

Those flowers, plus frequent social interaction–like attending Diamondback Games–between the Governor and the Publisher should have set off alarm bells

So even after the rank and file reporters made it clear that Janet's administration was gaffe prone, heavy handed and corrupt, the media brass never put the pieces together and guys like Wagner can stand amazed at Janet's national self destruction and proclaim that her administration was without "major turmoil or embarrassment."

Some of her embarrassments are similar to her two most recent gaffes.  Remember when she compared the US Border fence to the Berlin Wall?  That was classic. 

But when pressed, Napolitano insisted she was not comparing the plan to build a fence to keep illegal entrants out of the United States from the wall which kept citizens of Communist East Germany in from escaping to the West.

"You know what?'' she said. "Forget that. It was a comment that, we'll just go on.''

That's a major gaffe by anyone's definition.  The fact that she is now in charge of border security makes is all the more embarrassing.

Read the rest of the article on espressopundit.com