As we mentioned yesterday, when people of questionable morals and lifepaths die, the press does handstands, cartwheels, and backflips to ensure you remember the positive things about them. We thought it only held true for gossip columnists. Turns out, first ladies get the same treatment.

Lady Bird Johnson, who passed last week, has been on the receiving end of the same fond farewells, from the Los Angeles Times to USA Today, argues Jack Shafer. Only the New York Times and the Washington Post have the balls to call out the late first lady for her smarmy purchase of radio station KTBC, which was shrouded in FCC red tape and struggling to survive … until Ms. Johnson got her hands on it. (The “deficient” obituaries made Lady Bird’s business dealings sound as if she’s helping the poor.)

Then KTBC ended up joining with CBS, carried lucrative advertising, and ended up earning Johnson a well-padded bank account, especially when she got into television.

But as a woman, she’s just more apt to be criticized, right?

Original post by Perez Hilton and software by Elliott Back