The unvarnished truth and those pesky Colombian tarts

It’s the little things that will get you — like, say, shaving the truth instead of telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth.

This morning we find the Obama administration neck-deep in a stupid fiasco that lives on because the White House, once again, could not find the honesty point on its moral compass.

The Washington Post delivers the headline:

“Aides knew of possible White House link to Cartagena, Colombia, prostitution scandal”

The story begins: “As nearly two dozen Secret Service agents and members of the military were punished or fired following a 2012 prostitution scandal in Colombia, Obama administration officials repeatedly denied that anyone from the White House was involved.

“But new details drawn from government documents and interviews show that senior White House aides were given information at the time suggesting that a prostitute was an overnight guest in the hotel room of a presidential advance-team member — yet that information was never thoroughly investigated or publicly acknowledged. “

The Washington Post reports that while a number of security people were disciplined or fired over the incident, the tie to a member of the White House advance team was given a pass.

The member of the administration’s advance team comes in the form of a then 25-year-old Yale law student named Jonathan Dach. He’s a rich kid who got the job thanks to his dad, a lobbyist for Wal-Mart and a contributor to Obama.

It is “unclear” what went on in young Jonathan’s room. The White House told the press at the time that categorically and unequivocally none of their people were involved. Records now, however, indicate a lady of the Cartagena evening may well have dropped by Mr. Dach’s room to, I don’t know, go over a few Yale cheers.

You can read the story to find out chapter and verse about how the probe pulled punches to keep the White House connection out of the story. It’s disgusting.

The bottom line is the rich kid walked out uninvestigated while the blue-collar security types were made to walk the plank.

National Journal writer Ron Fournier puts his finger directly on why this deception matters.

“… I don’t like government cover-ups, favoritism, and nepotism — all of which are exposed in the latest Washington Post investigation on the U.S. Secret Service. The story by Carol D. Leonnig and David Nakamura (“White House knew of possible tie to Cartagena”) also hints at a rift between the president’s political and security teams that makes me worry about the safety of Barack Obama and future presidents.”

Fournier nails it. This administration repeatedly tells us that it is the most transparent administration ever. But it is episodes like this one that prove otherwise.

The whole truth and nothing but the truth is something for which Obama and his administration are not familiar.

Good job, Washington Post. Journalism matters.