Friday, March 24, 2006
Not-So-Heavy "Lifting"
My colleagues on the left such as Atrios and Josh Marshall were livid over it. Conservatives applauded. Ho-hum, the usual.
Yet, in ignoring all of this, I also overlooked the serious charges of plagiarism that were being directed at Ben (someone I've never met but with whom I chatted on the phone and exchanged e-mail back when he was working for National Review a few years back).
The accusations were disturbing and accurate enough that Domenech resigned today. Michelle Malkin -- on whose book Ben worked while an editor at Regnery -- earlier called for him to step down from his Post post. Another conservative Rick Moran had side-by-side comparisons of passages that Ben apparently lifted.
Don Surber weighed in -- and used the other F-word. However, to be fair to both the Post and Domenech, Surber went too far in dismissing Ben as just a "partisan hack" because he was only "a former Bush administration speech writer and editor of Michelle Malkin's books." Domenech's resume included the aforementioned stint at National Review as well as co-founding the rather influential RedState.org blog.
Yes, the discovered plagiarism disqualified him from continuing to work at WashingtonPost.com. However, it doesn't then follow that he was manifestly unqualified for the job in the first place (ideological biases aside).
Well, enough said.
Oh, wait, not quite enough, yet.
Speaking of "lifting":
New York Post editorial, March 21, 2006:
For all the supposed mounting public outrage over the continuing U.S. involvement in Iraq, the nationwide protests on the third anniversary of Operation Iraqi Freedom turned out to be more sputter than substance.
In New York, barely 1,000 people turned out Saturday to protest the war; another couple of hundred showed up on Sunday.
Frankly, there are longer lines waiting to buy tickets at the half-price booth. Even the Naked Cowboy in Times Square probably draws bigger crowds.
Ann Coulter, March 22, 2006:
Despite the fact that -- according to the polls -- the 'American people' are fed up with the war in Iraq, only a few hundred anti-war protesters showed up in New York City last weekend. The naked cowboy in Times Square gets a bigger crowd than that.
Ann, please contact the New York Post's advertising department to arrange appropriate restitution package (um, that's different than the Naked Cowboy's package).[ALERT!!! The previous line was a JOKE! This blog and the New York Post have NO official or unofficial relationship. The writer of this blog in no way, shape or form does any work for the Post's business, advertising or marketing sections.]
NOW, there's enough said!
Tags: conservatism, media, Ben Domenech, The Washington Post
