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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
And thanks to Joan Walsh for giving this story to the right person.
Small correction, Mary Beth's review of "The Bachelor" was for the movie with Chris O'Donnell, not the reality TV show.
Other than that...excellent job as usual. And fast, too.
Once again the blogosphere has trumped the Washington Post by using real investigative techniques to show the Post how it used to be done. First there was the Deb Howell brouhaha, wherein the clueless Howell fell for GOP operatives' bleats claiming Democrats took money from Jack Abramoff. The bloggers and their readers begged to differ and proved this wasn't true. Howell and James Brady refused to admit they'd made a mistake and in the process they made themselves look like horse-and-buggy proponents as they railed against them newfangled internets-type people.
Now the blogosphere has trounced Brady with multiple damning revelations about Ben "My Dad Was NOT an Abramoff Go-Between (Except For the Times When He Was)" Domenech within 24 hours. Good job, guys. Domenech is another son of privilege, another pro-war slacker who deigns it beneath him to go fight for the precious neocon Middle East democratization scheme. Another snide, arrogant white boy who got his position through dint of genetics rather than hard work and even minimal qualifications. Another rich boy racist. Another Bush crony.
Thanks, James Brady. We couldn't have done a better job of showcasing your incompetence if we'd planned it ourselves. Domenech is the gift that keeps on giving, as we discover more of his malicious ploys by the hour.
Sigh. Thanks for thanking me for...editing Joe, and then adding a mistake to his column. Our shingle outside Salon says: "Sure, we make mistakes, but we correct them as quickly as humanly possible! Thanks for reading!"
I edited Joe's column as the plagiarism mess was breaking, I added the links...and I screwed up. I have no memory of a movie called "The Bachelor" and while I linked to Mary Beth's piece, I assumed it was the legendary and mostly unwatchable reality television show. My apologies to Joe and Mary Beth, and to our readers.
I'd like to thank Joe Conason generally for his excellent articles here at Salon and at The New York Observer..
But this article about the Box-turtle Domanech feels like Christmas Eve.
That the person who called Coretta Scott King, that gallant lady, a "Communist" on the day of her funeral should be taken down by such an excellent pundit as Conason is wonderful.
Home-schooling : perfect for turning your kids into hateful, idiotic puppets without social skills or, apparently, ethics of any kind.
Thank you Joe.
It will be interesting to see what the rest of the media will do with this story. Who will they quote? Which examples will they bring up? Bloggers? Journalists? Talk show hosts? Political operatives? Will they talk about Doris Kearns Goodwin's plagiarism or someone on the right? 10 bucks says they talk about an example of plagiarism that is on the left to "balance out" the example of plagiarism on the right. It will be probably be a false equivalency. Will they classify Ben as a journalist where it is a sin or as a blogger where it "doesn't really count"?
What will the narrative about this story be? Who will they call to comment on it? Orville Schell? Dan Rather? Glen Reynolds? Matt Drudge? Will Ben be "the victim" of a liberal blogger attack? Or will it be seen as a failure of The Washington Post to do due diligence on hiring? Will he be held responsible for things he has written on his blog or not? What standard will apply. I use photos on my blog sometimes and I don't always credit the source. Will that be the type of comparison they use? Who will they bring up as examples?
Who is chosen as examples will say something about how much of the story line "the media has a liberal bias" they have internalized.
Just wait until you see all the other blatant examples of Domenech's plagiarism, sometimes even taking stories directly from the Washington Post! Also, I'll be interested in seeing whether any major media outlets still do investigative reporting, or if they just leave it all up to the bloggers nowadays, perhaps as a cost-cutting measure...
http://www.bendomenech.com/2002_02_24_archive.html#10094093
"In other words, famous people can get away with plagiarism as long as they're generous with the positive blurbs. McTaggart has already commented on the controversy, and basically said she's willing to let Goodwin get away with it, for the right price. It also seems more than a little naive to think that a massive book-burning will allow Goodwin to escape significant excoriation by historical academics, many of whom already view her as an attention-grabbing interloper. As Homer likes to say, "Marge, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen."
Southhamptoner, you said: "Home-schooling : perfect for turning your kids into hateful, idiotic puppets without social skills or, apparently, ethics of any kind."
Can I say the same thing about every rotten person who went to public school? I could, I guess, but it would be just as baseless and thoughtless.
Most of the many, many homeschooled kids I know (how many do you know, btw?), are thoughtful, independent, and generally compassionate.
Or you look it up yourself. There's an informative article here:
http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0838/is_131/ai_n14810506
It describes studies which reflect well on the average homeschooler.
OK, this is where I am right now, and I'm pretty sure a lot of American is right behind me on this one.
After reading Conason's piece, I'm simply glad that Domenech is not a right-wing gay male prostitute mysteriously granted White House press-credentials who goes on to write a blistering critique of "Brokeback Mountain" because the film insults "traditional American values."
Domenench seems to be simply a garden-variety pathological careerist who will stop at nothing to secure a public position as a Washington "insider."
Despicable? Mais oui! But Domenech doesn't seem half as crazy as most of the nutbirds flocking around D.C. nowadays.
And for that, I'm *grateful*. I really am.
By the way, I don't see why so many physicians nowadays claim that Xanax has a "high dependency profile" when even the most stable adult requires at least 10mgs in order to read the tamer political stories on Salon without experiencing profound generalized anxiety.
Much of the initial coverage about Fort Hood turned out to be wrong. Is there anything wrong with that?
The accountability imposed by another country for the CIA's kidnapping and torture reveals much about our own.
Fox News' morning show plays to type, talking about whether Muslims in the Army should face "special debriefings"
219 Democrats and one Republican join in favor of the legislation, which passed by a narrow margin
The survivor and author is upset about comparisons some on the right are making to genocide
Salon headlines in your mailbox
