Well after 9 hours of shuffling files and backing up/restoring databases, I finally get some time to blog again. Wow what a bad day to do this. I missed it all. Domenech decided to resign from the Washington Post and I just got done reading Howard Kurtz’s article regarding the entire ordeal and what can I say but DAYUM.
Let’s go through some of this master piece article by Mr. Kurtz:
A 24-year-old conservative blogger hired by The Washington Post Co.’s Web site resigned yesterday, three days after his debut, amid a flurry of allegations of plagiarism.
Yeah yeah, we have established that fact. The only problem is there is valid proof out there that he did plagiarize article. I guess terming it as “alleged” is a nice protection for the Washington Post from their gross oversight in background checks of new employees.
Skip the next paragraph, nothing much there. Here is an interesting one:
While liberal bloggers objected to the fact of Domenech’s hiring and his inflammatory language, such as calling Coretta Scott King a “communist,” it was not until they gathered evidence showing he had repeatedly used material without attribution that some conservative bloggers joined in calls for his firing.
Now the way this sounds, the Washington Post has no problem at all with Mrs. King being referred to as a “communist”. Oh only those moonbat, tree hugging liberals would object to that. I guess being a true, red blooded American means calling the late wife of one of our greatest pioneers in civil rights a “communist”. Well if that is a communist then serve me up some red herring.
Next couple of paragraphs:
Jim Brady, executive editor of Washingtonpost.com, which operates independently from the newspaper, said he would have dismissed Domenech if the former Bush administration aide and Republican Senate staffer had not offered to quit first. He said there was “enough smoke” in the allegations of plagiarism “that we needed to sever the relationship.”
Brady said his staff did “a fair amount of checking” into Domenech’s background before the hiring but that “we could have and should have done a better job.”
Well ok. That is too be expected and any editor would not want someone with a track record of plagiarizing to work for them. The second paragraph is what is interesting. Actually it sounds like an admission of a lack of ability on part of the Washington Post. Are they admitting that bloggers are capable of checking out facts better than they are? What exactly is a “fair amount of checking”? I guess Jayson Blair could walk right into the WaPo and start tomorrow.
Continuing:
On liberal blogs and Web sites — Salon’s lead story yesterday was “A Portrait of the Blogger as a Young Plagiarist” — many commentators said there was no equivalence between a Republican activist who co-founded the site RedState.com and Post.com journalists who are viewed as leaning to the left. Brady said that was a “fair criticism” and one he will keep in mind in looking for another conservative blogger. “We’re certainly likely to look for someone with a more traditional journalism background,” he said.
Domenech said yesterday he resigned because “if the firestorm gets past a certain level, there’s nothing you can ever say that will be taken seriously. . . . It’s reached the point where there’s nothing I can really do to defend myself.”
Oh Howard – you just had to get that little jab in, didn’t you? Is opposing plagiarism a “liberal agenda”? It amazes me how quickly the WaPo loves to lump anyone who isn’t giving Bush a Monica a “liberal”. I admit I am a liberal and I am proud of it, but there are numerous blogs who objected to this move by the WaPo who are not “liberal”. Hey Howard – your a Neo-Con. There we can label people also.
This one is the king of the entire article:
Despite the pattern of plagiarized articles, Domenech still maintains that he did not knowingly use other people’s writing without attribution. He said most of the allegations, from his time at the William & Mary student paper, were from his freshman year, and that while he believes the unattributed material was inserted by his editor, he cannot prove it. “When I was 17, I was certainly sloppy,” said Domenech, who did not graduate from college. “If I had paid more attention, none of these problems would have happened.”
Excuse me while I clean up the beam and coke I just spit all over my monitor because of the laugh I could not hold in. This is a defense for his actions? You have got to be kidding me. Why not say someone else wrote them and attached your name. This goes right up there with the old “my dog ate my homework” excuse. No wait. The dog eating the homework is a far better excuse.
There are some following parts that do lead credit to my friends who blog on this side of the political spectrum. If you want to read that part then check out the entire article here. There is one last part I must point out.
Michelle Malkin, a prominent conservative blogger, wrote before the resignation that Domenech had edited one of her books and she had been cheering for him. “But now the determined moonbat hordes have exposed multiple instances of what clearly appear to me to be blatant lifting of entire, unique passages by Ben from other writers.” That, Malkin said, is “unacceptable. . . . And, painfully, Domenech’s detractors are right. He should own up to it and step down. Then, the Left should cease its sick gloating and leave him and his family alone.”
Oh I bet it just kills poor Michelle that the left was right. She is probably fearing the reclassification of her “Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild” into the fiction category. That’s right Michelle, once again the left has proved they are not a bunch of “crazy moonbats”. You were so proud when your side won in 2004. How ironic to see what that victory has become. Nothing but embarrassment after embarrassment for your party. Sounds like it is the right who has gone wild.