This story has more twists and turns than a heel turn on WWE's Monday Night Raw.
First, we have the Washington Post hiring a well known Republican activist for the usual GOP-approved, well-slanted "fair and balanced" coverage.
Let the flamers erupt.
Source: Media Matters
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Yesterday, The Washington Post launched Red America, a weblog written by Republican activist Ben Domenech. Domenech's partisan political credentials are well-established -- he served as a speechwriter for former Bush administration Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), and he is a co-founder of the partisan Republican weblog RedState.com. But his journalism credentials are thin, seemingly limited to writing for conservative publications during his teen years.
As the Post's bio of Domenech indicates, he is now an editor at conservative publishing house Regnery, where he claims he "has edited multiple bestsellers and books by Michelle Malkin, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Hugh Hewitt." Regnery, of course, gained notoriety for publishing the thoroughly discredited attack book, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, authored by John O'Neill, founder of Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, and Jerome Corsi.
Source: Spero News
When can we expect the Post to hire a partisan Democratic activist as a blogger to balance Domenech?
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
by David Brock
Dear Mr. Brady:
I noted with interest the Post's decision to add Republican operative Ben Domenech to its roster of bloggers.
Presumably, this decision grew out of reported complaints both inside and outside of the Post that online columnist Dan Froomkin is too liberal. It's worth noting that Froomkin himself has argued, "I do not advocate policy, liberal or otherwise. My agenda, such as it is, is accountability and transparency. I believe that the president of the United States, no matter what his party, should be subject to the most intense journalistic scrutiny imaginable."
Well, this put the blogosphere into high gear.
Emotions were running high and well, the Washington Post was pulling a Fox News in their quest to give fair coverage.
Nice try...the blogging community was all over this like the world was going to end.
Kudos to bloggers doing what the "state-controlled" media in this country failed to do.
Then the rather unrepentant and venomous Ben Domenech plagiarizes material that appeared under his bylines in various publications prior to his Washington Post blogger employment.
I enjoy laughing at the "high moral values" and "integrity" of the GOP faithful.
Getting the pink slip and the Washington Post Executive editor Jim Brady saving face in 3, 2, 1....
Ben Domenech Resigns
In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday.
An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately.
When we hired Domenech, we were not aware of any allegations that he had plagiarized any of his past writings. In any cases where allegations such as these are made, we will continue to investigate those charges thoroughly in order to maintain our journalistic integrity.
Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can commit or be accused of. Washingtonpost.com will do everything in its power to verify that its news and opinion content is sourced completely and accurately at all times.
We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the practice of journalism.
We also remain committed to representing a broad spectrum of ideas and ideologies in our Opinions area.
Jim Brady
Executive Editor, washingtonpost.com
Nice, but great job, guys, in fact-checking this guy's credibility and background. Ever hear of Google?
Somebody missed the boat big time on this situation.
And now, Ben Domenech's response...the typical Republican response: "it's the terrible attacks of the left" and accepting no responsibility. GW would be proud.
In his first public comments since resigning earlier today as a blogger for washingtonpost.com, Ben Domenech says his editors there were "fools" for not expecting an onslaught of attacks from the left.
"While I appreciated the opportunity to go and join the Washington Post," Domenech said, "if they didn't expect the leftists were going to come after me with their sharpened knives, then they were fools."
And on his Conservative rag website he co-founded, RedState, the anti-responsibility rants continue.
If you, as many have done, dedicate thousands of man-hours to scrutinizing of his life's work, you'll find two things: First, you'll find several instances of this behavior, some attributable to youth, and some not. Second, you'll find an amazingly talented writer, a man of principle, and an earnest young activist seeking not to advance himself -- though advance he did -- but the things he believed in.
Certainly it may seem strange today to describe him as a "man of principle." But those who know Ben -- and all of us on the RS leadership team do -- know that he is passionate in his beliefs. They also know that he is human. It was ignoring this humanity that led to our earlier posts about the situation. It is fitting then, that he chose "Augustine" as his nom de plume here at RedState -- for who could serve as a better reminder of the full potential of fallibility and sin -- and yet existing within that peril -- real hope of forgiveness.
And for his failing, his career is in ruins, and his public reputation is in tatters. It is a long road back for Ben Domenech. And he's going to pay a steep price to regain lost trust among colleagues, readers, and friends.
Putting aside the charge for which Ben has been pilloried and you're left with is a particular group of critics. Unlike Ben, there is far less hope for their redemption. You see -- before they settled on the attacks on his writing -- they spent three days proving that they are the lowest of the low. Charges of racism were born of poor reading comprehension. Threats of violence. Obscene commentary about his mother, his sister, his father. Loathesome, vile, and disgusting -- their contempt for civil behavior surpassed only by the emptiness of their own souls. These are a people that see a man who gives up drinking in the middle of his life for the sake of his family, and respond by creating rumors of cocaine addiction. These are ignoramuses that think portraying an African-American politician as Sambo is appropriate, as long as the critics are liberal and the target is a Republican
And the laughable tear-jerking personal reply from Big Ben himself:
Contrition
By: Augustine Section: Miscellania
I want to apologize to National Review Online, my friends and colleagues here at RedState, and to any others that have been affected over the past few days. I also want to apologize to my previous editors and writers whose work I used inappropriately and without attribution. There is no excuse for this -- nor is there an excuse for any obfuscation in my earlier statement.
I hope that nothing I've done as a teenager or in my professional life will reflect badly on the movement and principles I believe in.
I'm deeply grateful for the love and encouragment of all those around me. And although I may not deserve such support, it makes it that much more humbling at a time like this. I'm a young man, and I hope that in time that I can earn a measure of the respect that you have given me.
Regards,
Ben
What I see in the above sickens me. There is no "I violated several journalistic principles, and I'm sorry," and no, "I will try to have more integrity and do the job right." Just a hate-filled "those dirty Democrats are attacking us again" rant.
If a major landslide happens for the Dems in November like it happened for Gingrich and the GOP in 1994, guys like this will champion the cause for change. Absolute power leads to absolute corruption, and these guys make corruption a well-crafted work of art.
Keep up the "good" work, guys...you alone are championing the cause for change. I'm just standing on the sidelines gawking, blogging, and laughing at the latest in a long line of Republican-faithful screw-ups.
Tags: [Ben Domenech], [plagiarism], [Jim Brady], [Washington Post], [Media Matters], [David Brock], [RedState], [National Review Online], [Human Events Online], [Domenech blames the left and takes no responsibility for what he did]
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