I Fought a Liberal, and the Liberal Lost

A liberal gossip-monger and blogger took issue with my handling of last week’s post on the Dolnick family’s nepotism scandal at the New York Times. He claimed that the Dolnicks’ abuse of power and debasement of journalistic ethics had nothing to do with the pernicious sanctimony and moral degeneracy so typical of the liberal elite.

Never one to shy away from a fight, I responded with my own comments to his blog posts on the subject, correcting his erroneous interpretation events as well as his grossly distorted caricature of my views and opinions.

When I beg to differ, I do so vehemently. We engaged in a spirited exchange. Charge and counter-charge ensued, but with my superior command of the facts and evidence I soon bested my foe. You can follow our conversation here.

Washington Post Publisher Issues Mea Culpa

Katharine Weymouth, publisher of the Washington Post, apologized in an open letter to readers for the proposed pay-for-play arrangement with healthcare lobbyists that we reported on last week:

I want to apologize for a planned new venture that went off track and for any cause we may have given you to doubt our independence and integrity. A flier distributed last week suggested that we were selling access to power brokers in Washington through dinners that were to take place at my home.

While Weymouth’s apology is commendable, her contention, later in the open letter, that the plan did not reflect what she “had in mind” and, furthermore, that it did not have her approval seems difficult to believe. Can she possibly be so completely negligent in the administration of her own business that a consultant hired by her specifically to dream up unconventional income-raising techniques would launch such a venture without ever running it past her? And if he did do something so outrageous and manifestly stupid, why hasn’t he yet been fired?

In reality, isn’t Weymouth just apologizing, as the Onion might put it, for having been caught telling the truth–for having made painfully clear what everyone already ought to know about the way influence and power really function in Washington?

Why Doesn’t the Washington Post Just go Ahead and Solicit Bribes on the Front Page?

Mike Allen at Politico reports that the Washington Post has launched a pay-for-play scheme for health care lobbyists seeking favorable treatment in the paper’s pages and access to the Post’s many inside contacts among the Obama cabal. Even ethically challenged Washington lobbyists are revolted:

For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to “those powerful few” — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.

The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its “health care reporting and editorial staff.”

The offer — which essentially turns a news organization into a facilitator for private lobbyist-official encounters — is a new sign of the lengths to which news organizations will go to find revenue at a time when most newspapers are struggling for survival.

If this is what the Post needs to do to survive, it should do America a favor and die.

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Happy Independence Day, everyone. Happy birthday America!

Ethical Cesspool at NYTimes

86 the Mainstream Media brings to light a story entirely typical of the hypocrisy one has come to expect from the despicable and dishonest New York Times.

Quoting 86 the MSM: “Several blogs we follow have been howling about sleazy behavior at the oh-so-high-brow New York Times Book Review. Lynn Dolnick, a member of the ruling Sulzberger family and a director of the Times corporate board, appears to be receiving more than her share of deference from the supposedly independent editors of the book review. They’ve gone into overdrive promoting a mediocre biography of an art forger by Lynn’s husband Edward Dolnick, even though everyone from The Chicago Tribune to the New Yorker says that another new book on the same subject–totally unmentioned by the Times’ book reviewers–is far better.”

Even in the Book Review section, the Times is an ethical cesspool. What this incident makes clear is that the Times is just a business like any other, run for the benefit of its owners. Regardless of its pretensions to objectivity and cultural distinction, it is nothing more than a corrupt, dishonest, self-dealing relic whose time has come and gone. Luckily, the once mighty Times is now a money-losing disaster of company whose stock is as worthless as its editorial opinions. The internet and the unfiltered voice of the people are finally poised to slay the beast. The day is nigh, and it cannot come a moment too soon.

Gallup Poll Finds More Americans Believe Democrats “Too Liberal”

Gallup reports in a newly published poll that the percentage of Americans who consider the Democratic party “too liberal” is on the rise.

Quoting Gallup: “Most major demographic and attitudinal subgroups show at least a slight uptick since 2008 in perceptions that the Democratic Party is too liberal. The increasing perception of the Democrats as too far left comes as President Obama and the Democrats in Congress have expanded the government’s role in the economy to address the economic problems facing the country. Additionally, the government is working toward major healthcare reform legislation and strengthening environmental regulations.”

One can only hope that this poll shows the winds of change are blowing in the right direction. Remember, as de Tocqueville said, “The American Republic will endure until the politicians realize that they can bribe the people with their own money.”