Dave Weigel, Stan McChrystal shared a mistake, and a fate
Journalists should report the news, not become the news. But sometimes life doesn’t work that way.
Michael Hastings, for example, has become part of the story that he wrote for Rolling Stone that ended the career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal. The general’s staff feels betrayed by Hastings’ reporting; Hastings believes he has acted professionally.
I have no idea what ground rules were set between Hastings and McChrystal’s staff or in what setting the reported quotes were made. My own rule is that anything said with either party holding an alcoholic beverage is off the record unless it is stated otherwise. (Jamie McIntyre has a good discussion of the dance between source and reporter in such situations.)
To a large degree, a reporter’s decision is driven by what kind of game he or she is hunting. If you’re seeking things such as comprehension, context and explanation to share with your readers, you don’t do what Hastings did. You let the potentially sensationalistic things slide — within reason — for the chance to get at something more important.
Hastings took another, to my mind lesser approach. Whether he misled McChrystal’s staff into thinking he was taking the first approach, when in fact he was taking the second, is something only he and they know, and I doubt the truth is clear to either.
Dave Weigel, until yesterday a writer at the Washington Post who covered the conservative movement, has also become a news subject. Weigel made the mistake of posting emails to a semi-private journalist listserv that were harshly critical of figures in the conservative movement.
“This would be a vastly better world to live in if Matt Drudge decided to handle his emotional problems more responsibly, and set himself on fire,” one email read.
“It’s all very amusing to me,” another read. “Two hundred screaming Ron Paul fanatics couldn’t get their man into the Fox News New Hampshire GOP debate, but Fox News is pumping around the clock to get Paultard Tea Party people on TV.”
The emails were leaked to a conservative blog, and Weigel was forced to resign. That has angered more than a few Washington journalists, who believe Weigel was betrayed and should not have been forced out.
“On a few occasions, Dave, like plenty of others sharing thoughts on a private email list, shared some uncharitable words and opinions about others,” Steve Benen writes. “What’s wrong with that? Nothing; he was among friends.
“Or so we thought. Someone — it remains unclear who — decided to try to destroy Dave professionally by leaking emails from the list. Tragically, it worked.”
There’s a common thread through both stories. Hastings’ bottom-line argument in the McChrystal case is that nothing is really off the record, and as a practical matter that’s true. The general and his staff placed their fate in the hands of a reporter who saw their arrangement differently than they did, and they paid heavily for that mistake.
But that is also the rule that tripped up Weigel. Nothing is really off the record, including emails posted to a semi-private listserv. He never should have written what he did. He placed his fate in the hands of the 400 or so people with access to that listserv, some of whom he barely knew and maybe didn’t know at all, and one of them cost him his job.
Weigel made the same mistake that McChrystal made, and the Post had no choice but to let Weigel go, just as President Obama had no choice but to dismiss McChrystal.
The sword slices both ways.
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331 comments Add your comment
tm
June 26th, 2010
3:59 pm
If true someone should go to jail directly to jail and not pass go.
“Some are attuned to the possibility of looming catastrophe and know how to head it off. Others are unprepared for risk and even unable to get their priorities straight when risk turns to reality.
The Dutch fall into the first group. Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway. “Our system can handle 400 cubic metres per hour,” Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, giving each Dutch ship more cleanup capacity than all the ships that the U.S. was then employing in the Gulf to combat the spill.
To protect against the possibility that its equipment wouldn’t capture all the oil gushing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch also offered to prepare for the U.S. a contingency plan to protect Louisiana’s marshlands with sand barriers. One Dutch research institute specializing in deltas, coastal areas and rivers, in fact, developed a strategy to begin building 60-mile-long sand dikes within three weeks. . . .
Why does neither the U.S. government nor U.S. energy companies have on hand the cleanup technology available in Europe? Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn’t good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million — if water isn’t at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico. . . .
The Americans, overwhelmed by the catastrophic consequences of the BP spill, finally relented and took the Dutch up on their offer — but only partly. Because the U.S. didn’t want Dutch ships working the Gulf, the U.S. airlifted the Dutch equipment to the Gulf and then retrofitted it to U.S. vessels. And rather than have experienced Dutch crews immediately operate the oil-skimming equipment, to appease labour unions the U.S. postponed the clean-up operation to allow U.S. crews to be trained.
A catastrophe that could have been averted is now playing out.”
http://www.financialpost.com/Avertible+catastrophe/3203808/story.html
Richard
June 26th, 2010
4:02 pm
southern comfort:
I’m just a dumb Nebraska farm boy, but it seems to me one is a criminal when they do something illegal. They become a convicted criminal when they are convicted.
josef nix
June 26th, 2010
4:04 pm
The angle of this story not getting a lot of commentary has to do with Hastings’ editors. Of course they have a bias both personal and professional. An editor knows his/her reporters and knows their biases as well. A good editor and a good reporter try to distance themselves from their own biases when doing their jobs and, when dealing with a story on which they have strong personal biases know to recuse themselves when at all possible and, if that is not possible, have a peer or colleague read it over.
I don’t know if today’s crop still does it or not, but back in my day we had boards where we posted gaffes, misprints, grammar errors, etc. which caught our attention a bit too late. Others, usually put there by the editors, had to do with “the one that didn’t get away.” Then there were those where we’d put up the story as written and printed and then our own version, sometimes true and sometimes satire, of what “really” happened. The former were posted in a place that the visitor could easily see. The latter were posted in a place well out of sight.
We had categories for these. Two were the best agenda ridden, and the worst agenda ridden. While straight news stories could and did make it to this posting, they were generally from the editorial/opinion writers and provided us underlings our own spot for taking our shots at the handlers. Interestingly, these latter were posted where the public could view them. It was sort of our overlords way of letting the visitors know that they were not above criticism.
I strongly suspect, though, that such as this has gone the way of “hot type” and responsible journalism.
Southern Comfort
June 26th, 2010
4:07 pm
Richard
Nice to meet you dumb Nebraska farm boy. I’m a dumb country boy from Alabama. Maybe I should have said actual convicted criminals then. Excuse my faux pas.
Scout
June 26th, 2010
4:08 pm
Southern Comfort:
Of course it was “tongue in cheek” as a way to show just how little Obama cares about their mission. He couldn’t care less about the Border Patrol officers or the troops in Afghanistan. It’s all about him, politics and how to stay in power !
Scout
June 26th, 2010
4:09 pm
popeye: Then save yourself some time and “don’t help”!
Scout
June 26th, 2010
4:11 pm
Jay:
Then write another one of those threads for here or an editorial for the AJC hardcopies (what few there are left) and I’ll provide a “chuckling” response to your efforts as I have in the past !
“I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.”
Southern Comfort
June 26th, 2010
4:15 pm
“I carry a gun because a cop is too heavy.”
Kamchak
June 26th, 2010
4:16 pm
Looks like we’re going into OT.
TaxPayer
June 26th, 2010
4:18 pm
scout,
leave the comedy to folks that are,well, funny.
Southern Comfort
June 26th, 2010
4:24 pm
Scout
On Obama, I’m 50-50 with you, but that’s only because I’m on the inside and see things just a tad bit different. I believe ALL politicians care more about image and power than they do about actually doing what’s best for our country. Mind you, I’m a child of the 70’s, so my actual exposure to politicians only goes back 30 something years.
I saw things during the Bush Administration that the public didn’t see that was contrary to what his detractors though, and it’s the same with Obama. At the same time, I saw things that would make the detractors of both drool. I do what I do for my love of this country. Whether Obama get’s re-elected or if Republicans retake the White House next election will not change that. Unless Congress ups and changes the laws that I deal with at work, my job won’t change with the next president either. I may have personal gripes with the President. I’ve had those with every one I’ve known and had the opportunity to observe, but, then again, who doesn’t or haven’t felt the same way?
Kamchak
June 26th, 2010
4:29 pm
Oops!
popeye
June 26th, 2010
4:30 pm
“popeye: Then save yourself some time and “don’t help”!
Don’t worry about that Scout, I’m not the one who dug the whole.
How do you spell hypocite?
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
4:32 pm
Off Topic
The Gainesville (GA) Times has been running a good series this week on the Chattahoochie River. It covers the river from one end to the other and touches on all the various uses of the river and the people who depend on it. Unfortunately, it’s not in their on-line edition, it’s print edition only.
Del
June 26th, 2010
4:35 pm
Coming into the thread late been Been building steps from our wooden deck down to a new patio and now I can’t stop drinking water, will switch over to cold beer shortly.
AmVet, if you’re still on here, thanks for your comments posted this AM on the Travelin Music thread. I was replying to Taxpayer’s request for a conservative to describe what being a conservative meant. It would be interesting for a liberal to do the same and maybe we could have some discourse and all learn something from it.
Scout, that was a pretty powerful video posted by Gov. Brewer standing by one of the warning signs. Saying that she was 80 miles from the border but only 30 miles from the state capital.
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
4:47 pm
Off topic
An interesting article on a most popular tax break.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/nation/stories/062010dnbusdebttaxreform.1cec7e0.html
Southern Comfort
June 26th, 2010
4:54 pm
HD
I didn’t find out about that tax break until we bought ours. Talk about a difference in filing taxes!!! I’ve always had my deductions higher than what’s called for. People always tell me that I should enjoy more of my money during the year. I counter that I’m being charitable towards the government. Even more, now I’m helping pay my salary that way.
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
4:54 pm
One more off topic.
I’ve always felt that high wages are actually good for the country and the economy. It gives people money to buy things and filters through the economy. From this article (I first saw this as an AP article), it appears the Chinese might see things the same way. Who’d ever have thunk it?
http://www.etaiwannews.com/etn/news_content.php?id=1300962&lang=eng_news&cate_img=logo_world&cate_rss=WORLD_eng
Del
June 26th, 2010
4:57 pm
Hillbilly Deluxe,
I think the American people will need to see government really reduce spending. Reducing or eliminating tax breaks hence raising taxes would be pretty toxic until such time as spending gets under control.
Kamchak
June 26th, 2010
5:00 pm
Say goodnight Gracie.
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
5:02 pm
SoCo
I’ve always been a bit conflicted by the mortgage interest deduction. I can see that it helps people afford a home and gets them away from renting, which in my view is throwing your money down a rat hole. You pay rent for X number of years and have zero to show for it. On the flip side, it gets people to buy more house than they can afford and string it out over 3 decades. That’s good for the construction industry I suppose but it’s even better for the banking and mortgage industry. With the old “interest on the unpaid balance”, you wind up paying 3-4 times the cost of the house. So it’s a bit of a connundrum and if the system was changed it’d have to take place over many years. It’d be unfair to somebody that just went on the 30 year hook, to change the rules over night.
Disclaimer
I built my own house by renting well below my means and saving up and paying as I went. I’ve never had the mortgage or the deduction.
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
5:06 pm
Del
I think reducing tax breaks and deductions and spending cuts would have to be done simultaneously and in small doses. The politicians would have to prove they could be trusted. I believe many could be trusted to do one or the other but not both. That’s the big problem, in my view. One side will renege on cutting breaks and the other side on cutting spending.
Del
June 26th, 2010
5:09 pm
Hillbilly Deluxe,
No disagreement there. It’s forever thus in politics.
Southern Comfort
June 26th, 2010
5:11 pm
I think I would fall in the category of the guy in the article who bought the house anyway whether or not the deduction existed. I could live without it, and see it more like a bonus. We budget pretty tightly, and I’m cheap as hell, so we’d still be ok on what we earn working.
I agree with you that if it were changed, it would have to take place over a period of years. Also, we were not able to avoid the mortgage like you, but we took a slightly higher interest rate so we didn’t have to pay a down payment up front. That way, we avoided dipping into any savings we had so we could keep on saving.
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
5:16 pm
We budget pretty tightly, and I’m cheap as hell,
With that attitude, any financial problems you might ever have will probably be short lived.
Southern Comfort
June 26th, 2010
5:45 pm
HD
That’s the plan. I work too hard to have to worry about financial problems.
AmVet
June 26th, 2010
5:53 pm
I hate Ghana. (Not really.)
Del, yes, agreed. But for me, this term *conservatism* and its overuse/misuse is much more at the heart of America’s current situation. Both good and bad. And this is why I seek some clarification, even when it seems that the so-called “leaders” of this movement seem so clueless about it.
There is, in my estimation, an enormous amount of misguided hubris in it. Especially, as I noted, given that there are so many people who clearly have no clue what it really is, though they proudly claim they are such because it simply sounds good.
But their own contrived and made up definitions, though interesting, are not really useful.
michael
June 26th, 2010
6:04 pm
Hastings should have been fired. He just ended the career of a great soldier, and interfered with a war.
josef nix
June 26th, 2010
6:32 pm
Hillbilly
“I built my own house by renting well below my means and saving up and paying as I went. I’ve never had the mortgage or the deduction.”
SoCo
“We budget pretty tightly, and I’m cheap as hell, so we’d still be ok on what we earn working.”
Thass jus’ plumb un American…!
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 26th, 2010
7:05 pm
Thus, for example, liberals sneer at the bluenoses and philistines of the “religious right” for objecting to taxpayer-funding of a crucifix submerged in a jar of urine, but would have you banned from public life for putting Matthew Shepard in a jar of urine, with or without taxpayer funding. Annie
Diversity is a one way street in Pinkoville, just sayin…
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 26th, 2010
7:12 pm
My experience has been that most people who don’t spend money don’t have any to spend, just sayin…
And then there are liberals, who spend other people’s money.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 26th, 2010
7:20 pm
I was just checkin back on some old-
Rightwing Troll
June 26th, 2010
7:25 am
What happens after this BACKLASH? Or does the “conservatives” collective wet dream end with the regaining of power? What will be different? How will THE BACKLASH lead us as a country out of the wilderness after the mess of the last 10 years? What fresh ideas are there from THE BACKLASH? Or will it be more tax cuts, corporate welfare, and ending legalized abortion?
WHAT WILL THE BACKLASH CHANGE???? CONVINCE ME AND I”LL BE PART OF THE BACKLASH…
The party of “hell no” and “do as I say, not as I do” better start asking themselves these questions or thier BACKLASH will be as short lived as Obama’s BACKLASH.
Someone’s not taking their banishment to the political wilderness very well, just sayin, hahahahahaha.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
7:23 pm
For what it is worth:
I heard Hastings telephone interview on CNN. Apparently, there were more indiscretions that he did not report, because he indicated, “They were off the record.”
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
7:25 pm
Whiner, what is it with you and your urine fetish?
Mel
June 26th, 2010
7:26 pm
Speaking of standards, journalistic or otherwise, apparently calling a Supreme Court Justice “a goat f*&king child molester” gets you a gig on CNN. If Weigel had made those comments about anyone on the left, he’d be a hero. Context is everything.
stands for decibels
June 26th, 2010
7:29 pm
You pay rent for X number of years and have zero to show for it. On the flip side, it gets people to buy more house than they can afford and string it out over 3 decades.
…and it inflates everyone’s home prices. It’d be nice if we could phase it out, or at least begin to chip away at the upper end. Gradually, of course.
Del
June 26th, 2010
7:29 pm
I here you, clarification was absent in some respects with my early morning reply to Taxpayer, although my door is open to my thoughts and I’ll respond as bests I’m able. I would still like to learn from the Liberal side, albeit as generalized as I my post, what constitutes today’s liberalism. We can go from there. As for now, I’m being called to cook on the grill, so I’m out for awhile. Over
stands for decibels
June 26th, 2010
7:29 pm
apparently calling a Supreme Court Justice “a goat f*&king child molester” gets you a gig on CNN.
a-yep. Thanks, I’d forgotten to point that one out.
stands for decibels
June 26th, 2010
7:31 pm
Someone’s not taking their banishment to the political wilderness very well, just sayin, hahahahahaha.
Well no, you haven’t, although it’s been intermittently amusing to watch you crying all these years.
Del
June 26th, 2010
7:32 pm
Sorry, the 7:29pm, was my reply to AmVet.
stands for decibels
June 26th, 2010
7:33 pm
Hastings should have been fired.
By whom? The guy’s a freelancer.
You know, a Great American Ontruppruhnooooer.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
7:34 pm
michael said, Hastings should have been fired. He just ended the career of a great soldier, and interfered with a war.
I don’t know what kind of soldier McCrystal was, but this episode and the Pat Tillman debacle before appear to be telltale evidence that McCrystal was a lousy general. Hastings did not kill McCrystal’s career; McCrystal’s career was killed in action by friendly fire and his own loose lips.
stands for decibels
June 26th, 2010
7:34 pm
As for now, I’m being called to cook on the grill, so I’m out for awhile.
Sounds like a nasty way to go.
(oh, you meant…)
gotta run meself. Later, all. (Shame about the WC, to all currently in mourning.)
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
7:39 pm
STD, lol lol. Reminds me of the Twilight Episode in which the humans were thrilled about the aliens’ book, How To Serve Man, until they realized that it was a cook book.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
7:40 pm
OMG, I meant SFD. Honest!
Southern "josef called me un-American" Comfort
June 26th, 2010
7:50 pm
josef
HD and I epitomize the “American way”. He knew what he wanted, and he saved his money and built his home without subsidies from any corporations or taxpayers. I knew what I wanted and got someone to put up front money for something I wanted while I stashed my own personal money away. If that’s not American, then I don’t know what is!!!
btw, if someone is f*cking goats, they could be a child molester. Remember, a young goat is called a “kid”.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 26th, 2010
7:50 pm
I don’t even know what a urine fetish is, shaveit, so I yield the floor to your expertise.
Do tell us.
Redneck Convert (R--and proud of it)
June 26th, 2010
7:58 pm
Well, one word for Southren Comfort and HD: Trailers.
Have a good Saturday night everybody.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
8:01 pm
Whiner, check your 7:05 and all those from the urinal posts of yours.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
8:08 pm
This is for SoCo.
http://ariannaskye.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/goat.jpg
Just kidding…
Southern "josef called me un-American" Comfort
June 26th, 2010
8:12 pm
eyes
That’s funny as hell!!!!!
RC
Something even better than a trailer…
A trailer full of ice cold beer!!!!
the angry sea
June 26th, 2010
9:10 pm
the USA can’t beat Ghana at futbol?
!~WTF~!
Scout
June 26th, 2010
9:22 pm
popeye @ 4:30:
“How do you spell hypocite?”
Well, I know for starters it has an “r” in it somewhere. But you will have to figure that out for yourself. I’m not going to help you.
Del
June 26th, 2010
9:25 pm
Well evidently, liberals or far left folks can’t really say what they believe. It seems to many of us conservatives that you really don’t know. It’s just one cause after the other be it abortion, global warming, the horrible corporations and they just think it’s Kool to get along by going along with issue Du Jour of the day. The only mantra is , I hate GWB and I hate Cheney and I hate Ronald Reagan and oh yes, let me go to some left wing blog to give me my talking points. It is why many conservatives laugh at you and refer to you as the lemming mentality. Come on Taxpayer ET all tell us what is it you really believe in…is it tax increases as the cure all without reductions in out of control spending or is it getting rid of God in our country. Please get rid of the stupid talking points and stand up for what you believe in.
Scout
June 26th, 2010
9:26 pm
New Bumper Sticker:
“If Obama is the answer, how stupid is the question?”
Scout
June 26th, 2010
9:27 pm
Del:
Wouldn’t you just love to have some of these “guys” under your charge for just one day at P.I. ?
Del
June 26th, 2010
9:32 pm
Scout,
Under my charge…they could never believe what hell on earth really means.
Hillbilly Deluxe
June 26th, 2010
9:33 pm
Well, one word for Southren Comfort and HD: Trailers.
I’ve never lived in a trailer, although I know plenty of people who have. In most instances, I prefer their company to the $1 million house in the gated community crowd.
Del
June 26th, 2010
9:45 pm
I certainly don’t hate liberals, I just think they’re stupid. Good night y’all and yes I love you lib’s even though you are, well stupid.
the angry sea
June 26th, 2010
10:08 pm
i, i carried an M16. And you, you…carry that, that THAT GUITAR!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WT1LXhgXPWs
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
11:12 pm
Del, I hope that you wake up and in the light of day, appear a bit smarter than you did when you made your last comment.
TnGelding
June 26th, 2010
11:14 pm
Loose lips sink sh…careers. Better to keep some opinions to yourself. Afghanistan is a monumental mistake that should never have happened. Trying to correct that mistake is nearly, if not, impossible. Anyone trying would receive similar snide remarks that were directed at Obama and his staff.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
11:19 pm
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday with the words Endless War. The suffix “less” was lined out and replaced with the word “this”,
Scout
June 26th, 2010
11:24 pm
Headline: “As Gen. David Petraeus prepares to try and save a troubled war effort in Afghanistan, the world’s eight top democracies set a timeline of five years to secure the country.| ”
Well, there you go. WW II only took four.
theeyeshaveit
June 26th, 2010
11:27 pm
Scout, maybe if you re-enlisted, you could cut down the time.
Scout
June 26th, 2010
11:28 pm
I saw a bumper sticker yesterday with the words Endless War. “Endless” was lined out and replaced with the words “Win This”.
Scout
June 26th, 2010
11:37 pm
theeyeshaveit:
I’ll be happy to after all those who haven’t served yet !
Scout
June 26th, 2010
11:38 pm
Taps !
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 27th, 2010
4:54 am
PENSACOLA BEACH, Fla. — Hundreds of people including Florida’s governor joined hands on an oil-stained strip of beach in the Florida Panhandle as part of an international demonstration against offshore drilling Saturday.
Organizers of “Hands Across the Sand” said similar protests were held at beaches around the nation and in several foreign countries.-Urinal
And then they all got in their cars and drove home, just sayin…
nelsonhoward
June 27th, 2010
5:55 am
That is interesting, Michael Hastings and his reporting. Nothing is really off the record when a reporter is around, General McChrystal knew that. I see the whole scenario that the General wanted to clear the air and aired his thoughts. He was a 4 star general and now he is out. It would not surprise me if there were more officers spouting off. It has to be a tough job being a commander walking the tight rope between what is right tactically for the war and what President Obama wants.
Michael Hastings is a native of Malone, N.Y., getting national recognition is a little tough when you are in an obscure little village up by the Canadian border. Now he has a national reputation for getting the facts. Now, take TV, the reporters are the news half the time, standing on a street corner in Key West, hanging on to light pole reporting a hurricane or in a bomb crater in Afghanistan to show how close they are to the front. A reporter for a magazine does not have the visual effect.
So much for all that, the General knew exactly what he was doing.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
7:02 am
I’ll be happy to after all those who haven’t served yet !
Well, you best be signing up, Cub Scout, because you have not fought in today’s wars either. Then again, I’d be happy to just see these wars end or to at least see folks that want these wars to pay for them. We need a war tax. A highly progressive war tax. You don’t have to pay any tax as long as you are fighting, on the ground, gun in hand. Everyone else pays a percentage of their income, including businesses.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
7:05 am
Why hasn’t Jindal called up all those approved national guard to take care of the oil spill. What is he waiting for. Doesn’t he care about the beaches and the fish and the locals and the tourists.
larry
June 27th, 2010
7:48 am
Jindal is acting just like his buddy in Ole Miss, Hayley Barbour. The President approved over 17,000 national guard troops for the four states affected by the oil spill.. Louisana has over 6,000 to be called up but Jindal has called up onlyover 1300. But he continues to bash the federal government.
A reporter from CNN had to chase him down after the reporter asked him why he only called up over 1300 and continues to bash the government .
Scout
June 27th, 2010
8:08 am
TaxWarrior:
You first.
@@
June 27th, 2010
8:16 am
When I read Hastings piece on McChrystal, I kept thinking to myself, “surely some of what was said was off the record.” Water under the bridge now. Everyone, and I do mean, EVERYONE, should experience the consequences of mistakes made. Without them there can be no teachable moments.
Founded in early 2007 by the youthful Ezra Klein, now a columnist for The Washington Post, JournoList was a private bull session which brought together left-of-center think tankers, government-oriented academics and opinion-mongers to discuss and debate…
So Weigel was a frequent visitor to a left-of-center think “tanker” where slime was the special of the day? Puhleeze…Weigel was no conservative. He was a ringer who got caught in the ringer.
Having said that, I don’t support his firing, since it was his employer who set him up. Don’t try to pass him off as something he’s not.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
8:17 am
No, you first, Cub Scout.
LaShondra
June 27th, 2010
8:21 am
Weigel got caught coordinating his talking points with the rest of his mainstram media buddies thinking that inside the club he could let his mask fall. It goes on all the time.
Nothing is Free
June 27th, 2010
8:25 am
Taxpayer
Cub Scout, Private.
I guess you have to have something to make you feel better about yourself.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
8:27 am
NIF,
I have you.
Nothing is Free
June 27th, 2010
8:29 am
Taxpayer
You don’t even have Taxpayer.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
8:31 am
NIF,
I still have you.
Nothing is Free
June 27th, 2010
8:34 am
So what does that mean, boy? You have never won a debate with anyone that I know of. You live here. I can’t visit any time of the day or night that you are not here, spitting out your adolescent attacks.
Believe you “have me” all you want, boy. You have nothing.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
8:37 am
Boy. Hehehehe. Now there’s the NIF that I have. That’s the one.
Normal
June 27th, 2010
8:44 am
Note to self. Never drink and talk to a reporter ever. The is no such thing as “off the record”. It’s the nature of the beast.
stands for decibels
June 27th, 2010
8:47 am
mornin’!
For those who don’t dine regularly at Pandagon, I’ll share a morsel–
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/journolist_gossip_and_haters_a_rant/
It’s indicative of the mental weakness that dominates the Village right now that Dave had to apologize for his remarks on Journolist, much less resign. I don’t think it’s ever smart to use suicide as a rhetorical device, precisely because it gives people an opening to act like you wished violence on them, so I agree that it was intemperate of Dave to say that Matt Drudge should set himself on fire. But no one over the age of 5 really believe Dave was being literal here, so basically he’s being punished for speaking ill of the Village god Matt Drudge. But there’s nothing incorrect about the point that Dave was making—Matt Drudge is a [effed] up person, and everyone knows it. He’s a creepy little twerp whose “politics” spring less from any coherent belief system and more a combination of sadism and attention-whoring. He’s too much of a disaster of a human being to be allowed to put together the menu at a restaurant that only serves grilled cheese sandwiches, much less set the agenda of the entire DC media establishment. People who use Drudge for leads should be ashamed of themselves. Anyone who defends him should eat a s–t sandwich in shame.
Nothing is Free
June 27th, 2010
8:56 am
Taxpayer
Have fun today, boy. The rest of the world will be out in the sunshine, while you are here, calling others private and boy scout. What you have is being in the position where the only life that you have is here, trying to make yourself feel better about being such a pathetic loser.
Are you 12 years old or just act like you are 12 years old?
Whatever, you are just a little boy, trying to compete with adults and boy, you are losing badly.
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
9:05 am
NIF tried to make a funny.
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin...
June 27th, 2010
9:07 am
6 pound Largemouth at 5:45 am, hot damn, I love this lake.
Normal
June 27th, 2010
9:08 am
NIF, IS a funny! Just jokin’
jt
June 27th, 2010
9:08 am
Drudge Report
Hits
027,770,288 IN PAST 24 HOURS
I think he’s pretty cool. Especially that fedora he wears. We’re talking old school. HuffPost should emulate.
jt
June 27th, 2010
9:09 am
I Report (-: You Whine )-: mmm, mmmm, mmmmm! Just sayin…
Spinner, worm, topbait?
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
9:10 am
What’s a “Drudge Report”?
AmVet
June 27th, 2010
9:10 am
jt, @9:09, mescaline.
Normal
June 27th, 2010
9:11 am
Remember Whiner, the less witnesses, the bigger the fish…But isn’t a six pound large mouth rather small for a Republican? Just askin’
TaxPayer
June 27th, 2010
9:16 am
How big was it? I bet it was not as big as that 40 pound Grouper that we reeled in from the Gulf, back in the day when it was not as polluted. Of course, they’re a lot easier to catch now that they float on the surface, belly up.
Jimmy62
June 27th, 2010
9:19 am
Bookman has completely missed the point of Weigel. For years, right wing pundits and reporters have been accused of trading talking points, framing the story, and basically colluding on what gets reported and what doesn’t.
Thanks to the revelations about Weigel, we now know it was true, except it’s the left wing media that colludes behind the scenes, that conspire to only have certain stories told, and to have stories framed in a way that helps the left’’s political viewpoints. Who cares what he thinks about Drudge. We should be coming down on all the journalists on this list. They are supposed to be independently reporting the news, instead we now know that they are liars, they cannot be trusted, because they have been conspiring for who knows how long, not to report to the news, but to sway their readers. These aren’t hard-nosed journalists going after the truth no matter the cost. They are scum misrepresenting themselves for partisan gain.
It’s now undeniable. There IS a left wing media conspiracy, and everyone on that listserv is a part of it, and should probably be fired. If they are changing their stories, or decided on what stories to report based on what’s discussed within this conspiratorial group, then they haven’t been doing what they are being paid to do. Instead they’ve been lying to their readers.
Normal
June 27th, 2010
9:22 am
Jimmy62
June 27th, 2010
9:19 am
BOO!
RW-(the original)
June 27th, 2010
9:26 am
Bookman has completely missed the point of Weigel.
Jimmy62,
I don’t think Jay B missed the point at all, he just desperately wants to take the focus off the coordination of talking points in the hopes that everyone else will miss it. Had this story not had that angle along with the smearing of conservatives we’d have never seen a word of the story here.
Jimmy62
June 27th, 2010
9:26 am
Explain to me what Jindal is supposed to do with 6,000 national guard troops? Do they have the equipment to do anything? Are they trained on the fancy oil cleaning ships that the Jones Act and the Coast Guard won’t let in to the area? I’m sure Jindal would call up another 5,000 troops if they were needed, but extra hands don’t really necessarily do much if all they can do is twiddle their thumbs. We could have them building sand berms, but the EPA doesn’t want that.
We should suspend all environmental regulations in the area temporarily, because those regulations are making this all much worse than if we could just get in there and do what needs to be done without having three months of committee meetings and getting approval from someone 2,000 miles away that doesn’t have a clue about the gulf coast.
Southern Comfort
June 27th, 2010
9:34 am
Right wing media colludes just as Left wing media does. If they didn’t, they wouldn’t be labeled as Left or Right. DUH!!!