I would completely ignore the issue of Ben Domenech (see below), but there are a few things in his story I have to comment on.
Some Readers See Red Over Post.com’s New Blogger By Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer
[Ben ] Domenech [, 24-years-old], who was home-schooled by his mother in South Carolina and Virginia, says he began writing for the conservative publication Human Events when he was 15 and continued until he left to attend the College of William & Mary. He was an intern and researcher for the Bush White House, served as a speechwriter for Tommy Thompson, then the health and human services secretary, and then spent two years working for Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.). [mjh: Cornyn’s the nice man who thinks some violence against judges may be deserved; not all bad, he has supported FOIA.] …
Domenech is a board member and one of three founders of RedState.com, which bills itself as a “Republican community Weblog.” Under his regular pseudonym, Augustine, he questioned President Bush’s decision to attend King’s funeral because she is a “communist.”
“I regret using the term because I think it’s been way overblown,” Domenech said. …
Ben Domenech [said] that the reaction to his new “Red America” blog is “a little meaner” than he expected.
First, what’s the point of giving a blog to someone who has a blog. If this guy features prominently in a widely read blog, link to him, sure, but the Post, and others, should give new opportunities to people who don’t already blog.
Second, his pseudonym is “Augustine”? Is that Latin for pompous ass? (Apologies to Bob Kerrey for ripping off his brilliant witticism: “[Rick] Santorum? Is that Latin for asshole?”) Still, come on — Augustine? Is some other “Deep Thinker” already using Augustus?
Third, Right-wingers throw around “Communist,” and more recently, “Socialist” like normal people use “jerk” or “weirdo.” At one level, it means nothing more. But, it does connect him to other jerks like that weirdo Ann Coulter, Joe McCarthy’s disciple. Notice Benny’s cowardly semi-retraction; he meant what he said, he just didn’t want to get beat up over it.
Finally, boo-hoo; Liberals are so mean! We learned it from the likes of Lush Limbaugh and really can’t begin to match the mean-spiritedness of the Radical Right, no matter how we try. The Radical Right has risen to power under a Janus-like mask: to their own, they show a pious face, to their enemies, a vile one. The worst bullies are the ones who accuse their victims of their own crimes. mjh
[Updated before I can even post this:]
Post.com Blogger Quits Amid Furor By Howard Kurtz, Washington Post Staff Writer
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.
Ben Domenech, an editor with Regnery Publishing, relinquished the part-time position hours after a liberal Web site posted evidence that he had plagiarized part of a movie review he wrote for National Review Online. Previous allegations of plagiarism in Domenech’s writing for the College of William & Mary student newspaper surfaced Wednesday, but the 2001 review was the first instance found since he attended the college. …
[I]t was not until they gathered evidence showing he had repeatedly used material without attribution that some conservative bloggers joined in calls for his firing. …
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.” [mjh: Brave and principled to the very end.]
“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.” [mjh: When I was 17, people were expelled from college for this.]
People, people! Just because one former White House worker plagiarized something and another tried to rip-off a local business doesn’t mean there’s any Culture of Corruption! mjh