Washington Post.com conservative blogger Ben Domenech has resigned. Editor Jim Brady sounds more than deferential to the left-wing bloggers that swarm around his site like angry killer bees:
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.
This is probably for the best, considering the plagiarism examples liberals unearthed against him. But I must confess to being bamboozled by the idea that the Center of All Media Influence is somehow the blogs pages on Washingtonpost.com, which seem a bit hard to dig up -- at least compared to where, say Time.com puts cartoonish Andrew Sullivan.
Liberals are still kvetching. Over at Daily Kos, get a load of DH-in-MI:
After Ben Domenech's dismissal/resignation from the Washington Post--and his employment with the Post will be ended, very soon--you'll probably see some conservatives complaining that Ben Domenech screwed up an opportunity that would have been better given to someone more deserving. But that's a joke, because it accepts the conservative belief that opportunities like those squandered by Ben Domenech are typically earned. Too many of such opportunities awarded to twenty-somethings aren't dispensed on the basis of merit and equal opportunity for all people regardless of class or social, political and business connections. We live in an age of increasing crony capitalism, and the Bush administration exemplifies crony government, and too often connections determine who gets the good opportunities in business and politics. The conservatives will argue otherwise, but what the Domenech fiasco shows is that conservative cronyism has simply spread in to American journalism.
What the Domenech fiasco should show is that left-wingers like those Media Mutterers are quite furious in attempting to keep the liberal media as liberal as they can muster. They don't like the Washington Post trying to look objective with a "balanced" diet of blogs. They want no conservatives there. They throw snit fits about a Glenn Beck or a Bill Bennett getting a cup of coffee at CNN, and they didn't want Bob Novak's CNN contract renewed. They don't want Rush Limbaugh on Armed Forces Radio. They want conservatives to never be hired, and as soon as they hired, they want them fired, removed, cancelled. They don't exactly suggest confidence in battling conservative ideas on the merits.
