Lots shakin' at The Washington Post lately. An alert Ombudsman had plenty to choose from, should she want to act as the Readers' Representative. Here are some examples (from just the last ten days) where readers deserved an ombud or two:
—
Syndicated columnist Robert Novak got
confused about Valerie Plame Wilson's covert status, and blamed his confusion on the CIA Director.
—
Editorial Page Editor Fred Hiatt
responded to Greg Sargent's question about identifying Liz Cheney as the Veep's daughter, and admitted he'd violated his own policies on identifying opiners.
—
Opiner Charles Krauthammer got
fact-free discussing the reason RGJoe won last fall.
—
—
The Editorial page
parroted RNC talking points in criticizing the Speaker's "Pratfall in Damascus."
—
Richard Cohen declared Fifth-Amendment-taker Monica Goodling "
no criminal."
From this embarassment of riches, what choice did Ombudsman Deborah Howell make? In response to ONE reader's complaint, she devoted her entire weekly output to a Masters golf tournament betting pool among five Post sportwriters that totalled $250. Reaching her customarily management-friendly conclusion, Deb opined
The Masters pool is not a grave ethical matter, but The Post should have written rules to guide sports journalists on betting. This answer didn't please [reader] Sullivan, who wrote, "Reporters go after others with zeal while believing that the rules don't apply to them and that they are above reproach. Accountability for thee but not for me."
Even when just one reader complains about something completely inconsequential, Post owner Donald Graham can count on Deb to side with the house.
Related posts:
- Invest in Good Reporting
- OmbudsAndy Channels Deb Howell
- Froomkin’s Boss’ Boss Katharine Weymouth Speaks
- “Holy Jeez”
- A keen observer of the human condition
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TeddySF!
Zed?
WooHoo
Jane!!!!!
Like Tweetie sez: Itsa neocon newspaper. Works great for the bottom of bird cages.
Does this suprise anyone coming from the ComPost?
missed the zed by moments. No biggy; not that I have anything momentous to say.
My Mom Said I Could
How About a Little Sunday Evening Humor!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VP4z2UDkIA
That’s right, fellow Firepups – During the Libby Trial My Mom Said I Could support the Live-blogging, brilliant commentary and cybercommunity at Firedoglake with a monthly PayPal transaction of $25.07 for the rest of the year!
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To encourage Washington Post Executive Editor Leonard Downie Jr to hire an actual Ombudsman, please email him here.
Ya never know, it could happen.
Can’t Ben Bradlee re-exert any control over the ComPost? Or has all hope been lost?
eCAHNomics @ 5
and serves well to wrap fish, don’t forget.
Anyone know how much Howell gets paid for this non-existent job?
I’m feeling very jazZED!
Yah, I can see why there was hardly anything to ombud this week.
This may be OT, or it may fit in the T generally: One thing I find extremely ironic in the whole USA story is the emphasis on chasing down voter fraud and coming up dry. It all seems like so much misdirection from looking at voting fraud. But that would leave them chasing themselves, wouldn’t it?
All you have to so is look at that picture of Deborah Howell and you know she hasn’t a clue.
I wonder if she receives emails about the ethical lapses of the Wapo’s writers or figures it out with her own big brain.
Enlightened people have lost all respect for papers like and including the Wapo and the NY Times. They are full of errors.. errors in judgment, lies .. spinning, framing dissembling and stenography.
Long live FDL where the truth shines bright!
eCAHNomics @
5
Lots of neocons, paleocons and theocons consider WaPo a liberal rag, though. They must flood her with a ton of email about “liberal media” violations.
Between the -cons and the the fact-based journalism advocates (us), there’s a LOT to write about. I don’t care if she addresses their reader issues or ours, but I think the paper has a responsibility to provide a public editor or a reader representative.
She ain’t it.
I’m sending her this link, but she has no power over the opinion pieces.
rxbusa @
13
It’s not a misdirection from voting fraud, it’s the justification for it.
rxbusa @ 13
Did you see that Robert Reich unveiled it on Stephie’s program: Administration wants to make it more difficult to vote.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/….._0415.html
eCAHNomics @ 18
Voting is a privilege which must not be granted to just *anybody*. Who knows what kind of uncouth ruffians might get elected?
Eli @ 19
Democ(k)racy is too good for the masses.
She just tryin to keep her job, got to keep the boss happy. What better way than to avoid all controversy
Calling Deborah Howell an ombudsman is almost as bad as calling Joe Lieberman a Democrat. How can they call her a readers’ advocate if she doesn’t advocate for the readers?
You know those dozens of pages of comments that routinely thrash the WaPo’s ridiculous (and often inaccurate) editorials, Ms Howell? Those are from your READERS. You can dismiss them as “liberal bloggers” all you want, but it bears repeating that they are STILL people who went to your website, read your crappy content, and then wrote some criticism about it. Whether you like it or not, those are the people you’re supposed to be advocating for.
Pretty pathetic too.
jayackroyd @ 16
Yes, she does. She has the power to call bullshit in her own column when “opinion pieces” contain blatent falsehoods. In fact, this is part of her job.
Waccamaw @
12
Somewhere between Chief of Data Entry at the White House and the Director of Lessons Learned.
BINGO, to the 10th power, Frank!
***
Frank Probst @ 22
eCHAN at 18
Apropos the framing discussion, we need to make this an apple pie issue. After every election, opeds and editorials solemnly opine about Americans not showing up at the polls. Republicans working to keep Americans from voting is something that should be turned into a scandalous disregard for the nation and representative government.
24 hour voting. Weekend voting. Voting by mail. Open the polls, so that it is easier for people to vote. This should be a no-brainer.
jayackroyd @ 16
Well, she has no power at all. Deb comments about whatever she likes, she’s writtten when discussing her contract in the past. Commenting about the facts that underpin the opinion pieces is fair territory for other public editors; see CBS Public Eye on Katie Couric’s commentary about Barack Obama.
Public editors can use many excuses not to comment in areas they would rather not tread; it seems like Deb has either boxed herself into a corner, or been forbidden usual territory by higher-ups.
Frank Probst @ 24
yeah, and i sent her the link. She wrote back to me once, so I have her mail address.
eCAHNomics @ 17
Did you see that Robert Reich unveiled it on Stephie’s program: Administration wants to make it more difficult to vote.
http://rawstory.com/news/2007/….._0415.html
Yes, going back to pre2000 election role purging by Katharine Harris in Florida. And it worked so well it continued in Ohio in 2004.
There was a very good documentary on voting fraud by Dorothy Fadiman called Stealing America: Vote by Vote. I got to see an early screening and it was very powerful. Unfortunately it came out just before the 2006 election and didn’t get enough play to raise people’s awareness.
But Reich is right on…there is more than one way to create a permanent R majority.
She must have gone to the Tucker Carlson School of Irrelevant Journalism
Take a factless and feckless stand which is irrelevant to anything and beat it to death
Frank Probst @ 22
Well said, Frank! I would add: And it doesn’t count when you advocate for ONE reader at a time.
(Pls pardon OT… EPU’d from just before Sunday’s FDL Book Salon)
——————————
Feeling adventuresome? Interested in who else is in the FDL community, and where they are? Maybe get in touch with them via anonymous message?
http://www.frappr.com/?a=const…..8720111273
or, for fans of smaller URLs:
http://tinyurl.com/2ykqgb
See if it works for ya. Bookmark it if you like. This is Beta stuff only. No, really Alpha. :)
Check it out… If you’d like to join, there’s a little orange “Join!” button at the upper left of the map. You even get to declare your political pref (and gender too) when picking your pin.
No guarantees… this is just a part-time project. The map’s set such that you can join NOW rather than having to get reviewed… but if lots of spammers or wingnuts show up, I’ll change that. Please don’t forget your “shoutout” — and perhaps you’ve got a teenchy graphic to use…? :)
Don’t worry about pinpointing your house! All I seem to be able to give it is a City, State or ZIP within the USA, and it puts the pin right in the middle. It seems to recognize major worldwide cities, so if you live in some burg in Western Foobistan, try to see whether Frappr knows its capital.
At the bottom of the map page you’ll find a link to a discussion forum, different from our ever-changing (and marvelous!) FDL strings. Ask questions about the firedoglake map over there, not here.
N.B.: The discussion area and FireDogLake map are not related in any way to the FireDogLake blog or its many excellent proprietors. This stuff is just a fun way of seeing how widespread we all are, and to finding neighbors while retaining anonymity. There’s an anonymous message system built-in, if you want to use it. Enjoy…
——————————
This is good… During the FDL Book Salon, lotsa Pups joined the map… but a bunch of ya just put in no names, only places. Could you folx try to figure out how to add your names and the all-important, highly entertaining “shoutout”s? If you can’t figure it out, pls post in the Map Forum. TYVM. (And are there really so many of you who are “Independent?” ):)
DefJef @ 13
I bet she has a really nice telephone voice, though.
jayackroyd @ 27
For sure. But remember the framing problem. The voters that get pushed off the roles are the same people who get shat upon by society in all other parts of their lives. In my 3-score years, we’ve gone full cycle. Much of the progress than seemed to have been made in the 1960s & 1970s has been reversed–if not inn law, at least in attitude. The framing challenge, then, is to reassert the moral measure of society by how it treats its least fortunate members. Talk about rolling boulders uphill!
rxbusa @ 34
Perhaps, but Deb has been reported to cuss quite creatively.
TeddySanFran @
9
I wouldn’t be holdin’ my breath on it.
Except for Froomkin, the Washington Post is dead to me. Feh.
BTW, I am still waiting for Mr. Cohen to respond to my missive from earlier this week [#87] – when he was weeping for poor Monica Goodling.
As I do live in the reality-based community, I have been breathing regularly in the interim, and intend to continue.
But I’m glad Ms. Howell dealt with the Master’s pool, had I known about it, it would have taken me at least 5 seconds of troubled deliberation before I decided I didn’t care…
cleter @ 38
Don’t forget Dana Priest.
Eli @
19
Congratulations, Eli. What office are you running for?
TeddySanFran @ 36
Some people pay extra for that…
jayackroyd @ 26
You are absolutely right! After every election it is to our national embarrassment how few people vote who are eligible…and when you do the multiplication to figure out how many people voted for a candidate, we haven’t had a true majority-elected president in decades.
My husband got his citizenship in 2003 and his motivation was so he could vote against W. As many people as I rant to about politics who agree with me, when I call them after the election to see if they voted, it is a dismal disappointment the triviality of the reasons they have for not making it to the polls.
I like what Molly Ivins used to say: if you don’t vote, you can’t bitch. And goddess knows I love to bitch!
TeddySanFran @ 35
Cussing with a sweet voice can be very effective.
Loo Hoo @ 41
I think I might be in line for Assistant Vice President soon…
rxbusa @ 43
And when the 30% *all* vote…
David Olson @ 4.18 -
Are you as ready as I to take that phrase “Lessons Learned” and drown it in the nearest bathtub? Naw…..make that toilet. Would like to know which of the spin meisters in the shrub’s stable is responsible for coining it; a pox upon the day it was invented.
OT US Attorneys
Rahm blast
Sun Times
I make no comment on the claim that Rahm’s responsible for uncovering this whole affair.
Elliott @ 48
As long as the story gets out there, I won’t quibble *too* much about who gets the credit…
For an example of example of excellent Public Editing, I would refer to Byron Calame’s February 26th essay on the NYT’s several EFP stories, their sourcing and editing.
also:
Calame appears to be completely unafraid of touching a third rail at the NYT (altho he omits her name) while still providing a respected forum for the presentation of real reader concerns.
in re: vote fraud. I think I commented on this a few days ago, calling it a forest/trees situation.
Trees = Republics harping on individual voter fraud. Using this chimera to obscure their real situation which is
Forest = Systematic efforts to suppress minority votes and votes considered likely to be for Democratic candidates, i.e., wide-scale election fraud.
Once again an example of Republic smoke and mirrors attempting to conceal the actual crime/operation that is really being commited.
Elliott @ 48
In all fairness to Rahm, I feel obligated to point out that the author of this piece is…wait for it…Bob Novak.
eCAHNomics @
40
And E.J. and Eugene.
And sometimes Shailagh. And Peter and Jonathan.
Frank Probst @ 52 says:
Yes indeed Ladies and Gentlemen, it is Mr. No Facts himself.
Much earlier today I was properly motivated, to use a kinder phrase than I am thinking, to write the following to the WaPo “ombudsman” after being required to re-register for no apparent reason whatsoever.
“I am again asked to go through your registration process. Why? The Post is on a downward spiral that is extremely unattractive. Your new webpage is absolutely pitiful. Your news reporting is, save for a couple of reporters like Dana Priest, either withering or being intentionally gutted. Your vaunted opinion page has become so filled with the most idiotic, slanted drivel that it defies description. There is simply no aspect of your operation that is not a pitiful laughingstock anymore. You are putting the finishing touches on the killing of one of the greatest newspapers ever. What brilliance will you institute next to finish off the job? Heckuva job, to quote one of the few individuals in the world who may actually have done a worse job of stewardship than your executives and decision makers.”
Deb is more of an Ombutthead, really.
Eli @ 56
AHAHAHA!
btw – the frapper map thing is fun and I particularly like the ones with graphics and/or shoutouts!
OldCoastie @ 57
It’s a nice potential reference for when I travel (usually to NYC).
rxbusa @
34
Thurston! Thurston!
cleter @ 38
dana priest, walter pincus
fine letters, MPoodle and bmaz.
Deb is a full-throated adherent to the school of journamilizm that sez “if both sides are complaining, we’re doing our job exactly right.” When she acribes complaints to liberal bloggers, or even worse, to those prompted by liberal bloggers, it makes me see red.
I was a dedicated WaPo reader (having it delivered to my remote New England college dorm during Watergate) long before I started taking orders from Jane & Christy. Why Deb finds it necessary to ascribe motive and persuasion to her paper’s READERS escapes me.
TeddySanFran @
53
Isn’t Dahlia WaPo?
wow.
Li’l Debbie has her eye on the ball!
I think Dahlia Lithwick is Slate, op-edded at WaPo.
Frank Probst @ 52
and in all fairness to firepups, I should have remembered to include that teeny tiny little detail. I got all carried away trying to construct the post. SORRY!
TeddySanFran @ 64
ComPost owns Slate these days.
That “Director of Lessons Learned” is the winner for most Orwellian job title in this admin.
Plus, he/she/it isn’t doing much of a job!
Loo Hoo @ 67
I’m pretty sure they only have an inbox.
(a very LARGE inbox)
Loo Hoo @
67
Over the years, I figured out that there are folks who have 25-30 years of experience and other folks who have one year of experience repeated 25-30 times.
Given the (un)willingness of the Chimpenfuhrer to learn ANYTHING, the “Director of Lessosn Learned” is probably lonelier than the M*ytag Repairman.
Elliott @ 65
Which leads to a question: did Rahm leak to Novak about his plans? The laudatory tone regarding Rahm’s AttorneyGate role makes me think so. Or did an enemy of Rahm’s leak to Novak, to make Rahm look silly, since he’s had almost no role in AttorneyGate (at least that I’ve seen).
Eli @ 68
Plus, look at the raw material the poor thing has to work with.
TeddySanFran @ 71
hmmm, I wonder!
.
(ps another great post! thanks!)
TeddySanFran @71 asks
Purely a WAG, but I’d bet that No Facts thinks of Rahm as one of the more competent Democrats and if he could undercut his credibility and make him look silly, he’d gofer it.
Eli @ 67
An inbox and a very big roundfile. In my years at a now large corporation, I have been through many Lessons Learned exercises and my observation was that it was more of a laundering experience…rinse and spin.
Stuart Baker, our Director of Lessons Learned, “earns” $107 K.
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..-staffers/
Doesn’t Lessons Learned imply, well, Learning capability as well as an admission that things didn’t go quite right? Can’t see Dear Leader buying into either of those concepts…
WRT the Novak column. The lead story about how Karl Rove told Bob Novak that Karl Rove won’t be helping George W. Bush’s immigration strategy that Karl Rove helped to formulate was quite humorous.
Poor Novak, he must be the worlds oldest fluffer.
-GSD
Shorter Howell, ‘No one cares what you think!’ Once you understand that phrase, first uttered (to my knowledge) by the chimp-in-chief, you understand the Washington-based MSM. It’s us against them, and we are not ‘us’.
Loo Hoo @ 76
$107K for walking into the office each morning and throwing up one’s hands and saying, “WTF?”
I could do that.
Loo Hoo @ 76
when will they learn?
“Journey w/George” is on MSNBC……..thus far it’s shaping up not to be a particularily flattering picture of shrub AND the press *g*.
Mutant Poodle @
39
I am waiting for a response from Cohen too. All I did was email him the link to the article Jane wrote about him and his disregard for the truth.
OT
for those interested, NATURE has some absolutely fabulous underwater photography in this turtle episode.
errr can i be excused as i never read the comPOST? they lost me when they came out in facor if invading iraq…..
Elliott @ 84
I’m watching monkeys on Discovery Channel. (Jungle episode of Planet Earth series)
I Love Jane Hamsher @ 83
Cohen and Broder are professional concern trolls.
dakine01 @51,
That summarizes the GOP game re: voter fraud/suppression perfectly.
Rovian politics 101: vehemently accuse the other side of committing the very crimes that you and your minions have mastered.
Eli @ 49
My dissertation advisor, who was a truly great man and did get a lot done in his life used to say, ‘you get a lot more done if you don’t try to take credit for it.’
I’m watching the Jackie Robinson tribute at Dodger Stadium on ESPN.
When is the Abu “Fires at the pleasure of the pResident” Gonzo hearing? Tuesday?
ccmask @ 91
Tuesday. 10 AM EDT, I think.
Thanks Montag.
OT but something I have been wondering about is the revelation in the ABQ Journal (via TPM) today about Bush being the one to fire Iglesias after Domenici complained.
Now IMO we have more than plenty of high crimes and misdemeanors to warrant impeachment of Shrub, but does this one provide any stronger evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors that the HC&Ms that have preceded it?
Eli @ 86
I’m taking a break from watching Chimp! ;)
Elliott @ 95
They’ve moved on to slow-motion frogs now.
Dover Bitch @ 90
Same here.
montag @ 92
C-SPAN 3, C-SPAN radio, and C-SPAN online.
rxbusa @ 94
If a Republican president does it, it’s not illegal.
SOS I checked very liberal and it kept making my designation independent by itself?
hey teddysanfran –
here’s another one — in the event
no one else mentions it. . .
how about running alberto gonzales’
self-serving drivel on the editorial
page today — without a facing-page opinion/
view from senator chuck schumer, or patrick
leahy, or john conyers or henry waxman?
btw, a realvideo streaming feed of
senator schumer’s remarks is up at
this link — powerful stuff today!
when you arrogate to yourself the role of semi-official organ for Bush and the neocons you find the flunkies like Howell quickly learn their role. now if she were working directly for the Bush team instead of for intermediates she could perform the important role of ousting anyone with an anti-Bush T-shirt.
Jay @
88
I think the Newt started the trend but you’re correct in that KKKarl perfected it.
LoudounLib @ 97
It’s excellent, isn’t it?
Eli @ 96
those frogs better hope the Chimp-in-Chief doesn’t catch them!
rxbusa @ 94
Technically, no. He appointed them. He can fire them. That he did it for overtly political purposes, to try to pull Heather Wilson’s ass out of the fire at the behest of Domenici, just makes it look bad.
And, for this bunch, looking bad is the ultimate sin. It’s all image. So, they do their best to cover up their involvement in what was raw politics. The cover-up, the lying before Congress, is what will get `em.
DB – yes it is! Jackie Robinson is one of my heroes.
Mutant Poodle,
Ouch! I definetly want you on my team…
nolo @ 101
Thanks! I only caught the tail end of that earlier.
LoudounLib @ 107
I’ve been watching ESPN for the last 3 1/2 hours because of the coverage. He’s one of my heroes as well.
I am sorry, but the first thing that comes to mind when looking at her picture is: sourpuss.
Dover Bitch @ 110
And there’s Hank Aaron, another hero. If B*rry B*nds breaks his HR record this year, it’ll be a travesty.
chowder @ 111
More like your worst grade-school principal… the one that made up her mind that you were a troublemaker before you ever did a thing….
I am so late to this partay, but seriously, there should have been a spew alert with this post.
Breaking News:
George W. Bush names Paul Wolfowitz as his new Whore Czar.
-GSD
Ooops, sorry TSF for the OT baseball talk!
montag @ 91
Does anyone know if NPR will be carrying it? I had a terrible time streaming either vid or radio on the web for Kyle’s hearing…kept getting bumped into this weird loop like a record skipping.
chowder @ 111
And how exciting it would be to see that Sourpuss Power unleashed constructively at the Post!! Instead, she nags the sportswriters about a Masters pool. And pisses them off mightily, from the sound of it, which makes her feel like she earned her keep this week.
GSD @ 115
He must be having another wargasm.
chowder @ 111
I thought it was Harriet, only twenty years younger.
im here in new jersey preparing to bail out my flooded basement due to the nor’easter hitting us so continue to talk amongst yourselves…… hope i can come back later….
juslin @ 121
No fun.
good luck, juslin.
Loo Hoo @ 119
Loo Hoo @ 119
the sad sick thing is he probably really does have them.
oops
sorry mods!
Look!
Fred Thompson PROVES we need a Director of Lessons Learned:
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Coinkydinky!
Wolfie vows to keep his job as the WB weekend meetings wrap, although the committee looking into events has issued no report yet.
Heard an interesting bit of trivia regarding Jackie Robinson the other day. Former Boston Celtic great Bill Russell (who was the greatest hoopster ever with the possible exception of Michael Jordan, IMHO) was telling the story of how he was a pallbearer at Jackie Robinson’s funeral. Apparently Robinson’s family (wife IIRC) contacted Russell to ask if he’d be willing to do it and he did despite the fact that they didn’t really know each other well. When Russell later humbly inquired as to why they had asked him, he was told that he had been one of Jackie’s idols.
TeddySanFran @ 129
That’s cuz the bank has important work to do and by god, he’s gonna do it, Teddy.
Fred Hiatt is the Philip Zelikow of the Washington Post.
Loo Hoo @ 128
But he LOOKS so Presidential
GSD @ 115
What, not Jeffie G?
Everythingseemssoneat @ 132
Zelikow’s a guy who’ll come back in 20 years with exciting PNAC ideas repackaged if we don’t shut down their team completely now.
TeddySanFran @
129
Who better to fight third world corruption than a corrupt first worlder.
Long live Wolfie!
Seems he’s using the same ice-cream scoop to hollow-out the World Bank and install his flunkies too.
-GSD
Looks like the WaPoo’s gonna have to do a “document dump” of their own just to make space on their servers. 49 pages of comments and counting on Abu’s Op-Ed.
bonkers @ 137
Has anyone found any positive ones yet?
Elliott @ 133
McCain said if he had Fred’s voice he’d be President. Shows what McCain thinks of the electorate, Straight Talk or no Straight Talk.
Loo Hoo @
128
Why don’t all those Hollywierdos just shut up and sing?
-GSD
TeddySanFran @ 135
Isn’t he the author of the well written 9/11 novel?
As Atrios notes – and I, as a regular reader can confirm – one of Howell’s most irritating traits is her ability to occupy herself with the trivial, while ignoring the big stuff. The Masters betting pool is an excellent example – one more week without having to deal with anything of actual, y’know, importance.
Here’s her column subjects lately:
Today: the Masters betting pool.
4/8/07: Can the news stories have better ledes?
4/1/07: Reporters and columnists at the WaPo moving to new assignments in the paper. And some stories Debbie wants to read about. (Isn’t an ombudsman supposed to represent the customers, not herself?)
3/25/07: Debbie responds to a complaint from a Bush Administration official. (Guess who the paper views as its real customer?)
3/18/07: Should the WaPo have noted that op-ed writer Robert Kagan is surge architect Frederick Kagan’s brother? No, said the Kagans, who say they often disagree. That was good enough for Debbie.
3/11/07: How long should a story be? (No, I’m not making this up.)
3/4/07: Wasn’t that a great story we did on Walter Reed?
2/25/07: Maybe the WaPo shouldn’t have let Toensing claim Plame wasn’t covert, but the piece was a success because it challenged people, made them think, and got them to call up the ombudsman.
And so it goes.
Speaking of Cohen, can I please get a little help over at the right-wing blog Huffington Post?
First, read this:
http://www.firedoglake.com/2007/04/10/8367/
Pissed off yet? Good. Now go here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/…..45854.html
and help me fend off the many HuffPo defenders of this scumbag. Richard Cohen is nothing more than Lieberman with a byline … and a lower IQ.
grrrrrrr
GSD @ 140
for all the griping the right does about Hollywood liberals, they sure are happy to vote for actors — and bodybuilders.
GSD @ 78
We need an “official secrets act” for journalist with agendas like Novak and Miller. These folks belong in jail, not writing for the public.
Their interest is not to shed light on the truth or facts, their agenda is to promote their often twisted personal agendas.
Plus this (Miller, Novak) type of reporting caused deaths and undermined National Security.
Wolfowitz is a bigger ass than I thought. If you didn’t see it this morning, he and his lawyer arranged quite an attractive contract with the world bank.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/…..c-politics
Zelikow:
Oh oh.
Another South American nation spins out of the US influence orbit.
Ecuador’s Correa wins referendum, he’s an ally of Hugo Chavez.
We still have Samoa and Israel firmly in our camp.
-GSD
GSD @ 148
You forgot Poland.
RT — nice wrapup of her oeuvre. Banal, timid, and pro-employer.
More on Howell’s criticism of WaPo opiners — it depends which opiner, apparently.
TeddySanFran @ 150
And pro-Bush administration, although maybe that’s a distinction without a difference…
Eli @
149
The only country run by evil right wing twins.
-GSD
TeddySanFran @ 9
GSD @ 153
That took me a second…
(More from your “Friendly Neighborhood Limerician…”
Multiply EPU’d in reverse chron order; the first one’s new)
———————
(This next was in response to Siun’s FDL post — “How Much Is An Iraqi Life Worth?”):
There was never a plan to come back
So Red, White and Blue turned to Black.
“Little Brown Ones” were killed
But our comfort was chilled:
“I wish you well in a Free Iraq.”
They strike in the Zone that is “Green.”
My guess is that Bush feels quite mean
As he sees his dream drain
While our troops feel the pain;
Looks to me like our “Surge” plan ain’t keen.
Hail the Boy King, our Conquering Fuhrer!
His visions make our future clearer!
Eschew introspection
and make no connection
with the blood that you see in the mirror.
TurdBlossom’s His nickname for Rove
Of great dirty tricks he’s a trove.
KKK-Karl
Is going to snarl
As his buns bake in Congress’s stove.
————————-
Other more serious stuff I’ve posted here includes “A Modernized Ten Plagues on the Iraqis“.
OT – Interesting looking program coming up on PBS, now central time.
America at the Crossroads. (Gee, Ya think?)
Siun, with new thready goodness.
obsessed @
143
I tried to post a semi-sarcastic comment on Cohen and his column twice yesterday and decided to give up before my blood pressure got too high.
Jay @ 130
Oh-h-h-h man. Listened to the npr news program this a.m (which I mostly abjure) for the interview of the author who wrote about Jackie Robinson’s 1st year. Collapsed into sobs. OMI Dog what kind of man was he?!?!
LoudounLib @
97
Anyone here with me at the Roy Campanella tribute, lights dimmed, everyone lighting a match… my first feeling of solidarity and humanity
Um, I see in the linked post the “Hiatt responded to Greg Sargent . . . ” part, but not the “admitted he’d violated his own policies on identifying opiners” part. I don’t find any such admission. I checked because I’d seen Greg’s recent post on this, but no such admission, and found the statement that Hiatt had made one surprising.
Can somebody help me out here?
Hypatia @160
Well, I know that when Russell left the Univ. of San Francisco and came to Boston as a young pro, he endured a lot of ignorance and bigotry and he has admitted that he just about hated the city. Time has healed some of those wounds and he has recently, thankfully, started to make himself a more prominent figure in the city.
Elliott @ 109
no problem. my pleasure.
i do love that he nails the
potential hatch act violations:
“tracked federalist society
membership. . .”
and the iglesias firing:
“did not answer questions
surrounding his firing. . .”
even the nytimes.com is picking
up that meme tonight — and placing right
at the very top of the house — quoth:
“. . .In Mr. Iglesias’s case, Senator
Pete V. Domenici, Republican of New Mexico,
complained to the White House about the
prosecutor’s lack of progress on a politically
sensitive case involving Democrats. . .”
Thank goodness that week’s heavy workload is over with! Now she can get back to important leisure activities such as Royal Doulton figurines, walnut corner tables and whatnot.
Can we start calling her the Ombudsmoker, you know, because she is so obviously stoned?
This woman is useless. I mean, this is just flat out embarrassing.
TeddySanFran @
53
One person with a bit of cash could create their own paper a strip the WashPo of every semblance of believability in less than it costs to pay one average major league baseball player.
Eli @
56
Her role is equivalent to that of Tony Snow or Scotty McClellan…a spokesperson rather than an ombudsman!
TeddySanFran @
61
I TRUSTED THE POST LONG BEFORE THERE WAS EVEN AN INTERNET USED BY THE UNIVERSITIES! Blogging has nothing to do with it. What she doesn’t want to admit is that the content and editorial position of the post, based purely in fact=free decision-making had trredeemably made the Post a clone of the Washington Times.
Once it was a respected and trusted source of information that you knew would be carefully fact-checked by the editors. Nowadays the WH taking points are more likrly to find their ways (leaked of course) onto their front pages.
Little Debby, Little Debby.
One to many snack crackers.
Good week ahead, thing good thoughts for the change needed. :grin:
Lovey Howell is worse than useless as an ombudsman and when I leave a comment about her column I usually try to be subtle while jib-jabbing her but I REALLY DO want to know who at The Post was enjoying the services provided by the D.C. Madam.
If instead of providing the service as ombudsman everyone expects she’s going to pull something out of her ass at the last minute Friday night and hope nobody notices, she may as well pretend she works at The Enquirer and tell us who’s fucking whom and how much they had to pay for it.
I’m STILL waiting for that wench to do a follow-up column about Democratic Congressmen who were tangled up in the Abramoff scandal. Fortunately, I haven’t been holding my breath.
I’m just glad to see that she and Thurston got off the island. Certainly her columns haven’t been up to speed but I hear she has a computer made of coconuts and bamboo. “Lovey” will no doubt soon be back up to speed and won’t even notice those awful people who might make one uncomfortable in one’s personal space.
She looks so damned creepy.
I apologize if someone’s already made this point: on top of everything else, the column was terrible. It was a discussion of gambling by sportwriters, and began by assuming, if it’s bad when athletes do it, why isn’t it equally bad when reporters do it. There was no analysis whatsoever of that false comparison. Ugh.