Conservative blogger Ben Domenech has resigned from The Washington Post after revelations that he plagiarized articles in The National Review and other publications. His blog, Red America, is no more.
He did not go quietly into the night however. True to script, he tried to first shoot the messenger. He lashed out at the liberal blogs, especially Atrios, for trying to destroy him. He tried to blame the plagiarism on a few teenage indiscretions (why does that sound familiar?). He tried to blame an unethical editor for adding plagiarized material into his articles. He pretty much blamed everyone – including the vast left wing conspiracy. I began to wonder if even Saddam Hussein might have inserted un-attributed material into Domenech’s articles. Before you laugh off the Saddam connection, consider that a man capable of hiding and/or transporting his WMD arsenal to Syria might be capable of anything. This is yet another story that is not being reported in the main stream media.
Domenech’s protestations lost some steam when The National Review editors noted that their review of Domenech’s articles for the NRO "raises questions about several other pieces besides the one we apologized for this morning". Note that even though the NRO articles under Domenech’s byline appear to be plagiarized by someone there is still no clear evidence contradicting the Saddam-Domenech connection posited earlier in this post.
What is a conservative plagiarist to do when a prominent conservative magazine is accusing you of plagiarism? Mea Culpa time.
Of course, mea culpa after the "deny, attack, prevaricate" strategy seems a little less than heartfelt. But, Ben, on behalf of people everywhere who can read, I accept your apology.
Is it me or does the Ben Domenech defense seem very similar to the Administration’s PR strategy in Iraq. The Administration is also going through the five stages of grief over the defeat in Iraq. The five stages of grief are Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. My guess is that last weekend we experienced the Denial and Anger stages. Charles Krauthammer’s column in The Washington Post ushered in the Bargaining stage. There is still some time to go before we hit Depression and Acceptance.
In the future I hope the Administration will save us the collective grieving process by not engaging in hopeless misadventures.
Author’s Note: In the event that you do not recognize the satire in the title of this post, I want to clarify that it is a variation of James Joyce’s novel "Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man" and is in no way intended to be original thought by the author. There, I feel cleansed.
Well Said!
However, I think Ben will still have plenty of fans, beggars, and hanger ons over at Red State Blogger.
Granted he’s no Bill Bennett but one thing the wingers believe in over everything else is loyalty.
It was pretty funny to see Malkin bail on him though…
Yup, ben still has plenty of supporters at red state. Apparently they still think he’s a ‘talented writer’. Oh the irony-someone may be a talented writer. but not ben. They also write about the courage of his convictions. Apparently being a thief and a liar and a person without the integrity to admit when he’s wrong, blaming others for your sincs and being a moralizing turd are what passes for convictions at redstate.
out of 80 or so comments I looked at, I saw 1 (total) comment critical of the box turtle. and the response to that comment: “go away, your not welcome here”
Theyve let him back into the fold where he can continue to write about the immorality of Gay marriage.
Frankly, there is one way I think of for Ben to redeem himself: Go Army. Maybe he can do something heroic. then he can come back and tell us how it changed him, and that he’s not the same man (boy? liar??) as when he left.
I havent read bens work before the current scandal, but as a stereotypical decepticon liar, Im sure he’s been spouting about the wonders of Iraq for years now.
Signing up for Iraq duty would show that he really does believe in something.
Go to Iraq, ben, show some convictions.
I too, went, out of curiosity, to RedState. I heartily agree with Aaron regarding what passes for convictions, brains or logic at that mental cesspool. I guess you have to prove your IQ is below the current temperature in Whitehorse, Yukon to be allowed to post there, or maybe it just seems that way.
I also agree that a healthy looking 24 year old like the BoxBoi who thinks the War in Iraq is such a good idea should be posting a blog from Samarra or Baghdad – that is after kicking some enemy ass. So I second the motion;
Go Army Ben Go Army Ben Go Army Ben
or Marines if they’ll take you and you’re man enough.
Its startling to look at the comments on Red State (ironically named coming from a guy who seems to think Coretta Scott King was a communist). Whatever is in that Kool-Aid they are drinking has convinced them that everyone else is lying. Its quite convenient, I must admit. If you don’t like the news you hear, well, its because the messenger is lying. This way you can discount all news organization as liars. You are left with your version of ESP to visualize the truth, and shape it to what makes you feel good.
It is very Orwellian. Its groupthink, and the new NewsSpeak. On the upside, these guys probably are much happier than liberals. I remember part of a proverb I read in 5th grade, it starts something like “He who knows not he knows not is a fool..”.
Thank you, Mash!
I can’t look at the morass that is RedState without thinking it’s a severe case of SportsFan disease: you are either on my team or you are with the enemy. The totalism and the overriding tribal instict seem trump truthfulness, or morality or any sense of a political opponent being human in a basic way. Scary….