Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying

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.