Widely Unremarked In The Weigel Debacle...

I would be more impressed by the many defenders of Dave Weigel if any of them would care to rationalize the obvious lying in his initial apology/explanation.  His gist was that he was having a bad day, yet the second salvo of leaked emails demonstrated that he has been blasting righties for months or years.

From the initial "explanation":

I'm a member of an off-the-record list-serv called "Journolist," founded by my colleague Ezra Klein. Last Monday, I was deluged with angry e-mail after posting a story about Rep. Bob Etheridge (D-N.C.) that was linked by the Drudge Report with a headline intimating that I defended his roughing-up of a young man with a camera; after this, the Washington Examiner posted a gossip item about my dancing at a friend's wedding. Unwisely, I lashed out to Journolist, which I've come to view as a place to talk bluntly to friends.

Below the fold are quotes from me e-mailing the list that day -- quotes that I'm told a gossip Web site will post today. I apologize for much of what I wrote, and apologize to readers.

So he can't dance. So what?  But the Daily Caller promptly ran "venting" that preceded Weigel's failed audition for "Dancing With The Media Stars":

Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh famously said he hoped President Obama would “fail” in January, 2009. Almost a year later, when Limbaugh was rushed to the hospital with chest pains, Washington Post reporter David Weigel had a wish of his own. “I hope he fails,” Weigel cracked to fellow liberal reporters on the “Journolist” email list-serv.

Har de har.  Maybe he had been having a bad day then, too.

“Honestly, it’s been tough to find fresh angles sometimes–how many times can I report that these [tea party] activists are joyfully signing up with the agenda of discredited right-winger X and discredited right-wing group Y?” Weigel lamented in one February email.

Yeah, it's tough to find stories.  Bobby Jindal, Republican rising star, has been front and center in the gulf oil spill debacle.  How many posts has Weigel devoted to him in the last two months?  None.

I don't know that an honest apology would have saved Weigel's job, but lying wasn't going to work.

Comments

[Danube of Thought]

I am relishing his richly-deserved humiliation.

[centralcal]

"I am relishing his richly-deserved humiliation."

Yes, DoT - and that of the Washington Post, and that of his fellow JournoListers (who, apparently, are no more)! Well, untill they rename themselves and start up anew, of course.

[Captain Hate]

One thing TM has accomplished by constantly linking those twats is pointing out what miserably shallow wanks they are. Dying in a fire is too good for them.

[Danube of Thought]

Close your eyes and try to imagine Weigel's search for a new job. What will he put on his resume? Who would hire him? To do what? Are there any paying positions out there for "laughingstock fool?"

Even better, imagine him having to work in an actual job...

[Melinda Romanoff]

DoT-

There are tons of openings at the Chicago Tribune, it's just that he would be a whole department, which they are currently trying to shed.

Details.

[Mustang0302]

Kumar's job's open. AKOTUS squats, Davy Boy's tongue wiegels.

Maybe some D.C. thug can redistribute his wallet and cell, too.

[Clarice]

Check out the WaPo ombudsman's report on this (link at Insty). He really pastes the Post for this poseur.

[narciso]

Btw, speaking of unprofessional jackasses, you have to consider the local Fox affiliate
who were commenting in the background of Sarah's very good speech

[Ann Squaredance]

narciso:

You should follow Tammy Bruce on Twitter. Her last tweet tonight you would approve of:

This is what we mean when we say we have that woman's back. Everyone take notice, there are no Free Shots at Sarah Palin. Not anymore.

Sweet Dreams, night!

[Ann]

Oh, and Prayers tonight for Vice President, Dick Cheney. Amen

[daddy]

I wish I cared enuff' about the guy to loathe him in particular---but I don't.

I'll have to settle for loathing the WaPo in general.

[Cecil Turner]

I think the bigger issue than his non-apology is the fact that his very job was based on a lie. He pretended to sympathy (or at least empathy) for a group he despised. He was an industrial-level Moby.

Underscoring the hypocrisy is the WaPo Ombudsman who, after initially admitting there might be a problem with hiring an anti-conservative ideologue to cover conservatives, then goes on to lament the appearance of impropriety:

“But we’re living in an era when maybe we need to add a level” of inquiry, he said. “It may be in our interests to ask potential reporters: ‘In private... have you expressed any opinions that would make it difficult for you to do your job.”

Hey, if we're stuck on vetting questions, how 'bout this one: "do you hate the people you're supposed to cover?" Or doesn't that matter, as long as you can get away with it?

And in the same vein, we have this gem:

Alas, it took only one listserv participant to bundle up Weigel’s archived comments and start leaking them outside the group. The result is that Weigel lost his job. But the bigger loss is The Post’s standing among conservatives.

Not to worry . . . can't lose something you never had. But whilst lamenting the loss of the private hotline to allow the cabal of conservative bashers to get their stories straight, can they at least pretend to understand why some don't consider it an unmitigated "good thing™"? And rather than wailing about loss of nonexistent standing, perhaps the Post should be more concerned about fixing its blatant institutional bias . . . instead of just trying to paper over it.

[Jane says obamasucks]

Close your eyes and try to imagine Weigel's search for a new job.

When I do that, I see the white house.

[Janet]

Some of the emails released talk about members of Journolist coordinating the spin.
a comment from Althouse -

"Blue@9 said...

Personally, I'd like to see a disclosure of every name on that listserv and then a breakdown of everyone who wrote about the Coakley defeat and how they framed it. If it pans out like I think it will, you'd have to conclude that these "journalists" are nothing more than a shadow PR wing of the Democratic Party."

This Journolist story also makes me mindful of the Fenton Communications discussions recently.
2 of the things the Qatar Foundation hired Fenton to do were -

• Monitor social networking and mainstream media outlets and blogs
• Develop press materials and "pitch stories to university and mainstream press"

So does this Journolist group all get the same "pitched stories"? Talking points all laid out for them?
Propaganda is the word that comes to mind.

[Janet]

Here was the Weigel quote on Coakley:

"I think pointing out Coakley’s awfulness is vital, because it’s 1) true and 2) unreasonable panic about it is doing more damage to the Democrats."

Advice to his brothers-in-arms.

[Rick Ballard]

Cecil,

Why should anyone wish the institutional bias of a propaganda organ "fixed"? A different shade of lipstick really never fools anyone into thinking that a pig is a fashion icon and Weigel's "replacement" is sure to be eligible for membership in the prog liar's club du jour.

Chapter 7 bankruptcy is the only "fix" for the WaPo and NYT and I applaud the WaPo publisher for possessing the lack of intelligence demonstrated by his employment of someone so deficient in aptitude as to make Klein and Yglesias appear simply retarded rather than cretinous in comparison.

[narciso]

Well they give them selves away in the end, Wiegel, Conor F (which I imagine will be his
preferred replacement) they defend the indefensible, like the McGuiness stalking incident.

Now some on the 'so called right' like O'Reilly really are clueless, he had Geraldo
griping about McCrystal's 'great offense to Biden' and then followed up with Wesley
Clark, the definition of military incompetence

[Gmax]

Cant you imagine the panic internally on that Journolist? There obviously is an internal mole in the 400 who leaked the contents of private e-mails! That means that every single one of these snakes, has to worry going forward that at the most inconvenient of times, the same will happen to them. Unnamed leaker scares the crap out of a bunch of journolisters!! The irony of that is just too delicious to not have a second helping!

[Gmax]

conor with one n friesanddork? I would prefer the nasty but brighter Weigel.

[narciso]

True, Conor doesn't know he is a tool, although working for Sullivan is indication of something. His work for Culture 11, reminds
one of that Inigo Montoya line, about the two great errors,

[Captain Hate]

Now some on the 'so called right' like O'Reilly really are clueless, he had Geraldo
griping about McCrystal's 'great offense to Biden' and then followed up with Wesley
Clark, the definition of military incompetence

The only good things about O'Reilly is that he irritates Olbermann by clobbering him in ratings and has some good people on like Laura Ingraham and Neil Cavuto who usually make BOR look like a witless tool. Other than that he joins Jerry Rivers and Shep as Fox's axis of douche.

[Menlo Bob]

Weigel has been blogging since his student days at Nothwestern. In one of his posts early on he wrote about accidently deleting a 6 page paper. This necessitated a late night call to his parents followed by a visit to mental health care facility. Something about that episode that presages recent events.

[Porchlight]

Other than that he joins Jerry Rivers and Shep as Fox's axis of douche.

I do love your way with words, Cap'n. :)

[Porchlight]

So does this Journolist group all get the same "pitched stories"? Talking points all laid out for them?

Some of them are on Rahm's daily call with the media, I think.

[24AheadDotCom]

The fact that teaparty-types try to portray him as Mr. Liberal is related to the fact that they haven't been able to discredit him over the past four years. If they had the abilities to figure out what he is, they would have had better luck with the second.

My first mention of Weigel was just about four years to the day, and after that time I caught him lying and misleading about one issue in particular. He also wrote about me on his site and then refused to approve the comment I left pointing out how he was wrong:

http://24ahead.com/s/dave-weigel

I don't expect everyone to be everywhere at all times, but a little help discrediting him over things that actually matter would have been great.

[Clarice]

I still haven't heard from the Post. Are you guys sure you're doing everything on my behalf?

If you are-- well *air kiss, air kiss*

[Hurf]

Just another sign of institutional liberal bias at the Washington Post, along with Charles Krauthammer, Michael Gerson, George Will, Marc Thiessen, Bill Kristol, Fred Hiatt...

Hey, did you guys find Obama's birth certificate yet?

[Jim Treacher]

Hurf made a funny!

[glasater]

If one has the time and inclination--this one's a howler:

Who Screwed Dave Weigel?

Yeah, you could say I’m a little pissed off. Weigel is a friend of mine, sure, but we’re not BFFs. He’s a guy whose work I admire, and we’ve hung out a few times. I try to make friends with people who I can learn from, and Weigel is a good reporter who makes clean political analyses.

Sure would like to know when he made those "clean political analyses".

[Rob Crawford]

*snort*

Lonewhacko makes another attempt to piggy-back on a story bigger than anything he's ever done.

And, hey, Durf -- you're not that clear on the difference between editorial columnists and a beat reporter, are you? That seems a weakness particular to the left -- the inability to discern between opinion and fact.

[Porchlight]

That seems a weakness particular to the left -- the inability to discern between opinion and fact.

When your side owns both the editorial page and the newsroom, it's completely unnecessary. The vuvuzelas all blare the same tune, hence the inability to tell the difference.