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Still waiting for National Review's "hit-and-run" correction

February 05, 2010 8:09 am ET by Eric Boehlert

Here is what NR's Greg Pollowitz wrote Thursday, following the news that a conservative blogger had been hit by a car in Washington, D.C. [emphasis added]: 

Jim Treacher, a very funny blogger for Tucker Carlson's new Daily Caller website, was involved in a hit-and-run car accident yesterday — involving the Secret Service. 

But it turns out the Secret Service had nothing to do with accident, and there's no evidence it was a "hit-and-run." But other than that, Pollowitz nailed it. 

It's true that a conservative blogger, who writes under name Jim Treacher, immediately claimed he'd been hit by a Secret Service SUV. (Which, of course, lit a fire under the conspiratorial, right-wing blogosphere.) But in fact, he was not hit by a Secret Service vehicle. The claim, according to "federal law enforcement officials," was baseless. (The driver reportedly worked for the State Dept.) 

As for the "hit-and-run," the Daily Caller reported that after the accident, an agent in the SUV phoned the Daily Caller office to inform them that an employee had been injured. How is that possibly a "hit-and-run" when someone in the car stops at the accident scene to make sure the victim's friends are notified? 

But back to NRO. When is Pollowitz going to post a correction after he falsely claimed the Secret Service had been involved in a "hit-and-run" accident? 

UPDATED: And how about the Daily Caller itself, which allowed its blogger to publish the allegation on its site that he'd been hit by the Secret Service, which was not true. The Daily Caller then posted a long, detailed account of the accident, suggesting a government conspiracy to cover up the crime. Yet in that accusatory article, the Daily Caller left out the fact that its employee originally, and eroneously, accused the Secret Service of running him over, and did it on the Daily Caller site. That fact was conveniently flushed down the memory hole.

UPDATED: Trust me, I'm not trying to pick on a pedestrian who got hit by an SUV and broke his knee, and I'm certainly not defending the driver. Plus, I'm not trying to make it a partisan thing. But it was the conservative blogger, and his online supporters, like Glenn Reynolds, who immediately claimed that the Secret Service had run the blogger over, and/or it was a "hit-and-run" accident. I have no special insight into the unfortunate incident, but neither did conservatives who aired the incendiary, and false, claim against the Secret Service. But I don't see anyone on the right bothering to apologize for trafficking those claims.

Though sadly, the lack of right-wing accountability does not surprise me. 

UPDATED: Treacher's pal Matt Welch at Reason unloads on the handling of the accident. But interestingly, Welch ignores the fact that the original claim -- that the Secret Service had clipped Treacher in a "hit-and-run"-- turned out to be completely false. Welch bemoans the (government) "lies" being told about the accident, but he ignores perhaps the biggest two of all. 

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    • Author by okiepoli (February 05, 2010 8:42 am ET)
         
      Where's the rest of the story?

      I heard that Rahm Emanuel was directing the Secret Service driver under Pres. Obama's orders (pre-emptive strike,) and that after Mr. Treacher was incapacitated, a bunch of purple-shirted SEIU thugs bailed out of the SUV and beat him severely.

      Mr. Murdoch, if I had a chalkboard, I'm sure I could expose this conspiracy!


      (/sarc)
      Report Abuse
    • Author by Tbone Slickens (February 05, 2010 8:48 am ET)
      1 1
      (The driver reportedly worked for the State Dept.)


      Ha! That's even funnier! The Foggy Bottom boys watching to many cloak and dagger films? A little payback for a bad piece. Was this hit cleared with St. Rodham? Plausible deniability? Was the DoS SUV a Hybrid?

      I feel safe knowing mmfA is on this one! Get to the (Foggy) bottom of this one boys!
      Report Abuse
      • Author by wookie (February 05, 2010 9:07 am ET)
        3  
        Yeah, you're right. They have a special SUV hit and run division and GPS tracking of their victims.
        Report Abuse
        • Author by bilbo_dies (February 05, 2010 10:09 am ET)
          3  
          Well, you know (from Slickboy's perspective) Hillary is Secretary of State so she probably has a "special enforcement squad" cruising the city, looking for hapless right wing bloggers to run over.

          BTW Using GPS to track the signal on of the chips that all the right wingers have had implanted in to them, during their sleep, does work the best.
          Report Abuse
      • Author by TBetz (February 05, 2010 11:10 am ET)
           
        Was the driver a State Dept. employee, or does he work for a contractor like Xe? We know that Blackwater/Xe routinely runs people down in Iraq.
        Report Abuse
    • Author by mk3872 (February 05, 2010 9:19 am ET)
      1  
      Ah, yes, life in the conservamedia dark underworld echo-chamber.

      A place where victimhood and conspiracy theories thrive.

      Of course, it's only those loony lefties that believe THEY are always the victim, am I right ??? LOL!
      Report Abuse
    • Author by bilbo_dies (February 05, 2010 10:05 am ET)
      1  
      Can't really seem to find any hard "news" reports on this, just a bunch of blog entries.
      The best being this from my perspective.

      Please note that I have no clue who this guy is but; even if he was "out of the cross walk" or "jay walking", it doesn't absolve the driver of any responsibility.

      Per the posting of this article.
      It wasn't a Secret Service agent. It was someone who worked for the State Department. This does not make the State Department culpable, just the guy driving the SUV. If the driver is trying to use his job at the State Department to get out of trouble on this, I personally hope it back fires.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by DellDolly (February 05, 2010 3:45 pm ET)
      2  
      Are they confusing a hit and run accident with an accident where a car hits a pedestrian?

      Not all car/pedestrian accidents are hit and run, but I think this is where their confusion/misinformation sprung from.
      Report Abuse
    • Author by rangeroo (February 06, 2010 3:02 pm ET)
         
      I hope you get better Treach. I served with McGuinn as an Army Ranger in Iraq and he is a true American Hero. I really hope all of this was a misunderstanding. He saved many lives.
      Report Abuse

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