Wash. Post starts Red America conservative blog
SUMMARY: Washingtonpost.com launched its Red America weblog, authored by Ben Domenech, an editor at the conservative Regnery Publishing Inc. But while Domenech's partisan political credentials are well-established -- he served as a speechwriter for the Bush administration and for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and is a co-founder of the partisan weblog RedState.com -- his journalism credentials are much more thin.
March 21 marked the launch of the Red America weblog on washingtonpost.com, authored by Ben Domenech, an editor at the conservative Regnery Publishing Inc. But while Domenech's partisan political credentials are well-established -- he served as a speechwriter for former Bush administration Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson and for Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) and is a co-founder of the partisan weblog RedState.com -- his journalism credentials are much more thin, seemingly limited to writing for conservative publications such as Human Events Online, National Review Online, The Washington Times, and The American Conservative during his teen years.
The Post's hiring of Domenech appears to be "a sop to the right," as journalist Greg Sargent wrote on The American Prospect's weblog, TAPPED:
Lots and lots of loyal Post readers appear to be very puzzled and upset about this. And they're right to be. There's plenty of evidence that this was indeed about throwing a sop to the right. After all, Deborah Howell recently wrote that the column by Froomkin, who's attracted the ire of the right, is "highly opinionated and liberal." She even added that Web executive editor Jim Brady was considering "supplementing it with a conservative blogger."
There are, however, no progressive bloggers -- and no one left of center with the credentials of a political operative -- on washingtonpost.com to provide balance to Domenech. The Post's other bloggers are journalists, such as former washingtonpost.com editor Dan Froomkin and Post political writer Chris Cillizza. The launch of Red America comes in the wake of criticism aimed at Froomkin. Post ombudsman Deborah Howell criticized Froomkin's "White House Briefing" column as "highly opinionated and liberal" in her December 11, 2005, column and advocated that its name be changed to prevent readers from thinking Froomkin was a Post White House reporter. Froomkin responded, writing: "I do not advocate policy, liberal or otherwise. My agenda, such as it is, is accountability and transparency. I believe that the president of the United States, no matter what his party, should be subject to the most intense journalistic scrutiny imaginable." But even if one were to accept the idea that Froomkin is a "liberal," the fact remains that Froomkin is a journalist and has been for 18 years, with the Winston-Salem Journal, the Miami Herald and the Orange County Register in addition to nearly a decade with the Post. He is the deputy editor of NiemanWatchdog.org, a website of Harvard University's Neiman Foundation for Journalism.
Domenech, on the other hand, while he does claim previous employment as a "political journalist," is first and foremost a partisan activist -- a Republican operative who has worked for the Bush administration and Cornyn, is currently an editor at a conservative publishing house, and who describes himself as "the youngest political appointee of President George W. Bush." The Post itself says that Domenech "abandoned journalism" after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. A May 7, 2000, Washington Post profile of Domenech noted that he was 18 years old and had been freelancing since he was 15 years old -- meaning that he is around 24 years old today. If, as the Post noted, Domenech "abandoned journalism" after the 9-11 attacks, that means he spent just four or five years as a teenage journalist before quitting the business at 19 or 20. He is also a co-founder of RedState.org, which describes itself in nakedly partisan terms -- "a Republican community weblog. RedState is focused on politics, and is dedicated to the construction of a Republican majority in the United States."
Moreover, the Post already hosts the blog Think Tank Town by Ron Nessen, a one-time White House press secretary to President Gerald Ford, who attacked the Center for American Progress in a March 10 entry.
In his introductory Red America post, Domenech criticized the Post's editors and the "mainstream media" in general for, among other things, "treat[ing] red state Americans as pachyderms in the mist," being "slow to recognize the growth in conservative America," and failing to recognize "the greatest pro-gun movie ever," the 1984 Patrick Swayze/Charlie Sheen vehicle "Red Dawn."
According to the National Journal's blog, The Hotline, Domenech posts entries on RedState.com under the pseudonym "Augustine." As recently as March 2, "Augustine" trashed Froomkin on RedState.com, writing that his "status as leader of the hack is without compare." "Augustine" also attacked Democrats as "The Party of Death" in a January 24 entry on abortion.
As the Post's bio of Domenech indicates, he is now an editor at Regnery, and "has edited multiple bestsellers and books by Michelle Malkin, Ramesh Ponnuru, and Hugh Hewitt." Regnery, of course, gained notoriety for publishing the thoroughly discredited attack book, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, authored by Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth founders John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi.
Domenech, who asserted that "unhinged elements" of the Democratic base "have dragged down the Democratic Party for too long," edited Malkin's most recent effort, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild (Regnery, 2005). In her book, Malkin argued -- implausibly -- that the "Left" has been taken over by "unhinged liberals," but "conservatives zealously police their own ranks to exclude extremists and conspiracy theories."
This new 'blog' being sponsored by the Washington Post is not only a pure 100% panic-attack response by the Administration and their supporters to the ever-plummeting Public Opinion of the Administration and the Congressional majority...
...but it may be just the first such move, on the first day of what may turn out to be a rather organized attempt to counteract the extraordinary level of criticism and ridicule the Administration is suffering on the internet at this time.
This may be just the Opening Round to a rather combative summer of internet activity, leading up to a fall election that the Administration and the Congressional majority are beginning to dread (and fear) terribly.
the media is liberal!
The teevee told me so!
So,
Domenech, who asserted that "unhinged elements" of the Democratic base "have dragged down the Democratic Party for too long," edited Malkin's most recent effort, Unhinged: Exposing Liberals Gone Wild (Regnery, 2005). In her book, Malkin argued -- implausibly -- that the "Left" has been taken over by "unhinged liberals," but "conservatives zealously police their own ranks to exclude extremists and conspiracy theories."
So, Domenech claims to be a "CONSERVATIVE" and this newly positioned blogspace stands ready to defend the turf of traditionalists in the GOP.
Please refer to what former GOP strategist under Nixon and Author of the less than praiseworthy treatise of the Bush Clan in " American Dynasty: Aristocracy, Fortune, and the Politics of Deceit in the House of Bush ." In this book, Phillips lays the foundation for a case against the Bush Plutocracy which has been plaguing American governance for over a century.
Not one to rest easy, Phillips now eviscerates the Republican Party for what it has allowed itself to morph into in his newest diatribe, " American Theocracy : The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21stCentury."
Phillips takes an uncompromising view of the political coalition, led by radical religion, that is driving America to the brink of disaster.
Watch his uncompromising condemnation of our misnamed " Conservatives" of today.
[link to informationclearinghouse.info]
And this business decision by the Washington Post, most likely to generate revenue, which is what those in business are out to do..............is bad because it doesn't fit into some ideology? If you don't like it, or don't agree with it - just as with any media outlet - don't participate.
Simple.
Tommy, there's a big difference between conservative punditry and misinformation to allign with a rigid ideology and a journalist reporting facts. A newspaper usually has higher standards than hiring a hack.
There won't be a problem unless they do what all the other god-forsaken right-wing web sites, and conservative broadcasts do-- LIE PORPOSELY. They can't stand on truth--Period. Why else would they pull stuff out of their ass daily? The FACTS are--Repubs are corrupt, and corruption is reported, which stems the myth of the "Liberal Media." The FACTS are-- there's simply more to report on these guys.
I meant purposely
I see NO problem with The Washington Post giving Domenech a weblog. HOWEVER I am surprised they didn't also offer their readers a Liberal/Progressive weblog to balance things out.
Readers should be able to get BOTH points of view. THIS was a bad judgment call by the Post.
since the country is nearly evenly divide.
MMFA and many of the comments on this page are starting to sound really, really whiney and hysterical.
"Oh my God! There's a right wing blog! They've finally taken over! The end is nigh!"
go somewhere else. Our con Troll plate is pretty full here. There has to be some other site that's short on conservative trolls.
I find it amusing that simply expressing my POV, I get labeled a troll. And a conservative one at that! You don't know anything about me or my views other than the brief ones I put on this board.
Is just on the internet that you attempt to blacklist and marginalize people by calling them trolls? Or do you attmept to silence person to person conversations the same way? Let me know how that works out for you.
A blog is a blog. A collection of opinions. Big deal. There are thousands of them. They are self affirming, highly subjective and one does not need to be a journalist to be a blogger. MMFA has, in my opinion, been veering abit in the past few months, not on everything, but more than I'd like to see. I don't apologize for my view, and you're more than welcome to point out instances where I'm wrong.
My original post was off the cuff and thrown out there. I apologize. In the future, if I feel that MMFA is being whiney, I will strive to have cited sources, contacts, quotes, and a slew of expert opinion that can back me up.
Or I could just give my opinion and leave it at that.
MMFA and many of the comments on this page are starting to sound really, really whiney and hysterical.
Oh! So lets whine about the whining!
Please get a grip. MMFA is documenting what the Conservative Media is doing! Is documenting their misinformation and their errors. Is documenting their crassness.
Have you not read what MMFA has written? Did you follow the links? Have you read what other sources are saying about this?
The world is not convienently black and what for you. You have to actually spend time investigating and reading and discussing and, yes, sometimes you -- we -- have to whine about things.
If you don't like it, or don't agree with it - just as with any media outlet - don't participate.
Why don't you take your own advice then?
What a Maroon!
Here in Red America, we are all at peace in our 5000 square foot homes and material possessions, we let our fearless leaders do the heavy lifting of telling us what is right in staving off anything that might interrupt our sweet, sweet material glut. Now excuse me, I must go and watch American Idol.
Now the commies have their own blog on the Washington Post? Balderdash!
;-}
but Dean isn't so bad....
than repub.
thank you for pointing this out. I have known for a while the Wa. Post has been drifting further to the right, but this was the final straw. Until they counter this Bush apologist with a left wing blogger or remove him, they will no longer get another dime from me, and I emailed the editor letting him know about this.
Thanks you for your hard work.
You still HAD a subscription??
I don't consider outright lying on behalf of Bush as a drift in any direction politically. Simply adrift in a swamp of ideology and propaganda. Conservatism used to mean something. It's just a tarnished label now with no contextual impact when married to anyone who supports Bush #43. We need a different term. How about COMPLETE AND TOTAL RAVING LUNATICS?
A perfect description of the Republican Party is what Captain Willard said to Col. Kurtz after he was captured: "I don't see any method at all, sir."
Exactly.
I cancelled my subscription
Did you write them to explain why you did so? (Which would be a prudent followup to your boycott.)
"red state america" might want to take a little break for a while on the unhinged liberals stuff, and start examining their own bizarre behavior. for instance, supporting a candidate in 2000 who was absolutely unqualified for the office, had failed in three different businesses, and had done nothing but drink until he was forty. then in 2004, with a record of ignoring the warnings that preceded 9-11, getting us into a phony war that was supposed to be quick and easy but has been anything but, and turning surpluses into deficits with budgets swollen with waste and fraud, this same supposedly common sense "red state america" supported that same candidate. before you start pointing fingers, take a look in the mirror.
Sounds like that guy was a Republican
gave it away?
What Kind of Conservative Mag Are You? (emph added):
"conservatives police their own ranks to exclude extremists and conspiracy theories". sure, that's why you had guys like limbaugh and falwell and the wall street journal implying that the clintons killed vince foster.
Ever read her rants on townhall.com? Talk about unhinged...
I'll never understand how people with mental disorders such as hers get so much attention. But then again, angry & insulting banter seems to be generating REVENUE for The Media these days.
What about her saying on Hardball that John Kerry wounded himself on purpose in Vietnam? Even shill Matthews couldn't let her get away with that smear.
We need to stand up before everything is controlled by the Repugs.
I love it when liberals, especially those in the media, feel GUILTY for being liberal, so they have to overcompensate and have a disproportionate number of conservatives in their ranks so that right-wingers don't feel victimized and left out. Boo hoo! Would FoxNews add a true progressive liberal to its ranks? I doubt it (Alan Colmes doesn't count).
Screw them. They have Fox, the editorial page of WSJ, and just about every talk radio station in the country. Liberals have their media sources. Right wingers are unapologetic in their quest for absolute power, so why should liberals act any different?
Why that everytime some right-wing moonbat cries foul about bias in the media, liberals have to jump up and soothe their tears and try to offer them a seat at the table is beyond me.
Why not? He carries the water for the liberals quite well. As for the headline mmfa posted:
"his journalism credentials are thin, seemingly limited to writing for conservative publications during his teen years"
Hmmm.....much like every other BLOG out in webland! Isn't that what makes it a blog? I guess the supposed journalism credentials of this blog site are off the chart?
There's no difference between a weblog sponsored by a newspaper, a major employer of journalists, and just any old blog?
Yeah, that's right, there is a difference.
And what did they say about him? That he was a journalist. Except that I bet that people that actually have degrees that work for the paper would be upset to have him classified as a journalist in the same category as they are- people who have degrees.
Why that everytime some right-wing moonbat cries foul about bias in the media, liberals have to jump up and soothe their tears and try to offer them a seat at the table is beyond me.
I don't agree entirely with your premise, but I think it does have merit. However, understanding Liberals should be easy.
Liberals want everybody to have a seat at the table. And they jump up and down about the so-called bias because it is not true. You want to make a Liberal cry? Print a falsehood as the truth.
Talking Points Memo said this about Dan Froomkin's reporting being labeled "Liberal":
"But it is at most opinion journalism, aimed at hitting points of hypocrisy, deception or double-dealing in public officials."
Which misses the point that Conservatives think that ALL reporting of "hypocrisy, deception or double-dealing in [Republican] officials," wether true or not, as LIBERAL BIAS.
Conservatives think that ALL public discourse must be solely about "good things" like Patriotism and Apple Pie and Mom etc. Anything like sex, drugs, crime, rock 'n roll etc. are horrible things that should not be discussed.
Liberal want to discuss everthing. Conservatives don't.
I've seen no evidence other than JK stamping and stammering and bawling that they were bad men. Is mmfa impugning these veterans? Do I need to post Kerry's statements before the SASC again?
Just what the world is crying out for: another delusional, right-wing, Bush administration apologist and propagandist. As if there aren't enough of them spinning, deceiving and misinforming in the media already.
The good news is that all of King George's horses' asses (Hannity, Coulter, etc.) and spokesmen can't put him and his administration back together again.
Regnery, of course, gained notoriety for publishing the thoroughly discredited attack book, Unfit for Command: Swift Boat Veterans Speak Out Against John Kerry, authored by Swift Boat Veterans and POWs for Truth founders John O'Neill and Jerome Corsi.
We'll see just how "thoroughly discredited" the Swiftvet revelations were should Kerry declare himself a candidate in 2008...and this time political opposition from within his own party will reap the benefits of the Kerry fraud already exposed but, as yet, untouched by the MSM.
Frankly, I hope he does run...and I hope he's deemed to be viable opposition by one such as Hillary. Perhaps we'll find elements of the media that are not quite so willing to bury their collective heads in the sands of biased journalism. Won't THAT be sweet.
because all the media out there is all so heavily slanted to the left!
You nailed it on the head I think!
Sigh, alot of wishful thinking on your part, most Republicans have backed away from the SBVT and for good reason.
From wikipedia:
--"We'll see just how "thoroughly discredited" the Swiftvet revelations were"--
You can see right now. Type "Swift Boat" into the Search window at the upper right. It will yield more than 200 examples of how the repugnant Swift Boat smearers' lies and misinformation have been thoroughly discredited.
White Supremacists Reclusive publishing heir to start all-white dating service
William Regnery II, an heir to the Regnery publishing fortune who's a prime mover and shaker in white nationalism publishing, is moving into a new line of business: match-making for "heterosexual whites of Christian cultural heritage."
In an appeal to potential investors titled "Population is Destiny," the famously reclusive Regnery wrote this March that the Caucasian dating service would be no ordinary money-making opportunity, but a chance to ensure "the survival of our race," which "depends upon our people marrying, reproducing and parenting."
...
read it all at at [link to www.splcenter.org]
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Academic Racism Death of a 'Truth-Telling Gentleman'
The radical right lost one of its favorite race scientists when 62-year-old Glayde Whitney died in Florida on Jan. 9.
...
In lieu of flowers, Whitney's family asked that donations be sent to the Charles Martel Society, the self-described "intellectual home of Western nationalism."
The recently created society puts out a slick, academic-looking journal called The Occidental Quarterly, edited by a Who's Who of the radical right and bankrolled by William H. Regnery II, the reclusive Chicago millionaire who is heir to the Regnery publishing fortune.
...
read it all at [link to www.splcenter.org]
(google and you will find an editor for the Washington Times wife also writes for The Occidental Quarterly)
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An intellectual and key white nationalist thinker, Sam Francis has been referred to by analyst Leonard Zeskind as the "philosopher king" of the radical right ý a title that seems well justified by the ubiquitous presence of his columns in racist forums and his influence over the general direction of right-wing extremism.
A prize-winning writer, Francis served in the late 1980s and early 1990s as an editor and columnist at the right-wing Washington Times, where he was well known as a leading paleoconservative (the term refers to an anti-federal, isolationist sector of the American right that typically opposes non-white immigration vigorously)
The 1990s saw Francis radicalized to the point where he is today the chief editor for a leading white supremacist hate group, the Council of Conservative Citizens (CCC)*. That tie was initiated in 1993, when Francis published his first column in the CCC's tabloid, Citizens Informer, complaining that the media ignored whites murdered by blacks while police brutality victim Rodney King, characterized as a black criminal, was celebrated.
The next year, Francis made his first appearance at a conference of American Renaissance*, a magazine devoted to eugenics (the "science" of breeding better human beings) and allegedly race-based characteristics (such as IQ levels, sexual aggressiveness and propensity to criminality). In June 1994, Francis praised the CCC in a Times column for "planting seeds that may eventually bear greater fruit" than the Republican Party (the "Stupid Party," in Francis' phrase).
Ultimately, Francis was fired from the Times in 1995 after conservative author Dinesh D'Souza quoted Francis' 1994 speech at the American Renaissance conference and described him as embodying the "new spirit of white bigotry." Since then, Francis has appeared at every biannual American Renaissance conference and written for the magazine.
In 1999, Francis joined the CCC's Citizens Informer as co-editor with Chris Temple, an adherent of the anti-Semitic Christian Identity theology who has since left the job. In that post, he has stacked the publication with immigrant-bashers and refocused the increasingly strident CCC on opposition to non-white immigration.
In 2000, Francis helped his good friend Patrick Buchanan, the nation's best-known paleoconservative and white nationalist, run for president on the Reform Party ticket and also helped to edit his recent book, Death of the West.
Today, Francis, who markets his columns through the Creators Syndicate, also helps edit The Occidental Quarterly, a journal similar to American Renaissance that is bankrolled by William H. Regnery II, the reclusive far-right Chicago millionaire who is an heir to a publishing fortune.
[link to www.splcenter.org]
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[link to www.google.com]
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the final payment on it sellout to the Bush cartel. I am just wondering how much the producers of "Red Dawn" paid for the plug. Now WaPo can truly follow in Fox's footsteps, as I already see Domenech is already criticizing the Post, much like Fox New's critizing the entertainment industry as it runs Fox Entertainment. Ah, the delight of being hypocritical for cash.
And how bad can the pairing of WaPo and Domenech be? They can't even get his bio right. Unless Domenech looks like that at 24, in which case I can only say that life in the USA in the 70's through 90's was a lot harder on neo-conservatives than I thought. No wonder they are mad (and by mad I mean insane).
There's something about the behavior of the MSM, particularly so-called liberal outlets like the Post, that reminds me of the stereotypical small investor: he thinks he can profit by riding a wave (as in supporting the war and this administration) and then, even as the 'stock' is nearly in bankruptcy court (the war, the economy, etc., etc.), decides a further investment would profit him even more (as in this investment in a conservative columnist); always going against the tide and never being close to reality.
Maybe a dumb analogy, but that's how it strikes me...
As long as WaPo says up front, that it's a conservative blog, fine. But, what does that say for WaPo???
How come I just can't picture it being politically correct for a newspaper like WaPo to start a "blue state blog"? Why is that?
I want to start a "Red America" youth group.
We'll have a publication called "Red Avenues". We'll have Red Armbands (or Red Hats). We'll march on Washington wearing our Red Armbands (or Hats), with Red Banners. We'll hold up large portraits of our Commander in Chief as a show of support for Our President and His Administration.
We will advocate that all Blue Americans have to sign loyalty oaths before they can hold public office or work for Our Government.
We will start a campaign to amend the Constitution to allow our Great Leader to be elected for more terms in office. Just as he campaigns to protect Our Families with amendments to preserve Family Values.
And this is just the beginning....
another little pisher joins the ranks. There just weren't enough.