Yesterday, Ben Domenech took to Huffington Post to try and further spin the “opinion” article he wrote that was subsequently reprinted on a CBS News blog which pushed unsubstantiated, un-sourced gossip about Solicitor General Elena Kagan's personal life in relation to the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy.

In his Huffington Post mea culpa, Domenech makes this odd claim (emphasis his):

Look, it's 2010 -- no one should care if a nominee to any position is gay. The fact that conservative Senators John Cornyn and Jeff Sessions have recently expressed openness to confirming an openly gay nominee to the Court is a good thing. Senators should look at things that actually matter -- evaluating a nominee's decisions, approach to the law, their judgment and ability -- to see whether there are actually good and relevant reasons to oppose the nomination. That's all.

Funny, because based on Domenech's history, I'm inclined to think that he ran with the unsubstantiated, un-sourced “rumor” precisely because it centered on a sexual orientation different from his own.

I agree with him that “it's 2010 - no one should care if a nominee to any position is gay,” I'm just not sure he believes his own words. After all, Domenech once wrote that conservative, openly gay, blogger Andrew Sullivan, “needs a woman to give him some stability.”

Well, after being forced to resign by the Washington Post in 2006 for repeated plagiarism and getting schooled by media critics far and wide for running with these rumors, it seems Domenech could use a refresher course in journalistic basics. You know, to “give him some stability” in his chosen profession.

Related:

• CBS News Blog Rumor Crosses Many Ethical Lines
• A Washington Post/Ben Domenech Flashback
• More on CBS publishing unsubstantiated, un-sourced gossip about Elena Kagan
• Domenech apologizes to Kagan “if she is offended at all by my repetition of a Harvard rumor”
• CBS publishes right-wing serial-plagiarist's un-sourced gossip