Conservatives Turn on New 'Wash Post' Blogger, Urge Him to Step Down

editorandpublisher.com ^ | March 24, 2006 | E&P Staff

[summer]

NEW YORK A two-day effort by liberal bloggers to find, and publicize, numerous examples of plagiarism committed by new Washington Post blogger Ben Domenech culminated today in calls that he give up his new position--from some of his conservative supporters.

One of them, most dramatically, is columnist and blogger Michelle Malkin. As an editor at Regnery, Domenech handled her most recent book.

Conservatives had hailed Domenech's appointment to write the Red America blog. "I cheered for Ben, the editor of my last book at Regnery, when he announced his new position," Malkin wrote on her Web site today. "I criticized unhinged bloggers on the Left who leveled vicious ad hominem attacks against him. It's clear, as the good folks at Red State (which Ben co-founded) note, that his detractors were on a search-and-destroy mission from the get-go.

"But now the determined moonbat hordes have exposed multiple instances of what clearly appear to me to be blatant lifting of entire, unique passages by Ben from other writers. It is one thing to paraphrase basic facts from a wire story. But to filch the original thoughts and distinctly crafted phrases of a writer without crediting him/her--and doing so repeatedly--is unacceptable in our business. Some of the cases occurred while Ben was in college; he is blaming an editor for these transgressions. But at least one other incident involved a piece he wrote for NRO after he graduated. The side-by-side comparisons of these extensive passages is damning....

[summer]

FYI.

[summer]

The rest of the article mentions Rick Moran and Dan Riehl, conservative bloggers, calling for the Red State foudner to step aside for a different conservatiove blogger (someone without these problems mentioned by Michelle).

[summer]

The rest of the article mentions Rick Moran and Dan Riehl, conservative bloggers, calling for the Red State founder to step aside for a different conservatiove blogger (someone without these problems mentioned by Michelle).

[summer]

BTW, I have not yet heard the subject blogger explain things as he sees this matter.

[Williams]

If so, it's hard to understand why anyone does this. It's not hard to paraphrase ideas that are circulating elsewhere.

[Pondman88]

He's done. Too bad. RedState is my other favorite blog.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

Doris Kearnes Goodwin got caught copying entire lengths of her most recent book and she's still trotted out as a presidential historian. No penalty for her.

However, Non-liberals (and ALL conservatives) are held to the level established by custom, code and law. So Malkin knows Domenech goes.

[Tanniker Smith]

Or just to credit the original writer.

[summer]

In the same vein, I don't understand why teachers constantly present their own biased points of view to a class, when it's so easy to instead say:

"Some people think THIS; some people think THAT -- now, students, what do YOU think and why?"

[Petronski]

I wonder how Goodwin's knees are faring in her old age, what with all the time she spent servicing LBJ in her youth.

[summer]

Yeah, I never understood what happened with that. I read she admitted lifting entire passages; the next thing I recall she was a guest on a talk show for yet another new book. I guess there's no end to "Second Acts" in America.

[rfp1234]

Joe-the-Chia-Senator Biden, a noted plagiarist and probable 2008 Prez. candidate, had no comment on this story, right....?

[Amalie]

"BTW, I have not yet heard the subject blogger explain things as he sees this matter."

Regardless, it creates a major credibility problem. WaPo and its ilk now have ammo to fire back at its MSM critics as irresponsible amateurs. Nope, if the charges are true (and I ask that honestly considering his accusers), he has to go...

[mikey565]

2 wrongs dont make it a right, but it sure makes it even.

[CharlesWayneCT]

Joe-the-Chia-Senator Biden, a noted plagiarist and probable 2008 Prez. candidate, had no comment on this story, right....?

He probably just hasn't found a good comment to lift yet.

[summer]

Yes, he would have to go -- but I would still like to hear his side of the story.

[Galveston Grl]

Conservatives have the political sense of a pickle. Here the left was hacking away at the guy for the problems expressed by conservatives and would have killed him off. Regardless of his problems, that left wing kill would have helped us in appearances and in demands for more conservatives at the Post.

Now the Lefties can claim "conservatives" killed the only conservative hired by the POst. Way to go idiots.

[andyk]

I wonder how Goodwin's knees are faring in her old age, what with all the time she spent servicing LBJ in her youth.

Ouch!

[festus]

alls that he give up his new position--from some of his conservative supporters.

Now I only got a Bachelors degree in college but wouldn't the folks calling for him to step down be classed as his opposition and not his supporters ?

[summer]

I wonder what he has on his blog right now -- anything about this?

[summer]

Here's what on his redstate blog site:

Answers Needed

By: Charles Bird · Section: Other Politics

When blogospheric swarms gain critical mass, they can be extremely fast-moving and overwhelming. It looks like we're in one right now, but it's not about Darfur or the War Against Militant Islamism, but about a conservative blogger newly hired by a mainstream media outlet. The charges of plagiarism are serious business, especially the one in NRO. It may be happening at this very writing, but a complete and timely response is needed by the co-founder of this site, answering fully every charge made. I count myself a supporter of Ben Domenech, but the credibility of this site and the Redstate project is at risk. I await Ben's response, but if the answers are insufficient, we must all strive to do what's right.

[summer]

Update: The conservative blogger has resigned from the Washington Post. See new WaPo article posted on FR HERE.

[Jim_Curtis]

Now the Lefties can claim "conservatives" killed the only conservative hired by the POst. Way to go idiots.

It's pretty obvious that wapo hired him to fail.

[Williams]

Oh please. How hard would it be to get another conservative blogger? And what did the guy copy? Thoughts from other conservative articles? How does that undercut the ideas posted?

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

The irnoic thing about that case is that she stole most of "her" ideas from Ted Kennedy biographer Joe McGinnis, who-if I'm not mistaken-was also accused of purloining the work of other historians.

[ladyinred]

OMG! That picture of good ole (OLD) Doris is just as ugly as her poison pen is!
YIKES!

[SWake]

Joe-the-Chia-Senator Biden, a noted plagiarist and probable 2008 Prez. candidate, had no comment on this story, right....?

Nor has Molly Ivins...

[Do not dub me shapka broham]

http://www.redstate.com/story/2006/3/24/151255/259

[rfp1234]

---Joe-the-Chia-Senator Biden, a noted plagiarist and probable 2008 Prez. candidate, had no comment on this story, right....?
Nor has Molly Ivins...---

Run, Molly, Run - rats' best candidate in 08!

[dirtboy]

Now the Lefties can claim "conservatives" killed the only conservative hired by the POst. Way to go idiots.

Sorry, but one of the key differences between the left and the right is that we on the right will deal with our problem children when they happen.

And in the end, we benefit from such.

[Galveston Grl]

I agree that if it were up to conservatives to handle this then fine - go after him if he is truly guilty as the left has charged. However, it never hurts to use one's brain and let the left do the butchering when you do not have to do it.

Suppose you are a manager in a company and there is an emotional, risky conflict with another manager's ethics or abilities. Everyone knows there is a problem and that someone has to tell the boss who happens to think highly about the problem manager out of ignorance. Who is going to deliver the bad news?

Usually it is the one who is the most indignant and riled up about the offenses - the imperfection. And the more wise people will be glad to have the self righteous one run that show and leave the boss to consult with other managers after he's been broadsided with the bad news.

The whole point is to have the problem handled. It is not necessary that you be the one to pop the boil and get all messy when you don't have to do it in order for the problem to get solved. Conservatives did not have to jump in there with the knife - the loony left would have done it and not looked real pretty doing it. Then conservatives could have said to the Post, "okay, you let the radicals butcher your first conservative, who is next?" Instead the leftist managers at the Post can say, it was the conservatives who demanded he get fired.

Conservatives love jumping in for the slaughter for the love of the kill. They are self righteous when they don't have to be because they do not think before they react and this hurts us in our cause just as it hurts people who act like this in their careers. They do not think strategically. That is my opinion.

[Zuben Elgenubi]

OMG! That picture of good ole (OLD) Doris is just as ugly as her poison pen is! YIKES!

Yes. And her lips aren't getting any fuller with age.