'The Real Deal’ on Jayson Blair (Scarborough Country)

Scarborough Country (MSNBC) ^ | 5-22-03 | Joe Scarborough

[cgk]

‘The Real Deal’ on Jayson Blair

Behavior so bizarre, it surpasses the realm of human comprehension

The New York Times’ poster boy for fraud, Jayson Blair, has spoken. For those of you with a weak gag reflex, grab a bucket. It’s the Jayson Blair ‘Real Deal.’

       JAYSON BLAIR IS, borrowing the words of Miami Herald writer Carl Hiaasen,”a sick puppy.” The self-described former coke-head stole stories, lied about locations, made up facts, and committed fraud on America.
       Now this screwed-up 27-year old kid is lining up a book deal that is sure to make him a millionaire. Despite the very public humiliation he endured over the past few weeks, Blair is unbowed.
       Yesterday, he told the New York Observer that his sleazy reporting stunts were intended to destroy himself professionally, so he could save himself personally. Get ready to gag; here it comes. Blair told the Observer, “So Jayson Blair the human being could live, Jayson Blair the journalist had to die.”
       I am not making this up, folks. It’s one of those Tammy Faye Bakker meets Ted Kopple media moments. This is behavior so bizarre it surpasses the realm of human comprehension.        Blair, who Times editor Howell Raines said got a free pass because he was black, actually accused the Times staff of being racist. Really, Jayson? Is that why a young twenty-something who never got a college degree, and got busted lying about stories, got suspended, and then got the suspension lifted so he could be promoted to the national desk?
       Blair even had the nerve to attack his white guilty liberal sponsor by saying “Maybe the experience will make him a little more mature.”
       This coming from a loser who betrayed the trust of Howell Raines, the New York Times news room, the media outlets who consider the Times the newspaper of record, and the American people.
       Blair is under investigation for fraud by the U.S. Attorney’s office. Here’s hoping that Blair gets busted, has to write his book from jail, and is forced by the court to donate all his book earnings to charity. That is, if Mr. Blair can in fact, write anything at all without stealing it from others.
       

[cgk]

Last night's opening commentary on Scarborough Country.

[cgk]

Tonight's commentary (Real Deal):

Thursday: ‘Morning after’ pill

A new “morning after” pill being called a pro-choice wonder drug... Joe asks, how about a little self control - instead of licensed promiscuity? Scarborough Country, Thursday, 10 p.m. ET

[Humidston]

I'm really beginning to love Joe's show. He is so sharp and so spot on! I don't care if he's on a rival station... At the rate he's moving, he'll end up at Fox sooner or later! ;-)

ROCK ON, JOE!

[Number_Cruncher]

Did Jayson Blair ghostwrite Hillary's new book?

[Gritty]

I'm really beginning to love Joe's show.

I know what you mean.

I never watch that awful Greta anymore unless she has a really exceptional guest, and that is seldom. She has turned into the old CNN Lawyer Hour!

So, I click to Joe and enjoy the hour instead of spending the time frustrated by her talkover antics and impossible diction!

[sd-joe]

Blair is a common crook and a fraud, and the really interesting thing is that : he was so at home at the NY Times. He fit right in.

[driftless]

You are so right. Blair is the monster Dr. Frankenstein ie. Sulzberger-Raines created.

[MEG33]

That's the scary part.

[TaxRelief]

My Blair rant:

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Jayson Blair debacle illustrates the dangers of misguided altruism

"A good person freely gives!" and "We must help the downtrodden!" cries the modern-day, political altruist, believing in himself completely as he bandies his lofty mottoes, offering the unsuspecting the opportunity to experience his warm, inner glow of satisfaction.

Whether the motivation is to earn a place in heaven or to impress their peers, the Jayson Blair debacle is a fine example of how truly misguided their social programs are. Like a spoiled brat, who has had everything handed to him, the young man has laughed and continues to laugh in the face of the many handouts that have come his way. He has cleverly played the "pity me" card to avoid completing his education and has used it to land a job for himself at (what some consider) one of the most respected institutes of journalism in the world: the New York Times.

The blame for his downfall can be placed squarely upon the shoulders of the tunnel visioned philanthropists at the New York Times. They gave freely and then freely gave again, apparently oblivious to the fact that monsters, like Mr. Blair, are easily created and fostered. It is extremely unfortunate and not very likely that they will ever see where the fault lies.

Mean-spirited and selfish, they repeatedly proclaim while editorializing about conservatives. Self-responsibility is unrealistic, they say, shooting another barb.

Is it not surprising that their deprecating words are a shock to productive, upstanding citizens? "Self-responsibility is unrealistic?" we ponder. Is it wrong to believe in the abilities of human nature? Is it wrong to expect every man to 'ask not what his country can do for him, but what he can do for his country'?"

Great cliches cannot themselves change reality. Chronic do-gooders deceive themselves and their children when they declare that it is possible to be selfless. They forget a simple fact:

In order to give, someone must take, and forcing or convincing someone to take is not a selfless act.

And conservatives know a sad little secret: The act of taking that which has not been earned, corrupts human nature, and ultimately drives the taker further from 'all that is good'. It creates a dependency that shatters pride and perpetuates a subclass from generation to generation. Every nursing home attendant knows that even old people crave the opportunity to give in return for what they must receive.

This cannot be interpreted to mean that conservatives are content to abdicate all responsibility. On the contrary, they care very deeply and believe that the poor and underprivileged can be helped, but not with handouts, and not with artificial "job opportunities" or favored "college admissions" that are just thinly disguised charity.

Raising their own children has taught conservatives that the "disadvantaged" are best helped when they are exposed to a culture that values success, applauds achievement and evenly rewards productivity. Everyone must be surrounded by a morality that treasures life, guards property rights (so that rewards are not taken away) and despises the random use of force.

Children and adults rise to the occasion when the bar is set to an appropriate, consistent level and when each individual is expected to be the best that he or she can be.

The New York Times would do much more to help society if the board made a decision to revert back to the policies, typical of the 1950s, that hired and fired based on ability and education. The company would of course have to make one minor revision: Managers should now be expected to "judge people, not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character."

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-TR.............

[Only1choice____Freedom]

Today's "real deal"

What's tomorrow's "real deal"

I really don't care what he is or isn't as long as he is out of the picture.

NY Times is almost as trustworty as CNN or Pravda or Clinton.

[sd-joe]

>> "You are so right. Blair is the monster Dr. Frankenstein ie. Sulzberger-Raines created."

Yes, that is the story. It is not Blair, it is how he was enabled and encouraged and developed and supported by the NYT management. And the BIG question: What really were their motives? Sure they were promoting PC, but why THIS guy? There are lots of other guys they could have promoted to be PC. It seems to me that it was because he fit into their mold. He was like them. They say that the easiest person to sell to is a salesman. The easiest guy to con is a con man. Well if Blair was what we now know him to be, what does that make his enablers?

[sd-joe]

It is indeed.

[cgk]

Bumpity-bump! Great rant! ;)