This is NOT an attack upon the Washington Post....

[kentuck]

...but in the interest of truth and fairness, their "hit" piece (and it was a "hit" piece) upon left-wing blogs needs a response. It seems like only 2 or 3 weeks ago that the Washington Post hired their own blogger, a right-winger who stole everything he wrote and was the son of a Republican operative, but who was exposed almost immediately and had to be let go. The Daily Kos and a few other left wing blogs criticized and ridiculed the Washington Post for their lack of background check and their ineptitude.

So, it appears from a layman's perspective, this was just a simple "payback" for those "left-wing" attacks upon the Washington Post. For those that look at today's piece as something other than a "hit" piece, they are sadly mistaken. The whole intent of the piece was to minimize blogs and those that would criticize the MSM mouthpieces such as the Washington Post. Could they have found a more unflattering photo for their story?

on edit: link per suggestion

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401648.html

[BuyingThyme]

1. Link?

[kentuck]

6. Here...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/14/AR2006041401648.html

[bryant69]

2. That's the Chicago way

"You wanna know how you do it? Here's how, they pull a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue. That's the Chicago way, and that's how you get Capone! Now do you want to do that? Are you ready to do that?

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[BlooInBloo]

3. Am I the only one who has no idea what you're talking about?

[acmavm]

4. I'm glad that someone else saw that piece as being a 'hit' piece. Angry

because we are powerless? One long endless scream? They're just upset because people are listening to the 'left' now. They are beginning to understand that we were RIGHT.

The WP is garbage.

[OldLeftieLawyer]

7. I found it utterly offensive,

but I also found the woman's story rather odd, and, frankly, I'm just not convinced that people anonymously (not in her case, though) venting what seems like a lot of gibberish via the Internet(s) is nothing more than a substitute for therapy.

She is a great human interest story - the father killed in Vietnam before she was born - and that was a fine hook, but she's also driven by anger, and her sentiments about how much better she feels after she vents gave me - an OldLefite - great pause.

Ultimately, of course, I'm not convinced that these blogs have all that much influence.

[ClassWarrior]

5. And Joe Scarborough...

...is NOT retarded.

NGU.

[Mayberry Machiavelli]

8. You need to edit this OP to include a link to the WaPo story.

[chicofaraby]

9. The Washingtn Post?

Who cares what that corporate fish-wrap writes? They assured us that Iraq was chock full of WMDs.

They have all the credibility of the New York Times.

[kentuck]

10. Uh...right ??

:shrug:

[wtmusic]

11. As opposed to FreeRepublic, where everyone is calm and rational nt

[rusty charly]

12. here's the blogger:

"A couple months ago I got a cryptic email from someone claiming to be a reporter from the Washington Post; he asked me to call him in regard to a story he wanted to write.

I looked him up on the Internet... turns out David Finkel is a Pulitzer-prize nominated reporter for the Washington Post. Still, easy to write an email and use someone else's name, right? So I called him.

It was for real. Finkel said he got my name from an email someone sent him, which led him to My Left Wing. He'd never been to a blog before (gasp! I thought EVERYBODY read the blogs!), and was intrigued not only by the medium but by my particular 'blog voice,' if you will.

And he wanted to write a piece about me. For the Style section, no doubt, I guessed.

Nope. Front page, baby."


http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/14/225715/433

[rodeodance]

13. Lets all write to the WP and ask them to do a piece on the RW blog (FR?)

Maryscott O'Connor says her liberal Web log, My Left Wing, is
Maryscott O'Connor says her liberal Web log, My Left Wing, is "one long, sustained scream." (By David Finkel -- The Washington Post)

[rodeodance]

14. you can contant them here

The Left, Online and Outraged
Liberal Blogger Finds an Outlet and a Community

By David Finkel
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 15, 2006; A01


http://projects.washingtonpost.com/staff/email/david+finkel/

[rodeodance]

16. umm. on page A01

[Pirate Smile]

15. She has a Diary up on Daily Kos and she said the article had been

delayed by other news so I'm not sure when the interviewing was actually done.

If you haven't already, you may want to read the details she adds "Washington Post Article About A Blogger http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/14/225715/433

Here is another responding to the article: 'I am Not the "Angry Left"' http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/4/15/95422/7436

[paul_fromatlanta]

17. Yeah, I think I agree - that article feels at least in part like payback.

[creeksneakers2]

18. A portrayal that served RW propaganda

But,I did like this paragraph:

"What's notable about this isn't only the level of anger but the direction from which it is coming. Not that long ago, it was the right that was angry and the left that was, at least comparatively, polite. But after years of being the targets of inflammatory rhetoric, not only from fringe groups but also from such mainstream conservative politicians as Newt Gingrich, the left has gone on the attack. And with Republicans in control of Washington, they have much more to be angry about."

This is the first time I've heard anybody in the media admit that left wing anger comes from something more than disappointment with the results of the 2000 election.

Most of the rest of the article really missed the picture though.

[kentuck]

19. Glen Greenwald has weighed in on this "hit" piece also.

http://glenngreenwald.blogspot.com/2006/04/mistaking-caricature-and.html