The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘The Written Word Is Forever’

Posted on | June 25, 2010 | 65 Comments

Do you remember this headline?

Dede Goes Down Upstate

That story was filed from the Carriage House Inn in Watertown, N.Y. Ali Akbar, Kerry Picket of the Washington Times and Dave Weigel (then with the Washington Independent) were all blogging in the same hotel room where I was trying to hit deadline for the American Spectator with my 793-word account of Scozzafava quitting the race. The next day, Joe Biden was due in Watertown to campaign for Bill Owens, while Fred Thompson was coming in for Doug Hoffman.

John McCormack of the Weekly Standard was on his way into town that Sunday night and was supposed to meet us at the local pub later. John called to get directions and I was right up against deadline, so I wanted someone else to take the call. But Ali, Kerry and Dave were like, “What are we, your personal secretaries or something?”

And I went nuts. Total Jekyll-and-Hyde screaming meltdown: Why couldn’t my f–ing friends do me this one little f–ing favor and deal with this f–ing phone call so I could hit my f–ing deadline?

NY-23 was crazy like that. Good times.

Sam Stein at HuffPo says the news of Weigel’s ouster ”was greeted with shock within the close-knit community of Washington political reporters.” Well, yeah, a small group of people go through a certain crucible of shared experiences and a “close-knit community” develops.

Writing is an inherently lonely occupation — just you and that blank page – and unless you’re an anti-social introvert, the chance to hang out with fellow writers is a welcome relief from the maddening isolation. When you’re all covering the same story, fighting each other for scoops and racing to hit deadline, the basis of camraderie is understandable.

Which is a roundabout way of explaining why I see Weigel differently than some of the readers who seem to be viewing WeigelGate strictly through the prism of political allegiances. As a reporter on the beat, Weigel generally hung out with the relative handful of campaign journalists on the Right.

The stuff Weigel wrote on Journolist, etc., doesn’t match the guy who hung out with us. Kerry Picket summed it up best:

UPDATE: Two previous posts get the ‘Lanche, while I ponder the significance of praise from . . . Conor Friedersdorf?

After a few hours’ sleep, I’ve returned to find still more commenters telling me I’m full of crap for refusing to repudiate and denounce my friend Dave Weigel.

Let me make reference to my American Spectator colleague Philip Klein, whose defense of Dave prompted one commenter to label Phil a “Weigeltard.”

Phil responded on Twitter, “The day a friendship causes me to support abortion, higher taxes and bigger govt, they’ll have a point.”

Exactly. By the way, excuse me for speaking in parables. (Hey, where did I get that idea?) I told the story of my deadline conniption in Watertown as an example of where I had totally screwed up and been in the wrong, and yet Weigel is still my friend. As are Kerry and Ali.

WeigelGate became the No. 1 topic on Memeorandum — the blog topic du jour — because conservative bloggers see in this episode a sort of Rosetta Stone of how media bias operates:

“Ah, here’s how it works, see? Erza gets his buddy Weigel hired on at the WaPo as the token ‘conservative’ blogger, knowing full well that Weigel is secretly on Ezra’s side, as proven by the Journolist rants.”

In this perspective, Weigel is a black-hatted villain, and any conservative journalist who refuses to denounce Weigel becomes an accomplice to evil, either as a useful idiot or as an active agent of the liberal media conspiracy.

And therefore all journalists are “wild animals,” as Melissa Clouthier says.

OK, but this is exactly the same inductive reasoning by which Charles Johnson and others imagine that they have “proven” that I am a white supremacist — an example of all that is hatefully wrong about conservatism — and then demand that other conservatives either repudiate me or be guilty of abetting raaaaacism.

In other words, Weigel is getting the “Ransom Note” treatment.

Well, let us balance Weigel’s errors — the known evidence of mala fides that everybody is now discussing – against other evidence that is not known. (Being a top Hayekian public intellectual, I believe that unknown information can often be more important than that which is known.)

Ali Akbar called me to discuss WeigelGate and pointed out something: Weigel hung out with us in NY-23, in Boston during the Brown campaign, at CPAC and at the Southern Republican Leadership Conference.

During all that time, Ali remarked, not once did Weigel do a “gotcha” by disseminating reports of the off-the-record stuff he saw and heard. Whatever vicious snark and gossip Weigel dished out via his blog, or e-mails or Twitter, he did not abuse his journalistic privilege by burning the people who gave him access. (However, as someone else pointed out, Weigel did breach the confidentiality of Grover Norquist’s Wednesday morning briefing, which is always explicitly off-the-record. Grover will surely exact his pound of flesh in retribution for that burn.)

Those of you who don’t know Dave Weigel, and who are now judging him solely on the question of whether he is good or bad for the conservative cause, are free to think whatever you want about him. However, you can’t tell me what to think about the guy. If I’m giving him too much benefit of the doubt, OK, time will tell. Maybe I’m like Luke Skywalker, convinced there is still some spark of good left in Darth Vader.

And as to the question of whether Weigel has done anything good for the conservative cause . . .

Well, you are free to speculate that Dave may have done me favors which I am not at liberty to discuss. A good reporter never burns his sources, and a good source never burns a reporter. “Ethics, shmethics.”

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Category: Blogging, Neutral Objective Journalism

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  • TR Sterling

    RSM, you and Weigel are not the same as Hemmingway and F. Scott. Fitzgerald. But I’m sure some bartender would give you a buy back if you really need one. It’s funny to watch the sympathy pains. I wonder if Davey would write nice things about you next time the Raaaaacists come a callin…?

  • TR Sterling

    RSM, you and Weigel are not the same as Hemmingway and F. Scott. Fitzgerald. But I’m sure some bartender would give you a buy back if you really need one. It’s funny to watch the sympathy pains. I wonder if Davey would write nice things about you next time the Raaaaacists come a callin…?

  • TR Sterling

    Matter of fact you can really learn alot from the pages of reaction to this Weigel thing on Memeorandum. There are some DEEP resentments people reveal in their lashing out. Like reading a the Jeff-Patterico historic 10- on-10 throw downs except, Weigel wigglers are all the top bloggers in DC and no one really cares about Patterico too much. Condolences to Jeff though, that is a toughie to lose your dad. Take care RSM, good luck to the bride on Independence Day (or thereabouts).

  • TR Sterling

    Matter of fact you can really learn alot from the pages of reaction to this Weigel thing on Memeorandum. There are some DEEP resentments people reveal in their lashing out. Like reading a the Jeff-Patterico historic 10- on-10 throw downs except, Weigel wigglers are all the top bloggers in DC and no one really cares about Patterico too much. Condolences to Jeff though, that is a toughie to lose your dad. Take care RSM, good luck to the bride on Independence Day (or thereabouts).

  • http://theothermccain.com Robert Stacy McCain

    I wonder if Davey would write nice things about you next time the Raaaaacists come a callin…?

    Ah, remember what I said about Androcles and the Lion?

  • http://theothermccain.com Robert Stacy McCain

    I wonder if Davey would write nice things about you next time the Raaaaacists come a callin…?

    Ah, remember what I said about Androcles and the Lion?

  • http://thecampofthesaints.wordpress.com Bob Belvedere

    You can accurately judge a man by how he treats his brothers-in-arms when they bollocks things up real bad.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.wordpress.com Bob Belvedere

    You can accurately judge a man by how he treats his brothers-in-arms when they bollocks things up real bad.

  • TR Sterling

    I would like to believe Aesop and as they say in my circles, if I had got what I deserved, I wouldn’t be here full of gratitude and enjoying life. One day I will meet Bob Belvedere too, seems like a good joe.

  • TR Sterling

    I would like to believe Aesop and as they say in my circles, if I had got what I deserved, I wouldn’t be here full of gratitude and enjoying life. One day I will meet Bob Belvedere too, seems like a good joe.

  • Matt X

    [DELETED - Troll from Columbia, Md.]

  • Matt X

    [DELETED - Troll from Columbia, Md.]

  • http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof

    Why do I keep hearing this bald guy in the background saying, “So let it be written… so let it be done..”?

  • http://proof-proofpositive.blogspot.com/ proof

    Why do I keep hearing this bald guy in the background saying, “So let it be written… so let it be done..”?

  • Estragon

    It’s not really about what kind of chap he was with his friends – one supposes Jack the Ripper got on well with his mates, and Goebbels and Goering always had a soft spot for Hitler.

    I dimly remember a Weigel piece here and there before the WaPo gig, but was neither impressed nor offended enough to care. However, it became clear rather early in his stint that it clearly was not a “conservative reporting on conservatives” or even “fair coverage of conservatives,” but rather a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    True, he did defend Rand Paul, but that only earns points with the fringe nuts.

    His regular product wasn’t something to be proud of. But death wishes put him out there on a limb. Writing them to a list as large as the Journolist group is just insane.

  • Estragon

    It’s not really about what kind of chap he was with his friends – one supposes Jack the Ripper got on well with his mates, and Goebbels and Goering always had a soft spot for Hitler.

    I dimly remember a Weigel piece here and there before the WaPo gig, but was neither impressed nor offended enough to care. However, it became clear rather early in his stint that it clearly was not a “conservative reporting on conservatives” or even “fair coverage of conservatives,” but rather a wolf in sheep’s clothing.

    True, he did defend Rand Paul, but that only earns points with the fringe nuts.

    His regular product wasn’t something to be proud of. But death wishes put him out there on a limb. Writing them to a list as large as the Journolist group is just insane.

  • Estragon

    And this is not a single instance, either, according to the Daily Caller article at http://tinyurl.com/2evlzrr

    Read it all, and tell me this is a decent human being and not just another piece of hateful leftist trash.

  • Estragon

    And this is not a single instance, either, according to the Daily Caller article at http://tinyurl.com/2evlzrr

    Read it all, and tell me this is a decent human being and not just another piece of hateful leftist trash.

  • chercast

    RSM, don’t know what bond DW had with you and other conservative bloggers, just can say as a reader, in my opinion….DW didn’t ever dig conservatives. That’s what I felt as a reader. Only really knew of DW, frankly, because conservative bloggers such as yourself had a kindness toward him. NTTAWWT. Wouldn’t have ever read him other than that. Never could connect with his ideas or reporting.

  • chercast

    RSM, don’t know what bond DW had with you and other conservative bloggers, just can say as a reader, in my opinion….DW didn’t ever dig conservatives. That’s what I felt as a reader. Only really knew of DW, frankly, because conservative bloggers such as yourself had a kindness toward him. NTTAWWT. Wouldn’t have ever read him other than that. Never could connect with his ideas or reporting.

  • http://theothermccain.com Robert Stacy McCain

    Estragon, et al.:

    Given that I know what it’s like to be demonized by people who’ve never met me, I’m not going to join in this kind of beatdown on a guy I’ve known and worked with for four years.

    Weigel was wrong to post that stuff to Journolist, and the work he did at the WaPo blog often left much to be desired from the standpoint of conservatism. All this I freely grant. But why the Two-Minute Hate treatment? Why the demand that even Dave’s friends join in the general denunciation or else be cast out as unworthy?

    And why are you slamming on me? I didn’t send those e-mails. I never worked at the Washington Post nor was I ever part of Journolist. This demand that I denounce Weigel or else be judged complicit in his errors is no different, really, than Charles Johnson’s demand that everybody must denounce Pamela Geller.

  • http://theothermccain.com Robert Stacy McCain

    Estragon, et al.:

    Given that I know what it’s like to be demonized by people who’ve never met me, I’m not going to join in this kind of beatdown on a guy I’ve known and worked with for four years.

    Weigel was wrong to post that stuff to Journolist, and the work he did at the WaPo blog often left much to be desired from the standpoint of conservatism. All this I freely grant. But why the Two-Minute Hate treatment? Why the demand that even Dave’s friends join in the general denunciation or else be cast out as unworthy?

    And why are you slamming on me? I didn’t send those e-mails. I never worked at the Washington Post nor was I ever part of Journolist. This demand that I denounce Weigel or else be judged complicit in his errors is no different, really, than Charles Johnson’s demand that everybody must denounce Pamela Geller.

  • Ray.

    O.T.

    Room for another or a replacement?

    http://www.wikio.com/blogs/top/politics?start=40

    A little more reflective of the situation.

  • Ray.

    O.T.

    Room for another or a replacement?

    http://www.wikio.com/blogs/top/politics?start=40

    A little more reflective of the situation.

  • Estragon

    Has anyone asked you to “denounce” him? The mystery is your blubbery defense of a guy who was giddy with joy when they rushed Rush to the hospital with chest pains!

    There is NO rational comparison with the way you were “demonized” McCarthy-style with guilt by tenuous association. Weigel is being hung by what he actually said and wrote and believes. He isn’t being falsely accused of hating conservatives because he was on some advisory board with Michael Moore years ago, it’s because he pretty much comes out and says it!

    Daily Caller has a good selection of his venom: http://tinyurl.com/2evlzrr

    It is you who have kept the issue alive here with multiple posts and updates. I cannot remain silent when asked to believe Weigel wishes death on a putatively-conservative-but-definitely-New-Media guy like Drudge, notably conservative folks like Rush, and who knows who else, and has nothing but vile remarks on almost all conservatives, gets fired, and this is BAD for conservatives!!!!

    It’s bad for your lefty pal Weigel, but not bad for conservatives in any respect. Oh, “it took them four years to fill the Domenech spot” – wow, they filled it with a leftist jerk like Weigel, is this supposed to be a victory for conservatives in journalism? That a hating leftist gets a job? By that standard, we are winning BIG TIME, aren’t we?

  • Estragon

    Has anyone asked you to “denounce” him? The mystery is your blubbery defense of a guy who was giddy with joy when they rushed Rush to the hospital with chest pains!

    There is NO rational comparison with the way you were “demonized” McCarthy-style with guilt by tenuous association. Weigel is being hung by what he actually said and wrote and believes. He isn’t being falsely accused of hating conservatives because he was on some advisory board with Michael Moore years ago, it’s because he pretty much comes out and says it!

    Daily Caller has a good selection of his venom: http://tinyurl.com/2evlzrr

    It is you who have kept the issue alive here with multiple posts and updates. I cannot remain silent when asked to believe Weigel wishes death on a putatively-conservative-but-definitely-New-Media guy like Drudge, notably conservative folks like Rush, and who knows who else, and has nothing but vile remarks on almost all conservatives, gets fired, and this is BAD for conservatives!!!!

    It’s bad for your lefty pal Weigel, but not bad for conservatives in any respect. Oh, “it took them four years to fill the Domenech spot” – wow, they filled it with a leftist jerk like Weigel, is this supposed to be a victory for conservatives in journalism? That a hating leftist gets a job? By that standard, we are winning BIG TIME, aren’t we?

  • http://knappster.blogspot.com Thomas L. Knapp

    I’m not sure who started this weird-ass rumor that David Weigel was supposed to be either:

    - a “conservative” covering the conservative movement in a friendly manner; or

    - an “objective reporter” covering the conservative movement dispassionately.

    I’ve never seen him claim to be either one of those things.

    What he’s always actually been is a writer with a work ethic, a keen (and not unfriendly) interest in the political right, a good source-side manner, and a willingness to do his best to get as much as possible of the whole story — including the parts that get missed by “objective reporters” who think that a five-point lede is the end of it, or by ideologues who are too emotionally close to their subjects to notice warts.

    The anvil that came down on his head was a weird alloy composed of movement conservatives who go berserk when confronted with ugly truths, conservative media types who don’t like having it pointed out that they’re dickheads (Drudge) or who are angling to become the only conservative voice in the MSM at WaPo’s expense (Carlson) … and liberals who just can’t stand the idea of WaPo having someone on staff who takes the right seriously enough to actually engage it instead of just mock it.

  • http://knappster.blogspot.com Thomas L. Knapp

    I’m not sure who started this weird-ass rumor that David Weigel was supposed to be either:

    - a “conservative” covering the conservative movement in a friendly manner; or

    - an “objective reporter” covering the conservative movement dispassionately.

    I’ve never seen him claim to be either one of those things.

    What he’s always actually been is a writer with a work ethic, a keen (and not unfriendly) interest in the political right, a good source-side manner, and a willingness to do his best to get as much as possible of the whole story — including the parts that get missed by “objective reporters” who think that a five-point lede is the end of it, or by ideologues who are too emotionally close to their subjects to notice warts.

    The anvil that came down on his head was a weird alloy composed of movement conservatives who go berserk when confronted with ugly truths, conservative media types who don’t like having it pointed out that they’re dickheads (Drudge) or who are angling to become the only conservative voice in the MSM at WaPo’s expense (Carlson) … and liberals who just can’t stand the idea of WaPo having someone on staff who takes the right seriously enough to actually engage it instead of just mock it.

  • Blue

    Thomas, the problem with that POV is that, often, Weigel’s posts would be treated by the rest of the MSM as actually reflecting what a conservative person thinks. “Dave Weigel, conservative blogger said….”

    He was running a false flag operation and the right is better off without him because of that.

  • Blue

    Thomas, the problem with that POV is that, often, Weigel’s posts would be treated by the rest of the MSM as actually reflecting what a conservative person thinks. “Dave Weigel, conservative blogger said….”

    He was running a false flag operation and the right is better off without him because of that.

  • Joe

    I never really paid attention to David Weigel, so this story does not mean a lot to me. I knew who he was, but I do not go out of my way to read WaPo (other than hunting down Krauthammer’s friday article sometimes). It is one that, by its nature, interests other journalists and bloggers far more than the casual reader.

    Still, I admire you putting a personal spin on Weigel. You are a stand up guy McCain.

  • Joe

    I never really paid attention to David Weigel, so this story does not mean a lot to me. I knew who he was, but I do not go out of my way to read WaPo (other than hunting down Krauthammer’s friday article sometimes). It is one that, by its nature, interests other journalists and bloggers far more than the casual reader.

    Still, I admire you putting a personal spin on Weigel. You are a stand up guy McCain.

  • wombat-socho

    Weigel was (and is) a left/”soft” libertarian, and anyone who expected him to act like a conservative of any kind was and is a God-damned fool with the sensitivity of a turnip. I understand where RSM is coming from, since I too have friends who are (to put it as charitably as I can) raving lefty moonbats. We still manage to talk about other things and hang out without being All Politics All The Time. Can it really be true that none of you piling on RSM have friends or neighbors like that?

  • wombat-socho

    Weigel was (and is) a left/”soft” libertarian, and anyone who expected him to act like a conservative of any kind was and is a God-damned fool with the sensitivity of a turnip. I understand where RSM is coming from, since I too have friends who are (to put it as charitably as I can) raving lefty moonbats. We still manage to talk about other things and hang out without being All Politics All The Time. Can it really be true that none of you piling on RSM have friends or neighbors like that?

  • http://maaadddog.wordpress.com/ John Doe

    I sympathize with RSM liking the man–I have loony leftist cousins whom I dearly love.

    But I am honest with them. I tell them (in a loving manner) that I think that they are batshit crazy. They reciprocate. This guy apparently was only honest behind the backs of conservatives, when he thought nobody would tell.

    This incident reminds me of the old skit somewhere where a black man enters bus/room, and all the whites stop making racist comments and jokes. He leaves, they resume saying what they really feel. Isn’t it nice to know how others think of us, despite how “friendly” they are to our faces?

  • http://maaadddog.wordpress.com/ John Doe

    I sympathize with RSM liking the man–I have loony leftist cousins whom I dearly love.

    But I am honest with them. I tell them (in a loving manner) that I think that they are batshit crazy. They reciprocate. This guy apparently was only honest behind the backs of conservatives, when he thought nobody would tell.

    This incident reminds me of the old skit somewhere where a black man enters bus/room, and all the whites stop making racist comments and jokes. He leaves, they resume saying what they really feel. Isn’t it nice to know how others think of us, despite how “friendly” they are to our faces?

  • Joe

    If you are reporting on a group, as opposed to be a regular reporting looking for a story, I suppose you always have the danger of going Patty Hearst. You have to maintain some distance without being overtly hostile.

    A guy like Major Garrett, for example, has to walk a fine line about being mistrusted for being from FoxNews (so he has sources to inside information) and yet not becoming part of Team Obama. I am sure it is not easy.

  • Joe

    If you are reporting on a group, as opposed to be a regular reporting looking for a story, I suppose you always have the danger of going Patty Hearst. You have to maintain some distance without being overtly hostile.

    A guy like Major Garrett, for example, has to walk a fine line about being mistrusted for being from FoxNews (so he has sources to inside information) and yet not becoming part of Team Obama. I am sure it is not easy.

  • http://threebeerslater.blogspot.com Richard McEnroe

    “The stuff Weigel wrote on Journolist, etc., doesn’t match the guy who hung out with us.”

    Well,as you observe, writing is an inherently lonely profession.And as the nuns used to warn us in hygiene class, “character is what you do when no one’s looking.”

    It seems pretty likely that Weigel was trying to play you guys like a biologist infiltrating a chimpanzee troupe.

  • http://threebeerslater.blogspot.com Richard McEnroe

    “The stuff Weigel wrote on Journolist, etc., doesn’t match the guy who hung out with us.”

    Well,as you observe, writing is an inherently lonely profession.And as the nuns used to warn us in hygiene class, “character is what you do when no one’s looking.”

    It seems pretty likely that Weigel was trying to play you guys like a biologist infiltrating a chimpanzee troupe.

  • http://threebeerslater.blogspot.com Richard McEnroe

    BREAKING NEWS: Will Folks admits to totally appropriate relationship with Dave Weigel. They SO belong together…

  • http://threebeerslater.blogspot.com Richard McEnroe

    BREAKING NEWS: Will Folks admits to totally appropriate relationship with Dave Weigel. They SO belong together…

  • http://threebeerslater.blogspot.com Richard McEnroe

    Wombat-socho — depends. What are they saying about us behind our backs?

  • http://threebeerslater.blogspot.com Richard McEnroe

    Wombat-socho — depends. What are they saying about us behind our backs?

  • http://thecampofthesaints.wordpress.com Bob Belvedere

    If you had screwed-up bigtime and payed a heavy price wouldn’t you want to have friends just like Stacy who wouldn’t pile on, giving you swift kicks while you were laying on the ground bleeding and bruised?

    PS: In my comment above the ‘man’ I was referring to was RSM, not this Weigel fellow.

  • http://thecampofthesaints.wordpress.com Bob Belvedere

    If you had screwed-up bigtime and payed a heavy price wouldn’t you want to have friends just like Stacy who wouldn’t pile on, giving you swift kicks while you were laying on the ground bleeding and bruised?

    PS: In my comment above the ‘man’ I was referring to was RSM, not this Weigel fellow.

  • http://FilmLadd.com FilmLadd

    McCain is a decent and honorable guy. Whatever Weigel’s errors, pile-ons are unseemly.

  • http://FilmLadd.com FilmLadd

    McCain is a decent and honorable guy. Whatever Weigel’s errors, pile-ons are unseemly.

  • Pangur

    “The stuff Weigel wrote on Journolist, etc., doesn’t match the guy who hung out with us.”

    Well, it’s certainly interesting to know that the trade-unionism of journalism is alive and kicking. Sticking up for a friend is all well and good, RSM, and I have no interest in attacking Weigel personally. But to see this little tempest as anything other than an attempt at normalizing bad behavior seems wrong-headed.

    “Those of you who don’t know Dave Weigel, and who are now judging him solely on the question of whether he is good or bad for the conservative cause, are free to think whatever you want about him.”

    I could give a crap about him personally. However, if Weigel is as competent as you seem to believe (and I have no reason to doubt you), how could he fail to see that nondisclosure of his participation in the odious Ezra Klein’s little confab might seriously damage his credibility? He’s at best guilty of excruciatingly bad judgment . . . and also of hanging out with the wrong crowd.

  • Pangur

    “The stuff Weigel wrote on Journolist, etc., doesn’t match the guy who hung out with us.”

    Well, it’s certainly interesting to know that the trade-unionism of journalism is alive and kicking. Sticking up for a friend is all well and good, RSM, and I have no interest in attacking Weigel personally. But to see this little tempest as anything other than an attempt at normalizing bad behavior seems wrong-headed.

    “Those of you who don’t know Dave Weigel, and who are now judging him solely on the question of whether he is good or bad for the conservative cause, are free to think whatever you want about him.”

    I could give a crap about him personally. However, if Weigel is as competent as you seem to believe (and I have no reason to doubt you), how could he fail to see that nondisclosure of his participation in the odious Ezra Klein’s little confab might seriously damage his credibility? He’s at best guilty of excruciatingly bad judgment . . . and also of hanging out with the wrong crowd.

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