In Palinland, no one knows what’s really going on. But I wonder if this is a somewhat panicked response to the recent blip upwards in web interest in the Trig question. With all these family members able to speak to the public and McGinniss digging deeper, Todd and Sarah may have felt the need to crack down and use Levi’s access to Tripp and Bristol as their latest weapon.
This new turn in Sully’s relentless “Fear the Republican Uterus” campaign was necessitated because (a) Levi Johnston finally admitted he’s a liar, and (b) Levi’s sister Mercede claims she’s being “threatened” if she doesn’t stop lying on her blog:
I mentioned on my blog repeatedly that my intention was not to hurt or attack the Palins, but to speak out and tell the public my side of the story. As well as how badly my life, and the lives of our family members, had been impacted by our association with the Palins. . . .
I am moving on with my life, and though I wish my brother would do more to help out with our mom, I know that I am incredibly tough.
Yeah, sure, her life has been badly “impacted” by the Palins and, sure, she’s “moving on” — just as soon as she can figure out some other way to cash in on her brush with fame. Her “side of the story” was only marketable insofar as Mercede could claim to have the scoop for whatever anti-Palin smears she was peddling.
Sullivan can’t seem to accept the obvious conclusion: Mama Meth-head and her brood have been running a scam, premised on the gullibility of “progressives” who were willing to believe anything negative about the Palins. Thanks to Mr. Sex On Skates — about whom Mary Katharine Ham has a few insightful words today — the Johnston clan obtained a bogus credibility as “inside sources,” which they then exploited in hopes of gaining fame and fortune.
Let’s give Levi Johnston this much credit: He may be just bright enough to have figured out that he was being used by Tank Jones and the other cheap hustlers who hitched their wagons to the “Ricky Hollywood” star.
Among [Levi Johnston’s] claims: That the Palins frequently spoke of divorce and that Sarah Palin often referred to Trig Palin as their little baby “retard.”
Sullivan took that as fresh evidence that the baby wasn’t hers, of course.
And then the blog that ran the original report added this:
Updated — Possible Hoax
. . . Sources in the U.S. and Uganda now tell me that the young man in question was not connected with Integrity Uganda, and that Bishop Christopher Senyonjo did not make the statement attributed to him . . .
The Rev. Erich K Kasirye, identified as the “General Secretary, Integrity Uganda” and who gave an extensive quotation that I reproduced below, appears to have been involved with a few money-raising scams . . .
“This just in from the Dept. of Too Good to Check . . .”
Detectives had by last night taken into custody two men suspected of beheading a colleague worker at a farm in Wakiso District that authorities said belongs to Electoral Commission chairman Badru Kiggundu. The trio, witnesses told police, stayed in the same house in Kibiri A zone, a rural lakeside residential area overlooking the posh Munyonyo and Buziga suburbs. Police Spokesperson Judith Nabakooba said the arrests followed the finding, in a pit latrine, on Friday of a human head believed to be that of Pascal Kashushu killed a week earlier.
So, according to the local newspaper, police believe Kashushu was killed by “colleague workers” with whom the dead man had been staying at the same house. No word on the motive, and nothing to implicate homophobic “Christianists” in the murder.
UPDATE II: It seems that the campaign to turn the murdered man into Uganda’s Matthew Shepard began with an Anglican gay activist named Colin Coward who (a) spells the victim’s name “Pasikali Kashusbe” and (b) so far as can be determined, has never set foot in Uganda.
Coward’s report ricocheted around the gay blogosphere, onto DKos and HuffPo and thence to Memeorandum, where I saw it, but there is not a single regular-news source in Uganda or anywhere else reporting this as an anti-gay hate crime. The blog that Sully linked as his source now says:
The young man’s murder is no less horrific. But the connection to homophobia, for now, appears doubtful.
Perhaps Sully should go back to obstetric theorizing about Republican women, which seems to be his chief area of expertise.
UPDATE III: Local news video:
If I understand the reporter correctly, one of the suspects who has been questioned by police is the cousin of the victim, and police have not yet established a motive.
UPDATE IV: Why did some people leap so quickly to the conclusion that homophobia was to blame for Kashushu’s death? The Advocate reports:
They were looking for the Rev. Henry Kayizzi Nsubuga, who disappeared last month after delivering a sermon supporting gay people.
It seems to be taken as a given by gay-rights activists, post hoc ergo propter hoc, that Nsubuga has fallen victim to homophobic violence. Well, read this story in the Uganda New Vision and see if you find any reason to be skeptical toward such an assumption.
Everybody with access to the Internet nowadays seems to think they’re a detective, and this is like CSI: Kampala or something.
Summer is a great time for blog-fights because traffic always goes down during the summer anyway, and you might as well be in a pissing match as trying to get people to pay attention to politics on the cusp of the Fourth of July. (Why do you think Pat Leahy scheduled the Kagan hearings now, anyway?)
I didn’t know Dave Weigel from a hole in the wall until January 2010. At that time, I was researching and blogging about an idiot named Dale Robertson — who was caught holding this sign at a Houston Tea Party event. Dave Weigel broke the story for a wider audience and it was picked up by Chuckles at Little Green Footballs . . .
Weigel’s original story reported this reaction from the Houston Tea Party Society:
Update: Josh Parker of the Houston Tea Party Society tells me that Robertson was booted out of the event for this sign.I thought to myself: Wow, now there’s a newsworthy nugget that Chuckles seems to find irrelevant in his zeal to tar and feather all Tea Partiers as racists. . . .
Even Media Matters reported the Houston Tea Party Society’s repudiation of Robertson because Dave Weigel reported on it! Some folks at Houston TPS were kind enough to give me some praise for blogging on their behalf, but it was really Dave Weigel who got the Houston TPS their due in a way I never could have with my miniscule following.
When the online Left, and even the Washington Times, tried to elevate Robertson as a “Tea Party Leader,” Weigel pushed back against this clearly erroneous meme. Dave didn’t do that to curry favor with anyone, but simply because this raaaaacism smear was a bogus hit-job, an illegitimate narrative that was being exploited to perpetuate a falsehood.
From the Fringe to the Mainstream
Several of my friends have pointed to Weigel’s habit of covering the fringes of the conservative movement, the goofs and nutballs and tinfoil-hatters. “He’s just interested in making us look bad,” seems to be the basic complaint.
Actually, I think this points to Weigel having the same Hit-‘Em-Where-They-Ain’t instinct that drives a lot of my reporting expeditions. Rather than engaging in pack journalism — jumping on the big Story Of The Day that everybody and his mother is already covering — there’s more news opportunity (and a lot more fun) in reporting stuff that isn’t yet on the radar of the mainstream press.
Hit ’em where they ain’t: Find a developing story that deserves more coverage and then jump into it neck-deep.
That approach to reporting works no matter what the story is. Who was the first music critic to see the breakthrough potential of the Ramones or REM or Nirvana? Better yet, who set out on an expedition to North Wilkesboro, N.C., in 1965 to cover a hillbilly pastime that now rivals the NFL as America’s favorite sport?
In politics, the hit-’em-where-they-ain’t approach means keeping an eye out for long-shot candidates and marginalized movements. The nature of American politics is that today’s kooky fringe is tomorrow’s rising insurgency and perhaps next year’s power structure.
Obama’s early association with the fringe leftovers of the ’60s New Left (Bill Ayers, et al.) led to a successful campaign fueled in large measure by the same anti-American kooks who thought Ned Lamont would make a good senator. Glenn Beck has become a TV star and bestselling author in large measure by chronicling shady connections among members of today’s Democratic/Progressive coalition — connections once known only to readers of publications that most reporters would dismiss as “right-wing fringe” — including WorldNetDaily, David Horowitz’s Discover the Networks and the John Birch Society’s New American magazine. (Hey, who has the lowdown when the story is a Russian spy?)
Whatever Weigel’s sins, his reporting on the Dale Robertson meme shows that at times he performed the valuable journalistic service of separating the factual wheat from the bogus chaff in MSM coverage of the Right. I’ll also remind you of Liz Mair’s suspicion that Weigel got burned by a progressive on Journolist for the “sin” of defending Rand Paul.
And by doing such things, Weigel pissed in Charles Johnson’s cornflakes.
When a Census worker was found dead in Kentucky last year, Rick Ungar proclaimed “Send the Body to Glenn Beck” and Andrew Sullivan suspected “Southern populist terrorism, whipped up by the GOP and its Fox and talk radio cohorts.”
A U.S. Census Bureau worker has been shot and killed while working in Baltimore . . .
Baltimore police and Census officials say Spencer Williams was shot several times inside his car on June 7 after he gave a co-worker a ride home. . . .
Police have no suspects or motive in the slaying but say they don’t believe it was related to his work. Census officials say Williams was a team leader in charge of about 10 Census takers.
Census bureau spokesman Stephen Buckner says Williams is the eighth Census employee to have died on the job this year. The other seven were killed in car accidents. Another worker was slain off-duty in a domestic incident.
Did you catch that? Car accidents — not Glenn Beck or Michelle Bachmann — are the leading cause of death for Census workers.
Meanwhile, in a related investigation, authorities are still seeking clues in the death of Andrew Sullivan’s credibility.
Atlantic Media, a national news publisher in Washington, D.C., is beginning a search for two dozen reporters to join its editorial ranks. Our current effort includes recruiting exceptional reporting talent already well-proven in covering the nation’s capital.
As background, Atlantic Media is the parent company for The Atlantic magazine, National Journal magazine, Government Executive magazine, CongressDaily and The Hotline. In the moment, our recruiting is focused on the National Journal magazine, its website and related publications.
In all of its hiring, Atlantic Media seeks two pillar qualities – force of intellect and a personal spirit of generosity.
(“Pathological obsession with obstetric issues of Republican politicians is helpful, but not required.”)
Recruiting down two paths:
Recognizing that these gifts may not present in the same individual, Atlantic Media is recruiting for individuals working down either of two paths: relentless breaking news or original, rigorous commentary.
(“Israel-bashing and paranoid fear-mongering about Tea Party activists counts as ‘rigorous,’ if not exactly original.”)
Breaking News – especially web savvy: The intention here is to identify reporters made for – naturally wired for – breaking news. High metabolism. Relentless. Unstoppable. Prolific. Original Insight: The intention here, harder to realize, is to identify individuals made for – naturally wired for – original insight, original frames for comment on the large, national issues. Economist rigor; Tom Friedman insight.
Please send resumes – or refer strong candidates – to www.nationaljournal.com/talent.
Atlantic Media is an Equal Opportunity Employer
Wonkette had a laugh because of the expressed interest in “Tom Friedman insight”:
This is how the cookie crumbles in the collapsing world of Old Media — experienced journalists are laid off and replaced with low-paid new hires. And, hey, it’s a recession, so . . .
Dear Editor:
You won’t hire me. I’ve been a professional journalist since 1986, I’ve won national awards, been praised hither and yon, achieved remarkable success as an independent blogger, excellent references, etc.
This online application form requires me to attach a resume, and you’ll notice it’s nearly two years out of date. I haven’t bothered to update it, because you won’t hire me. You won’t bother to interview me nor even send so much as an e-mail to say “Thanks but no thanks.” That’s because you’re aiming to hire a bunch of 20-something kids who’ll work for next to nothing, and who can blame you? I’d do the same thing if I were in your shoes.
Nevertheless, I felt obliged to make a gesture, so at least my wife can’t accuse me of not trying. No hard feelings. And good luck finding the next Tom Friedman, although it seems to me that one Tom Friedman is more than enough.
— Robert Stacy McCain http://theothermccain.com/
It felt good to hit the “send” button on that one.
UPDATE: James Joyner at Outside the Beltway mentions that Andrew Sullivan’s employer hopes to tempt aspiring Friedman wannabes with what “is purported to be a salary . . . in the low $30,000s.” This is presumably more than they’re paying Obama stooge Linda Douglass:
Completing a full spin through the revolving door, Linda Douglass, a long-time CBS and ABC correspondent before jumping aboard the Obama campaign in 2008 . . . has re-joined The Atlantic as a Vice President who “will concentrate on company strategy and communications,” the Washington Post’s Howard Kurtz reported online Thursday morning.
Before joining the Obama campaign as senior strategist and senior campaign spokesperson on the road, Douglass toiled for National Journal . . .
.
Atlantic Chairman David Bradley recognizes the conflict between her political agenda and being a journalist, but he told Kurtz “she’s too big an editorial talent for us to keep her out of the editorial product.”
David Bradley might as well hang a sign on the front door: “Help Wanted. Democrats Only. No Conservatives Need Apply.”
UPDATE II: Ah, yes, the auto-reply e-mail:
From: “[email protected]”
To: [email protected]
Thank you for submitting your resume. Our management team is reviewing your qualifications and will contact you if there is a match with our current open positions.
Meanwhile, using your email address and password, you can login to our careers website anytime to update your application information. We appreciate your interest in Atlantic Media and wish you the best of luck in your job search.
The Recruiting Team
Atlantic Media Company
Andrew Sullivan treats us to the Full Whoopi in relating the IDF raid on the Gaza flotilla, emphasis mine:
A simple point. The violence by the activists is pretty abhorrent. These are not followers of Gandhi or MLK Jr. But the violence is not fatal to anyone and it is in response to a dawn commando raid by armed soldiers. They are engaging in self-defense. More to the point: they are civilians confronting one of the best militaries in the world. They killed no soldiers; their weapons were improvised; the death toll in the fight is now deemed to be up to 19 – all civilians.
It staggers me to read defenses of what the Israelis have done. They attacked a civilian flotilla in international waters breaking no law. When they met fierce if asymmetric resistance, they opened fire. And we are now being asked to regard the Israelis as the victims.
Look, since 2007 there has been a blockade, blockhead. These have gone on long enough for an Internet to develop a Wikipedia and have its own page. When you know there is a blockade in place, you sort of expect the blockader to have a vested interest in interdicting cargo. Legitimate humanitarian aid should get through, or else reasonable people should join nitwits like yourself in the “That’s Uncool” chorus.
Via Knowledge Is Power comes a clip from idfnadesk indicating Flotilla Ship Mavi Marmara may have been packing more than band-aids and rubbing alcohol:But, hey: don’t let the context of being surrounded by people that literally want your blood upset your narrative, Andrew.
The attempt at some proportionality argument ignores the reports that the IDF went in without assault rifles. Had the IDF slaughtered half the Mavi Marmara crew outright, you may actually have an argument. But the evidence seems to indicate they did not. The a priori judgment that Israel is always wrong utterly pollutes your mind, Sullivan. They ceased to be civilians when they engaged the IDF in close combat.
Furthermore, the problem was limited to one boat in the flotilla. Do you think that, maybe, just maybe, the Mavi Marmara carried more than M-and-M’s?
One nearly approaches a sort of academic curiosity, wondering what it would take to bring an Andrew Sullivan sort of character into reality. Just before becoming a full thought, the whole venture drowns in a puddle of contempt. I actually have more respect for the personal courage of Whoopi Goldberg than that of Andrew Sullivan; she’s a tough lady.
You don’t have a uterus. That’s not your fault, but it’s not Sarah Palin’s fault either, and it’s long past time for you to stop obsessing about the governor’s uterus.
