Or rather, to Iraq. Same thing really, though you wouldn’t know it by the First Lady’s description earlier today.
Former CNN chief Eason Jordan recently launched (in beta) a new web site that he says will aggregate news and opinions on Iraq from a neutral perspective. Unfortunately, his IraqSlogger has already demonstrated the weakness of its knees by bending them to a known partisan ranter, and one that has been particularly unkind to Jordan in the past.
Michele Malkin, the PJ Media Harpie, complained to Jordan that he failed to cover a story that she believes was fabricated by writers at the Associated Press. So Jordan offered to go to Iraq to investigate it himself, and then offered to bring her along at his expense.
Malkin has accepted the offer by graciously stating:
“No way should we just take the word of they [sic] guy who admitted covering up for Saddam Hussein and who resigned from CNN after baselessly slandering the U.S. military.”
She’s going to be a pleasant traveling companion, ya think? By the time the trip is over Jordan may well have told Malkin to go to that other Hell.
However, I really don’t see any downside to this trip. If she returns enlightened by the gruesome reality she is likely to encounter (assuming she steps outside the Green Zone), then maybe she will start writing something that matters. If she comes back unchanged, then she’ll just keep spewing the same garbage that has become her trademark.
What I don’t understand is why Jordan would invite her in the first place. She’s not a journalist and has no experience in war zone investigations. She is just another right-wing op-spinner who will parlay this trip into a series of guest appearances on the O’Reilly Factor. What does Jordan think he’s getting by sponsoring her besides a pain in the neck sitting next him, regaling him with insults on a 14 hour plane ride? Well, that and a heckler that will, upon their return, contradict his factual findings if they in any way contrast with her sham ideology.
This is an inauspicious beginning for IraqSlogger. But maybe I can take advantage of it. Do you think that if I complain to Jordan that he’s been derelict in his coverage of a crisis in Provence that he would offer to fly me to the south of France to investigate?
Hmmm. It’s worth a try.
