In June of 2005, Sen. Richard Durbin made this statement on the Senate floor with regard to a recent FBI memo about treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay:

“If I read this to you and did not tell you that it was an FBI agent describing what Americans had done to prisoners in their control, you would most certainly believe this must have been done by Nazis, Soviets in their gulags, or some mad regime — Pol Pot or others — that had no concern for human beings.”

Despite the fact that that was an entirely plausible description of how someone might perceive the memo were it read to them blind, Republicans, with their accomplice the media, went on the attack, accusing Durbin of having offended the whole of our military. Of course, he did no such thing, but that didn’t stop the press from magnifying the accusations until Durbin felt compelled to apologize for remarks that were thoroughly appropriate.

In today’s confirmation hearing for Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey, Sen. Leahy asked Mukasey about the “Bybee memo” which defined torture so narrowly that anything short of crucifixion would not qualify. Mukasey unflinchingly denounced the memo with an allusion to the Holocaust. He said that the memo was…

“…worse than a sin, it’s a mistake.” And referencing photos of U.S. troops liberating Nazi concentration camps he said, “They didn’t do that so we could duplicate what we oppose.”

Either Durbin’s apology was an unnecessary gesture forced on him by partisan politicos and press, or Mukasey is a treasonous defiler of America’s forces fighting for freedom around the world.

Which is it, Media? Is it only Democrats who are subject to criticism for raising the atrocities of World War II? Are Republicans exempt from this linguistic scrutiny? I suppose we’ll be seeing Mukasey issuing a tearful apology in the next day or so.

An article on the Huffington Post seems to be reaching into the tabloid press for guidance on journalistic practice. The author, Sam Stein, a recent Dartmouth graduate, has compiled a catalog of innuendo so flimsy it’s inconceivable that any seasoned editor would allow it to be published.

Unfortunately, the editors at the Huffington Post did publish it. And all it amounts to is an unverified and salacious attack on John Edwards. What’s worse is that this is not the first time that this drivel was posted. Just two weeks ago, essentially the same story, with the same factual emptiness, was posted at HuffPo. If I had the reportorial lack of ethics that Stein has, I would accuse Arianna of having it in for Edwards.

The premise of the column is that there is something suspicious about expenditures by Edwards on a film production, as well as his relationship with the producer. The problem is that Stein only has questions, but no answers. That’s enough for him to make sly suggestions that have no basis in fact. For example:

This is uncommonly shoddy work that Arianna Huffington should find unacceptable and embarrassing. It is already having a Drudge-like effect in the media echo chamber. On Tucker Carlson’s program today, his guest, Ann Coulter, alluded to a story from the National Enquirer about John Edwards having an affair. That story is equally lacking in substance, as is to be expected from the Enquirer. Are the items related? I can’t say, but the dates match up [oh great, now I’m doing it].

Even if the only connection to these stories is that they both represent the worst in journalism, there is still an important distinction. The National Enquirer has worked hard for decades to establish its reputation for unreliability and falsehood. Until now, I would have suspected that that is not the goal of the Huffington Post. But when the first version of this article appeared last month, the comments were inundated with indignation at how such a poorly written and sourced article could get online. Why on earth would they repeat such an egregious error? I hope they will take the appropriate measures to assure that they do not travel further down this road, but in case they need help…

You can help steer them in the right direction. E-mail Addresses:
The Huffington Post
Sam Stein