I’ve gotten several bits of mail within the last few hours, in response to my comments on the Newsweak Koran Flushing idiocy.
Several of them point to the idea that when I’m talking about Newsweak, I’m talking about Michael Isikoff… The guy who more or less broke about half the Linda Tripp/Monica etc story, during the Clinton years. The general feeling seems to be the one that nutbag Keith Olbermann takes up in his column, which I referred to earlier… that the right owes the man something, given his supposed service to the right in terms of getting Clinton impeached.
Well, comments about such people being unable to come up with an original thought aside for the moment, (a few of you were clearly copying directly from a few articles I’ve seen earlier in the day, Olbermann’s among them) I’ve got a real dinger of a news flash for you guys…. We don’t owe Michael Isikoff… or any other reporter, for that matter… a damn thing, when they clearly are not doing their jobs. It’s clear to my reading that Isikoff n this case was not, and ought to have his head handed him, nonsensical liberal mis-perceptions of his history of ‘service to the right” not withstanding. What we ‘owe’ him, is directly connected to how well he does his job… that is, digging for answers, and telling the truth. Barring evidence that Isikoff was set up by internal politics at NewsWeak, it comes down to this; Isikoff failed in this task and should be branded and handled as such. Either way that falls out, one way or the other either Isikoff should be gone, or his editors and other staffers should.
Isikoff, to me, during the Clinton years, always struck me as someone who’d rather have not been saying what he was…. he simply had no choice in the matter… With stories on Bush, I detect no such reluctance. Indeed, I have no doubt had Isikoff applied the same journaistic standards to Clinton as he has to Bush, here, that we’d have both Clintons providing us no end of press conferences from a jailcell somewhere.
Update and second thoughts: I am reminded by a reader…(Thanks Chuck from Fargo) that Isikopf’s work on Tripp/Lewinsky would never have been released had Drudge somehow gotten ahold of it. Further, Chuck reminds me that NewsWeak is co-owned by WaPo, which Chuck suggests should explain a great deal.
Quite true, Chuck, and this goes to my point about the right not owing the man a thing.
The man needs to be fired.
Now.
Tags: BitsBlog
