So who's nuttier?

Steyn has some questions.

Population: Europe's problems will grow as it shrinks

Now where have I heard that before?

Oh, yeah.

Look at who the left want to destroy

That will tell you what they are really afraid of.

"Sad to say, many who should know better go along with it. Our old comrade David Frum wrote a piece called "Whose Side Is Glenn Beck On?" Well, in the space of a week Beck claimed the scalps of Van Jones, Acorn and that Yosi Sergant guy at the NEA, none of whom should ever have been anywhere near the corridors of power but who'd still be there if it weren't for Beck. So whoever's side he is on, it seems pretty clear he's not on the Obama Administration's. Hence, Media Matters' sudden obsession with such pressing concerns as Glenn's mom's three decade-old suicide."

Don't Blame Us, Blame the Newspaper We Copied It Out Of

That's the title of a post by Mark Steyn when he gave me a shout out over my observations about the blame game. Mark noted: "It's their choice to copy blindly any slab of hooey appearing in the Post and Times that happens to suit their prejudices without checking it for themselves."

You can add the Associated Press to the growing list of blind copiers.

"WASHINGTON — In a Sept. 19 story about the community organizing group ACORN, The Associated Press, based on an account in The Washington Post, erroneously quoted a conservative journalist saying he targeted the organization for hidden-camera videos because its voter-registration drives bring minority voters to the polls.

The Washington Post on Tuesday printed a correction about the quote. Although ACORN registers people mostly from those groups, the maker of the videos, James E. O'Keefe, did not specifically mention minorities, the newspaper said."

Notice how the AP blames the Washington Post for its error. Also note the AP based its correction on the Post's correction and not on its own investigation of the facts! Sadly, this passes for jounalism these days.

Update: More here from the Post repoter involved.

Passing the buck on Van Jones

Has it come to this? Journalist are blaming America's left wing newspapers for their failings.

"A week ago, the Herald ran a story which, in its essence, was not true. The paper did not know this. It was the unwitting victim of a distortion created at The Washington Post, which produced the original story. The Herald's headline, which reflected the story, said: ''Right-wing 'lies' force Obama adviser out''."

While I'm glad to see them calling the left wing Washington Post out on the Post's "lies", it's ridiculous to claim they were an "unwitting victim". Van Jones was outed by a blogger using Google. If the SMH can't do as well it's time to get out of the business. If they're smart, and it's doubtful they are, they'll stop blindly recycling America's left wing newspapers.

The SMH isn't the only newspaper to be an echo chamber for the left. Mark Steyn was recently an "unwitting victim" in a similar way.

"Over the weekend, I mentioned that the New York Times's curious interpretation of an aside of mine had been enthusiastically reduplicated by newspapers from Chicago to Vegas to Sacramento and beyond. The Irish Times, an impeccably liberal newspaper, has now issued a correction:

In her column in last Saturday’s edition, concerning the difficulties being faced by President Obama, Lara Marlowe said that Canadian commentator Mark Steyn accused Obama of trying to establish a “personality cult” like Saddam Hussein or North Korean leader Kim Jong Il. This had been reported in the New York Times. However, what Mr Steyn actually wrote was “obviously we’re not talking about the cult of personality on the Saddam Hussein/Kim Jong-Il scale.”

I like the not so subtle way the Irish Times blames its error on the New York Times: Ireland's newspaper of record should surely know better than to rely on America's newspaper of "record".

Before the Internet and bloggers, these papers used to get away with this propaganda. Not anymore.

Update: Mark Steyn gives me a shout out over at the Corner. Thanks Mr. Steyn.

the most pressing threat to liberty

is liberals.

Islamists are progressively making slaves out of us

with the help of the left.

Mark Steyn responds.

"That's how nations die — not by war or conquest, but by a thousand trivial concessions, until one day you wake up and you don't need to sign a formal instrument of surrender because you did it piecemeal."