Monday night open thread

I'm very upset about Peter Urban (0.00 / 0)

His editorial/letter to Ann Coulter's mother in the CT Post made the rec list at Daily Kos, and got alot of chuckles (and agreement):

Dear Mrs. Coulter,

Congratulations on your daughter's success. I'm sure you are proud of Ann's latest work, "Godless: The Church of Liberalism." It's already the top seller on Amazon.com and is obviously provocative, given the hundreds of reviews that are flowing in.

I haven't read it yet, so I wouldn't dream of commenting on the actual book. But, there is one thing that really disturbs me and that's her diatribe against four New Jersey women whom she dubs "The Witches of East Brunswick" whose husbands died in the 9-11 terrorist attacks.

Here's the money quote that has even made Tucker Carlson and Bill O'Reilly squeamish:

"These broads are millionaires, lionized on TV and in articles about them, reveling in their status as celebrities and stalked by grief-arazzis. I've never seen people enjoying their husbands' deaths so much."

The widows -- Kristen Breitweiser, Lorie Van Auken, Mindy Kleinberg and Patty Casazza -- came to Capitol Hill often in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. They came seeking answers to how al-Qaida was able to hijack four commercial jets and topple the World Trade Center towers where their husbands worked.

They acted out of grief, just as others have.

There's more - but of course the CT Post doesn't keep stuff online to link to.  

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by: Sue @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 06:01:35 AM CDT

You're going to miss Peter Urban? (0.00 / 0)

..because of this one thing he wrote about Ann Coulter in 2006?

You may want to peruse the entire Urban catalog to gain perspective.

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by: Scarce @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 08:05:14 AM CDT

[ Parent ]

I agree (0.00 / 0)

Peter Urban was slavishly pro-Shays.  In one article he wrote that Shays had served in the Peace Corps in fulfillment of his national service.  I wrote Urban to point out that there was no requirement for national service at that time other than military service, and that Shays had first dodged the draft in 1969 at the height of the Vietnam War, and later had declared himself a conscientious objector when his number came up again.  I asked him to write a clarification and stipulate that Peace Corps service never exempted one from military obligation.  But Urban only wrote back to say that he should have written that Shays served in the Peace Corps in fulfullment of what he "felt" was his obligation for national service, and that he wouldn't be publishing a clarification or correction.  When I wrote to Urban's editor asking for a correction, he, too, simply passed the buck, suggesting that I write a letter to the editor.

It was clear that Urban was performing as a shill, not as a reporter.  Any reputable reporter would have immediately published a clarification at the very least, especially when Shays, who'd dodged the draft, had been a leader in pushing America into the current war that has killed and wounded tens of thousands of young Americans.  But Urban never let shilling be sidelined by a call to portray a Republican politician in a realistic light.

I'm not sad to see him go.  Now, perhaps, Connecticut Post will give some thought to hiring an incisive Washington reporter, or even hiring a minority and/or woman to join its all-white, all-male, all-conservative editorial board.

But I won't hold my breath while I wait for that to happen.

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by: thomashooker @ Tue Apr 28, 2009 at 10:56:35 AM CDT