Damning Bill Burkett with Faint Praise
Lorie Byrd at Polipundit pointed to this
ridiculous article in Columbia Journalism Review. I am sure others will correct the factual errors in the column (Lorie corrects some of the
mistaken assumptions here), and the writer does have a few good points (that some blogs treated assumptions as conclusions), but the part that made me chuckle was this:
In November and December the first entry for “Bill Burkett” in Google, the most popular reference tool of the twenty-first century, was on a blog called Fried Man. It classifies Burkett as a member of the “loony left,” based on his Web posts. In these, Burkett says corporations will strip Iraq, obliquely compares Bush to Napoleon and “Adolf,” and calls for the defense of constitutional principles. These supposedly damning rants, alluded to in USA Today, The Washington Post, and elsewhere, are not really any loonier than an essay in Harper’s or a conversation at a Democratic party gathering during the campaign. While Burkett doesn’t like the president, many people in America share that opinion, and the sentiment doesn’t make him a forger.
Bill Burkett, no loonier than your average Democratic party gathering!
