The Weigel StoryIs being covered extensively by the blogs. Brief version: Former Reason blogger Dave Weigel was hired by the Washington Post to cover the conservative movement. Weigel supposedly has conservative leanings himself. But it turns out that he blasted several conservatives on a private e-mail list.
Doesn't sound all that bad, until I mention what the private e-mail list is: JournoList, the listserve that juicebox boy Ezra Klein started up a few years ago. And at that point, Weigel had to go. Not for his statements, but for being part of that list, which means that he has no credibility as a conservative.
Some, like the
AmSpec's Philip Klein are defending him for the comments:
To start with, it's important to note that all of the comments at the center of the recent uproar were made on a private email list that was supposed to be off the record. Just for a moment, think of the things that you'd say if you were joking or venting anger among friends, and imagine if they became public with context removed. If everything we said privately were public, I wonder how many of us would be able to maintain jobs or friendships. Weigel is being attacked for writing that the world would be better if Matt Drudge could "set himself on fire." But people make off hand remarks like that all the time without literally wishing bodily harm upon other humans.
It's not so much what he said that matters; it's where he said it.
