Unfortunately, from the opening paragraphs, Domenech clearly casts himself as victim and responds as though it's only the Left taking exception to his plagiarism.
Red America, my new blog at washingtonpost.com, has been under attack since its launch. It is a conservative blog on a mainstream media site, so many of the attacks were expected ...
... The hate mail that I have received since the launch of this blog has been overwhelmingly profane and violent. My family has been threatened; my friends have been deluged; my phone has been prank called. The most recent email that showed up while writing this post talked about how the author would like to hack off my head, and wishes my mother had aborted me.
As true as his response may be, it's also a sign of immaturity. Part of the privilege and the responsibility for any blogger, Right or Left, of getting a gig like the WaPo, is that they are going to be a target. It goes with the territory. If you want to run with the big dogs, you can't allow yourself to get caught up in the barking. What you want to avoid is getting bit.
Domenech did get bit - by his own actions, which his post doesn't come close to addressing.
I know that charges of plagiarism are serious. While I am not a journalist, I have, myself, written more than one thing that has been plagiarized in the past. But these charges have also served to create an atmosphere where no matter what is said on my Red America blog, leftists will focus on things with my byline from when I was a teenager.
If you are going to point out to people the fast track you're on - the youngest Bush appointee ever, etc. It's rather weak to now try to use being too young as a defense for an ethical violation of this magnitude.
In one instance, I have been accused me of passing off P.J. O'Rourke's writing as my own in a column for the paper. But the truth is that I had met P.J. at a Republican event and asked his permission to do a college-specific version of his classic piece on partying. He granted permission, the piece was cleared with my editors at the paper, and it ran as inspired by O’Rourke’s original.
O'Rourke, p.176: Office Christmas parties * Wine-tasting parties * Book-publishing parties * Parties with themes, such as "Las Vegas Nite" or "Waikiki Whoopee" * Parties at which anyone is wearing a blue velvet tuxedo jacket
BenDom: Christmas parties. Wine tasting parties. Book publishing parties. Parties with themes, such as "Las Vegas Nite" or "Waikiki Whoopee." Parties at which anyone is wearing a blue velvet tuxedo jacket.
O'Rourke: It's not a real party if it doesn't end in an orgy or a food fight. * All your friends should still be there when you come to in the morning.
BenDom: It's not a real party if it doesn't end in an orgy or a food fight. All your friends should still be there when you come to in the morning.
Evidently Domenech wasn't inspired enough to write significant portions of the above piece himself. His failure here to take responsibility for what is clearly plagiarism doesn't reflect well on his character today and he no longer has the excuse of being a teen. At the same time, he is obviously not ready for prime time in the sense of the Washington Post.
But all these specifics are beside the point. Considering that all of this happened almost eight years ago, and that there are no files or notes that I've kept from that brief stint, it is simply my word against the liberal blogosphere on these examples. It becomes a matter of who you believe.
The above leaves me with the impression that Domenech is basically a divisive personality type, happy to couch things in terms of Left and Right, particularly if it gives him cover. That's a rather pathetic tactic under the circumstances. It isn't always about simply who people like, Ben, or what their politics might be; sometimes adults believe what they see, hear or read with their own eyes and not simply what they're told by some too young, life-experience lacking pundit. If this thing had gone on any longer I wonder if we'd get to the part where your dog ate your old notes.
As of now, Domenech had every chance here to put things right and get on with his writing. He failed miserably in my opinion. No doubt he will go on - and probably go far, given his circle of friends. But he'll remain an individual who failed to face up to a significant mistake when he had the perfect opportunity to do it with maturity and grace.
As regards the Post, I do hope they consider finding another conservative voice. And not the next Sean Hannity, but someone serious who can attract attention without simply throwing spitballs at the Left. The blogosphere needs more adult discussion between Left and Right. The WaPo would be a very appropriate place for it to start. But clearly based on Domenech's response, he wasn't the adult to make that happen, not by a long shot. Domenech and RedState need to grow up.
As a liberal (whose death is wished for by Gentle Ben's cohorts at Redstate), I agree that a rational, sane voice representing social conservatives would be a fine addition to the post.
However, I think the WaPo's goal is to get someone who's going to stir things up, not provide intelligent debate from the social conservative perspective. Why pick Ben Domenech instead of Bainbridge or Patterico, for instance? My guess is that one reason is that Domenech had spent so much time trashing Dan Froomkin--of course his entrance was going to spark some controversy.
Remember, Domenech is the guy who stated that Glenn Reynolds was unfit to be a parent.
Posted by: Geek, Esq. | Friday, March 24, 2006 at 07:11 PM