Hobbs Controversy: Good Journalism, Or Political Hit Piece?

Conservative blogger Bill Hobbs resigned his position with Belmont University after John Spragens wrote critically of an admittedly controversial post of Hobbs. That post included a stick figure and the text Mohammed Blows. Inflammatory as it might be seen by some, the Hobb's post was satirical and in response to days of violence on the part of radical Islamists in response to the publishing of some basically innocuous cartoons of Mohammed.

Some conservative bloggers are crying foul. While no one can know Spragen's mind when writing the piece, his history, extending back to his high school years, as a liberal activist and Spragen's involvement in at least one previous protest which resulted in the resignation of a college colleague in a political context will do little to reassure conservative bloggers this wasn't a political hit job, as opposed to simply journalism. Additionally, some writings of Spragens' call into question his sudden attention to polite rhetoric in media, including blogs.

Sans inflammatory rhetoric, let's look at some facts.

Apparently, as noted here by Nashville Is Talking, blog fodder does not usually end up in the publication of the Nashville Scene.

It isn't every day that a local blogger gets coverage in alt-weekly Nashville Scene. Kleinheider was quoted once, and several bloggers also freelance for the paper, but becoming the content is an accomplishment. That is, of course, unless the press is bad press.

John Spragens picked up on the post made by Mike Kopp at TennesseePoliticalPulse.com that took Bill Hobbs to task for publishing inflammatory cartoons. You can see the post and subsequent discussion here, and our post about it here.

Yet, under Spragen's byline, here is one example of what can appear in the Nashville Scene when Spragens covered the Southern Republican Leadership Conference..

At 7:30, the smell of horseshit is literally emanating from this place. That’s because there’s a carriage parked out front. It’s time for Marsha Blackburn’s speech. Before the session convenes, a preacher delivers a geopolitically charged invocation that includes the scriptural quote, “If you are with us, who can be against us?” But this isn’t a religious war or anything….

Some might speculate that Spragen's attention to overly polite prose has as much to do with the politics of the source, or the religious affiliation of the target of such prose. He went on:

King of all black Republicans, former Rep. J.C. Watts has the crowd eating out of his hand. ….

House Speaker Dennis Hastert .... He’s big and awkward, for the most part a lousy speaker, pretty much what you’d expect from a former high school football and wrestling coach. He just said Frist’s job was “like herding cats.” Apparently he’s forgotten that while in medical school, Dr. Bill used to “rescue” cats from animal shelters, only to perform experiments on them and kill them.

Ironically, in Spragen's piece highlighting Hobbs post, the header read:

One local blogger’s crude cartoon, posing as principle, betrays little more than tackiness

And it seems Spragens penned an entirely different version of his report on the Republican conference at the related blog Pith In The Wind. Tackiness? You be the judge.

It's hard to know what's stranger: waiting 20 minutes, jostling for position with old ladies, rednecks and Republicans (imagine that as a Venn diagram),

As I write from my hotel room in downtown Memphis -- taking a break from the action while they feed the party faithful -- I'm listening to "Battle Hymn of the Republicans," an anthem for the Grand Old Party written by a Missouri OB/GYN named Scott Magill. He and his lady-friend (I'm sure they weren't sharing a bed outside of marriage)

He's weird, but not as weird as Howard Fineman, who's lurking around the Peabody with his bad combover, talking to anyone he can pigeonhole.

I'm unclear what Spragens was trying to accomplish, besides being tacky, with this bit referring to an Ann Coulter appearance, as I doubt suicide bombers make many jokes before they take innocent lives.

Rather, she strung together a chain of one-liners and sound bites, riffing on Terri Schiavo's bulimia and Sen. Barbara Boxer's twin impairments, which are, according to Coulter, a learning disability and the fact that she's a woman.The attacks were rapid-fire and ad hominem. Maybe one out of every five was funny, and the rest were the kind of jokes you'd imagine suicide bombers make with each other, funny for fanatics, but angry and a little unsettling for the rest of us.

And here is yet another glaring double standard employed by Spragens in his piece on Hobbs.

But that’s Hobbs’ sophomoric, misguided brand of political humor. It’s better suited for the Duke lacrosse team than the modern Republican Party.

Yet more from Spragens here writing a journal of sorts from the Republican Conference:

It’s late Friday night. Some old guy in the bathroom learns I write Political Notes for the Scene and starts regaling me with dildo stories. So much for no talking in the men’s room.

Spragens goes on to work the dildo reference into an entire article and it gets used in the headline.

Down With Dildos

To wit: Senate Bill 3794 (House Bill 3798), legislation that would make it illegal to sell, advertise, publish or exhibit to another person “any three-dimensional device designed or marketed as useful primarily for the stimulation of human genital organs….” For that matter, if you offer to show someone your dildo collection—or possess a vibrator with the intent to show it to someone—you’d be violating this proposed state law. And don’t even think about wholesaling those three-dimensional sex toys.

Nonetheless, this Tennessee legislative tag-team went ahead and introduced their bill last Thursday, and on Monday, it passed a perfunctory first reading. In other Monday developments, Tennesseans died from a lack of health care, remained poorly educated and were among the most obese state populations in the nation.

Reading bits of Spragen's work, it's increasingly difficult to understand precisely what high ground he was standing on when he called Hobbs writing sophomoric, crude ... posing as principle, betray(ing) little more than tackiness

And here under Spragen's by line is a blog entry on Bush. He links, of all places, DailyKos.

Why Bush Hates the U.N.

Posted by John Spragens (09.14.05, 5:23 PM)

He can't find the bathroom!

Sophomoric? Misguided? You be the judge. But apparently it didn't stop Spragens from judging Hobbs. One wonders has Spragens ever once taken Kos, or any of his kids to task for some of the vile rhetoric nearly everyone knows is regularly posted there? And, assuming he hasn't, why pick on Hobbs?

Then there's the issue of Spragen's politics and political activism.

John Spragens (11/14) was born in Kentucky, grew up in Nashville and went to Kenyon College, famous these days as the Ohio precinct where people waited in line for 10 hours to vote in the 2004 presidential election. These days he's a staff writer at the Nashville Scene, which means he talks on the phone and brainstorms with Jim Ridley about the future of liberal politics.

The following is from a report in the Kenyon Collegian:

“Oh come on, it would be fun,” said Senior Class Representative Elizabeth Foy ‘01 at the Student Council meeting on April 8 about the prospect of an impeachment hearing.

The process, however, was anything but fun, as the members of the Council can easily attest after having a two and a half hour impeachment hearing for Housing and Grounds Chair Adam Exline ‘01 and Student Life Chair George Polychronopoulos ‘02 Tuesday night. The trial, which started at 11 p.m., was not concluded until 1:30 a.m. The result was that neither Exline nor Polychronopoulos were removed from office.

The report is at the link above. In essence, the mock impeachment was to be confined to a small group, mostly the student council. Not all, including Spragens, were pleased with that. A protest was mounted outside until the meeting was opened to the public.

Protester John Spragens ‘04 explained the position of the demonstrators, saying, “The issue is communication with the student body ... We want to know what to what’s going on.” (sic)

The student's mock impeachment resulted in neither student being impeached. But apparently that wasn't necessary.

The following day, however, Polychronopoulos resigned from his position on Council for unknown reasons.

It seems that Polychronopoulos and Spragens were likely known to one another, or at least of a like mind in some ways.

John Spragens '04, member of Independents United and potential candidate for the Independent Student Representative, agrees with Ross. "We elect Senators to do what's in the best interest of our entire community," he said. "We have a constitutionally mandated Greek Council—with a President who proposes and presents legislation to Senate—to advise Senate on all issues surrounding Greek life. If Senate does its job, we have no need for an Independent seat or a Greek seat - why have two seats that cancel each other out?"

Second-semester senior, founder of Independents United and former Vice President for Student Life (impeached, not removed from office, then resigned) George Polychronopoulos took a slightly more assertive position on the issue

Certainly none of this activity is wrong, it might even be said that it's very good in a civic sense. But it is impossible to conclude that Spragens doesn't see himself as a political player, as much as he may be performing as a journalist now.

Spragens attended Hume-Fogg High School, was President of the Student Government Association and apparently already something a precocious political junkie.

Mayor Bill Purcell's Inaugural Address

To Tom Ward, principal of this leading Hume-Fogg High School, and to the faculty, and especially to the students; and most especially to their elected leader, John Spragens, president of the Student Government Association -

President John Spragens reminded me during the course of the proceedings of the words of "The Little Prince": "Grown ups never understand anything for themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them"

Judging from some TN blog comments, I take it Hume-Fogg is a magnet school with something of reputation for attracting liberals.

The well-off liberal practices school choice everywhere. Here they go to University School or Hume Fogg (it's choice). I forgot where Algor sent his, but it was somewhere nice, St Albans, maybe.

Actually, some really serious liberals send them to Hume Fogg and acts snootier than an MBA mama at homecoming.

You're not too far off the mark on the Hume-Fogg observation. I am, as it happens, a Hume-Fogg alum--1989.

Spragen's political activism continued while at Hume-Fogg.

Students hold sit-in at courthouse to fight for education

"The answer nobody wants to say is 'We're not funding the school system'," said John Spragens, a Hume-Fogg student.

At the same time, one sees from this link that as a journalist, Spragens is involved in either supporting or attacking some of the same political causes he clearly has personally felt passionate about politically for some time. Consequently, it does get difficult to know when Spragens is being a journalist versus an activist, which brings us back to his post which brought enough negative attention down on Hobbs to leave the Father of two out of work.

John Spragens (a Hume-Fogg alumnus!) writes in the Nashville Scene this week on a letter to the School Board from Chamber of Commerce officials expressing concern about the Board's consideration of asking for more money than their staff originally proposed.  I think it highlights why Nashville is at a really dangerous point for public schools.

From Hume-Fogg, Spragens went on to Kenyon.

John Spragens, of Nashville, TN, is a sophomore and an international studies major at Kenyon College. He is the editor of The Voice, a political journal. Additionally, he serves in the campus Senate and on the student lectureships committee. Last summer, he worked in the Chapter 13 Trustee’s Office.

I couldn't find any mention the The Voice on line. There's some soft background and a picture or two here. And Spragens also appears to demonstrate a tendency to target Republicans, or Conservatives.

John Spragens ran an official hatchet job on Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist last week. The cover of the story had the SML with laser beams shooting from his eyes and beading in on a presidential seal. In the background a picture of the Capitol was shown cracking at the foundation and sinking into the ground. The image of course was to convey the idea that Frist has become so focused on his ambition that Congress is collapsing.

That isn't surprising from a political standpoint, given that Spragens was involved with the Green Party at Kenyon. But it continues to fuel the question - how can anyone so personally steeped in a liberal ideology, going so far as to actively protest in support of liberal causes over years possibly approach and write objectively on Conservatives, or Conservatism?

The teach-in will attempt to answer these burning questions:

What's wrong with the American electoral system?

How can we fix it?

How can a voter influence the wild world of politics?

Why are third parties important in America?

What is the Green Party? What good can it do?
Presenters will include Brian Poulin, John Spragens, Justin Marsico, Jacob Howley, Madeline Podnar, Prof. Edward Hinchman, Prof. Patricia Simpson, and Prof. Vernon Schubel.

It should also be noted that Hobbs was recently involved in starting up a blog expected to play a role in an upcoming political contest. Bryson For Governor. As Hobbs has some reputation as an effective blogger for Republican causes and candidates, it wasn't the worst time to take him out, if that indeed is what happened here.

In the end, there's probably little to be done. And no one can claim Hobbs didn't make perhaps a too off the cuff, imprudent post. But what can also be established is that a would be journalist with a significantly active liberal bent brought it to wide attention in a publication not known for highlighting blogs. And that would be journalist has been every bit as sophomoric, crude and simple when writing on Conservative causes and the Christian religion.

In yet a final irony, the only time I personally found that Hobbs mentioned Spragens on his blog, it was very positive.

The details are in an excellent story by John Spragens in this week's Nashville Scene. The story recaps information I brought to you in two posts on July 7 and July 8. An excerpt follows...

That might not feed Bill Hobb's family, but some might conclude he's the better man, and possibly the better journalist, too. Like him, or not, at least with Hobbs, you knew where he was coming from ... and where he stood.

One principle I learned early in my journalism classes at college was to moderate my personal political activites if I wished to perform and be perceived as an objective journalist. For all his highfalutin education, it appears to be a principle John Spragens either never learned, or elected to not follow. Maybe one day he'll land a job as an honest political flack, if there be such an animal. But it at least appears to suit him better than the lable journalist, if such a lable even means anything anymore.

Update: It should be noted that the individual who first posted on the cartoon in a negative manner, the post that Spragens linked, Mike Kopp, apparently owns the domain for an individual once encouraged to run in the same race as the candidate Hobbs was working for. Quite a coincidence, that. Kopp is a former Gore press secretary and has a long history of work for the Democrat Party.

But first, I’d like to point out that harwellforgovernor.com was registered on September 23, 2005, by Mike Kopp of Nashville, and the domain is reserved for one year from that date. According to a Google search,...

Comments

[Gordon]

Dan, outstanding research as usual. But why waste an evening writing a detailed analysis of why sh*t stinks?

This guy writes for a liberal weekly. These are are in a constant state of pissiniss due to their $22k for life salaries.

[chez Diva]

Dan,

Thanks for the research on this topic. Sadly, it is just another story that demonstrates the Left's double standard - when they do something like Hobbs' it's Free Speech when a conservative engages in that behavior it is bigotry, racism, etc.

[Bill Hobbs]

Awesome work, and it sparked a memory.

You mentioned a quote from Spragens back when he was a student at Nashville's Hume Fogg high school - "The answer nobody wants to say is 'We're not funding the school system'," said John Spragens, a Hume-Fogg student. - I Googled the Tennessean article and found it in the Google cache:

http://72.14.203.104/search?q=cache:LfjKMZMkVP8J:www.tennessean.com/sii/00/04/05/sitin05.shtml+%22%27We%27re+not+funding+the+school+system%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=1

That article was before my blog, but I was writing columns then for the now-defunct Nashville InReview weekly.

I remember reading that Spragens quote and either writing a column for InReview or slamming taking Spragens to task in the comments threads on the old NashvilleDigest.com for claiming "We're not funding the school system" when, of course, Nashville taxpayers were going to spend more than half a billion dollars that year to fund the school system.

Unfortunately, InReview never had a web archive, so if it was a column there's no copy of it online. I may or may not still have it in a file somewhere, if I wrote it for InReview, but I'm thinking now that it wasn't a column for the weekly but was just comments posted to the old NashvilleDigest.com when they linked to the story.

I had long forgotten all about that - and didn't even think of it whenever I saw Spragens's byline. Perhaps he remembered that all this time, though I don't know of course.

[MrsLevy]

Talk about "shoot the messenger". Next time try to stay on the subject Dan. If you can remember it. You're sinking.

MrsLevy

[chez Diva]

MrsLevy,

The "messenger" in this case had ulterior motives. I don't agree with what Hobbs did but I am also not so blind as to see Spragens for what he is - a political operative working under the guise of being a journalist. Spragens' writings about conservatives is as vile and disgusting as the Mohammed stick figure. However as you can duly note - Spragens' speech is protected and he is still gainfully employed while Hobbs' speech was not protected and now he and his family are suffering. So Dan is staying on subject, it is you that has failed to understand the subject.

[Brad S]

Bill,

Whenever your ready to come to the Colorado Front Range, the first set of beers is on me. This was just too much.

[Reason]

John Spragens is a political activist and will continue to be. He's going to work for Jim Cooper. Mike Kopp managed Cooper's failed Senate campaign and has kept in close touch with him. Did Kopp have anything to do with Spragens being hired by Cooper?

I think they were working in tandem.