One of my favorite lines from Letters to the Editors has to be “I voted for Reagan and have been a Republican all my life but…..”. The idea that Nixon and Reagan era stalwarts have been so disillusioned with Iraq that they have been deserting Republican ranks in droves. Just like I was a lifelong Democrat until Joe Lieberman started taking my party in the wrong direction down the radical rightwing path. Uh-huh.

Eric, from Classical Values, has outdone himself with a bit of citizen journalism over the last couple of days regarding a host of wholly fabricated stories from former Nixon and Reagan era strongman, George Harleigh much to the chagrin of the Leftists who’ve learned to love the political smut mag Capitol Hill Blue. So thorough a thrashing that Capitol Hill Blue has issued this half-assed apology:

“Professor Harleigh” claimed to be a retired political science professor from Southern Illinois University and offered, as backup, links to a number of web sites and news publications that quoted him or used material furnished by him. We checked the web sites and other news publications and found him quoted often so we began using his material in selected stories. Since 1998, we have used quotes from “George Harleigh” in 83 stories on our web site.

Recently, we received an inquiry from Southern Illinois University saying they were trying to locate the “George Harleigh” who claimed to have taught at their institution but said they did not have any record of a “George Harleigh” or even a “Harleigh” ever teaching at the university’s campuses in Carbondale or Edwardsville, Illinois.
[...]
This raised enough questions in our minds to remove any quotes by or references to Mr. Harleigh from the 83 stories, including one published today. None of the stories originated from information supplied by him and, in no case, were his comments the central focus of the story, so we did not feel the need to remove any stories or mofidy (sic) their original intent so they remain in our archives without the quotes from “Harleigh.”

All quotes attributed to Mr. Harleigh came from the daily newsletters he sent and were unsolicited. They were, however, timely and often fit into stories we were developing and we used them. That was our mistake. It was a foolish, lazy practice that should not have happened.

83 stories??? If Harleigh had cancerous polyps, Capitol Hill Blue should have known it first. As we speak, CHB is “revising” all the libel they’ve been vomiting across the broadband for years. Unfortunately for CHB, the cache still has it.

In fact, if you’ve heard that Bush called The Constitution “just a g*ddamned piece of paper”, that “a war” had been declared on journalists using the Patriot Act, that CIA agents told him in person that Niger yellowcake claims were bogus before the SotU address, that the “intel agents have had it with Bush”, that Bush is a paranoid schizophrenic, a “decider-in-chief” who is tearing into his staff when not heavily medicated, that he was cursing out veterans at a VFW meeting, that Dick Cheney was drunk during his hunting accident, that mean, old Republicans like Tom DeLay have stopped the good faith efforts of Democrats with pollution politics - you’ve been had. Utterly and completely.

Other than the mutilated body of journalism that’s been autopsied in full view thanks to some healthy skepticism towards imaginary sources, it is doubtful charges will be filed. We have intent but we have no corpus delicti. And no court can convict Capitol Hill Blue of raping the willing. Their fanclub gave away their precious cherry of credibility as freely as they did often.

However, if retractions aren’t forthcoming, I would support a hanging in the court of public opinion.

Posted by Smantix @ 1:36 pm
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1. Get ready for more sock puppet fun…

   Mere months after the Michael Hitzik fiasco it appears that Patterico and Ace from Ace of Spades have caught someone posting as Glenn Greenwald and as supporters of Glenn Greenwald from the same IP address. Hilarity is sure to ensue.

   photo: Ed Th…

   Trackback by Independent Sources — Saturday, July 22, 2006 3:27 pm | permalink

   
   

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