Chronicle's Hines deems blogHOUSTON part of a coven
We were delighted this morning to discover that Chronicle D.C. editorialist Cragg Hines is apparently a blogHOUSTON reader -- albeit a disgruntled one.
Hines seems not to have liked this post that called attention to a "talking-points memo" he referred to in a column.
We couldn't have known before the post, though, since he neglected to answer multiple emails about his knowledge of the memo.
As we now know -- and as we posted -- the "talking-points memo" originated with a Republican staffer, wasn't a "talking-points memo" for other Republicans, and was mischaracterized by the Washington Post and others in their original reporting. Indeed, if not for the blogger outcry, we probably would never have gotten to the bottom of the matter, and the "Republican leadership" would have been unfairly and inaccurately smeared.
At most, the memo was a dumb document written by a staffer of a freshman Senator -- hardly a "talking points memo" embraced by the Republican leadership.
Interestingly, though, we now understand why Hines preferred to ignore our emails asking about this memo he wrote about authoritatively. It turned out he hadn't seen it:
Although I had not seen a copy of the full memo at the time, I confirmed with a trusted source on Capitol Hill the existence of the memo and the quotes I wanted to use.
My characterization of the memo and its contents was accurate.
Actually, the journalistic process was lazy and the reporting bordered on dishonest (since it gave the impression that Hines had seen the memo, when he had only heard hearsay about it). A broken clock is right twice a day, but that doesn't make it a reliable timepiece!
Hines just can't help taking a few more uninformed shots:
As far as I can tell, the once-blazing bloggers have commented little either on the accuracy of the initial reports about the memo....
We'll repeat our advice in the original post -- maybe Cragg Hines needs to diversify his blog reading! We've posted an update, and the PowerLine crew who drove ABC and the Washington Post to correct their mistaken reporting have posted multiple updates. If Hines hasn't seen them, he's not looking very hard. Or at all.
Here's our favorite whine from Hines:
The reaction of the neander-bloggers? So much noise was followed by what sounded a lot like silence.
A small part of their wrath, especially from the Houston-area coven, had been directed at me.
Neander-bloggers? Houston-area coven?
Houston-area coven has a nice ring to it, actually! We like that! So much so that we worked up the graphic at the bottom of the post. Note the depiction of Cragg Hines in his lovely fur coat, being tormented by the Houston-area Coven of anti-Idiotarian Bloggers, or maybe the Houston-area Coven of the Northern Alliance. We haven't quite decided a good name for like-minded bloggers in the area. Perhaps readers might share suggestions in the comments?
In the future, though, we'd advise the Chronicle's vindictive D.C. columnist to: 1) diversify his blog reading, 2) read this blog more regularly and certainly more carefully, and 3) whine less. Be wary of the coven, Mr. Hines!
The above image is a parody based upon the brilliant original artwork of Ian Churchill
Posted by Kevin Whited @ 04/24/05 09:48 PM | Print |
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