Blogging Blue

Just last week, one of my favorite anonymous bloggers took the step of “outing” himself during an appearance on WUWM’s Lake Effect with Jane Hampden. Shortly after “outing” himself, the illusory tenant - also known as Thomas Foley - found himself on the receiving end of a couple of particularly nasty personal attacks, one from James Wigderson and the other from Jessica McBride. What I find to be particularly galling about Jessica McBride’s attack isn’t simply the ferocity of the attack, but also the hypocrisy of the attack. Quoted directly from her blog, McBride said (emphasis mine):

People ask me why I don’t blog much anymore. There are a lot of really good bloggers out there. However, it’s sad what the blogosphere has degenerated to in other corners, and I don’t want to be a part of it. At least not with as much frequency as I did before.

Having read that, I wanted to commend McBride for taking the high road, that is until I read the very next passage of her blog entry:

To be blunt: I have more important things to do than debate repeat drunk drivers (3x) on the Internet who, just over two years ago, were in the House of Correction.

So McBride says she doesn’t want to be part of what the blogosphere has degenerated into, only to turn around and write the very same kind of insults and personal attacks that she seems to loathe. That strikes me as more than a little hypocritical, but the hypocrisy is compounded by the fact that Jessica McBride of all people has little room to attack folks for bad or questionable decisions they’ve made in their past, considering some of the decisions she’s made in her past. Sure, she probably didn’t do anything illegal, but people who live in moral glass houses don’t strike me as being in a great position to start throwing stones at others.

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Earlier today, it was announced that Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter Dave Umhoefer won the Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting for his investigation detailing pension deals for county workers. This is the first Pulitzer ever awarded to a member of the staff of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, while its predecessor the Milwaukee Journal won five Pulitzers.

Congratulations to Dave Umhoefer on his win, and hopefully this will put to rest claims by some that the MJS isn’t a quality local paper. Sure, it’s far from perfect in all its reporting, but hopefully this Pulitzer win will serve as a starting point for the paper improving its quality from top to bottom.

And curiously enough, as I browsed the list of Pulitzer winners and finalists, I neglected to see any mention of Charlie Sykes or Jessica McBride.

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It’s no secret Jessica Buch…McBride isn’t a fan of comments on her blogs that dare to dissent from the opinion she’s espousing. In fact, I’ve always found it a little odd that someone who purports to be a “journalist” would be so opposed to free speech in all its forms, instead choosing to censor comments on her blogs that dare to point out the fundamental flaws in her often weak opinions on the issues of the day. I’ve often thought journalists would be some of the strongest proponents of free speech, given they make their livings from the expression of free speech.

As pointed out by capper over at whallah!, McBride has taken her censorship to a new level, this time going so far as to delete comments I made in response to a post full of inaccuracies and flawed legal analysis over at her new election blog. Apparently McBride has a thin skin, because that’s the only reason I can see for why she’d choose to delete perfectly innocent comments that simply pointed out the flaws in her arguments. This kind of behavior is a perfect example of just how intolerant some folks on the right are when it comes to any opinion that differs from their own narrow views of the world.

Ultimately, I’m most disappointed not because McBride has a thin skin, but because she’s a journalist, and as such she should never discourage or prevent free speech. Shame on her for turning her blogs into speech-free zones where the only opinions that matter are her own, but then again, if I were wrong as much as she is, I suppose I’d want to limit dissent too.

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…or has anyone else noticed how fond some folks in the right-wing blogosphere are of moderating their comments? I mean, to each their own, but it’s funny to me to see so many folks on the right resort to moderating their comments in order to screen what gets said. It seems like all the cool kids are doing it…Jessica McBride’s doing it, as are Fred Dooley, Kevin Fischer, and the folks over at Badger Blogger.

I suppose these folks moderate comments just in case one of us libs makes a point that they have no rational response to, which certainly seems to be the case with Mr. Fischer, who’s shown a serious proclivity towards removing posts of mine on his blog. Like I said, to each his (or her) own, but like my momma always said, “if you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.”

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So now that former Assembly Speaker Scott Jensen’s three felony convictions have been overturned on appeal, Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen is calling for Jensen’s case to be resolved without another trial. Predictably, Jessica Bucher is on board with Van Hollen’s recommendation, going so far as to say that if allowed to plead to a series of misdemeanors “He’ll be punished far more severely that way than any of the other legislators over the years who did the same thing and skated.”

Now someone can correct me if I’m wrong, but Jensen won’t be punished “far more severely” than Chuck Chvala and Brian Burke, both of whom did the right thing by accepting responsibility for their roles in the same criminal behavior Jensen engaged in and accepting the punishments meted out. Apparently, Jess Bucher seems to think Jensen should be held to a lesser standard, making me wonder why that could be. However, I’m sure it has nothing to do with Jensen’s political affiliation, because that’d expose Jess Bucher as nothing more than a conservative shill…oh wait, too late.

(cross-posted to Whallah!)

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