Crush Liberalism

Hoax story meant to punk us bloggers…punks NYT instead!

“Hi, welcome to Starbucks.  Can I take your order?”

“Yes, I would like a venti Awesome Latté, with a shot of rich chocolatey Awesome syrup, sprinkled with fresh Awesome shavings!” 

This story is dripping with delicious point-proving satisfaction that I may go into a diabetic coma right now.  Details from Liberty Pundits:

And these clowns wonder why they are circling the drain?  This lawyer pulled the fake story stunt to entrap us – political bloggers – because “fact checking is not” our “strong suit,” so he claimed.  We ignored the story, and the NYT ran with it.

Gawker’s got a post, which also covers another false story the NYT ran with – but this blog one is just so rich.  Let’s go to the source.

New York Personal Injury Attorney Blog.com. Eric Turkewitz wrote in this blog that he had been appointed “official White House law blogger“:

Since word is already dribbling out among my friends, I thought I should let you know here: I’m closing down this blog in the next few weeks to start up a new one at the White House as their official law blogger. I’ll have the opportunity to both expand the scope of my writing and serve my country at the same time. As blogging gigs go, it doesn’t get any better than that.

It’s a good ruse complete with charts and stories.  So the NYT gets wind of it.  Their “fact-checking” department calls both the lawyer and the White House.  Lawyer specifically obfuscates; he confirms NOTHING.  The WH? No one home.   The story has no confirmation whatsoever on any level.

What does the NYT do?  I can’t grab an archived version to link, but here is the cut from Gawker claiming to be the original NYT piece:

After all, as Mr. Turkewitz, a Manhattan lawyer, writes on his New York Personal Injury Law Blog, he is about to be sounding off on all manner of legal issues as the Obama administration’s new White House law blogger.

“Excited about new blogging gig as White House law blogger,” he tweeted this morning. “But hope I don’t have to spend too much time in D.C.”

Spoken like a true New Yorker.

And, alas,  here’s the retraction:

[Note: an earlier version of this column had an item about a blog post by a personal-injury lawyer, Eric Turkewitz, announcing that he had been appointed the White House law blogger. Blogospheric chatter indicates a high likelihood that this post was an April Fool hoax. Mr. Turkewitz declined to give us a straight answer on this score, so, pending callback from the White House, we've taken the item down.]

Love the “blogospheric chatter” crack.  I think it is called “vetting” or “fact checking.” …

The MSM absolutely loathes the blogosphere.  We do the reporting they used to do.  They snidely and condescendingly fall back on the “we have multiple layers of fact-checkers at our disposal” defense as to why we break stories before they do.  Well, if they do indeed have these “multiple layers of fact-checkers” at their disposal, they clearly do not use them.  (Sidebar: Dan Rather and Mary Mapes were unavailable for comment.)

Anywho, this left-wing blogger laid out the bait for the bloggers, and the NYT walked into the trap.  And this schmuck says that “fact checking hasn’t always been a strong suit of” the blogger community?  Physician, heal thyself! 

Irony: it’s not just for breakfast anymore!

April 5, 2010 Posted by crushliberalism | irony, media bias | Leave a Comment