Posted on 01/23/2006 7:12:05 AM PST by HonduGOP
'Wash Post' Ombud Vows to Stay on Job Despite Uproar Deborah Howell
By E&P Staff
Published: January 22, 2006 12:45 AM ET
NEW YORK Responding to the furor that started exactly one week ago, Deborah Howell, ombudsman at The Washington Post since just last autumn, writes today, "Nothing in my 50-year career prepared me for the thousands of flaming e-mails I got last week over my last column, e-mails so abusive and many so obscene that part of The Post's Web site was shut down."
As Howell notes, that column claimed that indicted lobbyist Jack Abramoff gave campaign money to both political parties and their members of Congress. Angry reaction reached such a pitch that the Post shut off comments on one of its blogs on Thursday--which drew another round of criticism from some quarters.
Today Howell repeats a statement she made three days ago, admitting that Abramoff did not give money directly to Democrats, but rather "directed his client Indian tribes to make campaign contributions to members of Congress from both parties." Liberal groups have contested even this description.
Reflecting on the Howell-bashing, she observes, "I heard that I was lying, that Democrats never got a penny of Abramoff-tainted money, that I was trying to say it was a bipartisan scandal, as some Republicans claim. I didn't say that. It's not a bipartisan scandal; it's a Republican scandal, and that's why the Republicans are scurrying around trying to enact lobbying reforms.
"But there is no doubt about the campaign contributions that were directed to lawmakers of both parties. Records from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Public Integrity show that Abramoff's Indian clients contributed money to 195 Republicans and 88 Democrats between 1999 and 2004. ...These facts have been reported many times in The Post and elsewhere. So why would it cause me to be called a 'right-wing whore' and much worse?"
She adds: "There is no more fervent believer in the First Amendment than I am, and I will fight for those e-mailers' right to call me a liar and Republican shill with salt for brains. But I am none of those....(I)t is profoundly distressing if political discourse has sunk to a level where abusive name-calling and the crudest of sexual language are the norm, where facts have no place in an argument. This unbounded, unreasoning rage is not going to help this newspaper, this country or democracy.
"I didn't ask washingtonpost.com to shut down an area reserved for comments about me, as it did on Thursday night. And I know the decision is being greeted with great disdain....
"To all of those who wanted me fired, I'm afraid you're out of luck. I have a contract. For the next two years, I will continue to speak my mind."
Reaction to the new column came quickly. At the FireDogLake blog, for example, came this response:
"What you should have said was that although Abramoff's victims, the Indian tribes, gave money to Democrats it was much less than they did before Abramoff appeared on the scene and there is no indication that there was anything quid-pro-quo about it. Unlike the Republicans, who are up to their eyeballs in shit over this. To say anything else provides improper context and implies that legitimate contributions and illegal influence peddling are one, which they most certainly are not."
Armando at DailyKos weighed in: "Abramoff pushed his Indian tribe clients AWAY from Dems and TO Republicans. That is, Abramoff DIRECTED his Indian tribe clients to give LESS or NOT AT ALL to Democrats and to give MORE OR ALL of their contributions to Republicans. Only a simpleton can not understand that."
At Talking Points Memo, Josh Marshall declared: "On the left or center-left, until very recently, there's simply never been an organized chorus of people ready to take the Howells of the press biz to task and mau-mau them when they get a key fact wrong. Without that, the world of political news was like an NBA game where one side played the refs hard and had roaring seats of fans while the other never made a peep. With that sort of structural imbalance, shoddy scorekeeping and cowed, and eventually compliant, refs are inevitable.
"This is evening the balance, creating a better press."
Welcome to the Democrat Party. Where ya been?
Nice language in there, she was so astute in chosing this quote! What a lady! It is polite to say she has salt for brains... I can think of a better image.
The descriptions of the abuse Ms. Howell is taking from uncivil left wing nuts makes me proud to be a civil right wing nut.
The only reason he didn't bother to bribe the Democrats, is that they have no power to help his clients.
"But there is no doubt about the campaign contributions that were directed to lawmakers of both parties. Records from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Public Integrity show that Abramoff's Indian clients contributed money to 195 Republicans and 88 Democrats between 1999 and 2004."
So, let me get this straight. The author stresses that it is NOT a bi-partisan scandal, then goes on to say in the next paragraph that BOTH parties got money from Abramoff? Yeah, that's clear as mud.
Sounds like she just wanted to have that Republican bashing quote to fall back on when the libs yell at her.
Try as Howard Dean and the left might to undo it, the perception is already out there that this is a Congressional scandal, not a Republican one. Most voters, I suspect, don't see Abramoff as a Republican only albatross.
This is an example of how the growing influence of the New Media has helped to highlight and enhance the inherent distrust of the Old Media. The WaPo may be starting to get that the Pajamadeen is looking over their shoulders which is why they had a moment of honesty and called the Jack MeAbramoff scandal for what it is (affecting BOTH parties). It is funny to see the left react as they are. They think that by intimidation or otherwise they can make their side of the story reality. Is there anything more amusing than watching Howard Dean being confronted by one of his outrageous statements, i.e. "we can't win Iraq," only to see him pretend he never said it. He expects everyone just to accept his version of reality.
Ms. Howell diverged from the Party line.
When a lib strays, even one foot, from the "plantation" the massa's beat the hell out of them. There is nothing like eating one's own. This must have been the first time that she has been the target of any vitriol, and she didn't like it, and is now in backpedal mode. The demonRATS beat her up, she throws the pubbies under the bus. Expected. Now she will be OK. Poor baby.
She sounds quite schizophrenic saying it's a Republican scandal in one sentence and then outlining that the GOP and de RATS got money almost equally. It is delicious seeing how the left is slapping her for stating the obvious.
bump
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