Posted on 03/27/2006 10:03:07 AM PST by summer
NEW YORK -- As reported Friday, Ben Domenech's new Red America blog at washingtonpost.com has expired after three days, amid charges of plagiarism against him. Some conservatives joined liberals in calling for his exit Friday morning.
Domenech responded to some of the plagiarism charges in a lengthy post at the site he co-founded, Red State.org, denying or ratonalizing them. After that, he continued:
"The truth is, no conservative could write for the Post without being subject to the gauntlet of the liberal attack machine. There is no question in my mind that any RedState contributor writing for this blog would have found leftists delving through his high school yearbooks and grade school book reports in an effort to discredit and defame him. ...
"To my friends: thank you for your support. To my enemies: I take enormous solace in the fact that you spent this week bashing me, instead of America."
After more examples of plagiarism surfaced, and his denials were challenged by others involved, he suddenly posted the following on RedState.org:
"I want to apologize to National Review Online, my friends and colleagues here at RedState, and to any others that have been affected over the past few days. I also want to apologize to my previous editors and writers whose work I used inappropriately and without attribution. There is no excuse for this - nor is there an excuse for any obfuscation in my earlier statement.
"I hope that nothing I've done as a teenager or in my professional life will reflect badly on the movement and principles I believe in.
"I'm deeply grateful for the love and encouragment of all those around me. And although I may not deserve such support, it makes it that much more humbling at a time like this. I'm a young man, and I hope that in time that I can earn a measure of the respect that you have given me. "
In addition to leaving the Washington Post, he was also then asked to leave his editing job at Regency, and he took a leave of absence from the web site he co-founded, redstate. org
I just hope this kid learns from his mistakes and bad calls, and doesn't go off the deep end. He's got a lot of years ahead of him.
Re my poat #2 - Actually, I meant: redstate.com (not .org)
And that should say "post" -- sorry!
FYI. I posted his 2nd apology here. Thanks for letting me know about it.
I don't know -- our flag is red, white and blue, right?
Yes, I know that; but, my point is still valid.
True ... it's just confusing that's all.
True.
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