A question for republicans

I'm as partisan a lefty as any of us here, but it really does bother me for any kind of misinformation to be widely disseminated in the blogosphere on either side.  Since Ann Coulter's column this week clearly contains several fatal lies, I don't want to see it widely read.  To that end, I wrote Powerline blog, who, you recall, endorsed her lies yesterday.  Here's what I wrote them:

Hello,

Today you say:

"It's no secret that the left in this country is becoming increasingly desperate. Ann Coulter points to one of the more deplorable manifestation of this desperation -- the "outing" of gay children of conservatives. The New York Times op-ed page serves as a primary vehicle for this practice. As Coulter points out, the left's message is plain --"stop opposing our agenda or your kids will get it."

Unfortunately, Ms. Coulter is wrong.  Reading Ms. Coulter's column she doesn't actually quote any of the columns that are outing anyone.  Looking in Lexis Nexis, I find a column by Dan Savage from Feb. 17 which talks about several gay relatives of prominent conservatives, but only ones that are already "out."  They include Maya Keyes and Jamiel Terry, who both outed themselves; and Candace Gingrich, who was outed by her mother.  Mary Cheney is referred to in passing, and we all know about that.

The verb "to out" is defined by Merriam Webster as

"2 : to identify publicly as being such secretly <wanted to out pot smokers>; especially : to identify as being a closet homosexual
intransitive senses : to become publicly known <the truth will out>"

Ms. Coulter is clearly wrong.  You repeated her assertion.

Please correct the record and retract your assertion.

Thanks,
Michael

Mostly it's just stuff from my post yesterday, but I tried to be nice about it.  You know, above board, show them the evidence, see if they'd maybe say something about it. 

As of this morning, they hadn't updated their post, and they hadn't mentioned that they received my email.  So I wrote them another one:

Yesterday afternoon I wrote to tell you that your statement, and Ann Coulter's statement, that the New York Times editorial page is engaged in "the "outing" of gay children of conservatives" is incorrect.  Your post still remains in its original form.  My original email is forwarded below.

The most cursory examination of the columns in question reveals that your statement, and Ann's statement, are incorrect.

I understand that you guys are as partisan as I am, but I assume you don't want your readers to get misinformation from your blog.  To that end, I'd appreciate it if you'd correct the record.  If not, please tell me why you won't.

Thanks,
Michael

As of yet they have not changed their post, mentioned anything about this, or responded to my email. 

Why, you might ask, did I bother?  Well, one problem with the right in this country is not just that their mainstream media figures lie, but that their side of blogosphere picks up on the lies and echos them.  Surely no wingnut who read the Powerline post thought to do any research to see if the claim was true, so now they're running around thinking something that is demonstrably false. 

And I suppose I would like to know why Powerline does this sort of thing.  Coulter I don't really care about, because she's beyond credibility.  But since Powerline receives emails and occasionally posts updates about things they write one, I would really like to know: why are they not correcting this lie?  If the answer is that they're too lazy, fine.  If the answer is that they don't care about the truth (as many of you have suggested), fine.  If the answer is that they view blogging as a purely partisan excercise and so facts take second place to their overall goal, also fine. 

But I would like to hear it from the horse's mouth.

If you have the same questions, you can ask them: [email protected].  Be polite if you do.

Media Matters has also picked up on Coulter's column.  They come to similar conclusions about the lies, but in less detail than I have. 

-- Michael

UPDATE:  This is really an update that you'll want to read. 

Comments

[DavidByron]

She knew it was a lie and they knew it was a lie too. What kind of idiot doesn't know it's a lie? These people lie to themselves and lie to their friends. They lie when they open their mouth and when they close it. Lying is their natural languange and that is why no Republican is ever going to worry about any of this.

[Leah A]

What a thoroughly smart thing to have done.

Document the atrocity.

You did. More people should.

Thank-you.

Powerline isn't just partisan, it's committment to the rightness of its own point of view about every issue in the known world is so total that you have to reach back to Soviet journalism to find any equivalent. What the Powerline guys present are neither facts or opinions, it is propoganda, pure and simple.

[Always Confused]

Read Tim Noah's article on bullshit in Slate. It is all bullshit, or polemic if you choose to yell it in church. The bottom line..they do not care if it is true. If the issue becomes hot, they say "just kidding" (see Congressman Johnson from Texas). My favorite example of this is Cheney's appearance on Limbaugh just after Richard Clarke's first appearance on 6o Minutes. He lied and lied and lied some more. The true believers neeed to hear the lies. They can perhaps, under duress, be corrected later, after they have taken hold as holy writ.

[Danny]

I am as partisan as the rest, and I know that Al Franken is too. But regardless, his polemical book "Lies and the Lying Liars who Tell Them" shows that the Right has a culture of disinformation, and that this episode is but another case in their ever increasing battle against reality and truth.

[Anthony]

You should also trackback one or both of these posts to the Powerline post. If they refuse to acknowledge their own inaccuracies, at least their readers will have to face the truth.

[here's what's left]

yeah, i tried. but their trackback thingy doesn't seem to be working. don't know what the deal is.

[skippy]

even worse, if it were true, the "problem" is not that we are attacking or harming gay people, we are only pointing out that the gay repubbblicans are subject to attack or harm from their own consitutency.

in other words, it's only a problem (being gay) in the minds of the repubbblicans.

the repubbbs have no trouble holding blacks accountable for black-on-black crime, insisting blacks deal with that before addressing white-on-black oppression.

why can't the repubbbs deal with repubbb-on-gay-repubbb crime (bigotry)?

because they are hypocritical *ssh*les, that's why.

[Eva Young]

I'm a moderate republican, and in my opinion, the Powerline boys are a huge embarrassment. That post saying Evolution was a fraud was the epitome of stupidity. I'm not surprised they are ignoring your email.

If you really want to get to them, comment on some of the other Northern Alliance blogs. I'd suggest commenting on Mitch Berg's blog - http://www.shotinthedark.info.

Also, when you send them email, send copies - so they know you are sending copies to other blogger colleagues - such as Instapundit, Captain Ed, Ourhouse blog etc.

You might want to send copies of the email to reporters who have covered Powerline Blog: Nick Coleman ([email protected]), Toni Coleman ([email protected]) - do a news search for Powerline - then copy the reporters who quoted them in your email.

That's the way to make them more accountable.

[Ryan]

They finally issued a correction:
http://powerlineblog.com/archives/2005_03.php#009765

You may want to add this as an update to this post.

[Incertus]

Two corrections in one day--could they be reaching some level of actual responsiblity over there? Doubt it.

[Cheryl]

I think it may well be fear of libel or slander, or maybe just total loss of credibility. Nice work Michael.

[here's what's left]

read the update guys.

[matthew stojkovic]

Fuck you liberal pussies. When the fucking Muslim throat cutters round up the last Americans, you'll be screaming "at least I'm not racist" right before they slit your fucking throat.

Goddamn you and FuuuuuuuuuuuuCKKKKK YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!

[so gay in the world]

I'm gay but my girlfriend does not know it, that's cool