As predicted, the usual suspects completely ignored the op-ed by the 82nd Airborne NCO’s in the NY Times, but are having another link orgy regarding Beauchamp.
Well, that is not completely true. Hot Air had this to say about the op-ed:
Oh well. The Times had to make amends to the left for that O’Hanlon and Pollack op-ed in time for the big Iraq debate next month. And now they have.
And BlackFive weighed in with a lengthy piece that stated that while what they experienced may be true for their region, LOTS OF OTHER SOLDIERS EXPERIENCE SOMETHING ELSE and regardless, people have been wrong before and victory is right around the corner and these NCO’s don’t see the big picture.
Other than that, though… crickets.
And what does this big expose on Beauchamp rely on? Why, exactly the kind of things they are accusing the TNR of- take it away, Instaputz:
Some words that jump out in Richard Miniter’s “reporting” on TNR:
Perhaps because McGee worked on the business side of the magazine on the first floor and not with the editors and writers on the second, Foer didn’t consider him a genuine insider—and therefore gave him the company line. But McGee believes that Foer was speaking his mind. …
What appears to be his home phone number—the only Foer listed in D.C.—has been “temporarily disconnected.”
Perhaps a cone of silence has descended. A longtime New Republic editor told me that she was not sure that she was allowed to discuss the Beauchamp affair…
In the days after the party, Elspeth Reeve received the sympathetic attention of editors and fact-checkers at The New Republic’s offices. They did not blame her for escorting a fabricator into the magazine’s inner sanctum, who hoodwinked them and body-slammed the magazine’s reputation, according to McGee. Apparently, they did not ask what responsibility she might bear. …
Reeve is not talking to the press, most likely on orders from editor Franklin Foer or the magazine’s attorneys. Yet it is possible to reconstruct what she knew about Beauchamp. …
Indeed, it appears that Beauchamp’s relationship with Reeve shifted into high gear around the time he was first published in the magazine….
It appears Beauchamp had little interest in Reeve until she was in a position to help him. “I knew he was engaged twice before he was with me, but not with Elspeth [his college friend and now wife]. … Last summer, we were together in my room and he told me about her and made fun of her.”…
Beauchamp appears to repeating this behavior. Even though he has access to free phones on base to call the United States, he is not offering an explanation to the press—just as he didn’t offer one to Priscilla….
Etc., etc., etc. There are a host of other problems with this piece, in addition to the fact that it’s almost purely speculative.
It appears to me that the vast majority of the “respected” right-wing bloggers may be full of shit and completely capable of ignoring anything that they don’t like.
Related news- Sadly, No! fixes the internet (NSFW).
Screw The War As We Saw It- WHAT ABOUT BEAUCHAMP?Post + Comments (55)