On the "firing" of Dave Weigel and the Washington Post's disingenuousness

This weekend I am saddened, though not terribly surprised, to learn the newspaper that broke the Watergate scandal--but which is now best-known for providing an internationally-read platform for Neocons, torture apologists, and outright liars (or the ghostwriters thereof) shilling for Big Oil--has thrown Dave Weigel, one of its only sane, non-religious, non-Neocon conservative writers, under the bus.

Weigel's apparently unforgivable sin? He used hyperbolic language while criticizing another conservative in private e-mails that were unethically stolen from a listserv (e-mail group) and subsequently--and reprehensibly--made public. This, quoth the Post's ombudsman, undermines the Post's standing among conservatives because it calls into question whether Weigel was a "real" conservative or not.

Let me get this straight: if a liberal writer were to privately express his or her disdain toward, or contempt for, certain liberals--for example, if I were fortunate to have a paying job writing about liberal concerns at a large newspaper, and they got hold of my private e-mails saying what sorts of large, unwieldy objects Ralph Nader ought to shove up his nether regions--this would create wholesale, irreparable damage to the newspaper's standing among liberals?

Please.

Furthermore, does the Washington Post not realize that Weigel was merely expressing--in private, for crying out loud--the same contempt for certain conservatives that many conservatives I know personally, and am even related to or married to, express all the time, and in public? Conservatives are not a monolithic group any more than liberals are.

The Washington Post, by firing Dave Weigel (or "accepting his resignation", whatever, same thing), has now firmly established, in plain view of all and sundry, that it is a bought-and-paid-for organ of the extreme right wing of the Republican party, and as such, will neither recognize nor permit any dissent or deviations of opinion within the Corpus Conservative.

Nay, their writers, unless they're one of the tiny handful of liberals on the payroll and clearly labeled with the L-word, must all toe the Neocon line. And since Neocon goals can only be met when enough religious rubes are on board, they must also worship at the altar of Sister Sarah of the Naughty Monkey Fuck-me Pumps, Birther of Several and Mother to None.

Dave, I haven't always agreed with what you wrote, but I've always respected your ethics and your work. You deserve better.

To quote Rachel Maddow: Dear God, please save journalism--please, please, please.

Also at litbrit.