May 18, 2023

"You might think journalists would want to get to the bottom of how they were duped so that they could repair the reputational damage to themselves and their industry. Apparently not."

Writes Marc A. Thiessen in "The Durham report is a damning indictment of the FBI — and the media" (WaPo).
It was the Clinton campaign and the Democratic National Committee that funded the Steele dossier, which relied on a Russian with suspected ties to Russian intelligence. The FBI then included the dossier as part of the materials it used to investigate Trump, paralyzing our country, undermining a newly elected president for two years while costing tens of millions of dollars — all over what ended up being a conspiracy theory.

ADDED: Let me carp about copy editing. This sentence — which I put in the post headline — is miswritten: "You might think journalists would want to get to the bottom of how they were duped so that they could repair the reputational damage to themselves and their industry." The phrase "they were duped so that they could repair" needs rewriting, because journalists were not duped so they could repair their reputation. They should "want to... repair the reputational damage." You might think columnists would want to see these double meanings and eliminate them. Apparently not.

My spellcheck is questioning the word "reputational." It is a real word, but it's an ugly and unnecessary word. Why write "reputational damage" when you could write "damaged reputation"? "Damaged reputation" looks more natural, and it's more accurate, because the thing to be repaired is the reputation, not the damage. You could leave out "damage[d]" altogether. It's redundant. You can't repair what's not damaged.

97 comments:

farmgirl said...

This entire mess: I have no words.
The damage done b/c of willful lies…

Now questions are being asked?
Smh.

rehajm said...

Imagine WaPo writing that paragraph in 2020. They had all the facts to write that paragraph three years ago. When do we get to stop calling them journalists?

Kate said...

Thiessen was born in 1967. His definition of "journalist" is last century. Whatever the word means today -- I couldn't tell you -- I'd be very surprised to see shame or remorse or soul-searching included. The WaPo puts this up because they sense the term once meant something grand. It's all so Gatsby.

Goldenpause said...

There’s nothing for the MSM to investigate. They were in on the scam from Day One. Instead of an investigation, the MSM will congratulate themselves for a mission accomplished.

RMc said...

"You might think journalists would want to get to the bottom of how they were duped so that they could repair the reputational damage to themselves and their industry. Apparently not."

You might think it's foolish
What you put him through
(You might think) You might think they're crazy
(All they want) All they want is Trump

Kevin said...

They were not duped.

They willingly participated.

wendybar said...

They don't care. They have one agenda, and it is the Fundamental Change of America into the Banana Republic they made it. THEY think they are on the right side of History, but History is going to ask HOW the fuck we let them lie to us and destroy America for, and WHY did we let them get away with it, with NO consequences??

Tarrou said...

Another day, another far-right conspiracy theory turns out to be more accurate than the media, academia and the US government.

I'm starting to wonder about chemtrails.

Wa St Blogger said...

That's because we do not have journalists. We should amend campaign finance laws to count media activity related political campaigns as in-kind contributions. Russiagate is only one of scores of examples.

rwnutjob said...

NYT:
After Years of Political Hype, the Durham Inquiry Failed to Deliver
A dysfunctional investigation led by a Trump-era special counsel illustrates a dilemma about prosecutorial independence and accountability in politically sensitive matters.

Gaslighting before they ban gas in New York

Walter Duranty, pick up the white courtesy phone.

Dave Begley said...

The journalists don’t care. They tarred Trump and that’s what they wanted to do. They fed the Dem narrative of Orange Man Bad. Their readers loved them for it.

What Thiesen fails to appreciate is that the Fake News is the propaganda arm of the Dems. The Dems want to achieve power by any means necessary.

Biden has been bribed with at least $10m by foreigners and they refuse to cover this giant story!

And, frankly, those East Coast libs are morally bankrupt. I’d bet that, down the line, they support child mutilation. How evil is that?

rhhardin said...

It's a narrative industry, not a news industry. That's what pays the bills.

Bob Boyd said...

You might think your boyfriend would want to get to the bottom of how he was duped into spending the last five years jerking off to internet porn day and night so he could repair the reputational damage to himself and your relationship. Apparently not.

iowan2 said...

I know our host, is tired of the Drama. Trumps policies are demonstrably great. Peace and prosperity carried the day. All the chaos is such a distraction...cant the Republicans just run a person that does not create such chaos????

Gell-Mann anyone? Now that you have all the facts, what is the source of the chaos? Its not Trump.

But Gell-Mann is about the media getting the facts wrong on subjects you have deep knowledge of. With me, thats agriculture. If the news delves into crop production, lots the technical content is just used wrong, to reach the wrong conclusion. The 'Wet streets cause rain' conclusion.
But now, we don't just have media, that's not all that bright. We have this cadre of scribes being fed lies by most all the govt "experts" (like covid)

The real chaos, is a President in the throws of dementia. A Senator that has been absent DC for months, arguing with a reporter that she has been in DC all along, and a Freshman Senator suffering for the effects of a stroke, that means he is incapable of reading Cat in the Hat out loud so you can understand it. All those thing are normal, so not worthy media attention, period, But all TV news channels were spending at least 60 minutes a day covering a civil (not Criminal) rape trial. Oh yea...wait for it....That occured 28 years ago, and NO EVIDiCNCE supports the jury finding of liability.

Here we are today.
Fully aware the Government of the United States is lying to the Public about almost everything they touch. The media, nothing but stenographers for the liars.

But you will open up your web browser this morning, read the latest reporting about some Trump "atrocity", nod your head head and tsk tsk tsk the mean tweets from Trump, while ignoring the fact that Biden has let in over 6 million illegal aliens.

At some point you have to own your own stupidity.

(this is a good point to differentiate between ignorance, Not knowing things, and stupidity. Unable to learn after being show, taught, repeatedly.)

Breezy said...

How exactly do these narrative agents make money, and how much? They have poor ratings, so advertisers must get good deals I would imagine. Does the DNC pay them directly or indirectly? Or Soros, or any of these dark money PACs? Why would you sell out your integrity or your country, if not for a ton of money? Do they really not care about this destruction of their own industry?

tim maguire said...

I looked at the comments to his article. They're not upset with the Post, they're upset with Thiessen for writing about it. Most WaPo readers are happy to be lied to.

Esteban said...

Anyone that is a real journalist or reporter left cable news and the newspapers a long time ago. It's all just propaganda anymore.

Rocco said...

Kate said...
"Thiessen was born in 1967. His definition of 'journalist' is last century. Whatever the word means today -- I couldn't tell you."

It's important to remember that while 'reporter' and 'journalist' have many qualities in common, they are not perfect synonyms.

Reporters gather and distribute news. Journalists do that, plus disseminate information as well - an OpEd is a simple example of this.

A couple of things happened. First, the news and information gatherers began to see being a journalist as a higher calling than a reporter. Then they began to see themselves as gatekeepers of knowledge for society instead of information and news distributors. Once both of those steps happened, the path to where we are today became inevitable.

Larry J said...

Journalism died a long time ago. It was a suicide.

Bob Boyd said...

I can't read the article, but let me guess, in the end Thiessen blames Trump's loathsomeness and the distasteful nature of his unwashed base for his fellow journalist's injudicious but well-intentioned foibles.

Nancy said...

Look at the comments. All the WaPo readers are contemptuous of the article.

Leland said...

Their reputation is fine with those who wanted power at any cost. Sure, the industry is facing layoffs and ever smaller circulation and viewership, but who cares. Trump was voted out and now they have Biden. Hell, they don’t even care if Biden’s son is a deadbeat dad or if women in Afghanistan can no longer go to school. Trump bad and you know he brought them on himself, so did his supporters.

Joe Bar said...

Why would anyone believe anything spewed by the mainstream media anymore? It's Gell-Mann amnesia in full effect.

Old and slow said...

Were they duped, or were they stupid? I'm going with both. The story was transparently stupid and implausible, but such was their hatred for Trump, they simply couldn't see straight and they believed it. I know plenty of smart people who hated Trump and bought the story. I was no Trump fan initially, but I could see how ludicrous the Russian shit was.

readering said...

Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.

Omaha1 said...

I always enjoy reading the comments at the WaPo on an article like that. It seems that they do not actually read the article, or they are willfully blind to what it is saying. NOTHINGBURGER, they cried!

Michael said...

I have to get some new conspiracy theories. All my old ones have proven to be true.

narciso said...

they were mueller bait, why wuuld they admit they were duped, they lit candles and everything,

Josephbleau said...

“ Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.”

Comment well wins the battle.

Big Mike said...

"You might think journalists would want to get to the bottom of how they were duped so that they could repair the reputational damage.”

But were they duped? There’s still a hard core group of people who find it congenial to their political views to trust — perhaps I should put “trust” in scare quotes — the content of today’s newsmedia and apparently the journalists are content to pander to that group. Wife and I dropped our subscription to the Washington Post over a decade ago, when it got to the point that the only unslanted content were the box scores.

Sebastian said...

"You might think journalists would want to get to the bottom of how they were duped so that they could repair the reputational damage to themselves and their industry. Apparently not."

Jeez. Here we go again. A good-faith supposition in obviously bad-faith circumstances. After years of eager MSM propaganda and partisanship, you might think that even the Thiessens would dispense with phony set-ups like you-might-think that journalists would do something they haven't been doing for years--years I which their lying prog propaganda went down well with their audience and earned them Pulitzers.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Any Lie for the thugs-Clinton. any Lie for the Corrupt money grubbing power-obsessed asshole Clintons.

Any lie for the Biden family crooks.

Our media = a loyal democraxit party joke.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why is Adadm Schitt(D) allowed in the Senate? He should be arrested and tried for treason and other crimes relating to his lies.

Caroline said...

I am beginning to think that, in the cosmic scheme of things, The Donald’s presidency and The Covid aligned to expose the rot. We are in for a paradigm shift, as people migrate to free speech platforms in droves. Substack, Twitter and podcasts will replace legacy media.

Night Owl said...

What incentive does the news media have to stop lying to their audience, when the audience eats it up?

I say lie because it's more than likely that the media knew the collusion stories were false and eagerly ran with them anyway. They certainly made no attempt to try to verify them because if they had they would have found evidence of the falseness.

We correctly blame the media for their lies and the damage caused by their lies, but we also need to blame those who continue to support the media even after they are shown to he liars. The people who prop up the lying media because they enjoy being lied to over and over again, share the blame in the corruption.

If there are no consequences and no accountability demanded by the readership/viewership, then the media will continue to be an increasingly dangerous, and powerful, propaganda machine for this corrupt administration, to the detriment of us all.

Those who accept and approve of media lies because they feel they help "their side" share responsibility for the continued corruption and decline of this country; and our children and grandchildren will suffer the most for it.

Night Owl said...

And don't get me started on the corrupt players in the departments of justice, fbi, cia and congress. Some of those people need to go to jail. Why hasn't Adam Schiff been impeached yet? Why aren't Hillary, Brenner, Clapper and many others indicted for the role they played in this unbelievably divisive and damaging hoax?

Are we that far gone that we have no leadership that will hold these people to account for the damage they've done?

joe said...

False premise - the media wasn't duped. The media was a willing participant in the fraud.

Joe Smith said...

What?

Give back their Pulitzers?

Then there would be an empty spot on their office bookshelves next to the photos of them sucking up to Obama or Clinton or Biden.

Most unseemly...

Drago said...

Readering: "Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years."

Rich coming from a circle jerk-ist who, like over 50% of democraticals to this very day, claim Putin literally "installed" Trump as President in 2016 while these same democraticals enabled the Russian annexation of Crimea and then the invasion of Eastern and Southern Ukraine as well after Putin spent the 4 years of the Trump Presidency sitting on his hands.

Yeah, "fawning" over Putin...by driving his commodity prices into the ditch while the US became energy independent and a net energy exporter....and ordering the response to a russki incursion in Syria that led to 300 russki mercs being taken out by US troops.

I suspect readering spends time posting on other websites where people aren't as experienced or informed as to reality which would explain why his/her transparent nonsense is so easily debunked at Althouse.

Drago said...

Sebastian: "Jeez. Here we go again. A good-faith supposition in obviously bad-faith circumstances. After years of eager MSM propaganda and partisanship, you might think that even the Thiessens would dispense with phony set-ups like you-might-think that journalists would do something they haven't been doing for years--years I which their lying prog propaganda went down well with their audience and earned them Pulitzers."

Thiessen, like the others, is useless. Too late, too soft, too squishy, too beholden to those who will pay him his next check.

Kevin said...

I suspect readering spends time posting on other websites where people aren't as experienced or informed as to reality which would explain why his/her transparent nonsense is so easily debunked at Althouse.

In today's America, "fawn over Putin" is usually enough to get people to back down.

What other country is running ads for testosterone supplements on TV?

TreeJoe said...

I think Durham, Trump, and the "right" have fundamentally gone after the wrong targets here.

They went after politicians and career bureaucrats. Deeply entrenched and powerful people.

They should have gone after the lawyers and law firms who, according to the evidence here and elsewhere, hired and paid members of foreign intelligence agencies to interfere in a Presidential election.

A few law licenses revoked, a few lawyers put in jail, and all the sudden this type of thing won't be nearly as tolerated by lawyers who sit behind privilege.

MadTownGuy said...

Josephbleau said...

[Quoting readering]
Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.

Comment well wins the battle."

Facts not in evidence, as has been pointed out. Battle not won. Fawning? See the press and its love affair with Volodomyr Zelenskyy.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Readering...

Still dishonest we see.

How did Trump fawn over Putin?
Obama and Hillary fawned over Putin - and Hillary pocketed millions in secret deal with Russia.
RE-set button - did you memory hole that one?

Putin waited for Crook Biden to be installed - for his war to begin.

WE guess you missed the "I'll have more flexibility after the election" conversation with Obama and Russian leader Medvedev.

Joe Smith said...

“ Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.”

Hilarious, considering Biden put out the welcome mat for Russia to invade Ukraine.

How many wars started under Trump again?

If your comeback is, 'We aren't at war with Russia,' then you are dumber than I think...

Drago said...

Night Owl: "Are we that far gone that we have no leadership that will hold these people to account for the damage they've done?"

Yes.

QED

Night Owl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Levi Starks said...

What evidence do you have that they were “duped”
Isn’t that giving them the benefit of doubt?

MikeD said...

I remember Althouse commenting a few days ago about a "headline" to the effect she would not have bothered reading it if it had not been published by the MSM.

rehajm said...

Let me carp about copy editing

Stop assuming there's a copy editor somewhere what's interested in what you have to carp.

Better, stop assuming there's a copy editor...

Wa St Blogger said...

@Readering

You realize that referencing media as a source of valid facts for your fevered fantasies in a posting specifically showing that the Media lies with out shame when it comes to political content shows some real obtuseness on your part.

"Here, let me make my point by quoting sources you just proved are willing to fabricate information to serve the political goals I espouse."

Althouse needs better Lefties. Or maybe the point is that they are so wrong about everything that they have no real argument to stand on, so they have to make do with provably false statements, hoping to dupe us. They would be funny if they were not so pathetic.

wendybar said...

Maybe Readering should read this, from Jonathan Turley that points out how Trump was "wiretapped" by the corrupt Obama administration and his goons in the Intel agencies... What say you NOW Readering?? Gonna try to correct me again??

"Bump also slammed Trump for claiming that his campaign was spied on by the FBI under the Obama Administration. (Trump used the term “wiretapping” which is a rather dated term for surveillance). Bump again guffawed at the suggestion. Later it was shown that the surveillance did target both the campaign and campaign associates."

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/05/18/wait-washington-posts-bump-makes-the-last-case-for-russian-collusion/

rcocean said...

Good for this writer. Its the first Mea Culpa I've seen from the liberal/left MSM.

But make no mistake, he's an outlier. The rest will ignore the truth, and double-down on their lies.

Maybe, some "moderates" and "independents" will now start understanding that the Liberal/left MSM is NOT objective. Does NOT tell the Truth. And is in the business of helping push the liberal/left agenda - NO MATTER WHAT. Its America Pravda. An unpaid arm of the DNC.

You'll notice that Mitt Romney, Mitch McConnell and many of the other DC Republicans still act like the Wapo/NYT are their big buddies. Because they belong to the same party, the uniparty. And we don't belong to it.

wendybar said...

Jonathan Turley has an article out on how much of a propagandist Philip Bump of WAPO is. He is still repeating his propaganda lies. WAPO IS a tabloid. They are worse than News of the World that used to run the craziest stories. The left will NEVER give up, because they still think Americans are dumb. I get it, because the dumb ones here sound just like him and make the same ridiculous claims.

https://jonathanturley.org/2023/05/18/wait-washington-posts-bump-makes-the-last-case-for-russian-collusion/

Night Owl said...

@Treejoe 9:28 am.

"A few law licenses revoked, a few lawyers put in jail, and all the sudden this type of thing won't be nearly as tolerated by lawyers who sit behind privilege."

Good point. Certainly worth a try.

rcocean said...

People are asking "how did we get duped?". Well, I can only talk for myself. I was skeptical of Russiagate and always thought even in 2017, that it was being overblown. But I was still stuck in past, and had SOME faith in the FBI and 'the system'.

I thought FBI Director Comey was an honest man. Wasn't he Deputy AG under Bush?
I thought there was SOME basis to Russiagate. I mean they wouldn't make the whole thing up, would they?
I thought all the "we need closed meetings and redactions because its all super-secret spy stutt" had SOME validity. I mean they wouldn't just LIE about it all, would they?
I thought Mueller needed to do some sort of investigation. I mean he was an honorable man and a "Lifetime Republican" wasn't he?
I thought if Rosenstein and all the Congressional R's went along with it, there had to be SOME basis for it. I mean, they wouldn't all go along with a lie to hurt Trump, would they?

This brings me back to Sessions and Rosenstein. Who decided to make Rosenstein Deputy AG? This guy was NOT a "Lifetime Republican" and he was the one who gave Mueller a blank check and was big buddies with Comey and McCabe AND had a hand in picking Wray. Why was he choosen? No one talks about it. I mean Just me. That's it.

And then there's Sessions. No one pinned him down on why he chickened out and recused himself over nothing. He met with the Russian ambassador. And that meant Recusal? GIve me a break! Was he a sleeper agent, part of the anti_Trump conspiracy or just a loser/coward?

Dunham of course, excluded all this from his "Investigation".

Original Mike said...

"You realize that referencing media as a source of valid facts for your fevered fantasies in a posting specifically showing that the Media lies with out shame when it comes to political content shows some real obtuseness on your part."

readering has posted some real doozies in the past few days.

Of course the press wasn't duped. The rabidly partisan press has become an existential threat to our country.

Brylinski said...

How about the Thomas Friedman op-ed that calls for Biden to build a better wall to stop illegal immigration?

wendybar said...

Iowan2 @ 7:02 AM

What YOU wrote is EXACTLY correct. THIS part in particular..."At some point you have to own your own stupidity.

(this is a good point to differentiate between ignorance, Not knowing things, and stupidity. Unable to learn after being show, taught, repeatedly.)"

Iman said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
wendybar said...

Hunter Biden's tax payer funded Hooker said...
Readering...

Still dishonest we see.

How did Trump fawn over Putin?
Obama and Hillary fawned over Putin - and Hillary pocketed millions in secret deal with Russia.
RE-set button - did you memory hole that one?

Putin waited for Crook Biden to be installed - for his war to begin.

WE guess you missed the "I'll have more flexibility after the election" conversation with Obama and Russian leader Medvedev.


5/18/23, 9:31 AM

Readering has no clue. He still believes that Trump lied about being spied on by the Obama admnistration, but Jonathan Turley came out with an article about WAPO's Philip Bump calling him out on his insistance that it didn't happen...As Turley says in that article " Later it was shown that the surveillance did target both the campaign and campaign associates."

Readering is trying his best to try to make others believe the propaganda that gets him through his days because Trump is living in his head 24/7. He needs help, but he will blame Trump instead.

iowan2 said...

readering said...

Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.


No evidence of corrupt vote counting (no investigations....but...)

Trump also made the claim, the govt was spying on him. It is taking 7 years to get to that truth.

D.D. Driver said...

What incentive does the news media have to stop lying to their audience, when the audience eats it up?

Taibbi talks a bit about this in his book. No one cares about accuracy anymore. Mistakes used to end careers. Now all is forgiven as long as you are making the "right kind of mistakes." The readers are willing to give a journalist the benefit of the doubt if the lie confirms their pre-existing biases.

D.D. Driver said...

How did Trump fawn over Putin?

Well, it was after he lost the 2020 election, but didn't he call Putin a "genius" for [checks notes] invading Ukraine. 😬 That one hasn't exactly aged well for Foxconn Don.

I can't wait to re-elect Trump because he will end the conflict in Ukraine within 24 hours! The conflict that will still be going on three years after the "genius" invasion.

Nice said...

"damaged reputation" goes to intent. It's a verb, meaning someone acted with malice, hatched some sort of diabolical plot.

"reputational damage" is a kind of a get-out-of-jail-free card. No verb. Injuries did happen, but nobody's really to blame. No intent or malice.

ambisinistral said...

Seems to me that shoddy reporting outweighs shoddy copy editing as a problem.

Pete M said...

Assuming that by "investigation" Thiessen includes the Mueller investigation I would note that Mueller's investigations led to 8 convictions including one of Trump's former campaign manager.

If the argument is that any investigation that is promoted by one side of aisle and doesn't lead to earthshattering revelations is illegitimate I'm curious why he doesn't mention Whitewater, Benghazi or the IRS investigation under Obama.

I'm unclear is that FBI investigation would have inspired by Jan 6 when the election was upheld by Trump nominated judges.

Aggie said...

""You might think journalists would want to ...... repair the reputational damage to themselves and their industry."

Well, that pre-supposes that they recognize this outcome as a damaging one, in need of attention. Since they have been implicated on the wrong side of this farce and have been shown to have been aware of its untruths pretty much since Day 1, isn't it more likely that they are presently continuing to defend the reputation that they prefer?

I see no signs of reform on any other, similar types of questionable 'current events'. COVID policy-making, or Chinese-hosted, US-funded bioweapons research, or US funding of the war in Ukraine, for instance.

Mike (MJB Wolf) said...

Althouse needs better Lefties.

I'll take DREAMING FOR THINGS THAT DON'T EXIST for 1000, Alex. Make it a true Daily Double.

Chuck said...

In defense of “reputational damage” …

I see it a lot, in the discussions within legal circles of defamation cases. In fact, that is really the only place that I see the word “reputational.” (It is coming up as a misspelling even as I type this comment.)

For that reason alone, it didn’t strike me as odd. But the fact that Spellcheck thinks it is a mistake is interesting.

Michael K said...


Blogger readering said...

Rich coming from the circle jerk of 2020 election deniers who watched Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.


I think we have a new resident dullard. I know it is tough to out do Inga in the stupid department but congratulations seem to be in order. Unless, of course, you used chatGPT to make the comment.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"but History is going to ask HOW the fuck we let them lie to us and destroy America for, and WHY did we let them get away with it, with NO consequences??"

For the likes and self aggrandizement.

Free Manure While You Wait! said...

"We have this cadre of scribes being fed lies by most all the govt "experts" (like covid)"

I do not personally know anyone who died of Covid or or who had a relative die from Covid or even anyone who died and had Covid listed as a co-morbidity.

According to medieval historian Philip Daileader, it is likely that over four years, 45–50% of the European population died of plague. Norwegian historian Ole Benedictow suggests it could have been as much as 60% of the European population. Could any European during that time claim the knew of no one who died of plague"

In the USA, it was alleged that 1,000,000 citizens died from Covid. If true, that's less that 0.3% of the population.

Covid wasn't a plague by any stretch of the imagination. It was the logical next step after the Boston marathon bombing's shelter in place.

Fun Fact: Historians now believe that what was called The Plague back then was likely a catchall for things like cholera and such. Just like we did with Covid.

Tina Trent said...

The NYT still refuses to return their Pulitzer won for reporting that intentionally, at Stalin's behest, concealed his Holomodor holocaust, which killed millions.

The commas aren't the point, right?

Mason G said...

"Althouse needs better Lefties."

Good luck with that. The ability to unthinkingly regurgitate talking points is highly prized by leftists, logic and independent thinking are frowned upon.

Gusty Winds said...

This isn't just about the media coming clean. Every stupid leftist/liberal/ and RINO on FB and Twitter for the last seven years has been calling anyone who disagrees with the uni-party a Russian Stooge.

Hillary Clinton and Mitt Romney called Tulsi Gabbard a Russian Asset and accused her of promoting Russian propaganda. Same bullshit accusations leveled against Tucker Carlson. All lies.

Chris Christie just recently called Trump a Russian Stooge after the CNN Townhall. Trump didn't take the bait on "Are you willing to say you want Ukraine to "win" the war".

Trump smartly realizes the only "win" is ending the war, and stop the killing. He also recognizes Ukraine and NATO purposefully and stupidly poked the bear, and crossed a well understood red-line.

Joe Smith said...

@rcocean 10:16

Mueller and Durham were clean-up operations.

MadisonMan said...

My assumption is that NYTimes and WaPo do NOT want to address the report simply because you can't read it and not realize how badly their reporters were duped. Why would they want to advertise that their reporters have no powers of discernment when it comes to a questionable story?

Original Mike said...

"Althouse needs better Lefties."

Consider the possibility that there are no better Lefties.

JIM said...

The journalists in this case do not care. They have a higher calling. and a fealty to the Democrat party. Of course it's malfeasance of the most sordid type because of their special protections. "The democracy dies in darkness" crowd have a very low opinion of what America is or was.

rcocean said...

I thought "reputational" was one of those recently made up words. Y'know the kind where someone turns a noun into a verb or adverb.

Reputation-wize.

Rusty said...

"Althouse needs better Lefties."
There's a guy who does -man-in-the-street interviews either on the pier in Huntington Beach or on the boardwalk in Laguna Beech. He asks questions like; "What do you think of guncontrol" or "how to you rate Joe Biden as president." or "define what you think of hate speech." The people who answer thoughtfully are either libertarians or conservatives. Thoughtful, reasoned answers. The most incoherent answers are from lefties. Some of them even threaten violence.

iowan2 said...

but didn't he call Putin a "genius" for [checks notes] invading Ukraine.

Context matter. I ignore people making backhanded snide remarks from a snippet of a much larger statement. It intentionally miss states the message. It was genius, to wait until Biden was elected, and Russia could count on Biden ignoring the invasion. vs suffering the rath of Trump, in multiple segments of Russia dealings.

Harun said...

"Assuming that by "investigation" Thiessen includes the Mueller investigation I would note that Mueller's investigations led to 8 convictions including one of Trump's former campaign manager."

Oh really? Which person was found guilty of collusion with Russia?

Name one.

Don't talk about tax evasion, Hunter's guilty of that, too. Don't talk about Franklin Planner crimes. Who was a Russian spy who fed dirt to American politicos? Oh, right HILLARY HIRED THE RUSSIAN SPY TO LIE.

Earnest Prole said...

Shorter version: The FBI and the media = Blue Anon.

Yancey Ward said...

LOL! What reputation? The field of journalism is replete with imbeciles and liars. There are those double digit IQ types who were fooled by the Steele Dossier, and there are those who reported it as fact who knew it was all a big fucking lie.

Yancey Ward said...

Readering, you could go a long way to reclaiming some minor respect here by just fucking admitting that Durham is right- that the Trump/Russia story was a hoax put up by the Democrats and illegitimately used by the DoJ to hound Trump and members of his campaign and administration. Were I in your shoes, I would have offered the mea culpa the day after Mueller closed up shop, but I could see waiting for a more detailed report on what the investigators themselves were doing.

But, I know you won't do this- you are either too stupid or too dishonest, and I don't really care which it is since you never once surprise me.

mikee said...

You can't repair what wasn't broken, especially the press's reputation, which was put in service of a vile political ratfucking so vile it would make Segretti jealous.

Josephbleau said...

Yes, don't try to make Journalists ethical, it wastes your time, and annoys the Journalist.

Leland said...

Trump fawn over Putin fair 8 years.

Do you have any valid evidence to support this or do you plan to continue defame people because you think you can hide behind a nom de guerre?

Josephbleau said...

"My spellcheck is questioning the word "reputational.""

Oh, the reputainality of it all, you damned reputatinalitiststs!

Michael K said...

Do you have any valid evidence to support this or do you plan to continue defame people because you think you can hide behind a nom de guerre?

I would prefer that you call his/her/zer ID a nom de plume, as I think it would be very unlikely that readering would ever get close to a war.

Drago said...

Josephbleau: "Yes, don't try to make Journalists ethical, it wastes your time, and annoys the Journalist."

Filed under: things I wish I had written.

boatbuilder said...

You can't repair what never existed, either.

Greg the Class Traitor said...

"You might think journalists would want to get to the bottom of how they were duped so that they could repair the reputational damage to themselves and their industry. Apparently not."

They weren't duped. They all knew it was bullshit from the beginning. They just didn't care

Reality check: If Putin wanted Trump to win, he would have leaked a couple dozen of Hillary's incriminating emails

Since, thanks to Hillary, he had all of them.

Just leaking every email between Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and US President Obama, ALL of which were "inherently classified", would have completely sunk the Hillary campaign.

Left Bank Charlie whines that FBI sleaze bag Comey "threw" the election to Trump simply by reminding people about Hillary's illegal server the week before the election. How much more damage could Putin have done, actually releasing emails!

But Putin didn't do that, because he wanted the corrupt Hillary to win, so he could blackmail her for the next 4 - 8 years.

Anyone who spent even 5 minutes thinking about it KNEW that all the Trump - Russia collusion claims HAD to be a lie.

Inga said...

“Consider the possibility that there are no better Lefties.”

OM…
Living in Madison must be very difficult for you.

Original Mike said...

"OM…
Living in Madison must be very difficult for you."


No, I just keep my mouth shut.

On the topic of Madison, my wife went for a walk around the square and nearby blocks (down Main St) last night. Apparently lots of homeless and shuttered businesses. Very sad.