The only difference between blogs and the NYT when it comes to corrections is not that MSM has a better accuracy record – or that blogs do. It’s that many blogs correct far more swiftly and honestly than the NYT. Here’s the blog post that brings together most bloggy response to the final, way-too-late Krugman capitulation. I still don’t understand why Krugman was not forced to write it in his own words in his own column under the head: “Update” or “Correction.” That’s what we do.
JUST FOR THE RECORD: This piece, which calls me a “prominent liberal,” slyly accuses me of somehow deliberate dishonesty when I linked to pictures from the right-wing kiddie indoctrination book, “Help Mom! There Are Liberals Under My Bed!” They say I claimed the book contained nudity and then retracted, once my fabrication was disproved. As I wrote at the time, I was conned about a few of the illustrations, as was the blog I linked to. I wasn’t deliberately trying to convey a false impression, and it’s unfair to insinuate that. I corrected and apologized the minute I discovered I’d been had by a parody. But my point remained. As to the term “prominent liberal,” well, I think it tells you more about what has happened to conservatism than what has happened to me. I am now and long have been for small government, low taxes, a balanced budget, welfare reform, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars, a flat tax, states’ rights, and an increase in defense spending. I believe abortion and affirmative action are immoral and would have voted in dissent on Roe vs Wade. I’m a believing Christian. Right now, that makes you a “prominent liberal.” Think for a minute what that says about what conservative orthodoxy has now become. You are a “prominent liberal” even if you believe all these things, but also believe that there should be a clear separation between church and state, that abuse and torture of people in captivity is wrong, that soldiers deserve civilian leadership that allows them to fight and win wars, that minorities deserve civil rights, and that presidents are accountable for what happens on their watch in their own government and military.
The Dish 