Irresponsible

The original Times story was a mess. The fact that The Villagers now can't get enough of it is, in Somerby's words, pathetic and inept.

Serwer is editor of Fortune magazine—and he’s pathetic, inept, sad, unwell. Speaking for all the world to hear, the hapless fellow became the latest to speak the untruth about Richard Blumenthal. Needless to say, Serwer’s fraternal order—his clan—has been behaving this way for many years:

SERWER (5/24/10): I mean, I just don't buy it at all. I think the guy should not run. I think he should resign. I mean, this is the attorney general of the state, number one. He wants to be, you know, in this exalted position. He lied. Then he also lied about Harvard—he said he was the captain of the swim team. He wasn't. Gee, I wonder if there's another lie there somewhere. I wonder. What do you think?

Serwer seemed so sure of himself, so very fraternal. In this utterly heartfelt speech, he got himself in line with the line of the clan.

(For Julie Millican’s report at Media Matters, just click here. Tape of Serwer included.)

Might we repeat? There is no evidence—nada, none, zilch—that Blumenthal ever said he was captain of the Harvard swim team. As far as we know, Blumenthal had never been quoted or cited discussing the Harvard swim team at all, until he spoke about the topic last week. But so what? The New York Times started this latest bungled tale, and the paper’s “public editor” averted his gaze in Sunday’s column. Fox pimped this garbage all last week, embellishing grandly as it went. On Sunday, George Will jumped on board.

On Monday, Childe Serwer played the fool too. Translation: These are horrible people.

Needless to say, this is a variant of the mainstream press corps’ twenty-month war against Candidate Gore. Yes, there are major differences. In this case, Blumenthal did misstate his military record on at least one or two occasions. (Note: The New York Times says it researched this matter over the past twenty years.) By way of contrast, it’s quite hard to find any actual misstatements by Gore during the press corps’ twenty-month war—the war which sent Bush to the White House.

And as this inane bullshit gets churned, they are helping to destroy a unimpeachable career. Worse, they are trying to send Linda McMahon to the U.S. Senate.

In June 2000, Mick Foley returned to the WWF as Commissioner—with the blessing of McMahon. At the same time, Vince McMahon went on a hiatus, claiming that he had realized why McMahon was opposing him—she wanted another baby. Dubbing himself the "genetic jackhammer," Vince left for several months. He later returned and demanded a divorce. The following week, Vince was informed that McMahon had been rushed to the hospital after suffering a nervous breakdown. With McMahon in a sanatorium, the Board of Directors appointed Vince as CEO on December 18, allowing him to fire Foley. With McMahon apparently comatose as a result of her breakdown and the sedatives that Vince had administered to her, Vince began having a very public affair with Trish Stratus.

As a result of the affair, Shane challenged Vince to a street-fight at WrestleMania X-Seven. Vince faced Shane with Foley as special guest referee. Stephanie and Linda were at ringside, and as Stephanie actively helped Vince in the match, Linda sat in her wheelchair, completely comatose.^[49] At the end of the match, however, Linda stood up, apparently no longer sedated, and kicked Vince in the groin, allowing Shane to defeat him.^[50][49] A week later, Linda resumed her duties as CEO and asked Vince for a divorce. She harassed Vince over the next few months, forcing Vince's chosen champion Steve Austin to defend the WWF Championship and supporting Shane and World Championship Wrestling, which he had just purchased. Vince and Linda would reconcile, however, in October 2001 when they realized that The Alliance of WCW and ECW (purchased by Stephanie) would attempt to destroy the WWF.

So many of the shining lights of our media are little more than snickering, adolescent clowns. They seem determined to help elect other clowns to high national office.