What do journalists and the GOP have in common? They keep shooting themselves in the foot & then reloading the gun

From the CustomScoop blog:

In a story about the Michael Vick dog fighting allegations and his NFL suspension, MSNBC ran a quote that they attributed to the Rev. Al Sharpton, which stated:

“If the police caught Brett Favre (a white quarterback for the Green Bay Packers) running a dolphin-fighting ring out of his pool, where dolphins with spears attached to their foreheads fought each other, would they bust him? Of course not.”

MSNBC said the quote came from Sharpton’s “personal blog.” Which, of course, it didn’t—it came from a site that is clearly a parody site. The post on News Groper is so obviously a parody I can’t imagine who thought it was actually Rev. Sharpton’s blog. On the page, it has listed Al Gore, Bill Clinton, Lindsey Lohan, Dalia Lama, Paris Hilton, Mitt Romney, and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as “featured bloggers.” Seriously, no one at MSNBC said “hey…wait a minute…”?

The debate over the difference between bloggers and journalists is a false dichotomy. ANYONE who is willing to do the research, ask the questions, check the facts and publish the results is a journalist.

That automatically disqualifies any number of bloggers and people who are paid journalists.

As I always said to new reporters and people wanting to go into journalism: The actual basic skills of journalism aren’t that hard to learn. What is hard to learn is to think critically. That’s why I ALWAYS encourage people who want to become journalists not to major in journalism but in something that will teach you to think. Most of the rest you can learn on the job.

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A little sympathy for Jeffrey Toobin

The wonderful writer for the New Yorker and legal affairs analyst for CNN was thoroughly in the wrong place today — caught covering the Michael Vick non-event on the same day as Alberto Gonzales resigned. Watched Toobin briefly on CNN and could tell by the look in his eyes that he knew he was missing THE story.

I am fascinated to see who the White House comes up with for a replacement for Gonzales. It has been a post continually filled by the 2nd dimmest bulb in the administration. One person on meeting Mr. Ashcroft was shocked at how dumb he was, to which another person said, “Well, don’t forget he did lose an election to a dead guy.” To give Mr. Ashcroft his due, though, the more we find out about his refusal to renew secret wire-tapping efforts the more he seems like a truly stand-up guy.

In Re: Mr. Vick

Gotta say the most irritating thing about his little non confession was the literal “come to Jesus” moment.

Michael Vick, speaking to the media in Richmond, says he has found Jesus and turned his life over to God.

Even if he has done so there’s no way this announcement made on the day he is pleading guilty to a felony can be perceived as anything but spin. I hope Mr. Vick has indeed found a moral guide, whomever that may be. But a suggestion to all those celebs who are seeking actual redemption and not just redemption in the public eye: keep it to yourself until we can see actions that show you really are practicing what He preached.