It’s here.

The subheadline:

Jeb Bush revived Florida. People like Ohio’s John Kasich can do the same, but only if Washington’s ghosts are tamed.

It will go up at BizzyBlog on Sunday morning (link won’t work until then) after the blackout expires.

From Petionville, Haiti:

Jesse Hagopian and his wife, Sarah Wilhelm, of Seattle, were in Haiti when the earthquake hit. Suddenly, they found themselves administering first aid to victims.

Jesse Hagopian is an unemployed Seattle teacher with no experience in mending broken bones. That all changed Tuesday evening as he ripped up bed sheets and placed splints on the fractured bones of the earthquake victims in Haiti who found their way to the Villa Creole in the Petionville suburb outside of Port-au-Prince.

Hagopian worked under the direction of an American medic whom he knew only as “J.H.” After the earthquake, J.H. took the lead in the emergency first-aid effort in the hotel’s circular front drive.

“People started coming with a broken leg, a broken arm,” Hagopian said in a Thursday telephone interview with The Seattle Times. “Then the floodgates started to open, and we had truckloads of people show up. I had to do a whole lot of procedures, and the injuries started getting worse.”

Hagopian, 31, had arrived in Haiti on Sunday along with his wife, Sarah Wilhelm, a public-health educator at the University of Washington who was going to spend 10 days working on an AIDS curriculum. Hagopian was laid off last year from his Madison Middle School teaching job. His main task while in Haiti was to take care of their 1-year-old son, Miles.

They survived the initial quake by taking cover under a hotel door frame. After the violent shaking ended, they went outside. Though part of the hotel collapsed, Hagopian said, all the guests appeared to have escaped without injury, including J.H., who soon drafted the couple to help care for the wounded, while Miles somehow was able to sleep nearby through most of the long, difficult night.

Hagopian said that J.H. “beyond a doubt” was a hero as he created the makeshift clinic without medical supplies. In addition to the broken bones, people had serious head injuries, chunks of flesh missing or gouged eyes. ….

Go here for the rest of the story.

The Days After:

Jan. 15, 6:45 a.m.: Matt Hurley at WoMD has posted video of the event here. Update: And here.

Jan. 16, 11:30 p.m.: Having become aware of some typical immaturity from the far left through an alert, I feel compelled to quote Tony Snow:

Every one of our greatest national treasures, our liberty, enterprise, vitality, wealth, military power, global authority, flow from a surprising source: our ability to give thanks.

Crass children who have somehow failed to learn understand the importance of being thankful, and of giving thanks when appropriate, and even of recognizing fun when you’re having it, would deserve our pity if they kept evidence of their stunted condition to themselves. But they deserve our contempt when they display it in public, and most assuredly have earned mine for having done so yet again.

Again, thanks to Matt Hurley for the opportunity to visit Columbus to attend the Kasich-Taylor announcement.

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Jan. 14, 11:55 p.m.: Later reflections –

• Joe Hallett might as well be Ohio’s Helen Thomas. As was the case with Thomas at White House press conferences until just a few years ago, apparently when Hallett’s there, politicians feel they have to answer his question first.
• The press is making a big deal about a study supposedly showing how Ohio can’t afford to phase out the income tax. In other news, officials in income tax-free Florida and Texas, neither of which has fallen into the Gulf of Mexico as a result of not having an income tax, broke out in uncontrollable laughter upon hearing about the study, while ordering up extra copies both of the study and of Ohio business contact directories to see which Buckeye State companies they might be able to snare next.
• These officials from Texas and Florida are also rumored to be figuring out how they can best funnel money to Ted Strickland’s campaign to keep Ohio in circling-the-drain mode.
• Finally, Florida’s Department of Commerce is working on finding Ted Strickland that T-Shirt shop he said he wanted to open up, take over, or purchase when he retires from public life. Yes, he said that Florida would be a good place to go. Of course it would be, Ted. The Sunshine State doesn’t have an income tax.

The original event-blogging follows.

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2:30 p.m. – Courtesy of Matt Hurley of Weapons of Mass Discussion, I find myself about 10 feet from the stage where John Kasich will introduce his running mate Mary Taylor. Forget the “people know him” stuff about Hurley. It’s more like “he knows people.”

The only problem is we don’t have access to wireless, so this is coming to readers “delay-blogged” by several hours.

Click on “more” if you are at the home page to see the on-the-fly notes.
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HARRY REID MUST RESIGN!
By Frances Rice

Wielding a sharp racial sword, Democrats ruthlessly destroy the careers of Republicans on racial matters, accepting no apologies. Yet, using a glaring double standard, those same Democrats quickly give a pass to any Democrat, such as Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid who again displayed egregious racism.

Hardly a ripple of protest was made in 2004 when Reid shamelessly slurred Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as an incompetent Negro who could not write good English. “Slap at Thomas stinks of racism,” was the headline of the New York Daily News’ December 7, 2004 editorial.

Now, Reid has described then-Senator Barack Obama as “light skinned” and “with no Negro dialect, unless he wanted to have one.” With this racial slur, Reid denigrates not only Obama, but also the entire population of black Americans as being uneducated Negroes who cannot speak standard English, the same type of disgusting remark he made over five years ago about Justice Thomas, a graduate of Yale Law School. A tribute to Justice Thomas that includes details about his stellar career is posted on the NBRA website.

…In the arsenal of excuses for Reid not resigning, as did Lott, is the claim that Reid’s racist comments were not of the same caliber as Lott’s remarks made on the occasion of Thurmond’s 100th birthday. Lott was criticized and later apologized for his favorable comments about Thurmond’s life’s work that encompassed his ill-fated 1948 presidential bid when Thurmond was a racist Democrat, and Lott was only seven years old. Thurmond died in 2003.

…Democrats who called for Lott’s resignation were silent when Democrat Senator Christopher Dodd praised former Klansman Democrat Senator Robert Byrd as someone who would have been “a great senator for any moment”. Unlike Byrd, Thurmond was never in the Ku Klux Klan that was the terrorist arm of the Democratic Party. After he reformed on racial issues and joined the Republican Party – the party of freedom and equality for blacks – Thurmond defended blacks against lynching and the discriminatory poll taxes imposed on blacks by Democrats.

Egregiously Byrd, in March of 1968, while referring to the fact that Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. left Memphis, Tennessee after riots broke out where a teenager was killed, called Dr. King a “trouble-maker” who starts trouble, but runs like a coward after trouble is ignited. This motivated Dr. King to return to Memphis a few weeks later where he was assassinated on April 4, 1968.

Byrd was also a fierce opponent of desegregating the military and complained in one letter: “I would rather die a thousand times and see old glory trampled in the dirt never to rise again than see this beloved land of ours become degraded by race mongrels, a throwback to the blackest specimen of the wilds.”

In the early 1970′s, Byrd pushed to have the senate’s main office building named after a former “Dixiecrat,” Democrat Senator Richard Russell who was Senator Byrd’s mentor and leading opponent of anti-lynching legislation and other civil rights laws of the 1950′s and 1960′s that were championed by Republicans. Recently, in 2001 Byrd was forced to apologize for using the N-word on television. During Byrd’s last bid for re-election to the senate, Obama wrote a letter of support for the racist Byrd, and not one murmur of indignation was uttered about the fact that Obama was honoring a former Klansman. Democrats showed no shame when they heralded Byrd as “the conscience of the senate.” Can we say hypocrisy?

Yeeowwzaaa…that’s gonna leave a mark. Oh wait, black Republicans don’t count…only the ones who live on the “Uncle Harry’s Plantation.” Guess they’re not “light-skinned” enough.

Read the whole thing here.

Nothing says “you’re the man,” like a [county party] super-majority suspending “we will not endorse in primaries” bylaws in order to do just that…which is what Washington County (Marietta) did in the Attorney General race last night. They overwhelmingly endorsed Dave Yost, of course. I’m seeing a trend…first, an overwhelming majority of Ohio County Prosecutors, then Butler County, now this, next Clermont…

Dave Yost…”The man.”

On a more sour note, anti-Second Amendment, anti-DoMA, anti-ANWR (scroll to 4th story), pro-Ted Kennedy, Mike DeWine commented on the rumors that his cousin Kevin might be tagging him to run for the Auditor’s seat recently vacated by Mary Taylor.

The arrogant, little SOB…says he has “no interest in that at all.” That he has plans for that office, blah, blah, blah. What plans would that be Mike? Giving gunowners an even harder time? Giving a sympathetic ear to the anti-gun thug in the White House? More Ted Kennedy-esque minimum wage BS?

Newsflash Mike, we have no interest in you what – so – ever and quite obviously, “we” are not alone. When a county party votes by a super majority to suspend their “no endorsements” rules specifically to vote for your opponent, they’re not handing you a red flag, but a white one.

No amount of money or name recognition could have saved Bob Taft…the same can be said about Mike DeWine (who already lost to a socialist, in a landslide, with $20 million in the war chest). Human Events was right…Mike DeWine was indeed part of “What Killed the GOP?”

I’ll leave you with this downloadable file from Buckeye Firearms. Please print, distribute and support Dave Yost in your conversations, your prayers and your resources!

In his coverage of yesterday’s Monthly Treasury Statement from Uncle Sam, the Associated Press’s Martin Crutsinger, who I have criticized frequently for cruddy reporting, especially on federal finances, did a pretty good job reporting key facts and conveying very real concerns that are brewing over the country’s current fiscal path.

In the process, he made a stunning admission about the economy’s situation that has to be seen to be believed.

I find myself concerned that the previous paragraphs might cause Mr. Crutsinger to get called into a closed-door meeting where he gets asked what in the world is going on. If that happens, I have an agenda item he can bring up. I’ll get to that later.

Crutsinger’s only serious error was his final paragraph’s mischaracterization of deficit trends during the Bush administration.

Anyway, here are key paragraphs from Crutsinger’s mostly un-cruddy report (bold after title is mine):

December budget deficit sets record

The federal budget deficit hit an all-time high for the month of December, and the red ink for the first three months of the current budget year is rising at a more rapid pace than last year’s record clip.

The massive tide of red ink, reflecting the continued fallout from a deep recession and a severe financial crisis, highlights the challenge facing President Barack Obama as he pledges to get control of runaway deficits.

The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit last month totaled $91.85 billion, the largest December deficit on record. The figure was in line with economists’ expectations.

For the first three months of the current budget year, which began on Oct. 1, the deficit totaled $388.51 billion, 16.8 percent higher than the $332.49 billion imbalance recorded during the same period a year ago.

Last year’s deficit surged to $1.42 trillion, more than three times the record of the previous year, an imbalance of $454.8 billion set in 2008.

…. The Obama administration is projecting that this year’s deficit will climb even higher to $1.5 trillion, which would be 5.6 percent higher than the 2009 deficit.

…. economists warn that the government’s financing costs will begin rising sharply once the recovery begins and the Fed starts raising rates to make sure inflation does not get out of control.

Foreign governments, including China, the largest holder of U.S. Treasury securities, have also expressed concerns about the outlook for deficit reduction in coming years.

…. While the administration is pledging to work to improve that deficit outlook, private economists wonder whether Obama will be able to break the political gridlock that has prevented a significant attack on the deficits even before the recession made them worse.

The “once the recovery begins” phrase I bolded above is a mind-blower. Crutsinger is telling us, despite what his colleague Jeannine Aversa recently wrote about the economy’s “rebound,” that the recovery hasn’t begun. Pass the smelling salts.

Sure, we’re supposedly into the seventh month of economic growth since the recession as normal people define it ended with the positive growth that occurred during the third quarter of 2008. But that 2.2% annualized growth was largely driven by government spending and government tax breaks. Though those items are probably still heavily influencing more recent growth, the financing constraints Crutsinger cites could render that administration strategy unsustainable in short order.

The AP reporter’s last paragraph about the lack of a “significant attack on the deficits” is factually incorrect:

• In the wake of 2001′s sort-of recession (as normal people define a recession, there never was one) and the financial impact of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the administration promised that it would cut the deficit, estimated to be over $500 billion at the time of that promise, in half by the time the president left office.
• Thanks primarily to the income- and investment-related tax cuts of 2003, which grew federal receipts by over 40% in next four years, the Bush administration was able to keep that promise despite insufficient spending restraint three years early, as fiscal 2006′s reported deficit was $250 billion. Fiscal 2007, reflecting the fiscal priorities of the final session of the Republican-controlled Congress in 2006, came in with a reported deficit of $162 billion.
• The government was on track to do even better in subsequent years, but it’s clear in retrospect that the Democratic takeover of Congress after the 2006 elections ended any hope of further improvement.

Crutsinger is wrong to claim that there was no “significant attack on the deficits” during the Bush administration.

Here’s my agenda item for the possible meeting into which Mr. Crutsinger may be called for his excessive honesty and accuracy: After his dress-down, Martin should ask his superiors for permission to tell readers how much the national debt went up during the periods covered. If he had done this work in his most recent effort, he would have found, using this Treasury Department tool, that:

• During December, the national debt went from $12.11 trillion to $12.31 trillion an increase of roughly $200 billion, which is about $108 billion greater than December’s reported deficit of $92 billion.
• During the first fiscal quarter, the national debt went from $11.91 trillion to $12.31 trillion an increase of $400 billion, which is about $11 billion greater than the first quarter’s reported deficit of $389 billion.

He could then go on to briefly explain why the differences occurred. The nearly indecipherable accounting for the Troubled Asset Relief Program plus factors I cited several years ago would come into play.

Better yet, Martin should probably just do this without asking. Given that the info might be seen as unfavorable to the current administration, AP boss Tom Curley and Co. would probably say no.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

Associated Press Dem-Protecting Exemplar of the Day –

Tumbles? TUMBLES?

The AP’s headline says, “we want you to think it was an accident, so please don’t read on. It’s really boring; trust us.”

In the fifth paragraph, we learn that Democratic operative Joe Meehan apologized to McCormack, but never learn why an apology was provided.

The Hill tells us: “Reporter says Coakley’s handler shoved him into a railing.”

A hard-core apparatchik like Meehan doesn’t apologize unless he’s clearly in the wrong. If the AP won’t (not can’t, won’t) communicate the basic facts about a shoving incident, how in the world can subscribers feel comfortable presumptively relying on their daily dispatches on other topics?

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San Francisco’s Archbishop has essentially told Nancy Pelosi (HT Catholic News Agency) that she doesn’t have carte blanche to claim to be Catholic while repudiating the Church’s belief system.

In response to a Pelosi interview with Eleanor Clift of Newsweek, where Pelosi claimed, in defense of her position on abortion, “that women should have the opportunity to exercise their free will” to get them, the archbishop wrote that:

…. human freedom does not legitimate bad moral choices, nor does it justify a stance that all moral choices are good if they are free.

…. It is entirely incompatible with Catholic teaching to conclude that our freedom of will justifies choices that are radically contrary to the Gospel—racism, infidelity, abortion, theft. Freedom of will is the capacity to act with moral responsibility; it is not the ability to determine arbitrarily what constitutes moral right.

Read the whole thing.

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William McGurn at the Wall Street Journal faintly echoes Cheech and Chong in his op-ed’s headline:

Stimulus? There’s No Stimulus Here.

A report from the Associated Press that came out yesterday cannot have helped. It analyzed what was thought to be one of the healthiest parts of stimulus—spending on roads and bridges—and concluded that the billions in taxpayer dollars have had “no effect on local employment.” The article goes on to express surprise that “despite the disconnect, Congress is moving quickly to give Obama the road money” he wants for his second stimulus.

That’s not disconnect. It’s classic Beltway. In Washington when your policies don’t work, you don’t change them. You change the name and hope nobody notices.

The more this administration and Congress choose proven-ineffective “stimulus” (even AP is tired of pretending otherwise) over proven-effective tax cuts, the more it will appear, even to the relatively disengaged, that Obama & Co. are at best ambivalent about whether the economy fully recovers and prospers, and at worst hostile to the very notion.

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Great quote about the economy:

“The bottom line: The U.S. economic recovery continues to unfold. Slooooowly,” economist Jennifer Lee of BMO Capital Markets wrote in a note to clients.

Rebound? What rebound?

From Greenville County, SC:

Firefighters Given Medals

POSTED: 11:37 pm EST January 8, 2010
UPDATED: 12:15 am EST January 9, 2010

A Greenville County woman pulled from her burning home July 25 was able to thank the firefighters who saved her.

Sissy Thomason had been in critical condition at the Augusta Burn Unit, but survived the fire at her home at 12 Meadors Ave. Thomason’s common-law husband, Larry Painter, was also pulled from the flames, but he later died.

The fire consumed the home while the couple slept. Painter’s son, who escaped the fire on his own, told Belmont firefighters where they could find the couple.

“We didn’t hear anything. I mean, all I heard was [Larry] saying, ‘Oh my God, I smell smoke,’” said Thomason.

Two of the firefighters, Derek Leverent and Captain Ron Gilliam, got the Medal of Valor for their life-saving efforts that day. It’s the highest honor a fireman can get.

Two other firefighters, Chief Tony Segar and Lt. Chip Dicker, got the Medal of Merit.

“They’re heroes. They really are. They saved my life,” said Thomason. ….

Go here for the rest of the story.

Well, that’ll teach me to do field work. Obviously, I should have stayed hunkered down in the bunker instead of going to the Kasich-Jeb Bush event yesterday and, among other things, signing petitions for Josh Mandel’s and Dave Yost’s respective Treasurer and AG runs.

Kidding aside, before I comment on the Taylor move, I’m going to give the link love to those who have been on the story (if I missed anyone outside the far-left fever swamp, let me know):

• Matt/Mark at Weapons of Mass Discussion (here, here, here, here, here).
• Third Base Politics (here, here).
• (added 12:45 p.m.) Jesse at Athens Runaway
• King’s Right Site
• (added 12:45 p.m.) Ben Keeler

Okay, here are a few paragraphs from Plain Dealer:

Ohio Auditor Mary Taylor won’t seek re-election, instead will run for lieutenant governor

COLUMBUS, Ohio – State Auditor Mary Taylor will not seek re-election and instead will be introduced Thursday as the running mate for Republican gubernatorial hopeful John Kasich, a GOP source told The Plain Dealer.

I can tell you that Mary is flattered to be considered,” said Chris Abbruzzese, a spokesman for the state auditor. He would not confirm that Taylor has been selected.

Kasich spokesman Rob Nichols would not confirm or deny that Taylor would be introduced this week as Kasich’s lieutenant governor candidate.

“All I can tell you is what I said before,” Nichols said. “She is certainly immensely qualified.”

But a Republican source said Kasich made the offer, Taylor accepted and a formal announcement will come on Thursday afternoon.

Now that we’re caught up, my thoughts.

First, while I understand at some level the disappointment over Mary Taylor’s auditor re-election announcement, the fact is that she wasn’t asked if she wanted a promotion when she announced. And yes, being John Kasich’s Lt. Guv is a promotion.

Second, you know whose long-term ambitions this hurts? John Husted, who according to many accounts fantasizes about being Buckeye State governor some day (over a lot of our dead typing hands, pal). This is the guy who says that his campaign headquarters is at the house where he doesn’t live, in the Ohio Senate District he supposedly represents but where he doesn’t live, where he says he someday is going to live, even though he, his real estate broker wife, and their kids live in much more comfortable digs in the Cbus suburbs.

If marginalizing Husted and putting a finger in the eye of ORPINO (Ohio Republican Party In Name Only) was an element of Kasich’s decision process, good for him. Mr. Husted, it’s not too late for you to have a temper tantrum and throw in the towel …. pretty pleeeeeze?

Moving to Taylor, there really is something about Mary. If you were to name the two people in this state most likely to really turn around Ohio, John Kasich’s name would of course come up first, but Taylor’s would be second. That is, assuming no last-second glitch, they’re now right where they should be, especially if Taylor’s duties include day-to-day involvement with economic development. I could give a rip about the diversity argument; I want the two best people in those slots, and that’s what we’ll fiiiiiiinally have if they win in November.

Otherwise down the ticket, Dave Yost is the right guy in the right place as AG candidate, and he deserves to wipe the floor with Mike DeWine (another guy who should just, drop, out). Josh Mandel is right where he should be. I’d like to see an auditor who has actual experience as a CPA and/or auditor run to take Taylor’s place; Matt at WoMD indicates that Seth Morgan might be that guy.

Thinking long-term, a Kasich-Taylor ticket sets up Ohio up for a possible 16-year return to statewide economic glory under people who “get it,” after at least two decades of rarely interrupted malaise and stagnation. No wonder Ohio Dem Chairman Chris Redfern is whining about how Taylor is like Sarah Palin. Hey Chris, you’re acting as if that’s a bad thing. Ha.

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UPDATE: There is one big thing in Ohio’s way, and I’ll get to that in my PJM column later this week.

UPDATE: Rose’s comment point below is dead-on — Kasich and Taylor are both authentic outsiders who are deeply dissatisfied with how political business is done inside I-270, as is the vast majority of the rest of the state.

From Amsterdam (HT a Clouthier Tweet Michelle Malkin):

Published: January 11, 2010

Miep Gies, the last survivor among Anne Frank’s protectors and the woman who preserved the diary that endures as a testament to the human spirit in the face of unfathomable evil, died Monday night, the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam said. She was 100.

The British Broadcasting Corporation said Mrs. Gies suffered a fall late last month and died at a nursing home.

“I am not a hero,” Mrs. Gies wrote in her memoir, “Anne Frank Remembered,” published in 1987. “I stand at the end of the long, long line of good Dutch people who did what I did and more — much more — during those dark and terrible times years ago, but always like yesterday in the heart of those of us who bear witness.”

Mrs. Gies sought no accolades for joining with her husband and three others in hiding Anne Frank, her father, mother and older sister and four other Dutch Jews for 25 months in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam. But she came to be viewed as a courageous figure when her role in sheltering Anne Frank was revealed with the publication of her memoir. She then traveled the world while in her 80s, speaking against intolerance. The West German government presented her with its highest civilian medal in 1989, and Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands knighted her in 1996.

When the Gestapo raided the hiding place in the annex to Otto Frank’s business office on Aug. 4, 1944, and arrested its eight occupants, it left behind his daughter Anne’s diary and her writings on loose sheets of papers. The journals recounted life in those rooms behind a movable bookcase and the hopes of a girl on the brink of womanhood. Mrs. Gies gathered up those writings and hid them, unread, hoping that Anne would someday return to claim them. ….

Go here for the rest of the story.

Well, look what yours truly has stumbled into.

Thanks to Rose, I received an invite to attend a Kasich for Governor event in Mason, Ohio at the Fanuc Robotics facility (a “Jobs Roundtable Discussion”). So here we are, and with surprise access to public wi-fi with a strong signal. And Jeb Bush will be here. Cool.

The event, which I understand is supposed to be business climate-oriented (here is a Dayton Daily News item about it), will start shortly.

(click on more if you’re at the home page to see the running commentary)

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Andrew Take-No-Prisoners Breitbart of Big Hollywood, Big Government, and Big Journalism fame has an important column that appeared yesterday at Tucker Carlson’s new enterprise, the Daily Caller.

In it, he clearly delineates the difference between “the news” as establishment media outlets want it dispensed and the “market for information” that technology has created. Its only shortcoming is that he gives Arianna Huffington a pass for “coming to the table as an honest broker.” I’ll point out glaring examples that will disprove that notion later.

First, though, behold the beauty of Breitbart’s treatment of the issue of “objectivity” and his clear statement relating to the two types of information choices we have:

The launch of the Daily Caller is a necessary step toward creating ideological parity in the all-too-clearly biased mainstream media. It is a good thing that you, Tucker, are admitting that you come to the table with certain ideological baggage, and my new site Big Journalism will be there to watch your back when the well-funded, organized left’s knives come out to try to discredit and attempt to destroy you. Believe me, they will.

In my mind, you are coming to the table as an honest broker, like me and Arianna Huffington.

…. The mainstream media is dying as we are rising, and yet their only explanation for their fate is that Craigslist has stolen their classified advertising.

…. The consumer of news and information now has a clear and distinct choice between two approaches in delivering this valuable commodity:

On one side you have the New York-based intelligentsia, driving the narratives of our times with the guidance of the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Anyone who knows this crowd knows them to be neither “objective” or “bias-neutral,” yet that line is propagated on television news and in print media and we are supposed to accept it. They have built walls between themselves and their customers, disdainfully and grudgingly accepting their criticisms only when forced to acknowledge their egregious errors (are you still out there, Mr. Rather?).

On the other side you have writers, researchers and pundits from every corner of our land, proudly disclosing their true core principles for all to see. They present the stories that move them and respond in real time to the interactive feedback of their consumers. They lose credibility (and audience) not for their opinions, but for journalistic errors and, more importantly, how they handle those errors. The fact is this: they are actually held to a higher journalistic standard because of the frank and honest disclosure of their point of view. When they mess up, they make their own side look bad. This ends up being a much tougher code of ethics than something dreamed up by a J-School panel of advisors.

When you look at the two sides it becomes pretty clear that it isn’t really a choice at all, is it? One side represents an outdated mode of operation borne of necessity due to the limited technology of a by-gone age, perpetuated by a self-congratulatory graduate-school culture that rewards and protects its own while simultaneously denying the legitimacy of the opposition. The other side is based on freedom, liberty and market forces, using reason, logic and a reliance upon the reader’s own wisdom and common sense to form his or her own conclusions after receiving all of the unfiltered information available. Which would any normal person instinctively choose?

But Breitbart’s complimentary treatment of Ms. Huffington calls for a rebuttal — actually, three of them.

First, if Ms. Huffington’s site were really devoted to the truth, HuffPo Political Reporter Sam Stein’s August 2008 contention that “McCain Camp Didn’t Search Palin’s Hometown Paper Archives” would have been pulled.

Stein originally wrote the following, and added an update a short time later (bold is mine):

…. the McCain campaign had not gone through old newspaper articles from the Valley Frontiersman, Palin’s hometown newspaper.

a Democrat tasked with opposition research contacted the Huffington Post with this piece of information: as of this weekend, the McCain campaign had not gone through old newspaper articles from the Valley Frontiersman, Palin’s hometown newspaper.

How does he know? The paper’s (massive) archives are not online.

…. UPDATE: Some readers have noted that the Frontiersman website includes a small archive of stories about Palin. However, as our original source informed us, and a second Democratic researcher with access to the same records confirms, there have been hundreds of stories on Palin by the Frontiersman dating back over 15 years, only a handful of which are posted online.

To this day, some of Stein’s claims are not accurate, and his core premise is not proven. When he wrote his report, a search on “Palin” at the Frontiersman, as seen at my September 2, 2008 Pajamas Media column, returned 944 items dating back to 1998. Unless Mr. Stein’s hands are significantly different from other humans, that’s a lot more than a “handful.”

I contend but can’t prove that Stein had no idea that 944 items were visible when he wrote his report, even though it’s more than likely that he had access to this thing called the Internet at the time.

The comments at Stein’s column indicate that he made no correction to his demonstrably false report for at least eight days, a fact I also noted on September 8.

Based on the time stamp at Stein’s piece, it appears that his post was last updated on October 1, 2008, 31 days after its original appearance. Apparently between September 8 and and October 1, he posted two updates (without indicating himself when he did it). The “LATE LATE UPDATE” addresses the Frontiersman archive issue — sort of:

LATE LATE UPDATE: As a few commenters have noted, an incomplete archive of Frontiersman stories mentioning Palin is available on the web here. This database includes more than the “handful” of articles we mentioned above, and while we regret not posting a link to it earlier, it is far from comprehensive. Palin was elected to the Wasilla city council in 1992, and was mayor from 1996-2002. Yet the Frontiersman’s web archive includes zero stories mentioning Palin from 1992-1997, just one article from 1998, three articles from 1999, six articles from 2000, and 13 from 2001. By 2002, the number of stories available online jumps to 51. The facts of our original story remain the same: despite presenting the selection of Sarah Palin “as one made after a careful, meticulous vetting process,” the McCain campaign did not go through “old newspaper articles from the Valley Frontiersman,” because “the paper’s (massive) archives are not online.” But it would have been more precise to say “not fully online.” Moreover, as we reported, a reliable Democratic source claims to have been told he was the first to access the complete archives; neither the Frontiersman staff nor the McCain campaign have challenged this point.

That excuse-making exercise simply doesn’t cut it:

• Mr. Stein never established that McCain campaign did or didn’t go through the online archive.
• Mr. Stein never established the scope of the reportage about Palin that is not online, and how it compares to what is.
• Unless he contacted the McCain campaign directly when he wrote his “Late Late Update,” his assertion that the “McCain campaign hasn’t challenged this point” is a pathetically passive attempt at “proof” that proves nothing.
• Thus, Stein still has NOT proven that the “McCain Camp Didn’t Search Palin’s Hometown Paper Archives.” Yet the unsupported headline remains. Propaganda mission accomplished, it would appear.

Separately and more importantly, as Rich Noyes of NewsBusters noted on October 15 of last year, Huffington Post was part of the herd that posted “quotes allegedly from Rush Limbaugh declaring that slavery ‘had its merits’ and that the assassin of Martin Luther King, Jr. deserved the Medal of Honor.” Ultimately, the author could not substantiate the quotes and HuffPo removed them.

There’s only one problem: The item in question had been up, lies and all, for over three years, since July of 2006. The rest of Jack Huberman’s hateful screed, complete with other quotes that may also not stand up to scrutiny, remains.

Finally, there’s an October 29 item from Jeff Poor at NewsBusters. Jeff observed that in an interview with Keith Olbermann, Huffington “suggested (that Glenn) Beck’s alleged fear-mongering warrants an exemption from the First Amendment, otherwise known as the ‘shouting fire in a crowded theater’ precedent.”

Sorry, Andrew Breitbart: The Stein and Limbaugh sagas, along with Ms. Huffington’s apparent interest in censoring Glenn Beck, are not reflective of how an “honest broker of information” does business. 2-1/2 cheers it is.

Cross-posted at NewsBusters.org.

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BIZZYBLOG UPDATE, 3:15 p.m.: A NewsBusters commenter noted that Breitbart was saying that Huffington at launch was being honest about who she is and what she was trying to accomplish:

Breitbart’s point is that Huffington is honest about who and what she is (she announced the Huffington Post would be “the liberal Drudge Report” when she launched it), not that she’s a teller of truth.

But I get the point that she was “honest” about what she wanted to be, her on-balance dishonest result makes her and her site look more than a little bit foolish to anyone with more than a few ounces of sense, and that in embracing her, the establishment media makes it clearer than ever how in the tank they are for anything containing a leftist point of view.

In getting behind her, the establishment media is in essence telling us that letting a political reporter stand by some facts that were wrong for a month and others that he still won’t let go of is fine; propagating lies about Limbaugh in a column only deleting the Limbaugh lies, not the entire column, is fine; and telling us that we’d all be better off if Glenn Beck was silenced is fine. All of this serves to further compromise what little credibility the establishment media have left. So I guess I should be saying, “Thanks, Arianna.”

As to Drudge, while giving a nod to the relatively modest in quantity but usually impactful original investigative work he does, he’s primarily a somewhat agenda-driven aggregator. But his agenda isn’t left or right as much as it’s highlighting stories that many people, upon seeing them, believe should have gone further than they did. The fact that so many of them seem to lean right isn’t Drudge’s fault; it’s the fault of those who won’t push or pursue the good stories.

Huffington’s agenda is clearly left and, as demonstrated, less than truthful. Its aggregation almost seems to be an afterthought. Because of the demonstrated lack of commitment to the truth, apparently unbeknownst to her, her effort is already quite marginalized.