He's never got the facts. Which is how he writes about the traumas of a combat veteran who may have killed some people in the US -- even though it appears the service member is not, in fact, a combat veteran. If you're a professional reporter -- and Greg's the editor of Editor & Publisher, you're supposed to nail down those facts before you type your first word. It's how he posts a video he recommends -- even though, as Rebecca pointed out earlier this week, it can't pass the most basic of fact checks.
Like many a crazed zealot, he thinks it's okay to lie about people he disagrees with. That's how he comes to display this ad:
and to write this to go with it: "The Moonie paper, already beset by firings and departure of top editor -- see NYT piece today -- chose to run this ad related to Obama's birth--in Africa."
Can you read? If so, you're already ahead of Greggie. Can you tell the truth? Look at the ad and tell us where it says Barack Obama was born in Africa?
It doesn't say that.
It never says that.
Greg Mitchell's a f**king idiot whose desire to disgrace himself is now starting to rub off on journalism. The ad is by a group which asserts that due to a number of factors (including Barack Obama Senior being a citizen of Kenya which was under British rule) that Barack's birth in the US didn't make him "a natural born citizen." They are asserting that he holds dual citizenship and that he is not qualified by Constitutional interpretations to be president.
You can maintain that they're right or that they're wrong. But you can't assert that the ad proclaims Barack Obama Jr. was born in Africa when it argues no such thing.
Greg Mitchell's supposed to be professional journalist.
He can't even post an ad to his blog and write a single sentence without making a glaring error -- an error so glaring that he's either a complete idiot or he's a liar.
For the record, political speech is protected and if The Washington Times had taken an ad by someone claiming Barack was born on the Moon, we wouldn't have a problem with it. But the fact of the matter is Greg Mitchell is attacking a paper for taking a political ad and to make sure he 'wins' the argument, he has to lie about what the advertisement says. He's a real piece of work. We picture him wondering through the house whining, "My Smurf's itching."
In the meantime laugh that the man, who could so easily lie last week, once said, "But I think the tone of all our coverage on Iraq -- in fact, all our coverage on all subjects -- is not to be partisan or not to be left or right or anything like that. But we believe in the -- what should be the main principle of journalism, besides being accurate and fair, is to be skeptical -- To raise questions, to not take what officials say as the gospel truth -- unless it’s really proven -- if there's documents."
