Friday, June 07, 2002

TAPPED says Kudos to Salon for running a critical piece on MWO, aside from its merits, on the basis that Salon has demonstrated that it is not a liberal or Democratic mouthpiece, or whatever.

Why is that a good thing? That whole notion pisses me off. First, the premise is ridiculous -- Salon has never been a Democratic mouthpiece - witness Jake Tapper's Gore reporting - and though I'll agree with the characterization that Salon is more liberal than the average media bear, this in no way implies that they have to keep fending off criticism by publishing contrarian pieces (and, Salon has always published a wide range of conservative writers...Sully...Horowitz...the ridiculous Norah...Crouch..etc..etc..). Liberals are always pressured into proving they're somehow "not like those other liberals." Screw that. The wingnuts will never be happy.

I'm not implying that Salon shouldn't be allowed to publish a critical piece on MWO, I'm just saying that they shouldn't be given points because of it. Their job is not to make the residents of the premier forum for American Conservatives or the Weekly Standard editorial board happy. Besides, they never will.