The New Republic Finally Folds

By John

It is now clear that somewhere along the way, TNR stopped acting in good faith and started doing damage control. They cited a Bradley expert who purportedly confirmed that the vehicle could be operated as Beauchamp described. But when Bob Owens tracked down said expert, BAE spokesmen Doug Coffey, he denied making any such statement, saying that TNR had mischaracterized his comments and that the editors had never shown him Beauchamp's stories. He added that having read the stories, they were indeed "suspicious," and that he did not believe the Bradley could be operated as described. TNR never acknowledged Coffey’s later statements or its apparent misrepresentation of his earlier statement.

And then came our report that Scott Beauchamp was no longer standing by his stories. The editors at TNR responded to this report by insinuating that THE WEEKLY STANDARD was not a credible source. They also accused the Army of "stonewalling" and preventing them from speaking with their author. That was on August 10. Bob Owens subsequently reported that TNR spoke to Beauchamp on September 7--the transcript now posted on Drudge--but TNR never returned to the subject, despite their claims of a "commitment to the truth" in that August 10 statement.

Goldfarb keeps thanking the milbloggers for the help in myth-busting this turd, but we're the ones who are grateful. Beauchamp slandered all of us with his S&M military fantasies, all to promote a writing career that wouldn't have gone anywhere even if this crap won him a pultizer (lies aside, he's an awful writer). So thanks to Mike and Bob Owens for their aggressiveness.

I'm expecting radio silence from the anti-war bloggers who so desperately wanted to believe Beauchamp's stories. It's not that I really care about being right or wrong here, I just want them to wise up. Jim Massey, Jesse MacBeth, Daniel Coburn, and now "Scott Thomas".... how many times is the anti-war movement going to be fooled before they catch a clue? Every time one of these idiots crawls out of the woodwork, anti-war bloggers and activists blindly rush to defend them without the slightest consideration for whether or not their stories are true.

So look, I don't care about them admitting they were wrong or apologies or any of that crap. I just want them to stop and acknowledge the fact that they're 0-4... that they've bet on the loser each time... and that next time (and there will be a next time, as long as people heroize these phonies) maybe they could hold back their eagerness to confirm all their fantasies about Bushitler's stormtrooper military, and reserve judgment until someone can actually verify the accusations.

October 25, 2007 01:40 AM Moonbattery