The tragic mistake

Are you really one of these people, Ben?


I know there are more important stories than a 24 year old homeschooled git being hired to write for the WaPo, but the fact that he was hired says a lot about the Post and their approach to the internet. And that IS important.

First of all, the Washington Post.com editors clearly did not do due dilligence in researching Ben Domenech's public comments. Honestly, I had not heard of this guy until yesterday, but once I did, I was barraged with a sea of his writing and reposting which would have given me a clear picture of what this guy does. To call him immature would be kind.

His friends say he's a nice guy, I bet none of them are black. But this isn't about his personality. He could have unicorn posters and play with kittens and tie cute ribbons on them. But that doesn't mean that he's not a dangerous little prick who should not have a national forum in one of the nation's leading national newspapers. Not only is he arrogant, but that's hardly a crime at 24, but he's ignorant.

I mean, he's not a Southerner, he's from the DC area, but he's embraced the worst sterotypes of the region. A creationist, confederacy-loving racist who thinks Coretta Scott King is a communist. Most Southerners would be appaled by such views, white or black. I bet he takes day trips to the Museum of the Confederacy. The ONLY people who would say this are one sheet shy of a Klan outfit.

I have to wonder what he learned while being homeschooled, because it sounds like a bundle
full of hate to me. That post he put up from "First Events" is rephensible, even if he didn't write it. He certainly didn't object to it, nor did Krempasky. That kind of thing is usually reserved for Stormfront, but let's not fool ourselves. Krempasky is a consultant to America's largest corporation, Wal-Mart, as well as the RNC and Domenech now works for the Washington Post. These are not fringe players churning out anti-ZOG leaflets from their basement. These are no sheet wearing freaks burning crosses and cursing race traitors or looking to Matt Hale for guidance as they listen to Johnny Rebel and Skrewdriver.

Remember, Domenech is an alumus of William and Mary, as is Jon Stewart. This guy is not some marginal loon posting from mommy's basement.

The Washington Post seems to have hired him based on Dana Milbank's recommendation. If Milbank takes this guy seriously, he's a fool, if he suggested him in the way Harry Reid suggested Harriet Miers, he really hates his bosses. Because this is about to be a major embarassment for his employer.

Second, hiring Domenech shows how blind the WaPo editors are to their own future. Hiring a white, well, half-Latino racist, to a promenent position in their paper is insane. The WaPo needs to retain the support of the majority black community it serves, not just inside the district, but in the Maryland counties north of the city. As the black professionals leave the District for the safety of Maryland and increasingly Northern Virginia, and as the growing Asian and Latino base joins them, these are the most likely new customers for print subscriptions. What's more suburban than having home delivery of the newspaper.

But why would they read a paper who hires an open racist?

Aaron McGruder is a good example of the kind of reader the Post needs to cultivate. An Air Force brat who is an alumnus of the University of Maryland, he's obviously a young, well-eduated man with diverse interests. While he lives in LA now, his peers are the junior staff at federal agencies and companies like AOL and Summit Bank. Less doctrinare, well educated, they are highly likely to consume the Post in either print or online version. But not if it is home to racists.

The editors of the Post seem to think Washington hasn't changed in 20 years, that they are still selling the paper to whites, with a nod to blacks. But that isn't the case. I think the business side realizes it, but the editorial does not. If the Post was aware of what their future was, Domenech wouldn't have been within 50 feet of a blog.

It is not only an insult, but bad business to hire a writer of both virulent racism and striking immaturity, he's even slagged his collegues Froomkin and Milbank.

What exactly was the thinking here? That bloggers are all children who write nasty things? That we needed to pander to the right blogzombies and their friends? That they were short a few racists?

Whatever it was, the Post needs to be rid of him. Balancing a liberal with an out and out racist isn't anything like acceptable. He is simply unfit to have a national forum and the people who hired him should be ashamed of themselves.

posted by Steve @ 11:33:00 AM