The Daily Howler

The Daily Howler really is a must-read information source. Bob Somerby’s been doing for years what Media Matters’ David Brock just got a two million dollar grant to do: monitor the media and point out the inanities therein. It’s dirty work and every once in a while I wonder if (when?) Somerby will snap. If he does, it will probably be the next time a noted liberal pundit or reporter accuses Al Gore of having claimed to invented the internet:

By the way, a closing question: Why do you only hear from THE HOWLER about scribes of low caliber like Green? Readers, why don’t you write to Marshall, Alterman, Drum and Brock and ask if it’s OK with them when garbage like this keeps getting printed? Frankly, we’re tired of pointing these matters out while the web’s career typists look away, behaving fraternally as colleagues trash your interests and make an ongoing joke of your lives. And no, we aren’t kidding–we really do mean it. Ask them directly why they never seem to speak up about garbage like this. Why do they happily beat up on cons, but stand by silent when it comes to the [Joshua] Greens? They and their publications sat silently by while the War Against Gore put George Bush in the White House. Don’t you ever want to ask why they’re so mild, even now?

What did Green write that was so bad? In addition to initially writing that Al Gore claimed to have invented the internet, Green wrote this in response to a reader’s letter to the editor accusing Green of disingenuity:

Joshua Green replies:

Nonsense. Gore’s saying that he “took the initiative in creating the Internet” is akin to my suggesting that because I paid my taxes I took the initiative in balancing the federal budget–a considerable exaggeration.

Green’s analogy might have some merit, if his name were, say, Gramm or Rudman. As it stands, read Somerby’s full report today to see Green handily dismantled.

AB