Ben Domenech's Best Clips?
So I wrote to Jim Brady of washingtonpost.com, asking for some examples of clips by Ben Domenech--you know, the clips that so impressed Brady that he hired Domenech in spite of his obvious deficits. I haven't gotten an answer. Somehow I don't think I well.
So I am turning to you, gentle readers. Do any of you have examples of writing by Ben Domenech that you would call "good" or "insightful" or "incisive"? If so, please send them along.
Dear Mr. Brady:
I am trying to get my mind around the bizarre and sorry story of Ben Domenech, and you know an important piece of it that I don't. I hope that you can help me.
I cannot understand why somebody like Ben Domenech--somebody who regards Jefferson Davis as a lover of America and Coretta Scott King as a communist--would possibly be regarded as a suitable hire for washingtonpost.com. Somebody so out of touch with basic American values, so mean-spirited, of such bad judgment.... It would seem predictable that the odds were very good that he would prove a source of great embarrassment and humiliation, even if it was not clear how beforehand.
Add to this the fact that how Mr. Domenech carries himself reminds Glenn Reynolds that he just can't call himself a conservative if Domenech is one http://instapundit.com/archives/001261.php and that more than three years ago Tom Maguire strongly suspected Mr. Domenech of making stuff up http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2002/07/i_like_to_think.html, and the decision to hire Mr. Domenech becomes well-nigh incomprehensible.
Surely there must be--somewhere in Mr. Domenech's record--some amazingly powerful good points: some clips of absolutely dazzling quality that blew the socks off you and your colleagues, and made you overlook Mr. Domenech's extraordinary and obvious deficits.
What were these clips of his that so impressed you? Could you please point me to them? If you can, it would be very helpful.
If you can't, that would be very helpful too, in a different way. I'm told that the betting in the print Post's newsroom is that this was a pure nepotism hire--with the value of exposure to Mr. Domenech's readers or its effect on the reputation of the Post the last thing on decision makers' minds.
Yours,
Brad DeLong
