James Risen: Someone Stop Those Horrible Bloggers!

This sure is a handy primer in what not to do when people criticize your newspaper story. (Some people on the Internet, which is not the New York Times, were very rough on James Risen’s Pentagon source-based Afghan minerals story, which got big play in the paper, even though it’s been known for years.) Here’s a pretty good breakdown on everything wrong with Risen saying that “bloggers are jerking off in their pajamas.” (For instance: “I am wearing a suit and heels right now, asshole.” Oh and also “the implication that people with criticism are making a fuss simply for the sake of making a fuss, not because of any substantive criticisms or problems with the original piece.”) Also, you know, one of those “bloggers” was Rachel Maddow, who ripped Risen a new one last night on the TV, and does not “jerk off” as she is a lady type person. Risen goes on though: “The thing that amazes me is that the blogosphere thinks they can deconstruct other people’s stories. Do you even know anything about me? Maybe you were still in school when I broke the NSA story, I don’t know. It was back when you were in kindergarten, I think.” Oh, buddy. You poor guy. I think this is a thing that everyone should just feel bad about and maybe agree to never mention maybe.