When Patrick Pexton Was Ombudsman of the Washington Post, Representing Its Readers, Why Didn't He Tell the Post to Fire Jennifer Rubin Then?
Since this is what Pexton concluded when he was ombudsman, wasn't it his job--what he was being handsomely paid to do--plus his moral responsibility to the readers he was purporting to represent--to say this then?
It takes a lot, believe me, to feel any sympathy for WaPo blogger Jennifer Rubin. But Lord have mercy…. Patrick Pexton to the Post’s new owner, Jeff Bezos…
Have Fred Hiatt… fire opinion blogger Jennifer Rubin. Not because she’s conservative, but because she’s just plain bad. She doesn’t travel within a hundred miles of Post standards. She parrots and peddles every silly right-wing theory to come down the pike in transparent attempts to get Web hits. Her analysis of the conservative movement, which is a worthwhile and important beat that the Post should treat more seriously on its national pages, is shallow and predictable…. And she is often wrong, and rarely acknowledges it. She was oh-so-wrong about Mitt Romney, week after week writing embarrassing flattery about his 2012 campaign… guaranteeing that he would trounce Barack Obama. When he lost, the next day she savaged him and his campaign with treachery, saying he was the worst candidate with the worst staff, ever. She was wrong about the Norway shootings being acts of al-Qaida. She was wrong about Chuck Hagel being an anti-Semite. And does she apologize? Nope. Rubin was the No. 1 source of complaint mail about any single Post staffer while I was ombudsman…. Thinking conservatives didn’t like her, thinking moderates didn’t like her, government workers who knew her arguments to be unfair didn’t like her. Dump her like a dull tome on the Amazon Bargain Books page.
Why oh why can't we have a better press corps?
