Good point Ed. I wonder what companies and organizations Keene’s columns have been sold to and how many others than Fedex have rejected the offer?

edshepp on July 20, 2009 at 8:04 PM

And GENUINE conservatives wonder how people like Olympia Snowe and Arlen Specter get elected as Republicans???

John Ziegler, the executive producer of the documentary, Media Malpractice…How Obama Got Elected and Palin Was Targeted, was kicked out of Western CPAC today. Before Ziegler had to leave, Jim Hoft, the Gateway Pundit, talked with him about his inte…

Even your small fire is explainable on the basis that the reference to The Hill column could’ve been more biographical (how else to sell the effectiveness of a writer?) than an offer to post something in that publication.

Am I allowed to quote myself? Forgive me, though, if I seem to be holding water for someone I don’t know from Adam. I just think there was a rush to judgment here. This is what makes conservative blogging so treacherous: staying on top of a 24-hour “chicken little” news cycle while keeping one’s cool and allowing the truth to sort itself out. I know you have to keep a web count up, Ed, but it’s important to be careful or to at least be humble if you overreach on a story.

(I’ve done it too–though 20% has been a full time job “on the side” and 20% following Hot Air’s lead–so maybe you’re rubber and I’m glue here.)

According to Politico, the American Conservative Union attempted to get Federal Express to pay millions of dollars to engage the ACU on their behalf over a political fight with UPS on legislation under consideration on Capitol Hill.

Only on your first update did you ask, in passing, “and why was Whitfield offering Keene’s column for sale in the first place?”

You then proceeded to cite an NRO column which itself indulged in a fair amount of speculation, but speculation regarding ACU’s adherence to political influence over conservative principles. But that’s no different than the usual conservative complaint about the Republican Party.

Face it, you were happy to lead with smoke, which then yielded at most a small fire. (It was very Fox News of you–not that I don’t like FN, I just know they’re over the top.)

Even your small fire is explainable on the basis that the reference to The Hill column could’ve been more biographical (how else to sell the effectiveness of a writer?) than an offer to post something in that publication.

You complain that no explanation was offered regarding this particular detail, yet that’s how leftists score points on conservatives all the time. It’s hard to correct the record with facts when the accusations are all over the place.

Every other main point was addressed by Mr. Keene. Maybe you need to go his way a bit and indulge rather than indict.

Maintaining your position and asking for funding isn’t that big a deal, and when you tailor your priorities to support constituents who support you I still don’t think it’s that big of a deal as long as you aren’t shifting your position based on whose support you can get.

Ed, if you done the same investigation yourself and focused in on the more nuanced (and far less egregious) “hint” of impropriety regarding Mr. Keene’s column, you would have spared a considerable amount of misinformation being spread among conservatives.

cackcon on July 20, 2009 at 6:34 PM

Sorry, I don’t buy it. The ACU was selling their program with an explicit sweetener of having Keene promote their cause through “op-eds and articles”. That’s pay-for-play, unless a disclaimer of their relationship would be included — and I doubt The Hill would have allowed Keene to have something like that published. And I note that this is the one point Keene doesn’t address in this lengthy response.

David Keene

Now offering a “real girlfriend experience”.

That’s all.

Ed, if you done the same investigation yourself and focused in on the more nuanced (and far less egregious) “hint” of impropriety regarding Mr. Keene’s column, you would have spared a considerable amount of misinformation being spread among conservatives.

Get out, Keene. Hit the road and don’t come back.

We have enough lack or morality in American leftism. There is no room for it in American Conservatism.

The clues, I have them.