An Open Letter to Eugene Volokh

Dear Professor Volokh:

I am writing concerning your recent blog entry regarding Cynthia McKinney being misquoted, and that misquote receiving wide notice.

You indicate that many media outlets have reported that Ms. McKinney said "In no other country on the planet do so many people have so little as they do in this country," whereas, in actual fact, she said "In no other rich democracy on this planet do so many people have so little."

Further, you state "Moreover, to my knowledge not a single other blogger, including those on the Left who might have been ideologically interested in pursuing the errors of the conservative media, picked up on this point."

I want to assure you, that while I am certainly not a left-wing blogger (despite being called a leftie-libertarian by one of those online tests), that I certainly paid a great deal of attention to this issue. I watched with awe as day after day, you sent one letter after another to various bloggers and real media outlets.

I did not cover this issue on this blog, 'tis true. However, that was not done out of a lack of interest, or because of any animus towards Ms. McKinney.

Rather, it was because you were doing it so well, that I thought that any intrusion on my part would be misconstrued as attempting to co-opt or hijack your righteous campaign.

I truly applaud your efforts. I am amazed that you would spend one or two hours reviewing Ms. McKinney's CSPAN appearance. I commend your work, and I wish that you would do more of it, so that mere fourth-tier bloggers such as myself are not required to do so. In fact, at a future date, I shall nominate you for my Lonewacko Award for Meritorious Work for the Blogosphere. (Actual award title may change depending on whether I can get Bill Quick's permission to use the word 'Blogosphere', which, as all of us in said blogosphere know, he coined.)

Yours,

Major Lonewacko (Ret.)

Bloggage · Mon, 02/10/2003 - 12:38 · · Importance: 1