Not Larry Sabato Goes After Tim Craig

With a comment on BVBL, J. Geils sums up the whole story perfectly.

Have you no shame?

What is the point of this post? Why would this be of interest to “our elected officials in Richmond”? How can BVBL claim to know the specific details of the filming of this event and why should readers rely on his account?

This entire posting strikes me as a tad convenient. Consider the order of recent events. Key members of the Virginia Democratic blogosphere get their noses (not to mention their inflated egos and, potentially, their wallets) out of joint because Tim Craig writes a column questioning the wisdom of Judy Feder and Leslie Byrne in aligning themselves with some of those same bloggers as a strategy for victory. Then, Tribbett and Feld go after Craig. Next, Roll Call publishes a story naming the DCCC’s 40 top districts and Virginia doesn’t make the cut, thus reinforcing one of the points in Craig’s column. Since Tribbett and Feld can’t attack Craig directly based on his private life, they leave it to their favorite scribe in the Virginia Republican blogosphere, BVBL, to make the slam. Finally to make the smear complete, Tribbett links to BVBL from his blog so that everyone can read the even-if-true-irrelevant information.

Tim Craig is employed by the Washington Post. Although that publication has a liberal slant, it still has to adhere to journalistic standards that blogs such as BVBL, NotLarrySabato, and RaisingKaine do not. Craig is something that BVBL, NotLarrySabato, and RaisingKaine are not and will likely never be: a professional reporter. This posting, and what is fast becoming a cyberspace-food-fight against Tim Craig by NotLarrySabato and RaisingKaine, represents the kind of writing that discredits the blogs.

This all began because Craig wrote a column suggesting that Judy Feder and Leslie Byrne might face more of an uphill struggle than their enthusiastic supporters might realize. Even if there was something that justified highlighting an event in Craig’s life in an attempt to subject him to public ridicule (and I don’t think there is or ever could be), fulfilling the requirements of his employment by penning a column of basic political analysis certainly is not it.

Without even knowing for a fact whether that was Tim Craig or not, they put it on the internet claiming it is. And even if it is Tim Craig, who cares?

Tim Craig said it perfectly when he responded to a previous attack by Ben:

As for you assertion, it is laughable for you to lecture me or any member of the Richmond press corps on journalistic ethics.

Also, I'm not done with Chap's finance reports. When I get some time this weekend I'm going to look into it more.