Ben Domenech, Wingnut Welfare Recipient

Ben Domenech was recruited several years ago as a Washington Post affirmative-action hire: They needed a conservative blogger to balance...uh, I guess to balance journalism that conservatives didn't like. Ben was then revealed as a serial plagiarist and had to resign this position.

So what happened? CBS News hired the guy. They wanted to outdo CNN, I guess. CNN, of course, had hired Eric "Gimme my wife's shotgun and I'll point it at them thar census workers, pardner!" Erickson. How can CBS outdo the conservative crazy? By bringing in a winger with less ethics than Erickson, I guess.

Benjy delivered the goods, repeating a rumor that potential supreme court nominee Elena Kagan is a lesbian. I'm on Team Who-Gives-A-Shit-If-She's-Gay. The White House denies she's gay. While I don't want to assume anything on Mr. Domenech's part, I'm sure he was aware that his right-wing readers might have certain opinions (possibly negative) about a big ol' lezzo on the Surpreme Court.

Now little Benjy's trying to talk his way out of trouble. As in: "Sure, it was a rumor! But...but...I talked to people! And I care about gay rights. Don't you?"

August J. Pollack:

So, let's recap, CBS. You went ahead and:

1. Hired someone whom you were aware of (proven) allegations he was a liar,
2. Hired someone who was fired by another place to "maintain journalistic integrity,"
3. Hired someone who required another major news outlet to remind itself they have to "verify its news and opinion content is sourced completely and accurately."

And lo and behold, you got someone who offered a shoddy and pointless lie that pretty much places CBS's "journalistic integrity" on the level of TMZ.com.

Walter Cronkite. He used to work for you.

Just... you know, throwing that out there.

I so want to hear what Olbermann and Maddow have to say about all this.

(Via Oliver Willis.)