MSM: We Support Our Winter Soldiers

Not the troops broadly-- they're babykillers. The MSM supports the brave Winter Soldiers who admit they're babykillers, or claim their fellow soldiers are.

Michelle Malkin goes through a brief history of of anti-war fabulists, beginning with John "Jenjis Khan" Kerry and ending with Jesse MacBeth and Micah Wright. Odd how the media lavish such praise and attention on these particular soldiers.

PowerLine notes that TNR -- the pro-war TNR, according to Ross Douthat -- is pushing the idea that a soldier killed himself due to the horrors of war, despite not having much firm evidence in that regard. It should be noted that at least TNR here seems to have a soldier who made it to the battlefield before devleloping a welter of psychological defects. So maybe they're improving.

Confederate Yankee calls bullshit on Franklin Foer, and ticks down the long list of unlikely claims made by Scott Beauchamp, many of them mostly forgotten.

Bonus Link: A Beauchampian tale of the horrors miracles and wonderments of war, from someone on the right, who, like the rest of us, thinks things are "just perfect" in Iraq.

Thanks to Roland for that.

A bit more I have no link for -- I read this, not sure where. (Probably Confederate Yankee.) Beauchamp is now free to talk to people about all of this; the investigation is concluded, so the gag order is off. He is under administrative discipline, it seems, losing his computer and cell phone privileges, but he is apparently still able to call home, as Franklin Foer claims Beauchamp stated he told investigators nothing that contradicts his previous claims.

So let's hear it all. Let's hear him specifically repeat and re-certify all his previous claims were true.

He ain't gonna do that, of course. Because they're not true and claiming again they are would not only be a lie in itself, but would conflict with his signed retraction.

I don't think I have to point out the obvious and note that Beauchamp is almost certainly lying to Foer; he told the military the truth -- he wildly exaggerated -- but obviously now has to face the great embarrassment of confessing to his wife's boss he lied to him and exposed his magazine to ridicule. So he claims, without providing details, that nothing he told the investigators contradicts anything he wrote.

As Bryan and Allah noted, it's a no-brainer to lie to Franklin Foer. First, of course, Beauchamp's had ample practice at it and knows Foer is an easy mark who wants to believe the con. But in addition, there is no disciplinary downside to lying to Foer, unlike lying to the army investigators, who could punish him -- criminally -- for lying during an investigation. In fact, lying to Foer is all upside -- it allows Foer to continue lying on Beauchamp's behalf, leaves Beauchamp with a scrap of a hope of a far-away dream of integrity, and of course avoids the dreaded situation in which Frank has to tell Ellie her husband is a liar.

It occurs to me -- randomly -- that Chuck Lane had multiple confirmations for Stephen Glass' stories, all made by phone. Ultimately it turned out all these confirmations were either by Stephen Glass or Stephen Glass' brother, playing games with the phones, pretending to be other people.

Just sayin'. When you're on the phone, who knows who you're talking to?

posted by Ace at 12:21 PM

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