Sunday, May 21, 2006
Jason Leopold accused of sock puppetry
A discredited politicized hack on his way to the Weekly World News, investigative fabulist Jason Leopold apparently has taken to promoting himself under pseudonyms. The industrious Patterico links to two accounts of sock puppet evidence. It's the usual story -- favorable comments supposedly made by another person were sent from IP addresses used by Leopold.
The Daily Kos commentator Patterico linked to showed the right amount of concern and sympathy. Concern that Leopold's many deceptions and inaccuracies will make those who believe him look foolish. Sympathy that Leopold has suffered from mental illness and substance abuse. The trouble, is, Leopold has not fully admitted everything he's done. He's glossed over his fabrications and blamed those such as Salon.com who he hurt with his unsubstantiated stories. Leopold is still trying to manipulate people, has not come to terms with reality, so his self-destructive behavior continues.
Leopold's train wreck of a career should have warned those at Truthout.org, the liberal political site, to be skeptical. As long as Leopold holds to his absurd conspiracy theories about how Salon and the New York Times, among others, treated him badly, he should not be trusted. Leopold is responsible for his own fall. Leopold's posturing in his new book "News Junkie" as performing acts of journalistic heroism are sad delusions:
"In NEWS JUNKIE, the cutthroat worlds of journalism, politics, and high finance are laid bare by Jason Leopold, whose addictive tendencies led him from a life of drug abuse and petty crime to become an award-winning investigative journalist who exposed some of the biggest corporate and political scandals in recent American history."
(self-congratulatory blather omitted)
"In the end, News Junkie shows how a man once fueled by raging fear and self-hatred transforms his life, regenerated by love, sobriety and a new, harmonious career with the independent media."
Reality: Jason Leopold has discredited himself with the mainstream media, so he hooked up with a bunch of lefty types who value political correctness over accuracy. Leopold hasn't been transformed at all. He's not regenerated, he's degenerated, and has yet to touch bottom.
I was harsh on Michael Hiltzik, the LA Times writer who confessed to sock puppetry. But compared to Jason Leopold, Hiltzik is the second coming of Edward R. Murrow.
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The Daily Kos commentator Patterico linked to showed the right amount of concern and sympathy. Concern that Leopold's many deceptions and inaccuracies will make those who believe him look foolish. Sympathy that Leopold has suffered from mental illness and substance abuse. The trouble, is, Leopold has not fully admitted everything he's done. He's glossed over his fabrications and blamed those such as Salon.com who he hurt with his unsubstantiated stories. Leopold is still trying to manipulate people, has not come to terms with reality, so his self-destructive behavior continues.
Leopold's train wreck of a career should have warned those at Truthout.org, the liberal political site, to be skeptical. As long as Leopold holds to his absurd conspiracy theories about how Salon and the New York Times, among others, treated him badly, he should not be trusted. Leopold is responsible for his own fall. Leopold's posturing in his new book "News Junkie" as performing acts of journalistic heroism are sad delusions:
"In NEWS JUNKIE, the cutthroat worlds of journalism, politics, and high finance are laid bare by Jason Leopold, whose addictive tendencies led him from a life of drug abuse and petty crime to become an award-winning investigative journalist who exposed some of the biggest corporate and political scandals in recent American history."
(self-congratulatory blather omitted)
"In the end, News Junkie shows how a man once fueled by raging fear and self-hatred transforms his life, regenerated by love, sobriety and a new, harmonious career with the independent media."
Reality: Jason Leopold has discredited himself with the mainstream media, so he hooked up with a bunch of lefty types who value political correctness over accuracy. Leopold hasn't been transformed at all. He's not regenerated, he's degenerated, and has yet to touch bottom.
I was harsh on Michael Hiltzik, the LA Times writer who confessed to sock puppetry. But compared to Jason Leopold, Hiltzik is the second coming of Edward R. Murrow.
