The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

Your Irregular Rick Moran Update

Posted on | May 7, 2011 | 4 Comments

You may have asked yourself, “What’s Rick Moran been up to lately?”

Or perhaps you’re now asking yourself, “Who the heck is Rick Moran?”

Circa 2009, Smitty would occasionally kick Rick around a bit just for fun, but that was then and this is now, and Smitty’s found more lively amusement in Afghanistan lately. So in case you’re a longtime readers with a long memory who pines for the old days of Moran-bashing, here’s an update:

Thursday, when Obama visited Ground Zero, Jake Tapper of ABC News sent out this Tweet:

One minute to air and they decided to take the flag down from the live shot! http://twitpic.com/4tv4br

This created instant outrage among conservative bloggers, who interpreted Tapper’s message as saying that someone — the stage managers for Team Obama, perhaps with politically correct motives? — had decided to remove the U.S. flag from the background of the president’s appearance.

Au contraire, as it turns out that Tapper sent that message after the president had already come and gone from the Ground Zero site. What Tapper was complaining about was that workers cleaning up the site after Obama’s appearance had removed the flag right before the post-event “live shot” in which Tapper would be interviewed on-camera to give his report of the event.

In other words, the workers had deprived Tapper of the camera-friendly background he had hoped for — but this took place after the presidential event. The flag had been present throughout Obama’s Ground Zero appearance.

Meanwhile, however, the misunderstood Tweet caused a huge blow-up on the blogosphere, regrettably handing Oliver Willis of Media Matters a “nyah nyah” moment.

So where does Rick Moran fit into this narrative? During the flag brouhaha, Doug Ross had used the phrase “Marxist left” to describe Obama’s supporters. This led to a stern lecture by Moran, which Doug Ross describes for your edification.

Me? I had nothing to do with any of that.

My coverage of Obama’s appearance at Ground Zero was pre-empted by a much-needed nap. I get in less trouble that way.

You should hit my tip jar.

Category: Barack Obama, Doug Ross, Rick Moran

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