After discussing on the Washington Post website how he’s an atheist who’s enjoyed recreational drugs and who giggles at calling hemorrhoids "asteroids," Washington Post Magazine editor Gene Weingarten truly offers too much of a peek into his soul. He suggests murderous Cambodian tyrant Pol Pot and Vice President Cheney are somehow morally equivalent. Weingarten also writes a humor column in the weekly magazine, which raises this question about the Cheney-like-Pol Pot thing: Is Weingarten failing at being a humorist? Or is he really lost in a bottomless pit of moral obtuseness?
Believe it or not, the line about Cheney surfaces in a discussion about peevish people who get extremely angry over bumper scratches on their cars:
Money talks: Maybe people don't want their cars scratched because they want to trade them in or sell them someday. A few scratches or dings can take hundreds of dollars off the re-sale value of a car. Someone leaning their seat back will not cost you hundreds of dollars. You are wrong on this one. I don't hit bumpers and I partially recline my seat on airplanes, this does not make me a bad person.
Gene Weingarten: Yep, the reclining does make you a bad person. Not evil like Pol Pot or Dick Cheney, but inconsiderate.
I need to say this again: No one should try to hit another's bumper. But bumper bumpage is a part of life. Yawn and get on with it. Here's the best way I can summarize it: I'd rather have a beer with someone who doesn't care if his bumper gets a slight dimple than with someone who cares deeply about this.
Even PBS holds Pol Pot responsible for a million deaths in Cambodia. The Washington Post has published book reviews with estimates from 1.5 million to 1.7 million deaths under Pol Pot. How does Weingarten square that with (no doubt) the Iraq war?
But he'll no doubt claim it was only a joke. But it wasn't funny -- or in any way accurate.
(Hat tip: Tom Johnson)
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.
Editor at Large
Comments Policy
I'm offended by his humor!!
January 23, 2008 - 17:58 ET by UndercoverConservativeCall Jackson and Sharpton. I want this guy's career hung out to dry...then I want him to pay for a vacation for me to go and have him personally kiss my @ss..and then he's gotta pay a "fine" into the conservative cause of my choice!
no, wait, it doesn't work that wy? I thought there was "equality"? Or is that the whole "some are more equal than others" thing again?
Tim, you know there are
January 23, 2008 - 18:05 ET by Chris NormanTim, you know there are going to be people writing here that the guy was just making a joke (Calling Balboa. Come in, Balboa.) and didn't literally equate Cheney to Pol Pot. To which should be replied, well, he apparently is comfortable using their names interchangeably. For the Left, Bush and Cheney are icons of evil, along with Hitler and Atilla the Hun. I'm just surprised that someone on the Left admits that Pol Pot was evil. They pushed that fact under the rug for years...
Balbozo is busy conconcting an excuse...
January 23, 2008 - 18:07 ET by Guy Arthur ThomasBalbozo is busy concocting an excuse for sure...but give it some time and no doubt the Balbozo will appear fresh from Apologylooza Central.
Shut up and blog! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal. Go Rudy!
The Crybaby Boomer Generation Personafied
January 23, 2008 - 18:11 ET by Guy Arthur ThomasGene Weingarten really is the personafication of the Crybaby Boomer Generation. It sould have been a junior high schooler uttering such immature intimations, unfortunately it was an adult. What a genuinely pathetic state we are in when national news organizations tolerate, even without apology, such gross self-aborbing sanctimony. Of course it is hidden behind the excuse of humor. Can anyone say "Lynch"? Oh I see, that doesn't count, the wrong person was offended.
Yes, I expect such nonsense from ranting college protestors hoping to raise the bar of rebel rhetoric so they can get some attention for a few minutes. From such I am not surprise, on either side of the line. But this from Weiny with the excuse it is humor? God save us already from this d@manable Crybaby Boomer Generation! Next please!
Shut up and blog! If you claim to be a conservative, please don't disgrace yourself and conservatism by thinking and arguing like a liberal. Go Rudy!
This is really offensive!
January 23, 2008 - 18:30 ET by c5thenLiberal logic seems to be: Anyone I dislike is evil. All evil people are the same, therefore anyone I dislike equals any other evil person.
The day that "politician" became a career choice is the day we started losing the Republic. Let's get it back! Alan Keyes '08.
Well, at least Cheney wasn't in office during the Clinton era of
January 23, 2008 - 18:31 ET by Gary Hallblack death.
Somalia. ??
Rwanda - 800,000 dead. Here's an intersting read: Bystanders to Genocide
Sierra Leaone - 60,000 dead: Think "Blood Diamond." Perhaps Clinton and mining connections?
Ivory Coast - 50,000 dead. "Shirt sleeves or short sleeves?"
Democratic Republic of the Congo - 4 1/2 million dead. Started in 1998, just after someone said, "never again." This book might make an interesting read: "Genocide in the Congo (Zaire): In the Name of Bill Clinton, and of the Paris Club, and of the Mining Conglomerates, So It Is!" I'm sure that it was on the Times best seller list.
Afghanistan - 60,000 dead. We knew what was going on in the late 90's. OK, so Clinton pulled his support for the Oil Pipeline across the country - but what did we do to stop the Taliban from taking control and inflicting horrid human suffering on the people, especially women?
Cheney's looking like a saint, compared to the last president.
Well, you know, the Hitler
January 23, 2008 - 20:05 ET by motherbeltWell, you know, the Hitler comparison is SO last year; besides it's been "done to death" with the President. They had to plow new ground....
I never promised you a Whine Garten
January 23, 2008 - 20:27 ET by Jack BauerYeah, well it's easy not to give a crap about someone else's property, when this is the shit heep he drives...
Who wants to share a beer with this guy?
He sound like the a-hole who never buys a round, gets you into a bar-fight, then runs off and leaves you to fend for yourself, but not before puking all over your nice new suit.
True
January 23, 2008 - 20:38 ET by general companyHe sound like the a-hole who never buys a round, gets you into a bar-fight, then runs off and leaves you to fend for yourself, but not before puking all over your nice new suit.
No doubt, Id like to slap the snot out of both of them.
"Always do right. This will gratify some people, and astonish the rest". Mark Twain
It's so like the left to
January 23, 2008 - 22:12 ET by rbosqueIt's so like the left to wildly exaggerate death counts just to score political points with the mindless drones who support them. The truth really is the first casualty of war.
rbo,
January 23, 2008 - 22:19 ET by JABCorrection needed on: "The truth really is the first casualty of war."
See: "The truth is the first casualty!" when the MSM or Dim's are involved.
"Too bad Ignorance isn't painful..."
Tit for tat?
February 1, 2008 - 17:18 ET by tarunkjuyalTim, when are you going to be commenting on this (not even intended to be read as humor) comment by Hinderaker?
"I don't view this as an argument in Romney's favor. As President, he
wouldn't be dealing with honorable, law-abiding businesspeople. He
would be going up against the Vladimir Putins, Osama bin Ladens and
Harry Reids of the world."
Linked here: http://www.powerline...
Oh, right, you only comment on "liberal media bias". It makes no difference that Weingarten is a humor columnist, not a political pundit, writing in an informal chat, whereas Hinderaker is an influential political pundit.
→ Dear junkintrunk
February 1, 2008 - 17:22 ET by Cool ArrowI agree. That quote is an unforgiveable insult to both Putin and Bin Ladin.
♣ a seal
My error on Pol Pot
February 2, 2008 - 14:02 ET by geneweingartenTim, I just wanted you to know that I have researched the subject more fully and have concluded that a strong case can be made that Pol Pot was worse than Cheney. I should have been more careful, and I regret the error. I'd like to compliment you and NewsBusters in general for setting the record straight on this important subject.
Gene Weingarten,
The Washington Post