WaPo Writer Calls Chalian Smear a 'Joke,' But Called Romney's Birther Joke a 'Comment'

August 29th, 2012 11:22 PM

Last night, Yahoo! News Washington Bureau Chief, David Chalian, slandered Romney by saying that the Republican nominee and his wife, Ann, were "happy to have a party with black people drowning."  These remarks were made during ABCNews.com's webcast of their coverage of the RNC convention.  As a result, Mr. Chalian has been fired by Yahoo!, but some liberal journalists aren't happy about it.

Gwen Ifill of the taxpayer-subsidized Public Broadcasting System (PBS) tweeted this today.

Washington Post writer Rachel Weiner, referred to his firing and his slander as a "joke" in her headline.  What's interesting is that when Mitt Romney made his birther joke last week, it was construed as a "comment" by The Washington Post.  

So, evil Republican Mitt Romney's joke is a serious "comment," but Chalian's egregious smear is considered a joke.  

Furthermore, Weiner's piece on Romney's "comment" was a paltry 131 words that ended with "Obama campaign spokesman Ben LaBolt said earlier Friday that the joke was Romney’s way of embracing “the most strident voices in his party instead of standing up to them.”  By contrast her story  lamenting Chalian's premature exit from Yahoo! was 277 words that ended with tweets of support from PBS's Gwen Ifill and the New Yorker's Ryan Lizza.  

Of course, members of the liberal media are upset.  They fired a man who dared to say what they only dared to think.

(H/T Barney Franken)