Right Idea, Wrong Blogger?

Earlier this week we praised the Washington Post for adding Red America, a blog designed to appeal to a segment of readers who might otherwise feel more than a little ignored by the Post. But Pajamas Media and Michelle Malkin look at charges that Ben Domenech, whom the Post chose to run their blog, earlier plagiarized passages from P.J. O’Rourke, and other authors.

In light of those charges, Domenech has resigned, but it sounds like Red America will continue with a different blogger. That won’t make Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA) happy: he’s demanding that the Post add a Blue America blog. The obvious rebuttal is, of course, isn’t most of the rest of the paper designed to appeal to Blue State-oriented readers? But I agree with Pete–the more proprietized media, the better.

Update: “Like Caesar’s wife, Mr. Domenech needed to be above suspicion to survive in that position. He wasn’t“.

Meanwhile, additional charges of copying start to fly…

Elsewhere, Bill Quick, Will Collier, and the Professor have some rather less silly thoughts on plagiarism and Big Journalism.

Update: Speaking of the Professor, he has an excellent suggestion for Domenech’s replacement:

Dave Price emails: “If not Bill Quick, why not Jeff Goldstein? The Left has already been about as abusive to him as they can be.” Yep. And it rolls right off. Plus, who could read Goldstein’s stuff and even imagine that it had been previously published?

Indeed^TM.

I’ll second (or third, or 2,423rd) that emotion. Sign ‘im up, Post!