10/05/00 4:25 p.m.
Foersquare
Another Gail Sheehy error.

By NR's John J. Miller & Ramesh Ponnuru

ail Sheehy, the Vanity Fair writer who diagnosed George W. Bush with dyslexia, attacks Franklin Foer of The New Republic for a story that is critical of her journalism. "His article contains no fewer than 13 false statements," she writes in a column for the MSNBC website, even though she only bothers to cite three of the statements she considers false. Yet in doing so, she makes a false statement of her own: "It would seem particularly reckless of The New Republic to rush to publish a slapdash personal attack, having twice been exposed as printing complete fabrications by reporters Stephen Glass and Ruth Shalit."

It is true that The New Republic printed many Stephen Glass stories that turned out to be elaborate fictions — this was one of the most embarrassing incidents in modern journalism, and something that the magazine won't live down for many years. But Ruth Shalit was no Stephen Glass. Her stories may sometimes have gotten some facts wrong — as happens to all reporters — but she was never "exposed" for having written "complete fabrications." She was shown to have a penchant for plagiarism, a rather different kind of offense.

Of course, what Glass and Shalit did should have no bearing on Foer's work, which ought to be judged on its own merits. Sheehy changes the subject by invoking these names — and even then can't get her facts straight.

Foer's New Republic story may be read here.

Sheehy's MSNBC response is here.

It Keeps Growing, and Growing, and Growing...
The Club for Growth achieved another success on Tuesday in helping Ric Keller win the Republican nomination in Florida's 8th Congressional District. The Club, which supports candidates who favor lower taxes and smaller government, bundled contributions for Keller worth more than $150,000, plus ran radio and television ads in the district during his primary and run-off.

"Our highest priority is to defeat liberal Linda Chapin in the general election," said president Steve Moore, a contributing editor of NR. "The Club for the Growth urges all other organizations, including the National Republican Congressional Committee and the Republican Leadership Council, to join in the fight to elect Ric Keller."

Al Gore on Justice Scalia
Al Gore trashed Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia in the presidential debate on Tuesday night. What he didn't tell viewers is that he supported Scalia's nomination in 1986.

Here's what Gore said: "Governor Bush has declared to the anti-choice groups that he will appoint justices in the mold of Scalia and Clarence Thomas, who are known for being the most vigorous opponents of a woman's right to choose. .. And when the phrase that strict constructionist is used, and when the names of Scalia and Thomas are used as benchmarks for who would be appointed, those are code words and nobody should mistake this, for saying that the governor would appoint people who would overturn Roe v. Wade. I mean,just — it's very clear to me."

Next time, Bush should call him on this. One of the most embarassing moments for Bob Dole in the debates with President Clinton came when Dole criticized the judicial activism of Clinton's appointees, and Clinton replied by mentioning how Dole had voted to confirm so many of them.