Kerry Spot    [ jim geraghty reporting ]
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Arrrrgh.

I don't listen to National Public Radio much - mostly because I don't listen to the radio much, period.

But a reader emailed in that NPR - which apparently cannot understand why conservatives keep accusing it of having a liberal bias - decided to feature regular interviews with an undecided "swing voter."

They selected NPR contributor John Ridley, who apparently reports about comic books and pop culture. Hey, no problem. Seems like a good guy.

So you listen to the interview with him, and he doesn't really seem like a guy who is quite so undecided. When discussing the CBS memo controversy, he says, "We have this memogate thing that has come up in the last week with George Bush. For me that's a wash, because we don't know if those memos were real."

Pal, I gotta ask you, just what the heck do you have to see to be persuaded they aren't the real deal?

Then, while talking about how he doesn't want to hear about Vietnam, he says, "The same thing with Kerry, with this Swift Boat Veterans for Truth, which is about the most venerable organization since NBA Stars for Marital Fidelity."

Ha, ha, ha. Hey, the Swifties may not have gotten everything right - and they probably got into a tactical error of getting into a he-said, he-said fight over whether Kerry was being shot at while pulling Rassmann out of the water - but a lot their stuff has checked out, and they sure as heck exposed Kerry on the "Christmas in Cambodia" thing. "Unfit for Command" has a lot of supporting testimony and seems like an awfully solid argument.

But hey, Ridley's just another undecided voter, right? A guy who will be voting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where he lives and who also works in Los Angeles.

So you check out OpenSecrets.org to look for political donations under his name, and you see:

JOHN RIDLEY LOS ANGELES, CA SELF EMPLOYED 3/23/2004

Amount donated: $500
Recipient: John Kerry

I recognize there is a slim chance that this is another John Ridley, in the same city, who is also self-employed.

But — presmuing these are the same guy — I'm sorry, did NPR just announce and organize a feature about the views of an "undecided" voter and pick a guy who gave $500 to John Kerry?

Do you recall my quote from Richard Belzer's Detective Munch yesterday? Where he yells at a stupid criminal for using an unconvincing lie, and accuses him of saving up "the good lies" for another cop? Then he commands, "Don't you ever lie to me like I'm Montel Williams!"

NPR, STOP TREATING ME LIKE MONTEL WILLIAMS ! I AM NOT MONTEL WILLIAMS!

UPDATE: Several readers report that NPR Ombudsman Jeffrey Dvorkin has replied to them, graciously and politely, and he said that NPR is looking into whether this is the same John Ridley, and that the show's producers are going to address the matter if it is.

[Posted 09/17 02:20 PM]