Perhaps not. A key point in Jeff Jacoby’s column on “liberal hate speech” is his assertion — based on a Washington Times account — that Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele, a conservative Republican who’s African-American, was once pelted with Oreo cookies. (You know, black on the outside, white on the inside.)
But did it happen? Here’s what the Baltimore Sun reported on Nov. 15:
Various versions have been given over the past three years, but some Democrats question whether cookies were actually tossed….
News reports from the night of the Sept. 26 debate make no mention of cookies. The first reference came five days later in an article in The Sun in which [Paul] Schurick, then a spokesman for the Ehrlich campaign, said cookies were distributed in the audience….
Several audience members who attended the debate have told The Sun that they saw no cookies.
“It didn’t happen here,” said Vander Harris, operations manager of the Morgan fine arts center. “I was in on the cleanup, and we found no cookies or anything else abnormal.”
Thanks to Lis Riba, who picked this up from — yes — Steve Gilliard.
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The Oreo urban legend is cute but nothing will ever rise to the status of the “myth of the spat-upon Vietnam vet.” Hopefully Jeff will do a correction.
To ever expect a crumb of truth from the sycophant Jacoby reveals naiveté.
If even I knew this story was false, (I’ve heard different accounts, but all basically dismissing the veracity of the supposedly left wing assault,) how come Jacoby’s editors didn’t second guess him? Is there no one left there to turn the lights on for Jeff? I know, we’ve all long stopped expecting him to check facts or look around at all beyond convenient headlines. But one would think his reputation would necessitate extra scrutiny, wouldn’t one? Just confirms that the Globe’s op-ed page is weak and getting worse. With Oliphant going, –are LeHigh and Greenway staying?, the trend is solidly away from real reporters who synthesize news from a particular point of view and toward provocateurs and essayists on various topics. Cathy Young, Jeff Jacoby, Bob Kuttner and James Carroll ply a trade, but no one should expect their columns to shed light or insight on facts, or to use their news hound reporting skills to get the real story. More’s the pity.
It was a mistake to let him come from the Herald,a blunder to let him stay after he broke house rules,and a continuing drain on a page running out of gas to let him stay. When he lost Brudnoy,Jeff lost his lone patron. Please Globe,send him back to the tabloid.
Does anyone still doubt that the Boston Globe is on life support? As soon as the Herald wraps, the Globe is soon to follow, with an extensive blitz extending the reach of The New York Times.