Scott Thomas Beauchamp, Elephants and Grover Cleveland

...yes, this post ties them all together.

If you haven't been keeping up, Scott Thomas Beauchamp (STB) is the soldier in Iraq who has been spinning tall tales that The New Republic (TNR) published and has been defending. Jane Galt pointed me at this post over at Crooked Timber. It's a total winner! Here's an excerpt.

A bunch of rightwing blogs are getting excited yet again about Scott Beauchamp. For those who haven’t followed the story, Beauchamp is a US soldier in Iraq who wrote some pieces for The New Republic which, among other things, described bad behaviour by US troops, such as deliberately running over stray dogs and taunting a woman disfigured by burns...Some might suggest that the truth or falsity of these stories doesn’t matter much

Crooked Timber then goes on to spray links around like Pam on a skillet. Whatever. I'm here to tell you that I am completely behind Crooked Timber, STB and TNR all the way! Facts are so last century, man. What matters is the viewpoint, the narrative, the feel of the situation! Get that right and you're golden.

I even made a short movie in honor of the whole situation. Enjoy.

Look, if you don't want your news reported by a bunch of hip 30-somethings who did their research by interviewing drunk schizophrenics at the Long Beach Greyhound bus terminal, then you shouldn't be watching the TV news and reading the newspapers. You get what you deserve have to take whatever they give you. I mean, what are you going to do, read blogs? Get serious. The Mainstream Media is where it's at. And if the facts get in the way of the story, then run the darn things over and give the people what they want you think they should know. After all, how can you argue with success?

5 year chart for stock in the New York Times.

Update: Dissident Frogman hits a home run with this video.