WaPo Uses Anonymous Sources to Bash Anonymous Bloggers

I just love a good bit of irony. Today the Washington Post takes on anonymous bloggers ("Bluto" is not my real name, but the photo at right is moi), and uses an anonymous source to do it [emphasis added]:

"We are equal opportunity bashers here," the Not Larry Sabato blogger said in a phone interview. The group, he added, is made up of two Democrats and two Republicans from across the state. "There's no question it's completely thumbing our nose at the establishment. You can imagine how much fun it is when [state delegates] have a closed meeting . . . and all of a sudden, the secret meeting . . . is now out on the Internet."

"We don't have the same standards as [the mainstream media]," he said. "If someone makes a defamatory statement, that has nothing to do with us. We are not responsible for what other people are saying on our blog. It's kind of like a hotel pool. There's no lifeguard. You are responsible for yourself."

This is just too convenient. Could it be a Jason Blair moment? Writer David Cho offers no explanation for how he confirmed that he was, indeed, actually speaking to one of the bloggers. Fake but accurate?

The Dread Pundit Bluto has been an anonymous blog from the beginning. I toyed with the idea of using my real name, but the fact that I have a family and a listing in the phone book argued against it. Not because I wanted to post unconfirmed rumors and innuendo as fact, but because I didn't want my family harassed by nuts, or worse.

In March, over a month before Newsweek published, I posted about 357Hosting, the host of choice for terrorists and their sympathizers. Immediately, I saw a large number of IPs that tracked back to Middle Eastern and Dutch users. You're only paranoid until someone firebombs your house.

Via The Jawa Report.