Statesman News Article Makes Ill-Planned Attempt at Humor, Incites Internet Backlash

Former Vice President Al Gore's surprise appearance at this weekend's Netroots Nation convention in Austin was greeted with general enthusiasm by the thousands of progressive bloggers and mainstream journalists in attendance—save for the Austin American-Statesman's feature writer, Patrick Beach.

Beach's front page recap took on a decidedly sarcastic tone, poking fun at both the "name-dropping" guest speaker and the "marauding liberals" in attendance. The article later offered these classic tidbits, which Daily Kos was able to capture before the original article mysteriously vanished into the ether:

So when the former vice president and Nobel Prize co-winner made a surprise — and cleverly scripted — appearance during U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's talk, it looked like the conference might turn into a faint-in.

Talk that Pelosi (who is arguably so left-leaning that her parenthetical should be D-Beijing) would have a Very Special Guest...

From the beginning, it was clear these people were convinced the electoral map would be repainted with a brush sopping with blue paint come November... The believers will tell you it's morning, that they smell the napalm. And it smells like, oh, yes, victory.

Not surprisingly, the story quickly made its way 'round the internets, with bloggers near and far denouncing the story. Austin's Burnt Orange Report was so incensed that it's since vowed to never link to a Statesman article again, while Kos suggests that Austinites ought to "demand better from their newspaper."

In individual responses to curious readers, Beach admitted that the article had "attempted humor."

What do you think, Austin? Should we in fact "demand better" from our newspaper, or did the "marauding liberals" take things too seriously?

Contact the author of this article or email tips@austinist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Allen Y Chen in News on July 21, 2008 5:07 PM 0 Comments

Comments [rss]

Ryan

I heard that Patrick is actually a liberal himself and he meant it as satire. Then his piece got edited to make the satire less obvious and the editors put it on the front page without a picture of Patrick in a sombrero to make it clear that the article was a joke. Way to go, Statesman editors!

ducknutz

I don't see any problems here. The last time I checked freedom of speech was still legal.

Grape Ape

Idiocy and humor are not interchangeable nor are they alike.

Wes

The piece should have been with the editorials rather than on the front page. That stated, if you can't see the humor Patrick Beach's article then you need to stop taking everything so seriously.

guest informant

So that's what happened to Mallard Fillmore. He changed his name to Patrick Beach. Still forgot the jokes though....

davetx

I'm sure Al Gore will lose a LOT of sleep over the fact the Bill O'Reilly no longer respects him.

Actually, I think that fact would help me sleep better at night.

lightningbulb

Almost as bad as that O'Reilly radio show yesterday.

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/07/21/oreilly-netroots-nation-gore/

terry78702

The Statesman = The Suck.

Were we expecting any better of them?

Slickshu

The point is that is was not a straight news story, and it appeared on the front page without a tag that it was anything other than a straight news story. The Statesman issued an Editor's Note from Zipp in today's print editions, stating that the article did not meet their standards. Good for Zipp -- but who was the dolt who thought it appropriate to put that trash on the front page of Sunday's paper -- he or she should be on the curb.

Trancereducer

Now it's censorship?

Next thing you know, liberals will start rounding up up conservatives and putting them in camps.

seth

The statesman needs to seriously apologize for endorsing Bush in the 2004 election.

Seth

bingsy

I'm not sure what is humorous about it, and it doesn't feel like an attempt at humor either. It feels like bitter ranting.

happywaffle

> Should we in fact "demand better" from our newspaper, or did the "marauding liberals" take things too seriously?

What, it can't be both?

matthew dewitt

I mean was this supposed to be an op/ed or an actual piece of reportage? if it's the former I don't see why anyone would care.

LoudMouth

While I agree that the Statesman should be able to spew whatever right wing garbage they want to in order to sell papers, I don't see any difference in how the liberals reacted when compared to how bake is reacting.

bake

Merely another example of liberal hypocrisy. It's pretty comical when the Daily Kos whines about anything given the personal, mean-spirited garbage it consistently spews at others it doesn't agree with.

My recommendation for all liberals: keep working at your goal of censorship. Soon enough your wet dreams of ridding the media of anyone who doesn't believe in your mantra could be reached! (just read most AP "news" stories in which "reporters" inject their own views, and not just what the facts present)

Continue your glorious march towards ridding our country of diversity! After all, who wants a country that has citizens that don't agree with you on everything?

In Kos We Trust!

Trancereducer

Maybe "liberals" are a little hypersensitive after being branded America-hating-terrorist-appeasers whenever they opposed schemes that non-liberals have been pushing for the past 8 years, chester.

chesterwakefield

Heaven forbid someone saying something critical of a liberal...

kenneth1

...Kos suggests that Austinites ought to "demand better from their newspaper."

We've been "demanding better" for decades, Markos, but our pleas fall on deaf ears at Cox corporate headquarters in Atlanta. Their circulation is down to about two dozen by now, so I think that says something about how much faith Austinites put in their hometown daily.

tim

Our newspaper? When the Austin American Statesman distributes free copies I routinely call their subscription office and tell them to stop throwing their trash on my front lawn. That paper is a waste of tree.