March 24, 2009

McIlheran duped by teh internets

Remember this? Patrick McIlheran fell for it too.

Your guide to good reading on the Web:
Patrick's linking to this post without retracting his comments or adding an update after finding out it was completely wrong is kind of shady.
Of course it would be, if it was anyone other than McIlheran. For him it's standard operating procedure. Actually Jim Lindgren's post at the Volokh Conspiracy is even more embarrassing, considering Lindgren has a reputation. Obama was replying to a letter from Chirac.

2 comments:

Jim said...

I think perhaps you just glanced at my post without reading it, or maybe just read someone misleadingly quoting me -- a problem with "teh internets."

From the beginning, I said that I did NOT think that Obama had forgotten who was the President of France and I pointed out that Obama might be writing to Chirac because he was head of the Chirac Foundation. I even bolded the part about Chirac heading up a relevant Foundation.

It turns out my speculations were right. Obama was writing to Chirac as the head of his Foundation, not as the supposed President of France.

No serious harm done.

Jim Lindgren

illusory tenant said...

Hello Professor. I wasn't questioning your intuition that Obama had written Chirac in his capacity as the Foundation head.

What I had in mind was your assertion that Obama had snubbed Sarkozy by writing to Chirac. That's what your blog post title reads still.

You also claim that it's possible Obama forgot who the president of France is. Of course you don't believe that, yet you insist it's "possible" anyway.

You go on to claim as "likelier possibilities" that Obama was deliberately trying to insult Sarkozy or else Obama was clueless as to the possible reaction within the French press (as if that's ever been a pressing matter of general concern for Obama's detractors).

I see nothing to support these claims other than speculation, speculation rendered all the weaker in light of the revealed purpose of Obama's correspondence.

Many thanks for visiting.