SAD, PATHETIC, HOPELESS, FRATERNAL! Fortune’s Serwer joins the clan, repeating their latest false story: // link // print // previous // next //

Called away again: We’ve been called away from our desk once again! But don’t ignore sick Andy Serwer.

SAD, PATHETIC, HOPELESS, FRATERNAL (permalink): On Monday morning’s Morning Joe, Andy Serwer became the latest.

Serwer is editor of Fortune magazine—and he’s pathetic, inept, sad, unwell. Speaking for all the world to hear, the hapless fellow became the latest to speak the untruth about Richard Blumenthal. Needless to say, Serwer’s fraternal order—his clan—has been behaving this way for many years:

SERWER (5/24/10): I mean, I just don't buy it at all. I think the guy should not run. I think he should resign. I mean, this is the attorney general of the state, number one. He wants to be, you know, in this exalted position. He lied. Then he also lied about Harvard—he said he was the captain of the swim team. He wasn't. Gee, I wonder if there's another lie there somewhere. I wonder. What do you think?

Serwer seemed so sure of himself, so very fraternal. In this utterly heartfelt speech, he got himself in line with the line of the clan.

(For Julie Millican’s report at Media Matters, just click here. Tape of Serwer included.)

Might we repeat? There is no evidence—nada, none, zilch—that Blumenthal ever said he was captain of the Harvard swim team. As far as we know, Blumenthal had never been quoted or cited discussing the Harvard swim team at all, until he spoke about the topic last week. But so what? The New York Times started this latest bungled tale, and the paper’s “public editor” averted his gaze in Sunday’s column. Fox pimped this garbage all last week, embellishing grandly as it went. On Sunday, George Will jumped on board.

On Monday, Childe Serwer played the fool too. Translation: These are horrible people.

Needless to say, this is a variant of the mainstream press corps’ twenty-month war against Candidate Gore. Yes, there are major differences. In this case, Blumenthal did misstate his military record on at least one or two occasions. (Note: The New York Times says it researched this matter over the past twenty years.) By way of contrast, it’s quite hard to find any actual misstatements by Gore during the press corps’ twenty-month war—the war which sent Bush to the White House.

That said, the similarities are striking. A bogus claim gets churned by the Times—and the fraternity leaps to repeat it. As someone who isn’t a part of the clan, you get two to imagine two explanations for the conduct of someone like Serwer:

Two possibilities: He is unwilling/unable to fact-check at all. Or he is simply a liar.

As this campaign unfolds, of course, clan members like Serwer state their concern about Blumenthal’s failure to honor the truth! But so it went in the war against Gore, as the earth’s biggest hypocrites complained about the type of conduct which defined their own clan.

If you couldn’t see them in action, you’d never believe that they really existed. The back-story:

A few weeks ago, the Times ran an op-ed piece headlined, “The Aliens Among Us” (click here). In this piece, Paul Davies pondered the possibility of “Life 2.0”—the possibility that alternative forms of life may exist on the earth.

Was the Times trying to tell us something? In truth, Life 2.0 has been “out” for decades. Among its denizens, you can now count the sick hapless Serwer. And continue to marvel at Mika Brzezinski, who still pretends to defend Blumenthal—but can’t complete a fact-check herself.

Or is this hapless, chic-bobbed loser another example of Life 2.0—the latest strange fruit of this earth?