Never trust the MSM. I broke my own
rule yesterday while doing background research for my latest article about
Bob Barr. Barr had told me that both his undergrad and graduate
degrees were in international relations. I knew he'd attended the
University of Southern California, but didn't know where he went to
grad school. While Googling for that fact (answer: George
Washington University), I came across an archived
1987 Atlanta Journal-Constitution profile that said,
"Enrolling at the University of Southern California in 1965, he
joined the Young Democrats and participated in rallies against the
Vietnam War."
Arrggghhh. A story too good to bother checking it out,
as they say. When Barr walked into Americans for Tax Reform's
office this morning (to attend the regular Wednesday coffee
meeting), the first thing he said to me was, "Where did you get
that from?" He went on to explain that this bit of MSM
disinformation was something he had had to debunk during his
(unsuccessful) 1992 Senate campaign and again in his (successful)
1994 House campaign.
Yes, Barr said, he had indeed joined the Young Democrats his
freshman year and continued as a member into his sophomore year at
USC. But he was never part of the anti-war protest scene. His
departure from the Young Democrats, Barr further explained, was
encouraged by his (staunch Republican) parents who suggested that
if he wanted to be a Democrat, he might be paying his own way
through college. It was his parents, Barr said, who got him to read
Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged, the book he credits with
inspiring his anti-big government philosophy.
So, having done my mea culpa for the kind of idiotic
reportorial blunder I've spent years warning young reporters
against -- never, ever trust the MSM -- let me now report
some facts I witnessed first-hand today.
What transpires in the Wednesday morning ATR meetings is
strictly off-the-record, but I can report that after leaving the
meeting, Barr was greeted warmly by a conservative Republican Party
activist who told him, "Kick their butts." Barr then went to the
nearby studios of the BBC, where he did a 15-minute radio interview
with
James Coomarasamy. Citing George W. Bush's 2000 campaign
criticism of "nation-building," Barr said Bush was right then, and
wrong now. Nation-building -- which he described as a U.S. effort
to "impose" a Western political system on Iraq -- "is doomed to
failure," Barr said.
topics:
Constitution, Iraq
