On the Jones Joke and My Intellectual Honesty

Some from the right are attempting to score cheap points by suggesting that I'd complain loud and bitterly had a Republican official told the joke General Jones told last week. They say that the only reason I find the joke innocuous is because it was told by a Democrat. Here's Akiva with the typical comment:

DB, if this was a GOP administration you'd be all over it. Instead you brush it off. I challenge your intellectual honesty.

My reply:

(1) My slogan isn't "Fair and balanced". I've made no secret of the fact that part of my blogging mission is to be an antidote to the dozens of GOP Jewish bloggers who regularly publish lies, slanders, misinformation, and bad arguments about Democrats. The claim that the joke was racist is misinformation. The suggestion that it means something about Obama is a bad argument. My post didn't "brush off" the joke. It pointed out that GOP Jews were opportunistically and dishonestly using this very mild joke to further their anti-Obama agendas. The post, therefore, was perfectly in keeping with my blogging objectives, and you, Akiva, who have read the blog for at least four years, are well aware of that. Your weak, groundless, claim about what you sort-of-think-maybe I would do, when you know very well what this blog does do, was nothing but a partisan attempt on your part to de-fang my legitimate criticism of how your side is using the joke.

(2) But because you brought it up, I question YOUR intellectual honesty. I've never once seen you on a GOP Jewish blog asking why all the posts are anti-Obama when none of the dumb, or bad, or evil, or foolish things Republicans do are ever mentioned. Why do you respect the right of a GOP blogger to pile on, truth be damned,  when it comes to Obama, but challenge my "intellectual honesty" when I write a post that says the GOP bloggers aren't being fair? Why is my insufficient anger about a joke worthy of your disapprobation, when the regular anti-Obama lies told by GOP Jewish bloggers are not? Can you possibly explain the "intellectual honesty" behind that choice?

(3) Finally, my whole blog is in front of you. Back up the claim you made. I defy you to find even ONE example among my 6000 posts of  me being "all over" an innocuous joke. Google and the blog's own search function are at your disposal. If the post exists, you will  find it, but if you strike out I expect you to acknowledge that your inability to find a single post in 6000 in which I did something you're oh-so-certain I would do proves that you made an unfair and unjustified assumption about me. At that point, a sincere apology will be in order.

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