Mike Huckabee Recommends Lara Logan into Wingnut Valhalla

When I expressed early on my reservations about Lara Logan's 60 Minutes piece regarding the derring-do of Dylan Davies, I was already concerned that once a story, however flawed, is out there--it simply does not go away. Contra once-and-possibly future presidential candidate Mike Huckabee (no, I do not kid, what do we think he's leaving his radio show for--spending time with his family?) who may laud Logan as a hero journalist, there is some question whether it takes any especial heroism to fail to Google one's source, or even consider that source all that much, or allege that one has spent a year on a story that falls apart in days.

Perhaps what he means is not so much "heroism" as "commitment. " What media watchers might view as a failure of craft, might be viewed as a triumph of will elsewhere. And Mike Huckabee knows the values of that elsewhere quite well.

It is my hope that this nomination to the halls of Wingnut Valhalla and the specter of endless raising of tankards to a journalistic failure are enough to prompt what integrity remains in the journalist to make use of the leave time coming up to reflect on how not to be a fringe legend, but retain (or regain) the respect of people who want critically valid information. Because the Mike Huckabee Seal of Approval is a contentious honor at best.