James Taranto takes a look at what may be the complete collection of messages from the now-defunct “JournoList,” a listserv for progressive journalists and others run by the Washington Post’s Ezra Klein. Taranto rates the revelations contained in these messages as anywhere from “genuinely scandalous” to “pathetic.” He calls scandalous, for example, a conspiracy by participants during Obama’s presidential campaign to suppress news about Jeremiah Wright, including even a suggestion by one of them that a fellow journalist be smeared as a racist.
Taranto mentions that the only JournoList member who actually calls for the government to shut down the network is a law professor, UCLA’s Jonathan Zasloff: “I hate to open this can of worms,” he wrote, “but is there any reason why the FCC couldn’t simply pull their broadcasting permit once it expires?”
Taranto wryly notes “one reason: Cable networks don’t have broadcast licenses! If law professors needed licenses to practice law, this display of ignorance would be reason to pull Zasloff’s.”
Right, and there is also the little matter of Zasloff’s obvious disdain for the First Amendment.
Scandalous or pathetic? Whatever. But hardly the quality of intellect and judgment one would hope to encounter in a law professor.