No. 12: John Fund
The Wall Street Journal columnist is a longtime liar
By Alex PareeneTopics: War Room's Hack Thirty, War Room, Politics News
That generally sober and good newspaper has had a decidedly silly opinion page for so long that no one really bothers to question it anymore. Perhaps the corporate titans who rely on the Journal’s in-depth reportage really need the soothing balm of comfortable lies after pages of hard truths about their soulless work. But regardless of why, the Wall Street Journal editorial page is designed to present a fantasyland in which the rich are always right, and always beset on all sides by the greedy masses and confiscatory Uncle Sam. John Fund, ghostwriter of Rush Limbaugh’s “The Way Things Ought to Be,” was an editor at that opinion page for years, and has been a columnist there ever since.
His modus operandi is wholly unremarkable. Fund just picks the latest stupid Republican outrage (voter fraud! Black Panthers! ACORN!) and dutifully lies about it, using predictable talking points and the requisite Monday Meeting spin.
Repeat offenses: Constant shameless lying.
Representative quote:
The Palm Beach Post found “no more than 108 ‘law-abiding’ citizens of all races who ‘were purged from the voter rolls as suspected criminals, only to be cleared after the election.”
(That is not an accurate characterization of the Palm Beach Post’s findings.)
Alex Pareene writes about politics for Salon and is the author of "The Rude Guide to Mitt." Email him at apareene@salon.com and follow him on Twitter @pareene More Alex Pareene.
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We're listing the worst columnists and cable news commentators America has to offer. Think of this as our all-star team -- of the most predictable, dishonest and just plain stupid pundits in the media.
1. Richard Cohen
2. Mark Halperin
3. Thomas Friedman
4. David Broder
5.
Marty Peretz
6. Marc Thiessen
7. Jonah Goldberg
8. Maureen Dowd
9. Laura Ingraham
10. Peggy Noonan
11. George Will
12. John Fund
13. Roger Simon
14. David Ignatius
15. Mort Zuckerman
16. Michael Barone
17. Bill Kristol
18. Tina Brown
19. Joe Klein
20. Howard Fineman
21. S.E. Cupp
22. Tucker Carlson
23. Howard Kurtz
24. Dana Milbank
25. Mickey Kaus
26. Jeffrey Goldberg
27. Pat Caddell
28. Andrew Malcolm
29. Matt Bai
30. David Brooks
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