The Free Republic defends Salon

Plus: Jake Tapper weighs in on the latest developments in the Florida recount.

Published July 18, 2001 5:31PM (EDT)

Anger management

From our "Telltale Signs of the Apocalypse" department, Salon's online defenders Wednesday include none other than the Free Republic.

As Salon's story about Rep. Gary Condit spokeswoman Marina Ein's comments smearing Chandra Levy was in heavy rotation on Fox and on the cover of the New York tabloids, Ein issued a statement denying the story's validity.

"Yesterday, in a letter to David Talbot, the Editor of Salon.com Magazine, I issued the strongest possible denial of statements attributed to me in a Salon.com article published the day before. I reiterate without qualification what I said yesterday: I did not, and would not, make the statements that have been attributed to me," Ein wrote in a statement Wednesday. "I am the mother of a daughter who is approximately Chandra Levy's age, and I am a female professional. The suggestion that I would make comments like those attributed to me is abhorrent. I deeply regret any additional hurt that this incident has caused the Levy family."

Forced to take sides between two mortal enemies -- Salon and a congressional Democrat -- the jury of Freepers were surprisingly decisive in their verdict.

"Marina Ein is pond scum. In her non denial denial ... she never actually denies the quotation from the reporter, she also does this thing ... I never called her a whore ... a promiscuous person ... saying the charges again ... but never actually denying the quote she gave the reporter about Chandra being involved in "one night stands.' Ein is satan's little helper," writes one poster."

Writes another: "Saw the Salon reporter on O'Reilly last night. Hate to say it but I actually believed he was telling the truth about the incident. He said she said it ... she denies it. I believe him. Of course, they probably had to send him to detox and wire his jaw back together because it probably almost killed him to be telling the truth for a change."

(Red vs. Blue is in no position to either confirm or deny those detox/jaw wiring reports.)

And in another gratuitous plug, for those who can't get enough Florida recount coverage, and have shelled out the big bucks for a Hotline subscription, check out Jake Tapper's webcast interview with the Hotline on Sunday's New York Times absentee-vote article, and the possible fallout from its revelations.

For more Red vs. Blue, click here.

Submit your own rant or direct us to a good political online discussion by e-mailing us at redvsblue@salon.com, or jump right into a Table Talk discussion about Red vs. Blue.


By Anthony York

Anthony York is Salon's Washington correspondent.

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