We’ve written before about how WorldNetDaily columnist Diana West has complained about being dismissed as a birther — which is exactly what she is. West is at it again, complaining some more that nobody wants to publish her increasingly fringe views.
WND’s Bob Unruh gave her space in an Aug. 1 article to complain that the Washington Examiner — which did publish her birther wackiness at one time — won’t “publish her commentary on the need to investigate the influence of the Muslim Brotherhood on the U.S. government”:
West, on her blog, recounted the Examiner’s handling of her column.
“The Washington Examiner spiked my syndicated column on the Muslim Brotherhood,” she said. “If the newspapers’ online search function is accurate, it is even more perplexing to note that the Examiner hasn’t run a single news story on the media-politics feeding frenzy, led by Sen. John McCain, directed at Rep. Michele Bachmann for raising questions.
“Here is how Examiner editorial page editor David Freddoso explained why the column didn’t appear: ‘We opted not to use it this week. We also passed over other syndicated columnists’ offerings about the insinuations against Huma Abedin. The reason is simply that there is no hint of proof that she has done anything improper,’” she wrote.But West told WND that “doing something improper” is not the main issue.
Nor, apparently, is a newspaper exercising its First Amendment rights to publish what it wants.
Unruh ludicrously frames this as a “switcheroo!” of a columnist spiking a newspaper instead of a columnist petulantly ranting that her fringe views can’t get published. Unruh also fails to mention the owner of the Examiner: right-wing billionaire Philip Anschutz.
West is not done whining, though. The same day over at Accuracy in Media, West published a piece further criticizing the Examiner for not publishing her fringe attacks, as well as that it “automatically spikes any syndicated column I write regarding what might be referred to as President Obama’s identity issues.”
Is such petulance the mark of a truly professional columnist? West may think so, but anyone outside the far-right fringe she seems to be catering to these days will likely think differently.