This is so freakin’ hilarious!
For those lazy to follow through the above link, here’s the story. The Republican Liberty Caucus published a piece of news that attempted to portray Radley Balko as a liar. Except that they forgot that Forbes.com is not the same as Foxnews.com. Here’s what the Caucus post stated:
Liberal (and ersatz libertarian) blogger and wanna-be pundit Radley Balko claims on his bio on his blog that he is a bi-weekly columnist for Forbes.com. But an investigation by the RLCIL demonstrates that Mr. Balko has taken extreme liberties — perhaps even license — with the term “bi-weekly.”He makes his claim at, http://www.theagitator.com/about/, indicating, that, in addition to laboring over his poorly written blog, “I’m also a biweekly columnist with FoxNews.com.”
However, the claim is not bourne out by the evidence. We searched through the Forbes.com site, and could find only two URLs, from the summer of 2005, authored by Mr. Balko.
I mean, how could this post possibly get published? This takes shooting yourself in the foot at a completely different plane.
That, and the utter irony of the Caucus lecturing Radley Balko about the meaning of libertarianism. For those unaware, the Republican Liberty Caucus (as Radley himself pointed out in this earlier post) opposes “strange sex”, claims that “pornography is not a free speech issue”, spends its funds denouncing Ayn Rand for not believing in God, thinks that anyone who can support Playboy is a “cultural radical” and opposes one Obama appointee because he, among other things, supports the right of gays to serve in the military and the right of women to have abortions without spousal notification.
The whole thing is so funny. Liberty has some strange friends, but none so demented as this sad organization.
Really? And why do you think Balko is a “libertarian”? He seems like a typical leftwinger Daily Kos/Moveon.org America-basher type to me. Certainly not a libertarian. Just because somone agrees with us libertarians on legalizing drugs, doesn’t mean they’re a libertarian all around. Balko is a Democrat who mouths occasional libertarianism, probably so he can “be out of the norm” with his Dem friends.
Short answer: Because I read his blog and I know enough about his stances and beliefs to make that deduction.
Longer answer: I do not know his position on every issue that exists and I do not care to. Radley’s writings saved a man’s life . He got Stephen Haynes fired. He has written extensively and tirelessly on police militarization, nanny-statism, economic and personal liberty, and state-sponsored injustice. He has highlighted the folly of the war on drugs more than anyone else in this country. Every one of those things has advanced the cause of liberty more than anything I have done, or anything you have done. So yes, I do think Radley Balko is unimpeachably libertarian, and in a way that actually makes a difference to the lives of real people.
Puma digs in deeper
http://www.rlcil.org/2009/02/12/obama-deputy-ag-nominee-former-kiddie-porn-lawyer-disavows-porno-playboy-penthouse-calling-views-immature/