The Washington Post Figures That Balance Includes Hatred (UPDATE)

For the second year in a row, I had in the back of my mind the possibility of entering The Washington Post's "Next Great Pundit" contest. As soon as I saw the announcement it was on, however, there were some op-eds that made me realize even entering the contest would present a compromise on my part. It was mindless, thoughtless ambition, and the lure of filthy lucre for doing something I love, that made me sit and consider the possibility. Considering the stable of writers they employ - using Mad magazine's old by-line for their editors, "The Usual Gang of Idiots", seems fitting to describe Broder, Parker, Will, Cohen, and the rest - I figured that being known by the company one keeps would leave me with few shreds of dignity left.

More evidence that I dodged a bullet arrived today. Even by entering the contest (I am just confident and egotistical enough to believe that I could have been competitive), the following report from Media Matters for America would have left me feeling dirty:

Via Pam's House Blend, I learn that the Washington Post's remarkably poor decision to post Tony Perkins's falsehood laden, anti-gay screed on their On Faith blog (on National Coming Out Day nonetheless) was because they felt they needed to "cover both sides" of "bullying and gay suicide." No, really, they're serious. Apparently they hosted a Live Q & A chat with Dan Savage to discuss "bullying and gay suicide" and his "It Gets Better Project," which is a You Tube channel Savage created in order to reach out to gay youths to prevent suicide. So, to balance Savage, the Post turned to Perkins to respond. Apparently to the Post, gay suicide is a two-sided issue.

GLAAD and the Washington Post had an exchange over Twitter, in which the Post responded to criticism over publishing Perkins' column, by saying, "[W]e're working to cover both sides. Earlier, we hosted Dan Savage of It Gets Better in a live chat." GLAAD rightly replied, "There are not 'both sides' to this issue. Teen suicide isn't a debate-it's a tragedy."

Savage has a pithy response to the Post:

...if you had told me that my doing a live chat with your readers about the It Gets Better Project was going to be used as an excuse to publish the hateful, bigoted lies of Tony Perkins, I wouldn't have done your fucking live chat.

I feel bad for Savage, because he probably saw this as an opportunity to take his message to a platform with a broader audience. In the process, the Post managed to completely undermine him, his message, and its own moral authority.

UPDATE: It's actually much worse than Tony Perkins.