Posted: July 19, 2012 at 7:27 pm
A Blogger Gets Schooled
It’s the perfect time to catch up with Montana’s political podcast PoliticktickBOOM, which I first wrote about when it launched this spring. That’s because in this week’s episode, host Kevin Hamm features conservative blogger Dustin Hurst of the Montana Watchdog getting absolutely schooled by progressive blogger Don Pogreba of Intelligent Discontent.
If you aren’t familiar with Dustin Hurst, he’s the pro-Rehberg blogger who fled Idaho under a cloud. What you should know about Hurst is that while working for a blog called TheIdahoReporter.com, he got busted for lying about his identity while trying to chase down a story about a Democratic state lawmaker. The Idaho Statesman reported the incident.
Among the topics of the podcast: the difference between journalism and shilling for Rehberg’s campaign. You won’t want to miss the whole episode. Click here to hear Don Pogreba and host Kevin Hamm at their considerable bests.
Here are just a few of the podcast’s highlights.
- Impressively, Hurst says he’s not going to vote at all in the US Senate Race. His reasoning? “Tester and Rehberg are the same person.”
- Mr. Hurst claims he is not a Republican operative, but a journalist. Mr. Hurst explains that “a reporter is a stenographer for power”, whereas a journalist is given “more power to cover things a certain way.” He goes on to admit that The Watchdog “is not as talented or far-reaching as the AP.”
- Mr. Hurst uses the podcast to announce that he’ll soon be leaving Montana. Hurst is now saying he’s “only here on a temporary basis to cover the election.”
- When factual and attribution errors in Hurst’s posts are pointed out, Mr. Hurst eloquently responds to Pogreba’s takedown with “don’t get all smug on me bro’.”