As predicted by our very own lala_rawraw, The Montgomery Independent has published a nasty smear piece on Scott Horton of Harpers Magazine. This is one of the filthiest pieces of attack "journalism" I've ever seen. Unbelievable the level of invective and strident ad hominim attacks in this piece. Please read the whole thing if you can. It's impossible to fit all the garbage in an excerpt.
I opened my mail the other day to find a one-sentence letter from a friend from Montgomery and someone, I might add, whose judgment I respect.
"Eddie - This is a disturbing article!" it read, in its entirety.
Attached was an article published Jan. 21 in The Independent, under the double headlines, "Siegelman's judge's firm got $18 million contract;" and, "The same day he denied Siegelman's appeal bond."
The article was by Scott Horton, an Internet columnist for Harper's magazine. It began:
"The story out of the Frank M. Johnson Federal Courthouse in Montgomery never seems to change. It is a chronicle of abusive conduct by a federal judge who treats his judicial duties with the same level of contempt he retains for the concept of justice itself. His name is Mark Everett Fuller, and according to the sworn account of a Republican operative, testifying before Congress, he was handpicked to manage a courtroom drama to destroy Governor, Don Siegelman, and to send him off to prison, post-haste. And that's exactly what he did."
-snip
I subscribe to The Independent and had already read the piece. I, too, was disturbed, but for reasons that I suspect were quite different than my friend. The article is laden with factual error, innuendo and a level of sourcing that would not be permitted in the lowest rank of newspapers. That it was published under the Internet masthead of Harper's - the second oldest magazine in the country - can only be seen as an indictment of that publication.
-snip
Perhaps most importantly, I hope that you hold Scott Horton in contempt for the bully, liar, phony and pompous ass that he is.
much more...
http://www.al.com/news/independent/index.ssf?/base/news/1203797709157730.xml&coll=4&thispage=2It just goes downhill. Unbelievable desperation.
I hope DUers will let the Montgomery Independent know what we think of this tripe while at the same time supporting Horton in any way we can.