Jill Carroll

The release of the Fox News reporter and camera-man, coupled with the recently published details of Jill Carroll's kidnapping and release, reminds me of the right-wing blogosphere's widespread reaction to Carroll's ordeal. Think Progress kept track of the attacks. The gist is that Jill Carroll was somehow understood by right-wingers to be sympathetic to the terrorists and their cause. The most egregious attacks on Carroll came from Jonah Goldberg and John Podhoretz of The Corner, and Don Imus's producer, who likened Carroll to a suicide bomber. Even when the truth came out, that Carroll was forced at gunpoint to make propoganda videos and lied in her first public interview because she feared for her safety, the Cornerites in particular were unapologetic about their previous statements.

It's interesting that they slander someone so awfully and with no evidence to support their accusations, and yet when reporters from a Bush-friendly news outlet are kidnapped and forced to take part in videotaped propoganda, there's no mention of mental instability or Stockholm Syndrome or hidden sympathies. Why is that?

Update: Oh, I just found some new NRO stuff. First, we have Cliff May announcing the release of the Fox News guys, but lamenting that the reporter and camera-man said that their ordeal shouldn't dissuade reporters from covering Gaza and telling Palestinian stories to the world. May apparently thinks that the kidnapping may have badly affected the mens' impartiality, making them more sympathetic to their kidnappers.

Then we have Andy McCarthy, who takes the cake for NRO hypocrisy, as he accuses Reuters of bias for reporting that a video had appeared in which the men appeared to convert to Islam. After all the mud-slinging that NRO aimed at Jill Carroll for wearing Muslim garb and appearing in propoganda videos, they accuse Reuters of bias for reporting that the Fox guys did something similar? That's fucking rich. And I wonder if McCarthy will apologize after reading this. The reason the original article didn't mention that they converted at gunpoint is because the article was published before the men were released and held a press conference. NRO idiots.