Beck

People have responded to Randell Beck's condemnation (past and present) of Governor Rounds.  The gem:

Mr. Beck:

As we discussed at our coffee get-together, was (your column) an incredibly sick attempt at humor or was it the epitome of ignorance? The vote was seven to zero for the latter choice. We also agreed you have a lot more problems than who hunted with the governor. You might start with an attempt to return the Argus Leader to (sic) newspaper instead of a newsletter for the Democrats, O'Gorman and South Dakota State. There is a rumor circulating that if a writer has an IQ of .05 or higher they cannot work there. Is this true?''

- The Coffee Club

Dear Coffee Club:

Just curious: Did you, by chance, grow up in North Dakota?

There's nothing like denouncing others when they try and point out your faults, as the case here with "Coffee Club" and everyone else that responded to Beck's column.  Of course, this isn't new.  The editor of the Argus Leader has never been fond of criticism, especially of the blogger sort: bloggers are driven by a "violent" internet "cabal" of "yahoos" who lacked "guts" and hide "behind their computer screens" and won't face him "man to man."  Not to mention his other columns that criticize "internet blogs" which "hurl venomous attacks" (Argus, June 27, 2004) from "every fanatic with too much time on his hands." (Argus, May 2, 2004)  Of course, no attack is complete without playing the Hitler card:  "If Hitler were alive today, he'd have his own blog."