The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for January, 2017

It's a new year, which offers us the opportunity to heap well-deserved dishonor on deserving ass clowns ... and judging from the news, there will be no shortage of candidates.

Ladies and Gentlemen, Dear Readers, it's time to announce our first awardee of the year,

The Right-Cheek Ass Clown for 2017

and the dishonor goes to

Unless you've been living in a cave in Outer Mongolia, you've heard of the uproar caused when the online news site BuzzFeed published an unverified document containing highly salacious "opposition research" about president-elect Donald Trump. The document had been provided to the president-elect as part of his intelligence briefing on Russian attempts to influence the presidential election, and was intended to warn Mr Trump of material which could be used to influence blackmail him. Someone leaked the document - which had been widely circulating in Washington for some time - to a number of news agencies, virtually all of which declined to publish it because it was both unverified and not verifiable, but BuzzFeed decided to go public with it.

Leaving aside the propriety of airing such inflammatory and unverified material, BuzzFeed's ill-considered action has helped Mr Trump do what he does best - change the topic of discussion to divert attention from legitimate issues and concerns. Publication of the document damages the image of the Intelligence Community and allows Mr Trump to continue his depiction of legitimate news agencies as unfair and politically biased against him*.

For their despicable airing of unverified information, which has caused untold damage to the image and moral authority of the press and the authority and integrity of the Intelligence Community, BuzzFeed is named as our Right-Cheek Ass Clown for the month of January, 2017.

Have a good day. More thoughts tomorrow, when Cartoon Saturday returns.

More thoughts then.

Bilbo

* Here is an excellent article by McKay Coppins in Atlantic Monthly that details the Trump divide-and-conquer strategy for dealing with the press.