Err-O-Smith

In an attempt to avoid further embarrassing revelations, National Review Online has shitcanned serial liar W. Tommy Smith:

Smith, in a statement published by NRO, wrote:

"This is my own decision. No one at NRO has asked me to do this, nor has anyone suggested or even hinted I should. But I believe this to be in the best interest of the publication which I have so much respect for. Both NRO and I have taken far too much heat for something which would never have happened had I been more specific in terms of detailing my sourcing while blogging about Lebanon at 'The Tank'. That is a responsibility I have to accept."

In addition to writing for NRO, Smith, a former Marine, is the director the Counterterrorism Research Center at the Family Security Foundation, and the executive editor of World Defense Review. He co-authored The Complete Idiot's Guide to Understanding Intelligent Design.

Kathryn Lopez, both the stupidest and most dishonest person alive, claimed that Smith simply was "susceptible to spin" and averred, "I don't think that Smith fabricated or falsified his reporting."

My God. Smith is the Director of Counterterrorism Research at the Family Security Foundation and the Executive Editor of World Defense Review. Surely such an accomplished man in the fields of research and editing could not have been bamboozled by "sources who have incentive to exaggerate." It's inconceivable.

The most likely explanation is that Smith's resume is as a phony as his reporting and that Lopez willingly abdicated her responsibilities as an editor in order to push an anti-Arab party line. That explanation requires no willing suspension of disbelief.