A Different Malik Shabazz and Jeremiah Wright? What Are the Odds?

As a frequent contributor to Big Hollywood and Big Government, I was so proud to read Andrew Breitbart’s full-throated correction posted front and center at Big Government the other day. I was not proud that we had made an error that required correcting, but I was proud that we treated it up front and loudly for all the world to see. It is a stark contrast to corrections in the New York Times that are hidden somewhere between the crossword puzzle and the obituaries (which soon will include the Times, itself).

But, the more I thought about the story that prompted the correction (the fact that our headline stated that ACORN CEO Bertha Lewis visited the White House but it appeared that it was a different Bertha Lewis), the more I kept thinking to myself: “What are the odds?” You see, it isn’t just Bertha Lewis who has a name doppelganger out there. The White House also claimed that the Jeremiah Wright who visited there was a different Jeremiah Wright. And, even more credulity-defying, a different Malik Shabazz visited the White House this year as well.

I was discussing this on my internet radio show when I began to wonder what other names on that list could possibly be duplicates. For instance, me? If there is some other Malik Shabazz walking around out there and HE visited the White House, well surely there must be another Larry O’Connor who visited too. I went to WhiteHouse.gov and searched the on-line list of names. Nope, no Larry O’Connor. (By the way White House: it’s culturally insensitive for you to not use an apostrophe when spelling my last name. What have you got against Irish people, anyway?)

So, I opened up the search to my listeners. I asked them to search the data base at WhiteHouse.gov and see if someone else with their name visited the White House this year. Most of my listeners have pretty common names. But, they are not as common as Malik Shabazz, apparently. Gary Eaton, Jill Walter, Meredith Dake, Kellie Jane Adan, Adrian Guillory, and Michael Broderick… all names of my listeners and none of their names appear in the White House log, but Malik Shabazz and Jeremiah Wright’s names do. In fact, only one of the listeners to last night’s Stage Right Show had their name appear on the list. It seems that somewhere out there, another Yvonne Lee visited the White House, not the Yvonne Lee that listens to my show.

This just couldn’t be true. How could there be another Malik Shabazz who HAPPENNED to visit the White House and there not be a Jill Walter? I expanded the search to other names. What about our team here at the Big Blogs? John Nolte, Adam Baldwin, Mike Flynn, Gary Graham, Don Loos and Dana Loesch all are without imposters travelling the country with their name and visiting the White House. Oh and by the way, Andrew Breitbart’s name is not on the list either.

So, here we have a White House posting this data under the Orwellian title “Transparency Like You’ve Never Seen Before.” When names like Bertha Lewis or Malik Shabazz are questioned, the White House claims they are DIFFERENT people with the same names. And, “Big Journalism” buys the story without any further investigation. Whatever happened to getting a second source on something? What happened to “speaking truth to power”? And, most importantly, why am I, a regular American citizen, following up on this story and investigating the oddity of the White House claims instead of someone from a TV network or one of the hundreds of newspapers whose are supposed to be doing this for a living?

Allow me to answer that last question. I am doing this because I am highly skeptical of the White House’s explanation. It defies logic and reason and, I think that it belies the false myth that is the “Open Government” and “transparency” show that the Obama Administration is trying to propagate. The fact is, the people who run the networks and the newspapers in America do not have the same inherent skepticism for this White House or this President. They have supported him every step of the way and they accept an explanation like, “Oh that guy? That’s some OTHER Malik Shabazz.”

But, it’s not supposed to be that way. America’s Free Press is supposed to speak for all of the people, not just the ones that agree with them. Here’s hoping that BigJournalism.com is a place where questions are asked on behalf of those of us who don’t believe the answers we’re hearing.

Oh, and by the way… Eric Boehlert‘s name is also not in the logs… what are the odds?