WaPo Hit Piece on DiLo
Any LRC reader who’s not been holed up in Guantanamo has by now read all about Ron Paul’s historic opening hearing in his new role as head of the subcommittee that oversees the Federal Reserve. In my naïveté, I am still shocked at the laziness of Dr. Paul’s critics.
In this particular case, the critics directed their fire at Tom DiLorenzo, one of Paul’s witnesses. Tom has already answered their general charges here, but I think it will be useful to go through and dissect this Washington Post article by Dana Milbank, since it so beautifully epitomizes the half-hour hatchet job in these affairs. (Full disclosure: Tom is a personal friend.)
DiLorenzo Hiding His True Views?
Right off the bat, Milbank implies that DiLorenzo was trying to sneak his anti-Lincoln views under the subcommittee’s radar:
The Republican takeover of the House put a chairman’s gavel in the hands of Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, the gadfly GOP presidential candidate with a cult following. On Wednesday, he used that gavel for the first time – to remarkable effect.
The hearing itself was lively – based on Paul’s desire to abolish the Federal Reserve and bring back the gold standard – but what really stood out was Chairman Paul’s leadoff witness: a Southern secessionist.
The “short bio” the witness provided with his testimony omitted salient pieces of his resume, including his 2006 book, “Lincoln Unmasked: What You’re Not Supposed to Know About Dishonest Abe.” But the subcommittee’s ranking Democrat, William Lacy Clay (Mo.) did some homework and learned more about the witness, Thomas DiLorenzo of Loyola University Maryland.
Milbank certainly gives the impression that DiLorenzo had taken all of his “nutjob” Lincoln stuff out of his bio, and perhaps left in only his doctoral dissertation and some other academic pieces – hoping against hope that the lazy congressmen wouldn’t find out about the dark side of DiLorenzo the bomb-thrower.
And now… the rest of the story. …..
Harold
