The Fourth Estate You Deserve.

Yesterday, Jay Nordlinger analogized the experiences of conservative journalists (who can't catch a break from the mainstream media) to Jews (who can't catch a break from country clubs). "There are interesting arguments to be made, and listened to," he complained.

The thing is, the conservative movement and its ideas had a massive platform. His name is David Weigel and he wrote for The Washington Post -- until today. 

Conservatives are gleeful. "Burn, Davey, burn," says Ann Althouse. "A fitting end," says Dan Riehl. Pam Geller bids adieu to "this clown."

These celebrations unfortunate. Weigel is no liberal. Says Philip Klein:

I could just as easily report on private conversations in which [Weigel]'s revealed a fondness for Ronald Reagan, a willingness to vote for Bobby Jindal as president, and agreed that Van Jones should have been fired for his 9/11 trutherism. Plus, it should be noted that in the past, he's even contributed to the American Spectator.

It should also be noted that he went on Keith Olbermann's show and shot down a story about Sarah Palin committing perjury that had been lighting up the liberal blogs and defended Cato's Michael Cannon against a "dishonest and unfair hit" by the Center for American Progress.

I've disagreed with Weigel on a number of occasions, and have called him out when I've felt he's placed an inordinate amount of focus on fringe characters or extreme statements made by conservatives. But I also know that he isn't some "drive by" journalist. He knows his subject matter well, reads constantly, goes to lots of conservative events, maintains friendships with conservatives, and talks to a lot of conservatives for his articles and quotes them accurately.

It wasn't long ago, recall, that conservatives complained that the tea party movement was being "ignored" and "snubbed". David Weigel, who covered the beat early and often, did neither. Conservatives would do well to remember this amid the schadenfreude. [seealsotoo]