Blogwatch

Everything seems to happen faster in cyberspace--even a writer's rise and fall. Ben Domenech, 24, who co-founded the right-wing politiblog REDSTATE, had barely settled in last week at RED AMERICA, Washingtonpost.com's new conservative blog, when left-wing bloggers dug up some of his college writing and highlighted passages that were suspiciously similar to other journalists' work. ATRIOS and DAILY KOS flagged movie reviews that uncomfortably resembled those by writers at Salon.com as well as a postcollege film analysis by Domenech for the National Review Online that lifted unique phrasing from Steve Murray of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Just three days after the launch of Red America, Domenech resigned. In a statement, the Post acknowledged the "powerful role that the Internet can play in the practice of journalism." Back at his old Web home, Domenech slammed the "liberal attack machine" but found "enormous solace" in one thing: that his foes "spent this week bashing me, instead of America."