Ellison extravaganza

I’ll be speaking this morning at the monthly meeting of the Metro Republican Women in suburban St. Paul. I think this will be the fourth time I’ve spoken to them. They are one of my favorite groups.

I’ll be speaking about my coverage of Minnesota Fifth District Rep. Keith Ellison on Power Line in what turned out to be the 2006 series “Who is Keith Ellison?” and in the October 2006 Weekly Standard article “Louis Farrakhan’s first congressman.”

I’ll update the story with a look at Ellison’s memoir, just out in paperback. I wrote about Ellison’s memoir in the Weekly Standard article “The Ellison elision” and in the Star Tribune column “Ellison remembers to forget.”

MinnPost’s Brian Lambert covers the local Minnesota media. He perfectly represents the attitude of the local press to my coverage of Ellison. He is uninterested and sarcastic. He doesn’t say I’ve gotten anything wrong, exactly, but he seems to disapprove. Here is his note on the Star Tribune column (emphasis in original):

[P]oints to the Strib for running a commentary from one of its most persistent critics. Attorney/PowerLine blogger Scott Johnson is given space to rip Keith Ellison (yet again). Says Johnson, “Ellison’s book would thus be of interest even if it weren’t interesting in its own right. But it is. Putting to one side the predictable left-wing platitudes that Ellison espouses throughout, the book is of interest both for what it includes as well as for what it leaves out. Nevertheless, it has attracted amazingly little attention in the local media. … I turned to the book as soon as it was published to discover how Ellison dealt with his long membership in — and his record of activities on behalf of — Louis Farrakhan and the deeply racist, anti-Semitic Nation of Islam in Minneapolis.” No doubt Mr. Johnson will now be inviting guest bloggers to PowerLine.

I have absolutely no idea what Lambert means by his last comment. Whatever it means, as I say, I take it he disapproves.

NOTE TO BRIAN LAMBERT: If you want to send us something criticizing my reportage on Ellison, the door is open. Ellison himself has never responded. We would also welcome a response from him.

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