Via Kos…  Here’s what the face behind mask looks like.  Warning…Text Below The Fold Is Not Safe For Work!

Remember Joe Curl? He’s the guy who didn’t just interview Karl Rove, but also adopted his math in an effort to fluff up his beloved President Bush in the Washington Times.

Well, a blogger emailed him challenging his math, and he got these responses (link is NOT safe for work):

So I fired off this email to Mr. Curl at his address at the Washington Times:

"You dishonest hack. How about getting the poll results that you quote right and when you compare them try comparing the apples with the apples."

C. Scott Smith

Pithy, right?

I got this back almost immediately from Mr. Curl:

Get a life, pussy.

And if you ever want a piece of me, name the time and place. I’m sick of pussies
like you writing these sissy fucking messages. You can’t even write – what the
fuck are you talking about?

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

jcurl@washingtontimes.com

I didn’t even have time to respond before I got this and clearly after he had read the link to the Kos piece that I sent him:

Just read your links. You think I can’t back up my story? Fuck you, hack. I do the work – Kos writes shit. Next time, dickhead, ask me nicely for my cites and I’ll be glad to tell you. I did the work – Kos is sucking off me. He’s a fucking hack. And youkre his bitch. Try thinking for yourself, pussy. And try doing the work.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

I told Mr. Curl that by the tone of his emails he clearly had masculinity issues and that these were obviously behind his over the top reaction to my email. I gladly told him where I lived and said that I’d love to meet him for a little old style face to face Marine Corps re-education session anytime he was in town. And then I got this back:

Fuck you, pussy.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Then, unprompted by any further correspondence from me, Mr. Curl fired off the following:

And it was a news article, numbnuts. Rove said, I wrote. Get a clue. I’m a
reporter, dillhole.

I’ll drop you a line next time I’m in Seattle.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

And it went on and on from there. I verified it with Curl, who reacted in a similar fashion to me. It’s all funny, of course, and the guy is full of shit, obviously. And isn’t it conservative bloggers that get the vapors when they hear someone say the word "fuck"? And what’s with the "pussy" pejorative? Is the dude a neanderthal?

But the most telling part of that exchange is when Curl claims his piece was a straight news piece. Like his colleagues on Fox News (where he often appears), he’s lost hold on reality. He thinks Made Up Wingnutlandia is a real place, where statements like "the surge is taking hold" and "Bush is regaining his footing" aren’t really just (incorrect) opinion.

Like I said, I emailed him to verify and to ask for his cites, since he claimed above that he could support all the claims in his article. His response:

You’re boring me. Stop emailing me.

Maybe you guys will get a different reaction from him, so drop him a line and find out: jcurl@washingtontimes.com

Eventually, Kos gets a response from Mr. Curl’s employer…

emailed the Washington Times managing editor about this:

I’m wondering if this is the sort of professionalism — both in demeanor and in writing accuracy — you accept from your writers:

http://www.dailykos.com/…

This is the response I received:

From: Fran Coombs "XXX@washingtontimes.com"
Cc: Joe Curl "CurlTWT@aol.com"
Date: Dec 5, 2007 9:05 AM
Subject: Re: TWT Comments: Professionalism of Joe Curl

Thank you for your e-mail. We stand fully behind Mr. Curl’s reporting and the accuracy of his story. Obviously I’m not surprised that a far-left website like your own would take issue with any story about President Bush that stops short of calling for his impeachment. Unfortunately for you, recent news just doesn’t fit your agenda.

But I will ask Mr. Curl about the exchange that you allege took place. Clearly we don’t think cursing critics is appropriate, even when they initiate an exchange with the obviously hostile statement, "You dishonest hack." This kind of comment generally does not engender a polite exchange.

Best wishes,
Fran Coombs
Managing Editor
The Washington Times

Curl’s dishonest use of poll numbers was proven beyond reproach. His assertions of a Bush jump in popularity simply don’t match the reality, no matter how hard Curl tries to mix and match poll numbers to create that impression.

As this email shows, however, that’s the sort of dishonest hackery that gets one kudos and promotions at the Mooney Times. And really, would we expect any different from them? They are quite simply a right-wing propaganda outlet.

What’s more amazing to me is the parallel behavior between the Washington Times and Time Magazine. We expect this sort of thing from the right-wing rags. We don’t from Time Magazine.

But in the end, there is apparently little difference between the two.

Well…I haven’t seen anyone from Time calling Glenn Greenwald a pussy.  In public.  Yet.