Damn, that was fast

Red Ben is gone. The serial plagarist lasted all of THREE DAYS before it caught up with him, and he "resigned" from the Post and they are launching an investigation. So much for bloggers being crazy people who need to be separated from the media. In this case, we all did a better job THAN the media.

Here's the statement from washingtonpost.com's editor, Jim Brady:

In the past 24 hours, we learned of allegations that Ben Domenech plagiarized material that appeared under his byline in various publications prior to washingtonpost.com contracting with him to write a blog that launched Tuesday.

An investigation into these allegations was ongoing, and in the interim, Domenech has resigned, effective immediately.

When we hired Domenech, we were not aware of any allegations that he had plagiarized any of his past writings. In any cases where allegations such as these are made, we will continue to investigate those charges thoroughly in order to maintain our journalistic integrity.

Plagiarism is perhaps the most serious offense that a writer can commit or be accused of. Washingtonpost.com will do everything in its power to verify that its news and opinion content is sourced completely and accurately at all times.

We appreciate the speed and thoroughness with which our readers and media outlets surfaced these allegations. Despite the turn this has taken, we believe this event, among other things, testifies to the positive and powerful role that the Internet can play in the the practice of journalism.

We also remain committed to representing a broad spectrum of ideas and ideologies in our Opinions area.

Good riddance, I say. Now, next time they make a blogger hire, they need to hire one of each side, and vet them first. My vote is for Atrios, James Wolcott or Glenn Greenwald versus anyone from NRO or Emily.