Drink, Ben, Drink!
As we continue to familiarize ourselves with the Post's new conservative blogger, 24 year old Ben Domenech, we learn that Ben might not be the complete stiff that his affection for Antonin Scalia suggests that he is. Here's a funny story from someone on livejournal who apparently used to work with Ben at the Flat Hat, the W&M student newspaper.

When I was a sophomore in college, there was a young conservative boy who worked with me at the college paper. He would follow me around a bit, asking me lots of questions about how I wrote my column, and being a bit odd in terms of social grace. He was a homeschooled lad with an "aw shucks, you liberals are like animals at the zoo" attitude. He viewed everyone as a liberal.

As the year went on, he developed a bit of an adoration for me. I say this not in some kind of bragging way, but because it led to one of the strangest moments of my life. He showed up at Psi U for Halloween, wearing khakis and a blue blaze, a goofy tie on with his dress shirt. "What are you supposed to be?" the doorman asked. "I'm Jon!" he said, raising a notepad with a heading that said "Confusion Corner" on it.

For those who don't get the costume, in addition to writing a weekly humor column called Confusion Corner, I was also a member of the premier college acappella group, the Gentlemen of the College, who wore khakis, blue blazers and wacky ties.

Anyway, the moment of having someone dressed as me for halloween has always stuck out as one of those "is that my fifteen minutes of fame" moments in my life. I will alsways remember it fondly.

Today, I found out what my old friend and wannabe protege was up to. His name, by the way: Ben Domenech.

Funny, no? But it gets better. A poster by the name of "btdome" shows up and leaves the following comment:

As I recall, the reason for that costume was a bet, combined with a large amount of alcohol (at least for a freshman). But which of us ever did something stupid when they were seventeen? Heh.

Why, it's Ben Domenich! That meme about homeschool kids being the ones who go a little crazy once they leave home seems to hold true in this case. Ben is right though, who didn't do a little underage drinking in college? So let's not fault Ben for this. He was just a crazy 17 year old kid trying to find his way in this world. It's not like there are any pictures of Ben doing unnatural things with box turtles. Are there?

But it doesn't end there. Ben leaves another comment responding to well wishes on his success:

Ha - in this case, I think "success" may not be worth it, if said success means that half the blogosphere paints you as a racist homophobe on day one.

Poor Ben. Imagine that, people getting the wrong idea about Ben just because he called Coretta Scott King a communist on the day of her funeral. I, for one, did not call him a racist or a homophobe. Like Ben, I think name-calling lowers the discourse. Oh, wait, I did call him an asshat. Hopefully Ben's feelings aren't too hurt. Nothing a viewing of "Red Dawn" can't cure, I'm sure.