Either that or he’s covert for some right-wing think tank and saying whatever he’s told. Either way, it’s failure.

Here’s the problem. People that write this sort of thing are most often quite clearly too intelligent to NOT know they are being dishonest. If they DO know they are being dishonest, that opens up a whole host of possible motivations and I don’t care to speculate. But I do sense shadiness.

Whatever. His mommy should be ashamed of him. Epic fail!

And — this guy calls himself a journalist?? What J-school did he go to that he’s blind to the REAL story? To at the very least the very real human interest story in all of this — which would mean NOT mocking the victims, who are average, normal human beings, whose average, normal lives were blown to smithereens 10 years ago, through no doing of their own, who have had no satisfaction and no resolution, since. Not mocking the victims, not assigning pathologies to them, but TAKING THEM AND THEIR CONCERNS SERIOUSLY — THAT’s a story worth writing.

Based on the quote above, the review and The Agenda interview, I can’t take Kay seriously, and will not be bothered with his book. Jon Gold is right — this appears to be the weak attempt of a hack reporter out to make a buck no matter who he steamrolls.

Thats not at all what I did. And its bizarre that you would characterize what I wrote that way. But I wont bother arguing with you, besides this brief statement.

My response…

Stating that “the spectacle of their grief short-circuits our intellectual faculties” is an insult. I was involved in this cause long before I saw Bob McIlvaine cry. I hope that you never have to see a loved one brutally murdered, and watch each investigation into that murder have its own version of corruption and compromise.

You completely ignored the real story. That this was started by the families.. that each investigation had its own version of compromise and corruption… that there are too many unanswered questions… that there are indications of criminality, etc… and so on. Instead… you focused primarily on the nuts… the weakest links… you latched every conspiracy theory known to man onto 9/11… portrayed us as psychologically unstable… used ad hominem attacks… and you ignored incriminating information and people.

You are disgraceful and a hack. There’s some truth for you.

During my interviews in the New York City area, I met a variety of Truthers who fell into the damaged-survivor category: emotionally traumatized parents, children, siblings, or spouses of 9/11 victims, including one genuinely pitiful middle-aged protester who carries a sign featuring a picture of a handsome young man alongside the words “The NWO [New World Order] murdered my cousin Bradley Van Hoorn.”

Other Truthers in this category include some of the “Jersey Girls” whose activism helped spur the creation of the independent 9/11 Commission; Manny Badillo, a leading New York City-based Truther whose uncle and mentor, Joseph Sgroi, died on 9/11; and Bob McIlvaine, a former Philadelphia schoolteacher who became a spokesmen for the Truth movement after losing a son in the North Tower.

Damaged survivors are particularly effective as recruiters for conspiracist movements because the spectacle of their grief short-circuits our intellectual faculties – much the same way that graphic testimony from a crime victim can sway a jury to convict an innocent defendant. “When I saw Bob [McIIvaine] cry at the commission hearings in New York in 2004, it broke my heart,” Pennsylvania-based 911blogger.com founder Jon Gold told me when I asked him what drove his activism. “The anger I felt when I saw we were lied to was enormous. I couldn’t imagine how much extra pain must have been felt by those who actually lost people. I believe they deserve better.”

All of which to say: It is not just because Jenny McCarthy is attractive and famous that she is permitted to promote nonsense medical theories on national television. It is also because she has experienced suffering, a subject that usually can be counted on to arouse the interest of American television viewers, even as it blunts their critical faculties. – [pages 164-165]

I never thought stating my support for those who need it most, would be used against me.

“Among the Truthers, on the other hand, is a failed salvo, that might just as well have been titled The Protocols of All Those People Who Make Me Think Twice.”

That’s really heavy. We’ve been the focus of some of the most brazen propaganda in recent times and few have spoken up simply on the principles of journalistic integrity.

“I don’t think George Bush or Dick Cheney or anyone in the White House hatched the plot, I do think an airplane flew into the Pentagon, I’m agnostic about what brought down World Trade Centers 1 and 2 (though not so much 7), I regard Alex Jones as a highly unreliable (if entertaining) source of information, and I think Ron Paul would be a disaster as president. If the Truther movement issued membership cards, I’d probably be required to turn mine in.”

NO!!! NO. no … Dude!!! We’re out here. We understand.

Frank Moher appears to me to have a practical attitude toward the 9/11 truth movement. Like many smart people he assumes official corruption but wouldn’t want to associate himself with the mess that is this movement. I empathize. (Perhaps he doesn’t understand that so much of that mess is intentional and that the few holding the fort decided to jump in anyway for the sake of history.)

I think this review serves as an excellent example of the fact that many support what we are doing but wouldn’t want to associate with what this movement has become. Moher even clearly identifies the sore spots. Assigning blame, the Pentagon, Alex Jones, and right-wing hucksterism.

I think he’s got a good point, but I do hope he’ll learn that there are also those involved that don’t fit his mold. A few that see the problems but can’t let go of why this matters to them.