The Occult Hand

Kathleen Parker takes a look at the "Scott Thomas" controversy. The New Republic is on the hot seat right now for the lurid stories that the anonymous diarist has been sending to that magazine. Many people have called TNR's article outright falsehoods. Others are pointing to a "Walter Mitty" type: he takes a grain of truth and builds a 20 story building out of it. Parker just points out what she believes may be at work.

But are they honest? Or has The New Republic (TNR) been ''glassed'' again? In the 1990s, TNR Associate Editor Stephen Glass was fired for fabricating stories.

The conservative Weekly Standard began questioning the reports last week. Bloggers have joined in challenging the anecdotes, as have military personnel who have served in Iraq and, in some cases, have eaten in the same chow hall mentioned.

Thomas' version of events in Iraq is looking less and less credible and smacks of the "occult hand."

The occult hand was an inside joke several years ago among a group of journalists who conspired to see how often they could slip the phrase — "It was as if an occult hand had …" — into their copy. This went on for years to the great merriment of a few in the know.

Looking back, it's hard to imagine how a phrase as purple as "an occult hand" could have enjoyed such long play within the tribe of professional skeptics known as journalists. Similarly, one wonders how Thomas' reports have appeared in the magazine without his editors saying, "Hey, wait just a minute."

When it comes to the playbook of anti-military cliches, Thomas seems guilty of plagiarism. What could be more cliche, after all, than American soldiers ridiculing a defaced woman, running over dogs or desecrating babies' remains?

Yup, we got women, dogs and dead babies. My guess is that if there is another column in TNR, this one will have a lurid description of the desecration of apple pie - while listening to country music. Parker attributes it to TNR wanting to believe because the stories reinforced TNR's internal beliefs. That's a pretty common thing, but it can be exceedingly dangerous for a magazine like TNR which already is on shaky ground with past issues of false reporting.