I am furious. I am bloody furious. The news that Dave Weigel has offered his resignation to the Washington Post after two weeks of fairly hefty smears from parts of the conservative movement just broke. If the Post accepts that resignation, it is their loss, but I think the loss is even bigger for the conservative movement.

Since I came to America, I have listened to Conservatives lament about outright hostile reporters in main street media. Often they were right on the money, sometimes they were just paranoid, but this time, they are just wrong.

When the Post hired Dave, the Conservatives got a rock solid beat reporter in a mainstream media outlet. One who probably knows more about the conservative movement than most of the clergy of the movement. They had a reporter who has publicly stated his sympathies to the movement. They had a reporter whose social circle belongs to one of the Conservative movement’s stepchildren, the civil libertarians.

This was evidently not good enough for the clergy of the Conservative movement. The problem was that David was a reporter first, and a movement guy second, and it was not even the right part of the movement. He wrote too much about the ugly truths that the movement wanted to hide, and was too critical about the movements icons. There is no room for truth in the movement, only worship.

The guy is a reporter, it is his job to write about what actually happened, not how the PR flaks wanted it to go down. His focus on the facts rather than the narrative is what a reporter is supposed to do. Get over it!

He was one of the few voices that actually provided a correcting light for the narcissistic self-righteousness of the Conservative clergy. Elements in the movement are batty as hell, and Dave pointed that out. Other elements are very healthy additions, and Dave cheered them on. One did not have to agree with him on all of these, but the record has proven Dave to be a fairly accurate yardstick on what is culminating in the movement before it actually bubbles to the surface where it is apparent to everyone.

I would not presume to call myself Dave’s friend, but we are acquaintances. We are in the same social circle, we share many friends, we have been to a lot of the same DC parties. As a person, he has been a funny, acerbic commenter on the political circus since I first met him three years ago.

As a journalist, he has proven himself to be an uncompromising reporter of the fact, he has a keen eye for the news, and he breaks news like there is no tomorrow. He also happened to choose a beat about something I care about. I admire his integrity and his professional abilities.

Since this mess really took off two weeks ago, I have watched Dave struggle with it from afar. I don’t think he was prepared for the onslaught that his transition to the Washington Post caused. I think he takes it personally, and that is one thing that you can’t afford to do. He has made the mistake of trusting some people he should not, which is another thing you can’t afford to do at the Washington Post level.

Because some of the youngens in the movement has made me the go-to counselor for professional and personal advice, they have dubbed me Mama Lene. Don’t ask me why, but given this role, it has not been easy to watch Dave try to cope with all the hostility and personal attention. We have similar education backgrounds, our professors has drilled it into our heads your work speaks for itself. No reporter ever wants to be the story. I have seen Dave struggle with the shift and I have been fighting an urge to just go hug him and provide him with some of the advice that could have helped, but you just don’t do that to young successful guys without invitation. We aren’t that close.

So yes, the Conservative clergy won a tiny victory today with Dave’s resignation from the post. The conservative movement has lost big time. Why? There is no mainstream media outlet with a staff reporter to give the movement a clear eyed chronicle and a correcting voice.

Knowing Dave, I think he will be back, bigger, badder, and more sardonic than he ever was. He is not the kind of guy to hide under a rock to lick his wounds and stay there. He has learned some lessons about limelight and whom he can trust the last two weeks, which makes him even stronger than he was. No sensible media outlet will turn down his application should he give one. In fact, I think several editors are already chomping at the bit to offer him a job.