What this country needs are more journalists willing to ask tough questions. I know one such person - Mike Stark. Mike's questions are so tough, he gets tackled for them. Senator Allen's campaign staff assaulted Mike after he asked them perfectly relevant questions about the Senator's divorce and arrest records.
Senator Allen is a public official - and one who runs on family values. Mike Stark was asking for records that might or might not show whether the Senator lives up to his campaign talk. And I can't imagine a more relevant question than why a Senator won't reveal his arrest record. There are far more questions that the Allen campaign has to answer for, let alone every other campaign, and the entire Bush administration.
In light of the fact that Mike has shown an ability to ask questions others are not willing to ask, for the benefit and education of the public, I am proud to announce that "The Young Turks" on Air America Radio has hired Mike Stark to be a reporter for the show.
I've known Mike for awhile now. He is attending the University of Virginia law school and he is a United States Marine. Once a Marine, Always a Marine. Semper Fi means something to Mike Stark. George Allen ought to look it up (perhaps in his divorce records).
Mike is smart, tough, well educated, dedicated and obviously courageous. This country needs more reporters like Mike Stark. I am proud to be part of an organization that is going to give people like Mike an opportunity to ask more tough questions of our elected officials. The people have a right to know.
And we're not done. We plan to hire more reporters in the future to cover political events around the country for us. If the mainstream press won't ask the questions, then we will.
I only wish we had hired Mike earlier and he could have been in the room to ask the White House about the Downing Street Memos, Jeff Gannon, the weapons of mass destruction, etc., etc. So many questions needed to be asked and weren't. We hope to change that.