LA Times Fires Longtime Progressive Columnist Robert Scheer

Last week, the Los Angeles Times Newspaper announced that it was firing longtime columnist Robert Scheer. Scheer has been at the Times for 30 years and was one of the most progressive voices at the paper. In recent years, his columns took on the Bush Administration and its justifications for the invasion of Iraq. Scheer believes that his firing was because of ideological reasons.

In a posting at the Huffington Post blog, he wrote "The publisher Jeff Johnson, who has offered not a word of explanation to me, has privately told people that he hated every word that I wrote. I assume that mostly refers to my exposing the lies used by President Bush to justify the invasion of Iraq. Fortunately sixty percent of Americans now get the point but only after tens of thousand of Americans and Iraqis have been killed and maimed as the carnage spirals out of control. My only regret is that my pen was not sharper and my words tougher."

The Times also fired Michael Ramirez, a Pulitzer-Prize winning conservative staff cartoonist.

* Robert Scheer, former columnist with the Los Angeles Times. He is author of "The Five Biggest Lies Bush Told Us About Iraq" and he is co-host of a weekly syndicated radio show along with with Arianna Huffington, Matt Miller and Tony Blankley.
- Website: http://www.robertscheer.com

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