Recall my prior post, Big Law Firm Takes Down Big Conservative Blogger, about how Paul Mirengoff of Power Line Blog was forced by his big law firm stop blogging after a blog post Mirengoff made after the Tucson shooting memorial service, in which the service was opened with a prayer, of sorts, from an American Indian tribal leader:
“As for the ‘ugly,’ I’m afraid I must cite the opening ‘prayer’ by Native American Carlos Gonzales,” Mirengoff wrote. It “apparently was some sort of Yaqui Indian tribal thing, with lots of references to ‘the creator’ but no mention of God. Several of the victims were, as I understand it, quite religious in that quaint Christian kind of way (none, to my knowledge, was a Yaqui). They (and their families) likely would have appreciated a prayer more closely aligned with their religious beliefs.”
As I noted at the time, Mirengoff’s post was not an attack on American Indians, the Yaqui tribe, or the participation of the tribal leader in a tribal prayer.
The point of the post quite clearly was on the absurdity of not having a Christian prayer said for Christian victims. The lack of a Christian (or Jewish) prayer was commented on and criticized by a lot of people, and I agree with that criticism. The American Indian leader was welcome to participate with a traditional prayer, but if you were going to have a memorial service, why not also pay religious respect to the people you were mourning?
But that was not good enough for one of Mirengoff’s law partners [at Akin Gump], James Meggesto, who issued a sanctimonious statement saying he was “shocked, appalled and embarrassed” by Mirengoff’s “insensitive” “web posting.”
Shortly thereafter, after the Chairman of Akin Gump piled on, Mirengoff left Power Line.
Now he’s back (h/t Instapundit):
I can’t express how happy I am to be back at Power Line. I’m grateful to John, Scott, and Joe Malchow for their friendship and moral support during the past 15 months, and for holding a place at the blog for me.
I also thank Steve Hayward for filling the gap I left, and then some. It’s quite an honor to be replaced by someone of Steve’s stature, learning, and ability. I’m thrilled to be working with him….
My return to blogging coincides with my retirement from the practice of law. With all that extra time on my hands, I hope to be a better, more productive blogger this time around.
Welcome back.
As for the partners at Akin Gump who forced Mirengoff to leave Power Line in the first place ….
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Comments
Good for Paul!
“As for the partners at Akin Gump who forced Mirengoff to leave Power Line in the first place ….”
I assume still working for Team Obama?
So happy to read that – welcome back, Paul!
It was Akin Gump – what else did you expect?
Sunlight is the best disinfectant. Powerline had been absolutely silent re: the sequence and reason for the events other than to welcome Paul back. Thanks for the background info. Taking Obama down is going to require all hands on deck.
Maybe PowerLine was trying not to make a bad situation worse for the guy. Now that he’s retired, perhaps we’ll hear more of the backstory.
I’ve always found Mirengoff posts entirely predictable but I thought his treatment by his firm was horrible. Maybe now that he’s retired he will be able to wash off some of the inside the beltway thinking that made him the least interesting writer at Power Line.
“While I have disagreed with the folks there from time to time…”
…is the way you put it in your 01/31/2011 post, but I gotta say, for me personally (I’ve been reading Powerline since 2004), Paul was the one I disagreed with by far the most. His incessant dissing on Sarah Palin and the tea partiers was really annoying.
Akin Gump appears to be a leftard firm that makes most of its hay by advocating for causes and clients which are anathema to conservatives and libertarians. That Paul was drinking from that particular trough at all gives further pause.
Akin Gump–oh, a relation to Forrest Gump!
That explains everything.
Akin Gump’s corporate motto: “Stupid is as Akin does!”
When I was “lawyerin” in D.C. not so many years ago, we always referred to them as “Aching Grump.” Always reliably progressive, and a corporate lifestyle that would put Neely and his GSA compatriots to shame.
Where’s the information that he has left Akin? Akin still lists him on its website. Big firms are assiduous about removing lawyers from websites the day they leave. So, curious as to where the “Big conservative blogger leaves big politically correct law firm” comes from.
Mirengoff? Not a fan.