Talk:Patrick T. McHenry

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Contents

[edit] Removing content

To all the anonymous editors: quit unilaterally removing content without a good reason and/or consensus.--RedShiftPA (talk) 01:37, 6 January 2008 (UTC)

Removed non-neutral, poorly-sourced content, in accordance with commonly accepted standards for biographies of living persons —Preceding unsigned comment added by 65.194.118.11 (talk) 14:12, 8 January 2008 (UTC)
Wow, good to see that the National Republican Congressional Committee is so well versed in wikipedia guidelines. Forget about COI?--150.212.40.71 (talk) 21:02, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Looks like it was the NRCC, although the citation was to... a blog written by a Democratic activist with no neutral sourcing in any major or minor media outlet. That said, here's what was removed back in January. You decide whether it should have stayed. --Kallahan (talk) 21:31, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

According to voter registration applications uncovered by Mike Rogers of BlogActive.com, two other men, Matthew Allen Hamilton and Neil Everett Capano, have also registered to vote using Rep. McHenry's home address. Another man, Jason Jent Deans, registered and voted in McHenry's district but used an address outside of the district to receive payments from the McHenry campaign.[1]

[edit] McHenry Daily KOS dispute

Upon a semi-revert war with User:Kallahan, I slightly changed the post I made to be more NPOV by not mentioning the blogs, however, I simultaneously added another link to prove that the term "liberal blogs" is legitimate. This should end this dispute, and no further editing is necessary, as it is clear that this should agree with both of our positions, as the facts are preserved. Also, apologies on the "Preceded" typo. --152.17.138.92 (talk) 18:44, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

I'm on the fence about this one. On the one hand... the entry says that it's speculation from a blog and I've always been more of the mind set that if an entry says what it is and it's a notbale blog (which Dalykos is)... then it should be allowed. Indeed... this could be a great example of the lengths DailyKos and other websites are going to in order to hurt McHenry's political career so it may have value from that perspective on top of value from a left wing perspective. On the other hand... ti's a pretty severe peice of speculation. It's largely circumstantial. I'm on the fence... I could go either way.--Dr who1975 (talk) 18:55, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
P.S. My main reason for reverting it was because it was new information that had been removed by an experienced editor. If it had been established information that was removed or if the confrontation was between two experienced editors I wouldn't have done so.--Dr who1975 (talk) 19:05, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Third opinion

As it says at the top of this discussion page: "Controversial material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous." The more controversial a claim, the more reputable the source required, generally speaking. Speculation in a blog, unless reported on by notable mainstream media (and then cited to those sources), is unlikely to be a suitable source for such accusations and claims. Vassyana (talk) 04:48, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Regarding edits and edit protection

I accept the current incarnation of the page, but I suggest the community assess whether the speculation contained in the second-half of the Controversy section (previously entitled "OPSEC Violation Video in Iraq's Green Zone possibly resulting in three deaths") should be here at all. I worry that the edits made by 152.17.138.92 are meant to make this article decidedly non-NPOV and, rather than encyclopedic, a partisan outgrowth of political blogs. --Kallahan (talk) 19:37, 10 April 2008 (UTC)

Y'know... I actually meant to side with you and remove it completely. I didn;t realize what edit I was reverting... oh well, can;t do nothing now until the protection expires... if you change your mind you may want to appeal to User:Gonzo_fan2007.--Dr who1975 (talk) 19:41, 10 April 2008 (UTC)
  • That whole section should just go, or be completely rewritten as an extremely short para. Recentism gone mad. Guy (Help!) 14:49, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Baby of the House

"Baby of the House" is not a term used in the United States. McHenry is simply referred to as the youngest member of Congress. This should be removed when the edit protection expires. JTRH (talk) 10:33, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

True, Baby of the House it is an unnoffial term. Superdelegate is also an unofficial term yet there's an entire page about it (whose page title I disagree with) and that term is used on many other pages in wikipedia. Just because something's unnaoficial doesn't mean it can't be mentioned on wikipedia. Would you also remove all mention of superdelegates?--Dr who1975 (talk) 14:52, 11 April 2008 (UTC)
I'm not saying it should be removed because it's unofficial. I'm saying it should be removed because it is not used in the United States. It is not accurate to say that the youngest member of Congress is referred to as the Baby of the House. JTRH (talk) 14:55, 11 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Controversy section

I removed the controversy section entirely, in keeping with WP:UNDUE and WP:BLP, especially WP:TABLOID. It is simply unacceptable to dominate an article on a living individual with the nine days' wonder of a tabloid flap over a careless comment. The news media are primary sources in this respect and, crucially, they never go back and say "oh, well, we over-reacted a bit there" - they are all about vividness, not impact. We should step back and see how weightier more analytical secondary sources describe this. A short placeholder is fine, but at the earliest opportunity we should go to less immediatist sources - even Newsweek would be a good start, or the Wall Street Journal's overseas edition, which does a remarkably good job of condensing the meat of silly political dramas. If it's not a resignation issue (which it does not appear to be, just routine election time dramatisation of everything any politician says), then we should not overdramatise it ourselves, and we absolutely do not go with blow-by-blow stuff sourced to YouTube, blow by blow belongs on Wikinews and YouTube belongs at dev/null. Feel free to propose a nice short section to be going on with. Guy (Help!) 21:55, 13 April 2008 (UTC)

I would respectfully submit that a Member of Congress being accused of violating security procedures in a war zone is hardly "a tabloid flap over a careless comment." This has been widely reported by objective media in North Carolina, and is becoming recognized as a legitimate issue in the Congressman's re-election campaign (even if he's not going to lose because of it). The issue should be re-written (NPOV, non-tabloid) but not removed entirely from this article. Thanks. JTRH (talk) 22:57, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Starting point? --Kallahan (talk) 23:07, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
McHenry stirred controversy with his remarks on April 1, 2008 regarding a recent trip to Iraq. During his remarks to 150 Republicans attending the Lincoln County GOP Dinner, he called a contractor -- reported first by liberal blogs as a "U.S. soldier"[2] -- performing security duties in Iraq as "a two-bit security guard" because the contractor denied McHenry access to a gym.

"We spent the night in the Green Zone, in the poolhouse of one of Saddam’s palaces. A little weird, I got to be honest with you. But I felt safe. And so in the morning, I got up early — not that I make this a great habit — but I went to the gym because I just couldn’t sleep and everything else. Well, sure enough, the guard wouldn’t let me in. Said I didn’t have the correct credentials.

It’s 5:00 in the morning. I haven’t had sleep. I was not very happy with this two-bit security guard. So you know, I said, “I want to see your supervisor.” Thirty minutes later, the supervisor wasn’t happy with me, they escort me back to my room. It happens. I guess I didn’t need to work out anyway."[3][4]
He later apologized, saying "[i]t was a poor choice of words to describe a foreign contractor."[5]
I like this so far. Good work! JTRH (talk) 23:10, 13 April 2008 (UTC)
Sounds good... the DailyKos thing should stay out unless a reputable news source picks it up.--Dr who1975 (talk) 21:15, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

Stay on the lookout; it appears our motivated IP friend has gotten a Wikipedia account. Special:Contributions/Atomgryo --Kallahan (talk) 20:18, 15 April 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Semi-protected

I have semi-protected this article for a period of one week, largely out of concern for adherence to our biographies of living people policy. Please refrain from adding material concerning the photographs that are being circulated in the blogosphere, and perhaps even linking to a site that carries them. If these allegations are investigated by a reliable news sources (other than blogs, even respected political ones) then it might be appropriate to mention. Thank you for bringing this to my attention, VanTucky 19:00, 5 May 2008 (UTC)