KEYWORDS ARKIN, XRLQ, MISQUOTATION, HUGH HEWITT, PATTERICO, AND LILEKS: Xrlq says of the Arkin misquotation controversy:

Critics of Arkin, including Hugh Hewitt, Patterico and Lileks, have been quick to pounce on the fact that Arkin put quotation marks around the word jihad, despite the fact that Boykin had (obviously) never used that word himself.

Now, the main reason I excerpt that quote is because I just love seeing in print the phrase “Hugh Hewitt, Patterico and Lileks.”

Still, I feel I must unfortunately express rare disagreement with my respected blogging colleague Xrlq. It seems to me that many people unfamiliar with the whole Boykin controversy might have been misled by the quotation marks. Arkin devoted an entire column to criticizing the way that Boykin expressed himself. In this context, it seems to me (and Hugh Hewitt and Lileks!) that Arkin had a special responsibility to make sure that words within quotation marks, which refer to Boykin’s alleged beliefs, reflect things that Boykin actually said.

We’ve all seen roadside billboards that read something like this:

Exit 203, in 35 miles: Annie’s Roadside “Cafe” featuring Annie’s “fresh” apple “pie”!

My suggestion: Arkin should be “fired” from the Dog Trainer, and should be put to work creating these sorts of roadside billboards with superfluous quotation “marks” that mean “nothing.”