Clash of the ‘liberals’: McFaul ‘offended’ as NYT journo insta-blocks him on Twitter for criticism

Prolific tweeter and former US ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul suffered a shock on Tuesday, finding himself blocked by a fellow liberal and New York Times reporter — for the unforgivable sin of criticizing one of his articles.

It was zero tolerance from Times reporter Kenneth P. Vogel after McFaul tweeted that the paper of record was not at “their best” in the piece and criticized the “shocking” methods used by the reporter for the article in question.

The unsuspecting McFaul went about his business only to discover hours later that a clearly insulted Vogel had pulled an insta-block on him, seemingly unable to take mild (and very politely expressed) criticism, even from a former Obama administration official who he had worked with before on previous stories.

Many might have simply moved on with their day, but the shell-shocked McFaul was nowhere near ready to let the issue drop. Instead, he tweeted about the unexpected burn 13 more times — and that’s not including the multiple retweets he shared from other people also criticizing Vogel’s reluctance to engage.

A “saddened and offended” McFaul tweeted about how he had read the paper "every day for over thirty years" and pondered whether, as a purchaser, he had an inalienable right to see its reporters tweets.

The issue, he said, was “bigger than one journalist,” imploring the Times' editors to “weigh in” on Vogel's “unethical” block-happy approach to Twitter criticism. It might even be “cutting against the grain of free speech,” he said.

Other tweeters attempted to soothe McFaul’s hurt feelings by letting him know that liberal Vogel also makes...liberal use of the block button, too. Vogel “mass blocks literally everybody” who is even “slightly critical,” one tweeter, said. Another who claimed to have “known Ken [Vogel] since Kindergarten" didn't escape his Twitter wrath either.

Vogel, for his part, hasn’t commented on the spat — but tweets he posted a few days prior to the McFaul drama (likely following another blocking spree) offer some insight into his blocking policy.

“You have the right to say whatever you want (short of threats), & I have the right to chose not to listen,” he wrote.

Well, that’s that then. So much for those liberal values of free speech and civil debate.

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