Drudge's Play of Bus Beating Draws Critics

A fight on a school bus in Illinois is generating lots of attention across the country. A videotape of the incident shows black teens beating a white classmate while some onlookers cheer, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports. Police are investigating but have backed off an initial statement that the attack was racially motivated. The story has picked up national steam in part because Matt Drudge led with it much of the day on his site.

That decision has brought out Drudge's critics, who say he's once again race-baiting. "Is this national news?" asks Jeffrey Goldberg in the Atlantic. Drudge's motive is "fairly obvious"—he's pushing "the message is that white people ought to be very afraid of black people, starting with the President." At Raw Story, Ron Brynaert wonders whether Drudge is "openly trying to start a race war." (More Matt Drudge stories.)