From TBOGG we are once again drawn to the National Review’s The Corner, where John Derbyshire takes a shot at Newsday’s coverage:

Newsday has a hard-left editorial line, and is strongly sympathetic to illegal immigrants. It actually prints the phrase “illegal immigrant” in quotes, on the very rare occasions it prints it at all. (By far the more usual formula is “day laborer” or, when they feel they really cannot avoid referring to a person’s immigration status, “undocumented alien.”)

Really? Sadly, No! In fact, not even close.

Should one actually go to the Newsday search engine and do a search for illegal immigrant, 67 articles would be returned. Of the 17 that can be accessed for free, not one has the words illegal immigrant in quotes.

Wondering how many times day laborer was used? 33. Undocumented alien? Twice.

Looks like someone is going to be spending a lot of time in “the corner.”

Update: Mr. Derbyshire responds to our email with a link to this October 2000 article which shows that Newsday used the words “illegal immigrant” in quotes in one story. Which leads us to conclude that his claim above was a gigantic pile of “uninformed bullshit.”

Update 2: Tom from Just One Minute suggests we provide direct links to some Newsday articles so that readers can see for themselves whether Newsday writes “illegal immigrant” rather than illegal immigrant. Ready? Set. Go! Here is a piece from August 12, and another one from August 8. Perhaps you would prefer this Aigust 7th dispatch or a story from August 2? If not, try this one? All of which would lead one to conclude that John is actually a “writer” ? “critic,” and “commentator.”