The #TCOT Report
Fastbreaking news from the conservative world


Bill Meeker Named Managing Editor of the #TCOT Report

12/30/08 at 8:45 AM CST

Contacts:
Publisher, the #TCOT Report@michaelpleahy
Managing Editor, the #TCOT Report@MaximusPolitics (Bill Meeker)


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Michael Patrick Leahy, the co-founder of the grass roots political movement known as Top Conservatives on Twitter (#TCOT) announced this morning that Bill Meeker has been named the Managing Editor of The #TCOT Report.

"The #TCOT Report is an exciting experiment in the use of social media and crowd sourced reporting within the online conservative community to publish fast breaking news. Bill Meeker is exactly the right guy to lead our efforts as Managing Editor of the #TCOT Report."

The #TCOT Report burst on the online scene 11 days ago, with the first edition published on December 19, 2008. In those 11 days, the site (http://www.tcotreport.com) has had over 2,700 unique visitors and over 5,400 viewers. Currently, the site is ranked #119,000 by http://www.alexa.com in the United States, and #221,000 worldwide.

"Our site traffic," said Leahy, "is not bad for a little site that has yet to implement RSS feeds."

In accepting his appointment as Managing Editor of the #TCOT Report, Meeker was enthusiastic about the publication's potential:

"I am honored to be offered the position of Managing Editor of the #TCOT Report and am happy to accept. I hope that this venture will grow as quickly as TCOT itself, attracting support, assistance and participation from TCOT members."

Leahy pointed out the reason #TCOT selected Meeker for such an important position:

"Bill is a former Commander in the United States Navy. He has an undergraduate degree from Johns Hopkins, an M.D. from New York University, and a Masters degree in English from New York University. Bill has served his country honorably for years, and he understands what makes this country great. His experience, intelligence, and devotion to discerning the truth--wherever it may lead--epitomizes what the #TCOT netizen warrior movement is all about."

As an undergraduate at Johns Hopkins University, Bill worked as the photo editor and copy editor for the Hopkins News-Letterand was active in College Republicans. He graduated in 1986 with a BA in English and German. He began graduate studies in British and American Language and Literature at New York University. After receiving an MA in 1988,he started the first semester of the Ph.D. program, then decided that he wanted to become a physician rather than an English professor.

From 1988 to 1989, he completed the remaining pre-medical requirements and applied to several medical schools in the Northeast U.S. During this period, he worked on Wall Street, despite the 1988 market crash. From American Banker/Bond Buyer, he moved to a small Wall Street firm (later bought by Thomson Financial) that specialized in analysis of new security issues.

Bill matriculated at New York University School of Medicine on scholarship from the Navy Health Professions Scholarship Program. At graduation in 1993, he began full-time active duty as a Navy medical officer. After an internship in Internal Medicine, he served as a general medical officer in the 2d Surveillance, Reconnaissance and Intelligence Group, II Marine Expeditionary Force, at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. His first tour of duty in Washington, DC followed. He completed a residency in psychiatry at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the National Naval Medical Center in 1999.

After a three-year assignment as the head of a small mental health department at Naval Hospital Charleston, South Carolina, where he achieved board certification in psychiatry, Bill returned to the DC area in 2002 for a fellowship in child and adolescent psychiatry at Walter Reed. He served as a member of the Human Services Advisory Commission of the City of Rockville, Maryland. and was awarded a Laughlin Fellowship by the American College of Psychiatrists.

In 2004 the Navy sent Bill to the Naval Medical Center in San Diego. There,he achieved board certification in child and adolescent psychiatry. In 2005, he became the head of child and adolescent mental health services. He also began MBA studies in healthcare management, but this academic pursuit was cut short when he was deployed in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom from mid-2005 to mid-2006. Based at Camp Arifjan, he served as the head of mental health and combat stress control services, U.S. Military Hospital Kuwait.

After redeployment, Bill decided to return to civilian life. He received an honorable discharge in 2007, leaving the Navy at the rank of Commander. After a year of running his own private practice (a rather dissatisfying experience, given the creeping socialization of American medicine), Bill decided to pursue longstanding interests in business, writing and politics. He now works as a securities trader, specializing in the financial futures and foreign exchange markets. Bill also writes blogs on conservative politics and the financial markets. He is active as a volunteer for the San Diego County and California Republican Parties, and ecently he joined Red County as a contributor for San Diego County.

Bill and his wife (who is a CPA) have been married for twelve years. They have a six-year old daughter who the couple adopted from China when she was almost one year old. Although she is a first-grader, she walked precincts with Bill for the GOP in November and now wants to join Smart Girl Politics.

Bill was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota to Goldwater Republican parents. He considers Lexington, Kentucky, where he attended Kindergarten through 12th grade, to be his home town. He graduated from Henry Clay Senior High School in Lexington in 1982. He had his first experience with the Republican Party in high school when he worked as a volunteer for Ronald Reagan's successful bid for the Presidency in 1980.

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