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Mar 08 2013 0 cmnts

James O’Keefe Agrees To Pay $100,000 To Former ACORN Employee [Update w/O'Keefe Statement]

Posted by: Mark @ 11:41 am

James O'Keefe Having already been convicted of criminal activity in Louisiana, recidivist law-breaker James O’Keefe is now shelling out a hundred grand to one of his victims in the notorious ACORN affair.

ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera was surreptitiously videotaped (for which criminal charges are still pending) and falsely portrayed as offering assistance to O’Keefe’s phony endeavor to transport underage girls from El Salvador for the purpose of prostitution. Unbeknownst to O’Keefe, Vera had notified the police after his encounter with O’Keefe. But O’Keefe posted his fraudulent and heavily edited videotapes anyway with the help of Andrew Breitbart. It will be interesting to see how Breitbart News covers this breaking story – if they do so at all.

This is yet another vindication for ACORN, which has never been found to be guilty of any wrongdoing throughout the trumped up scandal that led to its demise. And it is further evidence that O’Keefe is a disreputable scumbag with no respect for journalism and no personal integrity. This civil litigation defeat is well-deserved and it ensures that the money O’Keefe swindles from his ignorant donors will be put to better use.

[Update] O’Keefe has posted a statement on his settlement agreement that typically denies responsibility and blames others. He calls the $100,000 “the cost of exposing the truth,” and insists that he “will not be deterred from investigating and exposing corruption.” Of course, that statement conflicts with the one he agreed to in court documents wherein he said that he “regrets any pain suffered by Mr. Vera or his family.” How can he be genuinely remorseful while saying that the “ridiculous lawsuit” consists of “meritless accusations?” What’s more, it is absurd to characterize a $100,000 payout as a nuisance suit. Two or three grand maybe, but a hundred large is real money that only the guilty fork over.

Clearly O’Keefe is an unprincipled and deceitful weasel whose word is worthless. And his equally disreputable cohorts at Breitbart and Fox have not even bothered to report the news of this settlement 24 hours later.

Jun 08 2012 4 cmnts

Election, General

Fox Nation Revives ACORN Phobia While Mitt Romney Hires Corrupt Consultant

Posted by: Mark @ 10:33 am

It’s been two years since ACORN closed up shop after being falsely accused of voter fraud. But right-wing obsessives refuse to abandon their neuroses once they latch onto them. Never mind the fact that ACORN was exonerated by numerous independent investigations and that the only criminal conviction to result from the harassment was that of James O’Keefe, who produced the dishonestly edited videos that slandered ACORN’s reputation.

Fox Nation, nevertheless, persists in fear mongering about the defunct organization as if it had zombie-like powers of reanimation. Yesterday they featured an article that sought to renew the dread that conservatives still harbor in their hearts for an enterprise that mainly helped people to participate in their democracy and guided them through complex federal mortgage assistance programs.

The article relied on a report from the conservative Judicial Watch, who alleged that a former ACORN director was the recipient of federal funds for an Illinois program that helps struggling homeowners make their mortgage payments. It refers to ACORN as “scandal-plagued” and a “corrupt leftist community group.” Of course, neither of those assertions are true and both Fox Nation and Judicial Watch know it.

The problem, as explained by Judicial Watch, is that a “sub-component” of the Illinois Housing Development Authority received a federal grant, and that a director of the program, Joe McGavin, had performed the same role at ACORN. Which simply means that he has experience with helping people with federal assistance and is, therefore, well qualified for his job. But to the Fox Nationalists it means that he is a “suspect candidate,” despite never having been associated with any impropriety.

Meahwhile, at Mitt Romney’s campaign, someone with an actual record of dirty dealings has been added to the team. According to Lee Fang at the Republic Report, Nathan Sproul is “a political consultant with a long history of destroying Democratic voter registration forms and manipulating ballot initiatives.” With a new company name, Lincoln Strategies, Sproul is on the Romney payroll presumably to engage in activities similar to these:

In Oregon and Nevada, Sproul and Associates was investigated for destroying Democratic voter registration forms. The Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign paid Sproul $7.4 million for campaign work. [CNN, 10/14/04; KGW News, 10/13/04; East Valley Tribune, 09/07/06]
In Nevada, people who registered as Democrats with Sproul and Associates found their names absent from the voter registration rolls. [Reno Gazette-Journal, 10/29/04]
During the 2006 midterm elections, Wal-Mart banned Lincoln Strategies for partisan voter registration efforts in Tennessee. The Republican National Committee had hired the firm. [Associated Press, 08/24/06]
In Arizona, Lincoln Strategies employed a variety of deceptive tactics — including systematically lying about the bill — to push a ballot initiative to eviscerate the state’s clean elections law. [Salon, 10/21/04]
Lincoln Strategies, then employed by the Republican Party, was behind efforts to place Ralph Nader on the ballot in states such as Arizona. [American Prospect, 06/25/04]

Fox News and their conservative comrades have been hyperventilating about voter fraud for months, although they have never been able to cite actual examples of it. But they continue to raise it as an issue in order to push legislation that has the purpose of disenfranchising legitimate voters who just happen to lean Democratic.

The controversy surrounding ACORN involved allegations of phony names on voter registration applications. However, it was ACORN who alerted officials to the presence of those improper forms and, in any event, they could not, and did not, result in any fraudulent voting. In fact, ACORN itself was the victim of that activity because they were paying registration gatherers per form and the gatherers were falsifying them in order to earn more money. It did not serve any purpose of ACORN to submit forms that did represent actual voters.

On the other hand, Sproul’s corruption had the effect of preventing Democrats from being able to exercise their right to vote by deceiving them into believing that they were registered. But when they got to the polls they discovered that their registrations were never submitted.

And the man responsible for that is now a consultant to Mitt Romney’s campaign. Where is the story on that by Fox News?

Nov 08 2011 4 cmnts

General, Humor, Propaganda

Anatomy Of A Fox News Manufactured Political Scandal

Posted by: Mark @ 10:45 am

It was a blustery November morning. I was in my mother’s basement Tweeting waffle recipes to chums in my Marxist study group. My fingers were still sticky with maple syrup. Then she walked in. Or rather, she showed up in my Google news alerts. Her name was Winter, and it fit her like an Old Navy Fleece hoodie. Jana Winter. She said she was a reporter for Fox News. I should have known right then that she couldn’t be trusted. Everyone knows there aren’t any reporters at Fox News.

Fox News - ACORN Winter had been writing articles about how ACORN, the group of community organizers that ceased to exist more than a year ago, was secretly still operating and was behind the Occupy Wall Street protests. Her stories were obvious fabrications that posed absurd theories wherein the bankrupt ACORN could somehow afford to pay homeless people tens of thousands of dollars to attend rallies that were already populated by thousands of genuine protesters who attended for free.

Winter wrote three progressively more delusional articles on this subject in as many weeks. She was able to be so prolific because she never bothered to gather any actual evidence or testimony from anyone other than anonymous sources. The first article laid out the imaginary ACORN plot to subvert capitalism from beyond the grave. The second alleged that the resurrected ACORN, spooked by Winter’s first article, scrambled to destroy every remnant of its reincarnated existence. Once again, almost every assertion was absent an attribution. Winter is a master at coaxing incriminating confessions from ghosts.

But it’s the third article that reveals the depths of Winter’s deviousness. After laying the groundwork for a scandalous tale of corruption and clandestine schemes, Winter’s latest composition divulges the efforts of Darrell Issa, Congress’ self-appointed hall monitor, to bully the Department of Justice into launching an investigation of the gossip spread in Winter’s columns:

“In a letter dated Monday, Issa, R-Calif., called for U.S. Attorney General Loretta Lynch of the Eastern District of New York to launch a probe into allegations first reported by FoxNews.com.”

Notice the meticulous attention to journalistic precision in Winter’s description of Loretta Lynch as the Attorney General. That would be an interesting detail if it happened to be true. But even more interesting is the way she refers to “allegations first reported by FoxNews.com” without noting that she is talking about herself. It was her own reporting from which Issa derived his accusations of scandal. Several times in the article Winter cites “reports from FoxNews.com” and even noted that “Issa’s letter quotes from the initial FoxNews.com report.” Later Winter added that “Issa also referenced a second FoxNews.com report.” That second report was also Winter’s handiwork.

So what we have here is a circular wheel of affirmation wherein a Fox News “reporter” invents a phony scandal by writing thinly sourced articles that allege fraudulent activity by a defunct organization. Then a United States congressman cites those articles as evidence that an investigation should ensue. Then the same Fox News reporter writes an article about the congressman’s request for an investigation. I suppose that the next thing we’ll see is Issa citing the Fox News report on members of Congress demanding that the Justice Department investigate. And around it goes.

To be clear, there is absolutely no evidence of any wrongdoing by the non-existent ACORN, the New York Communities for Change (NYCC), whom Winter and Issa are slandering, or the Occupy Wall Street movement. Winter’s articles contain dozens of citations from anonymous sources that are uncorroborated. Yet in the latest article she doesn’t even bother to attempt to interview anyone representing the other side of Issa’s baseless accusations (fair and balanced?).

To her credit, Winter notes the inherent problem with bias in the media on the part of influential news enterprises:

“A leading force in online journalism appears to be making a strong effort to be anything but fair and balanced.”

The only problem is that she is not referring to the bias in her own reporting. That quote was from an article she wrote last month criticizing Arianna Huffington for “injecting her endorsement of the demonstrations into her media outlets’ coverage of the events in lower Manhattan.” It’s another proud moment for Winter who has somehow managed to out Huffington as a liberal. Who knew?

Winter has a bright career ahead of her, so long as she stays at Fox News. She doesn’t know who the Attorney General is. She doesn’t know that the Huffington Post is not a neutral media outlet. She doesn’t know how to compose an article without relying solely on anonymous sources and right-wingers. She doesn’t know that it’s bad form to cite herself as a source for subsequent reporting without disclosure. Best of all, she is not the least bit embarrassed by exhibiting her ignorance in public. If she’s an attractive young blond then she is everything Fox News could hope for.

And therein lies the mystery. Why isn’t she already appearing as part of Bill O’Reilly’s harem? Why hasn’t she filled in for Gretchen Carlson on Fox & Friends? Does Megyn Kelly have some nasty dirt (or dirty pictures) on her? Who can say? As for me, I’ve got bigger fish to fry and can’t be distracted by every dame that Fox throws in my path. Winter’s a big girl and can take care of herself. She’s demonstrated her willingness and ability to peddle Fox’s snake oil with the best of them. And she is adept at feigning being shocked – SHOCKED – to find that there are ACORN shenanigans going on here.

Nov 02 2011 3 cmnts

General

Idiots At BigGovernment Post Video That Proves They Are Idiots

Posted by: Mark @ 2:05 pm

This never fails to brighten my day. Some right-wingers are so stupid they don’t even know they are refuting their own positions with some of the attempted slander they present.

Today Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment (notoriously stupid to begin with) posted an interview of an Occupy Wall Street protester. She was prodded about reports of malfeasance on the part of the Occupy movement or some of its participants. The purpose being to smear the protest movement with phony allegations and rumors. The result was an article with the headline: ACORN Front Group Pays Homeless People ‘$10 a Hour, $100 a Day’ to Protest at Occupy Wall Street.

The only problem is that the woman in the video did not say that the allegedly hired homeless persons were paid to be protesters. What she said was…

“I know some people, homeless people, are getting paid to come here and mess things up.”

So her actual charge is that they were provocateurs hired to disrupt the protest, not to support it. She seemed earnest and well-meaning, but somewhat ill-informed in that her comments appeared to conflate reports of paid instigators with unrelated reports of ACORN hiring protesters. The ACORN story itself was obvious propaganda which I debunked last week. The absurd assertions of Fox News and others painted a picture of a bankrupt and disbanded non-profit group shelling out a quarter of a million dollars for extras to populate the scene at Zucotti Park.

As further evidence of the confusion of the woman in the video, her story didn’t even make sense. Why would ACORN pay people to disrupt a protest that they presumably supported? Anyone who has watched the news the past few weeks would have readily recognized the flaws in her comments and reputable journalists would not have used them, at least not without attempting get a clarification. But that doesn’t stop the rocket scientists at BigGovernment who saw fit to post this interview anyway. Never mind that it fingered the Occupy movement’s opponents as saboteurs and dirty tricksters. What’s more, it revealed that Breitbart’s prior efforts to miscast the Occupiers as shills was a lie. If this woman is to be believed, it was Breitbart’s side that were the shills. And she very likely got her misinformation (the ACORN nonsense) from “news” reported by Breitbart.

Despite the frequency with which right-wingers make themselves look like fools, it still astonishes me when they do so. And they even manage to escalate the flamboyancy of their blockheadedness with each new incident. With all the turmoil and tribulation in the world these days, I suppose I should grateful for the little bit of cheer they bring to my life. There really is nothing I enjoy more than when my ideological opponents show up for a debate with big, red, rubber noses and clown shoes.

Oct 28 2011 10 cmnts

General, Propaganda

Fox News Raises ACORN From The Grave To Bash The #Occupy Movement

Posted by: Mark @ 4:16 pm

Another day, another Fox News attempt smear the Occupy Wall Street movement.

This article also appears on Alternet.org.

Fox News has been feverishly trying to dampen the viral growth of OWS ever since it sprouted in a park in Lower Manhattan about a month ago. Their overt hostility is in sharp contrast to the love affair they had with the early Tea Party. Now they are slandering decent and passionate protesters as communists, whining about class war, comparing them to hippies, accusing them of violence, and associating them with Nazis. All of these attacks have collapsed from the weight of their own dishonesty, and support continues to grow for the movement. But does that stop Fox News?

Of course not. Their determination to crush this populist uprising is fueled by a cabal of bitter elitists with deep pockets. Rupert Murdoch’s pals on Wall Street have no intention of sitting still while they are asked to be accountable for their chicanery. So yesterday Fox’s Megyn Kelly featured a story based on an article at FoxNews.com with a provocative headline: EXCLUSIVE: Ex-ACORN Operatives Behind the Scene of ‘Occupy’ Protests.

Run for the hills, Helga. A defunct organization of community organizers who helped low-income citizens to vote, find housing, get an education, and navigate the complexities of government agencies, has risen from the dead to take control of a leaderless rabble of park squatters demanding an end to financial and political corruption. It’s Armageddon!

The FoxNews.com article was based on is a collection of unattributed sources making unsubstantiated allegations about New York Communities for Change (NYCC), the group Fox says is the ACORN spinoff. Most of the claims are so far-fetched as to be beyond believability. For example, one source flatly claims as a matter of fact that “there is a still a national ACORN.” The Fox reporter never bothers to confirm the demonstrably false assertion, nor to challenge the source. And then there’s this…

“Sources said NYCC has hired about 100 former ACORN-affiliated staff members from other cities – paying some of them $100 a day – to attend and support Occupy Wall Street. Dozens of New York homeless people recruited from shelters are also being paid to support the protests, at the rate of $10 an hour, the sources said.”

Doing the math, that comes to $10,000 a day for the staffers and another $8,000 (approx) a day for the homeless recruits. The Wall Street Occupation has just entered its sixth week, but if we assume that these folks worked for just three of those weeks, that’s $270,000 (with weekends off).

Remember, ACORN is an organization that disbanded when their funding dried up as a result of the negative publicity generated by the thoroughly discredited smear campaign of video-dissembler James O’Keefe. Every investigation of ACORN subsequent to their dissolution failed to find any wrongdoing except on the part of O’Keefe, whose videos were deemed to have been deliberately and unethically deceptive.

Nevertheless, Fox is now reporting that the spawn of this bankrupt non-profit “raked in about $5,000″ via fundraising efforts by hired canvassers. And with that puny take they managed to pay over a quarter of a million dollars to 150 people. That sort of magical fiscal management hasn’t been seen since Jesus fed the multitudes with five loaves of bread and a couple of fish. And all of this was supposedly orchestrated in order to make a crowd of thousands look marginally bigger. This doesn’t even take into consideration any of NYCC’s other expenses like rent, utilities, office equipment, etc., despite a specific assertion in the article that the money raised was used “to buy supplies, pay staff and cover travel expenses.”

NYCC has issued a response to Fox News:

“Fox News is trying to discredit Occupy Wall Street. New York Communities for Change is a new organization that fights for low- and moderate-income families. We don’t pay protesters and any monies raised by NYCC’s canvass are used in support of our ongoing issue campaigns. Period.

“The reality is that Occupy Wall Street is an organic movement of the 99% outraged at the ability of the 1% to corrupt America’s political and financial systems for personal gain while middle class families lose their jobs, their homes, and see their economic future devastated. We call on Fox News to stop its unseemly attacks and to respect the views of the overwhelming majority of Americans who believe that our nation needs a more equitable distribution of wealth.”

The Fox News article’s author, Jana Winter, claims to have interviewed insiders with specific knowledge of private details. Winter cites her interview subjects twenty times in the article but only once puts a name to a comment. Her negligence to identify anyone even includes a spokesman for the United Federation of Teachers and a Fox News producer – two people who presumably are not averse to attribution.

The one identified source is Harrison Schultz, an Occupy Wall Street spokesman, whom Winter quotes as saying that “he knew nothing about NYCC’s involvement in the Occupy movement. ‘Haven’t seen them, couldn’t tell you,’ he said.” So the only on-the-record quote in the whole article was an unambiguous denial of any OWS coordination with NYCC. That’s what Fox News considers an “exclusive” expose of ACORN’s clandestine domination of the movement.

For the past few weeks Fox News and the broader right-wing media has relentlessly hammered at OWS. They have tried in vain to drive down support for the movement by associating it with a different villain on an almost daily basis. Bill O’Reilly and his guest, Glenn Beck, discussed how George Soros was funding the protesters and their newspaper, The Occupied Wall Street Journal. In fact, there is no verifiable tie to Soros and the newspaper was produced by notorious pranksters, The Yes Men, and funded by donations. Glenn Beck took pleasure in a report that former KKK leader David Duke had “endorsed” OWS. What Beck failed to mention is that Duke, a pathological self-promoter, had also endorsed the Tea Party. But Andrew Breitbart took the top dishonors by speculating that OWS might be affiliated with Al Qaeda.

Despite this barrage of hogwash, the Occupy movement continues to gain popularity. A CBS/New York Times poll shows that 43% of the country agree with the Occupiers. An Associated Press poll shows that 37% of Americans view the protesters favorably. That compares to only 28% who have a favorable view of the Tea Party. Even more significant is the support expressed for the movement’s economic justice agenda, particularly raising taxes on the wealthy. A Bloomberg poll shows overwhelming support by 68% of the American people, including a majority of both independents and Republicans. And poll after poll affirms those results.

Is it any wonder then that Fox News is so frantically flinging fistfuls of mud in the hopes that something will stick? And since the usual name-calling they employ (socialists, thugs, deviants) has failed to make a mark, they are pulling out oldies like ACORN. Even if the association with ACORN were true, what would be the harm? We know now that ACORN was fully exonerated, while their critics were repudiated. There is certainly no shame in being associated with an organization that fought for decades on behalf of the disenfranchised members of our society.

This is a desperation move on the part of Fox News that reveals the weakness of their position. If this is the best that Fox can come up with, expect the Occupy movement to continue gaining strength. But also expect Fox to escalate their attacks into even more bizarre territory. Before long they will find a way to associate the Occupiers with an underground civilization of Molemen seeking to overthrow the surface-dwellers. Occupy Overground!

Jun 09 2011 3 cmnts

General, Scandalous

Don’t Forget Andrew Breitbart’s Legacy Of Sleaze

Posted by: Mark @ 11:21 am

With calls mounting for Anthony Weiner to resign, it would be prudent to take a look back at the public record of his accuser. It is Andrew Breitbart whose behavior is most repulsive and destructive. He is a liar and a hypocrite and causes far more harm than a horny congressman who never actually engaged in any sexual misconduct. If anyone should resign and skulk away in shame, it’s Breitbart.

[The following News Corpse article was originally published by Alternet]

Public apologies are often the source of captivating and prurient entertainment. There seems to be a genetic compulsion in the human DNA to observe our heroes, celebrities, and, of course, adversaries, fall from grace and beg forgiveness. This week we saw what may be Rep. Anthony Weiner’s curtain call but, like any good melodrama, he was upstaged by an ambitious and vainglorious rival, Andrew Breitbart.

After commandeering the podium at Weiner’s press conference, Breitbart declared “I’m here for some vindication.” He portrayed himself as a media-contrived victim of character assassination and challenged the reporters in the room substantiate their alleged assaults on his reputation.

“The media says ‘Breitbart lies, Breitbart lies, Breitbart lies, Breitbart lies.’ Give me one example of a provable lie. One. One. Journalists? One. Put your reputation on the line here.”

For some reason, no one in the room responded. It’s almost as if the press were clueless stenographers, unfamiliar with Breitbart’s past, and were incapable of providing a substantive rebuttal.

This is actually fairly typical of the modern press corps. Another example occurred when the New York Times asked Breitbart about the Weiner affair on Saturday and he attempted to strike a non-partisan tone saying that…

“I am as offended when John Ensign acts like an idiot, when Chris Lee acts like an idiot.”

Really? What the Times failed to note was that Breitbart’s BigGovernment blog did not publish a single story about the travails of either Ensign or Lee. Not one single story. How offended was he? Compare that to his obsession with Weiner that produced 17 separate stories and consumed every single headline (except for the plug for his lame book), and that was four full days after the story broke.

For those who are interested, including members of the press who were struck dumb at the press conference, here is a brief compilation of Breitbart’s reportorial resume, replete with dishonesty and deliberate disinformation. Feel free to offer these in response to Breitbart’s future challenges. We will await his profuse and heartfelt apologies.

1) ACORN: Breibart’s web site was the central agency for disseminating videos that were later shown to have been heavily edited in order to convey a fictional scenario that smeared a social service organization that had for years been assisting low income citizens with financial advice and voter registration. Every investigation of the affair exonerated ACORN and affirmed the deception of the videos. Breitbart’s henchman, James O’Keefe, is currently being sued by former ACORN employee, Juan Carlos Vera.

2) Shirley Sherrod: In this episode, Breitbart was responsible for slandering a USDA employee as a racist. Lately he has been defending himself by saying that he had included the “redemptive arc” of her story that revealed her innocence. But let’s not forget how he originally portrayed the situation:

“In her meandering speech to what appears to be an all-black audience, this federally appointed executive bureaucrat lays out in stark detail, that her federal duties are managed through the prism of race and class distinctions. [...] In the first video, Sherrod describes how she racially discriminates against a white farmer.”

That is a pretty clear accusation of discriminatory behavior on the part of a federal employee. And it is also a lie. Sherrod did not discriminate against the farmer, as Breitbart later acknowledged, and the story she told was of an incident that occurred 20 years before she held a federal post. Nevertheless, Breitbart’s reaction at the time was another demonstration of his paranoid Narcissism as he whined, “As difficult as it probably was for her, it’s been difficult for me as well.” Poor guy. Sherrod is currently suing Breitbart.

3) Clinton Plotting a Tea Party Attack: Breitbart published a story with no evidence, about an alleged conspiracy that never came to pass:

“Big Government has learned that Clintonistas are plotting a ‘push/pull’ strategy. They plan to identify 7-8 national figures active in the tea party movement and engage in deep opposition research on them. If possible, they will identify one or two they can perhaps ‘turn’, either with money or threats, to create a mole in the movement. The others will be subjected to a full-on smear campaign.”

Also never coming to pass…a retraction. This story bubbled up through the media like much of Breitbart’s fiction, eventually getting coverage from Fox Nation.

4) Jason Mattera’s Punking of Grayson and Franken: Jason Mattera, who later became editor of Human Events, was employed to run a couple of “ambush” interviews that were posted on Breitbart’s web site. One interview targeted Rep. Alan Grayson and castigated him for his support of bill that funded a program to prevent child abuse. The other interview was directed at Sen Al Franken who was attacked for supporting student health and school safety. In both cases Mattera twisted the purpose of the legislation into something unrecognizable and patently false. Expect more of this because, as Breitbart says in his book, Righteous Indignation, “Ambush journalism is the most valuable kind of journalism.”

5) University of Missouri Labor Class: In another phony video sting, Breitbart published a video of the proceedings of a class on the history of labor at the University of Missouri at Kansas City. As usual, the video was a deceitful mash-up that misrepresented the professors and students as supporting violent labor activity. The twist here is that it was Breitbart’s one-time friend Glenn Beck who published an accounting of the video deception and vindicated the professors. As a bonus intrigue, the party from whom Breitbart got the UM video is identified only as Insurgent Visuals. That, however, may be a ruse to disguise Breitbart’s long-time partner in crime, James O’Keefe.

6) Beck’s Back Alley Snitch: Speaking of Glenn Beck, in happier times when the two weren’t feuding, Breibart was the source for numerous Beck offensives. He provided Beck with scandalous material on Van Jones who, at the time, was a White House adviser on environmental initiatives. Beck lauded Breitbart, saying…

“You know where the great journalists of our time are? Andrew Breitbart. [...] You were the only one, besides watchdogs, that were really aggressively working behind the scenes with us on Van Jones.”

The same thing occurred with Yosi Sergant, communications director for the National Endowment for the Arts. Breitbart went after him and provided the data to Beck, who said…

“This is again another Breitbart story, where the NEA communications director reached out and said, hey, listen, we have to be very careful with our language here.”

In both cases the information provided by Breitbart was vague and/or untrue, but both Jones and Sergant were jettisoned — just as Sherrod was — by a nervous White House for violations that were either false or greatly exaggerated.

7) Democrats Plotted to Blame Tea Party for Slaughter: Breitbart’s site featured an article that made the sensationalist claim that Democrats devised a plan to blame the Tea Party for the tragic shooting in Tucson, AZ. The allegation consisted of a single, unidentified source who merely offered his own opinion that the massacre could be pinned on Tea Partiers. There was no allegation of a conspiracy or even of any discussions of such a plan by anyone connected to the Democratic Party. But that didn’t stop Breitbart from posting the story with an irresponsibly provocative headline.

8) The Abbie Boudreau Affair: In one of the most bizarre adventures by the James O’Keefe gang, they set out to lure CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau into a floating love nest to embarrass her in some manner that was never really explained. While Breitbart did not act as the agent for this prank, he did provide a platform for O’Keefe to publish his defense after having been outed by an accomplice. O’Keefe managed to take a situation in which he appeared to be a revolting pervert and make it worse by saying about Boudreau…

“She would have had to consent before being filmed and she was not going to be faux ‘seduced’ unless she wanted to be.”

Considering the fact that he never sought the consent of his previous video victims, why should we accept his assertion that he was going to start seeking consent now? Even more troubling is his implication that his intended victim “wanted” it. O’Keefe is resorting to the disgusting defense that rapists offer about their victims. And Breitbart permitted this to be published on his site.

9) GEICO Gecko – Tea Party Crasher? Breitbart’s BigGovernment blog posted a mind-numbingly stupid article that accused Ricky Gervais, the actor/comedian and voice of the GEICO Gecko of disparaging the Tea Party in a profanity-laced voice-mail. The only problem is that Gervais had nothing to do with it. It was an actor (D.C. Douglas) who worked for GEICO a couple of years prior. But it wasn’t enough to smear Gervais with insinuations, Breitbart also posted a picture of the Gecko atop a table that was adorned with a poster of President Obama sporting a Hitler mustache. What that had to do with the story is anyone’s guess. It just appeared to be a gratuitous slap at the President while falsely slandering Gervais.

10) Racism: Breitbart is obsessed with the theme of racism. He is convinced that the charge is thrown around cavalierly, and mostly to insult Tea Partiers and himself. He embarked on a campaign to prove that congressman and civil rights hero, John Lewis, was lying when he said that he had been the victim of racial epithets when attending a congressional rally. He regards the Shirley Sherrod incident as an example of the racism demonstrated by the NAACP. But when discussing allegations of his own prejudice, Breitbart said this to radio host Adam Carolla:

“Can I prove that I’m not a racist toward Hispanics? Did you ever see Moscow on the Hudson? Remember Maria Conchita Alonso in that? The things I did to myself as a teenager prove that I’m not a racist.”

So Breitbart’s proof that he is not a racist is that he used to masturbate to pictures of a Latino actress. That defense would also work pretty well to prove that colonial plantation masters weren’t racist either because they routinely raped their slaves. Breitbart’s repulsive pride in his perverse view of racial open-mindedness tells us much about him. And he is certainly in no position to assess the veracity of people like John Lewis.

This should be a good starting point for the press in case they ever get the chance again to respond to Breitbart’s call for evidence of his dishonesty and low character. Here’s hoping that they are listening and that no one presumes to use the Weiner affair to rehabilitate Breitbart’s deservedly sleazy reputation. Just because Breitbart lucked into being correct (like a broken clock) doesn’t mean that his long-established pattern of deception should be dismissed. Just because Charles Manson didn’t kill Marilyn Monroe doesn’t mean that he’s innocent of every other crime attributed to him.

Breitbart deserves no accolades over this. His reputation cannot be rehabilitated after one lucky scoop sent to him by a Twitter stalker. And he still owes the many people he deliberately harmed an apology. Weiner, at least, was man enough to own up to his mistakes, eventually. Will Breitbart ever do the same? Not likely.

May 26 2011 18 cmnts

General

ACORN Pimp And Prostitute Going To Trial

Posted by: Mark @ 7:29 pm

O'Keefe and Giles James O’Keefe And Hannah Giles are being tried for violations of California’s privacy laws. The plaintiff, ACORN employee Juan Carlos Vera, contends that O’Keefe and Giles unlawfully recorded conversations with him that were later edited to misrepresent his remarks.

O’Keefe and Giles filed separate motions to dismiss the case and the court ruled against (pdf) both of them.

O’Keefe claimed that, the California law not withstanding, he had a First Amendment right to surreptitiously record and publish private conversations with anyone he felt like. The court disagreed saying that the law prohibiting recordings to which both parties have not agreed, and for which there was a reasonable expectation of privacy, did not have an exception for the media. The court cited precedent that said:

“…the state may not intrude into the proper sphere of the news media to dictate what they should publish and broadcast, but neither may the media play tyrant to the people by unlawfully spying on them in the name of newsgathering.”

Giles motion contended that she was not liable because O’Keefe was the one doing the recording. This laughable defense misunderstood the law to argue that only the person holding the recording device was liable. But it also demonstrated the shallowness of her loyalty as she quickly heaped all the blame on her partner to save her own skin.

Having ruled against both motions, the pair will go to trial for their offenses. If justice is served this won’t be the only time, and they won’t be the only ones. Ya hear that Andrew Breitbart?

Jul 12 2010 8 cmnts

General

James O’Keefe In More Legal Hot Water Over ACORN

Posted by: Mark @ 8:57 pm

James O'Keefe Convicted criminal James O’Keefe is reportedly being sued by a former ACORN employee who was the reluctant star of one of O’Keefe’s videos. Earlier this year O’Keefe was sentenced to three years probation, 100 hours of community service, and a $1,500 fine for having trespassed the offices of a United States senator in Lousiana under false pretenses. He followed up that stunt with one wherein he fraudulently misrepresented himself to the Census Bureau in a pathetic scheme that not even Fox News would cover.

Now the ACORN escapade is coming back to bite him in his fat, petulant arse. Juan Carlos Vera was an employee in the San Diego office of ACORN. He was videotaped by O’Keefe allegedly offering advice on how to smuggle underage girls into the country for prostitution. At least that was the impression left by the videos that O’Keefe distributed to Fox News and other disreputable media shops like those of Andrew Breitbart, O’Keefe’s mentor.

As it turns out, the video was edited in a manner that deliberately misconstrued the actual events. Subsequent investigations proved that Vera had valiantly acquired as much information as he could extract from O’Keefe and immediately reported him to the police. But dishonest editing is not the only thing for which O’Keefe may be guilty.

Now Vera has filed suit against O’Keefe in federal court for violation of California’s privacy laws. In California it is illegal to make video or audio recordings without the consent of all of the participants. And wasn’t it generous of O’Keefe to provide the evidence of his own wrongdoing by making the videos public and bragging about his role in producing them?

Little Jimmy O’Keefe is proving himself to be an incorrigible delinquent. Although he considers himself to be a journalist, and he will remain a hero to the Tea Baggers, the reality is that he is nothing more than a cheap prankster, a recidivist lawbreaker, a partisan hack, and above all, an idiot. I suppose that’s what you get for attending the Borat School of Journalism.

Mar 26 2010 NO cmnts

General

GUILTY! Pimp James O’Keefe To Plea To Misdemeanor

Posted by: Mark @ 6:22 pm

Fox News Team The Associated Press is reporting that James O’Keefe, the ersatz pimp made famous in his fraudulently edited videotapes of ACORN, is likely to plead guilty to reduced charges stemming from his misadventures in the offices of Louisiana senator Mary Landrieu.

Federal prosecutors filed reduced charges Friday against conservative activist James O’Keefe and three others who were accused of trying to tamper with the phones in Sen. Mary Landrieu’s New Orleans office. [...] The new charges carry maximum sentences of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

When this plea bargain is concluded it will represent the only conviction of anyone involved in the ACORN sting. ACORN itself was found to be innocent of any wrongdoing by three separate, independent investigations. Additionally, poorly considered legislation from Congress prohibiting federal funds from going to ACORN was ruled to be unconstitutional in federal court.

Nevertheless, before the ink was even dry on the deal, O’Keefe’s Sugardaddy, Andrew Breitbart (who supports child molesters), was trumpeting it as some sort of victory. He tweeted:

“BWAAAH: Conservative activist, 3 others have charges reduced in phone caper at La. senator’s office. Developing…”

I’m not sure what he’s so happy about. His apprentice propagandist is still facing jail time and will have a criminal record. No matter how Breitbart downplays the significance of this, the facts reveal that O’Keefe was engaged in some pretty shady activities. He maintains that he was only there to find out if Landrieu’s office was avoiding the phone calls of constituents. He claims he never intended to tamper with the lines. That’s an obvious lie. If it were true, then why did he and his cohorts leave Landrieu’s office to go to a separate facility that housed the telephone wiring and equipment?

While it is disappointing that O’Keefe et al won’t be held to fully account for their felonious behavior, the reality is that this is the way many criminal cases are resolved by prosecutors and courts who have an interest in reducing caseloads and acquiring convictions. And while there is some likelihood that these delinquents will end up getting little more than a slap on the wrist, being caught and convicted for malfeasance in a senator’s office is certainly nothing to be proud of.

Jan 27 2010 1 cmnts

General, Scandalous, Wankery

Poor Andrew Breitbart. His Sleaze Is Showing.

Posted by: Mark @ 4:49 pm

ACORN: Pimp, Prostitute & Borat With the arrest of the Fox News’ “pimp,” Andrew Breitbart, the pimp’s Godfather, is struggling to distance himself from his own Frankenstein monster. He created James O’Keefe and now his creation has gotten loose and is terrorizing the countryside.

For his part, Breitbart wants nothing more to do with O’Keefe. He is disclaiming any knowledge of him or the activities that got him busted in New Orleans. O’Keefe told reporters, as he slipped into a cab leaving the jailhouse that “Truth will set me free.” I believe this was a reference to Truth Bail Bonds of Louisiana. He also released this statement from prison directly addressing Breitbart:

“Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times.” ~Snark

Dare I say it is a scandal of biblical proportions. But O’Keefe’s prophecy was right on the mark. Breitbart issued his denial on all three of his “Big” web sites (Government, Journalism, and Hollywood). But he did not throw O’Keefe entirely under the bus. Breitbart left room for some legal squirming to insinuate that nothing dastardly actually took place.

“But there is absolutely no allegation in the criminal complaint that ‘wiretapping’ or ‘bugging’ is any part of this case, just the charge that O’Keefe and the others entered Sen. Landrieu’s office in New Orleans ‘for the purpose of interfering with the office’s telephone system.’”

That’s right. The perpetrators merely entered the Senator’s office dressed as telephone repairmen, fiddled with the phones, and sought access to the central wiring facility. What about that would lead anyone to believe there was intent to tap the lines?

Breitbart argues fiercely that judgement should be withheld until all of the facts are in. That’s an interesting position from someone who has never been especially enamored of facts. Nor has he ever shown an interest in reserving judgment. His assaults against ACORN were unambiguously accusatory. Even though ACORN was never found guilty of any crime. They weren’t even charged with any crime. And they were exonerated by an independent investigation as well as a non-partisan Congressional probe. Now, all of a sudden, Breitbart is advocating restraint.

But the piece de resistance came when Breitbert was interviewed on the Hugh Hewitt radio program. He continued his chorus of denial as Hewitt engaged in a friendly interrogation designed to setup Breitbart’s foes as slanderers, or so he thought. However, one part of the exchange was particularly notable as Hewitt inquired what Breitbart would have done if he had known what O’Keefe was up to:

Hewitt: Would you have told him don’t do that, if he had asked you?
Breitbart: No, I have nothing to do with what James O’Keefe does. James O’Keefe is an independent filmmaker.

So if O’Keefe had told Breitbart that he was on his way to New Orleans to bug Sen Landrieu’s phones, Breitbart would have said nothing to dissuade O’Keefe from his felonious mission. Even though O’Keefe was, at that very time, on Breitbart’s payroll, which Breitbart admitted during the Hewitt interview.

This is an outstanding display of the ethical deficiencies at work in Breitbart’s sphere. He is unrepentantly slanderous towards others. He has a sociopath’s sense of loyalty and self-preservation. And he has no problem with people he pays engaging in felonious conduct. Look for Fox News to make him their next managing editor. What a perfect fit.

Jan 26 2010 NO cmnts

General, Scandalous

ACORN’s “Pimp” Pinched By FBI In Wiretap Plot

Posted by: Mark @ 2:37 pm

Breaking news from New Orleans, Louisiana:

“Alleging a plot to wiretap Democratic Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office in the Hale Boggs Federal Building in downtown New Orleans, the FBI arrested four people Monday, including James O’Keefe, a conservative filmmaker whose undercover videos at ACORN field offices severely damaged the advocacy group’s credibility.”

For those who don’t recall, O’Keefe, along with his hooker pal, Hannah Giles, unlawfully videotaped ACORN representatives so that they could deceptively edit their footage to deliberately slander the organization. It should come as no surprise that someone so brazenly criminal would violate the law again to manufacture his fake news stories. It is nice to see that the FBI is enforcing the law. I assume that all good law-and-order Republicans will agree that it is unacceptable to plant bugs in senators’ offices.

While ACORN’s credibility was indeed damaged by the phony “journalists,” they were subsequently exonerated by an independent investigation headed by Scott Harshbarger, the former Attorney General of Massachusetts. Even an attempt by Congress to prohibit funding to the group, despite no charges against them having been proven (or even brought), was reversed by a court that deemed the action an unlawful bill of attainder.

O’Keefe and company have a long association with right-wing media. They were mentored by Matt Drudge apprentice, Andrew Breitbart. It was on Breitbart’s BigGovernment web site that the ACORN videos were first made public. Oddly enough, at this time BigGovernment has no mention of their favorite pimp’s arrest. There is a link on Breitbart.com to a story in the Associated Press that does not mention any names, although the names are available in other news accounts and in the arrest affidavit.

Fox News is another friend of O’Keefe. In fact, it is the only television “news” service that O’Keefe would grant an interview to. Both O’Keefe and Giles appeared several times on Fox News, but nowhere else. Fox News hyped the ACORN story incessantly. On one day last year they featured sixteen separate stories on the subject on their Fox Nation web site. Fox Nation even helped to solicit donations for a Hannah Giles Defense Fund.

What remains to be seen is the extent to which there may be other unknown accomplices. Is Breitbart in on this? Or Glenn Beck? Could Fox News have encouraged this action to manufacture a news story they could exploit? It has been a while since the ACORN scandal, the Tea Bagger uprising, or any other of the sensationalistic events that Fox likes to promote.

One thing for sure is that O’Keefe’s defenders cannot claim that this is the result of Obama’s henchmen going after him in retribution for the ACORN affair. After all, these guys were caught red-handed in a senator’s office tampering with the phone equipment. On second thought, the right will almost certainly claim persecution. They will somehow blame liberals, Obama, or George Soros. It’s not like they ever needed facts to support their assertions in the past.

[Update] Breitbart comments: “We have no knowledge about or connection to any alleged acts and events involving James O’Keefe at Senator Mary Landrieu’s office,” said Breitbart. “We only just learned about the alleged incident this afternoon. We have no information other than what has been reported publicly by the press. Accordingly, we simply are not in a position to make any further comment.”

Not much of a comment, and not much more than you would expect even if he were involved. At least he has the story posted on his “Big” web sites now (same AP story on both).

Addendum: As if being a felon isn’t bad enough, O’Keefe also fraternizes with racists and anti-Semites.

Jan 01 2010 7 cmnts

General, Media Bias, Propaganda

The Fox Nation Knowingly Lies About ACORN Chief Visiting The White House

Posted by: Mark @ 12:28 pm

Starting the new year off right (extremely far-right), the folks at the Fox Nation are featuring as one of their top stories a report that is completely false. In other words, they appear to be entering 2010 doing exactly what they have done since their inception a few months ago. On this occasion, however, the truth is so readily available that you have to conclude that they have just given up entirely on even pretending to associate themselves with the news business. This is their web page topping scoop:

Accompanying a headline that declares: ACORN CEO Visited White House Week Before Scandal Broke, the Fox Nationalists posted a picture of Bertha Lewis and linked to a story about her sojourn to the President’s abode. The only problem with the story is that none of it is true. Other than that it’s a world-class exposÃ©.

The source for this fake news is Andrew Breitbart’s notoriously untrustworthy BigGovernment site. Their columnist, identified only as Publius, writes that the name Bertha E. Lewis appears on a White House visitor’s log. So far so good. And there is a Bertha Lewis who is the CEO of ACORN. Hmm, maybe they’re on to something. Maybe not. As it turns out, the visitor to the White House is not the same person as the ACORN chief. This fact was readily apparent to anyone who bothered to call and ask either the White House or ACORN, which neither BigGovernment nor Fox bothered to do. Even without calling it would have been obvious that these were different people because ACORN’s Lewis had a middle initial of “M” (for Mae), not “E.” But checking facts has never been a strong suit for Fox and its affiliates.

What makes this negligence even more extraordinary is the fact that this is not the first time that Fox has fumbled with easily verified facts concerning White House guests. A couple of months ago Fox reported that Jeremiah Wright, Michael Moore, and William Ayers had all visited the White House. Of course those were all people who merely had the same names as the more famous persons who Fox implied were actually White House visitors. Yet even after making that embarrassing mistake, Fox now repeats the error with Bertha Lewis.

But it gets even worse. The article on BigGovernment snidely acknowledged that this might be a case of mistaken identity saying…

“Of course, it is possible that this isn’t ACORN’s Bertha Lewis. [...] Sure, possible, but we’d love to see a bookie’s odds on that.”

That is at best a marginal disclaimer that ends up contradicting itself. But at least they slipped in a mention of the possibility that this was a different Lewis before opining (without checking) that it was not. However, Fox’s headline story not only made a declarative statement that it was ACORN’s Lewis, they also cut out BigGovernment’s half-hearted disclaimer from their otherwise verbatim version of the story. That’s right. The Fox Nationalists reprinted the bulk of the article but deliberately left out the bit that acknowledged that it may not be true. And then they let stand their false, stated-as-fact headline even though they knew that it was, at the very least, unverified.

Another year, another pile of lies from Fox and Rupert Murdoch’s devotedly dishonest anti-news enterprise.

Update (1/4/10): Days after this story was debunked, Gretchen Carlson ran with it on Fox & Friends. The truth really doesn’t matter to these sleazeballs. They’ve got lies to disseminate.

Dec 16 2009 4 cmnts

General, Media Bias

Wall Street Journal: Newsrooms Don’t Need More Conservatives

Posted by: Mark @ 1:53 pm

A few weeks ago the Washington Post’s ombudsman, Andrew Alexander, published a notably misguided article in response to criticism that the Post had missed the ACORN story and other right-wing claptrap. In a fit of hysterical myopia, Alexander caved into the carping saying that…

“…traditional news outlets like The Post simply don’t pay sufficient attention to conservative media or viewpoints. “

Never mind that the ACORN story was manufactured by partisan activists engaged in political combat. And forget that the substance of the story was unverified at the time, and more recently thoroughly debunked (pdf). And set aside that even if it were true it was a trivial side issue that affected only a few maladroit volunteers and in no way reflected the views of ACORN’s management or 400,000 members. Nevertheless, Alexander concurred with critics that there was a story there that the paper had missed and that deserved equal billing to real news events like war, health care, and the economy.

All of this makes it all the more remarkable that the voice of reason on this matter has just appeared in the pages of the Wall Street Journal. Thomas Frank’s column today begins with a title that pretty much says it all: “Newsrooms Don’t Need More Conservatives.” The exceedingly reasonable premise is that newsrooms are advantaged by more objectivity, not more partiality. Frank says…

“Craziest of all, though, is the prospect of the Post ditching its decades-long pursuit of the grail of objectivity . . . because it got scooped on the Acorn story. If that is all it takes to reduce the Washington Post’s vaunted editorial philosophy to ashes, what is the newspaper industry planning to do to atone for its far more consequential failures?

“Remember, this disastrous decade saw two of them: First, the news media’s failure to look critically at the Bush administration’s rationale for the Iraq War; and then, the business press’s failure to understand the depth of the subprime mortgage problem and to anticipate its massive consequences.”

Frank correctly points out that having more Republicans on the Post’s payroll would not have produced better reporting for either of the stories he cited. In fact, it would have made things demonstrably worse. Does anyone seriously believe that more conservative journalists would have challenged either President Bush or the Wall Street establishment in a way that would have enhanced the reporting or better informed readers of the impending disasters? Only the most diehard, rightist zealot could answer that in the affirmative. Frank’s answer is condensed in a profound and troubling closing paragraph:

“What the Post seems to be after is [a] form of journalism that offends nobody, that comes crawling to the powerful, that mirrors the partisan breakdown of the population as a whole. If that’s the future of journalism, we can be certain that ever more catastrophic failures await.”

Well said. And he could have added that following Alexander’s advice to pay more attention to conservative media would only result in diverting scarce resources from more pressing priorities and missing even more stories of true significance. Now we just need to get the Post to heed these words. And Mr. Frank may also want to send a copy to his employers at the Journal and his corporate cousins at Fox News.

Dec 13 2009 6 cmnts

General, Media Bias, Propaganda

Study: ACORN Did Nothing Illegal – Fox News: So What?

Posted by: Mark @ 1:56 pm

Fox News Borat/ACORN Last summer Fox News participated in a media frenzy surrounding some sensationalistic videos produced by conservative activists and promoted by right-wing propaganda outlets. The ACORN representatives in the videos appeared to counsel a couple of cartoonish characters posing as a pimp and a prostitute on how to apply for loans without disclosing the nefarious nature of their pretend business.

The subsequent controversy led to ACORN initiating an independent review to ascertain the facts and to propose solutions. To that end they retained former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger to conduct a thorough investigation. The results of the investigation were released last week (pdf) and revealed that…

“While some of the advice and counsel given by ACORN employees and volunteers was clearly inappropriate and unprofessional, we did not find a pattern of intentional, illegal conduct by ACORN staff; in fact, there is no evidence that action, illegal or otherwise, was taken by any ACORN employee on behalf of the videographers. Instead, the videos represent the byproduct of ACORN’s longstanding management weaknesses, including a lack of training, a lack of procedures, and a lack of on-site supervision.”

Harshbarger pulled no punches in his condemnation of ACORN’s failings. While he found that there was no unlawful conduct, this was no vindication. There was much about which to be embarrassed. Reporting on the study’s release could have justifiably focused on that aspect. However, Fox News and its affiliates chose instead to virtually ignore the matter. It was reported on the air with the typical Fox slant, and there was a single story on their web site and another on Fox Nation. Also, Glenn Beck did a segment on it that focused more on how it tied into the carnival of unrelated conspiracy delusions that occupy his so-called brain. Then it vanished.

What makes this peculiar is that Fox was wall-to-wall ACORN for several weeks when the videos were released. You couldn’t turn the network on without seeing a report or a replay of clips from the Borat News Team. On one day in September, the Fox Nation posted sixteen separate stories on their web site – all with disparaging viewpoints. This past week the Fox Nationalists had a single story on the report and another on Acorn-shaped cookies at a White House dinner (I’m not sure that counts).

Now that a study is released that actually delves into the factual details of the affair, Fox has gone silent after an obligatory wave. And when they did address the issue, it was with their typical sneering disdain. The Fox News account of the study’s results was something less than “fair and balanced.” While they did include excerpts from statements released by Harshbarger and ACORN CEO, Bertha Lewis, they interviewed no one from the ACORN side of the story. On the other hand, Fox did do interviews with James O’Keefe, the videographer, Republican senator Lamar Smith, and a spokesman for Republican congressman Darrel Issa. All of these critics dismissed the study despite not even bothering to dispute any of its findings.

The findings, by the way, also revealed some notable information about the folks who brought the story to Fox. For instance, efforts by Harshbarger to interview O’Keefe and his hooker/partner Hannah Giles were rebuffed. It should be noted that O’Keefe and Giles have declined EVERY interview request that didn’t come from Fox News, or an otherwise similarly prejudiced venue, since this story went public. They are being kept in a hermetically sealed, undisclosed location. Also, the punking pair and their patron, Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment, refused to make the unedited videos available to Harshbarger for review. Thus, preserving the producers intent to deceive, as well as to assure that any exculpatory material was edited out of the tapes before anyone could see them. However, Harshbarger was still able to establish that the videos were materially altered prior to broadcast:

“The videos that have been released appear to have been edited, in some cases substantially, including the insertion of a substitute voiceover for significant portions of Mr. O’Keefe’s and Ms. Giles’s comments, which makes it difficult to determine the questions to which ACORN employees are responding. A comparison of the publicly available transcripts to the released videos confirms that large portions of the original video have been omitted from the released versions.”

The release of this report may not absolve ACORN for acts that were improper by the people captured on video, but it demonstrates another incidence of their being tarred with allegations of illegality that are unproven and irresponsible. ACORN has been the victim of repeated smears related to voter fraud when there has never been a single case of it documented. Another news item this week reported that congressional efforts to defund ACORN were ruled unconstitutional.

Most of these relentless attacks against ACORN are motivated by right-wing politicians and organizations with a vested interest in suppressing low and middle income voters. These are the citizens that ACORN serves and conservatives recognize that empowering them will be adverse to their agenda of advancing the interests of the wealthy and powerful. That’s why so many attempts have been made to undermine and discredit ACORN’s operations. And despite the fact that all of the allegations against ACORN have so far been thoroughly debunked, we can expect the harassment to continue.

We can also expect the reporting from Fox to continue to be brazenly one-sided. They will plaster their air with unverified allegations that harm the interests of ordinary Americans, and they will look the other way when there is positive news about them and the groups that are their advocates. How can we expect Fox to be impartial when they actually partnered with Giles to raise money for her defense?

The Harshbarger report proves not only that ACORN is not guilty of breaking the law, it also proves that conservative media like Fox IS guilty of suppressing the truth.

Oct 08 2009 6 cmnts

Big Media, General, Humor, Propaganda

Rupert Murdoch Censors Glenn Beck – The China Chronicles

Posted by: Mark @ 1:57 pm

When a courageous speaker of truth emerges from the forest of lies that is modern media, the risk is ever present that censorship, suppression, or worse could occur. Sadly, that is the case today. Glenn Beck produced an episode of his program that continued his valiant search for communists burrowing into the woodwork of America like subversive termites eating away at the foundation of our national home. However, this episode has mysteriously disappeared. Fortunately, I have acquired a transcript (h/t Esquire) of the “Lost Episode” that reveals perhaps the most insidious enemy of freedom yet unveiled by Beck.

GLENN BECK: THE RUPERT CONNECTION [Transcript]
[Editor: Everything below regarding Murdoch and China is true]

GLENN BECK: My viewers know that I am not the sort of guy who resorts to sensationalism and hyperbole, but today’s show is going to cause blood to shoot out of your eyes. You will totally freak out and very likely wet your pants, as I did when I found this out. In short, there are forces in the media who are directing the course of our nation’s future, and it’s not who you think it is.

If you think this country is great, but ogres are hiding under the bed waiting to defile you while you sleep, then wake up – and come on, follow me.

Hello America. I am going to ask you to pay special attention to today’s program because this is going to get complicated. Keep a pencil and notepad handy. You will want to take notes.

On previous shows I’ve warned you about the extreme radicals and avowed communists that are holding important positions in our government. I’ve warned you about conspiracies like ACORN and the National Endowment for the Arts. I’ve exposed Van Jones and Mark Lloyd and Valerie Jarrett. I know, the liberal elite are going to complain that I only go after black folks. “Oh, he’s a racist. He doesn’t like the darkies.” But that isn’t true. I also exposed the safe schools czar, Kevin Jennings, and he is a white fag…I mean gay. The point is that radicals are taking root at every level of government. People who hate the principles we devout Christians hold dear.

But today’s program is about more than just the government. Oh yes, it touches every part of the government but it has maybe even more power in this country and around the world. It’s the media.

When I talked earlier this year about how we, the patriots and truthtellers, are actually surrounding all of the weasels and the traitors, I meant every word. Barack Hussein Obama’s czars have been dispatched to every corner of Washington’s power grid. But in the case of the media, it really is surrounding us. It’s everywhere. In our homes, our cars, our offices, our fast food restaurants. It is being fed into us intravenously. We are all being indoctrinated 24 hours a day, seven days a week. I don’t want to scare you, but I’m speaking to you right now on the media. Sure, the liberal pansies will cry “But aren’t you a big, rich, media star, with all your TV and radio and books?” And I shout right back at them “Well maybe I am, but you’re forgetting that I rarely make any sense and besides, shut your friggin pie hole!”

I want to tell you all something that I just recently learned from the guy who delivers my pizza. He stumbled on an article in that bastion of progressive propaganda, the New York Times, that was hidden under a pile of Hefty bags in the alley behind his shop. Now how did it get there? Hmmm? A copy of a major American newspaper, rolled up and stuffed in the trash? What are they trying to hide? Quite a lot, as you’ll soon see.

Now, it is not commonly known that the biggest media mogul in the world is a fellow named Rupert Murdoch. He runs more TV and newspaper businesses throughout the world than anyone, but still complains about the bias in the mainstream press. I mean, duh. Who does he think he is, the Pennysaver? He’s Australian by birth, but he went to live in socialist Europe, and later came to the United States. When he wanted to buy an American TV network, he got his socialist friends in the Congress to make him a U.S. citizen, which was a prerequisite for owning a network. After receiving that special treatment, he made sure to bash any other immigrants who aspired to live and work the greatest country in the world.

Then he began to build what is the most frightening corporate empire you can ever imagine. Now, the problem isn’t just that it’s big, because I happen to love big business and free enterprise. The problem is who he is in business with.

This Murdoch is very tightly entwined with one of America’s most vicious enemies. The People’s Republic of China. This association begins in his own family. His third wife, Wendi Deng, is a mainland Chinese who once worked for his Hong Kong-based satellite broadcast company, Star TV. Star TV was run by James Murdoch, Rupert’s son. Um, OK. James is the guy who complained that western reporters in China supported “destabilizing forces” that are “very, very dangerous for the Chinese government.” So let me get this straight. He was defending the communists against reporters from America? OK.

Under the supervision of Rupert and James, Star TV bent its programming to favor the brutal Chinese regime. In 1994 it dropped BBC News, which had frequently angered Chinese officials. One of the reports that angered the Chinese was of the brave soul who famously stood up to a flank of Chinese tanks in Tiananmen Square. The BBC replayed that video too much, so Murdoch had the network banished.

By cooperating with the communist censors in China, Murdoch earned the friendship of some very important people. The article in the Times noted that…

“His courtship has made him the Chinese leadership’s favorite foreign media baron. He has dined with former President Jiang Zemin in the Zhongnanhai leadership compound in Beijing and repeatedly met other members of the ruling Politburo in Beijing, New York and London. Television channels affiliated with Mr. Murdoch beam more programming into China than any other foreign media group.”

Uh oh. So this relationship was a boon to his financial interests. Do you think that the $50 billion ad market in China had anything to do with that? I don’t know, I’m just asking. But Murdoch was awfully cozy with these guys. His book publishing division, HarperCollins, was kind enough to put out a book of fawning propaganda about the former leader, Deng Xiaoping, that was written by his daughter, Deng Rong. He also halted publication of a book by former Hong Kong governor Chris Patten that was critical of the Chinese. Hmmm. Propaganda good – criticism bad.

In 1996, Murdoch entered a joint venture with Liu Changle, a onetime radio host for the People’s Liberation Army. And you know those radio hosts. They aren’t nothin but a bunch of ignorant, egotistical, blowhards trying to spread disinformation. This new partnership led to an even closer association with China’s propaganda machine. Murdoch was now hanging out with Propaganda Department chief, Ding Guangen, and then Prime Minister, Zhu Rongji. Another partner was the Central Committee of the Communist Youth League, considered the political power base of China’s new top leader, Hu Jintao. He parlayed these relationships into a new business, building the Internet sites for China Central Television (CCTV) and the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Communist Party.

Murdoch later was permitted to launch MySpace China. He agreed to all of China’s regulations on Internet censorship and placed a convenient link on every page for users to report inappropriate information to the authorities. How thoughtful of him. I wonder how many Chinese dissidents disappeared due that little feature?

If you are not already rolled up in the fetal position under a table, I don’t know what to tell you. This is serious stuff, and it is one of the reasons I have never feared more for the future of my country. When the biggest media conglomerate in the world is in bed with the world’s biggest communist nation, how much longer can we expect to remain free? And remember, China has us by the short hairs due to all of the U.S. debt they hold.

America…It is more important now than ever to be vigilant and strong. I don’t know how much longer I will be allowed to say these things in public. I told you before that certain entities were threatening to silence anyone who speaks truthfully. I told you to listen between the sentences where I will be screaming at you. I told you to be suspicious of any reports of my demise. Do you think I want to get on the air every night and tell you this stuff? I don’t want to believe these things, but unfortunately I find them true. It’s not my damn fault. Get off my fucking back. And stop following me around. I mean, come on, follow me. Believe me. Love me. Worship me. I’m doing all of this for you. Can’t you see that?

America is at a crossroads. Which way will we go? Further to the left, where communism, tyranny, aliens, and universal health care torment every citizen? Or back to the right, where unregulated free enterprise allows clowns like me to make millions by peddling fear and phony conspiracies? Do you want to repeat the Age of Enlightenment, when society was burdened with reason and the harshness of reality. Or would you prefer the glorious Dark Ages when people relied on faith and the comforting fear of a just and vengeful God?

I know which road I’m taking. I hope to see you on it. Good night, America.

That’s the end of the transcript. The Murdoch/China connection is pretty well blown wide open now, thanks to Glenn Beck. The question is, will this episode ever see the light of day? And now that the transcript is out, will Beck be punished for his insolence? Is Murdoch already laying the groundwork for Beck’s downfall? What exactly is the connection between Murdoch and Color of Change, who have been orchestrating a surprisingly successful campaign aimed at Beck’s advertisers? About 80 advertisers have already declared that they will not purchase time on Beck’s program Could that have been accomplished without Murdoch’s knowledge and assistance?

I don’t know. I’m just asking?

Oct 06 2009 4 cmnts

General

Michael Steele Slits His Own Political Throat – Praises ACORN

Posted by: Mark @ 1:20 pm

The Party’s over. At least for the Chairman of the Republican Party.

If nothing else, Michael Steele has been a fountain of mirth for Democrats. He as given us a seemingly bottomless well of malaprops, policy flops, and Hip Hops. He has courageously embarked on what can only be described as a reckless course fraught with risk and a certain affection for being on the edge.

But today he has gone too far. He has extended beyond the edge and is floating in mid air like Wile E. Coyote of the old Road Runner cartoon, yet to realize that there is no terra firma beneath him. His fall is nonetheless imminent.

In the the audio below you can hear Steele stepping further out onto the limb than any Republican has ever dared to go. You will actually hear him praise ACORN and its current leader:

Now THAT’S entertainment! And he is proving himself to be quite a daredevil.

“I will say that the current head of the organization, she’s done a phenomenal job getting out in front of it. I applaud her. I take her at her word that she wants to work to make sure that the bad apples are thrown out. That the work that, I mean…Keep in mind that this organization has been around a long time.”

And he goes even further to praise, not just an individual, but after a brief disclaimer, he lauds the whole enterprise:

“Now I’m not a big fan of ACORN for a whole lot of reasons, because of my own feelings with some of their folks over the years. But I do respect the fact it has a history of working in the community and helping the poor.“

And if that isn’t enough, he then proceeds to express his desire that ACORN successfully navigates their current difficulties and resumes their community organizing:

“It’s going to be one of those issues that, hopefully, they can get rectified. But until they do, they’re going to have to live with the stigma of the bad acts because of the federal funds that they’ve taken, because of the corruption that individuals have been convicted on so far. So we’ll see how this plays out.”

Setting aside his false assertion that any individuals have been convicted, he is quite correct that “we’ll see how this plays out.” But can this play out in any way that preserves his position as head of the Party? Can the RNC tolerate a leader that praises ACORN and hopes for its redemption?

Remember, this is the same Michael Steele who lectured on the ideology of hats:

“I’m asking you to go out and ask your friends to wear our hat. The hat of an idea.”

This is the same Michael Steele who can’t see any boundaries:

“I don’t do ‘cutting-edge.’ That’s what Democrats are doing. We’re going beyond cutting-edge.”

This is the same Michael Steele who promised to deliver “change in a tea bag.”

This is the same Michael Steele who declared that apologies were a thing of the past:

“The era of apologizing for Republican mistakes of the past is now officially over. It is done.”

Indeed it is. It is over done. It is toast of the most burnt variety. Can Steele possibly survive this affront to everything the Republican Party (via their mouthpiece, Fox News) holds dear? Will any apology suffice, even if he were willing to issue one?

Ordinarily, Steele only apologizes to other Republicans. For instance the time he said that Rush Limbaugh’s antics were “incendiary” and “ugly/” After that mishap he had to beg Rush for forgiveness. But he also said that it wasn’t gaffe, it was all part of his master plan:

“So if I do something, there’s a reason for it. Even, it may look like a mistake, a gaffe. There is a rationale, there’s a logic behind it. [...] I want to see what the landscape looks like. I want to see who yells the loudest. I wanted to know who says they’re with me but really isn’t.”

I’m not so sure that other Republicans are going to see Steele’s affection for ACORN as much of plan. And I wouldn’t bet on his enduring occupancy of the RNC chairmanship. This is a huge disappointment for me. I was hoping for a Palin/Steele ticket in 2012. There doesn’t seem to be much hope for that now. It appears there’s just one thing left to say: Buh Bye, Mikey.

Sep 27 2009 2 cmnts

General, Propaganda, Wankery

Chris Wallace Fluffs James O’Keefe On Fox News Sunday

Posted by: Mark @ 8:51 pm

For much of the past week, Fox News has been promoting the exclusive appearance of James O’Keefe, the ersatz pimp who produced the ACORN entrapment videos, on their Sunday interview program. The actual segment, it turns out, was not an interview at all, but an overtly favorable puff piece. O’Keefe was heralded as the Fox News Sunday Power Player of the week:

This blatant adoration of O’Keefe had no news content whatsoever. It was pure puffery from start to finish. The only items worthy of note were 1) O’Keefe’s answer to Wallace’s question on whether he broke the law. O’Keefe’s answered “I don’t know what the law is.” 2) Wallace’s search for what drove O’Keefe. Wallace said that what he found was “A special outrage with liberal hypocrisy.” 3) O’Keefe’s admission of intent to do harm in his “reporting” saying that “If you use their rules against them, you can really just tease them and mock them and really destroy them.”

So O’Keefe wants to destroy the liberals and doesn’t seem to care about what laws he breaks to do it. He also doesn’t care about what journalistic ethics he violates. A short examination of the Code of Ethics as enumerated by the Society of Professional Journalists, reveals numerous breaches. These are just a few, with some particularly egregious transgressions highlighted:

Test the accuracy of information from all sources and exercise care to avoid inadvertent error. Deliberate distortion is never permissible.
Diligently seek out subjects of news stories to give them the opportunity to respond to allegations of wrongdoing.
Make certain that headlines, news teases and promotional material, photos, video, audio, graphics, sound bites and quotations do not misrepresent. They should not oversimplify or highlight incidents out of context.
Avoid undercover or other surreptitious methods of gathering information except when traditional open methods will not yield information vital to the public. Use of such methods should be explained as part of the story
Distinguish between advocacy and news reporting. Analysis and commentary should be labeled and not misrepresent fact or context.
Recognize that gathering and reporting information may cause harm or discomfort. Pursuit of the news is not a license for arrogance.
Recognize that private people have a greater right to control information about themselves than do public officials and others who seek power, influence or attention. Only an overriding public need can justify intrusion into anyone’s privacy.
Show good taste. Avoid pandering to lurid curiosity.
Avoid conflicts of interest, real or perceived.
Remain free of associations and activities that may compromise integrity or damage credibility.
Clarify and explain news coverage and invite dialogue with the public over journalistic conduct.
Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

With so many infractions of credible behavior, it is interesting that Fox News chose this character to honor as a Power Player. O’Keefe’s avowed prejudices and absence of professionalism would lead most reputable news enterprises to denouncement rather than tribute. But instead, Fox celebrates this journalistic parasite. It is a testament to the lack of credibility of Fox News itself.

Sep 25 2009 8 cmnts

General, Propaganda

Fox News Is Soliciting Donations For ACORN Foe Hannah Giles

Posted by: Mark @ 11:47 am

In yet another example of the interconnectedness of Fox News to blatantly partisan political activities, a “news” link on the Fox Nation website actually goes to a defense fund donation page for ACORN foe, Hannah Giles. You may recall that Giles is the YAFfie who dressed up as a hooker and accompanied her ersatz pimp, James O’Keefe, on a mission to entrap ACORN workers on hidden video.

The defense fund site was set up by the Plano, TX, based Liberty Legal Institute, an organization whose mission statement describes as their purpose…

“To achieve expanded religious freedom and family autonomy through litigation and education designed to limit the government’s power, increase the religious rights of citizens and promote parental rights.”

A defense fund for Giles appears to be outside the mandate of LLI, as it has nothing to do with religious and/or parental rights. Nevertheless, the right-wing organ has assumed responsibility for raising cash on behalf of the pseudo-journalist. The site’s administrator is Roe Ann Estevez, Director of Marketing for the LLI affiliated Free Market Foundation. Despite its name, it is also a faith-based enterprise that seeks to impose religious principles into government affairs.

However, the big problem here is that Fox has partnered with these conservative organizations to provide legal funds and cover to an individual who is an avowed activist for conservative causes, and who is presently being investigated for violations of privacy laws. The link at the Fox Nation will not land you on an article about the defense fund, but on the fund’s donation page. It does not provide information about the legal efforts on behalf of Giles or the groups organizing those efforts. It simply provides you with a solicitation to contribute.

The closeness of this association flies in the face of Fox’s recent attempts to distance themselves from the activities of Giles and O’Keefe. When ACORN announced that they would be suing the pair, along with Fox News, Fox complained that they had nothing to do with the video stunt. They asserted that they were merely broadcasting a story brought to them by a couple of independent reporters with whom they had no affiliation. But by openly promoting a defense fund for Giles, Fox can no longer pretend that there is no relationship between them.

As further evidence of Fox’s complicity with the anti-ACORN punkers, James O’Keefe will be interviewed this Sunday by Chris Wallace. This is another in a long line of appearances on Fox, the only network where the pair will agree to be questioned.

This fundraising project by Fox is an egregiously inappropriate affront to journalistic ethics. What would Bill O’Reilly say if CBS News directly promoted a defense fund for the fired ACORN workers? That is simply not within the purview of a legitimate news organization. And there is the key word: legitimate. Fox News is proving once again that they can make no claim to legitimacy. They are an unabashedly partisan player with an open interest in advancing their own political agenda. Nothing more.

Sep 17 2009 4 cmnts

General, Propaganda

The Pimp Show: Exclusively On Fox News

Posted by: Mark @ 2:59 pm

It should surprise no one that Fox News is hammering the ACORN affair with characteristic rightist zeal. They have featured the story across their media platforms on TV, radio, print, and the Internet, almost to the exclusion of all other news. Watching Fox would leave one with the impression that ACORN and a police car chase were the only stories available to tell. Fox News’ hooker and pimp show, starring Hannah Giles and James O’Keefe, has virtually taken over the schedule.

But the so-called “fair and balanced” network is demonstrating how inapt their slogan is and how transparently they manipulate what they call news.

ACORN’s CEO, Bertha Lewis, has been making the media rounds the past couple of days to rebut the charges against the organization. While taking responsibility for their shortcomings, she has announced that they will be conducting an independent review to uncover any and all misbehavior and will let the chips fall where they may. In addition, she has aggressively defended ACORN’s mission to increase voter registration and their work on behalf of low income citizens who are seeking assistance with housing.

Lewis’ appearances have raised important questions about the attacks on ACORN. For instance, the raw, unedited tapes are still being withheld from independent reviewers. This brings into question whether they were altered to intentionally create a false impression. Also, O’Keefe has steadfastly refused to turn over the tapes from dozens of their stings where they were thrown out of the ACORN office. This is deliberate deception intended to disguise the fact that, by far, the majority of ACORN employees are honest and moral.

These questions remain unanswered despite Lewis’ having raised them during interviews with journalists across the dial. She has submitted to multiple inquiries from the likes of Bill O’Reilly, Ed Schultz, Rick Sanchez, and others, on all of the cable news networks without regard to ideology. By contrast, O’Keefe and Giles have refused all interviews except for those on Fox News. They have already appeared on Hannity, Beck, Fox & Friends, and America’s News HQ. All Fox programs. The other news networks have standing requests for them to appear but, so far, none have been accepted. What do you think they are afraid of? They clearly have time available for the media, so long as it’s the friendly variety that will embrace them in a protective cocoon.

Obviously O’Keefe and Giles are either afraid, unprepared, or they are not being permitted to stray from the santcuary of Fox by their handlers. They refer to themselves as journalists, and O’Keefe went further describing himself as “the future of journalism” and told the New Jersey Star-Ledger that:

“The tone of my videos is unique. I’m not just reporting on something, I’m becoming something I’m reporting on.”

So he’s becoming a pimp? That would explain his association with Fox News. But if O’Keefe and Giles are unwilling to have their work be reviewed for accuracy, and they can’t defend themselves in independent forums, then how can they pretend that they are journalists? How can anything they report be regarded as credible?

How are they different than Borat?

Sep 16 2009 5 cmnts

General, Healthcare, Propaganda

Fox Nation News Priorities: An ACORN Obsession

Posted by: Mark @ 12:58 pm

Our nation is facing some formidable problems in these turbulent days. We have an economy that is struggling to recover from the worst meltdown in decades. We are engaged in two wars and at least two other diplomatic crises that threaten to escalate. Our environment is being assaulted by toxins and the industrial enterprises who produce them. And there is hatred aimed at Americans from foreign terrorists as well as domestic Tea Baggers and rightist demagogues.

So what does Fox News, via its flagship propaganda site, The Fox Nation, consider to be the most pressing issue of the day? ACORN, of course. This morning Fox Nation is featuring sixteen separate stories on the ACORN controversy:

New Undercover Video! Beck and O’Reilly Break Down the ACORN Scandal
Voting for More ACORN Funding?! Fox News Confronts Sen. Burris
Gibson Too Busy ‘Sailing in Maine’ to Cover ACORN and Tea Parties
ACORN On Sting: We Were Just “Messing With Them”
Police Pay Visit To Woman In ACORN Video
Stewart Skewers ACORN, Blasts Media for Getting Scooped
Video: CBS Evening News Finally Covers ACORN Scandal
NYT: Conservatives Draw Blood From ACORN, Favored Foe
The ACORN Seven
ACORN Confronts More Pressure Over Videos
Former Leftist Activist, Turned FBI Informant, Exposes ACORN
ACORN Founder Wanted Terrorist Attack On RNC To Succeed
Video: Explosive Undercover ACORN Video!
Three Strikes And You’re Out, ACORN!
ACORN Story Grows But Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover It
Senator Calls for ‘Immediate and Thorough’ Investigation of ACORN

Whatever one thinks of the ACORN affair, it is still difficult to assign this absurd level of significance to what is essentially a story about a few less than reputable characters in an organization that has 400,000 members. On the surface (and there is still some speculation that the videos were doctored), the behavior of the ACORN representatives is indefensible. But it is still a tiny fraction of the employees and volunteers working for ACORN, and no laws were broken, except perhaps by the filmmakers. No loans were applied for or received. Video of the ACORN reps who refused to participate in the phony scam have been suppressed. And there is no evidence that senior ACORN managers would not have been appalled and taken action against the offending staffers had the matter advanced to their offices. In fact, ACORN has a history of uncovering malfeasance in its ranks and alerting authorities themselves.

Nevertheless, the Fox Nationalists saw fit to devote sixteen stories to the ACORN matter. That is far more than any other issue represented on the Fox Nation home page. Coming in second was health care. Some people may think that the health care debate that has been prominent nationally for the past couple of months would have rated higher as a matter of concern. The unprecedented vitriol and dishonesty that has been promulgated by town howlers and their enablers at Fox News has dominated coverage in most other news venues. But Fox Nation only published five stories related to the issue today. And all five of them were thoroughly lacking in substance. All five were about polling or other political considerations, not how the legislation would effect the lives and welfare of Americans:

Health Care Bounce Over: Support Back to Pre-Speech Levels
Just 12% Believe Most Opponents of Obama Health Care Plan Are Racist
Snowe Falls: Now Senate Dems Have No GOP Health Care Support
Liberal Reps Angry That Obama Doesn’t Want Health Care For Illegals!
45% Of Docs Would Consider Quitting If ObamaCare Passes

The first two stories reference polls by the notoriously right-leaning Rasmsussen Reports. Stories 3 and 4 report on negative responses to reform. The last story was particularly egregious. It links to an article in the right-wing Investors Business Daily that itemizes the results of their “poll” that they say contradicts the claims that the medical profession supports reform. However, their poll would not be regarded as credible by any legitimate survey enterprise. Here is how IBD describes their methodology:

“The IBD/TIPP Poll was conducted by mail the past two weeks, with 1,376 practicing physicians chosen randomly throughout the country taking part. Responses are still coming in…”

This is no better than any of the self-selecting online polls that employ no criteria whatsoever for respondents. You know, the ones with the disclaimer that they are not scientific. IBD posts no such disclaimer. The responses are only from doctors who chose to return the mailed questionnaires. There is no indication of how many of the questionnaires were actually returned. Theoretically, this could be a poll of 10 or 12 people who may not even be doctors. IBD’s admission that “responses are still coming in” indicates that they didn’t even bother to wait sufficient time for the questionnaires to be received and included in their already suspect results.

The fact that Fox Nation is focusing so intently on ACORN speaks to their goal of promoting a dramatic controversy as a diversionary tactic to keep people from learning more about substantive issues like health care. Fox has long utilized this sort of misdirection to assure that their viewers remain ill/misinformed. From the perspective of Fox News, it is far more important to spotlight tangential matters like ACORN, and use them to attack Democrats and the administration, who have nothing to do with them in the first place.

This is how Fox News endeavors to keep their viewers ignorant and, at the same time, incite them into a panicky rage. It is how they foment the fear of czars and socialism and tyranny, despite the absence of any such threats. It is how a mob is built from a community of dupes. And it is both cynical and dangerous, but Fox undoubtedly doesn’t care.