CPAC: The Conservative Political Action Conference Sets Its Sights On The Future?

Posted by on March 12, 2013 at 12:11 pm. 3 Comments :

This year’s Conservative Political Action Conference begins Thursday and promises to be a treasure trove of comedy material that will give a big boost to Democrats and progressives.

CPAC 2013

Having learned nothing whatsoever from the 2012 election, CPAC has dubbed this year’s event “America’s Future: The Next Generation of Conservatives.” Then they loaded up the schedule with fresh-faced Tea-publicans like Mitt Romney, Sarah Palin, Mitch McConnell, Newt Gingrich, Allen West, Rick Santorum, and Donald Trump. Even Dick Morris is making an appearance. It’s a blast forward in time all the way to 2008 which, for the GOP, actually seems like the future since they are still acting as if it’s 1808.

If the allocation of speaking time for CPAC’s illustrious guests is any indication, they are firmly endorsing the backwards views of the conservative movement’s most moth-eaten mouthpieces. Palin and Trump, for instance, have been allocated 16 minutes and 14 minutes respectively. However, rising starlet Marco Rubio is getting only 11 minutes. That’s still better than Chris Christie who has been allotted zero minutes since he wasn’t even invited to attend. Not to worry though, there will be plenty to keep attendees occupied, including tributes to Andrew Breitbart and Ronald Reagan, and highly anticipated sessions with the NRA and the Tea Party.

What’s more, the tenor of the event is holding fast to the antiquated notions of Armageddon that were such a prominent part of the past four years of fear mongering. The conference is jam-packed with thrilling and frightful seminars like “Should We Shoot All the Consultants Now?,” “Are We Back on the Road to Serfdom?,” “Stop THIS: Threats, Harrassment, Intimidation, Slander, and Bullying from the Obama Administration,” “The United Nations vs. the United States: the End Run Around the American Way of Life,” and “Is America Coming Apart?.” I can’t wait to hear the answers to those questions.

Adding to the gaiety (bad choice of words?) of this ultra-modern affair is the dress code distributed by a media strategist in Chattanooga, Tennessee. Fashion, being one of the things for which right-wingers are best known, is not neglected this year. That’s why they are nixing T-shirts, jeans, sneakers, miniskirts, strapless necklines, halter tops, Uggs, Tom’s Shoes, leggings, and fancy shorts. See the colorful Infographic.

This is shaping up to be the most exciting CPAC yet. So stay tuned for updates from the speeches and panels that are surely going to advance the cause of conservatism into the nineteenth century.

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Breitbart “News” Duped By Same Satirical Site They Blasted WaPo For Believing

Posted by on March 11, 2013 at 11:29 am. 3 Comments :

It is becoming evermore inescapable that Breitbart “News” is run by the dumbest bunch of pseudo-journalists ever to disgrace the profession. Just a couple of weeks after freaking out over an alleged association between then-Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel and the Freinds of Hamas (a terrorist group that, it turns out, does not exist), the BreitBrats are at it again.

Breitbart - Krugman

Media Matters caught Breitbart editor-at-large, Larry O’Connor, posting an article (now deleted) that claimed that Nobel Prize winning economist Paul Krugman had filed for bankruptcy. It was a juicy story for a conservative rag that would like nothing better than to discredit one of the shining lights of progressive media – a columnist for the New York Times no less.

Unfortunately for O’Conner, the story was utterly false. In fact, it was the work of The Daily Currant, a satirical web site. The thought of doing any actual reporting never entered into the minds of the BreitBrats or they would have quickly discerned that the article was a comical fake.

What makes this even more embarrassing is that just last month O’Conner’s fellow BreitBrat, John Nolte, went to great lengths to slam the Washington Post for having fallen for an article from the same site. Nolte’s pompous critique made some points that apply perfectly to O’Conner. He lambasted the WaPo author saying that…

Nolte: If [Suzy] Parker had a shred of self-awareness, integrity, and dignity, she would have changed the headline to “Too Good To Check,” and under it posted an essay about how shallow, smug, bitterly angry partisanship can blind you to common sense.

What part of that doesn’t reflect precisely the predicament in which O’Conner now finds himself? And why did the Breitbart site simply delete the phony article rather than adding a correction (which WaPo did) and an essay about angry partisanship and common sense. It should also be noted that the erroneous item on WaPo’s site was posted by a guest blogger not employed by WaPo, while the Breitbart screw up was by an editor.

The magnitude of hypocrisy here is off the scales. Breitbart never took responsibility for the phony Hamas story. They also never reported at all that their one-time Golden boy, James O’Keefe, had settled litigation against him for $100,000 in a case where he smeared an ACORN employee. And now they quietly sweep their brazen incompetence under the rug despite having made such a fuss about a similar recent situation.

Nevertheless, Breitbart’s site is still highly regarded in conservative circles, including Fox News, who frequently republish their tripe. It simply cannot be said enough that this is how right-wingers have become the most ignorant and misinformed people in America.


Rand Paul’s Tea-publican Hero-Worship And The Vacancy Of The Stupid Party

Posted by on March 9, 2013 at 1:05 pm. 14 Comments :

This past week saw an unusual amount of media attention focused on a singularly non-newsworthy event. The big story of the week involved a United States senator who droned on interminably without ever saying anything of much substance. That’s about as significant a news item as a plane landing safely in clear weather. In fact, it’s pretty much what every senator does every day.

Rand Paul

However, for some reason, Rand Paul’s soliloquy has captured the attention of the press and an adoring congregation of conservative true-believers. The beatific praise that Paul has garnered exceeds that of nearly every other right-wing idol competing for the limelight. Here is some of what is being said about him since his solo outing:

  • Sen. Rand Paul: Filibuster was victory and blow for freedom
  • Rand Paul’s shot heard ’round the world
  • Rand Paul’s Filibuster: ‘A Stroke of Political Genius’
  • Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky performed a national service
  • Rand Paul’s ‘Epic’ Filibuster
  • New leader of the GOP: Rand Paul
  • Rand Paul, a civil liberties hero
  • Rand Paul’s Filibuster Proves He is the Future of the Republican Party
  • Rand Paul’s filibuster was ‘completely awesome’
  • The Rand Paul Moment Has Arrived
  • Rand Paul filibuster energizes Tea Party against GOP establishment
  • The World Stands With Rand Paul For Nearly 13 Hours
  • Rand Paul a ‘constitutional hero’ for Brennan filibuster

That’s a lot of glory for the dubious achievement of not shutting one’s mouth for thirteen hours. The filibuster was premised on a fallacy having to do with paranoid fears of President Obama advocating a drone strike program in America. There has never been any suggestion of that and when PolitiFact checked into the validity of the charge they rated it false.

Nevertheless, Paul persisted in his quixotic endeavor for a purpose that cannot be fathomed. He succeeded only in tying up the senate for a couple of days when there are numerous other critical matters to be resolved. And the specific matter that he was holding up, the nomination of John Brennan as CIA Director, was completed just a few hours after Paul’s filibuster ended with a successful confirmation.

The underlying issue of military drones is a serious matter and deserves discussion. In fact, there are probably areas in which the left and right will agree with regard to their use and abuse. But Paul’s stunt did nothing to further that discussion. To the contrary, it inhibited it because no conversation other than his monologue could take place while he held the floor.

What is not particularly surprising is the affection sent his way for this carnival side show. The GOP is famous for showering plaudits on their most inane spokespersons. They create heroes out of nitwits with nothing to offer but bluster and venom. During the Republican primaries last year there were fleeting leads for questionable characters like Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Rick Perry, Donald Trump, Rick Santorum, and Newt Gingrich. They all had temporary moments in the sun when they were regarded as the second coming of conservatism. And they all receded back into relative obscurity after the sunlight exposed their all too apparent shortcomings.

The same sort of ephemeral adulation was offered to one-time objects of idolatry like Sarah Palin, Chris Christie, Paul Ryan, and Bobby Jindal. They too have lost some or all of their luster. But they represent exactly the same values that are now propping up Rand Paul. Values that have the shallowest basis for admiration. It is nonsense like “death panels,” and birth certificates, and legitimate rape, and electrified border fences, and denial of climate change and evolution, and prohibitions against gay marriage and reproductive choice, that has driven the GOP to its lowest levels of support in decades. It is why Gov. Jindal has castigated his Republican colleagues saying that they have to stop being the “Stupid Party.”

That’s a tall order for a party that has made ignorance a plank in their platform. For that reason it is hard to imagine that Paul’s celebrity will last any longer than any of the other briefly revered rightists. Either a newer, more stridently conservative contestant will supersede him, or he will say or do something that will turn the applause into jeers. And it doesn’t take much, as Gov. Christie learned when he toured the hurricane damage in New Jersey with the President. As a tactical gesture, Obama could deep six Paul’s presidential aspirations by simply proposing legislation that prohibits the use of drones in the U.S. against citizens who are not engaged in combat or treasonous activities. As soon as Paul endorses anything supported by this president his hopes for higher office will be dashed for ever.

As bad as this environment is for Republicans seeking to attain relevance, it is equally disturbing that the media is so easily seduced by the most trivial actions. Paul’s stint as rodeo clown produced nothing he can brag about. He delayed more important matters, ran his mouth off, and preened for press photos. At least Jimmy Stewart’s “Mr. Smith” kept going until he was in near physical collapse. Paul, on the other hand, only quit because his bladder gave out. That’s not a particularly dramatic ending for the historians who will be composing the account of this episode. Just imagine if Patrick Henry was immortalized for having bravely demanded, “Give me liberty or let me pee.”


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

Posted by on March 8, 2013 at 11:41 am. NO Comments :

James O'KeefeHaving 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.


Fox News “Psycho” Analyst Welcomes Pain For Already Struggling Americans

Posted by on March 7, 2013 at 1:56 pm. 35 Comments :

In one of the most repugnant expressions of heartlessness ever put forth by a major media enterprise, Keith Ablow, the Fox News psycho analyst, has callously come out in favor of making less fortunate Americans suffer in even greater measure. He is literally giddy over the prospect of inflicting more pain on people who have endured so much of it already. And at the same time he neglects any such sacrifice for our nation’s privileged and wealthy – like himself.

Keith Ablow

Despite labeling himself an “economic masochist,” Ablow would be more accurately described as a sadomasochist because he is advocating for others to experience pain along with his own. He sets the stage for this depravity with a tale of his inconvenience at the airport:

“I traveled from Boston to New York yesterday on the Delta shuttle out of Logan. The lines were especially long, and the wait to get through security was 30 minutes. It’s usually about 10 minutes at the time of day I was flying.”

Ablow explained that the extended delay was due to the elimination of overtime by the TSA as a result of the sequester budget cuts. Then we went on to say…

“My immediate reaction to the announcement that I should anticipate inconveniences at airport security wasn’t annoyance or worry; it was relief and resolve, about the short staffing. I felt good that budget cuts were being made and that I could feel them.

I liked the pain, because I am certain that our economy will not be righted without some discomfort–mine, included. I felt like my wait in line was showing some personal discipline in service to the public good.” […] “I am hoping for more pain from the Sequester.”

For a rich psychiatrist and television commentator to embrace the “pain” of waiting twenty minutes more than usual for his (probably first class) flight as some sort of patriotic sacrifice on the scale of Nathan Hale’s famous regret, makes a mockery of citizens who truly gave something of value for their country – like their lives.

Even worse, Ablow appears to be utterly unaware that the sequester’s impending cuts are going to disproportionally harm low income seniors and children, as well as the sick, the homeless, and veterans. Yet Ablow has the gall to call for sacrifice only on the part of those who are hurting the most and that those moochers ought to “not only anticipate pain, but welcome it.”

Nowhere in his screed does Ablow suggest that privileged folks like himself should participate in the “service to the public good” by paying a little more in taxes. He and his upper class comrades are the ones who have benefited most from the economic recovery of the past four years. The stock market is at an all time high and the rich, according to Forbes, are enjoying unprecedented growth while paying less in taxes.

Shared Sacrifice

In Ablow’s world only the poor and middle class are expected to sacrifice. He and his peers must be permitted to maintain the luxurious lifestyles to which they have become accustomed. And that lifestyle must be paid for by underprivileged kids, fixed-income seniors, and disabled vets. And still they have the audacity to congratulate themselves for magnanimously waiting a few extra minutes to get through airport security as if that were some sort of torturous act of heroism. You’d think he had been nailed to a cross. What a repellant pile of unadulterated douchebaggery.


So F**king What? Movie Producer Funds Jon Stewart’s Movie

Posted by on March 7, 2013 at 10:18 am. NO Comments :

Due to the apparent lack of anything else that’s newsworthy, Fox Nation is reporting this bit of breaking news:

Fox Nation

The glorified delinquents that run Fox Nation veritably drool at any opportunity to disparage President Obama and his Hollywood pals. They are also giddy about slamming allegedly liberal comedians whenever possible (note that Jon Stewart is a frequent critic of the President and Democrats, and Fox knows it). But this item sourced to the ultra-conservative Washington Free Beacon is a perfect illustration of just how deranged these hacks are by their Obama hatred. The article begins…

“Gigi Pritzker, an heir to the Hyatt fortune, will finance and produce Stewart’s directorial debut, Rosewater. The film is based on the true story of a former Iranian political prisoner arrested after appearing on ‘The Daily Show.”'”

So F**king What?

Sure, Pritzker is financing and producing Stewart’s film. Perhaps it’s because she runs a production company, Odd Lot Entertainment, and was fortunate enough to snag this project that many producers in the business would covet. And as obsessed right-wingers like to remind everyone, there is an abundance of Obama supporters in Hollywood. It might be difficult to find a film producer that had not donated to Obama.

Do the cretins at Fox think that Stewart would have associated himself with Republican producer for his first directorial effort?

Oops. Wait a minute…..It seems that Stewart has, in fact, associated himself with a Republican producer. In 2012 Pritzker, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, contributed the maximum allowed donation – to Mitt Romney! So Fox could just as well have posted the headline “Romney Donor Funds Jon Stewart Movie.” I wonder why they didn’t.

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Fox Nation vs. Reality: Night Of The Living Tea Party

Posted by on March 6, 2013 at 12:23 pm. NO Comments :

Get your copy of the ebook
Fox Nation vs. Reality
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These right-wing dead-enders will simply never learn. After having deluded themselves into believing that President Obama’s reelection was dead in the water, that Mitt Romney was a shoe-in to take up residency in the White House, and that all the polls were the work of corrupt partisans bent on deceiving the electorate, you would think that they would have joined the rest of America in the real world. You would be wholly and hysterically wrong.

Fox Nation

An article posted on Fox Nation declares wildly, and without rational support, that “The Tea Party Still Lives.” In one respect it is an encouraging development in that they must at least recognize that the far-right fringe of the GOP has been on life support for quite some time. However, this new diagnosis is based on the same sort of pathological denial as the claims that Obama’s presidency was terminal. The poll cited by the Fox Nationalists was commissioned by the Tea Party itself and the depth of the survey’s inquiry was astonishingly shallow.

For instance, the primary claim by the Tea Party pollsters is that “A plurality of Americans support ‘Tea Party principles.'” The principles they are boasting about include “free markets,” and “personal responsibility.” That’s a pretty vague set of principles that are held by most Americans regardless of party. Having established absolutely nothing with that inquiry, they proceed to juxtapose those results with what they consider to be the principles of everyone else: “higher taxes,” and “more spending.” At this point it should be fairly obvious that there is no credibility whatsoever in this poll.

It is interesting to note that, despite the dramatically biased construction of this poll, it could not even deliver a majority in favor of the skewed choices presented to the respondents. Only 48% said they agree with the “Tea Party principles” as described. What’s more, the actual poll results were not published on either Fox Nation or the site of their source, the ultra-conservative Washington Free Beacon. What do you suppose are they afraid of?

When credible pollsters have asked people whether they support the President’s positions on specific issues such as the budget, immigration, climate change, and gun safety, the results invariably favor Obama. And when pollsters inquire as to the level of support for the Tea Party, the results are pitifully low.

Nevertheless, the Tea Party continues to wallow in denial with fabricated polling and delusions of grandeur that defy reason. And even after being made fools of by partisan media that led them into the pits of pipe-dream propaganda, they continue to put their faith in media con artists like Fox News. Which, by the way, is all the better for Democrats and progressives who still live in the real world.


Bill O’Reilly And John Boehner: Brotherhood Of The Traveling Pants On Fire

Posted by on March 6, 2013 at 4:49 am. 2 Comments :

In recent days, the resounding cry from the right-wing pundits and politicians regarding sequestration has been a demonstrably false yammering that President Obama has neglected to put forth a plan to cut spending. And it’s a pretty good talking point except for the fact that there isn’t a bit of truth to it.

Boehner/O'Reilly

This plaintive squeal was heard last Sunday when John Boehner appeared on Meet the Press to peddle his party line fiction. He told host David Gregory that “even today, there’s no plan from Senate Democrats or the White House to replace the sequester.” For that mangling of the truth, Boehner earned a “Pants On Fire” designation from PolitiFact who posted a detailed debunking of Boehner’s…well, bunk. Boehner went on to blame senate Democrats for not passing a bill that only failed due to senate Republicans filibustering it.

The howling further escalated last night when Bill O’Reilly nearly had an aneurism while debating the same subject with Alan Colmes (video below). O’Reilly almost immediately began shouting red-faced at Colmes for his having correctly stated that the President does have a plan. O’Reilly viciously called his fellow Fox News employee a liar seven times in rapid succession as Colmes calmly objected and tried to settle him down. But O’Reilly could not be assuaged. Here is a partial transcript of the exchange:

O’Reilly: The President’s willing to have Americans suffer for the greater good of trying to have Nancy Pelosi be the new Speaker of the House. […] Give me one program he said he would cut.
Colmes: He would cut Medicare and Medicaid.
O’Reilly: That’s not a specific program.
Colmes: You asked me for a program – those are programs.
O’Reilly: You’re not telling me anything. It’s jack____ what you’re saying.
Colmes: There would be less money going to the states. There would be less money being reimbursed to doctors.
O’Reilly: You don’t know where. You don’t know how much. You don’t know to whom. And the reason you don’t know it is because the guy you revere refuses to say anything specific about anything.

O’Reilly’s high-pitched histrionics did nothing to make the substance of his ranting more truthful. Just as Boehner’s demurring failed to refute the factual evidence that the President’s plan does exist. It is available on the White House web site for anyone who is interested and honest – which obviously exempts Boehner and O’Reilly.

Watching trained circus clowns like O’Reilly and Boehner distort reality is bad enough, but what’s really troubling is the tendency of so much of the media to fail to set the record straight when there is no credible case to support the lies of these charlatans. And they will certainly not set the record straight themselves. O’Reilly in particular is notorious for digging in his heels even after he has been proven to be wrong. It’s a character trait common among egomaniacal sociopaths who regard themselves as infallible defenders of humanity’s virtue.


Roger Ailes Uses Fox News Personnel As His Personal Attack Dogs

Posted by on March 5, 2013 at 2:16 pm. 1 Comments :

Dylan Byers of Politico posted an article yesterday that dug into the literary battle between two competing biographies of Fox News CEO Roger Ailes. One of the bios is by an independent reporter, Gabriel Sherman, who has demonstrated his ability to break stories from within the Fox bubble. The other is by a hack, Zev Chafets, who previously penned a gushing homage to Rush Limbaugh and who has the blessing of Ailes – including access to the subject, his family, friends, and colleagues.

Roger Ailes

Byers noted that Sherman has already been targeted by Ailes’ defenders on the Fox News payroll. He has been assailed as a “phony journalist,” a “stalker,” a “harasser,” and when all else fails, as “a [George] Soros puppet.” [Sherman is presently a fellow of the New America Foundation to which Soros has donated a miniscule sum. Conservative and Fox News pundit Jim Pinkerton also has a fellowship]. Despite this full-court bad press assault, Byers is not convinced that there is any coordinated effort to malign Sherman. He writes…

“To date, no evidence has emerged that Ailes ordered his employees to stir up the attacks on Sherman — which have gone beyond the usual confines of professional critiques and into the realm of personal insult and innuendo.”

If Byers is looking for evidence, he might examine the track record at Fox when they decide that they are under fire from an ideological enemy. When David Brock of Media Matters was preparing the release of his book “The Fox Effect,” the Ailes team fired up a preemptive blitzkrieg of slander and character assassination. They labeled Brock everything from mentally unstable to a drug user to a self-hating megalomaniac. They also mounted a campaign to get Fox viewers to file complaints with the IRS to get Media Matters’ tax exemption as a charitable organization revoked. All of this because Brock had a book that was about to come out.

This is all consistent with the Ailes business plan. He sits atop an enterprise that engages in scorched earth assaults against perceived enemies, driven by his own well-known paranoia. So it is not particularly surprising that, after hearing about an unauthorized (and perhaps unfriendly) biography in the works, he would solicit his own biographer whom he could be certain would canonize him and then attempt to discredit the opposing author before any truth inadvertently slipped out.

Sherman recently certified his reporting skills, and the reliability of his sources within Fox, by exposing a couple of incidents that revealed some of the inner workings of the network. In one case he found that shortly after the massacre in Newtown, CT, Fox producers had been given instructions “not to talk about gun-control policy on air.” In the other case, just after the election results that Fox had so badly botched, Sherman discovered that Ailes had sent out orders “mandating that producers must get permission before booking [Karl] Rove or [Dick] Morris,” two of the more notoriously flawed Fox analysts.

Sherman’s book is expected to be released in a few months. If his prior reporting is any indication, it should be an interesting read. The same cannot be said for the book by Chafets, unless you happen to be partial to sycophantic hero-worship based on fantastical diversions from reality. But because of the timing, neither book is likely to record how Ailes unethically deploys his “news” staff to smack down independent reporting that he is afraid might be too honest and probing – especially when it is about himself. It is easy to predict that, as the publish date for Sherman’s book approaches, Sherman will become increasingly under attack by the Ailes machine. It may be a withering onslaught of defamation, but it will also be an affirmation that he is doing his job.

[Update] An excerpt of the Ailes-approved Chafets book was published in Vanity Fair. Aside from the expected adulatory tone, Chafets revealed how juvenile Ailes can be when criticizing those he dislikes. He called Newt Gingrich “a prick.” He said VP Joe Biden is “dumb as an ashtray.” He mocked CNN’s Soledad O’Brien as the anchor “named after a prison” (actually, she was named after the Virgin Mary). He went after his own son-in-law saying that he “needed to see a psychiatrist.” And he sunk to racist dog-whistling by calling President Obama “lazy.” Based on these excerpts, this is one book that should hit the bargain bins pretty fast.


Daily Caller’s Videos Of Alleged Menendez Prostitution Scandal Were Faked

Posted by on March 4, 2013 at 10:16 pm. 1 Comments :

It is long past the point when any reputable news enterprise should take seriously any story emanating from the pathological liars at The Daily Caller, or Breitbart News, or even Fox News. Particularly if the story hinges on videos of unknown origin with anonymous sources and fraudulent editing.

The latest example of the unscrupulous deceit practiced by right-wing media involves an undocumented accusation that Democratic Senator Bob Menendez of New Jersey was cavorting with prostitutes in the Dominican Republic. Menendez denied the charges from the start, but that didn’t stop the unethical reporters at The Daily Caller from disseminating the story, which eventually wormed its way up the media food chain from Breitbart to Fox to other more mainstream outlets.

The scandalous tales told by the Daily Caller peaked when they posted exclusive videos of the alleged hookers confessing to their association with Menendez. All of this just happened to go down during the final days of Menendez’s reelection campaign.

Today the Washington Post published an article that blows the whole story apart. The headline, “Escort says Menendez prostitution claims were made up,” sums up the affair and should put to rest any question about the Daily Caller’s credibility. The article begins…

“An escort who appeared on a video claiming that Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) paid her for sex has told Dominican authorities that she was instead paid to make up the claims and has never met or seen the senator, according to court documents and two people briefed on her claim.

“The woman said a local lawyer had approached her and a fellow escort and asked them to help frame Menendez and a top donor, Salomon Melgen, according to affidavits obtained by The Washington Post.”

The Washington Post sought a statement from the Daily Caller’s chief, Tucker Carlson (also a Fox News contributor), but Carlson, despite his usual enthusiasm for media attention, refused to make a comment. There have been no corrections or updates to any of the reports previously published by the Daily Caller, Breitbart, or Fox. This is consistent with their standard operating practice of hyping smears and innuendos, but neglecting to set the record straight when their lies are exposed.

Menendez ValentineAnother player to jump on the Menendez bandwagon is the Republican National Committee who put out a satirical “valentine” slamming the Senator with a snide reference to the phony sex scandal. Undoubtedly they will neglect to apologize now that they know the charges were false. What makes the GOP attack even worse is that their own senator David Vitter was caught with actual hookers in Washington, D.C. and subsequently admitted his criminal behavior. Yet he continues to represent Louisiana and, so far as we know, has not received any snarky valentines from the GOP.

The question for the media at large is, when will they finally stop paying attention to the cretinous slime merchants at the Daily Caller, Breitbart, etc.? After notorious failures like the ACORN affair, the Shirley Sherrod debacle, and just last month, Breitbart’s expose about Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel taking money from a terrorist group that, as it turns out, doesn’t exist, there should be no doubt that these pseudo-news manglers are undeserving of any respect. They should be left to peddle their tripe to the glassy-eyed blockheads who don’t know any better and the rest of the world should tune them out entirely. At this point, anyone who gives credence to these fakers is just an embarassment.