Andrew Breitbart

The Problem Is Bigger Than Glenn Beck

Posted by on February 26, 2011 at 11:05 am. NO Comments :

Glenn BeckI have been writing about the cerebral rot virus that is Glenn Beck for quite a while. And in all of that time I have striven to note that, as bad as Beck is, he is but a parasitic wart on the butt of the rightist media. Almost two years ago I wrote an article that showed how “Fox News Is Killing The Republican Party.”

You simply cannot grouse about Beck in a vacuum. He has a media machine that makes his brand of lunatic harangue possible. It starts with Fox News and Premiere Radio Networks and extends to the web of deluded defenders he has attracted – from conservative media moles like Andrew Breitbart to political unreality stars like Sarah Palin.

Lately some on the right have had the cobwebs brushed from their eyes. Reliable conservatives like Bill Kristol have found the courage to step away from Beck and the mental short circuit that defines his world view, but they continue to see him in isolation.

This week in the Washington Post, conservative Jennifer Rubin came a little bit closer to the source of the rhetorical shock doctrine that is electrifying the gray matter of America’s right wingers by saying…

“Conservative groups and candidates should be forewarned: If they host, appear with or defend him they should be prepared to have his extremist views affixed to them.”

That’s true, but what she just barely missed is that it isn’t just conservative groups and candidates who are infected by exposure to Beck. It is also his so-called “news” associates attached to Rupert Murdoch’s media empire. Roger Ailes and Fox News, the Wall Street Journal, and Murdoch himself are covered in Beck’s detritus.

Conor Friedersdorf has realized these broader truths and articulated them nicely in his article at the FrumForum observing the necessity to confront…

“…the fact that Fox News under Roger Ailes knowingly broadcasts factually inaccurate and egregiously misleading nonsense every day.”

And…

“It’s going to be very difficult, however, to persuade conservatives to start regularly evaluating Fox News and talk radio on the substance of the rhetoric offered, and policing its absurdities.”

And…

“Those writing as if Beck is an extreme outlier in the conservative world should use their newly opened eyes to survey the rhetorical landscape. Yes, his style is singular, and his conspiracy theories are particularly colorful. But is his brand of conspiratorial nonsense really any more blinkered than some of what’s uttered by other conservatives in good standing?”

Exactly. The diversion from reality is not limited to rodeo clowns like Beck. It has spread throughout the Rightosphere and threatens to make a mockery of everyone it touches. And Fox News in particular must be held to account for the “factually inaccurate and egregiously misleading nonsense” it feeds its gullible audience.

For our part, the left should make a point of connecting the dots between the crazies and the conservative mainstream who think they can profit from the controversy to which they contribute without bearing responsibility for degrading the discourse. And, as Rubin said, everything that the Beckoids say must be affixed to his enablers, particularly Murdoch and Ailes, until they take explicit steps to inoculate themselves.

Tea Baggers Plotting To Sabotage Union Rallies

Posted by on February 21, 2011 at 10:50 am. 20 Comments :

Tea CrusadersAmerica is about to learn how the right-wing engages in community organizing. Rather than working to get the support of like-minded citizens to participate in public events on behalf of their agenda, Tea Partiers are planning a campaign of dirty tricks that fails to advance the debate, but succeeds in revealing their own contempt for the democratic process. For a crowd who professes to revere the Constitution, they are openly demonstrating their disrespect for the First Amendment’s guarantees of free assembly and the redressing of grievances.

Here is the plot as laid out by Tea Bagging luminary Mark Williams: [Note: Williams’ website keeps appearing and disappearing so here is Google’s cache of the page]

Here is what I am doing in Sacramento, where they are holding a 5:30 PM event this coming Tuesday: (1) I signed up as an organizer (2) with any luck they will contact me and I will have an “in” (3) in or not I will be there and am asking as many other people as can get there to come with, all of us in SEIU shirts (those who don’t have them we can possibly buy some from vendors likely to be there) (4) we are going to target the many TV cameras and reporters looking for comments from the members there (5) we will approach the cameras to make good pictures… signs under our shirts that say things like “screw the taxpayer!” and “you OWE me!” to be pulled out for the camera (timing is important because the signs will be taken away from us) (6) we will echo those slogans in angry sounding tones to the cameras and the reporters. (7) if I do get the “in” I am going to do my darnedest to get podium access and take the mic to do that rant from there…with any luck and if I can manage the moments to build up to it, I can probably get a cheer out of the crowd for something extreme.

And Williams describes precisely what his goals are for this charade:

Our goal is to make the gathering look as greedy and goonish as we know that it is, ding their credibility with the media and exploit the lazy reporters who just want dramatic shots and outrageous quotes for headlines. Even if it becomes known that we are plants the quotes and pictures will linger as defacto truth.

It should come as no surprise that the Tea Party aspires to manufacture falsehoods that they hope will linger as “defacto truth.” They rarely show much regard for actual truth. And with this project they affirm that their movement is utterly devoid of principle.

Mark Williams is a veteran Tea Bagger with a dubious history. He was expelled as the head of Tea Party Express for composing some overtly racist screeds for his blog. Subsequently, the Tea Party Express was banished from the Tea Party Federation. But the affiliation between these people and groups continues without interruption. Williams’ scheme has been endorsed by the Patriot Action Network, another Tea Party adjunct, whose partners include Islamophobe Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs and, of course, Tea Party Express.

In addition to this, Tea Party Express, which is known for funneling donations into the GOP lobbyist firm that created it, has been embraced by CNN. The network is co-hosting a Republican presidential primary debate with the disreputable organization. And CNN’s affiliation with the phony Tea Party movement also extends to their airing of Michele Bachmann’s Tea Party response to the State of the Union address, and to the hiring of Tea Party flack (and Breitbart’s editor-in-chief) Dana Loesch. CNN’s love affair with the Tea Party has been orchestrated by their new head, Ken Jautz, who will forever be marked as the man who gave Glenn Beck his first job in television.

The Tea Party’s response to the massive week-long demonstrations by labor and others in Wisconsin has been pitiful. Despite Tea Party star-power like Andrew Breitbart, Herman Cain, and Joe the Plumber, their big counter-demonstration last Saturday fizzled as a mere 2,500 Baggers showed up to confront an estimated 70,000 pro-worker demonstrators. And their little affair lasted less than an hour and a half, wrapping up at about 1:20pm although it had been scheduled to go until 3:00. This show of weakness may be why the Tea Baggers are resorting to dirty tricks.

The pro-American worker demonstrators should be on alert for Tea Party saboteurs. They should be prepared to expose them and inform the media of the desperate and unethical tactics. The media, for its part, should also be aware of the misrepresentation that they are being targeted with, and they should not hesitate to reveal it to their audience.

Whether or not this childish prank succeeds is still up in the air. One thing that Williams gets right is that the press can be astonishingly lazy. That means it’s up to citizens to make sure that the press do their jobs. So if you are attending any rallies, be aware, be vigilant, and be careful. These instigators have been primed by the rhetoric of Glenn Beck and other purveyors of hate. They have been deluded into thinking that the giant. multinational corporations who despise workers’ rights are actually representing their interests. And they are capable of anything in pursuit of their anti-union, anti-democracy mission.

CNN Turning To Andrew Breitbart And Into Fox News

Posted by on February 12, 2011 at 10:57 am. 7 Comments :

CNN Tea PartyIt’s bad enough that America has one Fox News. One network that has mainstreamed lying and abandoned all journalistic ethics in favor of spreading propaganda and nurturing ignorance. Now it appears that CNN has aspirations to out-Fox Fox. They put out a press release announcing some new hires:

“CNN is gearing up for the election season with the addition of political contributors from across the ideological spectrum. Democratic strategist Cornell Belcher, conservative commentator Will Cain, and local Tea Party leader and radio talk show host Dana Loesch will appear across the network’s prime time programs, as well as other dayparts and platforms.”

The first thing that is glaringly askew in this announcement is that CNN is recruiting a single Democratic analyst and two right-wing opponents. Under what tangled, Gordian logic is that a balanced representation of views? Do the Democrats have to invent a phony AstroTurf party in order to get an equal number of seats at the table? Would CNN hire a Progressive Party spokesman to join their panel? Of course not. But because some Republicans are parading around with a different name, CNN gives them parity as if they were a wholly new party deserving their own voice.

Let’s be perfectly clear: There is no Tea Party! They have no platform and no candidates. People who profess to be aligned with this imaginary party are in fact Republicans. They run as Republicans, they vote for Republicans, and their agenda is decidedly Republican. And the stub of the GOP that calls itself the Tea Party is wildly out of touch with mainstream Americans. So CNN is a network that hires two Republicans for every Democrat.

Compounding that problem is the specific selection of Dana Loesch to represent the phony Tea Party faction. Loesch is presently the editor-in-chief of Andrew Breitbart’s BigJournalism.com. That’s the same Breitbart that promoted James O’Keefe’s “pimp and hooker” ACORN smear; the same Breitbart that peddled the dishonest videos that defamed Shirley Sherrod. These and other scams have all been thoroughly debunked. But Loesch, the editor-in-chief of the lying tabloid that produces more junk journalism than any other site on the Internet, was chosen by CNN to be the voice of the Tea Party.

Loesch is just the latest despicable decision by CNN’s new president, Ken Jautz. Jautz was recently promoted from HLN where he will forever be remembered as the man who brought Glenn Beck to television. He is a hack who is more interested in ratings than journalism, and with each new day is proving that he is unfit to run a news network.

Since moving up to CNN, Jautz has formed a partnership with Tea Party Express (TPE), a corrupt political action committee that is reviled by other Tea Party groups. This arrangement called for a them to co-host a Republican presidential primary debate. It also produced Michelle Bachmann’s (R-MN) embarrassing response to the State of the Union address. Those are two more examples proving that the Tea Party is a wholly owned subsidiary of the GOP. But TPE has some dirty laundry that needs to be aired.

TPE’s chief was shamed into resigning for repeatedly making racist comments. That was followed by TPE being banished from the Tea Party Federation. TPE’s finances are racked with fraud. The Republican PR firm that created TPE, Russo Marsh, directs nearly half of the money they raise from citizen supporters to the firm. TPE recently reported receiving thousands of dollars from a donor who has been dead for four years. This is the racist, dishonest, reprehensible gang of con artists with which Jautz has associated CNN.

CNN already employs RedState’s Erick Erickson, who called Supreme Court Justice David Souter a “goat fucking child molester.” Now Jautz brings aboard Dana Loesch who said that a demonstrator who got her head stomped on by a Rand Paul supporter should apologize for the incident. These developments put CNN’s credibility at stake. Are they really so desperate for attention that they would sully themselves with known liars and agitators for the most extremist faction of the right? Are they really so stupid that they think that trying to emulate Fox will reverse their ratings debacle?

Sadly, the answer to those question is “Yes.” CNN is both desperate and stupid. They never learn. Fox viewers are not going to flip over to a Fox look-alike when they have the real thing just down the dial. Glenn Beck’s audience would not watch him on HLN, where his program was the lowest rated on the channel. But the minute he moved to Fox he was an instant hit. This proves that Fox viewers are hypnotically dialed in to their media master, and they will not wander off. Not for Beck, and certainly not for Loesch. So the only thing that CNN achieves by stumbling down this path is that they become an accessory to the disinformation that these rightist goons disseminate, while simultaneously destroying what’s left of their reputation.

Good work, CNN. You must be so proud. Ken Jautz is turning the network into an embarrassment that is destined to continue its ratings collapse. Everyone who who cares about ethical media should let CNN know that this direction is inappropriate and unprofessional. You can use this form on CNN’s web site to tell them that they are hurting themselves and the practice of journalism by associating with Dana Loesch and the Tea Party Express. Tell them that Ken Jautz isn’t fit to run the Home Shopping Network. And tell them that the last thing this country needs is another right-wing pseudo-news outlet that manufactures partisan controversies and contributes to mass ignorance.

Hostile Intent: Right-Wing Media Doth Protest Too Much

Posted by on January 9, 2011 at 7:39 pm. 3 Comments :

Rarely have I seen such a desperate attempt to evade reality as has occurred since the shooting rampage in Tuscon. It would seem to be a fairly non-controversial notion that when a politician is targeted for assassination, the language that contributes to hostile discord ought to be carefully considered and avoided. The last thing anyone should want is another Jared Loughner. However, just raising that issue has caused politicians and pundits on the right to stiffen their backs and go on offense. They are taking such talk very personally. Could it be because they are harboring a latent guilt?

While the left has been responding to an horrific act of violence with calls to tone down the rhetoric, many on the right have assumed an attack posture. Keith Olbermann delivered a commentary yesterday wherein he included himself amongst those who have crossed the line. He apologized. There has been scarce reciprocation on the right. In fact, they have dug in their heels to assert that they will continue as if nothing has happened. Sarah Palin’s camp even contends that their notorious “Hit List” didn’t represent a gunsight’s crosshairs, but those on map. That might have been a little more plausible if Palin herself hadn’t referred to it as a bullseye.

So it should come as no surprise that Fox News would employ their propaganda web site, Fox Nation, to muddy the waters and absolve the right of any wrongdoing while tarnishing the left for observing the obvious. The Fox Nation presently has eleven articles that place the left in a bad light and/or polish the right’s reputation. Methinks they doth protest too much.

The Headlines:

  • Durbin Using Tragic Shooting to Silence Conservative Speech
  • A Colossal Failure of Journalism: Jared Loughner is crazy
  • Tucson Shooter and the Violent Rhetoric in the “Communist Manifesto”
  • AZ Dem Blames “Afghan Vet” for Shooting
  • DESPICABLE: NYT’s Krugman Blames Republicans For Giffords Shooting
  • NOW Blames Shooting on ‘Extreme’ Conservatives Opposing ‘Progressive Solutions’
  • PATHETIC: James Clyburn Blames Sharon Angle for Giffords Shooting
  • Tuscon Sheriff Politicizes Press Conference, Blames Talk Radio
  • Journalists Urged Caution After Ft. Hood, Now Race to Blame Palin After Arizona Shootings
  • Kurtz: Don’t Drag Palin Into this Horrific Mess
  • Dems Urge Obama to Pin Shooting on Tea Partiers

And it doesn’t stop there. On Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment, Jim Hoft, one of the most ignorant writers on a web site heralded for its ignorance, makes the ludicrous claim that “Democrats Plotted to Blame Tea Party for Slaughter.” Hoft’s justification for this “breaking” news flash was this paragraph from an article on Politico:

“One veteran Democratic operative, who blames overheated rhetoric for the shooting, said President Barack Obama should carefully but forcefully do what his predecessor did. ‘They need to deftly pin this on the tea partiers.'”

Did I mention that Hoft was ignorant? He is inferring from a single, anonymous source that a “plot” was in progress. And his inference is based on an opinion, not a plan. The source is suggesting what he thinks Obama ought to do, not what Obama, or any other Democrat, is actually doing. So there is no plot, just one guy with an opinion. And if this “operative” actually had access to the White House, or any group that could carry out this alleged plot, he would have given this advice to the President instead of a reporter from Politico.

What Hoft left out was the part where Politico reported this analysis from a senior Republican senator:

“There is a need for some reflection here – what is too far now?” said the senator. “What was too far when Oklahoma City happened is accepted now. There’s been a desensitizing. These town halls and cable TV and talk radio, everybody’s trying to outdo each other.”

The vast majority of tea party activists, this senator said, ought not be impugned.

“They’re talking about things most mainstream Americans are talking about, like spending and debt,” the Republican said, before adding that politicians of all stripes need to emphasize in the coming days that “tone matters.”

“And the Republican Party in particular needs to reinforce that,” the senator said.

I wonder why Hoft didn’t accuse this GOP senator of engaging in a plot to tone down the rhetoric as advised by most of the left. However, he did make the flat assertion that Loughner was “hardly a tea partier.” Apparently Hoft was unfamiliar with Loughner’s anti-government views, his opposition to immigrants and immigration reform, his advocacy of guns, and his opposition to the “2nd Constitution,” a rightist theme that regards the 14th Amendment’s securing of equality and birthright citizenship as unconstitutional. These are all views consistent with the Tea Party.

The truth is that the right is the only side that could plausibly be characterized as plotting anything. Hoft’s own column for Breitbart is evidence of that. And did the Fox Nationalists really need eleven articles to push their narrative? Then there is Judson Phillips, founder of the Tea Party Nation, who explicitly urged his followers blame liberals for the attack on Rep. Giffords. He wrote to his followers that…

“The hard left is going to try and silence the Tea Party movement by blaming us for this. […] The left is coming and will hit us hard on this. We need to push back harder with the simple truth. The shooter was a liberal lunatic. Emphasis on both words.”

The right is on a mission to wash their hands of any accountability for violence that is all too predictable. It would be much easier if they were to take the position of the GOP senator above who understands that this is the time to be thoughtful about what we say and the impact it may have on the mentally wobbly. Unfortunately, that is not the path the right is headed down.

It has been over 32 hours since the shooting in Tuscon and Glenn Beck, arguably the worst offender at being offensive, has not made a single public statement. There is nothing on his web site – no tweets – not even an expression of condolences. And you can rest assured that he will return to the air Monday with a delusional conspiracy theory for what he thinks happened in that Safeway parking lot. I can hear it now…..

Beck: Over the weekend there was a horrible crime committed against a United States Congresswoman. She is still clinging to life, but a judge, a young girl, and several others were killed.

Now, if you were watching the liberal media you may have come away thinking that this was the work of a conservative or a Tea Party member. I can assure you that nothing could be further from the truth.

Here’s the truth. Here’s what only I have been able to uncover through dogged research. Here’s what the media is afraid to tell you. Rep. Giffords was killed in order to silence me and other conservative broadcasters. That’s right. This was a liberal plot to create an environment where people would be calling for harsh rhetoric to be stopped.

Top down, bottom up, and inside out. The progressives are thinking all the time about how to stifle our message, and they know that by making a martyr of Rep. Giffords they can demand that we shut our mouths and crawl off into a corner. They can accuse us of inciting people to violence. And they think that will cause us to keep quiet about their plans to destroy America and demolish our moral culture. That’s why they sent their mole, Loughner, to the supermarket on Saturday. Some of my voices…I mean sources…are telling me that Loughner was seen with Van Jones and Cass Sunstein going over plans to take over the media.

But we aren’t going to let that happen, are we? We will remain strong because we know that only by eliminating our enemies can we live in peace.

Now, remember, I don’t want anyone to engage in violence. Even though the progressives are determined to see your future, and that of your children, blown apart and ruined for all eternity, you must not react violently. That’s what they want you to do. So even though they are going to put an end to the American Dream and cause our society and our economy to break down so badly that we will be praying for death rather than live in the socialist hell they want to create, do not become violent. Got it. Just get ready to suffer and prepare your kids for suffering like they have never known. Watching the whole world sink into depression and slavery is certainly no reason to resort to violence, is it? Well, is it? If you believe, like I do, that America is exceptional and worth preserving, then you know what to do.

And by the way, be sure to pick up a copy of my new book, “Reading Between the Lies.”

You read it here first.

[Update] Beck lived up to my speculation. On his Monday Fox News program he said:

“The solution, in this case, is to silence the opposition […] shut down the right […] How do you shut them down? You say it’s hate speech.”

As I suspected, Beck exploited the massacre to whine about the tragedy as a conspiracy to silence him and his rightist comrades.

[Update II] The right is now openly defending hate speech. Jack Shafer, editor at large of Slate.com, posted an article titled: In Defense of Inflamed Rhetoric
The awesome stupidity of the calls to tamp down political speech in the wake of the Giffords shooting.

Shafer’s article is really a demonstration of his own awesome stupidity. He argues that there haven’t been enough episodes of violence to justify the criticism of incendiary language. He is ignoring the numerous examples – from Dr. Tiller to Byron Williams to the Holocaust Museum to the Marine recruiting station to the gas line tampering at a congressman’s home. How many examples does Shafer need before he becomes concerned? But the real stupidity in his column is this passage:

“Any call to cool “inflammatory” speech is a call to police all speech, and I can’t think of anybody in government, politics, business, or the press that I would trust with that power.”

Nobody – repeat NOBODY – has suggested that inflammatory speech be criminalized. This is an invention of Shafer’s twitchy imagination. The matter is in the hands of the speakers, politicians and pundits, to be responsible and/or accountable. Free speech is not a shield from criticism of what is said. It extends to the critics as well. And when Shafer says that “violent imagery is a good thing” he illustrates just how idiotic and counterproductive right-wing hate mongers (like himself) can be.

[Acclaim for News Corpse] Keith Olbermann tweeted: “Deft and accurate summary of Right Wing Media in full-fledged panic and utter denial.” Thanks Keith.

The Top One Repulsively Conservative Hollywood Moment Of 2011 (So Far)

Posted by on January 2, 2011 at 3:00 pm. 20 Comments :

Andrew Breitbart’s BigHollwood web site is a notoriously puerile destination for Tea Party true believers. It generally doesn’t warrant my attention, but as this is the bottom half of a lazy New Year’s weekend, and a slow news day, I thought I’d waste some time responding to a particularly dimwitted exercise in top ten listing: The Top 10 Repulsively Liberal Hollywood Moments of 2010.

The author is William J. Kelly, a D-list conservative radio host and a failed Republican candidate for comptroller in Illinois (losing the GOP primary by 37 points). His article illustrates why his lack of celebrity is so richly deserved.

Kelly is obviously an intellectual midget with aspirations to kneel before the altar of Limbaugh. It always amuses me to read conservatives like Kelly bashing liberals in Hollywood and the creative community while ignoring their own elbow-rubbing with celebrities. The ultra-rightist magazine Human Events even produced a list of the most irritating liberal celebrities. To which I responded with a list of the most irritating conservative celebrities. On the irritating scale the conservatives win by a landslide. Now they are vying for the “repulsive” title as well.

10. Smallville’s last season. Kelly complains that the program’s new villain is a “conservative radio talk show host taken over by the supernatural forces of hate and fear.” However, that description could fit any number of real conservative radio talk show hosts starting with Glenn Beck and ending with Kelly himself.

9. Kathy Griffin attacks Bristol Palin This entry raises an objection to criticism of the children of politicians. However, Bristol is an adult, and a public figure in her own right, who willingly became a contestant on Dancing With the Stars. It was Bristol’s role on DWTS that Griffin referenced in her comedy routine. Kelly seems to think that the offspring of politicians are off-limits in perpetuity. By his shallow logic we should have refrained from criticizing George W. Bush because his father was a politician.

8. Bristol’s “Dancing with the Stars” success equals Tea Party conspiracy? Anyone who still believes that Bristol’s “success” on DWTS was not the result of Tea Party vote-stuffing is terminally naive. Does Kelly really think that her dance skills were superior to the other contestants? She received amongst the lowest scores week after week. And what is with Kelly’s obsession with Bristol that she rates two items in this list?

7. Hollywood blames Christmas. Kelly says: “Hollywood took a hike on Christmas films in 2010 and the media tried to pin the blame on lack of audience interest.” Kelly just made this up. There is simply no basis for asserting that the media placed universal blame for the absence of holiday-themed films on the audience or anywhere else. To suggest that Hollywood is somehow averse to Christmas movies reveals an ignorance of Hollywood on a massive scale.

6. Maher pushes “Politically Incorrect” witchcraft clip of Christine O’Donnell. Kelly really worked hard on this one. First he lies in saying that O’Donnell’s admission to “dabbling in witchcraft” was “comically stated.” It may have been on a comedy show, but she wasn’t joking and even reiterated the point. Then Kelly goes on to lie about her opponent, Chris Coons, saying that he was let “off the hook” for his book, “The Bearded Marxist.” Except that there was no such book, and the phrase was actually attributed to conservative friends of Coons who made it clear that they were joking. Kelly apparently has a difficult time distinguishing jokes, lies, and reality.

5. Meathead says Tea Party on par with the Nazi Movement. I might have been tempted to give Kelly this one. I do not condone any indiscriminate use of Nazi references that trivialize an all-too-real horror. However, by taking Rob Reiner to task while ignoring the king of Nazi references, Glenn Beck, Kelly discredits his criticism and exposes his outrage as phony and manipulative.

4. PBS censors Tina Fey’s anti-Palin comments at the Kennedy Center Awards. Here’s another for which I nearly sympathized with Kelly. It was indeed unconscionable for PBS to edit Fey’s remarks. But as it turns out, Kelly wasn’t upset with the censorship at all. In fact he justified it and took a swing at Fey for “lowering the bar for future Mark Twain Award recipients.” Do you think that Kelly knows that Mark Twain was a sharp-tongued political satirist who probably would have vigorously applauded Fey’s comments?

3. Obama endorses Comedy Central’s Rally to Restore Sanity. Kelly’s criticism of Obama centers on his praise for civility and common sense. What an outrage! Obama and Stewart should be hanged together. Kelly accuses Obama of “Failing to distinguish comedy from real life.” Kelly may be the last man in America to fail to recognize that satire is a valid form of speech that often informs and enlightens. And Jon Stewart is one of the funniest and most effective satirists on the scene today.

2. Filmmaker Moore posts $20,000 for WikiLeaks’ Assange’s bail. This appears to be a blind, substanceless attack on Michael Moore. Kelly doesn’t explain what’s wrong with Moore posting bail for Assange. He is apparently against it because Moore did it. Perhaps Kelly is against Assange as well, but he doesn’t say so. And if he is, then he is also against free speech and freedom of the press.

1. Whoopi & Joy’s Bill O’Reilly walk-off on “The View.” In a typical right-wing embrace of intolerance and bigotry, Kelly defends Bill O’Reilly for insinuating that all Muslims are terrorists and/or all terrorists are Muslim. And he slams Whoopi and Joy for being sensitive to that overtly prejudicial opinion. In Kelly’s world it is perfectly acceptable to smear people with minority beliefs or opinions as criminals, and to escalate hostilities based on those smears.

Conservatives will be working harder than ever this year to demonstrate their repulsive nature. Kelly is off to a strong start in the race to the bottom, but I wouldn’t put down any bets just yet. After all, Glenn Beck hasn’t taken to the air yet this year and Sarah Palin hasn’t Tweeted or Facebooked since Christmas eve.

Fox News Fabricating A Story About Media Fabricating Stories

Posted by on October 31, 2010 at 4:14 pm. 4 Comments :

All morning long Fox News has been broadcasting a story out of Alaska concerning a recording of reporters from KTVA whom Fox News alleges were conspiring to sabotage Joe Miller’s senate campaign. There is only one problem with this story: There is no evidence to support it.

The only thing that Fox News has to back up their claim is a recording that was made from an open phone line. The recording is of poor quality with much that is unintelligible. But what makes this utterly unreliable is that Andrew Breitbart is the source of the recording. Breitbart is best known for promoting tapes and video that were proven to be either fake or deliberately edited to give a false impression of what actually occurred.

A statement from KTVA affirms that the reporters had called Miller but deny that they ever discussed any plot to harm his campaign. They were merely speculating on what others may do and how they would cover an upcoming event.

Leave it to Fox News to broadcast materials they received from a known producer of lies and disinformation. When they first began airing the story even their chief correspondent, Carl Cameron, confessed on air that he could not confirm the allegations from the Miller camp. You have to wonder why any reputable news organization would go to air with a story that they admittedly can’t confirm. But you don’t have to wonder why Fox would do so.

As part of their coverage Fox interviewed both Joe Miller and Sarah Palin. Both were outraged at the assertions that even they could not prove. Palin called the KTVA crew “corrupt bastards” on Fox News Sunday. They both castigated the media for fabricating stories. But going on Fox News to complain about the media fabricating stories is kind of like Dracula complaining about vampires drinking blood.

It’s almost too ludicrous to comprehend that, while in the midst of fabricating a story they scold others for fabricating stories. But I suppose it’s all that we can expect from Fox News.

James O’Keefe Defends Being A Loathsome, Cretinous, Scumbag

Posted by on October 4, 2010 at 3:47 pm. 4 Comments :

Fox News James O'KeefeIt’s been five days since the Fox News pimp, James O’Keefe, was caught trying to “seduce” CNN reporter Abbie Boudreau. He has finally come out with a statement on the web site of his mentor, Andrew Breitbart. And, as would be expected, it is a thoroughly dishonest exercise in self-justification.

But before we get to O’Keefe’s comments, let’s take a look at what Breitbart had to say about him:

“From what I’ve read about this script, though not executed, it is patently gross and offensive.”

That’s the view of the man who supported O’Keefe through his equally offensive escapades as a pimp. Now Breitbart thinks O’Keef’e antics are gross. He even denied in a tweet that he was associated with O’Keefe. However, he still gave him a platform to publish his response. And in that response O’Keefe begins by acknowledging the low level of ethics he and his comrades have:

“If you were to roam through my personal emails there are many outrageous plans, some parts of which I may approve of in principal [sic] with an ‘I like it’ in an email thread. But I may well object to a host of things about the plan, though I like the objective.”

Taken at his word, O’Keefe is admitting that he liked the objective of the CNN Caper. But this is someone who can never be taken at his word. He is a compulsive liar whose word has no value. Here is how he soft-peddled his version of the the plot against Boudreau:

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

That is utterly false. 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? If he was going to seek her consent, then why did the plan call for hidden cameras at the scene? And what would make him think that she would ever grant such consent to be filmed on his boat? And can anyone even tell me what he means by suggesting that the faux seduction would not have occurred “unless she wanted” it? What an arrogant and disgusting remark.

He goes on to assert that he was repulsed by parts of the plan and had no intention of going through with it. He offers as proof of this the fact that none of the things that were described in the script actually took place. Of course, the reason they didn’t take place is because his plan was foiled in advance by an accomplice with integrity pangs. This would be like the failed shoe bomber insisting that he never intended to blow up the plane by saying, “See? The plane isn’t blown up.”

To offer as a defense his assertion, after the plot fell apart, that he didn’t really plan to do it, is laughably absurd. He still needs to explain why his accomplice, Izzy Santa, was in the house, right where the script called for her to be, and he was still on the boat, right where the script called for him to be, and right where Santa was supposed to direct Boudreau. The plot was obviously in effect when Santa decided to pull the plug and O’Keefe cannot credibly claim otherwise.

The fact that it took O’Keefe five days to come up with an excuse this lame tells us a lot about what an ignorant slob he is. And if any media outlet gives this twerp a passing mention for whatever BS he produces in the future they should lose their license to broadcast.

What You Missed At The Beverly Hills Tea Party

Posted by on September 27, 2010 at 10:37 am. 24 Comments :

In lieu of the next 1,000 words…


The much ballyhooed Beverly Hills Tea Party took place yesterday and exceeded all expectations – for lameness. It was the epitome of a Beverly Hills Flop. The turnout was a paltry couple of hundred in a city of four million. And, not surprisingly, it was almost exclusively white.

Just to underscore the significance of that, the population of Los Angeles, which surrounds the tiny patch of real estate that makes up Beverly Hills, is only 49% Caucasian. It would be nearly impossible to snap a photo at random anywhere in L.A. County without capturing a fair representation of people of color. Only at a Tea Party could this homogeneity be accomplished. [Note to Tea Partiers: Relax, that’s not a gay reference. Look it up]

What they hope to achieve by staging an anti-tax rally in the heart of one of the most affluent communities in the country is difficult to surmise. The denizens of Beverly Hills are the prime benefactors of Republican policies that favor the rich and well-connected. And since those are the same people who bankroll the Tea Party you can’t help but notice a certain conflict of interest. The sad part is that the Tea Partiers have fallen for this crusade on behalf of the enfranchised insiders and truly believe that these elitist millionaires are fighting for the interests of working and middle class citizens.

The festivities were led by ancient pop crooner Pat Boone. And it just got better from there. The speakers roster included the terminally choleric Andrew Breitbart, the neo-fascist David Horowitz, and internationally renowned political analyst Victoria Jackson, who sang her big Tea Party hit “There’s a Communist Living in the White House.” That’s just a representative sample of the reality-based insight emanating from the 90291 stage.

And what Tea Party would be complete without Fox News pumping up the propaganda volume? William La Jeunesse covered the event for Fox like a giddy high school newspaper correspondent at a Justin Bieber concert. After a perfunctory acknowledgment that L.A. is predominately liberal, as are many actors, directors, etc., he says that behind every one of those celebrities are numerous grips, electricians, and production people, who he implies would sympathize with the Tea Baggers. Had he spent more time in Hollywood he would know that those people are mostly union workers who support health care reform, Wall Street regulation, taxing the rich, and other Democratic initiatives that form the basis of the Tea Party’s grievances.

To be sure, there are celebrity types who embrace conservative causes, including those held by the Tea Party. They include inspiring contemporary artists like Chuck Norris, Jon Voight, and Ted Nugent. But if they think that their little soiree in the park adjacent to Rodeo Drive is an indication of their widespread acceptance, they are even more delusional than was previously believed.

The Breitbart Saga Whines On (And On)

Posted by on August 1, 2010 at 10:28 am. 16 Comments :

Poor Breitbart
Cowardly Andrew BreitbartThe chronically choleric Andrew Breitbart now sees himself as the aggrieved party in the Shirley Sherrod affair that he instigated. This pathetic attempt to curry sympathy is uncharacteristic of Breitbart who ordinarily blusters his way through criticism and fiercely attacks his critics. Why the change in behavior? Could he be worried about Sherrod’s forthcoming lawsuit? This is what he told Newsweek:

Newsweek: Can you understand how this has been difficult for her to get caught up in that?
Breitbart: As difficult as it probably was for her, it’s been difficult for me as well, especially to hear her hurl an accusation of racism at me, when my motivation is absolutely pure and is driven by a desire for this country to move beyond its horrid racist past.

Was his motivation “absolutely pure” when he posted a deceptively edited video and portrayed Sherrod as a racist? Breitbart also admitted to Newsweek that the video took Sherrod out of context, and given two separate opportunities to apologize, Breitbart declined and made excuses instead. That didn’t stop him from expressing his desire to meet with Sherrod in private. If she takes him up on that she had better go wired for sound and video. I bet she could get some juicy clips.

The Wall Street Jackal
It’s interesting that Sherrod’s announcement the she intends to sue Breitbart has not been reported as a news item on Fox News, so far as I have been able to determine (if someone has evidence of such a report, please pass it along). But what Fox may be trying to sweep under the rug, the Wall Street Journal has taken on in the form of a defensive editorial by the editor of their online op-ed pages, James Taranto.

Taranto begins by surmising that Sherrod’s lawsuit would probably fail. His reasoning centered on his assertion that she was a public official and involved claims about the performance of her public duties. Sherrod was indeed an employee of the Department of Agriculture. That may make her a public official of sorts, but she was clearly not a public figure. By Taranto’s logic anyone working for the Post Office would be exempt from protection against defamation. Furthermore, Taranto was wrong in stating the the incident involved claims about the performance of her public duties. There was nothing of the sort in Sherrod’s speech before the NAACP. She was relating events that occurred 24 years earlier, before her employment with the USDA.

Finally, Taranto implied that it would be difficult for Sherrod to prove malicious intent on Breitbart’s part. It seems to me that Breitbart’s malice is fairly evident. By his own account, he had the video for months but never attempted to ascertain its validity or acquire an unedited version before posting it. Plus, he confessed to Newsweek that he knew it was out of context. Add to that his lack of remorse and his defiance in the face of evidence that his actions were defamatory, and you have a pretty good case for malice.

Taranto found it strange that Sherrod “issued this threat” of litigation before the National Association of Black Journalists. But Sherrod did not issue a threat. She answered a question. Taranto continued to be confused by the applause Sherrod received when she indicated her intention to sue Breitbart. This spurred Taranto to ask…

What kind of journalist would applaud the threat of a defamation lawsuit?

How about a journalist who takes pride in his work and is offended by pseudo-journalists who tarnish the profession? Taranto went on to make this absurd claim:

Journalists have an institutional interest in maximizing the scope of First Amendment protections, and that means keeping it as hard as possible for plaintiffs to sue for defamation.

I have no idea where he came up with that bit of lunacy. Reputable journalists who refrain from defaming people have no problem with defamation suits. It is part of the process of keeping them honest. Taranto’s argument would have gun owners opposed to laws against murder. But just as most gun owners support laws against murder, most journalists support laws against defamation.

Steele Interrupted
A scheduled fundraising event by Michael Steele’s Republican National Committee that was to feature Breibart has been “postponed.” The event was to be held at the swanky Beverly-Wilshire Hotel in Beverly Hills in just two weeks. This last-minute cancellation is curious considering the complex logistics in putting together a high-profile affair like this. It may or may not have had anything to do with Breitbart’s participation and the embarrassment that may entail, but when you also know that Steele backed out of an appearance before the same convention of black journalists that Sherrod attended, it does raise suspicions.

Uni-Tea: More Like Whi-Tea
Breitbart was a featured speaker at the Uni-Tea rally in Philly yesterday. The event was designed to promote the racial and ethnic diversity within of Tea Party. They did manage to assemble a pretty diverse roster of speakers, but reports from the field say that the crowd, which was far smaller than expected, contained few people of color. Thus, Breitbart spent twenty minutes assuring the predominately white Tea Baggers that they weren’t racists. I’m sure they feel better now.

Coming Attractions
Look for Breitbart’s highly anticipated appearance at the National Tea Party Unity Convention in Las Vegas in October. This event was originally scheduled for mid July, but was postponed due to lameness. Also appearing will be Sharron Angle, Lou Dobbs and Joseph Farah of WorldNetDaily. This lineup up just screams unity.

Following that, Breitbart is amongst the seafarers embarking on a three-hour eight day post-election cruise sponsored by the National Review. If you ever dreamed of being shipmates with Breitbart, as well as Karl Rove, Phyllis Schlafly, Jonah Goldberg, Tony Blankley, Scott Rasmussen, Thurston Howell III, and more, then you probably awoke mopping up sweat. By the way, isn’t Rasmussen supposed to be a non-partisan pollster?

FYI: Here is a composite view of the National Review Cruise’s itinerary and the path of the Gulf oil spill:

Looks like they’re taking the scenic route.

Shirley Sherrod To Sue Cowardly Andrew Breitbart

Posted by on July 29, 2010 at 4:43 pm. 13 Comments :

Cowardly Andrew BreitbartShirley Sherrod spoke today at a convention for the National Association of Black Journalists. Andrew Breitbart was also invited to speak. He initially accepted the invitation but later rescinded his acceptance. Perhaps he chickened out after he heard that Sherrod would be there.

Breitbart has good reason to be afraid. During her remarks Sherrod noted that she would “definitely” sue Breitbart for posting a grossly deceptive video that implied that Sherrod was a racist. She added that “He had to know that he was targeting me.” She further noted that Breitbart has not apologized and that, at this point, she’s not interested. She is clearly a women who knows her own mind and knows racism when she sees it:

“I saw it in what they did, in what Fox did and in what Breitbart did. I knew it was racism when it happened to me, and no one had to tell me that.”

It’s interesting that Bill O’Reilly saw fit to apologize to Sherrod. Fox News Sr. VP Michael Clemente even acknowledged a “breakdown” within his news operation. But Breitbart said that he has nothing for which to apologize. And Breitbart crony Brent Bozell of the uber-conservative Media Research Center said that Sherrod should apologize to Breitbart and Fox. These people are seriously ill.

Contrast that with the comments by President Obama today in a speech before the National Urban League (which was carried live by CNN and MSNBC, but not by Fox News):

“Now, last week, I had the chance to talk to Shirley Sherrod, an exemplary woman whose experiences mark both the challenges we have faced and the progress that we’ve made. She deserves better than what happened last week when a bogus controversy based on selective and deceiving excerpts of a speech led her led to her forced resignation.

Now, many are to blame for the reaction and overreaction that followed these comments, including my own administration. And what I said to Shirley was that the full story she was trying to tell, a story about overcoming our own biases and recognizing ourselves in folks who, on the surface, seem different, is exactly the kind of story we need to hear in America.”

Why is the right so incapable of exhibiting the slightest bit of decency, humility, or honor? Sherrod was clearly defamed and she deserves her day in court. In fact, it wouldn’t be so bad if the case was expanded to a class action against Breitbart and Fox News with the addition of Van Jones and ACORN as complainants. They were every bit as much victims of Breitbart and Fox. And if Sherrod creates a legal defense fund I will be happy to donate and to promote it.