The He-Man Clinton-Haters Club Packs It In Topic: Newsmax
The Associated Press reports that the Counter Clinton Library, championed by the likes of NewsMax and John LeBoutillier as "the headquarters of the Stop Hillary Now campaign," has folded:
"I'm giving up," said Houston businessman Richard Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
[...]
He said the Counter Clinton Library's Web site would be shut down soon. In addition to railing against the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the site touts what may have been the failed organization's biggest moment - a segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in which a fake news reporter makes fun of the group's very mission.
[...]
In a separate e-mail sent Wednesday, Erickson informed [former congressman Bob] Barr that he couldn't raise enough money to continue.
"Nearly every dime raised has gone to professional fundraisers and lawyers," Erickson wrote to Barr. "I cannot continue, in good conscience, to ask well-meaning people to donate to what they believe is a good cause, when the money will most likely be consumed in administrative and legal expenses."
Does this mean Scaife wouldn't bail 'em out?
Don't expect a NewsMax article on this until LeBoutiller figures out how to give it a positive spin.
Schlussel Slithers Back Topic: WorldNetDaily
ConWebWatch detailed the bizarre, contradictory rhetoric of Ann Coulter wannabe Debbie Schlussel back in 2001, when she was a WorldNetDaily columnist. Whether it was her taste in movies or insisting that a phone call from a congressman constituted harassment or her sports-as-war fetish, Schlussel could be counted on for, um, unusual takes on things. Then, WND dropped her, and she slid below the radar.
Well, Schlussel is apparently trying to make a comeback, overheated rhetoric and all. An Aug. 11 article at David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com claims that "Peter Jennings did more for the cause of Islamic terrorism than any media figure today." She drops the line "I won't dance on Jennings' grave" despite the fact that that is exactly what she's doing.
Horowitz, you'll recall, had an equally classy reaction to Jennings' death, so FrontPageMag is the perfect home for Schlussel's screed.
The Wall, Part 2 Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has decided to join NewsMax in lying about Jamie Gorelick.
An Aug. 11 article quote the conservative blog Captain's Quarters as an authoritative source in claiming that "It was Gorelick who, as deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department, established the wall of silence between intel and law enforcement."
Needless to say, there's no mention of the facts that Gorelick did not create the "wall," or that the Bush Justice Department renewed it shortly before 9/11.
She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Serious Topic: CNSNews.com
Most unintentionally funny commentary of the day: an Aug. 11 CNSNews.com piece by Jill S. Farrell, "a conservative communications and media relations professional," fretting that conservatives' constant attacks on Hillary Clinton are increasing her name recognition.
NewsMax Pirro Watch Topic: Newsmax
What we're watching for tonight: When it issues an original report on Jeanine Pirro's official announcement of her campaign for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, will NewsMax make note of Pirro's 32-second dead spot when she lost a page of her speech?
UPDATE: We have our answer. It's buried toward the end of an article by Jim Meyers and dismissed as a "minor gaffe" being turned into a "big deal" by "New York's notoriously liberal press." Meyers spends the rest of the article trying to portray any media mention of the legal and sexual indiscretions of Pirro's husband as a "full-scale assault" by said liberal press.
Violent Extremists Topic: CNSNews.com
Susan Jones relies on the usual CNSNews.com labeling bias in an Aug. 10 article on NARAL Pro-Choice America's ad on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts -- "pro-life demonstrators" vs. "pro-abortion group" and "abortion advocate."
Jones also engages in a tortured defense of a brief Roberts filed in a case involving abortion protesters:
Moreover, Roberts' 1991 court brief did not support violent extremists; in that brief, Roberts argued against the use of an 1871 federal law to prosecute pro-life demonstrators. Those demonstrators included a man, Michael Bray, who previously (in 1985) had been convicted of conspiracy in connection with abortion clinic bombings.
So even though the defendants whose position Roberts supported in his brief were violent extremists, he was not actually supporting violent extremists. Got that?
Another Brick in NewsMax's Wall Topic: Newsmax
As it did with Winter Soldier, NewsMax can't stop lying about Jamie Gorelick.
An Aug. 9 article blames Gorelick, former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration who NewsMax claims "was reportedly installed in her post at the insistence of then-first lady Hillary Clinton," for allegations that federal investigators did not act upon intelligence that had identified in 2000 four men who were eventually among the 19 hijackers who perpetrated 9/11, because she allegedly implemented a "wall" that prevented sharing of information between intelligence officials and criminal investigators.
In fact, as ConWebWatch has noted, Gorelick did not create that wall; it was created in 1978. And while NewsMax quotes former attorney general John Ashcroft claiming that Gorelick "built that wall" (based on a memo that Ashcroft had conveniently declassified in time for his testimony before the 9/11 Commission), NewsMax fails to note that Ashcroft's own deputy reaffirmed the guidelines Gorelick advocated a few months before 9/11.
More Michael Schiavo-Bashing Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com just can't stop smearing Michael Schiavo.
An Aug. 10 article by Jeff Johnson detailed that Schiavo received a group's "Distinguished Guardian of the Year" award, then rounded up not one, not two, but three critics to bash Schiavo and hurl accusations that Schiavo was not given an opportunity to respond to.
Small favors, though: Johnson somehow managed to avoid calling Michael's now-deceased wife "Terri Schindler-Schiavo," the name Terri's parents insisted on and which CNS used throughout most of the Terri Schiavo case.
Getting It Wrong About Winter Soldier (Again) Topic: Newsmax
A documentary about the Winter Soldier investigation will receive some screenings across the country -- which provides a new opportunity for NewsMax to lie about it.
An Aug. 10 article by Dave Eberhart claims that Vietnam veterans "believe the film was thoroughly discredited" and quotes anti-Kerry activist B.G. Burkett as saying, "It's pretty much settled now that much of the so-called atrocities was the product of outright fabrications and some even offered by persons with criminal records." Eberhart also calls the film "a campy favorite on the nation's college campuses" but doesn't explain how people confessing to war atrocities could be considered "campy." Another Aug. 10 article claims that the film "has been discredited by many vets."
But as ConWebWatch has previously noted, the Winter Soldier investigation has never been seriously discredited. Burkett's claims to that effect rely on a Navy report (which nobody can seem to find now) detailed by author Gunther Lewy, who now claims that he does not recall if he actually saw a copy of the report or was briefed on its contents.
Vox Does It Again Topic: WorldNetDaily Amanda at Pandagon has performed a fine takedown of WorldNetDaily columnist Vox Day's latest weirdly anti-women's rights column.
When last we saw Mr. Day, he was calling Hillary Clinton a Nazi.
Then and Now Topic: Media Research Center
"The MRC's archive is packed with documentation of liberal bias from Peter Jennings, who was frequently cited in CyberAlert ..."
"The Media Research Center offers its condolences to the family, friends, and colleagues of Peter Jennings upon learning of his passing. His was as full a career as any network journalist could hope to have in an industry that is known for constant turnover. Mr. Jennings’ journalistic accomplishments and longevity at the height of his profession will always command honor and respect."
It took a day, but the MRC ultimately showed some class regarding Peter Jennings, which is more than we can say for David Horowitz.
Even as Baker used his Aug. 8 CyberAlert to remind readers how allegedly biased Jennings was, he took a revisionist tack on a statement Jennings made in 2002, suggesting that Jennings' claim that he was raised "with anti-Americanism in my blood, or in my mother's milk at least" was "a bit of humor."
But if you go back to Baker's original CyberAlert item on it, there's no evidence he found humor in Jennings' remarks; in fact, he saw it as a confirmation of Jennings' purported liberalness. After quoting Jennings later saying that "I sometimes forget I'm not American because I've got America in my soul now," Baker added: "Politically liberal America, that is."
Bozell Lies About Air America Topic: Media Research Center
If the Media Research Center is going to be running around accusing people of not reporting a story, it should be a little more accurate about what's not being reported.
An Aug. 9 statement by MRC chief Brent Bozell claims that there is a "media blackout" on financial irregularities at a New York City Boys & Girls Club because of allegedly loaning money to liberal radio network Air America. Bozell describes Evan Cohen, the figure named in the club's irregularities, as "the chairman of Air America."
NewsMax's Double Standard on Scandals Topic: Newsmax
We learn from an Aug. 9 NewsMax article that the fact that Jeanine Pirro's husband was convicted of tax fraud and fathered an out-of-wedlock child is "old news" and "dirty laundry."
Despite this sudden turnabout on the propriety of reporting on the personal scandals of a public figure, don't expect NewsMax to repudiate its reporting of every scandalous thing it could find about the Clintons, regardless of its veracity. Heck, it won't even admit that Ed Klein's anti-Hillary book has factual errors in it.
New Article: Accuracy in Spin Topic: Accuracy in Media
The only accuracy that Accuracy in Media seems to care about these days is accurately repeating conservative talking points. Read more.
NewsMax's New Favorite Politician Topic: Newsmax
To nobody's surprise, NewsMax is heavilypromoting Jeanine Pirro's planned candidacy for Hillary Clinton's New York Senate seat -- heck, it was doing that back in June.
What do you think the chances are that NewsMax will tell its readers about Pirro's extremely well-paid (by taxpayer money) driver-slash-bodyguard (even as she was laying off attorneys from her DA office due to budget cuts)? We're thinking somewhere on the slim-to-none side of the spectrum.
