Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily helped promote the presidential campaign of Joseph Farah's friend, Herman Cain. But when allegations of sexual improprieties kept popping up, Farah didn't want to talk about it. Read more >>
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
NEW ARTICLE: Anatomy Of A Cain-Gasm
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily helped promote the presidential campaign of Joseph Farah's friend, Herman Cain. But when allegations of sexual improprieties kept popping up, Farah didn't want to talk about it. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:17 AM EST
Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Even More Trump-Fluffing Doesn't Keep Trump from Quitting Newsmax Debate
Topic: Newsmax Perhaps Newsmax should have seen this coming. Newsmax began the day the way it has the past few days -- by refusing to tell its readers about Donald Trump's qualms about the GOP presidential debate he was planning to host with Newsmax given that only two candidates indicated any interest in taking part. Indeed, things kicked with yet another bit of Trump-fluffing: an article by Margaret Menge and John Bachman on an "exclusive interview" with Trump at yet another signing appearance for his new book -- the second such article Newsmax has done in the past three days. A couple hours after that fawning article was posted, however, Trump announced he was withdrawing as debate moderator. Newsmax's article on Trump's withdrawal features an open-ended comment from Newsmax editorial director Steve Coz:
Of course, Trump had said last Friday that he wanted to keep open the option of running for president -- Newsmax just hadn't bothered to mention that to its readers until now. Coz was careful not to say whether the debate would go foward without Trump as figurehead, though Trump himself was less reticient about speculating. Trump said on Fox News that he didn't think it would go forward without him, adding, "They really wanted me to do it." This would be the second time this year that Newsmax has gotten burned by Trump. Ronald Kessler's relentless puffery of Trump's presidential ambitions culminated in a series of rewritten articles trying to nail down whether Trump would actually announce his candidacy. And even when it became clear that he wouldn't, Kessler still carried a flame for him. Newsmax, theoretically, had fair warning of Trump's mercurial nature. Yet it still decided to work even closer with him to set up this ill-fated debate. Yeah, Newsmax should have seen it coming. Now it has to deal with the fact that its attempts at trying to enhance its prestige has been undermined by spending too much time hanging around Donald Trump.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:48 PM EST
Updated: Tuesday, December 13, 2011 10:23 PM EST
WND Flies Birther Banner Over (Enclosed) Stadium
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily is very excited to tell you about this:
What WND conveniently fails to mention: Cowboys Stadium is enclosed -- it has a retractable roof, but it was closed during the game, as the accompanying video shows. Therefore, nobody in the stands saw the banner. Also, note the mostly empty parking lots in the video, as well as the abundance of daylight. This tells us that WND's banner was flown well before the game started, which at 7:20 pm CT was well after dark. So it didn't even reach many football fans outside the stadium. In other words, WND wasted thousands of dollars on a stunt that almost nobody saw. Brilliant!
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:59 PM EST
NewsBusters Touts Anti-Obama Exaggerator
Topic: NewsBusters A Dec. 12 NewsBusters "open thread" post credited to "NB Staff," with the headline "Barack Obama's College Roommate Claims Obama Was 'Ardent' 'Marxist-Leninist'," reads:
NewsBusters is greatly overstating Drew's relationship with Obama. As the Oh, For Goodness Sake blog points out, Drew graduated from Occidental the semester before Obama enrolled, so he was not a "peer" of Obama's. And far from being Obama's "college roommate" as the NewsBusters headline, Drew met Obama only twice at social occasions while coming back to Occidental to visit other friends. (NewsBusters appears to have misread the source of this piece, at the far-right John Birch Society website The New American, which refers to Drew only as Obama's "college mate," which is also not true.) How could Drew possibly know so much about Obama having only met him twice, at a time when there was no reason to think he would have been destined for the presidency? Perhaps NewsBusters can invent a plausible response.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:34 AM EST
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Supersize WorldNetDaily Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Mychal Massie, Nov. 21 WorldNetDaily column
-- Robert Ringer, Nov. 23 WorldNetDaily column
-- Erik Rush, Nov. 23 WorldNetDaily column
-- Larry Klayman, Nov. 25 WorldNetDailiy column
-- Erik Rush, Nov. 30 WorldNetDaily column
-- Robert Ringer, Dec. 7 WorldNetDaily column
-- Erik Rush, Dec. 7 WorldNetDaily column
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:22 AM EST
Monday, December 12, 2011
Trumpmax -- Er, Newsmax Tries to Prop Up Debate
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax has apparently decided that there is no such thing as bad news about its planned Dec. 27 Donald Trump-hosted GOP presidential debate. An article published late on Sunday night declares: "Newsmax Media and ION Television are moving forward with The Newsmax ION Television 2012 Presidential Debate moderated by Donald Trump, a great American success story." As that bit of Trump-fluffing indicates, the article seems to have been written by Trump's PR team:
Of course, there's no mention of Trump's wavering on whether the debate would go forward with only two candidates taking part. Instead, Newsmax keeps it upbeat by asserting that "The three most influential conservative groups in the country and a growing number of high-powered conservative voices have endorsed the Newsmax ION debate and have urged GOP candidates to attend." Newsmax followed this up with two articles -- one highlighting Bill O'Reilly backpedaling on his claim that the debate would be canceled, and the other touting how Amazon.com has sold out of Trump's new book, a claim that is actually unattributed but seems to be coming from Trump's publisher, since he's the only person quoted in the article. Newsmax seems to have morphed into Trumpmax.
Posted by Terry K.
at 6:16 PM EST
WND Whitewashes Weapons Trafficking To Portray Culprit As Victim
Topic: WorldNetDaily It looks like WorldNetDaily has found its latest dubious poster child it must whitewash for public consumption. Jeff Knox devotes his Dec. 8 column to the case of the "heavy-handed" treatment by authorities of Rick Reese, his wife Terri, and their two sons, Ryin and Remington:
In fact, the Reeses are accused of doing a lot more than sell guns to people they "knew, or should have known" were gun traffickers for Mexican drug gangs. The 30-count indictment against the Reeses cover firearms smuggling and money laundering. Here's how the U.S. Attorney's office explained it:
Not only did Knox understate the charges against the Reeses, he also understated the number of weapons involved and omitted thte thousands of rounds of ammunition that were also sold. Knox then tries to further minimize the Reese case by invoking the Fast and Furious controversy, asking "when are those responsible for dumping 2,000+ guns into the criminal market going to be arrested and held accountable for their contributions to 'the violence that has been devastating Mexico?'" Given WND's checkered history in hiding the unpleasant facts about its favorite victims, it's probably not wise to add to that sorry pile. But Knox seems determined to do that anyway.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:02 AM EST
NewsBusters Tries to Keep 'Death Panels' Myth Alive
Topic: NewsBusters Tom Blumer does his best in a Dec. 9 NewsBusters post to attack outgoing Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) administrator Donald Berwick, asserting that, as "a big fan or the UK's National Health Service," he is "he is on record as a big fan of rationing and the functional equivalent of death panels." Blumer quotes the highly biased anti-abortion website LifeSiteNews in support of his claim. In fact, as Berwick has pointed out, health care rationing is already occuring under the current system, and we don't recall Blumer complaining about that. Berwick has said, "The decision is not whether or not we will ration care -- the decision is whether we will ration with our eyes open. And right now, we are doing it blindly." Further, "death panels" don't exist, as less biased sources have documented.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:03 AM EST
Even WND Thinks Bashing Muppets As Left-Wingers Is Stupid
Topic: Media Research Center You know you've done something crazy when WorldNetDaily declares it's too crazy for them. A Dec. 8 WND article by Bob Unruh features right-wing movie critic Ted Baehr running to the defense of the Muppets from allegations promoted by the Media Research Center's Dan Gainor, along with Fox News' Eric Bolling, that these fuzzy puppets have a secret left-wing agenda:
Unruh goes on to note WND movie critic Drew Zahn also rejecting the commie connection: He added regarding the controversy, "While being alert to the subtle messages of Hollywood is important for parents, I think Dr. Baehr has it right on this one. Yes, the bad guy is named 'Richman,' but is the film inherently hostile to the wealthy? No. Is it the main theme? No. There are plenty of made-for-kids movies out there that would just tickle the class warfare crowd. 'The Muppets' isn't necessarily one of them." Both Baehr and Zahn, by the way, are not shy about bringing the crazy. Baehr thinks "Avatar" is so far-left that Al Gore wrote the script, and Zahn doesn't like the Disney movie "Tangled" because it teaches children to think for themselves. So congratulations, Dan Gainor, for accomplishing the nearly impossible -- you've just done something too crazy for WorldNetDaily.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:03 AM EST
Updated: Monday, December 12, 2011 12:04 AM EST
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Newsmax Still Fluffing Trump As It Hides Precarious State of Debate
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax is doing its best to hide from its readers the fragile state of its Donald Trump-hosted Republican presidential debate. Trump himself has said that the debate may not go forward because only two candidates have said they will take part, but Newsmax is continuing its blackout on that news. Newsmax did, however, find the space for more Trump-fluffing. An unbylined Dec. 10 article fawningly described a signing Trump did for his new book in Florida:
Not only did the article not mention the endangered status of the Newsmax-Trump debate, it didn't mention the debate at all. Instead, we were told that Trump's book "spells out an agenda for making America number one again" and were provided video of the book signing in a warehouse store. A Dec. 11 article, meanwhile, rehashed a British newspaper article on Trump, in which he claimed that "millions of Americans listen to me and respect me." This article actually hedges a bit on the debate, stating that Trump "also is slated to moderate The Newsmax ION Television 2012 Presidential Debate Dec. 27 in Des Moines, Iowa." That's a less-than-definitive assertion. UPDATE: Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy has a new column in which he asserts that Newt Gingrich has "always been a conservative." Coincidentially, Gingrich is one of the two candidates who said he would take part in the debate. Remember, Newsmax disappeared a Ronald Kessler column praising Mitt Romney, who is not participating.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:58 PM EST
Updated: Monday, December 19, 2011 9:35 PM EST
WND: Obama "Wants To Import Homosexuals"
Topic: WorldNetDaily On Dec. 6, President Obama issued a memorandum stating that he was "directing all agencies engaged abroad to ensure that U.S. diplomacy and foreign assistance promote and protect the human rights of LGBT persons," an initiative that includes combating criminalization of LGBT status by foreign governments and enhancing efforts to protect LGBT asylum seekers. The Obama administration has announced it intends to make the United States the global sex cop, with plans to try to intervene in the workings of other nations where homosexuality is not promoted as well as plans to create special provisions for homosexuals and those with other lifestyle choices to gain special admittance to the U.S. Contrary to Unruh's claim that "any 'LGBT' person" will get "special access to the United States," according to the memorandum, it specifically states that "LGBT refugees and asylum seekers have equal access to protection and assistance, particularly in countries of first asylum." Nevertheless, Unruh seems to have established an anti-gay talking point. William J. Murray writes in a Dec. 9 WND column: "In effect President Obama ordered U.S. agencies to import homosexuals from all over the world who are threatened." (A version of this post appears at Media Matters.)
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:37 AM EST
Saturday, December 10, 2011
NewsBusters Unhappy That Gays Are On Their TV
Topic: NewsBusters NewsBusters just hates it when gays are allowed to appear on TV. Media Research Center employee Matt Hadro -- who is apparently in charge of the gays-on-TV beat, judging by his history -- devotes a Dec. 9 NewsBusters post to complaining that CNN gave "quality airtime" to "the director of a film on the coming-out story of a lesbian teenage girl." Even worse for Hadro, CNN's Frederika Whitfield "asked no tough questions" of the director "and instead teed her up to explain what the film is trying to accomplish." Yeah, NewsBusters never conducts such softball interviews.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:39 PM EST
WND's Klein Recycles Bogus Attack on ProPublica
Topic: WorldNetDaily Aaron Klein cranks out another guilt-by-association smear job with a Dec. 6 WorldNetDaily article attacking NBC for entering into a content-sharing agreement with ProPublica. Klein puts "journalism" in scare quotes in describing what ProPublica does, and repeats a hit job on the organization by the right-wing (but not identified by Klein as such) Capital Research Center, which dismissed ProPublica as "churn[ing] out little more than left-wing hit pieces about Sarah Palin and blames the U.S. government for giving out too little foreign aid." But as we detailed when WND first touted this attack on ProPublica, the CRC never accuses ProPublica of getting its facts wrong, only of not uncritically repeating right-wing talking points. Klein omitted that the CRC actually praised ProPublica when it did reporting that more closely aligned with its agenda: "ProPublica reporters should receive high praise for their stories on Obama’s stimulus package and banking bailouts, on recent business and financial scandals, and on other issues related to open records and open government." But that would have undermined Klein's attempt to brand ProPublica and NBC as hopelessly liberal. It's rather amusing to see Klein put "journalism" in scare quotes in describing ProPublica. After all, the biased pseudo-journalism he accuses ProPublica of engaging in -- of which he provides exactly zero examples to back up his assertions -- is exactly what Klein himself spews out every day.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:18 AM EST
Friday, December 9, 2011
NewsBusters Unhappy That Reality Has Liberal Bias
Topic: NewsBusters Mark Finkelstein complains in a Dec. 8 NewsBusters post:
All of those stories, of course, are legitimate news, whether Finkelstein wants to admit it or not. So, once again, NewsBusters has proven correct Stephen Colbert's declaration that reality has a well-known liberal bias.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:18 PM EST
Newsmax Ignores Reality On Trump Debate's Impending Fate
Topic: Newsmax Friday morning, Donald Trump appeared on Don Imus' radio show to say that the Republican presidential debate he is co-sponsoring with Newsmax may not go forward because only two candidates have committed to appearing at it while at least three candidates, including Mitt Romney, have declined. Newsmax apparently missed that interview, because an article published about four hours later optimistically asserts, "Newsmax and Trump have said they will forge ahead with the debate." No direct quote to that effect from either Trump or Newsmax is included in the article, though it does include a list of major conservative groups and leaders" who have "endorsed the debate vocally." In the Imus interview, Trump also contradicted an earlier assertion by Newsmax that he wasn't running for president, saying that "They really want me to drop my status as a potential person to run as an independent, and, honestly, I don't think I'm going to do that. I'm not going to drop it."Newsmax has previously insisted that Trump said he would not run for president, but as we pointed out, that's not what he said then, either.
Posted by Terry K.
at 4:57 PM EST
Updated: Friday, December 9, 2011 5:10 PM EST
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