Is WND Trying To Influence (Or Buy) Arpaio's Birther Investigation? Topic: WorldNetDaily
The way WorldNetDaily in general -- and Jerome Corsi in particular -- have been sucking up to Arizona sheriff Joe Arpaio lately, you'd think that they were trying to influence the birther investigation being conducted by one of Arpaio's posses ... or maybe they know what the outcome will be.
Corsi has been particularly interested in Arpaio -- to the point where one must wonder if he's trying to make sure the posse investigation reflects his birther conspiracies. After all, we know that Corsi "spent 18 hours over a two-day period in Arizona briefing the Cold Case Posse on a wide range of evidence regarding Obama’s eligibility," but we have no idea whether the posse ever talked to anyone who wasn't a rabid birther. Since then, though, Corsi has been fawning over Arpaio to the point that one just wonder if he's trying to make sure the latter doesn't happen, thus skewing the posse investigation toward WND's predetermined conclusions.
On Dec. 8, Corsi played up the "death threats" Arpaio has supposedly received regarding the investigation -- while providing zero evidence of them. On Dec. 15, Corsi defended Arpaio's office against allegations of misconduct as well as gave space for Arpaio to defend himself.
When an effort began to remove the sheriff from office, Corsi made sure to discredit the effort and smear the person leading the campaign. On Jan. 3, Corsi asserted that the leader of the effort, Randy Parraz, is a "transplanted radical attorney-activist " who "has made his career applying Saul Alinsky-style community organizer tactics for radical leftist movements in the U.S. and Canada." The next day, Corsi claimed that Parraz "staged a poorly attended protest Wednesday morning at the sheriff’s downtown Phoenix office." On Jan. 9, Corsi claimed that "A protest against Arizona’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio and Gov. Jan Brewer organized by transplanted attorney-activist Randy Parraz yielded exactly one protestor."
Meanwhile, WND appears to be going the more direct bribery route by raising money to help fund the posse investigation. WND's online store offers a page where you can donate to "fund independent investigations of Obama's eligibility," adding: "A portion of all contributions will go to support WND’s efforts, with another portion going to Sheriff Joe Arpaio’s Cold Case Posse, set to issue its report in February 2012." WND has sent out at least three email solicitiations promoting this fund since the beginning of the year.
Of course, WND investigations of Obama's eligibility are politically motivated and anything but "independent," and there's little evidence that the Arpaio investigation has any independence either, given WND's enthusiasm for funding it. WND, notoriously secret about money, also provides no details on exactly what the funding split will be.
WND's efforts to suck up to Arpaio and fund his birther investigation smacks of outright influence of a public official. Perhaps when Arpaio is done investigating Obama's eligibility, it can investigate WND for attempted bribery.
UPDATE: A Dec. 26 column by Joseph Farah begs readers to donate to the fund, declaring it "probably America’s last chance to salvage the integrity of the Constitution for all time."Farah doesn't mention that WND is skimming off an unknown percentage of each donation for its own purposes.
AIM's Kincaid Repeats Bogus Attack Against Panetta Topic: Accuracy in Media
Cliff Kincaid just can't stop smearing Leon Panetta.
In a Jan. 11 Accuracy in Media column, Kincaid rants once again about "Panetta’s anti-defense views and his personal ties to radical left-wing forces and Communist Party member Hugh DeLacy." Except that's not true at all.
As Media Matters detailed (and as we noted the last time Kincaid did this), Panetta had no "personal ties" to DeLacy -- it was nothing more than correspondence between a constituent and his congressman, which is what Panetta was at the time.
We've previouslyhighlighted Ellis Washington's ridiculous "dialectics" in which he attempts to portray himself as Socrates by putting his right-wing opinions in the mouth of the great philosopher, opinions the real Socrates would never have said.
Washington is at it again in his Jan. 13 WorldNetDaily column. This time, Washington -- er, Socrates is in smackdown mode, trotting out authors he doesn't like, distorting their work in order to create a straw man for Washington to knock down.
For instance, here's the "dialectic" between "Socrates" and "Nietsche":
Nietzsche: It was I who began an atheistic revolution in my 1882 book “The Gay Science,” by boldly professing that “God is dead.” I refused to repent but elevated my narcissistic blasphemy as the fundamental theme of my greatest work, “Beyond Good and Evil” (1886). In that opus I argued that men are driven by an amoral “Will to Power” and that inevitably superior men will triumph over Christianity, over religiously inspired moral rules, which I judged as “slave morality” and as artificial as every other moral rule. Therefore, it is the primary concern of the Ubermenchen (Supermen) to force, to dictate all laws necessary to secure their domination of the world over the inferior nations and races in their midst.
Socrates: Nietzsche, your brilliant but insanely evil ideas would served as the blueprint a generation later for the apotheosis of Adolf Hitler and the Nazis who worshipped your philosophy and fanatically implemented your ideas on a genocidal scale, causing World War II, the Holocaust and the deaths of tens of millions of innocent people.
Gee, we didn't know that "Socrates" knew so much about Nietsche or the Nazis -- we thought it would be a little difficult given that he died thousands of years earlier.
And here's "Socrates" and "Karl Marx":
Karl Marx: I wrote “Das Kapital” in 1867. Engels, my benefactor, posthumously published volumes II (1885) and III (1894) from notes I left behind. “Das Kapital” forces the round peg of capitalism into the square hole of my atheistic, materialistic theory of history. To me capitalism was the most contemptible word in the human language because I believed that all capitalists inevitably and amorally exploit labor by paying the cheapest possible wages to the working class to reap the highest possible profits for themselves.
Socrates: When conservative Newt Gingrich can spend several millions of dollars on ads in South Carolina and Florida against “moderate” Mitt Romney for his role as head of Bain Capital by shamelessly speaking against capitalism as a demagogue, it is the triumph of Marxist ideas first promulgated in “Das Kapital.”
Washington's "Socrates" is even so up-to-date on current events that he mindlessly spews right-wing talking points, just like Washington himself:
Socrates: In February 2008, nine months before Election Day, when Barack Obama arrogantly declared, “We are the ones we’ve been waiting for,” in reality, he was proclaiming the triumph of Sartre’s existential philosophy over America’s Christian founding; a diabolical idea rooted in narcissism, Marxism and failed delusions.
Washington concludes: "At our next Symposium we will discuss the remaining five books that have caused the downfall of society and contributed to the damnation of ideas." Of course, deliberate mischaracterization of ideas and bastardizing one of the world's greatest philosophers for the sake of political attacks is far from a "symposium" as one can get -- and it sure as heck has nothing to do with anything the real Socrates did.
MRC Sees Political Motive in Obamas' Anniversary Wishes for 'Today' Show Topic: Media Research Center
How paranoid is the Media Research Center about so-called "liberal bias"? It thinks an innocuous message by President Obama and his wife marking the 60th anniversary of NBC's "Today" show is part of the president's political agenda.
After noting the Obamas' message , Kyle Drennen huffs in a Jan. 13 MRC item: "Given the broadcast's consistent left-wing slant over the years, and love for the Obamas more recently, it's no wonder why the President and First Lady would join the party."
Never mind the fact that any president, Democrat or Republican, would undoubtedly do what Obama did, and no political agenda is betrayed in the message. Here's the message, as transcribed by Drennen:
BARACK OBAMA: Good morning, everyone. And happy 60th anniversary to the Today show.
MICHELLE OBAMA: So many Americans start their day right here watching all of you as they're getting ready for work and sending their kids off to school.
BARACK OBAMA: Over decades and across generations the Today show has become part of American culture. A place where millions tune in to see how their world has changed overnight. That's why we're both so pleased to join all of you in celebrating this remarkable milestone.
MICHELLE OBAMA: And we know you'll have many more years of success. But first, this is Today on NBC.
BARACK OBAMA: I wanted to say that.
MICHELLE OBAMA: Sorry.
Drennen really thinks this is evidence of a left-wing agenda? He needs to get out of the MRC offices more.
WND's Mercer Still Lamenting the End of Apartheid Topic: WorldNetDaily
Ilana Mercer comes to the defense of poor Pat Buchanan in her Jan. 12 WorldNetDaily column, touting how Buchanan's view of face and multiculturalism dovetails with her own.
Then, as she is wont to do, Mercer once again laments the death of apartheid in her native South Africa:
America, as Mr. Buchanan observes, was eaten away by the acid of the 1960s revolution, “with its repudiation of Christian morality and embrace of secularism and egalitarian ideology.”
South Africa was relatively unaffected by that revolution. It was a staunchly traditional Christian country. Stores closed on Sundays. Television came late to the place but so did pornography and the gay-rights movement. In South Africa, the influence of Christianity receded after the 1994 democratic transition.
Whereas “Americans are no longer a people,” by contrast, the Afrikaners, as illustrated in “Into the Cannibal’s Pot,” still linger as a people, clinging to what Barack Obama would indubitably deride as their Bibles, their guns and their bigotries.
Dubbed the white tribe of Africa, this organic nation has, however, ceased to exist as a nation-state, dissolved by democratic decree. The sundering of state sovereignty has, in turn, exposed Afrikaners to ethnic cleansing, a familiar feature of democracy a la Africa.
Despite the Afrikaner’s superior military prowess, they simply “surrendered without defeat.” Ferocious though it was, the South African Defense Force (SADF) ceded to the African National Congress and its representatives.
“You, me and our men can take this country in an afternoon,” said former chief of the SADF Gen. Contand Viljoen, famously, to the reigning chief, Gen. George Meiring. He uttered this comment as President de Klerk prepared to cave into ANC demands, forgoing all checks and balances for South Africa’s Boer, British and Zulu minorities. Yet, the very same Afrikaner people, in the same spirit, went on to peacefully dismantle the six nuclear devices they had built at Pelindaba, west of the capital, Pretoria.
Why did the mighty SADF capitulate to Mandela’s ragtag ANC? Why did the tough descendants of the trek Boers, who have 350 years of history on the continent of Africa – as long as their American cousins have been in North America – give up their birthright for a mess of pottage?
Since it all makes so little sense, my conclusions are more philosophical than factual.
No mention, of course, of the inherent unfairness and virulent racism of the apartheid system the "mighty SADF" was defending.
Noel Sheppard Touts Sununu Attack, Ignores That He's A Romney Surrogate Topic: NewsBusters
In a Jan. 11 NewsBusters post, Noel Sheppard touts how John Sununu "scolded the media for falling in love with Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman," dismissing Huntsman as a "non-candidate."
Sheppard forgot to mention that Sununu has a motive for trashing Huntsman -- he's a supporter of one of Huntsman's rivals, Mitt Romney. Politico points out that Sununu "has been among Mitt Romney's most outspoken surrogates in recent weeks."
Leave to Sheppard to pretend that a politically motivated attack is really a cogent analysis of the media.
Aaron Klein Anonymous Source Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
Aaron Klein cranks out another anonymously sourced special with a Jan. 11 WorldNetDaily article that cites only "a senior PA official" who was "speaking on condition his name be withheld" to claim that "The Obama administration asked the Palestinian Authority not to make any major demands until after the presidential election in November."
Given that Klein's boss, Joseph Farah, believes there is no such thing as a Palestinian people -- something it can be assumed Klein himself believes as well -- it's unlikely that Klein has any genuinely reliable source inside the Palestinian Authority.
Besides, Farah believes that anonymously sourced claims are "usually quotes made up out of whole cloth to help make the story read better." Klein offers no reason why that reasoning should not be applied to his reporting.
Newsmax's Kessler Returns to Trump-Fluffing Topic: Newsmax
Ronald Kessler may have resigned himself to shilling for Mitt Romney in this presidential race (for now, anyway), but that doesn't mean he won't indulge in a little Trump-fluffing on the side -- after all, Kessler helped create the Donald Trump presidential boomlet.
Kessler's Jan. 11 Newsmax column is quite the slice of Trump-fluffing -- amazing given how Trump burned Newsmax by bailing as host of Newsmax' planned Republican presidential debate, which then collapsed after only two candidates would commit to attending. Kessler tells the story -- via Trump's Florida lawyer, Paul Rampell -- of how Trump saved the 140-room Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach by turning it into a private club, which of course, allowed Kessler to revel in his own elbow-rubbing with Trump: "I remember how Trump — a Presbyterian of German descent — imitated the constricted, nasal tones of blue bloods condemning his club when my wife Pam and I were flying on his plane to spend a weekend with him at Mar-a-Lago for research on the book."
Kessler stays in suck-up mode by recounting Trump's largesse to friends and how Mar-a-Lago is worth many times more than the $5 million Trump paid for it, quoting Rampell describing how "Trump’s investment in Mar-a-Lago symbolizes the way he operates."
This comes off as a no-hard-feelings piece from Newsmax, demonstrating that it may still be willing to work with Trump, even after he essentially sabotaged their debate by pulling out.
WND Uses Buchanan Controversy to Sell (And Whitewash) His Book Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily is seizing upon Pat Buchanan's apparent ouster from MSNBC to ... make money.
A Jan. 10 WND article carries the headline "Buchanan's book so explosive MSNBC brass goes bonkers," asserting that "increasingly left-leaning MSNBC eliminated its last conservative." (Michael Steele might beg to differ.) Illustrated for some reason with a screen shot of the Howard Beale character from the film "Network," the article plays up a statement by MSNBC president Phil Griffin that the ideas Buchanan forwared in his book "Suicide of a Superpower" "aren’t really appropriate for national dialogue, much less the dialogue on MSNBC."
WND responds: 'However, apart from MSNBC, in the larger world where 'national dialogue' occurs, Buchanan’s latest book has been hugely popular," followed by examples of "high critical acclaim" for the book. In fact, the blurbs WND quotes aren't about the book itself but for Buchanan in general. How do we know? They were simply copied-and-pasted from Buchanan's website, where they appear under the heading "Praise for Pat Buchanan."
WND then asks: "So, what is 'Suicide of a Superpower' really about, and why would MSNBC find it so offensive as to axe its author and declare its ideas not 'appropriate for national dialogue'? This is followed by promotional boilerplate -- and numerous links to purchase the book at the WND online store.
WND conveniently ignores some of the more odious aspects of Buchanan's beliefs expressed in his book:
Buchanan expresses alarm that, in his view, an Army general believes that "the strength of the U.S. Army stems from the fact that we now have a smaller share of white male soldiers."
Buchanan asserts that American Jews are disappearing because they made a "collective desision" to abort themselves out of existence.
Buchanan complains that the Supreme Court is too diverse, ignoring the fact that all but six of the 112 people to serve on the court have been white males.
Buchanan employed a researcher for his book who was arrested for attacking a woman with a "karate chop" and calling her the n-word.
Additionally, Buchanan's work is frequently praised by white nationalist groups.
WND published another Jan. 10 article portraying Buchanan as being suppressed by MSNBC, complaining about a campaign to get Buchanan removed as an MSNBC commentator. Again, WND failed to delve into the specifics of his actual opinions, and it also contained the copied-and-pasted blurbs from Buchanan's website.
MRC Complains That Conservative Christians Are Labeled As Conservative Christians Topic: Media Research Center
Apparently, when you're writing a story about conservative Christians, you're not supposed to identify them as such.
That's the attitude Clay Waters is taking in a Jan. 9 MRC TimesWatch item, in which he complains that the New York Times went on a "Biased Labeling Eruption" in a story about an upcoming meeting of conservative Christian leaders designed to figure out a way to unite behind a conservative Republican presidential candidate to more effectively counter the allegedly non-conservative Mitt Romney.
Waters did not explain conservative Christians should otherwise be labeled in a story in which the views of conservative Christians are central.
Further, Waters was silent about whether his boss, conservative Christian leader Brent Bozell, will be taking part in that meeting. If so, that's an undisclosed conflict of interest.
Joseph Farah displays his thin skin yet again in a Jan. 10 WorldNetDaily column engaging in one of his favorite sports: taking petty potshots at his critics.
Farah complains about a columnist at the American Muslim website who, among other things, asserted that he wanted "to criminalize being gay," to which Farah responded: "in all the millions of words I have written in my life, no evidence of such a belief has ever been found."
That, of course, is a baldfaced lie. Farah has regularly railed against the Supreme Court decision in Lawrence v. Texas, which overturned state sodomy laws -- Farah demanded that the "Sodomy Six" (the six justices who ruled in favor of the plaintiffs and against the state) be impeached. Just last June, Farah lamented that "sin" in the form of homosexual sex can no longer be criminalized as a result of Lawrence:
Keep in mind, it was the federal government that made all this inevitable with the Supreme Court case Lawrence v. Texas, in which it presumed to tell the people of that great republic they had no business enforcing laws against sodomy. Justice Antonin Scalia predicted in short order the ruling would open the door to something unimaginable a decade ago – same-sex marriage. He was right.
That’s how sodomy moved from being a sin 10 years ago to being a “right.”
It’s not a right. It’s a sin. And, in a civilized, self-governing society, when the majority of people ban sinful behavior – from murder, to theft, to adultery, to child molestation – they have the right and the duty to legislate against it. Courts have no business overruling the will of the people on such matters by dreaming up “rights” that are to be found nowhere in the Constitution, the Bible or the history of mankind.
It’s just that simple.
And it’s about time somebody said it.
And it's about time somebody said that Farah is a baldfaced liar.
But he's not done smacking around the American Muslim columnist with his huffiness:
Musaji then massages some more facts to arrive at this conclusion: “Farah would also like to criminalize being Muslim.”
How did she deduce that?
From this statement in a discussion on the need to limit future Muslim immigration into the U.S.: “It seems obvious to me that anyone who subscribes to Saudi-style Shariah law, as described in the Islamic Quran and Hadith, would not be inclined to swear allegiance to the Constitution – at least not without crossing his fingers taqiyya-style.”
Then comes another lecture from Ms. Musaji: “This is how Islamophobes [that's me] muddy up the water and confuse issues in order to deceive their readers. Shariah and Saudi-style Shariah are not synonomous (sic). The Saudis have a particular interpretation of Shariah that is very conservative and repressive. Much of the Saudi interpretation of Shariah is rejected by most Muslims in the rest of the world. In fact, the Wahhabi interpretations are seen by a majority of Muslims as going against the Quran and Hadith.”
So I modify the term “Shariah” with the phrase “Saudi-style,” and explain that they are not necessarily the same thing. Isn’t that why people use adjectives – to be more precise?
Anyway, you get the point: According to Ms. Musaji, Farah is an unrepentant Islamophobe. Just to set the record straight, no one who criticizes Islamism the way I do is “afraid” of Islam. No one afraid of Islam, which would be the literal definition of “Islamophobe,” would dare criticize it publicly, as I do.
Curious thing about the Nov. 29 Farah column in which he pointed out he specifically focused on "Saudi-style Shariah": it didn't make the migration to the the new WND site. If he's so proud of having made that distinction, why is that column about to fade into the digital ether?
Of course, that's a distinction he really didn't make; he goes on to assert, without making any such distinction:
"We need to put the burden of proof on Muslims to demonstrate their desire to leave the world of Shariah behind them, to renounce its principles as well as to take a formal oath to uphold and affirm America's national covenant."
"Furthermore, we need strict national quotas on immigration by Muslims – even those willing to renounce Shariah and swear an oath to the U.S. Constitution."
"There are no doubt conscientious Muslims who deplore the institution of Shariah and would prefer to live in a constitutional republic like America instead of Saudi Arabia. But, again, as Americans we have no obligation to welcome anyone to these shores unless they meet our needs and specifications."
Don't break your arm patting yourself on the back, Joe.
If that wasn't enough, Farah finds time to rail against a fellow ideologue in a semantics argument over Ron Paul. Judi McLeod of Canada Free Press accused Farah of expressing "support" for Paul -- entirely understandable, given that Farah penned a Jan. 5 column headline "Ron Paul Is Right,"in which he states, "There’s a reason Ron Paul is resonating with Republican voters – because he wants to downsize Washington, and everyone knows he’s serious about it."
Farah, though, decided to misread "support" as "endorse." Let the snit fit begin:
ranted I have written many columns about Ron Paul stands that I like and admire – such as his pledge to cut $1 trillion out of federal spending. But daily I am attacked by Ron Paul disciples who would like to see me tarred and feathered. And nowhere, nohow, noway have I ever endorsed Ron Paul nor suggested I support him for the presidency in any way.
For the life of me, I don’t even know how someone could ever get that impression. I mean I write just what I think. I’m not known for holding anything back or pulling punches. And I write every day!
I figured this one would be an easy correction. All I would do is ask my old friend Judi McLeod to do the right thing and set the record straight. Certainly I agree with her more often than I agree with Ron Paul. I’ll take a few minutes and pick some low-hanging fruit.
So I emailed Judi McLeod: “I really must insist on a retraction and apology for this. Please point to where you can find Joseph Farah endorsing Ron Paul. I am vilified daily by Paulites for not supporting him and for criticizing his positions.”
Her unexpected response: “Please point to where I wrote Joseph Farah is ‘endorsing’ Ron Paul.”
My counter: “You didn’t use the word ‘endorse.’ You used ‘support.’ I fail to see any meaningful difference between the two. So, if you want to play word games, show me where I have ever offered Ron Paul support as a presidential candidate. Because that is clearly what you wrote.”
Her response: “To my way of thinking there is a world of difference between ‘support’ and ‘endorse.’ If you wish you could write a column or letter stating your point of view and I would publish it word-for-word without editing and post as main cover.”
My retort: “You still haven’t answered the question: On what basis can you possibly come to the conclusion that I either endorse or support Ron Paul for president? Obviously that is what you stated clearly in your commentary. Since there is no basis for any such claim, you have decided to be cagey. I have no desire to write anything in Canada Free Press. If you want to make sure WND never again links to any articles in CFP because of questions about unreliability of statements and accusations by the editor, you can simply ignore my simple question. On the other hand, if credibility is something that matters to you, you will choose to do the right thing: Apologize and retract the erroneous accusation against me.”
To which she concluded the dialogue by saying, “Suit yourself, Joe.”
At no point does Farah acknowledge that he wrote a column headlined "Ron Paul Is Right." Instead, Farah clings to his thin skin and tries to Heather McLeod by essentially declaring that she can't sit at his table because anymore because she said something he misinterpreted.
CNS' Starr Has Another Anti-Gay Freakout Over Art Exhibit Topic: CNSNews.com
The Media Research Center, led by CNSNews.com's Penny Starr, earned a Slantie award lst year for manufacturing a controversy over a gay-themed exhibit at a Smithsonian-operated art museum. The anti-gay Starr apparently liked that award so much, she's trying to manufacture another right-wing freakout over another art exhibit.
Starr cranks up the anti-gay outrage in a Jan. 10 CNS article:
For the second year in a row, the federally funded National Portrait Gallery (NPG), a part of the Smithsonian Institution, held an exposition during the Christmas season focused on the homosexual lifestyle.
“Seeing Gertrude Stein: Five Stories,” an exhibition appearing at the NPG from Oct. 14, 2011 through Jan. 22, 2012, focuses on lesbian activist and writer Gertrude Stein.
The exhibit, set up in five rooms at the taxpayer-funded museum, highlights Stein’s lesbian relationship with Alice B. Toklas and Stein’s “second family” of homosexual men, some of whom collaborated with Stein on various projects.
The whole thing is pure Depiction-Equals-Approval Fallacy. Starr is obsessed with tax money being spent on gay things -- even though she admits that the Stein exhibit was paid for by private funds, she adds that "all Smithsonian museums receive federal funding." Here's the question she asked Smithsonian officials about the exhibit:
“In the past 14 months, NPG has mounted two exhibitions--Hide and Seek, and Gertrude Stein--that include a focus on the homosexual lifestyle. Given that NPG mounts less than a dozen exhibits annually, is there a reason that two exhibits within the past 14 months have included a focus on the homosexual lifestyle and is that part of NPR's mission as a national and taxpayer-funding institution?”
On top of echoing the right-wing trope that homosexuality is nothing more than a "lifestyle," Starr got her facts wrong about the number of exhibits the gallery hosts; at the end of her article, she notes that the gallery hosted 22 exhibits during the past year.
Starr is also rather late to the game -- the Stein exhibit opened in October and closes on Jan. 22. Starr seems to be attributing her tardiness to a squabble with the Smithsonian over whether she could take pictures in the exhibit; that request was denied, so instead her article is accompanied with pictures of exhibits as they appear in the book on the exhibition.
All in all, a pretty sad attempt. Starr's anti-gay agenda, it seems, has overtaken her so-called journalism.
NewsBusters' Double Standard on Out-of-Context Statements Topic: NewsBusters
We detailed last week how NewsBusters condoned the taking of President Obama's words out of context, with Tim Graham attacking anyone who pointed out the truth "made excuses for Obama." Well, by that definition, NewsBsuters is now making excuses for Mitt Romney.
In a Jan. 9 post, Ken Shepherd scolded Politico for not taking the full context of Mitt Romney's remarks about liking "being able to fire people" seriously:
More specifically, Romney was talking about how he wants to change health care laws so that its easier for individuals to buy insurance without being chained to their employer's preferred health insurance provider.
But context be damned, apparently.
Of course, "context be damned" was the attitude Graham had when the person being taken out of context was Obama.
This was followed by Shepherd's boss, Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell, attacking the "liberal media" for taking the remark out of context -- even though right now it's mostly Romney's Republican rivals who are doing that. Bozell eventually concedes the latter.
So Bozell is making excuses for Romney too. Which can only mean that Graham will be flip-flopping on this as well.
WND's Massie Likens NAACP To the Devil Topic: WorldNetDaily
There’s a lot of talk about greatness today – but the definition of greatness depends upon who writes the dictionary. And in the case of the NAACP, greatness is analogous to two of the central characters in C.S. Lewis’ book “The Screwtape Letters.”
For those who need refreshing, Screwtape was a senior demon from hell, and Wormwood, his nephew, was a junior “tempter,” charged with leading “The Patient,” i.e., mankind, to hell. It was Screwtape’s job to advise Wormwood on the best ways to bring that about.
That’s precisely the role the NAACP plays in advising their marionettes what to foment discord and malcontent about. The principal issues they support are antithetical to the cohesive family concerns they feign concern about.
[...]
Just as Screwtape’s job was to make sure Wormwood used every available machination – including love, pride, sex, war, gluttony and avarice – to deceive man here on earth and lure him into an eternal hell, so, too, does the NAACP parallel that purpose in deceiving blacks. The NAACP exists today as a means of employment for Benjamin Jealous – who cowarded out of my calls for him to debate me in a public forum – and as a contrivance to ensure that blacks are in a perpetual state of discontent.
The NAACP has become an abomination before God and man, and it needs to be euthanized. If its only points of consternation are those herein referenced, making what amount to extortion complaints against CNN pursuant to their not having more black on-air personalities and spreading victimology, despair and resentment – I’d say it’s outlived its usefulness.
Finally, Newsmax Lets Kessler Do Some Romney-Fluffing Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax's Ronald Kessler is a huge Mitt Romney fanboy -- he touted Romney incessantly in the runup to the 2008 presidential election, engaging in some creepiness toward Romney's wife in the process. Kessler hung with Romney, repeatedly bashing John McCain, until McCain clinched the Republican nomination (after which Romney fell in line and embraced McCain).
This time around, though, Kessler has been less vocal about his love of Romney, largely because he spent much of 2007 distracted by his infatuation with Donald Trump. Kessler penned only a couple of love letters to Romney, and none in the past few months; the one he did try to post mysteriously disappeared shortly afterwards, presumably because Romney wouldn't commit to taking part in Newsmax's ill-fated Republican debate hosted by Donald Trump.
Now, finally -- as Newsmax has dialed back its promotion of Newt Gingrich in New Hampshire after going all in for him in Iowa -- Kessler has been allowed to fluff Romney in the midst of primary season.
Kessler's Jan. 9 column is typically Kessler-esque bit of Romney-fluffing, complaining that "the press once again is ignoring those qualities in the leading Republican candidate that anyone would focus on when hiring a new employee." He recycles an anecdote from his 2007 profile of Romney about how Romney helped locate the teenage daughter of one of his Bain Capital partners after she disappeared following a "rave party" where she had "become high on ecstasy" -- "The fact is Romney saved the young girl’s life," Kessler declared.
Kessler goes on to tout Romney's business experience:
Few voters know that Mitt Romney holds degrees from both Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School. Few know that as a founder of Bain Capital, a venture capital firm, Romney decided to invest in Staples when it had not yet opened its first office supply store. Thomas G. Stemberg, its founder, told Bain Capital that companies spent more on office supplies than they realized. He also cited the growing number of self-employed people who work at home and would patronize a discount stationery store.
[...]
Today, Staples employs 70,000 people. Besides Staples, Romney’s Bain Capital started or acquired such companies as Domino’s Pizza, Sealy, Brookstone, and Sports Authority, helping to create jobs for literally millions of people over the years.
Contrary to the spin by opponents, Romney’s Bain Capital represented capitalism at its best.
Kessler concludes with a final fit of Romney-fluffing:
Instead of Bain Capital’s more than a hundred success stories that put food on the table for American families, you will see articles on the handful of instances when Bain had to shutter the doors of companies it acquired because they were losing money.
By ignoring such signs of character and competence in the Republican front-runner, the press does a disservice to the American people.
Romney's company created jobs for "literally millions of people over the years"? Even Romney himself has never claimed creating more than 100,000 jobs, nearly all of which were at two companies, Staples and Sports Authority (and even then, Romney is overstating the facts).
And the Bain Capital record is not "more than a hundred success stories" versus a "handful" of failures. According to the Wall Street Journal, of the 77 companies Bain invested in while Romney headed it, 22 percent of them ultimately closed or filed for bankruptcy, and an additional 8 percent ran into so much trouble that all of the money Bain invested was lost.
Now that Newsmax has finally unleashed Kessler, expect more factually challenged Romney-fluffing like this for months to come.
