ConWebBlog: The Weblog of ConWebWatch

Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:17:29 -0500

I could not help but smile to myself when I got a gander at Barack Obama’s vile White House “Christmas” ornaments. Many of them were defiled with images of history’s most evil men, including the murderer of untold millions and cultural executioner Mao Tse Tung.

And it was hard not to laugh when Michelle Obama tried to explain the decadent ornaments away. She and Barack were unaware of the images, she said, as the ornaments were decorated and sent to them from her various groups (clearly groups of a seditious and conspiratorial nature).

An ornament depicting Ronald Reagan, discovered later in a photograph, was supposed to render the Mao ornament insignificant. But it really changed nothing: if someone has a picture of Reagan in his office, does it make it OK for him to have a picture of Hitler too?

This type of ugliness is not new. Obama’s cultural pollution is no accident.

He uses his brand to market the most destructive and cancerous ideas in human history. Obama uses proxies to get the most noxious narrative into the national dialogue, the daily workplace, and the minds of our youth.

-- Pam Geller, Dec. 28 Newsmax column

(By "many" ornaments being "defiled," Geller actually means one. And the Mao image is actually an image of Andy Warhol's painting of Mao, which means Geller, like other right-wingers, doesn't understand pop culture.)

WND Misleads About Jennings Again

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 12:35:53 -0500

WorldNetDaily has a long record of spreading lies and distortions about Kevin Jennings. Add another one to the list.

A Dec. 24 WND article by Bob Unruh makes a big deal out of Jennings allegedly calling Jerry Falwell a "terrorist." Unruh eventually gets around to explaining that Jennings was responding to Falwell's assertion that Mohammed was a terrorist, but then goes on to suggest that Falwell never called him that, only that Falwell called him "a violent man, a man of war."

In fact, as Media Matters points out, Falwell did indeed say in a 2002 "60 Minutes" interview, "I think Mohammed was a terrorist." Nowhere does that statement appear in Unruh's article.

Will NewsBusters Admit It Falsely Smeared Baucus?

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:49:47 -0500

NewsBusters caused a stir this week with a Dec. 27 post by P.J. Gladnick that essentially accused Democratic Sen. Max Baucus of being intoxicated in delivering a speech on the Senate floor. Smearing a Democrat, of course, is catnip for right-wingers like Matt Drudge.

The problem? At no point does Gladnick offer any evidence to support the claim. Nevertheless, Gladnick offers a pre-emptive dismissal of any response from Baucus' office as a lie:"Do you really expect a candid response? And who in the Baucus Senate office will reply? His military affairs aide, Captain Morgan?"

But hey, why let a little thing like lack of evidence stand in the way of smearing a Democrat?

Mark Finkelstein goes on in a Dec. 29 post to sneer at MSNBC's David Shuster pointing out, in a Twitter post, that Baucus "always speaks in a halting fashion."Finkelstein then follows up by making fun of MSNBC for referencing Baucus "in the same sentence with a variation on the word 'blasted.'"

Like Gladnick, Finkelstein offers no evidence to support his claim that Baucus was drunk (his end-of-post note that "Baucus wasn't blasted, and the parrot wasn't dead: 'e was just restin'" doesn't count).

Further, neither Gladnick nor Finkelstein have seen seen fit to report to their readers that Baucus has indeed respond to the smear (but Politico has). Wouldn't want those pesky facts to get in the way of a good smear, eh?

(P.S. We swear we saw at one point yesterday a Newsmax story on disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley bashing Baucus over this -- also reported by Huffington Post -- but it seems to have disappeared from the Newsmax website. Foley, if you'll remember, was a favorite of Newsmax chief Christopher Ruddy until reports of Foley's dalliances with teenage congressional pages became public. Foley has since apologized for his remarks on Baucus.)

WND's Top Stories Largely Bogus, Misleading

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 02:04:05 -0500

WorldNetDaily's Dec. 28 list of its "top 10 stories of 2009" is a nice encapsulation of what is wrong with WND -- many of the stories on the list fall between manufactured and utterly fraudulent.

The top story on the list is WND's attacks on Obama's "czars." As we've detailed, the attacks -- led by Aaron Klein -- contain numerous false and misleading claims.

Two entries are devoted to Obama's birth certificate. WND's reporting on the subject is also laced with lies and deceit, and needless to say, nowhere does WND acknowledge publishing a fraudulent "birth certificate" without bothering to verify it first -- a serious breach of journalistic ethics.

The list also touts how "the fierce blonde behind some of the Obama eligibility lawsuits was profiled by WND" without mentioning Orly Taitz's history of shoddy lawyering -- which, of course, WND has repeatedly covered up.

The WND list goes on to mischaracterize a Department of Homeland Security report on right-wing extremism: "The 'extremists' were characterized as those who express concerns about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty. The report singled out returning war veterans as particular threats." In fact, the report did not portray all people "who express concerns about illegal immigration, increasing federal power, restrictions on firearms, abortion and the loss of U.S. sovereignty"; it merely pointed out that such issues were potential mobilizing agents for right-wing extremists.

WND also asserts that the report "was based on sources no more or less secure than Internet chat." In fact, it cited a 2008 FBI report that "some returning military veterans from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have joined extremist groups" -- not, as WND claimed, that all "returning war veterans" are "particular threats."

One self-serving entry on the list is the WND "pink slips" campaign. Unmentioned is that the 8 million pink slips it claims to have sent to Congress, when you divide it by the 535 members of Congress, means that just 15,000 or so people have paid WND $29.95 for the privilege -- which undermines the suggestion that this is any sort of mass movement.

CNS Ignores Evidence Health Care Reform Won't Add to Deficit

Wed, 30 Dec 2009 01:13:32 -0500

A Dec. 29 CNSNews.com article by Christopher Neefus reports on poll results claiming that, among other things, "fewer believe health care reform is important enough to increase the deficit."

At no point does Neefus note that the Congressional Budget Office has found that the Senate's health reform bill will reduce federal deficits by $130 billion through 2019.

Klein Smears Rosenthal, J Street Again

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 11:03:52 -0500

Aaron Klein continues his record of smearing both Obama anti-Semitism czar Hannah Rosenthal and Jewish group J Street by using a Dec. 25 WorldNetDaily article to falsely suggest they are "anti-Israel."

And what was so "anti-Israel" about Rosenthal, according to Klein? Little more than saying that "it was important that new and different voices need be heard regarding Israel in the American Jewish community" and stating that Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren "would have learned a lot" if he had participated in a recent J Street conference.

As per usual, Klein offers no evidence that J Street is "anti-Israel" that does not come from right-wing sources. And as per usual, Klein refuses to provide J Street an opportunity to respond to the accusation -- there's no evidence that Klein has ever made an effort to speak to a J Street representative.

Can you say sloppy right-wing bias? Sure you can.

Klein has previously lied and misled about Rosenthal.

The Missing C-Word

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 02:57:00 -0500

A Dec. 28 NewsBusters post (containing the byline of "NB Staff" but, according to the URL, posted from the account of Rich Noyes) touts how "other journalists" have promoted the Media Research Center's (desperately lame) annual list of insufficiently conservative quotes. Missing from the post: any explicit admission of the conservative slant of most of those "other journalists."

The closest the post comes to admitting the bias of some of the writers is in describing the American Spectator's Quin Hillyer as "a judge of this year's awards and Denver radio host Mike Rosen as "longtime Notable Quotables judge." But if they're taking sides by working with a conservative organization to further its agenda, they're not exactly journalists, are they?

The post touts how "The Washington Examiner's "Yeas & Nays" column was first out of the box with the official results," but there's no mention of the Examiner's right-wing bias. It's similarly noted that "Often, the New York Post also runs an editorial with their observations on the worst quotes of the year," but again, no mention of the Post's right-wing bias.

It's not exactly newsworthy that right-wingers are merely serving as a echo chamber for other right-wingers -- though NewsBusters wants you to think otherwise.

WND Perpetuates Another Obama Lie

Tue, 29 Dec 2009 01:50:59 -0500

WorldNetDaily just can't stop lying about President Obama, can it? Even Joe Kovacs' Dec. 27 list of "funniest news stories of 2009" is anchored in a lie.

Kovacs' lead-off item carries the subhead "Barack Hussein the Ogler. Mmm, mmm, mmm!" and is centered around a photo of Obama purportedly ogling a girl walking past him, which, according to Kovacs, makes Obama a "bozo" who is "doing his best in the role of buffoon in chief."

Kovacs added: "In all fairness, watching video of the event may provide a slightly different picture of what really happened." If by "slightly different" Kovacs means completely opposite, then sure. (And to assume that WND is actually interested in fairness when it comes to Obama is truly the height of comedy.)

Of course, the entire premise of Kovacs' smear is that the picture is accurate -- something he will never admit is not true because he clearly despises Obama too much to be honest with his readers.

Congratulations, Joe -- you've helped further solidify WND's reputation as the most dishonest news organization in America. You must be so proud of yourself.

WND Lets Hilmar von Campe Spew More Hate

Mon, 28 Dec 2009 02:09:32 -0500

WorldNetDaily's holiday of hate continues with that Obama-hater (and Hitler emulator) extrordinaire, Hilmar von Campe.

Von Campe doesn't explicitly liken President Obama to Hitler -- as he has frequently done -- in his Dec. 26 WND column, but the implication is unmistakable:

Most Americans do not have a clue what a totalitarian system is. Let me tell you from experience: It is a godless society where there is no justice. The totalitarian leaders are always right, while the opposition is always wrong. Rules are based on lies forced upon people by godless and corrupt functionaries. Totalitarian systems grow out of immorality. Immoral people can be manipulated; moral people cannot. Protest, and you will be sanctioned. We will experience the end of freedom and the rule of the lie. Founding Fathers will be presented as greedy capitalists. There will be multi-religious "faiths," which includes watered-down Christianity. We had that in Germany. The "German Christians" promoted National Socialism in religious language.
You will be told by our unconfirmed president, Barack Obama, and the godless bunch of politicians what to believe. In the global ideological battle for the role of God in human society, they stand contrary to our founders. They are neither Christians nor patriots but enemies of God and the Constitution. They aim to replace God's commandments by making people believe that they know how to solve every crisis. We are not in a battle between socialism and capitalism. That is only the outside. The real battle is between God and almighty man, between truth and lies.

Von Campe also delves a bit into his past as well:

When I began to figure out how the Nazi atrocities could happen, I noticed that many people, including churchgoing Christians, lived as I had done: for myself, not bothering about what went on in government. I realized that as I am so is my nation. I was a liar who lied for small personal advantages, and if all German people were like me, it was no wonder Hitler could get away with his atrocities. He lied for big political stakes. With my lies I, who detested the Nazis, was closer to Hitler than to Jesus Christ. Going to church did not make me a Christian.

But von Campe has not changed -- he's still telling lies and not acting like a true Christian and, thus, is still "closer to Hitler than to Jesus Christ." Will von Campe tell his readers of the "small personal advantage" for which he's telling his current lies?

Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 23:34:58 -0500

During this Christmas season, America should be reminded that President Barack Obama has perpetrated more vicious attacks against the Christian faith than any other president in the history of America.
[...]
Is President Obama our "public servant" or are We the People his slaves? I believe that the Obama administration and his puppet masters, like billionaire George Soros, the unions, the Hollywood movie moguls, militant gay and feminist activists, as well as legal organizations like the ACLU and the American Trial Lawyers Association, have nothing but utter disdain for the Constitution and the inalienable rights of the people founded under Natural Law.
[...]
Obama and his socialist minions have always hated American exceptionalism and since the advent of the progressive movement in the 1890s for over 120 years have worked ceaselessly to replace the Judeo-Christian traditions that have made America the greatest nation in the history of humanity, making it the greatest debtor nation in the history of humanity.
Obama did not cause this sudden catastrophe alone. It was caused by many so-called progressives, intellectuals, academics, social engineers, lawyers, judges, liberal special-interest groups and Machiavellian politicians of both political parties.
[...]
President Obama is not a patriot. Obama and his socialist legions are arrogant, deceitful political thugs who, along with the corrupt hacks of the Democratic Party, have defiled the austere grandeur of the White House and Congress.

-- Ellis Washington, "authorized biographer for the conservative intellectual Dr. Michael Savage," Dec. 26 WorldNetDaily column

(Washington, by the way, offers no evidence that Obama "has perpetrated more vicious attacks against the Christian faith than any other president in the history of America" -- or, for that matter, any "vicious attacks against the Christian faith." We're also disappointed that Washington appears to have run out of evil people to liken Obama to.)