Topic: Newsmax
As much as NewsMax has written about the Clintons, you'd think it would be able to get basic facts correct. But no -- a Sept. 6 article contains several factual errors and unsupported assertions.
NewsMax's troubles begin with the first five words of the article: "2008 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton." While Hillary is certinly a possible, if not likely, candidate, she is not a declared candidate, which makes NewsMax's assertion factually incorrect.
NewsMax then botches the name of the FEMA director in the Clinton administration; it's James Lee Witt, not James D. Witt. To be fair, it was wrong in the Village Voice article NewsMax is basing its item on, but 30 seconds on Google would have provided a quick fact-check. (NewsMax did get the name right in a Sept. 7 piece bashing Witt.)
Having screwed up basic facts, NewsMax moves right along to baseless assertions:
Though Sen. Clinton touted former FEMA director Witt's experience, she made no mention of Raymond 'Buddy' Young, whom her husband appointed to the post of Southwest Regional FEMA Director in 1993.
Mr. Young, a former Arkansas state trooper, won the promotion after heading up efforts to discredit other state troopers whose allegations fueled the Troopergate scandal.
NewsMax offers no evidence to back up this assertion; in fact, this is the first time NewsMax has made this accusation. Young's name appears in only one previous story in NewsMax's archive, a passing mention in a September 1999 article attempting to prove the existence of Bill Clinton's purported black love child.
Additionally, the Arkansas state troopers pushing "Troopergate" were discredited not only by Young -- according to Conason and Lyons' "The Hunting of the President," the lead "Troopergate" troopers, L.D. Brown and Larry Patterson, were mad that Young got a federal job and they didn't -- but by the troopers themselves. As ConWebWatch (and the Conason-Lyons book) noted, the troopers backpedaled from many of their salacious allegations about Clinton when placed under oath.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:03 PM EDT
