Topic: CNSNews.com
The ConWeb has their long knives out for Citizens for Ethics and Responsibility in Washington.
An Oct. 6 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh described CREW as "funded by billionaire George Soros" before he even served up the group's name. In describing CREW's Freedom of Information Act request seeking details on visits by nine leading religious-right figures to the Bush White House, Unruh quoted two of those figures attacking CREW's request as a "publicity stunt" by "left-wing bullies" but did not quote anyone from CREW itself. An Oct. 6 CNSNews.com article by Monisha Bansal quoted Andrea Lafferty of the conservative group Concerned Women for America calling CREW a "front group" for Soros, further calling Soros "a very wealthy, manipulative, evil person who is trying to direct the outcome of this election, and he is going after Christians."
The ConWeb's eagerness to denounce CREW by denouncing one of its donors runs in stark contrast to its treatment of another legal organization. A search of the online archives of both WND and CNS show no reporting at all on the links between the conservative legal group Judicial Watch -- famous for its numerous lawsuits against the Clinton administration -- and right-wing financier Richard Mellon Scaife.
As CNN reported, Judicial Watch received $550,000 from Scaife-controlled foundations in 1997 alone. According to SourceWatch, from 1997 to 2002, Scaife foundations gave more than $7 million to Judicial Watch.
Meanwhile, as we've noted, CREW has received a mere $100,000 from a Soros-backed group.
The funding of legal groups wasn't an issue for the ConWeb before. Why start now?
