Topic: Media Research Center
We've documented how Media Research Center writer and NewsBusters managing editor Curtis Houck utterly lacks the courage of his convictions -- he'll express un-conservative sympathies that he can't or won't put onto the website he manages.
When right-wing extremist Laura Loomer won her Republican primary for a House seat in Florida, Houck tweeted out a "two thumbs down" GIF. When President Trump congratulated Loomer, he tweeted out a "NO" GIF. MRC writer Scott Whitlock similarly criticized Trump's endorsement of Loomer on Twitter: "Loomer is a lunatic and everyone should repudiate her. Too bad the President of the United States doesn't understand that simple point."
The next day, Houck tweeted a thread quoting right-wing activist Erick Erickson denouncing Loomer as "a grifter who is going to take people’s money that could be used in serious races with serious people to get them elected" and castigated Florida Republicans who support her, declaring that they "should be marched into the sea like the lemmings that they are."
But if you read NewsBusters -- again, the MRC for which Houck serves as managing editor -- you will find nary a disparaging word about Loomer. In fact, NewsBusters treats her as a free-speech martyr because most social media operations (and other places) have banned her for her hate-spewing Islamophobia. That's something the MRC is done for quite a while, and now Houck's operation is doing it even more now that she's a Republican candidate.
A July 6 post by Alexander Hall proclaimed that Loomer was the "GOP frontrunner" in her primary, but "her personal accounts have been banned from Facebook and Instagram, her political campaign has been restricted from creating an account or even buying advertisements." Hall refused to detail why Loomer got banned in the first place, instead gushing that "Loomer made a name for herself as a Jewish-American right-wing provocateur whose performance art and protests resulted in having multiple Big Tech and payment processing platforms blacklist her."
And on Aug. 18 -- the same day Houck denounced Loomer on Twitter -- his NewsBusters published another post by Hall gushing that she was a "conservative firebrand and Florida GOP frontrunner" who has "reportedly been targeted" by a cable company. No only did Hall provide no verified evidence to back up Loomer's accusastions, he again failed to detail Loomer's viciously hateful rhetoric, instead repeating his benign description of her as "a Jewish-American right-wing provocateur."
the next day -- the same day Houck reproduced Erickson's bashing of Loomer -- his NesBusters published a post by Corinne Weaver that once again helped Loomer play the victim:
Facebook is blatantly interfering in elections by banning the ads of a Republican congressional candidate.
“Facebook has reportedly banned all ads on behalf of Laura Loomer, the frontrunner in the GOP primary race for House candidate in Florida’s 21st district” Breitbart reported on July 3. The article noted how her personal accounts have been banned from Facebook and Instagram, her political campaign has been restricted from creating an account or even buying advertisements.
“I’m the only federal candidate in the nation banned from advertising on Facebook,” Loomer observed. She added adding that “My competitor, Lois Frankel is running ads on Facebook to reach voters, and my campaign is shut out.” She then declared that Facebook’s moderation here is a case of “illegal election interference.”
Like her colleague Hall, Weaver refused to detail the Islamophobia that got Loomer banned, instead robotically repeating the "Jewish-American right-wing provocateur" boilerplate.
Hall returned on Aug. 24 to tout a right-wing effort to get the feds to investigate "Big Tech" and portrayed Loomer as utterly normal: "The recent GOP nomination of Laura Loomer in the U.S. House race for Florida’s 21st Congressional district shows how the electoral game has changed, and conservative organizations are taking notice. [The American Principles Project's Jon] Schweppe argued in his open letter that while Loomer has been censored by multiple platforms '[d]ue to past controversial comments,' the fact that she 'is now a major party nominee for U.S. congress' shows its high time for a reassessment." Once again, Hall was silent on the exact nature of those "past controversial comments," nor did he or Schweppe explain why they have become less controversial because she's now a Republican politician.
Houck and Whitlock are cowards, pure and simple. By censoring anyt criticism of Loomer and the real reason social media banned her, they do not have the courage of the convictions they express outside of work.
