NEW ARTICLE: Newsmax's Great Gingrich Hype Machine
Topic: Newsmax
Having failed at staging a Republican presidential debate, Newsmax decides to shill for one of the candidates who agreed to take part in it. Read more >>

Supreme Court Rejects Klayman's Attack on Kagan
Topic: WorldNetDaily

A Jan. 23 WorldNetDaily article -- stolen from Politico without attribution -- notes that the Supreme Court rejected the amicius brief from sue-happy defamer Larry Klayman demanding that Elena Kagan be removed from deliberation over cases involving the constitutionality of health care reform.

Reading the brief -- promoted in a Jan. 5 WND article by Bob Unruh -- it's easy to see why. It's filled with dubious arguments, logical fallacies, and self-aggrandizement by Klayman, who has a surprising amount of trouble making an honest living as an attorney.

Klayman kicked things off by declaring that his little right-wing legal organization, Freedom Watch, "is dedicated to ensuring the rights of all citizens through action, frequently with legal cases and other means." Those "other means," of course, tend to involve hurling libelous insults and unproven allegations at people he hates. Klayman later declares that Freedom Watch is "speaking on behalf of the American people."

Speaking of insults, Klayman goes on to attack and arrogantly lecture Chief Justice John Roberts and the court -- never a good idea when you're trying to get a favorable ruling from said court:

Recent comments by Chief Justice John Roberts in his Annual Report on the State of the Federal Judiciary, which seek to defend Justice Kagan and clearly state that she should not recuse herself, are an affront the judicial system and the American people, who depend on judges to be neutral, unbiased and independent. They underscore why the nation has lost trust in government, and why movements like the Tea Party and Occupy Wall Street have sprung up from all ends of the political spectrum. Simply put, “We the People” are fed up and have already entered into what is in effect a Second American Revolution because judges and other government officials behave as if they are “above the law,” in effect nobility who can do as they please. This amicus brief, which addresses the recusal or disqualification of Justice Kagan, is even more important to preserving the ethical foundations of our Republic than the underlying issues of the constitutionality of the Act. Without a neutral, unbiased Supreme Court, there simply is no rule of law and any decision concerning the Act will be seen as illegitimate.

Regrettably, and outrageously, before even considering these recusal and disqualification issues, Chief Justice Roberts prejudged these serious issues and stated in his annual report that Supreme Court justices need not follow the recusal and disqualification ethics rules that pertain to other federal judges and that these ethics rules may be unconstitutional. Incredibly, and to add insult to injury, he added that “(t)he Supreme Court does not sit in judgment of one of its own members. . . .”   This admission, among others in the report, says it all and ironically under- scores why recusal or disqualification of Justice Kagan is necessary to preserve the integrity of the Supreme Court for the citizens of the United States. The Court does not belong to either Chief Justice Roberts or any other justice; it belongs to “We the People.” And, if the justices cannot adhere to the rule of law, which includes judicial ethics, then the Court must be stripped clean of this lawlessness by removing and prosecuting, through whatever legal means are available, those justices who refuse and fail to play by the same rules that they hold citizens and others accountable for.

In short, the comments of Chief Justice Roberts are an affront to the high ethical standards of our Founding Fathers and amount to a subversion of our laws. They are disgraceful at best and at worst amount to obstruction of justice. They are the result of someone who became Chief Justice by first ingratiating himself to the “Washington establishment,” and now seeks to act as the Chief Justice not just of the Court, but of this same establishment – which for decades has pushed the nation to the brink of revolution by representing mostly its own interests, perpet- uating and consolidating its power and selling out “We the People.” This is why in large part the nation is in a deep crisis; the majority of Americans have little if any respect for either the Supreme Court or our judiciary as a whole, notwithstanding their current similar disdain for the other two branches of government.

The situation is as bad as in 1776 when “We the People” declared independence from King George III and the British Crown. 

Klayman went on to assert that "While serving as Solicitor General, Justice Kagan took significant part in health care reform issues and the crafting of the Act" -- something that Klayman offers no evidence to support. Klayman then claimed: "It is also believed that before the Act was even passed, the Department of Justice had, in fact, been meeting to develop a strategy for defending the law from constitutional attacks. Involved in these efforts was Justice Kagan." In fact, the only meeting Kagan was involved in on the issue was to appoint someone else to handle the case.

Klayman then cited "incriminating documents" he claims are "un- equivocally evidencing Justice Kagan’s strong support of the Act." In fact, they show no such thing. The section of the U.S. Code that states grounds for recusal (which Klayman curiously does not quote) specifically states that the judge should recuse "where he has served in governmental employment and in such capacity participated as counsel, adviser or material witness concerning the proceeding or expressed an opinion concerning the merits of the particular case in controversy." None of the instances Klayman cites is anything close to an opinion on the merits or legality of health care reform.

Klayman even rushes to the defense of Clarence Thomas over his alleged conflict of interest on health care reform: "Unlike allegations of partiali- ty concerning Justice Clarence Thomas, Justice Kagan’s involvement is not a matter of another member of her family playing a partisan role concerning the Act. Her past involvement is personal and direct. The case to recuse or disqualify Justice Kagan is thus much stronger." In fact, Thomas' situation -- his wife is a paid activist to repeal health care reform -- is directly addressed in the recusal code, whichstates that a judge must recuse if "he knows that he, individually or as a fiduciary, or his spouse or minor child residing in his household, has a financial interest in the subject matter in controversy or in a party to the proceeding, or any other interest that could be substantially affected by the outcome of the proceeding."

Nevertheless, Klayman proclaims: "In objectively examining these statements and the circumstances surrounding this case, there is no doubt that a reasonable person would question the blatant partiality of Justice Kagan." Never mind the fact that Klayman is neither objective nor reasonable.

CNS' Curiously Vague Account of Question About Alinsky
Topic: CNSNews.com

Fred Lucas writes in a Jan. 23 CNSNews.com article:

White House press secretary Jay Carney replied to a question on the subject at Monday’s press briefing by saying the president’s time as a community organizer was “well documented,” and adding, “his experience is a broad-based one that includes a lot of other areas in his life. I’ll just leave it at that.”

[...]

At Monday’s White House briefing, a reporter asked Carney about Gingrich’s claims that Obama’s vision comes from Alinsky.

Curiously missing from Lucas' article: the actual wording of the question Carney was asked, and the name of the person who asked it.

As nearly every other website reporting on this has noted, the question was asked by Fox News' Ed Henry.

Most of those news organizations also noted the exact question Henry asked: "Newt Gingrich keeps saying on the campaign trail that the President’s vision comes from Saul Alinsky, the community organizer. I haven’t heard you asked about him but… Is there some kind of portrait of him hanging up in the White House that people look up to or is this BS?"

Why would Lucas choose to hide such basic information? Is he protecting Fox News, or is he trying to hid the facetious nature of Henry's question?

Lucas also describes Alinsky as a "radical Chicago community organizer." But he offered no evidence to back up this claim, beyond noting that Alinsky "identified a set of specific rules for citizen protesters to follow in order to exercise political power." Lucas doesn't explain what is so "radical" about that.

 

Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch, Supersize WorldNetDaily Edition
Topic: WorldNetDaily

On the other hand, at the risk of being labeled a racist, I must confess that I personally don’t like Obama. For one thing, I can’t stomach his arrogance. During his “60 Minutes” interview with Steve Kroft, he bragged that in modern times no president, except for FDR, LBJ and Lincoln, had accomplished more than he during their first two years in office!

Quite a stretch to refer to Lincoln’s administration as modern times, but no more of a stretch than to boast about a record that includes Obamacare, caving in to Russian demands by selling out Poland and Czechoslovakia, and a trillion dollar stimulus whose major achievement was to help lower America’s credit rating for the first time in history.

Compared to this egomaniac, even Donald Trump manages to look humble.

[...]

Even though Nidal Malik Hasan had “Soldier of Allah” on his business cards and Yemen-based terrorist Anwar al-Awlaki on speed dial, no one in the Army dared suggest the major belonged either in the brig or an insane asylum. I’m sure political correctness is also the reason Bradley Manning, a mere private, but an acknowledged homosexual, got away with removing tons of top security documents from government files.

After all, if you’re a Muslim or gay, nobody can even dare challenge you, lest he see his own career go down in flames. Such is the tyranny of diversity, multiculturalism and political correctness in America today.

Hell, a gay Muslim could probably stroll into the White House and toss a stink bomb into Lincoln’s bedroom without anyone’s daring to question his presence.

Finally, in North Korea, when Kim Jong-il recently kicked the bucket, a great many of his countrymen took strong exception to his young son, Kim Jong-un, taking his place. But even they were ultimately won over by the slogan “Anyone but Obama.”

-- Burt Prelutsky, Jan. 3 WorldNetdaily column

8. I resolve to carry and produce my American ID whenever I’m asked. I expect every other citizen to do the same. It’s not too much to ask of anybody. I’m proud to do it.

9. In that regard, I resolve to press every conservative, candidate or not, to demand that the president produce his ID, too. Though every other candidate will be vetted and investigated to the nth degree, the New Hampshire Election Board just refused to demand proof of citizenship of candidate Obama in the upcoming primary – as they are constitutionally required to do. And as they failed to do in 2007. Why? WHY?

And why is the president who promised the “most transparent” administration still paying huge sums to lawyers to keep us citizens from ever seeing his school, early travel records and passport information? Why are there unanswered questions about his Social Security and Selective Service numbers and whether they belonged to others first? Are there reasonable answers? If so, why hide them?

-- Pat Boone, Jan. 6 WND column

In general, liberals hate Western civilization, and conservatives want to preserve its contributions. America, don’t allow President Obama, Democratic socialists and progressives to drag Western civilization back to our pagan past by their regressive policies based on liberal fascism and perverting the Constitution to legalize the stealing of liberties, money, property and life from one group of people and giving it to another group of people who didn’t earn it and don’t constitutionally deserve it (e.g., the welfare state, public pensions, Social Security, global socialism, Obamacare).

-- Ellis Washington, Jan. 6 WND column

No one, in the history of this nation, has done more than Barack Obama has done to tip the scales, pay off thug unions, demonize and marginalize wealth creators, destroy the economy, cripple capitalism and saddle every single American with incalculable debt. Yet Obama has the audacity of deceit to say that America is “headed in the right direction.” He vowed: “This year, I’m going to keep doing whatever it takes to move this economy forward and to make sure that middle class families regain the security they’ve lost over the past decade. That’s my New Year’s resolution to all of you.”

He sounds like the late Kim Jong-il or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Everything he says is devoid of reality.

Moochers and looters are making the laws. They must be stopped in November.

-- Pamela Geller, Jan. 10 WND column

Conservatives and Independents at large – unlike the primary voters in New Hampshire – know that Romney is not the cure for four years of Obama policies, nor one who is likely to catalyze the sort of electoral revolution that will ultimately purge Washington of the pernicious progressive swine who have insinuated themselves therein. While Gingrich – who did horribly in New Hampshire – wouldn’t be the policy abortion that Romney would, he’s not the one either.

All of which makes another four years of Obama even more likely, despite the belief on the part of some conservative pundits that Americans are far too disgusted with Obama to give him more than 30 percent in a general election.

-- Erik Rush, Jan. 11 WND column

One can argue that by keeping fuel prices artificially inflated, Obama can keep people dependent upon government for their subsistence. And they would be right, but it goes deeper than just to those communist proclivities alone. It goes to the core of his being. He doesn’t have a dream for America – he has a thirst for control/power that has been witnessed in the form of Chavez, Castro, Mao and Lenin. That said, I find it interesting that the mainstream media and others who applauded Obama’s aria of Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together” were applauding Obama for performing an act that mirrored Hugo Chavez singing in front of the United Nations – right before he ordered the people of Venezuela to stop singing in their showers as a means to save water and cut electricity use – but I digress.

-- Mychal Massie, Jan. 23 WND column

 

NewsBusters' Sheppard Cheers Call for Censoring Columnist
Topic: NewsBusters

Noel Sheppard proclaims in the headline of a Jan. 18 NewsBusters post: "Chris Christie Calls WaPo's Eugene Robinson an Ignoramus: 'Guys Like That Shouldn’t Have a Platform to Speak'." That's in reference to Christie attacking Washington Post columnist Eugene Robinson for criticizing Christie's weight. At no point does Sheppard criticize Christie for saying this, so he obviously endorses the sentiment.

It's a bit unusual for a right-wing columnist to so openly embrace censorship, but there you go. Sheppard, it appears, is just that breed of cat.n

AIM's Kincaid Has Another Lesbian Freakout
Topic: Accuracy in Media

In a Jan. 19 Accuracy in Media column, Cliff Kincaid complains that "Sally Kohn, a former senior strategist at the Soros-funded Center for Community Change, has been hired as a Fox News Contributor." But Kincaid's real problem seems to be that Kohn is "an open lesbian who shuns feminine attire and frequently wears a suit jacket."

the notoriously homophobic Kincaid has a history of being freaked out by the existence of lesbians -- if you'll recall, he has expressed concern that Rachel Maddow is "a lesbian with hair so short that she looks like a man."

Kincaid went on to complain that "Kohn has a history of her own, having worked for the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD), a group that tries to keep criticism of the homosexual agenda out of the mainstream media," citing as an example a case in which Fox News' Shannon Bream "interviewed guests critical of a transgendered person, a man dressed as a woman, who had used a woman’s changing room at a department store. GLAAD viewed this criticism as 'dangerous.'"

In fact, what GLAAD criticized was the unbalanced nature of the Fox News report , in which only critics were interviewed, and what GLAAD actually criticized as "dangerous" was not mere criticism of transsexuals but but the fact that false claims by anti-gay activist Mathew Staver went unrebutted:

Bream was also silent as Johnson and Starver made false and dangerous claims that protections for transgender people put other Americans at risk, an idea that has been roundly rejected by the American Psychological Association. Scores of municipalities around the country have enacted laws to protect their transgender citizens from harm and discrimination-- without sacrificing the well-being of anyone.

Kincaid also provides a misleading defense of Glenn Beck, grousing that liberal groups "accused Beck of anti-Semitism for criticizing Soros," which he called "phony" because "Soros is an atheist with no love for Israel." But Soros grew up as a Jew, and Beck falsely and sleazily portrayed him as a Nazi collaborator. In fact, the teenage Soros in Nazi-controlled Hungary was trying to pass himself as the non-Jewish godson of a protector who he accompanied in helping to take inventory of Jewish property previously confiscated by the Nazis. Further, there is substance to the claim against Beck, as his frequent criticisms of Soros as a puppet master eerily echo anti-Semitic stereotypes.

WND's Klein Falsely Attacks Obama Supporter
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Aaron Klein wrote in a Jan. 18 WorldNetDaily article:

A top director at a venture-capital firm that finances a controversial new online voting system donated to Barack Obama’s presidential campaign and also contributed the maximum allowable amount to Obama’s inauguration, WND has learned.

The foreign-headquartered company, SCYTL, previously faced questions about the security of its electronic voting technologies, which are now set to be deployed in 900 U.S. jurisdictions.

[...]

The press release announcing the acquisition noted that SCYTL is a portfolio company of leading international venture capital funds Nauta Capital, Balderton Capital and Spinnaker.

Spinnaker Capital manages $5 billion in two funds specializing in emerging markets investments.

A top Spinnaker director, Bob McCarthy, is a prominent supporter of Obama.

In 2008, McCarthy made two contributions to Obama’s presidential campaign, for $1,740 and $2,500 respectively.
He donated the maximum, $25,000 to Obama’s inauguration fund.
McCarthy contributed to the campaigns of other Democrats.

In 2010, he gave a $2,400 donation to New York politician Charlie Melancon, who lost his congressional seat during the most recent midterm elections. In 2009, McCarthy contributed $2,400 to the campaign of U.S. Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y.

In February 2010, McCarthy reportedly rubbed shoulders with Democrat senators at a “high-class” party in Miami Beach.

McCarthy was invited to the “Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee Winter Retreat” in Miami Beach in January 2010 at the Ritz Carlton South Beach Resort. Attendants were reportedly told that the “dress for the weekend is casual.”

Yes, Klein is making another desperate guilt-by-association attack. Klein is essentially claiming that because one board member of one of three venture capital funds investing in SCYTL has donated to Democrats, SCYTL-processed election results will thus be biased toward Obama and Democrats.

Not only does that not make logical sense, Klein got his basic facts wrong.

The current version of Klein's article at WND has been rewritten to remove any mention of McCarthy but, as is WND's ethically challenged custom, failed to notify readers about the change. However, the version of the article at the Klein Online website -- also operated by WND -- contains a note with an explanation:

NOTE: An earlier edition of this article identified the venture capital firm that invested in SCYTL as the emerging markets investment management firm, Spinnaker Capital Group. The actual SCYTL investor is another company with a similar name, the Spanish venture capital firm Spinnaker SCR. Neither Spinnaker Capital Group nor its director, Bob McCarthy, are associated with SCYTL.

That's a sloppy error. Will Klein admit whether it was he or his research assistant Brenda J. Elliott who was at fault? And what does this say about the veracity of his recent guilt-by-association-laden Obama attack book, "Red Army"?

In both versions, though, the headline remains false. Klein makes no allegation of "bias" -- even when he was suggesting that McCarthy's presence somehow result in election results being manipulated to the benefit of Obama and Democrats. Questions about security, which Klein does address, are not "bias" issues.

Bozell's MRC Condones Adultery By Defending Gingrich's War on the Media
Topic: Media Research Center

Brent Bozell was so happy with Newt Gingrich's defensive attack on the media in the wake of the interview ABC conducted with Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne, that he issued a special statement at NewsBusters about it:

Newt Gingrich won South Carolina because he refused to succumb to assaults by the liberal media, and because conservatives are just as fed up as he is.

Speaker Gingrich hit a nerve dead-on by pushing back on ABC's blatant character assassination and standing up to John King's first debate question. He tapped into the anger and frustration of not only South Carolina voters, but of the rest of the country. The left-wing media have tried to manipulate this campaign cycle through the systematic character assassination of every conservative in the race. The public has had it.

By the same token, they've watched the same leftists in the so-called 'news' media cheerlead a radical community organizer to victory and are sick and tired of the free passes they continually grant to The Chosen One, who has wreaked havoc on our country.

Bozell conveniently ignores the fact that the ABC interview was promoted by the Drudge Report, definitely not part of the "left-wing media." Bozell also doesn't explain how this is "character assassination" when nobody has disputed the basic facts about Gingrich's jettisioning of wives due to his adultery.

MRC's CNSNews.com similarly touts this anti-media attitude in a pair of article by Terry Jeffrey:

• Gingrich Beats Media in South Carolina, 54 to 14
• Final SC Poll: Gingrich 37, Romney 28, Santorum 16, Paul 14; 77 Percent Have Unfavorable View of Media

Bozell is merely happy that Gingrich appears to be validating the media-discrediting agenda of the the Media Research Center. But what he's clearly saying here is that nobody is allowed to criticize a Republican in the media, lest Bozell unleashes his flying monkeys in retaliation.

Bozell offers no alternative method for when and how the subject of Gingrich's adultery and divorces should be discussed -- he's trying to shut down all debate of the subject, period.

Because he will not permit criticism, Bozell is thus effectively condoning Gingrich's adultery -- a strange position for a right-wing activist whose organization regularly criticizes the allegedly loose morals of others. In November 2010, for instance, NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard complained that Huffington Postcreated a "Divorce" section: "Exit question: does a section specifically devoted to this subject increase the number of divorces by not only glamorizing the process and the outcome but also further removing what used to be a negative stigma attached to marital failure? Or am I just hopelessly old-fashioned?"

We thought Bozell was an old-fashioned guy. Instead, Bozell seems to be determined to shout down any criticism of Gingrich's moral and ethical failings by framing it as the "liberal media" being mean -- thereby effectively trying to remove the negative stigma conservatives have long attach to marital failure.

As his sneering reference to "The Chosen One" demonstrates, Bozell obviously despises Obama so much that he's willing to compromise his own principles and morals in order to defeat him. That, along with his drive to censor debate, is not the sign of a great leader or a solid conservative -- that's the sign of a weak, petty, vindictive man with millions of tax-exempt dollars at his disposal to throw at propping up his preferred candidate and defeat his enemy -- which he will undoubtedly do.

The 2012 presidential campaign will be an ugly one. Bozell's situational morals is one reason why.

Newsmax Touts Gingrich Win, Attacks Romney
Topic: Newsmax

Newsmax's hype machine for Newt Gingrich finally sees some results -- Gingrich won the South Carolina primary. So Newsmax celebrated with a Jan. 21 article carrying the headline "Earthquake: Newt Defeats Romney in SC Rout."

Newsmax is also keeping up the attacks on Gingrich's main rival, Mitt Romney, with a Jan. 21 article by Paul Scicchitano quoting "Democratic pollster" Doug Schoen claiming that Romney's campaign is in "dire jeopardy" due to Gingrich's win. This was followed by another article by Scicchitano focusing on GOP strategist Brad Blakeman claiming that Romney "suffered a severe blow in South Carolina and may not be able to recover."

 

WND's Klayman Pegs the Obama Derangement Meter
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Larry Klayman begins his Jan. 20 WorldNetDaily column by declaring, "As it stands today, it’s now as clear as the noses on our faces! The likelihood is that Barack Hussein Obama will win the next presidential election, unless a miracle happens."

This is followed by a torrent of hate, derangement and insanity that is extreme even by Klayman's reliably crazy standards, aimed at not only Obama but Bill and Hillary Clinton and even Marianne Gingrich.

Here are some lowlights:

The sad reality is that most liberals – particularly the Jewish ones – continue to lament that Ms. Hillary is not the president, having lost faith in “Hussein,” given his latent “black Muslim-like” anti-Semitism and hostility toward them and the state of Israel. While Ms. Hillary is a true criminal – remember Filegate, Travelgate and over 30 other scandals during the Clinton administration – the disgusting reality is that she would, given the so-called “rehabilitation” of the Clintons by even the Republican “leadership,” be a formidable vice-presidential pick. Peoples’ memories are short, regrettably.

In the case of the Republican leadership, it’s not their memories that are retarded; they are afraid of her. Over 80 material witnesses died – including Hillary’s last, and I mean last, boyfriend, deceased Clinton Deputy White House Counsel Vince Foster (to be blunt, it now appears that Ms. Hillary prefers only women; see my book “Whores”) – during her last reign of terror, and she and hubby Bill have enough dirt on Republican leaders to make them “friends forever.”

[...]

Fourth, while not likely to be Iran – which has likely bribed Hussein and Ms. Hillary to avoid military action to remove the regime in Tehran – the administration will try to create a “wag the dog” scenario, similar to what the Clintons did in the runup to the elections in 1996. A good little international crisis will serve them well in helping to convince voters that “now” is not a good time for change. In effect, Hussein will convert his “schtick” from the “change” candidate of 2008 to the “we cannot afford change” candidate in 2012.

[...]

In just the last few days, the alleged sordid details of Newt Gingrich’s personal past, with a happily compliant ex-wife, Marianne, have been used by the leftist media, along with Mitt Romney’s financial dealings and clumsy and overly defensive prevarication about releasing and publicly disclosing his tax returns, to promote Obama. While its hard to take hook, line and sinker anything said by a jilted and estranged ex-wife – indeed, Marianne Gingrich’s ABC interview is revolting in its cheapness and hatefulness – and while there is likely nothing wrong with Mitt’s financial dealings ( in fact they undoubtedly will prove that he actually knows something about business and the economy) – this will be used by Hussein, the Dems and the establishment media (with the exception of Fox News) to damage Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. 

[...]

So we come back to square one again. “We the People” must do everything within our lawful powers to remove Obama and his comrades from office; be that enmeshing them in an impeachable or peaceful civil disobedience that makes even Ghandi proud. Yes, we are in a revolutionary state, and as it stands today, the ballot box is not likely to remove the most disloyal, anti-American, pro-Muslim, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, socialistic and destructive president in our country’s brief history. And, if Hussein is not bad enough, think of the likelihood that he will be joined by the criminal Ms. Hillary and backstage by another felon, her lovely hubby Bill, in “ruling” – and ultimately in destroying – our beloved country for another four years! God save the republic!

Isn't it time somebody sued Klayman for libel and defamation the same way this sue-happy (yet broke) attorney files lawsuits against others?

Newsmax's Root Peddles More False Anti-Obama Conspiracies
Topic: Newsmax

Wayne Allyn Root has peddled a lot of anti-Obama paranoia in his Newsmax columns, making one wonder whether the guy who wrote the book "The Conscience of a Libertarian" has any sort of conscience at all. He does so again in a Jan. 20 column in which Root peddles yet another unproven anti-Obama conspiracy in arguing that Mitt Romney shouldn't release his tax returns until Obama releases his college transcripts.

Root declares that since he and Obama attended Columbia University at the same time, "I’m Obama’s college classmate," yet :"I never met Obama. Never saw him. Never even heard of him. And not one of my friends in the Class of '83 ever met him, saw him, or heard of him." Given that Columbia is a very large university -- currently more than 20,000 students -- that's not as surprising as Root makes it out to be.

Root adds: "The Wall Street Journal reported in 2008 that Fox News randomly called 400 of our Columbia classmates and never found one who had ever met Obama. Strange set of circumstances, don’t you think?" But that same Journal editorial quotes Obama's Columbia roommate -- thus undercutting Root's argument. Nevertheless, he asks, "why do his classmates at Columbia not remember Obama? Was he a ghost? Did he never show up at class?"

As FactCheck.org points out, it's "absolutely untrue" that nobody remembers Obama attending Columbia.

After speculating that Obama was hiding "bad grades" yet managed to get into major universities and Harvard Law School, Root goes off the conspiracy deep end:

Fourth, I’ve heard it rumored that Obama got a leg up by being admitted to Columbia as a foreign exchange student. Is that true? Did he hold a passport from Indonesia? Did he receive easier admission by portraying himself as a foreigner? Did he receive financial aid as a foreign student — something not available to true-blue American classmates like me?

I asked one of my lawyer buddies to call Columbia U. and ask the simple question, “Can foreigners get aid to go to college at Columbia?” The answer, “Yes, we have lots of aid for foreign students. They might be able to get their entire tuition paid and go to Columbia for free.”

So did Obama portray himself as a foreigner to get easy admission and a free ride? He was raised in Indonesia. Did his mother ever change him back to a U.S. citizen? Or was this all too easy because he still had Indonesian citizenship and passport? If so, is he qualified to be president of the United States today? I don’t know. But shouldn’t someone in the media be interested in asking these questions?

As Snopes details, the never-substantiated claim that Obama passed himself off as a foreigner to obtain scholarhip money for college comes from an anti-Obama email proven to be fraudulent.

In asserting that nobody has "asked these questions," Rroot is deliberately ignoring the fact that people did ask these questions -- and found nothing to support them.

With such anti-Obama paranoia and willingness to spread discredited falsehoods about him, Root really should be writing for WorldNetDaily.

Damage Control: MRC Rushes to Gingrich's Defense Again
Topic: Media Research Center

The last time Newt Gingrich was in trouble, the Media Research Center's Brent Bozell rushed to his defense (in a factually deficient fashion) and even played the Buckley card by declaring that his uncle, conservative icon William F. Buckley, would never have treated Gingrich so shabbily for his ethical faux pas as the editors of the Buckley-founded National Review are treating him.

Now, another piece of Gingrich's past has come back to haunt him -- in the form of an unflattering ABC interview with Gingrich's second ex-wife, Marianne -- and Bozell and the MRC are rushing to play defense yet again.

Bozell issued a statement denouncing the ABC interview as an "October Surprise of the worst sort":

It is not necessarily inappropriate for a news outlet to interview a candidate’s former wife.  However, three conditions must be met: 1) is it newsworthy?; 2) is it fair and respectful to the families involved?; 3) is the timing appropriate?

On the timing issue alone it is clearly inappropriate for ABC to run this interview on the eve of the South Carolina primary.  This smacks of an October Surprise of the worst sort, for which so many in the left wing press have become so infamous.  There is no reason it couldn’t run next week.

If it doesn’t meet the conditions of newsworthiness or fairness and respect it should be killed altogether. 

Of course, Gingrich's shabby treatment of his exes is hardly a "surprise," October or otherwise; Marianne previously told her story to Esquire in August 2010. And Bozell is clearly being disingenous here -- delaying damaging information about a candidate until after an election is probably not the position Bozell took when the candidate was, say, Bill Clinton.

Bozell's MRC employees were quick to pile on. MRC research director Rich Noyes tweeted, "If a rival candidate did to Gingrich what ABC News is doing to him, the media would slap it down as a dirty trick." NewsBusters managing editor Ken Shepherd played the Clinton Equivocation card in a tweet accusing Bill and Hillary Clinton of having an "quasi-open" marriage:

When CNN's John King began the Jan. 19 Republican presidential debate by asking Gingrich about Marianne's allegations, NewsBusters' Noel Sheppard declared King to have acted "despicably," and cheered at how "The former Speaker was having none of this."

A Jan. 20 NewsBusters post by the MRC's Scott Whitlock goes into shoot-the-messenger mode by attacking ABC's Brian Ross, who conducted the interview with Gingrich. Ross is "smarmy," Whitlock asserts, declaring his interview to be "bereft of new information" because Ross interviewed Marianne for two hours but "ABC only used two and a half minutes of actual footage from that interview." Whitlock also played the equivocation card, complaining that "no Democratic examples of "two-timing politicians" were mentioned by the journalist."

Even the MRC's "news" division CNSNews.com got in on the act, with a Jan. 20 article touting how Gingrich's misdirection in "denounc[ing] a 'vicious' news media that is 'protecting Barack Obama by attacking Republicans.'"

Bozell issued an even more bizarre attack on Marianne Gingrich by suggesting that she was lying by claiming in a radio interview that the interview has "that awful, awful taint of Rathergate to it." Bozell then clarified by saying that he was referring to how the interview was timed "to do the most amount of damage it possibly could to Newt Gingrich's career," and that Marianne may be "entirely honest" in her claim, though she is "lashing out at her ex-husband." Bozell then declares, "I think it was a mess of a story, I think it hurts the media."

Funny, we don't recall the MRC trying to discredit, say, Paula Jones as bitter and vengeful the way it's trying to discredit Marianne Gingrich.

As Gingrich's behavior grows increasingly slimy, you'd think that Bozell and the MRC would get tired of having to come up with ways to defend it, excuse it, and/or pretend it doesn't matter. Apparently not.

Meanwhile ...
Topic: WorldNetDaily
Sadly, No! deconstructs a Jan. 14 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh promoting the increasingly hateful and dubious anti-Kinsey attacks by discredited researcher Judith Reisman. Sample deconstruction: "Who wants to be the first to inform the wingnuts of the world that peer-reviewed research and verifiable results don’t just disappear if you smear the original researcher of the subject enough?"

Newsmax Calls In Donald Trump (!) To Ask Romney to Release Tax Returns
Topic: Newsmax

Newsmax is so upset with Mitt Romney not releasing his tax returns that it published a rare editorial on the subject. NOting that people from across the political spectrum have called out Romney's increasingly fumbling response on the issue, Newsmax declared, "Mitt Romney owes it to Republican primary voters, not to mention the American people, to release his tax returns — now!"

This is likely just a part of Newsmax's Newt Gingrich hype machine prior to the South Carolina primary, of course. But Newsmax considers this a serious enough matter that it called in the big gun for backup.

A Jan. 20 article by Martin Gould and Ashley Martella kicks off this way:

Mitt Romney’s waffling over whether he should release his tax returns is hurting him and making him look indecisive, Donald Trump tells Newsmax.TV exclusively.

“He is just leaving too much doubt in the way he is answering the question,” Trump said.

Yes, Donald Trump, the guy who inexplicably remains a Newsmax fave despite his mere presence being responsible for scuttling Newsmax's planned Republican debate.

It's ironic that Newsmax enlisted Trump to speak out on this, since Trump has done his own fair share of waffling on the issue. Last year, when Newsmax was stroking Trump's by way of cheerleading his presidential aspirations, Trump essentially promised to release his tax returns in President Obama released his birth certificate. When obama did release said certificate, Trump quickly walked back his promise, declaring he wouldn't release them until "the appropriate time," which he suggested would hinge on him actually declaring he was running for president.

So, to sum up: Trump the tax return waffler is accusing Romney of waffling on tax returns. Only at Newsmax...

Dennis Prager: Justice System Biased Against Whites Because Not Enough Black Murderers Are Executed
Topic: WorldNetDaily

Yes, Dennis Prager really did write this in his Jan. 17 WorldNetDaily column:

The claim that America disproportionately executes blacks is a falsehood, disseminated on virtually every left-wing website, from the ACLU to all the anti-death-penalty sites. The only way it can be regarded as true is if the disproportion is in relation to the entire population of the country: Blacks make up about 12 percent of the population and since 1976 have been about 35 percent of those executed for murder. But this is a statistic that tells no truth because it is meaningless in terms of determining alleged racial bias.

This is very easy to prove. Males make up about 50 percent of the American population but make up about 99 percent of those executed. Is the American justice system wildly anti-male?

Of course not. The statistic that matters in assessing bias in executions is the proportion of murderers of a given group who are executed, not the group’s proportion of the entire population.

And here, it is clear that blacks are actually under-represented in executions.

According to the Death Penalty Information Center, an anti-death-penalty organization, between 1976 and January 2012, 441 blacks (35 percent of the total) and 717 whites (55 percent of the total) were executed. Given that blacks committed more than half the murders during that time (52 percent versus 46 percent by whites), if we are to assess racial bias based on proportionality of murderers executed, the system is biased against whites, not blacks.

Because this fact is both obvious and irrefutable, virtually none of the anti-death-penalty sites note it. Instead, they focus on the race of murder victims and even the race of prosecutors – in other words, the race of just about everyone except those convicted of murder.

We have nothing to add.