Bozell No Longer Thinks Limbaugh's Attack of Fluke Is Offensive (If He Ever Did) Topic: Media Research Center
Over the past week, Brent Bozell has been shifting himself and his Media Research Center from occasionally conceding that Rush Limbaugh's three-day denigration of Sandra Fluke caused offense to aggressively pushing the idea that there was nothing offensive about it at all.
As we documented, Bozell waited five days to speak out on Limbaugh's attack on Fluke, waiting until Limbaugh was forced to apologize in the face of an advertiser exodus before he was spurred into action.
We started seeing this last week in Bozell's column, when he starting seriously pushing his pet distraction of highlighting offensive things others have said, declaring that these were "far nastier, far more insulting than Rush Limbaugh has ever said in his entire life." Bozell omitted exactly what Limbaugh said about Fluke or anybody else, preventing his readers from making a direct comparison.
Bozell repeated this dubious argument in his hypocritical letter to MSNBC demanding that Ed Schultz be fired, asserting that Schultz's "a history of insults a hundred-fold worse than anything Limbaugh has ever said." Needless to say, Bozell did not offer the algorithm he used to calculate that Schultz's insults were "a hundred-fold worse" than Limbaugh's.
This idea that Limbaugh is a lovable fuzzball (to use Limbaugh's own self-description) is spreading elsewhere in the MRC empire.
In a March 14 MRC TimesWatch item, Clay Waters was outraged that the New York Times described Limbaugh as an "offensive figure," going so far as to ludicrously defend Limbaugh by declaring that calling Fluke a "slut," unlike what Bill Maher said about Sarah Palin, can be printed ina family newspaper:
New York Times media reporter Brian Stelter wrote a column for Wednesday's Business section on the "offensive figure" Rush Limbaugh ("After Apology, National Advertisers Are Still Shunning Limbaugh") on the radio host losing advertisers after his "slut" comment on birth-control activist Sandra Fluke was inflamed by the left.
But the Times has thus far ignored the counterexample raised by conservatives of comedian and HBO "Real Time" host Bill Maher, who used a far more vile word to describe Republican Sarah Palin in March 2011. (The word's very offensiveness makes it unprintable, unlike Limbaugh's "slut," comment, a standard of obscenity that actually shields Maher.)
It's looking more and more like Bozell's initial, grudging criticism of Limbaugh was just for show. Like a loyal dittohead, Bozell probably really believes that Fluke is a slut and deserved Limbaugh's denigration.
The only problem with that, of course, is that his current war against liberal offenders makes him nothing less than a total hypocrite.
AIM's Kincaid Still Can't Quite Admit Proposed Uganda Law Would Kill Gays Topic: Accuracy in Media
For the past two years, Accuracy in Media's Cliff Kincaid has championed a proposed draconian anti-gay law in Uganda while denying the fact that it would permit the death penalty for mere homosexuality. Now, Kincaid is pushing the law again in defense of an American anti-gay activist accused of helping to inspire the law.
In a March 15 AIM column, Kincaid writres that the proposed law "had a death penalty provision for certain homosexual acts, such as sex with children." In fact, as we've documented, the proposed law counts "aggravated homosexuality" -- which the law defines as, among other things, a previous conviction for homosexual behavior -- as an offense punishable by death.
Nevertheless, Kincaid insists that the U.S. media "falsely called" the propsed law the "Kill the Gays bill" -- even though that's exactly what it would do.
Kincaid spends most of his column defending anti-gay activist Scott Lively from a "frivolous lawsuit" filed by "the George Soros-funded Center for Constitutional Rights" accusing Lively of crimes against humanity for his role in advising Ugandan lawmakers on the anti-gay law. Kincaid claims that Lively is being target for merely "criticizing homosexuality during a trip to Uganda." In fact, the CCR accuses him of much deeper involvement:
Scott Lively has been working with anti-gay forces in Uganda since 2002. In March 2009, Lively, along with two other U.S. Evangelical leaders, headlined a three-day conference intended to expose the “gay movement” as an “evil institution” and a danger to children. Lively likened the effects of his advocacy to a “nuclear bomb” in Uganda and stated that he hopes it is replicated elsewhere. The Anti-Homosexuality Bill emerged one month later with provisions that reflected Lively’s input. As in Uganda, Lively aims to criminalize LGBT advocacy elsewhere and has worked with religious and political leaders in Russia, Moldova and Latvia to that end. He states he has spoken on the topic of homosexuality in almost 40 countries and advises that “the easiest way to discourage ‘gay pride’ parades and other homosexual advocacy is to make such activity illegal.”
Kincaid uncritically repeats Lively's defense that he opposes any death-penalty provisions in the proposed Uganda bill, but no documentation is offered to back up Lively's story.
Kincaid selectively quoted from an Open Society Institute blog post, writing that "the Open Society Institute acknowledged that its 'Initiative for Eastern Africa' had drawn 'scrutiny from conservative leaders' in Uganda 'for supporting sexual minority groups.'" The blog post details the OSI's effort to purchase a newspaper ad space for a tribute to murdered Ugandan gay activist David Kato, noting that one newspaper group demanded the OSI soften language stated the undisputed fact that gays in Uganda "are routinely subject to arbitrary arrests, hate speech, torture, vigilante violence, and persecution." Does Kincaid support this kind of censorship?
Kincaid also whined:
For simply reporting on Uganda’s efforts to save their nation from Soros and his international networks, this columnist was falsely attacked as someone supporting death for homosexuals. The obvious purpose of such attacks is to silence critics of homosexuality and the Soros agenda for the U.S. and Africa.
Well, if Kincaid is supporting this law -- and he gives no evidence he has changed his mind about it -- he is indeed supporting death for homosexuals. It's not anyone else's fault but his own that he can't deal honestly with the facts.
NewsBusters Hates the Comedy Defense -- Except for Limbaugh Topic: NewsBusters
Scott Whitlock uses a March 16 NewsBusters post to complain that Stephen colbert said that the Taliban "evidently have a better track record on women's issues" than Rush Limbaugh. Whitlock further complains:
Liberals, including Colbert and Jon Stewart themselves, will immediately jump to the "we're just comedians" defense. However, considering that outlets like MSNBC routinely promote their clips and portay them simply as cultural satirists, it's worth noting the extreme, often hateful tilt of their comedy.
Whitlock seems to have forgotten that his NewsBusters colleagues defended Rush Limbaugh's misogynistic attack on Sandra Fluke as a joke.
As we've documented, Whitlock's fellow MRC employee Brent Baker said of Limbaugh's hateful demand that he wantsvideo of Fluke having sex: "Obviously, a bit of humor which escaped the overly-sensitive left-wing/media axis always looking to be offended." And another MRC co-worker, Ken Shepherd, insisted that Limbaugh was speaking "facetiously" when he denigrated a female author by saying, "What is it with all these young, single white women, overeducated -- doesn't mean intelligent."
It's more than a bit hypocritical of Whitlock to denounce the comedian defense when his own co-workers used the exact same defense to try and protect Limbaugh.
Farah Falsely Smears Fluke As 'Avowed Fornicator,' 'Slut' Topic: WorldNetDaily
Joseph Farah apparently loves Rush Limbaugh so much -- they worked together in the 1980s when Limbaugh was a local radio host in Sacramento and Farah was dragging the Sacramento Union even farther to the right -- he mindlessly repeats his most sleazy insults.
Rush Limbaugh calls an avowed fornicator who testified publicly before Congress about the financial hardship of paying for contraceptives a “slut,” which she is, according to the dictionary definition, and dozens of national advertisers capitulate to boycott threats.
We're not sure what "dictionary definition" of "slut" Farah is referring to here, but given that Sandra Fluke has never discussed her sex life in public, let alone in her congressional testimony, it can't be a volume existing on this plane of reality.
It seems that Fluke has a more credible claim of defamation against Farah than Farah has against Esquire magazine.
It's hardly the sign of a competent media critic when he starts channeling 20-year-old teen movies. But that's how Noel Sheppard reacts to Rosie O'Donnell losing her TV show on the Oprah Winfrey Network. Sheppard states this in a March 17 NewsBusters post:
I really am deeply saddened by this news and wish my former classmate all the best...NOT!
There you have it: Sheppard channels the juvenelia of "Wayne's World" to offer "media criticism."
WND Baselessly Claims Man Who Threatened Arpaio Is A 'Fanantical Supporter' of Obama Topic: WorldNetDaily
A March 14 WorldNetDaily article states that "A Tennessee man described as an Obama 'fanatic' has been convicted of threatening to kill Arizona Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his family, possibly in connection with the lawman’s investigation into the president’s eligibility for office." The article goes on to state that "Authorities say [Adam Eugene] Cox’s postings indicate – and his own mother confirms – that Cox is a 'fanatical supporter' of Obama." The "fanatical supporter" quote is repeated in a March 16 WND article by Joe Kovacs featuring Rush Limbaugh's claim that themedia is ignoring the threat against Arpaio.
Even though the articles put "fanatical supporter" in quotes, the person who said that is never identified. Turns out it's Arpaio himself -- and he's wrong.
The Phoenix New Times points out that despite Arpaio's description of Cox as an "Obama fanatic" conflicts with his actual writings, in which he claims "Satan "ordered" him to kill "birthers" to spark a war between political parties in order to decrease the population in America.
Just consider this another part of WND's sucking up to Arpaio in order to keep him promoting the WND birther agenda.
MRC's Graham: What Are All Those Gays Doing At the White House? Topic: NewsBusters
Tim Graham is having another anti-gay freakout, folks.
The headline of Graham's March 16 NewsBusters post reads, "Was Obama Playing Politics By Loading State Dinner Guest List With Gays?" Graham goes on to note that "fifteen prominent gays" attended the state dinner at the White House for British prime minister David Cameron. He then goes on to list them, noting that this may be part of an effort to "end the media-enabled charade that Obama (the 'committed Christian') opposes 'marriage equality.'"
Of course, Graham has long been a gay-basher, and this obsession with gays at the White House is just another part of that.
As Obama’s favorability ratings keep bouncing back up toward 50 percent, the only plausible explanation is that close to half of America’s voting public is so addicted to government benefits that they are prepared to re-elect a Marxist who has clearly demonstrated that he intends to completely free himself of the constraints of the Constitution.
Put in the most simple terms, we are at a crossroads because Barack Obama has brought us there. He is the first genuine Marxist to sit in the White House, and his agenda is to dismantle our capitalist economy and destroy American influence in the world.
Obama’s policies place us at this crossroads of history. This year is different because there will be no turning back from the road to European-style socialism and Caesarism if Barack Obama wins a second term. Rick Santorum understands this.
The fish stinks from the head down, and this is Obama’s foreign policy. Is it any wonder that jihadist attempts in this country have skyrocketed under this president?
There have been many people in the history of the world who called evil good and good evil. None of them lasted very long. America has had presidents before who called good evil and evil good, but none, I believe, with the audacity of Barack Obama.
What makes matters even more perilous, notwithstanding the desire of these mullahs to not only obliterate the promised land of Jews and Christians, Israel, but to wipe the United States off of the face of the map as well with their soon-to-be-manufactured atomic weapons and long-range missiles capable of being delivered to our shores, is the now transparent fact that our own so-called president, Barack Hussein Obama, is in at least his heart also a Muslim. This, more than anything else, explains his near complete disdain, if not hatred, for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the nation of Israel.
[...]
Whether it is siding with radical Islamic groups like the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and other Arab states, resulting in the overthrow of leaders like former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and others friendly to Israel and the West, or taking no real action, save for meaningless so-called economic sanctions to “stop” the Iranian march to nuclear weapons, Obama is no Roosevelt of Churchill! Instead, he is apparently bent on furthering Islamic domination around the world and cutting the United States, with its Judeo-Christian roots, down to size. And, if you think this is too far a stretch, then study the history of Obama’s Kenyan father, who as a proud anti-neocolonialist, socialist and Muslim despised the United States and the West. Indeed, this scenario, an American president like Obama, being so heavily influenced by his father, is why our Founding Fathers wrote into the Constitution, and the Supreme Court has agreed, that an American president must be a “natural born citizen” who is the offspring of two American citizens.
So the Obama problem is not just a Netanyahu-Israeli problem, but our own collective problem. The plain fact is that we have not only a socialist, but, even more dangerous, a Muslim sympathizer and traitor in the White House.
And that is why we all are in such peril, not just the state of Israel.
On the other hand, our dear leader in the White House shows a great deal of compassion toward his favorite world citizens, Mideast Muslims. He cheered the protesters in Egypt, yet ignored pro-Western protesters in Iran who were hoping at least to receive his moral support.
Sure, President Barack Hussein Obama – a Muslim sympathizer not coincidentally born to a socialist Muslim Kenyan father – has intentionally been negligent, along with his Democratic comrades, in allowing this cancer to grow to the point where it not only is an imminent threat to Israel, but also Europe and the United States – but Republicans as well bear a significant responsibility for the mess we now find ourselves in.
[...]
Obama is a traitor, but there has been no political counterweight to his treachery from the other party. We no longer have a republic, but just a bunch of dangerous political hacks from both sides of the aisle occupying time, space and “growing fat” in Washington, D.C., at our expense!
Almost every week brings a new reason for the United States House of Representatives to bring impeachment charges against President Obama. The question of the day is not why he should be impeached but why it hasn’t already been done.
MRC Doesn't Back Up Attack on 'GCB' Topic: Media Research Center
A March 12 MRC Culture & Media Institute article by Lauren Thompson attacks the new TV show "GCB," claiming it has a "true agenda of degrading Christianity, conservatives, and Texans." Thompson goes on to assert that the show contained "a total of 72 attacks on the Christian faith" in its first two episodes, with the second episode alone "mocking Christianity a total of 42 times."
Strangely, though, Thompson provides no list of all 72 instances of these "attacks."
Why? Certainly Thompson made a list of the alleged offenses -- that's how she knows there are 72 of them. Why not post that list along with her article?
We're guessing that at least some of those purported "attacks" are specious at best, designed to run up the numbers in order to bash the show.
So, Ms. Thompson, what are you afraid of? Post the entire list.
Newsmax Remains Unenthused About Romney Topic: Newsmax
As with the aftermath of Super Tuesday, the aftermath of Tuesday's primaries in Mississippi and Alabama is continuing to leave Newsmax less than enthused about the prospect of Mitt Romney as the Republican presidential nominee.
Here are a couple post-election headlines from Newsmax:
In addition, before the election, Newsmax CEO Christopher Ruddy posted a column that began: "I am continually amazed how those at the Romney campaign continue to act victorious when they have such a poor case to make about cinching the nomination."
Ouch. None of this unenthusiasm, by the way, precludes Newsmax fromcranking up its hype machine for Romney should he actually get the nomination. It's done that sort of flip-flop before.
Brent Bozell Demands That Obama Break the Law Topic: Media Research Center
Not content with merely dispiaying rampant hypocrisy in attacking liberals who say offensive things in order to distract fromthe offensive things Rush Limbaugh has said, Brent Bozell has expanded to launching a really dumb attack on President Obama.
For the past several days, Bozell has been tweeting this message, changing the number of days appropriately: "Obama's had XX days to decide what to do with misogynist Bill Maher's $1 million check. It should have taken one."
First, Maher did not donate that $1 million to Obama; he donated to Obama's PAC, which by law Obama has no control over. By asking Obama to direct his PAC to do something, Bozell is asking Obama to break the law.
Second, Bozell's raginbg hypocrisy again rears its ugly head. Whatever day Bozell lists as Obama havnig not yet decided "what to do with misogynist Bill Maher's $1 million check" is the exact same number of days Bozell has had to issue meaningful criticism of Rush Limbaugh's misogyny, and he has utterly failed to do so. As the man said, it should have taken one.
Why should anyone take direction from Bozell when he doesn't even have the basic decency to genuinely criticize Limbaugh for the same misogyny he bashes others for? We can't think of a reason.
Farah Laughably Claims He's Never Said Anything 'Hateful or Defamatory' About Gays Topic: WorldNetDaily
A March 14 WorldNetDaily article brands the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation's new Commentator Accountability Project -- which seeks to track statements made by anti-gay activists -- as an "enemies list" whose goal is "to limit the effectiveness of their media outreach."
The article includes the responses from numerous people on that list, one of which is WND's very own Joseph Farah:
In response, Farah said he has never spoken a hateful or defamatory word about homosexuals in his life.
“The Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation should more accurately be called the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Criticism,” said Farah. “These people actually believe that if you have a different viewpoint and a different value system from them you are a hate-filled, bigoted monster. Here’s a group that claims in its own name that it is ‘against defamation,’ but actively defames those with whom it has disagreements. Not one example of hateful or defamatory language is offered as evidence against any of those listed in this report.”
Here are some of the things Farah has said about gays that we are to believe are not "hateful or defamatory":
Likening those to favor the legality of gay marriage to terrorists.
Expressing unhappiness that Rick Perry doesn't hate gays as much as he does, and advocating the dissolution of the United States over gay marriage.
Is angry that homosexuality is no longer defined as a psychiatric disorder.
Additionally, he employs a rabid homophobe as a White House correspondent, Les Kinsolving, who Farah has granted a weekly space to denigrate gays.
It's also laughable that Farah is portraying others as censors when his own website does the very same censoring of views it opposes. John Woodman, anyone?
CNS Oil Industry Shilling Watch Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com keeps up its shilling for the oil industry -- which has funded CNS' parent, the Media Research Center -- in a spate of recent articles.
In a March 13 article, Penny Starr lets the American Petroleum Institute uncritically attack Interior Secretary Ken Salazar’s claim that the oil and gas industry is not taking advantage of the leases it already holds. Starr does not permit anyone to respond to the API's claims.
Melanie Hunter managed to derive three separate articles out of a C-SPAN interview with former Shell Oil President John Hofmeister. The first, in which Hofmeister claims that, in Hunter's words, "the U.S. won’t have enough oil to fill gas tanks whatever the price and that high gas prices could lead to another recession," is seemingly contradicted by the second, in which Hofmeister notes that the recession has reduced U.S. demand foroil, and has a result "the [oil] companies are not just going to let gasoline sit in storage tanks, when the demand by Americans has been reduced. They’re going to sell it outside the country, which is what they’re doing."
Hunter seems uninterested in exploring whether U.S. oil needs would be better met if oil companies weren't exporting U.S. petroleum products.
The third article reinforces the right-wing talking point that most new drilling takes place on private land and that federal land permits have been "dramatically reduced in the last several years."cns
Hypocritical Bozell Accuses MSNBC of Hypocrisy Topic: Media Research Center
Brent Bozell writes to MSNBC president Phil Griffin:
Dear Mr. Griffin,
Your network, working on marching orders from Media Matters, is on a mission to take Rush Limbaugh off the air. Far from being an independent journalistic enterprise, MSNBC is the very essence of a political lapdog of the far left.
Just last night on MSNBC, Ed Schultz, Al Sharpton, and Lawrence O’Donnell all devoted time on their programs attacking Rush. In each case, they grabbed at thin air looking, looking, looking for the opportunity shamelessly to keep the story alive.
These assaults by MSNBC have nothing to do with what he said about Sandra Fluke, and everything to do with censoring prominent voices on the right. Gas prices are nearing $4 a gallon, the unemployment rate hovers over 8%, the US debt is soaring to astronomical highs, but MSNBC is too busy to cover these legitimate news stories. Instead you go after Rush.
And you're doing it in the most hypocritical manner imaginable.
While your network continues to attack Rush, you personally continue to employ Ed Schultz. Ed Schultz, the man who called Laura Ingraham a “right wing slut.”
[...]
If what Rush said is so offensive that it deserves your network's obsession with having him removed, then what are you going to do about a host who has a history of insults a hundred-fold worse than anything Limbaugh has ever said? Unless you fire Ed Schultz, you are a complete hypocrite.
It's time you take responsibility for hiring and promoting this hate-filled misogynist, and resign.
Hoo-boy. Where to begin?
We have the utterly shameless hypocrisy of a man who has offered nothing but the most tepid, milquetoast criticism of Rush Limbaugh's misogyny lecturing somebody else on hypocrisy about offensive remarks.
We have a man who has a regular weekly slot on Fox News, the political lapdog of the far right, lecturing somebody else about purported "marching orders from Media Matters" (which he offers no evidence of) and media bias.
We have someone who is paying his employees handsomely to steer the topic of discussion to anything except Rush lecturing someone about covering Rush.
And how, exactly, did Bozell calculate that Limbaugh calling Fluke a slut and a prostitute, that she's "having so much sex she can't afford her own birth control pills," that she's "round-heeled," that she "wants to be paid to have sex," and that she should "post the videos online so we can all watch" -- a torrent of sleaze inspired by one of Bozell's own employees, Craig Bannister -- is oneone-hundreth the insult of any single thing Ed Schultz said? Does the fact that Limbaugh is a conservative and, thus, is granted immunity by Bozell for these sleazy insults play a major role in that calculation?
If MSNBC must fire Schultz, Bozell must demand that Limbaugh not only be fired from his radio show but also that he return his Buckley award to the MRC. Unless that happens, he's an even more complete hypocrite than he already was.
WND Presents Pro-Birther News Report As 'Balanced' Topic: WorldNetDaily
A March 13 WorldNetDaily article touts the "stunner" of a purportedly "balanced" news report by a CBS affiliate in Phoenix on the press conference for the "investigation" by Joe Arpaio's cold case posse into President Obama's "eligibility."
But if you watch the segment, it's clear that it's slanted in favor of uncritically presenting only what the posse concluded, and there's no "balance" whatsoever in the form of telling the other side of the story, which is that birthers are pushing discredited conspiracy theories.
Funny idea of "balance" there, WND.
WND also presents as a "stunning challenge" birther posse leader Mike Zullo's claim that anyone who thinks the posse's conclusions are nothing but "B.S." should prove it.
But as WND should know by now -- but won't tell its readers about -- the posse's claims have been discredited. WND doesn't actually care about "balance."
