'The Best News Magazine in the World' Topic: WorldNetDaily
We missed this when we were detailing the logrolling WorldNetDaily is doing for David Kupelian's book (or maybe it wasn't there before), but the logrolling article promotes a "Special Offer" for those who buy Kupelian's book from WND:
When you order "The Marketing of Evil" from WorldNetDaily's online store, you can also receive – FREE – three issues of David Kupelian's elite monthly Whistleblower magazine, which many have called the best news magazine in the world.
No evidence is offered that anyone, let alone "many," thinks that Whistleblower is "the best news magazine in the world."
We skimmed through the book tonight at the bookstore, and yes, it has a version of his "media matrix" essay. And no, there's no mention of the matrix WND weaves.
NewsMax Pimps Bogus Poll Topic: Newsmax
In an Aug. 11 article, NewsMax turns to the last resort of publicity -- the meaningless, opt-in online poll -- to tout Jeanine Pirro.
While NewsMax concedes that the poll is "unscientific," it claims that "it continues a trend that began this week." No, it doesn't; the fact that the poll is unscientific means that it is not a true reflection of anything beyond the opinions of those to chose to vote in the poll.
Updates Topic: The ConWeb
-- NewsMax punts, runs only an AP article on the demise of its beloved Counter Clinton Library. Did NewsMax Media or Christopher Ruddy donate to it? Time to hunt down those donation records, since it was a 501(c)3 group that had to report donations to the IRS.
-- NewsMax also continues lying about Jamie Gorelick, ignoring history of "wall."
-- More whitewashing of Jeanine Pirro's 32-second gap, this time for CNSNews.com's Rich Galen: "I don't blame Ms. Pirro for that gaff [sic]. I blame the staff and the environment which we have created around public officials."
New Article: Where the Killer Is A Victim Topic: WorldNetDaily
Why does WorldNetDaily have as its Jerusalem reporter someone who is so cozy with a militant Jewish movement that he whitewashes and obscures its history of violence and extremism? An in-depth look at WND's Aaron Klein that began in ConWebBlog. Read more.
The He-Man Clinton-Haters Club Packs It In Topic: Newsmax
The Associated Press reports that the Counter Clinton Library, championed by the likes of NewsMax and John LeBoutillier as "the headquarters of the Stop Hillary Now campaign," has folded:
"I'm giving up," said Houston businessman Richard Erickson, who established nonprofit Counterlibe Inc. last year to fund construction of a Counter Clinton Library in Little Rock and another in Washington.
[...]
He said the Counter Clinton Library's Web site would be shut down soon. In addition to railing against the former president and his wife, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., the site touts what may have been the failed organization's biggest moment - a segment on Comedy Central's "The Daily Show" in which a fake news reporter makes fun of the group's very mission.
[...]
In a separate e-mail sent Wednesday, Erickson informed [former congressman Bob] Barr that he couldn't raise enough money to continue.
"Nearly every dime raised has gone to professional fundraisers and lawyers," Erickson wrote to Barr. "I cannot continue, in good conscience, to ask well-meaning people to donate to what they believe is a good cause, when the money will most likely be consumed in administrative and legal expenses."
Does this mean Scaife wouldn't bail 'em out?
Don't expect a NewsMax article on this until LeBoutiller figures out how to give it a positive spin.
Schlussel Slithers Back Topic: WorldNetDaily
ConWebWatch detailed the bizarre, contradictory rhetoric of Ann Coulter wannabe Debbie Schlussel back in 2001, when she was a WorldNetDaily columnist. Whether it was her taste in movies or insisting that a phone call from a congressman constituted harassment or her sports-as-war fetish, Schlussel could be counted on for, um, unusual takes on things. Then, WND dropped her, and she slid below the radar.
Well, Schlussel is apparently trying to make a comeback, overheated rhetoric and all. An Aug. 11 article at David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com claims that "Peter Jennings did more for the cause of Islamic terrorism than any media figure today." She drops the line "I won't dance on Jennings' grave" despite the fact that that is exactly what she's doing.
Horowitz, you'll recall, had an equally classy reaction to Jennings' death, so FrontPageMag is the perfect home for Schlussel's screed.
The Wall, Part 2 Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily has decided to join NewsMax in lying about Jamie Gorelick.
An Aug. 11 article quote the conservative blog Captain's Quarters as an authoritative source in claiming that "It was Gorelick who, as deputy attorney general in the Clinton Justice Department, established the wall of silence between intel and law enforcement."
Needless to say, there's no mention of the facts that Gorelick did not create the "wall," or that the Bush Justice Department renewed it shortly before 9/11.
She-Who-Must-Not-Be-Serious Topic: CNSNews.com
Most unintentionally funny commentary of the day: an Aug. 11 CNSNews.com piece by Jill S. Farrell, "a conservative communications and media relations professional," fretting that conservatives' constant attacks on Hillary Clinton are increasing her name recognition.
NewsMax Pirro Watch Topic: Newsmax
What we're watching for tonight: When it issues an original report on Jeanine Pirro's official announcement of her campaign for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat, will NewsMax make note of Pirro's 32-second dead spot when she lost a page of her speech?
UPDATE: We have our answer. It's buried toward the end of an article by Jim Meyers and dismissed as a "minor gaffe" being turned into a "big deal" by "New York's notoriously liberal press." Meyers spends the rest of the article trying to portray any media mention of the legal and sexual indiscretions of Pirro's husband as a "full-scale assault" by said liberal press.
Violent Extremists Topic: CNSNews.com
Susan Jones relies on the usual CNSNews.com labeling bias in an Aug. 10 article on NARAL Pro-Choice America's ad on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts -- "pro-life demonstrators" vs. "pro-abortion group" and "abortion advocate."
Jones also engages in a tortured defense of a brief Roberts filed in a case involving abortion protesters:
Moreover, Roberts' 1991 court brief did not support violent extremists; in that brief, Roberts argued against the use of an 1871 federal law to prosecute pro-life demonstrators. Those demonstrators included a man, Michael Bray, who previously (in 1985) had been convicted of conspiracy in connection with abortion clinic bombings.
So even though the defendants whose position Roberts supported in his brief were violent extremists, he was not actually supporting violent extremists. Got that?
Another Brick in NewsMax's Wall Topic: Newsmax
As it did with Winter Soldier, NewsMax can't stop lying about Jamie Gorelick.
An Aug. 9 article blames Gorelick, former deputy attorney general in the Clinton administration who NewsMax claims "was reportedly installed in her post at the insistence of then-first lady Hillary Clinton," for allegations that federal investigators did not act upon intelligence that had identified in 2000 four men who were eventually among the 19 hijackers who perpetrated 9/11, because she allegedly implemented a "wall" that prevented sharing of information between intelligence officials and criminal investigators.
In fact, as ConWebWatch has noted, Gorelick did not create that wall; it was created in 1978. And while NewsMax quotes former attorney general John Ashcroft claiming that Gorelick "built that wall" (based on a memo that Ashcroft had conveniently declassified in time for his testimony before the 9/11 Commission), NewsMax fails to note that Ashcroft's own deputy reaffirmed the guidelines Gorelick advocated a few months before 9/11.
More Michael Schiavo-Bashing Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com just can't stop smearing Michael Schiavo.
An Aug. 10 article by Jeff Johnson detailed that Schiavo received a group's "Distinguished Guardian of the Year" award, then rounded up not one, not two, but three critics to bash Schiavo and hurl accusations that Schiavo was not given an opportunity to respond to.
Small favors, though: Johnson somehow managed to avoid calling Michael's now-deceased wife "Terri Schindler-Schiavo," the name Terri's parents insisted on and which CNS used throughout most of the Terri Schiavo case.
Getting It Wrong About Winter Soldier (Again) Topic: Newsmax
A documentary about the Winter Soldier investigation will receive some screenings across the country -- which provides a new opportunity for NewsMax to lie about it.
An Aug. 10 article by Dave Eberhart claims that Vietnam veterans "believe the film was thoroughly discredited" and quotes anti-Kerry activist B.G. Burkett as saying, "It's pretty much settled now that much of the so-called atrocities was the product of outright fabrications and some even offered by persons with criminal records." Eberhart also calls the film "a campy favorite on the nation's college campuses" but doesn't explain how people confessing to war atrocities could be considered "campy." Another Aug. 10 article claims that the film "has been discredited by many vets."
But as ConWebWatch has previously noted, the Winter Soldier investigation has never been seriously discredited. Burkett's claims to that effect rely on a Navy report (which nobody can seem to find now) detailed by author Gunther Lewy, who now claims that he does not recall if he actually saw a copy of the report or was briefed on its contents.
Vox Does It Again Topic: WorldNetDaily Amanda at Pandagon has performed a fine takedown of WorldNetDaily columnist Vox Day's latest weirdly anti-women's rights column.
When last we saw Mr. Day, he was calling Hillary Clinton a Nazi.
