Dubious Poll? Topic: The ConWeb
Last week, both CNSNews.com and NewsMax touted a poll conducted by Richard Viguerie's ConservativeHQ.com, which claims among other things that 77 percent of respondents are either seriously disappointed with Republican Congressional leaders or want them replaced and that 70 percent would support a "principled conservative challenger" running against an "established incumbent Republican" in a 2006 GOP primary.
But one question not answered by any documentation released thus far: How reliable is this poll? ConservativeHQ states only that it was an "on-line poll of 1,028 conservative activists and donors." "Online poll" conjures up images of unreliable, easily gamed opt-in polls; an earlier memo from Viguerie, however, states that the poll was sent to "tens of thousands of conservative donors and grassroots activists around the country."
So, while this poll is likely not as unreliable as an opt-in poll, it is also not as reliable as a regular poll conducted by a polling firm. Only a thousand or so responses from "tens of thousands" sent out is not necessarily representative, since only the most motivated and/or frustrated will take the time to respond to it. The quickness to which conservative outlets such as NewsMax and CNS and Viguerie's history as a conservative organizer and motivator (not to mention the descriptions of "principled conservative challenger" and "established incumbent Republican," which implants the image in the respondent's mind that the incumbent is, by definition, not "principled") also indicate that it's a poll to be taken with at least a small grain of salt.
Botching Berger Facts Topic: Newsmax
A Feb. 3 NewsMax article takes a swipe at former Clinton national security adviser Sandy Berger that the facts don't support.
The article's claim that Berger pleaded guilty "to stealing and destroying top secret national security documents in a bid to thwart the 9/11 Commission investigation" ignores two salient facts:
-- The documents Berger took and/or destroyed were copies, not originals, so no information was lost.
-- Since no information was lost -- and since Berger was cleared of the allegation that he withheld information from the 9/11 Commission -- NewsMax's claim that Berger was trying to "to thwart the 9/11 Commission investigation" makes no sense.
Bankrolling Topic: Newsmax
The headline on a Feb. 4 NewsMax article sure sounds sinister: "Teresa Heinz Bankrolling Hillary Clinton." Well, not exactly.
In fact, as the article describes, Teresa Heinz Kerry donated $2,100 to Clinton's campaign. Hardly a "bankrolling" for for a campaign that, according to an Associated Press article NewsMax posted the same day, raised $6 million in the last three months of 2005.
Note to NewsMax: This is not bankrolling. Richard Mellon Scaife's financing of NewsMax? Now that's bankrolling.
Selling It Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Feb. 4 WorldNetDaily article introduces WND's newest advertisers; unlike last time, this article actually names them.
The article, which touts how advertisers support WND, starts off this way:
Do you like getting your news for free?
How about hard-hitting reporting with no sacred cows?
Mychal Massie, Hypocrite Topic: WorldNetDaily
Poor Mychal Massie ... he doesn't know when to stop condemning behavior he engages in himself. First, we caught him denouncing Rep. Charles Rangel for saying that "George Bush is our Bull Connor" when Massie himself has a history of making the comparison.
Well, he's at it again. A new Project 21 press release attacking NAACP chairman Julian Bond for, among other things, likening Republicans to Nazis, saying, "The Republican Party would have the American flag and the swastika flying side by side." According to the Project 21 press release:
"Julian Bond's tirades serve only to further reduce the once-great standing of the NAACP in our society," added Project 21 member Mychal Massie. "Bond's rank partisanship must call into question the legitimacy of the NAACP's political neutrality and its charitable tax status."
Massie's response would be much less hypocritical if he didn't have his own history of comparing Democrats to Nazis:
-- "So, not unlike Hitler prior to his demise or Saddam Hussein as he fled Kuwait, the liberal special-interest groups have instructed their public personifications to scorch the earth with absolute lies, distortion and a zeitgeist of intimidation and calumny." -- May 24, 2005
-- "George Banzhaf and the cigarette/fast-food Nazis complain and litigate against tobacco companies and MacDonald's [sic] because of alleged health risks. But where is their rancor at the depletion of community resources due to the uncontrolled numbers of anchor babies born here?" -- Aug. 2, 2005
Just who, exactly, appointed Mychal Massie anyone's moral arbiter?
P.S. Let's not forget conservatives' long history of comparing liberals and Democrats to Nazis, further upping the hypocrisy factor in criticizing Bond.
UPDATE: WorldNetDaily repeats Massie's hypocritical Project 21 quote in its Feb. 4 article on reaction to Bond's statements.
Now, for every liberal who claimed Bush lied. For every printed article that passed on the claim, and every TV channel that did as well. Will you devote yourself to pursuing the claims of Gen. Sada as aggressively as you passed on the disinformation about Bush's truthfulness?
Only if you explain why the Bush administration has not expressed any support of Sada's claims and why Sada appears to be hanging out only with right-wing Christians who won't challenge his claims.
NewsMax, CNS Ignore Boehner's Ethics Problems Topic: Newsmax
A Feb. 2 NewsMax article by Paul Rodriguez plays up newly elected House majority leader John Boehner's claims to be a reformer on ethics. Missing from the article are any references to Boehner's own ethicial problems, such as passing out checks from tobacco lobbyists on the House floor or receiving $32,500 from Indian tribes linked to Jack Abramoff, a problem since the tribes dramatically increased their donations to Republicans after hooking up with Abramoff.
Twoarticles at CNSNews.com also fail to mention Boehner's ethics problem, though one obliquely refers to DNC chairman Howard Dean being critical of Boehner's "ties" to Abramoff.
CNS Fulfills Low Expectations Topic: CNSNews.com
In her Feb. 2 CNSNews.com article on Georges Sada's claims regarding Iraqi weapons of mass destruction, Sherrie Gossett does exactly what we predicted she would -- presents his claims without challenge (beyond previous reports on the issue that Sada was contradicting), doesn't bring up Sada's affiliation with conservatives or his Christian-oriented publisher.
As good as it feels to be proven right, CNS had a very low bar to clear. It's still just stenography, not journalism.
Then and Now Topic: Media Research Center
"How much did Baldwin believe in the 'legal process' during the impeachment effort? Recall how on NBC’s Late Night with Conan O’Brien on December 11, 1998 he jumped up from his chair and shouted: 'I'm going to stone Henry Hyde to death!'"
"Tasteless, perhaps, but clearly not to be taken literally."
-- MRC's Tim Graham, in a Feb. 2 NewsBusters post on a New York Times report that noted a blogger writing about the producers of the Christian-oriented film "End of the Spear" who cast a gay actor in a lead role that "it would probably be an overreaction to firebomb these men’s houses."
NewsBusters Schadenfreude Topic: NewsBusters
Wow -- Mithridate Ombud (aka Bruce Rheinstein) really wants to see the video ABC's Bob Woodruff was shooting before the bomb went off. Or does he just want to take a little sadistic pleasure in watching a journalist get blown up?
We've added this to our new article on NewsBusters' extreme rhetoric.
New Article: Going to Extremes Topic: NewsBusters
Writers and commenters at the MRC's NewsBusters blog dehumanize journalists and whitewash terrorist acts. Is this any way for a division of a multimillion-dollar organization to behave? Read more.
WND Rented House for Klein in Gaza Topic: WorldNetDaily
Well, this is interesting. In an interview with Jewish Press on the implication of wearing (or not wearing) yarmulkes in Israel, WND Jerusalem reporter Aaron Klein drops this little factoid in reference to his coverage of the Gaza disengagement:
Several months before the Gaza evacuation, WorldNetDaily rented part of a house in Gush Katif and I went there regularly.
So WND can afford to rent houses in Gaza -- presumably from the same settlers Klein got to be so buddy-buddy with to the point that he whitewashed their violent extreme-right backgrounds in his articles on the Gaza disengagement. Such a relationship indicates further that he has no intention of reporting a straight story; as we've noted, he's doing the same thing in his coverage of conflicts in the West Bank.
Jewish Press calls itself "the largest independent Jewish newspaper in the United States," though it appears to be a right-leaning publication. It considers Meir Kahane, he of the right-wing, violence-linked Kach/Kahane Chai movement, as merely one of its "colorful and thought-provoking writers." Klein writes a column called "Quick Takes" for Jewish Press, which, judging by his Feb. 1 column, are summaries of his WND work.
Klein also adds: "I have been privileged with the opportunity to report news accurately to millions of people every day. I'd rather get to the areas so that I can report and people can read what is really going on and not what CNN is reporting." Of course, as we've documented, "reporting news accurately" is not what Klein is doing.
Kerry Hostility Topic: NewsBusters
In a Feb. 1 NewsBusters post, Rich Noyes used the following words to describe John Kerry's appearance on NBC's "Today":
rant complaining sarcastically shot back plowed on finally paused for air screed
But where's the reference to Kerry being haughty and French-looking? In a companion post by Mark Finkelstein.
