In a June 9 NewsBusters post, Tom Blumer criticizes President Obama's use of the term "create or save jobs" by embracing a Wall Street Journal op-ed by former George W. Bush speechwriter William McGurn. Blumer dutifully cut-and-pasted McGurn's quoting of former Bush communications aide Tony Fratto's claim that "We would never have used a formula like 'save or create.'"
Nowhere does Blumer mention that Fratto's claim is false -- as Media Matters notes, the Bush administration did make use of the "save or create" formula.
Ah, but such shoddy work is what we've come to expect from Blumer, isn't it?
Speaking of shoddy blogging from Blumer, Sadly, No! reports that a Blumer post attacking the media for not noting that acounty prosecutor in Florida for allegedly harrassing a pizza delivery woman was not a Democrat 1) ignored that the prosecutor in question was a career employee, not an elected official, and 2) failed to offer any proof that the prosecutor was, in fact, a Democrat. Blumer's post was deleted by NewsBusters without explanation or apology.
Meanwhile, here's a Google cache of the same post at Blumer's BizzyBlog, where we could also find no evidence of an explanation or apology.
AIM's Kline Confuses Critical Thinking, Partisan Attacks Topic: Accuracy in Media
Accuracy in Academia's Malcolm Kline asserts in a June 9 Accuracy in Media column: "Critical thinking seems to have eluded the media and academic elites in their mostly gushing reaction to the President's speech on the Middle East, given in Cairo. Fortunately, the people who really know something about the issues involved are attempting to fill the void." But the people Kline calls upon to "fill the void" -- that is, to attack Obama -- have their own problems, and Kline offers no evidence that they "really know something about the issues involved."
Kline first cites Frank Gaffney, who complains that "There was not one reference to terrorism, let alone Islamic terrorism." At no point do Kline or Gaffney acknowledge that Obama made numerous references to "violent extremism," let alone explain why that is not a reference to terrorism.
Gaffney stated that Obama "referred four times in his speech to 'the Holy Koran,'" adding, "It seems unimaginable that he ever would ever use the adjective to describe the Bible or the Book of Mormon." In fact, Obama did reference the "Holy Bible" during his speech.
Kline and Gaffney also take Obama out of context, highlighting Obama's statement that "I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear" but failing to note what Obama said immediately after that:
But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. (Applause.) Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words -- within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum -- "Out of many, one."
Further, Kline fails to mention a separate attack by Gaffney on Obama that calls his so-called expertise into question and highlights the partisan nature of his critique. In a June 9 Washington Times column -- reprinted by Newsmax -- Gaffney wrote:
During his White House years, William Jefferson Clinton -- someone Judge Sonia Sotomayor might call a "white male" -- was dubbed "America's first black president" by a black admirer. Applying the standard of identity politics and pandering to a special interest that earned Mr. Clinton that distinction, Barack Hussein Obama would have to be considered America's first Muslim president.
This is not to say, necessarily, that Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim any more than Mr. Clinton actually is black. After his five months in office, and most especially after his just-concluded visit to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, however, a stunning conclusion seems increasingly plausible: The man now happy to have his Islamic-rooted middle name featured prominently has engaged in the most consequential bait-and-switch since Adolf Hitler duped Neville Chamberlain over Czechoslovakia at Munich.
[...]
In the final analysis, it may be beside the point whether Mr. Obama actually is a Muslim. In the Speech and elsewhere, he has aligned himself with adherents to what authoritative Islam calls Shariah -- notably, the dangerous global movement known as the Muslim Brotherhood -- to a degree that makes Mr. Clinton's fabled affinity for blacks pale by comparison.
Kline's other so-called expert is Jim Kouri, whom he describes only as "vice president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police." Kline, who presents Kouri as someone with expertise on the Quran, offers no evidence that Kouri is among "the people who really know something about the issues involved." Indeed, as we've detailed, Kouri is an Obama-hater who has made numerous unsupported attacks against the president; Kouri has also mounted a bizarre defense of the Branch Davidians.
Kline's selective quoting of Kouri conveniently hides the screed-like nature of the rant from which Kline is quoting. Unmentioned is Kouri's assertion that Obama "needs to be educated about Islamofascism, terrorism, and religous radicalism," his reference to "the sycophants who call themselves reporters," and his utterly unsupported claim that "I've heard some liberal-left newsman on a radio show say that Israel was engaged in 'state terrorism' against the Lebanese people."
Your Phil Brennan Bamboozlement of the Day Topic: Newsmax
Phil Brennan asserts in his June 9 Newsmax column that the Earth is "demonstrably cooling." As we've pointed out in Brennan's previous attempts to peddle this claim, the 11 warmest years on record occurred in the past 13 years, and most scientists believe the Earth remains in a warming trend.
Brennan also criticizes efforts to reduce "atmospheric levels of CO2 in the absurd belief that this benign gas necessary for plant health somehow causes global warming." In fact, as we've also noted, no one is claiming that carbon dioxide, in and of itself, is a pollutant, as Brennan suggests. Rather, scientists argue that excessive levels of CO2 in the atmosphere can have a polluting effect.
New Article: Keeping Up Appearances Topic: WorldNetDaily
To avoid harming the anti-abortion agenda, WorldNetDaily and CNS would rather that its readers not know certain things regarding the death of George Tiller, such as Randall Terry's reaction to it and the alleged killer's ties to Operation Rescue. Read more >>
The first Friday of June is to be recognized as National Doughnut Day. Appropriately, I think the poster child for said day is Barack Obama, because the two most popular kinds of doughnuts come in two types: one is a ring-shaped piece of dough covered with glitter and/or thick icing – the other is a piece of dough filled with jelly.
They may look good, and in moderation they may taste good, but the bottom line is they are about as good for you as the oil they are deep-fried in. They are hollow calories. They make you full for a short while – but in the end you need more calories, with the end result being you gain unhealthy weight.
That is what we have with Obama. He is a person covered in eye-appealing icing, with nothing in the middle, whose policies are the tangential equivalent of a crème/jelly-filled doughnut. He is without substance, and as a result of his administration, it will take tens of trillions of dollars to bail us out of the trillions of dollars of debt he is burying us under.
Is Joseph Farah Writing About Himself? Topic: WorldNetDaily
In his June 9 column, WorldNetDaily editor Joseph Farah is strangely vocal about Keith Olbermann's claims that Fox News shares some culpability in the killing of abortion doctor George Tiller by repeatedly attacking him on the channel. Farah offers no cogent defense of Fox News; rather, he attacks Olbermann, accusing him of wanting to having it both ways and claiming that he is inciting murder by naming people -- specifically, Farah -- to his nightly "Worst Person in the World" list.
Farah concludes by writing of Olbermann: "He'll lie. He'll deceive. He'll cheat. He'll distort. And, yes, he'll incite – even while accusing others of doing just what he does."
Isn't Farah talking about himself here?
Farah and WND have a long history of lies, distortion and deception, not to mention incitement -- as we've detailed, WND has attacked Tiller in the same manner that Fox News has, and the term "Tiller the killer" appears no less than 94 times on the WND website.
Is Farah really trying to cover his own butt here by issuing a pre-emptive strike on Olbermann? It appears so.
Farah's article is full of projection: He asserts that Olbermann built his show around "character assassination, partisan smears, predictable ideological tripe, party-line goose-stepping and self-important, self-righteous political correctness," won't retract his claims because "He knows no one else takes him seriously," and insisted that "in his desperation to establish an audience for his bloviating, Olbermann will continue to tear down others."
Much, if not all, of which can be said about Farah as well, though we suspect that Farah is still self-delusional enough to think that there are people who still take him seriously.
UPDATE: It's worth noting that Farah --unlike most anti-abortion activists -- has yet to denounce Tiller's shooting. He wrote in his June 4 column that "all responsible people have had the opportunity to denounce the murder of abortionist George Tiller," but he does not indicate that he himself is one of them.
Janet Porter's June 9 WorldNetDaily column is chock full of lies and disproven conspiracies.
She begins by asserting that the hate-crimes bill before Congress will provide "elevated protection to hundreds of sexual deviances, including pedophilia." It doesn't.
Porter then goes on to embrace the discredited conspiracy regarding closing Chrysler dealerships:
They said we couldn't let the auto industry go bankrupt. Now they have government control and bankruptcy. And with Obama's henchmen in the boardroom, the dealerships they're closing down have something in common: They're Republican. WorldNetDaily reporter Chelsea Shilling uncovered the facts: Only seven of the 789 closed dealerships were Democrats. And five of those seven gave money to Obama's opponents: Clinton or Edwards. Only two of the 789 dealerships gave money to Obama. Apparently their $200 and $250 contributions weren't enough to keep them open.
As we detailed, Schilling -- as well as all others pushing this conspiracy -- ignored the fact that car dealers as a whole overwhelmingly support Republicans, so it's no surprise that the closing dealers would be mostly Republican as well.
Porter has a longhistory of reporting false and dubious claims.
CNS Still Repeating Dubious Waterboarding Claim Topic: CNSNews.com
CNSNews.com just won't let go of making a claim even after considerable doubt has been raised about it.
A June 8 CNS article by Terry Jeffrey asserts once again that the waterboarding of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed disrupted the "second wave" plot to crash a hijacked airliner into a Los Angeles skyscraper. At no point does Jeffrey note -- as CNS has consistently refused to do -- that the Bush administration has claimed that the Los Angeles plot was foiled in February 2002, more than a year before Mohammed's capture in March 2003 -- meaning that waterboarding Mohammed could not have foiled it.
Newsmax's Patten Misleads on Unionization Bill Topic: Newsmax
A June 8 Newsmax article by David Patten asserts that the Employee Free Choice Act "would eliminate the current requirement that a vote to unionize must come via secret ballot."
In fact, what the bill eliminates is the employers' right to insist on holding a secret-ballot election to determine whether workers favored unionization. Employees would still have the right to hold a secret-ballot election.
Patten also states: "Making the ballot public, opponents contend, would open the door to union intimidation." At no point does he note that intimidation and harrassment of workers by employers oppose unionization is rife under current law.
The election of 2008 was no doubt an historic event in American history.
We elected the first multi-racial president who has lived in various countries amongst many different religions and cultures – a man who grew up in the Muslim faith as well as the Christian faith. He also received one of the finest educations available.
Given his background, there are many questions about where Barack Obama's true allegiance lies.
Examiner Doubles Down on Right-Wing Bias Topic: Washington Examiner
Media Bistro reports that the Washington Examiner is adding even more conservative activists to its staff.
David Freddoso -- who penned a misinformation-riddled attack book on Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign -- will be an investigative writer for the commentary section. Apparently he can't be trusted to report fairly, which means his work is banned from appearing in the regular news section.
Also joining as commentary managing editor is J.P. Freire, who formerly worked for the American Spectator. Last year, Freire was caught in a bit of hypocrisy, railing against the New York Times report that stafferson John McCain's campaign were concerned that the candidate was too close to lobbyist Vicki Iseman when the Spectator has a long history of reporting salacious rumors about Bill Clinton.
As we've detailed, the Examiner has pretty much outlawed non-conservative opinion on its editorial pages, a hardline stance that appears to be bleeding over into its news copy.
Newsmax Kerik Rehabilitation Watch Topic: Newsmax
As part of its continuing rehabilitation of Bernard Kerik, Newsmax published a June 7 column by Kerik weighing in on President Obama's speech in Cairo -- even though Kerik has demonstrated no known expertise in Middle East politics.
Floyd Brown Misleads on His Obama Smear Topic: WorldNetDaily
Floyd and Mary Beth Brown's June 5 WorldNetDaily column essentially demands a apology from people who criticized Floyd Brown's smear ad of Barack Obama during the 2008 presidential campaign, which asked if Obama was a Muslim. The Browns claim that Obama's "coming out to the Muslim world" has proven them right.
But Brown's ad was very disingenuous. As the Huffington Post's Sam Stein reported at the time:
There is much context left to fill. For starters, the school Obama attended at the time was Catholic -- a spokesman for Indonesia's Ministry of Religious Affairs said as much. And while someone did list Obama as a Muslim (the religion of his step father) on a document that required students to list religious affiliations, the campaign has insisted that it was a mistake.
[...]
Moreover, Brown's own ad concludes that the issue is inconsequential. "Maybe it doesn't matter if Obama were a Muslim back then," the spot goes, before questioning why he won't tell the truth now.
What may be more telling than the smear ad is the reaction that it engenders. Brown has a history of using barely discreet racist messaging to drive political discussion. So it is hardly a surprise to see him meddling in the Obama-is-a-Muslim affairs.
Further, at no point does Brown concede -- then or now -- that Obama is a Christian. He's too wedded to the Muslim smear.
President Obama used the first-person singular pronoun "I" 34 times on Monday when he announced he was nationalizing General Motors. He used “Congress” once and “law” not at all.
WND's Latest Lie on Obama Birth Certificate Topic: WorldNetDaily
One has to almost admire the sheer balls WorldNetDaily exhibits in outrightlying to its readers.
WND does it again in a June 7 article hyperbolically claiming that "The Hawaiian certification of live birth Barack Obama posted on his campaign website and distributed to select news organizations as proof he was a 'natural born citizen' would not be accepted as a 'birth certificate' even for some Hawaiian state government eligibility issues" -- though WND names exactly one issue for which that is the case, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. At no point does WND explain what the program does: lease lands to those of "native Hawaiian" ancestry. That is, "any descendant of not less than one-half part of the blood of the races inhabiting the Hawaiian Islands previous to 1778."
That is not a program Obama would be applying for, since we know his ancestry is not native Hawaiian, so whether his birth certificate is sufficient to apply for the program is irrelevant.
But that's not the lie. This is:
Obama's "citizenship" was never the question raised during the campaign or after the election. The issue raised by WND has consistently been that Obama failed to prove he was actually born in Hawaii and thus constitutionally qualified to become president as a "natural born citizen" – which requires that the birth took place in the United States.
Bull, bull, bull. If you're questioning whether Obama is a "natural born citizen," you're questioning his citizenship. And let's look in the WND archive to see how much WND is unconcerned with "citizenship":
