Topic: WorldNetDaily
Not only does WorldNetDaily have a soft spot for anti-abortion radicals of the type that killed George Tiller, it has common interests with the man who allegedly shot a guard at the Holocaust Museum. Read more >>
Tuesday, June 16, 2009
New Article: Feeding the Extremists
Topic: WorldNetDaily Not only does WorldNetDaily have a soft spot for anti-abortion radicals of the type that killed George Tiller, it has common interests with the man who allegedly shot a guard at the Holocaust Museum. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:43 AM EDT
MRC Wins the Perception War
Topic: Media Research Center The Media Research Center's war against David Letterman over a joke he told was based on a deliberately misleading bit of framing: that Letterman was deliberately referring to Sarah Palin's 14-year-old daughter in a quip about Palin’s daughter getting "knocked up" by baseball star Alex Rodriguez, when Letterman has made clear that he was referring to Palin's 18-year-old daughter. Brent Bozell blurred the distinction in his June 12 demand for an apology like a "real man" (Bozell, if you'll recall, had to be taken into court and forced to pay $3.5 million to World Wresting Entertainment before he apologized like a real man for telling lies). The MRC's Seton Motley joined Fox News in ignoring the distinction completely in a June 14 appearance, portraying Letterman's joke as specifically referring to the 14-year-old though Letterman has specifically said that wasn't the case. (Motley's Fox News appearance, by the way, follows the template -- Motley appeared solo was not identified as a conservative.) Motley also said of comparisons of the Letterman situation with that of Don Imus' offensive remark about the Rutgers women's basketball team: "None of this is defending Don Imus. For me, the MRC -- none of it. He was obnoxious, he was offensive." In fact, as we detailed at the time, the MRC was loath to directly criticize Imus over the remarks, reserving its wrath for people like Al Sharpton who highlighted the remarks, with Bozell himself calling them "the usual cast of professional victims." But the MRC, in declaring victory by getting Letterman to issue a more formal apology, gives away their game. Brent Baker wrtes in a June 15 MRC item that "Palin and conservatives were outraged and demanded an apology and retraction for a 'joke' seemed aimed at the 14-year-old daughter though Letterman said he was referring to the 18-year-old daughter." And who made Letterman's joke seem "aimed at the 14-year-old daughter"? Palin and conservatives. Baker quotes Letterman as saying, "It doesn't make any difference what my intent was, it's the perception." Again, who created the perception that Letterman said something so offensive that he must formally apologize? Palin and conservatives led by the MRC. Thus, the MRC wins the perception war against Letterman. Motley complained during his Fox News appearance that "It's just a matter of if you get into a grievance group situation ... there is no grievance group for conservatives, for conservative women." But the MRC is, in fact, one of many grievance groups on the right -- a fact Motley downplayed on Fox News. If the MRC didn't have a grievance to peddle, there was no reason for Motley to go on TV and Bozell to issue press releases. UPDATE: Letterman's more abject apology still isn't good enough for Bozell, who dismissed it as "slippery and Clintonian." And Bozell still wants to fight the perception war -- even though he already won -- by insisting there was "no perception, no misunderstanding" about Letterman's original joke.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:07 AM EDT
Updated: Tuesday, June 16, 2009 12:20 PM EDT
Monday, June 15, 2009
WND's False Headline
Topic: WorldNetDaily A June 15 WorldNetDaily article by Aaron Klein carries the headline: " 'U.S. told us don't take Netanyahu seriously,' " presented as a direct quote ascribed to a "senior Palestinian official." But the headline is a lie. Nowhere in Klein's article does that direct quote appear. Indeed, nowhere does Klein report that the Obama administration "told" the Palestinians anything, let alone to ignore statements by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. While Klein does quote a statement from a Palestinian official -- "We received encouraging signs from the Americans that we should not take seriously into consideration Netanyahu's speech"-- its meaning is different; a "sign" is not the same thing as being "told" something. Will WND fix this false headline? We shall see.
Posted by Terry K.
at 5:35 PM EDT
Examiner Ignores Full Story of IG Firing
Topic: Washington Examiner A June 15 Washington Examiner editorial attacked the Obama administration for firing Americorps inspector general Gerald Walpin over an investigation of Kevin Johnson, "a high-profile Obama political supporter and a friend of First Lady Michelle Obama" who is now mayor of Sacramento, in alleged misuse of AmeriCorps funds as an example of Obama's "gangster government." But the Examiner fails to tell the full story. As we've detailed, the U.S. Attorney in the case accused Walpin of hiding evidence in the Johnson investigation and making pronouncements in the media before discussing them with the attorney, and the punishment Walpin sought against Johnson -- which ultimately may have kept Sacramento from receiving federal stimulus money -- was out of proportion to previous sanctions for similar offenses. The Examiner also fails to mention an additional factor it no doubt likes due to its right-wing leanings: Walpin is a right-wing Republican and member of the right-wing Federalist Society who once introduced Mitt Romney at a Federalist Society meeting by saying that Romney served as governor of a state, Massachusetts, run by the "modern-day KKK ... the Kennedy-Kerry Klan." The Examiner's editorial was based on reporting by the Examiner's Byron York, who has similarly played down the U.S. attorney's criticism of Walpin. It's only in a web-only update to his June 12 column that York mentions the criticism, but only in a single paragraph, followed by several paragraphs of Walpin's response to it. A June 14 blog post by York completely ignores the U.S. attorney's criticism of Walpin. So York has clearly taken sides here and, like Walpin, is hiding exculpatory information -- which further highlights the Examiner's hard-right shift.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:44 PM EDT
Tom Blumer Cluelessness Watch
Topic: NewsBusters A June 14 NewsBusters post by noted maven of cluelessness Tom Blumer reports on an idea regarding Flint, Mich., published in the UK Telegraph, "that involves tearing down entire neighborhoods and simply abandoning them -- oops, I'm sorry, I meant to say, 'returning them to nature.'" Blumer adds: "Leave it to the British press to once again do the job of real reporting that U.S. journalists apparently won't do." Actually, the New York Times reported on this idea two months ago. Blumer also fails to mention the key reason this idea is being considered: the decline of the domestic automotive industry meant that Flint's population, as stated in the Telegraph, "has almost halved to 110,000," which "has left street after street in sections of the city almost entirely abandoned." Blumer does not offer an alternative idea for Flint. On the other hand, Blumer smears President Obama as "Dear Leader," so he's got that going for him. UPDATE: Dan Kildee, the county official portrayed in the Telegraph article as having been asked by the Obama administration to bring his demolition idea to 50 other U.S. communities, now says the Telegraph got it wrong. The discussion was about the larger "land bank" concept, in which cities can more easily take control of abandoned properties, not the demolition idea. Will Blumer tell readers about this important clarification? Don't count on it -- he has yet to correct his item to note that the Times addressed it two months ago.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:33 AM EDT
Updated: Monday, June 15, 2009 4:08 PM EDT
WND's Washington: Michael Savage = Prometheus
Topic: WorldNetDaily Just when we though Ellis Washington couldn't get any more slobberingly sycophantic toward the bile-filled Michael Savage, he manages to top himself. In his June 13 WorldNetDaily column, Washington has declared Savage to be nothing less than Prometheus:
You can wipe the drool off your chin now, Ellis.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:33 AM EDT
Sunday, June 14, 2009
Fired IG Runs to WND, Spins Misleading Conspiracy
Topic: WorldNetDaily A June 13 WorldNetDaily article by Drew Zahn features claims by Gerald Walpin, a former inspector general for the Corporation for National and Community Service, the federal office that oversees AmeriCorps, that he was fired by the Obama administration because he "filed two reports exposing gross misappropriation of federal AmeriCorps funds by a prominent Barack Obama supporter." Zahn, however, does not appear to have any interest whatsoever in telling the full story, even though such information was available prior to the publication of his article. Zahn states that Walpin "Walpin dared to push for action against the St. HOPE Academy program – run by Obama supporter and former NBA star Kevin Johnson – which had misappropriated hundreds of thousands of dollars in federal AmeriCorps funds." But there's more to the story that Zahn doesn't tell. According to Talking Points Memo:
ABC's Jake Tapper further reports that the U.S. Attorney's office through which Walpin's charges would have been filed found that Walpin withheld exculapory information from the office -- in the office's words, Walpin "overstepped his authority by electing to provide my office with selective information and withholding other potentially significant information at the expense of determining the truth" -- and made pronouncements in the media before discussing them with the office, thus "hindering our investigation and handling of this matter." Walpin's actions, Tapper reports, "repeatedly offended officials of the US Attorney's office, to the point that the Republican-appointee in the US Attorney's office filed an official complain[t] aginst the Republican-appointed Inspector General." Zahn does not tell his readers the details of the U.S. attorney's complaints, but he wrote that Walpin "pointed out that the inspector general has not been found guilty of any misconduct, and the charges are disputed." Nor does Zahn report the important fact that Walpin is a Republican, as is the U.S. attorney who complained about him. Remember that WND has a history of lying and misleading about Obama, so expect Zahn to behave just like Walpin and withhold exculpatory information.
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:33 AM EDT
WND Ignores Birther's Prayer for Obama's Death
Topic: WorldNetDaily WorldNetDaily has already dismissed the alleged shooter of George Tiller as mentally ill and the alleged shooter of a guard at the Holocaust Museum as a liberal. How will it address the issue of someone praying for the death of President Obama? Former Southern Baptist Convention official Wiley Drake told radio host Alan Colmes last week that he's using "imprecatory prayer" to pray for the death of the "usurper that is in the White House," Barack Obama. WND loves Wiley Drake -- he's one of the people involved in the Obama birth certificate conspiracy as a plaintiff with Alan Keyes in one lawsuit on the issue. He has also endorsed preacher David Wilkerson's prediction of an "earth-shattering calamity" -- "riots and blazing fires" in New York City and across the East Coast -- in the near future. WND has also endorsed Drake's call of "imprecatory prayer" in begging God to rain on Obama's acceptance speech at the 2008 Democratic National Convention. (It didn't work.) But curiously, WND has not reported Drake's death threat on Obama. Why? As we've noted, WND has a habit of refusing to tell its readers facts that confict with its right-wing agenda. It's not good for right-wingers to be so overt about their hatred as Drake, so WND will send this down the memory hole, just as it did any evidence that Tiller's alleged killer, Scott Roeder, had closer ties to Operation Rescue that WND wants to admit, or any of Randall Terry's less-than-concilatory statements on Tiller's death. Because Drake went beyond WND's agenda, it seems WND will pretend he never said it at all.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:55 AM EDT
Saturday, June 13, 2009
Evidence, Please
Topic: NewsBusters Noel Sheppard, in defending Rush Limbaugh against a claim that he once portrayed Chelsea Clinton as the "White House dog," used a June 12 NewsBusters post to repeat another blog post that purports to depict the incident as a mistake and a misunderstanding and insisting that Limbaugh profusely apologized at the time. What's lacking, though, is any actual evidence to support the claim. The blog Sheppard cited is called Lying Liar, which ought to be a warning sign (it largely centers on attacking Al Franken). It is anonymously written. The post Sheppard cited provides no outside links to back up the claims it makes. Indeed, actual physical evidence to support Sheppard's version of events is sorely lacking -- even NewsBusters' parent organization, the Media Research Center, has never ventured to defend Limbaugh in such a way. The only direct reference to the incident that we could find in the MRC archive came in a 2003 CyberAlert; that reference came in the course of quoting someone else, and no effort is made to highlight or correct the claim. That indicates to us that it believes the claim is true. Limbaugh presumably has access to copies of the original broadcasts of his '90s TV show, on which the incident reportedly took place. All he has to do is post the video of the incident and the subsequent purported apologies, and that would clear his name. Will Sheppard demand that Limbaugh do that?
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:09 AM EDT
Jackie Mason's Latest Anti-Obama Rant
Topic: WorldNetDaily The latest anti-Obama WorldNetDaily rant from Jackie Mason, in a June 11 video:
1) The population of Israeli settlements in the West Back is much more than "maybe a couple thousand"; as of 2006, it was more than 267,000. And they're not all "living a peaceful life"; some are engaged in vigilante violence against Palestinians. 2) Far from being "not considered a threat," right-wing Israeli politicans, including the far-right Kach/Kahane Chai, advocate removal (by various means) of all Arabs rom Israel. 3) Obama is not "giving orders" to Israel; Obama cannot order another sovereign nation to do anything. He has, however, requested that settlement activity stop as part of a peace process with the Palestinians.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:49 AM EDT
Updated: Saturday, June 13, 2009 12:51 AM EDT
Friday, June 12, 2009
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Erik Rush, June 11 WorldNetDaily column
Posted by Terry K.
at 3:23 PM EDT
WND Again Neglects To Mention Its Shared Interests With Von Brunn
Topic: WorldNetDaily A June 11 WorldNetDaily article by Bob Unruh asserts that accused Holocaust Museum shooter James von Brunn "was a Darwin-lover who hated the Bible and Christians, and defies media efforts to classify him as a stereotypical 'right-winger.'" Unruh fails to mention that von Brunn is also a birther who hated the Federal Reserve -- interests von Brunn shares with WorldNetDaily. The list of related WND links at the end of Unruh's article, however, is largely comprised ofarticles related to WND's obsession of Barack Obama's birth certificate -- which suggests that WND is quite aware of this connection but has chosen to censor it. As we've noted, WND has criticized Fox News anchor Shepard Smith for ridiculing the obsession over Obama's birth certificate but neglected to report the context of Smith's criticism that von Brunn is a birther.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:17 PM EDT
ConWeb Misleads on Mirandizing Detainees
Topic: The ConWeb A June 10 WorldNetDaily article by Chelsea Schilling regurgitates a Weekly Standard report claiming "the Obama Justice Department has quietly ordered FBI agents to read Miranda rights to high value detainees captured and held at U.S. detention facilities in Afghanistan, according a senior Republican on the House Intelligence Committee." Since Schilling made no apparent effort to verify anything on her own, she has written an article that is dubious at best. By contrast, the Washington Independent quoted Gen. David Petraeus as saying, "The real rumor yesterday is whether our forces were reading Miranda rights to detainees and the answer to that is no." And the Washington Post's Greg Sargent contacted a Justice Department spokesman, who said: "There has been no policy change and nor blanket instruction issued for FBI agents to Mirandize detainees overseas. While there have been specific cases in which FBI agents have Mirandized suspects overseas, at both Bagram and in other situations, in order to preserve the quality of evidence obtained, there has been no overall policy change with respect to detainees." In other words, if there is indeed a policy to Mirandize detainees, it appears to have begun in the Bush administration. Indeed, the author of that Weekly Standard report, Stephen Hayes, said himself that "There are reports that this was happening on specific bases as going back as early as July 2008."' The rest of the ConWeb behaved only slightly better on this story, reporting the claim but not the full truth. A June 11 Newsmax article by Dave Eberhart repeats the claim and includes the Justice Department statement, but Eberhart ignores Hayes' statement that the Mirandizing began under the Bush administration. David Limbaugh, in a June 12 column that appears at WorldNetDaily and Newsmax, asserted that "There are reports that [Obama's] Justice Department has quietly ordered the FBI to give Miranda warnings to enemy combatants captured at war in Afghanistan" without noting reports that it apparently started under the Bush administration. Rich Galen, in his June 12 CNSNews.com column, also repeated the claim without noting that it apparently started under the Bush administration.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:20 AM EDT
Updated: Friday, June 12, 2009 11:31 AM EDT
Obama Derangement Syndrome Watch
Topic: WorldNetDaily
-- Craige McMillan, June 11 WorldNetDaily column. McMillan curiously fails to mention that his fellow WND columnists have filled the void with repeatedly likening President Obama to Nazis. If likening President Bush to Hitler was so terrible, why does McMillan tolerate likening Obama to Hitler?
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:41 AM EDT
Meanwhile ...
Topic: WorldNetDaily Richard Bartholomew catches WorldNetDaily essentially using someone else's paid on the WND website to attack President Obama -- this time, essentially blaming him for the swine flu epidemic. The website to which the ad links, which sells a self-proclaimed "Flu Survival Kit," doesn't mention Obama directly, but it does claim:
This isn't the first time that WND has twisted an ad on its website into an attack on Obama.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:36 AM EDT
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