Newsmax Chief Defends Palin Over Criticism for Reading Newsmax Topic: Newsmax
In his Nov. 30 column, Newsmax president and CEO Christopher Ruddy declared that the "mainstream media" is" simply out of touch with ordinary Americans" and that "the major media establishment lives in a bubble." Ruddy's evidence for this: The media criticized Sarah Palin for reading Newsmax.
Ruddy touts the popularity of Newsmax's website, claiming it "has reached close to 4 million unique visitors monthly." He also promotes Newsmax's magazine, asserting that it has "a monthly readership of more than 800,000." But note that he said "readership," not paid circulation, which is the standard accepted metric for measuring a magazine's reach. Newsmax has previously indicated that it believes the magazine is read by four people for every copy sold, which is apparently where it gets that inflated "readership" number.
Ruddy writes: "The bottom line is this: Those who live in the Big Media Bubble can't comprehend the appeal of Newsmax -- or Sarah Palin." He's got us there. We have trouble grasping the appeal of a website that has published columns advocating a military coup against President Obama, calling for a "tenting" of the White House, blaming the Holocaust Museum shooting on Obama, and embracing the birther conspiracy.
Ruddy also touted how Palin's book "shot to the top of the best-seller lists, reportedly selling 700,000 copies in the first week after its Nov. 17 release." He fails to mention that a not-insignificant amount of those copies are the likely result of below-cost loss-leader deals from online retailers -- including Newsmax's own $4.97 deal for the book.
Klein Stays Silent on GOP-Khalidi Link Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Nov. 29 WorldNetdaily article by Aaron Klein stated that "the Virginia couple who allegedly crashed a White House state dinner is tied to Rashid Khalidi, a pro-Palestinian professor who excuses terrorism and has been a close associate to President Obama."
But, as he did repeatedly during 2008 election coverage, Klein failed to mention that Khalidi also has ties to Republican John McCain: The McCain-chaired International Republican Institute has given more than a half-million dollars to a Khalidi-headed group.
Why is Klein so afraid to tell the full truth to his readers about Khalidi's links to Republicans?
WND Threatens to Sue U.N. Over Press Credentials Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily may well be the most petulant news organization on the planet (with Joseph Farah leading by example).
A Nov. 25 article declares that WND plans to sue the United Nations "for its refusal, thus far, to issue press credentials for coverage of the global climate-change convention next month in Copenhagen." Farah added, "It takes time to make arrangements to travel to Copenhagen for an extended period, and I began to believe the U.N. was stalling."
Read that again: It's not because WND has been refused press credentials. It's because the U.N. is not moving fast enough for WND's credentials to WND's satisfaction.
Of course, the U.N. may not be terribly thrilled about granting credentials to a "news" organization whose editor has declared "Death to the U.N.!" and called it "a global criminal enterprise determined to shift power away from individuals and sovereign nation-states to a small band of unaccountable international elites." And the person to whom those press credentials will be issued, Jerome Corsi, isn't exactly a friendly reporter, having already attacked the U.N. for being among the "globalist" organizations plotting to destroy American soverignty.
Given that WND's coverage of the Copenhagen summit is pretty much guaranteed to be hostile, why should the U.N. give press credentials to Corsi? Indeed, WND has threatened to provide "substantial negative press coverage" over the press credentials incident -- never mind that WND's coverage would be just as negative were those credentials to be granted. At no point is any evidence offered that the U.N. is obligated to issue press credentials to all comers.
Also of note is that WND's lawyer in this threatened lawsuit is Gary Kreep of the U.S. Justice Foundation. Kreep, of course, is among the birther lawyers WND has touted -- without, of course, noting the conflict of interest in promoting the work of a lawyer who also represents WND.
The MRC's Anti-Gay Freak-Out Topic: Media Research Center
WorldNetDaily isn't the only ConWeb component to have issues with gays. The Media Research Center exhibits it as well.
A Nov. 25 Culture & Media Institute article by Colleen Raezler declares that it's "selfish" for gays to come out of the closet during the holidays because it's "possibly ruining" those holidays for other members of the family. Raezler also takes jokes by a comedian seriously, taking Kevin Meaney (who name is misspelled throughout as "Meany") to task for claiming that "he came out by descending a staircase in a Speedo singing, 'I am what I am, I am my own special creation' while 'the in-laws are going, ‘lamb of God, take away the sins of the world'" and that he "joked about the ultimate selfishness when he told the panel his tale of trying to save his marriage by asking his wife to 'have a sex change operation.'"
WND Falsely Smears Another Obama Nominee Topic: WorldNetDaily
WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein is keeping up the false smears against Obama administration appointees, having found a new victim to attack.
A Nov. 26 article by Klein carried the headline "Obama appoints anti-Israel lobbyist to anti-Semitism post," referring to Hannah Rosenthal, nominated by the State Department as anti-Semitism envoy. The headline has since been changed (without letting readers know about the change), but the Google cache of the original is here, and a screenshot of the original is at the end of this post.
The smear is an apparent reference to Rosenthal's affiliation with the advocacy group J Street. But J Street isn't "anti-Israel"; in fact, as Media Matters details, J Street describes itself as "the political arm of the pro-Israel, pro-peace movement" and states that it "represents Americans, primarily but not exclusively Jewish, who support Israel and its desire for security as the Jewish homeland, as well as the right of the Palestinians to a sovereign state of their own - two states living side-by-side in peace and security." The group has also been praised by such Israeli leaders as Shimon Peres and Tzipi Livni.
Which, of course, is precisely Klein's problem. As a far-right Jewish activist who's sympathetic to Kahanist extremists, Klein doesn't like anyone who's even remotely liberal (like Peres and Livni). Klein has previously smeared J Street as "a far-leftist Mideast activist organization," and he claims here, as he has before, that the group has been "accused of working against the Jewish state" (omitting, of course, that those accusations come from right-wingers).
Klein also claimed that Rosenthal's "writings suggest Israel's policies are to blame for anti-Semitism," specifically citing comments attributed to Rosenthal in a 2002 Jewish Telegraphic Agency article. In fact, in context, as Media Matters points out, the comments do not imply that.
Further, while Klein referenced an open letter from Anti-Defamation League national director Abe Foxman to Rosenthal disagreeing with an op-ed Rosenthal had writtendescribing a pro-Israel rally being "dominated by narrow, ultraconservative views of what it means to be pro-Israel" (remember, Klein is an ultraconservative), he failed to note that Foxman has endorsed Rosenthal's nomination.
This is sloppy, biased writing, even by Klein's standards. Don't expect a correction because WND doesn't do corrections unless they're threatened with a lawsuit (or lose one).
WorldNetDaily has another anti-gay freak-out in the form of a Nov. 26 article by Drew Zahn, under the headine, "High school performs 'gay' musical on Thanksgiving."
Well, not quite. As Zahn writes, the Massachusetts high school in question was only performing scenes from its upcoming production of a show called "Falsettos," which Zahn describes as "a tale about a bisexual father torn between his family and his 'gay' lover."
Zahn's article is essentially a rewritten press release and blog post from the anti-gay group MassResistance, which explains the alarmism. An editor's note on Zahn's article claims that "Falsettos" contains "profane, lewd and possibly racist material." It's not explained what the "racist" material is supposed to be, unless it's the song "Four Jews In A Room Bitching," which in context is at most about stereotypes, not racism. (WND columnists' support for pre-1965 immigration policies formed under the influence of racism and eugenics, on the other hand...)
Despite WND editor Joseph Farah's apparent edict that his reporters should be "getting other points of view," "interviewing those with whom you disagree," and "representing honestly the opinions of others," Zahn makes no apparent effort to contact school officials for their response. Then again, Farah's edict may apply only to reporters who write about WND, not to those who work for it.
Tim Graham Tries, Fails At Mind-Reading Topic: NewsBusters
Tim Graham just can't stand that anyone is allowed to say nice things about Michelle Obama, it seems.
In a Nov. 27 NewsBusters post, Graham takes umbrage at Washington Post fashion writers praising Michelle Obama's appearance by stating that her "ensemble announced that no-holds-barred, Hollywood-style sexy glamour had arrived in Washington." Graham huffed: "Left unsaid (but implied): Laura Bush was a sexless, paint-by-numbers wallflower."
Huh? How does he know what the Post writers were "implying"? He doesn't. Graham seems to be unaware that pretending to read people's minds is not media criticism.
Graham seems to have some kind of bizarre anti-Obama complex. Perhaps he should seek some professional help.
Horowitz Makes More Extreme Attacks on Obama Topic: Horowitz
We've detailed how David Horowitz has flip-flopped and embraced the kind of outrageous attacks on President Obama he once criticized.
Horowitz does it again in a Nov. 26 Newsmax article, which began as a promotion of his new book about his late daughter but quickly descended into vicious attacks on Obama:
“His roots are in the Left,” says Horowitz. “He (Obama) came out of the movement that I came out of, but he never actually came out of it. Their agendas are power, control and creating enormous slush funds for the armies of the Left -- and that's what this Administration is about. It is the most radical, the most dangerous political administration in Washington that we have ever seen.”
[...]
There has never been an Administration that is so anti-Jewish,” he blasts. “There is a global genocide that is being planned and organized in full view of everybody -- and Obama is appeasing them and sticking it to the Jews. These are very dark times for this country, but I'm very optimistic because I believe that people are finally waking up.”
He sees a dark repeat of history.
“Everybody who calls themselves a progressive was a supporter of the Soviet Union or China -- the slaughter of 100,000 million people in order to make them go along with the socialist program. Obama is aiding and abetting and facilitating our enemies as we speak.”
[...]
“I am a former leftist so I understand the Left, and it has taken a long time for the conservatives to stop calling these people Liberals -- since they are bigoted, intolerant and totalitarian -- and start calling them the leftist or socialist that they are, and that is happening now in a big way.
[...]
“Inside of every so-called Liberal is a totalitarian screaming to come out. There is one TV channel that has some critics of the President on it like Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity -- and they want to suppress it. That tells you exactly who they are. They are communist and, of course, it is so unfashionable to say that. I mean with a small ‘c,’ I don't mean the card-carrying communist. Their mentality is communist. It is not liberal,” he concludes.
Horowitz talks about his personal evolution.
“I was one of the founders of the New Left and I have been atoning for that ever since. I got involved in raising money for the Black Panther Party, and they murdered a woman whom I recruited to do their bookkeeping…
“In the mid '70s the Left -- and, by the Left I included the Democratic Party -- at this point had sabotaged the Vietnam War and forced America’s withdraw and 2 ½ million innocent peasants in Indo- China were slaughtered by the allies of the American Left.
“All progressives supported this, and there were no protests from the Left about it,” he adds. “That was the end of my soldering in the Left. I understood that these people have evil agendas. It all sounds very good -- peace, justice -- but it true, it is the form that evil takes, has taken in the 20th century.”
“They will destroy our democracy. That's what they are setting about doing – destroying our democracy or as we used to say during the Cold War our way of life.”
Really? ALL progressives support genocidal regimes? Please. Do you realize how wild-eyed and silly you sound, David?
Barack Obama has now elected to carry on in the Hate America First leftist tradition of treason.
It would appear that the only possible reason for one civilian trial is to hand over intelligence to the enemy that would otherwise be an overtly treasonous act. Do you think Barack Obama is a Muslim? Do you think his loyalties lie outside the United States?
Do you think Pelosi and Reid are complicit in Obama's treason, by not calling a joint session of Congress and demanding that Obama present his bona fides regarding the "natural born citizen" clause of the Constitution?
Gov. Palin, if you want angry Americans – those who are now in the majority! – to take you seriously, here are some cheat notes for you to use in future interviews and speeches:
Barack Obama is a socialist (or, more properly, a Marxist). Say it!
Barack Obama, it obviously follows, is a radical. Say it!
Barack Obama has surrounded himself with Marxists and other radicals who want to fundamentally change America. Say it!
Barack Obama is a liar. Say it!
Barack Obama is the least transparent president in U.S. history. Say it!
Barack Obama wants to get a government-controlled health-care plan and a cap-and-trade bill passed for one reason and one reason only: to gain total control over people's lives. Say it!
A Nov. 26 NewsBusters post by Noel Sheppard touts how "Russia Today did a far better job of detailing what happened at Britain's Climate Research Unit and how the global warming debate is impacted by it" than CNN has. Sheppard touts Russia Today again in a Nov. 27 post, claiming it "has been doing an outstanding job of reporting the growing ClimateGate scandal." But does Sheppard really want to be doing that?
Russia Today, Wikipedia tells us, is an English-language digital TV channel sponsored by the state-owned Russian news agency RIA Novosti. CBC News reports that there are doubts about its editorial independence, pointing out that it doesn't criticize Russian President Vladimir Putin and quoting a Russian observer who called it "very much a continuation of the old Soviet propaganda services." Russia Today has alsorunnumerousreports promoting conspiracy theories about 9/11.
Who knew Sheppard liked state-owned, conspiracy-mongering propaganda outlets?
WND Still Lying About Obama's Grandmother Topic: WorldNetDaily
A Nov. 25 WorldNetDaily article on Barack Obama's grandmother, Sarah Obama, "making the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, the Hajj," repeats numerous false claims about her and Barack Obama.
Unruh writes that "WND's Jerome Corsi reported in the April issue of Whistleblower that eyewitnesses and a translator claim Sarah Obama stated her famous grandson was born in Kenya, further fueling speculation Barack Obama is ineligible to serve as president." As we've detailed, those "eyewitnesses" are led by an anti-Obama Anabaptist minister, Ron McRae, whose affidavit can't be trusted -- he mostly cites "common knowledge," not actual evidence, to support his claims about Obama's birth. Further, the claim of McRae and those associated with him is contradicted by another translatot, as we've also noted.
Unruh goes on to write of Barack Obama:
He's repeatedly stated he wasn't and isn't Muslim.
But as WND has reported, public records in Indonesia listed Obama as a Muslim during his early years, and a number of childhood friends claimed to the media Obama was once a mosque-attending Muslim.
Since taking office he's described the United States as a Muslim nation.
Unruh fails as a reporter to fully document the claims he cites. He fails to state that the instances of Obama being a "mosque-attending Muslim" was, as WND previously reported, when he was a child and not relevant to his religion today. Unruh also takes the "Muslim nation" statement grossly out of context; in fact, Obama said, "Whatever we once were, we're no longer a Christian nation. At least not just. We are also a Jewish nation, a Muslim nation, and a Buddhist nation, and a Hindu nation, and a nation of nonbelievers."
It's not that difficult to tell the truth. Why do Unruh and WND seem utterly incapable of doing so when the subject is Obama? The Obama-hate is just too poisonous among Joseph Farah and crew, apparently.
And we should thank God for another thing, that Barack Obama is failing and failing more and more every day in terms of his influence on America. Because this great man that everybody heralded as the new messiah proven that everything that he wants to accomplish would only destroy America from every direction. And if he hasn't been able to accomplish what his goals were, he is saving America by being a failure, and he's becoming a bigger failure every single day, and we should celebrate every failure that he has.
Mason then tries to backtrack a bit on his hate: "This is not to wish him any harm. I wish him the best of everything and the healthiest life and the happiest life." But then Mason says that Obama shouldn't be president, "and we thank God that it looks like he he's going to lose sooner or later the presidency of the United States." He then adds:
Not everybody deserves to be a president. He should be -- a man like him should be a doorman, should be a singer, a dancer, a pilot. He could do a lot of things. But he does not belong in this office. And we should thank God for the failings he has so far in almost every department of everything he's trying to accomplish.
[...]
This man doesn't know it, but he's destroying America if he succeeds, and we gotta thank God for his failures. If his popularity has gone down from 73 percent to 46 percent, and every time you read the paper or watch any polls it's going down further and further. By the time this speech is over that I'm making, it'll probably be 38 percent or 32 percent. And pretty soon he'll be looking for a job, but not in this field. This is not his business.
[...]
We should thank God for the American people are beginning to be intelligent enough to see that this man is in the wrong field at the wrong place at the wrong time. This is not his business, and thank God that this will be a great country to live in as soon as he gets out of office.
[...]
This a great Thanksgiving, to see the complete destruction of this man's political career. And let's get him a job where he belongs, and somewhere he can make a living and be comfortable and stop wasting the time and all the -- all the misery that he's trying to create for the American people.He doesn't mean to create it, but that's his personality. That's his character; he can't help it. He doesn't know what he's doing, and sooner or later, if he loses enough influence, this will become the greatest country in the world again, as it should be, without the influence without Barack Obama.
So thank God for this country. This is a great Thanksgiving day for America, and America was never in better shape now -- than it is now because now we see the end of the influence of Barack Obama. Good luck to you. Find a job.
And is the classlessness of Mason's rant didn't drive the point home sufficiently, his video concludes with this image:
AIM Don't Need No Stinkin' Context Topic: Accuracy in Media
Allie Duzett, in a Nov. 25 Accuracy in Media post, is annoyed that people are complaining that the stolen emails from the University of East Anglia's Climate Research Unit are being taken out of context by critics -- like Duzett. She defends taking the emails out of context because, in her view she's not:
When Phil Jones of the Climate Research Unit at the University of East Anglia admitted in the emails that he had used a “trick” of falsifying the data to get the results he wanted, the context was clear: Jones was writing privately to someone who agreed with the concept of promoting fake data for personal gain.
Duzett is ignoring, yes, context: Jones has said that "trick" does not mean what Duzett thinks it means -- which appears nowhere in her post, presumably because she, as someone who is outside the scientific community reading the stolen work of others, has decided that what Jones says he intended is not important.
Indeed, Duzett goes on to sneer:
What more context do we need? The context is: some unscrupulous scientists sent some private emails to each other as they worked together to falsify data and squelch dissenting opinions—and then those private emails went public. That’s the context here. Some “scientists” in question claim that certain incriminating words—like “trick”—mean something different in scientific jargon and that once again, the terms are taken out of context, but the truth is, the context is all right here. We have all the context we need, and some people are guilty.
Duzett doesn't Jones' context, apparently. It would interfere with her pitchfork-gathering.
Joseph Farah's Vindictive, Self-Aggrandizing Christianity Topic: WorldNetDaily
Over the last week or so, Joseph Farah has put his particularly hateful and vindictive brand of hard-right Christianity on parade:
He insists that God enthusiastically endorses the death penalty.
He claims God will punish America for permitting gay marriage or, really, permitting any "homosexual behavior."
Farah's self-aggrandizing religious style continues in his Thanksgiving column, in which he states:
I'm so thankful to be part of a country where worshipping You is not a crime – yet.
I'm thankful we have the opportunity to tell others about You.
I'm thankful You have blessed this land in so many ways.
I'm thankful for the way You chastise this land and judge it with leaders unworthy of this nation's great heritage but who are, in Your wisdom, necessary to correct us and reveal our iniquities.
I'm thankful for Your patience with Americans, who, despite their countless blessings, do not often recognize from where they come.
For another view of Christianity that's free of Farah's self-conscious piety and vindictiveness toward anyone who doesn't agree with him, read this.
Liberal Derangment Syndrome Watch Topic: WorldNetDaily
Some months ago I wrote a column entitled "Liberalism is a malignancy." I reviewed the way in which liberals spoil the cities and states in which they live. Then, unable to exist there anymore, they metastasize to other places. However, unable to understand that the policies they support are the cause for the misery from which they have fled, they persist in trying to remake their new homes in the same way.
A malignancy can be cut away, irradiated and poisoned, yet it often persists in hiding, only to return again when it is no longer being actively fought. Combating a malignancy leaves the sufferer exhausted. Just when it seemed defeated, there is often resurgence, as if the malignancy planned to lay low for a while and return in force when the coast was clear. It seems as though malignancies plan ahead.
Malignancies do not play by accepted rules. They do not come out and meet us in open conflict, but utilize covert operations to achieve their goals. They wear us down, confuse us and ultimately pounce in ambush when we can no longer cover all of the possible venues of assault. Theirs is an attack on multiple fronts, probing, advancing and then retreating, looking for weakness.
Liberals do the same thing. They were smart enough to plan ahead. They long ago infiltrated the education system so that they could begin the malignant transformation of the minds of our youth – slowly, inexorably plotting for the day when they would be able to strike. Our weakness, which is that of complacency, has been well utilized by liberals.
-- Frank S. Rosenbloom, Nov. 25 WorldNetDaily column
