Topic: Newsmax
Newsmax's Christopher Ruddy was willing to be critical of Mitt Romney's campaign before and after the election -- but he turned into a Romney shill in the month before Election Day. Read more >>
Tuesday, November 27, 2012
NEW ARTICLE: Almost (But Not Quite) Independent
Topic: Newsmax Newsmax's Christopher Ruddy was willing to be critical of Mitt Romney's campaign before and after the election -- but he turned into a Romney shill in the month before Election Day. Read more >>
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:32 PM EST
WND Falsely Portrays Planned Resurrection Film As 'Sequel' To 'Passion of the Christ'
Topic: WorldNetDaily A Nov. 24 WorldNetDaily article carries the headline "'Passion of the Christ' 'sequel' looking for you." In it, Drew Zahn claims that the planned film is "the unofficially dubbed 'sequel' to [Mel] Gibson’s 'The Passion of the Christ.'" The scare quotes around the word "sequel" hints at what Zahn refuses to directly spell out: The planned film is no "sequel" at all. He provides no evidence that Gibson or anyone else involved with "The Passion of the Christ" has anything whatsoever to do with this film. The only people dubbing it a "sequel," in fact, are Zahn and those behind the project, led by David Wood, In fact, Zahn's article is nothing more than a plea for donors to fund the planned film and engage in a weird sort of crowdsourcing that Zahn spins as a "revolutionary approach:
Zahn fails to make clear what, exactly, "The Resurrection" would cover, since "The Passion of the Christ" ends with Jesus' resurrection. Zahn also fails to tell us what "Hollywood veteran" David Wood has done before this project. The important thing, apparently, is that Zahn did falsely link it to another, successul film and included clickable text that states, "Discover how you can get involved in making 'The Resurrection' by clicking here!"
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:01 PM EST
MRC's Graham Revives False, Years-Old Attack on Patty Murray
Topic: Media Research Center The MRC's Tim Graham uses a Nov. 24 NewsBusters post to lie about Sen. Patty Murray, reviving a years-old discredited falsehood that Murray "praised" Osama bin Laden: aturday’s Washington Post devoted the left-hand corner of the front page to hailing liberal Sen. Patty Murray, the new chairman of the Senate Budget Committee. “In a Congress of hot tempers and sharp tongues, Murray doesn’t favor over-the-top rhetoric,” oozed Post reporter Rosalind Helderman. Sen. Harry Reid added: “Everyone takes Senator Murray seriously because she does not bluster.” As we first detailed way back in 2002 , Murray was not "praising" bin Laden; rather, she was trying to draw a contrast over how the U.S. is viewed in the Middle East, explaining (somewhat erroneously) that bin Laden had been "building schools, building roads, building infrastructure, building day care facilities, building health care facilities, and the people are extremely grateful. We haven't done that." Graham cited what his boss, Brent Bozell, "reported at the time," but 1) Bozell does not "report," and 2) he was trying to distract attention away from Trent Lott's remarks about Strom Thurmond. Graham goes on to whine, "You would be a fool to underestimate how much hot wind that liberal newspapers will blow behind a liberal Democrat like Murray, whose gaffes are rarely acknowledged and never remembered." It's only a gaffe in the minds of rabid, dishonest partisans like Graham who have to distort her words and tell lies about what she actually said in order to force it into a "gaffe."
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:19 PM EST
Ellis Washington Plays the Pity (And Self-Grandiosity) Card
Topic: WorldNetDaily Here's how Ellis Washington starts out his Nov. 23 WorldNetDaily column:
Yes, Washington is lamenting that his life hasn't gone as well as Obama's -- which may explain some of Washington's Obama-hate. Oh, but Washington is not done. The bulk of his column is a letter he wrote to right-wing activist Phyllis Schlafly repeating his lament that no decent law school will hire him to teach, albeit in a overly self-aggrandizing way:
Unmentioned by Washington, of course, are his manifesto in which he goes on at length about his inability to get a decent teaching job, as well as his repeated self-portrayal as Socrates, which -- along with his above claim to have "outperform[ed] all top-tier second and third-year law students" in "intellectual feats that no other liberal intellectual, legal scholar, judge, justice, academic lawyer or PhD I am aware of has achieved" -- suggest a narcissistic personality disorder on Washington's part rather than deliberate discrimination on the part of anyone he has encountered. Washington even includes Schlafly's short, generalized response to his letter as evidence of ... something. We've never met Washington, so he may indeed be a nice guy. But he is clearly a guy with a highly inflated sense of self-importance, not to mention a seething hatred of Obama. Those are hardly turn-ons for any prospective employer, and it's likely that this, rather than ideological discrimination, is the reason Washington finds himself in his current station.
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:45 AM EST
Monday, November 26, 2012
Noel Sheppard -- Who Called Michael Moore 'Corpulent' -- Complains People Are Making Fun of Christie's Weight
Topic: NewsBusters Apparently, only Noel Sheppard is allowed to make fun of people's weight. Sheppard complains in a Nov. 24 NewsBusters post that "liberal commentator" Mark Shields "took a cheap shot" about New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's weight, harrumphing that "the larger point is how comfortable media members are at making such jokes about Christie. Would they be doing so if he were a Democrat, a woman, or a minority?" And as we've previously noted, Sheppard has previously taken cheap shots at Michael Moore's weight calling him "rather corpulent" and claiming that "this portly schlockumentarian has never met a cheeseburger he'd say no to." But then, double standards are a long NewsBusters tradition.
Posted by Terry K.
at 7:32 PM EST
WND Promotes Self-Proclaimed 'Forensic Profiler' Who Hates Obama
Topic: WorldNetDaily It's amazing how much you can blame on someone when you're claiming they're admitting to things unconsciously. The increasingly discredited WorldNetDaily has been promoting for some time a self-proclaimed forensic profiler named Andrew Hodges, who wrote a book (sold in the WND online store, natch) that through a "unique psycholinguistic technique he calls 'ThoughtPrint Decoding," Hodges can read between the lines and decode the unconscious messages President Obama gives through speeches. Bob Unruh devotes a Nov. 24 WND article to promoting Hodges' latest claim, that Obama "is confessing to stealing the 2012 president election." How? Well, first, we have to sit through some right-wing boilerplate about purported voter fraud:
And since claiming to be able to delve into Obama's subconscious by reading between the lines of Obama's words is Hodges' stock in trade, you can be sure that he will twist anything Obama says into his preconceived conclusion. And indeed he does:
Hodges appears to be unware of the concept of psychological projection, because that's exactly what he's doing here. Hodges is a birther and avid WND reader (he once praised WND editor Joseph Farah for having "observed Obama falling apart beyond belief" during the first debate) who's cloaked his own hatred of Obama with a bit of pseudo-scientific silliness. Hodges' WND-beloved book is called "The Obama Confession: Secret Fear, Secret Fury." Hodges' own anti-Obama fury isn't secret at all.
Posted by Terry K.
at 6:05 PM EST
Updated: Monday, November 26, 2012 7:18 PM EST
MRC Researcher: Allowing Women To Vote Is 'Left-Wing'
Topic: Media Research Center Media Research Center senior news analyst Scott Whitlock devotes a Nov. 22 NewsBusters post to criticizing a History Channel program on Republican President William McKinley for painting him as "a corporate stooge who took bribes and had his speeches rewritten by business titan John D. Rockefeller." Whitlock's defense of McKinley is less than persuasive: "There's no doubt that Rockefeller, Morgan and Carnegie donated heavily to the McKinley campaign and feared the impact electing the left-wing Bryan would have on business. But the documentary's fanciful dramatic sequences imply it's bribery." Well, Rockefeller did donate $250,000 to McKinley's 1896 campaign -- which, according to this currency calculator, is equivalent to $6.65 million in today's dollars. That's a lot of money in a time when there was no mass media to buy commercials on. Whitlock goes on to attack McKinley's opponent, William Jennings Bryan, as having a "left-wing mindset." He cites a Washington Post article noting that Bryan advocated "women’s suffrage, creation of the Federal Reserve and implementation of a progressive income tax." Huh? We weren't aware that allowing women to vote was a "left-wing" concept. Does Whitlock oppose these things? If he does, that puts him in the same camp as far-right libertarians like Ron Paul, Vox Day, and Ilana Mercer.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:07 AM EST
Updated: Monday, November 26, 2012 10:09 AM EST
WND Columnist Ridiculously Blames Obama for Arrests of 'Artists'
Topic: WorldNetDaily Under the headline "Obama's America: where artists are terrorists," Marisa Martin rants in a Nov. 22 WorldNetDaily column about how artist Geoffrey McGann was "interrogated and publicly humiliated" for wearing a "strange watch" while attempting to board a plane at an airport. Martin rather innocuously describes McGann's watch as merely having "extra springs, fuses and mechanical pieces, none of them workable or connected, as I understand." Here's a picture of said watch: Yeah, that shouldn't freak out any TSA person at all. Martin then launches into you standard right-wing anti-TSA rant:
Martin can't seem to decide whether Youssef, aka Nakoula Basseley Nakoula, the maker of the anti-Muslim film that provoked deadly demonstrations in the Middle East, is an artist or just "pathetic." But then, she goes on to excuse his long criminal history to defend his "artistic expression":
Martin also overlooks the fact that Youssef/Nakoula was never charged with anything relating to his film --he violated his probation on a felony bank fraud case by using using several aliases. Martin offers no evidence that Youssef was treated any differently than anyone else found to have violated probation on a felony. (We also thought that conservatives believed in law and order.) Youssef drew attention to himself, and his criminal history, by making a deliberately inflammatory film. There's no evidence Youssef was engaging in anything but anti-Muslim propaganda by making this film. Nevertheless, Martin portrayed him as a martyr:
So which system is Martin a servant to?
Posted by Terry K.
at 12:18 AM EST
Sunday, November 25, 2012
CNS' Lying Headline: 'Gov't Tells Americans What to Discuss at Holiday Dinner'
Topic: CNSNews.com A Nov. 22 CNSNews.com article by Susan Jones carries the headline "Gov't Tells Americans What to Discuss at Holiday Dinner; Declares Thanksgiving 'Family Health History Day'." That headline suggests coersion or a mandate -- that the government has decreed that these subjects must be discussed. That's a lie, of course -- no such government mandate exists, nor does Jones' article claim there is one.It seems that CNS has chosen to pander to right-wing readers (and, presumably, hope for a Drudge link) by sticking a false, alarmist headline on Jones' article. How cynical can you get?
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:34 PM EST
Meanwhile ...
Topic: WorldNetDaily President Obama's re-election really seems to have sent WorldNetDaily editor around the bend. Right Wing Watch reports on a recent radio interview by Farah, in which he fearmongers about purported voter fraud contributing to Obama's re-election (at least two examples pushed by WND are contradicted by the facts), which led to Farah fearmongering about the idea that Obama would try to remain in power beyond a second term, saying, " if you don’t believe in the Constitution and you’ve got a President who is not even eligible under the Constitution to serve, anything is possible, isn’t it?" Farah also attacks New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie for praising Obama's response to Hurricane Sandy: "Unfortunately, instead of turning to God he turned to Obama for help, that’s the problem that we have in America."
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:40 AM EST
Saturday, November 24, 2012
NewsBusters Finds Bias In Fake News
Topic: NewsBusters The Media Research Center is so obsessed with uncovering "liberal media bias," it's trying to find it in fictional news. A Nov. 20 NewsBsuters post by Ryan Robertson complains about a story at the satirical news site The Onion, which features how "8-year-old Palestinian boy Walid Suleiman expressed both joy and astonishment Monday that he has yet to be killed in an Israeli military attack." Robertson's complaint? "At no point in the short piece does it reference the terrorist organization Hamas, the death and destruction they cause, or Hamas terrorists' penchant for firing rockets from locations that are full of innocent civilians." Um, Ryan? It's fake news. Why waste precious MRC resources complaining about fake news? (Of course, given the $5 million the MRC blew on an spectacularly ineffective anti-media campaign this year, maybe those resources aren't all that precious.)
Posted by Terry K.
at 11:44 PM EST
WND Pushes False Voter Fraud Claim
Topic: WorldNetDaily Here's one of the key pieces of evidence that President obama stole the election, according to WorldNetDaily:
Just one little problem: It's not true. The Columbus Dispatch reports that the county has been identified in some places as Wood County, Ohio -- where, in fact, 61,967 Wood County voters cast a ballot on Nov. 6 out of 104,461 registered voters. WND has never offered evidence that the Ohio over-voting claim has any basis in fact, nor has it bothered to issue a correction for this clearly false claim. Just consider this yet another reason why nobody believes WND.
Posted by Terry K.
at 10:29 AM EST
Friday, November 23, 2012
Newsmax's Walsh: Most Mexican Immigrants Are From 'Lower Economic and Uneducated Class'
Topic: Newsmax James Walsh just doesn't get Hispanics. Fresh off advocating a return to migrant-worker programs once called "legalized slavery" as a way for Republicans to attract Hispanic votes, immigrant-basher Walsh is back at it in a Nov. 21 Newsmax column in which he continues to not understand why Hispanics didn't support the Republican for president:
Of course, a vote for President Obama's re-election does not equal "revenge voting" -- outside of Walsh's head, that is. Walsh then purports to offer this explanation of Hispanics in America, in which he notes that the majority of them are "the lower economic and uneducated class" from Mexico:
Walsh goes on to write, "One Hispanic said, 'We vote with our hearts,' and another proclaimed, 'We own America. They owe us.'" Who is this "one Hispanic," where did Walsh find this purpoted quote, and how did Walsh decide that he speaks for all Hispanics in America? Walsh doesn't explain.
Posted by Terry K.
at 9:39 PM EST
Updated: Monday, January 7, 2013 11:50 PM EST
WND Ignores Explanation For 'Inexplicable' RNC Consent Decree
Topic: WorldNetDaily In trying to push the sour-grapes idea of voter fraud contributing to President obama's re-election, Bob Unruh writes in a Nov. 20 WorldNetDaily article:
Even though Unruh links to a summary the ruling in question, he apparently didn't bother to read it, for it contains an explanation. According to the JudicialReview.com summary Unruh links to:
Unruh seems not to understand that voter intimidation does not equal what he calls "ballot security activities." By that same definition, the New Black Panthers were engaged in ballot security activities" in 2008, though Unruh would certainly never call it it that. It can also be argued that the RNC's conceding to a consent decree is a tacit admission of wrongdoing. Further, the consent decree doesn't actually prevent the RNC from engaging in post-election "voter fraud" challenges -- it simply prevents them from engaging in voter intimidation and suppression. From the JudicialReview.com summary:
Also, fact that there were "ballots turning out 100 percent for one candidate in precinct reports" is not "voter fraud." As we've noted, many of those precincts in which everyone voted for Obama are nearly exclusively black and Democrat.
Posted by Terry K.
at 1:49 PM EST
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Now That Election's Over, MRC's Bozell Criticizes Romney (And, For Some Reason, Transgenders)
Topic: Media Research Center The election is over, and Mitt Romney lost. Time for Media Research Center chief Brent Bozell to do some Monday morning quarterbacking in his Nov. 21 column:
Then apropos of nothing, Bozell changes the subject and decides to take a whack at transgenders:
We did not realize that hating transgenders qualifies as "low hanging frult," unless Bozell was attempting a horrible pun. Bozell's mini-rant stems from a Nov. 20 article at his CNSNews.com. Bozell's MRC has regularly freaked out about perceived transgender "propaganda" as part of its anti-gay agenda.
Posted by Terry K.
at 8:44 PM EST
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