I missed this story when it broke on Thursday (too busy trying to narrow down which Elisabeth Shue pictures to use, I guess). But when Deborah Howell wrote a column about Jack Abramoff linking Democrats to his money, the Left went absolutely nuts. She mistated only technically that Democrats in Congress received Abramoff money. No, they didn't receive it directly. It was actually laundered through various Indian Tribes first. But they got the money nonetheless.

Anyway, the Washington Post site was slammed with hateful, vulgar comments against Howell, the Post and the MSM in general. It got so bad that the Post had to shut down that portion of the website. As Howell writes:

But there is no doubt about the campaign contributions that were directed to lawmakers of both parties. Records from the Federal Election Commission and the Center for Public Integrity show that Abramoff's Indian clients contributed money to 195 Republicans and 88 Democrats between 1999 and 2004. The Post also has copies of lists sent to tribes by Abramoff with his personal directions on which members were to receive what amounts.

Michael Crowley of the New Republic said in his blog that "while for all practical purposes this is indisputably a Republican scandal, the narrow liberal-blogger definition of whether any Democrats took money 'from Abramoff' -- which neatly excludes contributions he directed his clients to make -- amounts to foolish semantics.''

These facts have been reported many times in The Post and elsewhere. So why would it cause me to be called a "right-wing whore" and much worse?

Witness three printable examples:

"Yes, the WAPO needs an enema, and Howell should be the first thing that gets medicinally removed."

"You Deborah Howell, stop lying about Democrats getting money from Abramoff. Democrats do not control anything in Washington, so why would he waste money bribing them. Think and do your research, and stop being an idiot."

"This rag must be something that I pulled off a barscreen at a sewage treatment plant. Howell is simply a paid liar. How this creature endures itself is something I don't understand. What a piece of flotsam."

There is no more fervent believer in the First Amendment than I am, and I will fight for those e-mailers' right to call me a liar and Republican shill with salt for brains. But I am none of those.

My career has been a public one in journalism. You can find my biography and much of what I stand for on the Internet. You can ask anyone who worked with me in Minnesota and at Newhouse News Service what kind of journalist I am. I have spent my life working for rational reporting and passionate and reasonable opinion.

So is it the relative anonymity of the Internet that emboldens e-mailers to conduct a public stoning? Is this the increasing political polarization of our country? I don't know.

What Howell fails to recognize is that this isn't a problem of American politics in general. It's a problem with the angry, unhinged Left and and is born out of the frustration that comes with their political impotence. They've been reduced to acting like petulant children who aren't getting their way. No real ideas to speak of, no vision and no strategy beyond attack, attack, attack. When you think about it, isn'tt this really just the political equivalent of "your momma" and "I know you are but what am I?"

And they wonder why they keep losing.

Oh, and despite the continued one-star ratings given to Kate O'Beirne's book by Lefty kooks who've never actually read it, it's still holding strong and an average three and a half stars.

Heh.

Posted by: Gary at 09:45 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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Early in the morning, a mistaken report spread like wildfire that twelve coal miners trapped in West Virginia were miraculously alive depite a previous report that the air quality found at their level contained three times the lethal level of carbon monoxide.

The NY Times ran with the story. So did the Washington Post. The folks at CNN fell all over themselves trying to find euphoric family members to interview.

The one thing they didn't do was verify the story. As a result, the reports in the media reinforced the erroneous report and gave it legitimacy in the minds of the people holding vigils for the lost miners. It gave them false hope because the families of these men believed that the MSM wouldn't be reporting something that they didn't confirm was true.

Now, despite printed headlines to the contrary in the Times, the Post and even the more electronically up-to-the-minute USAToday at news stands all over the country, the real story has come out - that tragically the men did not survive.

The MSM is circling the wagons and trying to dodge their own irresponsibility. Trying to deflect attention from their reporting, they are focusing on the amount of time it took the management of the coal company to squash these middle-of-the-night rumors. The questions certainly need to be asked. But the initial report was just that - a rumor. If the communications people for the coal company knew soon after the initial reports that the men were NOT alive, why didn't the reporters bother to confirm - or for that matter even qualify the reports as unconfirmed?

They didn't have the time, lest they be "scooped" by their competitors. And not one single apology has come from any of these "papers of record". Here's a clue, guys: Do Your Homework! Responsible journalists are supposed to take the time to find the truth before they report the information.

But then, why should they start now?

UPDATE: Despite CNN's carefully constructed timeline, the NY Post is now reporting that the amount of time it took to inform the families of the tragic news was not nearly as long (although the Post doesn't escape blame for its own bogus headline):

At first, relatives yelled, "They're alive!" after hearing the news just before midnight and ran to the local church to pray.

But less than an hour later, those celebrations turned to tears and bitterness as a mine official informed them that there had been a breakdown in communication — and that the men were, in fact, dead.

UPDATE II: Just so no one gets the impression that I'm "picking" on poor old CNN, I'd like to point out the recklessness of all three major cable news outlets. As reported by Sisu:

"[Anderson] Cooper and his counterparts on MSNBC -- the overripe Rita Cosby -- and Fox News -- some wet-behind-the-ears Anderson Cooper wannabe -- opted for the "blame game."

Jeff Jarvis of Buzzmachine.com:

One terrible lesson of the West Virginia mine tragedy is that you canÂ’t trust the news. You never could; it has always taken time to see whether stories pan out, to get all the facts, to find out the truth. But now, in our age of instant news and ubiquitous communication, the public sees this process as it occurs. ItÂ’s not the news thatÂ’s live; itÂ’s the process of figuring out what to believe thatÂ’s live. Now, indeed, everyone is a reporter and an editor and the public is learning, as reporters learned, that they need to find their ways through the fog of news. The next time I hear someone being haughty about professional news vs. citizenÂ’s news, IÂ’ll remind them of the West Virginia tragedy, where news traveled ahead of the facts, where everyone was horribly wrong.

Anyone remember a popular bumper sticker in the 1970's that said simply "Question Authority"? I think we need an updated version that says "Question The MSM".

Posted by: Gary at 09:24 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Does anyone remember the nightmare that was election night 2000 when the pundits didn't know what the heck to say because no one was really certain what was going to happen? I do.

I remember watching all the cable news channels, even * blech * CNN. And when they called Florida for Bush late into the night, Jonathan Alter of MSNBC went nuts. He kept screaming about how Gore got more popular votes and that Bush would be illegitimate, blah, blah, blah. He wasn't just forcefully arguing his position - he was losing his mind on national television.

At that moment I realized that the normally mild-mannered Alter had, in fact, lost all touch with reality (not to mention whatever journalistic objectivity he may have had).

Well, this morning he concocted an impeachment fantasy and went and posted it up on MSNBC's website. If you read some of this incoherent blather without knowing the author you would swear it came off of Kos' site.

"WeÂ’re seeing clearly now that Bush thought 9/11 gave him license to act like a dictator, or in his own mind, no doubt, like Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War...

...This will all play out eventually in congressional committees and in the United States Supreme Court. If the Democrats regain control of Congress, there may even be articles of impeachment introduced. Similar abuse of power was part of the impeachment charge brought against Richard Nixon in 1974"

Just to recount the facts: in 1968, Richard Nixon and the virulently anti-hippie George Wallace got 57% of the vote. In 1972, Nixon received over 60% of the vote. In 1976, with Republicans utterly on the ropes after NixonÂ’s disgrace and impeachment, Jimmy Carter barely beat that political powerhouse Gerald Ford. The public put a final punctuation point on the era in 1980 with ReaganÂ’s 489 electoral vote wipeout of Carter.

But to someone like Alter, the late 60’s and 70’s were the penultimate halcyon days for the press and politics. It was when the “good guys” in the liberal press took out the “bad guys” in the Republican party. The mindset survives among many to this day who constantly see the ghost of Nixon around every corner.

Alter is clueless when it comes to the political ramifications of this story. Politically, the White House loves this story. As I mentioned in my column yesterday, it dovetails nicely with the debate over the Patriot Act, Iraq and works to reinforce the existing image of the Democratic party as just not serious when it comes to the nationÂ’s security.

Keep digging, guys. You'll hit bottom sooner or later.

Hat Tip: The Political Pit-Bull

Posted by: Gary at 03:30 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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1 Upon reflection, I don't remember Jonathan Alter "having my back" on 9/11/01 when, due to my own stupidity, I was caught at the intersection of Albany and Greenwich Streets as Tower Two fell, shortly after 10:00 AM. I don't remember Alter being forced to run about 100 yards into the mouth of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel as (what we thought was the building) a 30 story wall of cement dust closed us in. I DO remember 2 F-15 fighters circling a perimeter around lower Manhattan that Friday, 9/14/01, as President Bush vowed that he would do everything possible to never allow that to happen to me again. I can't think of a single thing Jonathan Alter has ever done to ensure that 9/11/01 never happens again...I guess that I will NOT be voting for Jonathan Alter anytime soon, that's for sure.

Posted by: Brian at December 20, 2005 04:53 PM (1u7XF)

2 I've made the case a coupla times on my blog that Jonathan Altar (especially for an editor of a major news magazine) is incredibly under-informed (or under-informing). He either hears only what he wants to hear and fashions an argument based on that, or else he is deliberately ignoring facts that he doesn't like because it'll hurt his case. Even after all I've read from him I honest and truly can't tell which! Either way, I've said it before and I'll say it again: Jonathan Altar sucks at his job.

Posted by: Tuning Spork at December 20, 2005 11:16 PM (mgNeU)

3 And why do I keep spelling it "A-l-t-a-r"?!

Posted by: Tuning Spork at December 20, 2005 11:18 PM (mgNeU)

4 Jonathan Alter is a loony bird, for sure. However: "But, fortunately for us, we have a President who understands the threats of the present and future" >> I'm sure you mean a President who "creates" the threats of the present and future, right? Missed Zarqawi in northern Iraq before the war, created a breeding ground for islamofascists after the war, found no weapons, has failed to deal with Russia's potential source of nukes, has waffled and wavered on nutjob Kim-Jong ill, and has done nothing to address Iran, the real threat this whole time? You mean THAT president? He understands threats about as well as he understands fiscal policy.

Posted by: Napoleon Dolemite at December 21, 2005 11:12 AM (ecLFn)

5 ND - Hookay. You want to let loose with a "Bush Lied" rant go ahead. And what a failure, huh? Now let's look at reality: Al Qaida wants: 1)more control in the region, 2)more nations to support their activities, 3)less freedom for Muslims and 4)terrorists killing Americans on their own soil rather than being killed in Iraq. That makes them 0-4 so far. And if Bush were taking ANY action right now against Iran or North Korea, you'd be accusing him of "creating" those threats too. Nice try.

Posted by: Gary at December 21, 2005 11:50 AM (PLHs9)

6 Gary: Please, leave the straw man alone. "Bush Lied" argument? Huh? The decision to go to war was complex, and I definitely have Wilsonian sympathies to the spread of democracy. However, execution and perception ("hearts and minds") is everything when it comes to that. Furthermore, I was referring to Bush's alleged understanding of threats in my post. In that capacity, please the failures I outline in my post instead of using red herrings about Al Qadea(and the elimination of Western presence in Middle East is #1 on those bastards' list) and a straw man about what I would or wouldn't complain about EXISTING threats. I like this blog and hope that it isn't one that resorts to that kind of stuff. (ok, my own post was a little snarky, but come on, the "threat" comment was deserving....)

Posted by: Napoleon Dolemite at December 21, 2005 03:17 PM (ecLFn)

7 On another note, I think we all can agree that Alterman is deranged, for if Bush were impeached, wouldn't that mean that Cheney would ascend to the throne? If he went down too, Hastert takes over. 4. Condi 5. Snow 6. RUMMY 7. Gonzalez Surely he doesn't think these would be better for his leftist desires, does he?

Posted by: Napoleon Dolemite at December 21, 2005 03:22 PM (ecLFn)

8 NP - the elimination of a Western presence anywhere is their #1 priority. That is the threat. I think Bush understands it pretty well. It's clear that Democrats don't. Sometimes doing what's right isn't popular. And it doesn't help when all you hear in the media is doom and gloom at the expense of all the positive stories coming out of Iraq (read some MilBlogs once in a while). It's hard to win "hearts and minds" when the situation is constantly being distorted. As to the "hearts and minds" of the people of Iraq, I'd say an election with a 70% turnout (including significant representation amouns Sunni Arabs) speaks volumes about how they feel about what we've done over there.

Posted by: Gary at December 21, 2005 04:23 PM (QoxB+)

9 I read both military news sites and emails from the dozen or so mates of mine serving in Iraq and Afghanistan. No one is doubting the heroism, or gains and successes, and especially the touch-and-go success of implementing a representative government. We had BETTER make sure we get at least ONE thing right over there. I was referring to some bigger strategic problems with the endeavor, problems that the most powerful and intelligent nation on earth should have dealt with. Still waiting on those responses. "I think Bush understands it pretty well. It's clear that Democrats don't." >> *sigh* Doesn't that shibboleth ever get you tired? Why did he divert critical resources from Afghanistan to Iraq when bin Laden was cornered? Why did he let Zarqawi go? Why didn't he send enough troops, or equip them properly? (My best friend had to steal his (second-generation) body armor from the supply depot. He was an infantryman)

Posted by: Napoleon Dolemite at December 21, 2005 06:13 PM (ecLFn)

10 Don't you ever get tired of using cliches like "straw man" and "shibboleth", and typing patronizing things like "Puh-lease" and "*sigh*"?

Posted by: Gary at December 21, 2005 07:07 PM (wPJid)

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Google News Hits for "2000 Iraq Death": 5,720

Google New Hits for "Iraq Constitution Ratified": 1,120

'Nuff said.

Posted by: Gary at 10:04 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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The latest story coming out the A/P is an in-depth look into Karl Rove's garage. That's right, crack reporters of the Associated Press managed to persuade Rove's wife to lift the garage door to show that he wasn't home.

And there was no car as expected. But inside lay a treasure trove of depravity that will surely lead to his resigning as senior advisor to the President. Among the inventory:

Some cardboard file boxes stacked one on top of the other, labeled "Box 6," "Box 4" and what appears to be "Box 7." No sign of boxes 1, 2, 3 and 5. [surely these are the secret reports that prove the White House knew that there were no WMD's in Iraq - boxes 1,2,3 & 5 must have been destroyed!]

_What appear to be paint cans stacked alongside a folded, folding chair. [obviously used to "whitewash" Bush's record in the Texas Air National Guard]

_A rather large wood crate marked "FRAGILE" and painted with arrows indicating which way is up. On top of the crate, two coolers. [must be Dubya's secret store of liquor with cases of Piel's Draft Style in the coolers - we just knew he couldn't stop drinking!]

_A tall aluminum ladder [my guess is that this is Bush's means of sneaking out of the White House to get to the liquor].

_A snow shovel leaned in front of another cardboard box [everyone knows Rove funnels our tax dollars to his buddies in the snow-plow industry. And they take care of him every winter. So what does he need a shovel for? Huh? Mighty suspicious!]

_Wicker baskets inside of wicker baskets on top of a shelf running the length of the rear wall. [What kind of a sick, twisted soul would collect wicker?] Transparent plastic storage bins crammed with indiscernible stuff. Another cardboard box. [indiscernible stuff = has to be the heroin that he is rumoured to be selling to small children in the more impoverished neighborhoods of D.C.]

_In one corner, the rear wheel of a bicycle sticks out, along with what appears to be a helmet. [there can only be one explanation: Rove must have run down a bicyclist late one night, disposed of the body but kept the bike and the helmet because he's so selfish!]

_Another ladder, this one green, leaning sideways. [the back-up plan for Bush's stealth liquor runs, no doubt]

Has he no shame? Thank God we have a free press in this country!

;-)

Posted by: Gary at 04:35 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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Looks like 99% of the reports out of the Superdome were 100% bullshit. That's right. None of the killing, raping, or other horrific stories that came out of the Superdome- and were reported by the media - are true.

"I've got a report of 200 bodies in the Dome," [Louisiana National Guard Col. Thomas] Beron recalls the doctor saying.

The real total was six, Beron said.

Of those, four died of natural causes, one overdosed and another jumped to his death in an apparent suicide, said Beron, who personally oversaw the turning over of bodies from a Dome freezer, where they lay atop melting bags of ice. State health department officials in charge of body recovery put the official death count at the Dome at 10, but Beron said the other four bodies were found in the street near the Dome, not inside it. Both sources said no one had been killed inside.

Posted by: Gary at 09:34 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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Ben Stein cuts to the chase on the MSM's bogus assertion that racism was a factor in the events that followed Hurricane Katrina:

Here's the truth. Many black people were harmed by Katrina because of where they lived relative to the path of the hurricane and the location of their neighborhoods below sea level and their refusal or inability to obey the mandatory evacuation orders for New Orleans. This is not racism. This is a matter of geography, weather patterns, and poverty or confusion. It has nothing to do with purposeful mistreatment of blacks by whites. Poverty and confusion, certainly big factors here, were in no sense caused by white mistreatment of blacks unless it was white mistreatment of blacks that ended many decades ago.

As soon as the rescue effort started -- and although it was tardy, it was just as tardy for whites and Hispanics as it was for blacks -- the main story was whites by the thousands hurrying to New Orleans to rescue blacks from rooftops, from evacuation centers, from hospitals, from old folks' homes. The rescue effort was totally and utterly colorblind. The idea that blacks in New Orleans were left to suffer while whites in Mississippi or Alabama were treated royally is simply fantasy. Whites suffered too, and yes, they were often helped by blacks.

Posted by: Gary at 02:00 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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Due to a post by the Puppy Blender last night, we are seeing the wide distribution of this video of General Honore verbally smacking down an idiot reporter at a New Orleans press conference, saying "You are stuck on stupid!", which is something I've been waiting for someone...anyone...to say to the media for years.

The transcript of the whole press conference is here, courtesy of Radio Blogger, and linked by Vodkapundit.

And thus, a new catchphrase was born.

UPDATE: Slublog updates the WWII guy poster and a variation from Ace of Spades. The more this catches on, the more pissed off the media is going to get.

Posted by: Gary at 09:30 AM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 This man should be the next predident.

Posted by: David at September 21, 2005 09:50 AM (6wTpy)

2 Don't knee jerk about Honore becoming President. It was a timely and excellent remark. I would like many more of same. Republicans are always pussies, no match for the sewer sniper demon-rats.

Posted by: Tatiana at September 21, 2005 10:06 AM (dJJ6u)

3 First heard this on Laura Ingraham this morning and they were joking (and serious) that he should take Scott McClellan's place as White House Spokesman.

Posted by: Wordsmith from Nantucket at September 21, 2005 03:18 PM (nrGCx)

4 i am all for that. he should be the next president!

Posted by: AShley at September 24, 2005 08:11 AM (UPWcN)

5 i am all for that. he should be the next president!

Posted by: AShley at September 24, 2005 08:11 AM (UPWcN)

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Fear of accountability, that is.

However, poor Dan is now pushing his corporate conspiracy theories to explain why he couldn't get away with making wild accusations of a sitting President based on fabricated "evidence" even he agrees is suspect. Of course, in sticking to his Bush TANG story, Rather claims that even though the proof is fake the story is accurate.

Yeah, OK Dan. You just stick to your guns there. You see, Dan thinks he was merely hung out to dry by the powers that be because they couldn't take the heat. Addressing the Fordham Univ. School of Law in Manhattan, he spoke wistfully of the good old days of broadcast news.

"There was a connection between the leadership and the led . . . a sense of, 'we're in this together,"' Rather said. It's not that the then-leadership of CBS wasn't interested in shareholder value and profits, Rather said, but they also saw news as a public service. Rather said he knew very little of the intense pressure to remove him in the early 1970s because of his bosses' support.

Posted by: Gary at 12:10 PM | Comments (3) | Add Comment
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The producers of ABC News sent reporter Dean Reynolds out to interview New Orleans residents displaced by Katrina to Houston. Despite leading questions and Dean's continued pressing for something...anything negative about President Bush's speech last night, the evacuees weren't biting. If anything, they ripped into local officials.

Reynolds asked Connie London: "Did you harbor any anger toward the President because of the slow federal response?" She rejected the premise: "No, none whatsoever, because I feel like our city and our state government should have been there before the federal government was called in." She pointed out: "They had RTA buses, Greyhound buses, school buses, that was just sitting there going under water when they could have been evacuating people."

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Reuters has finally captured evidence that the President does, in fact, go to the bathroom - despite speculation that he has a magic digestive system controlled by Karl Rove!

WTF is this all about? I mean, it would at least be somewhat interesting if he had written: "Condi, cover for me. I have to go heave a Havana!" or something crude like that.

But this makes the Reuters wire?

Posted by: Gary at 10:18 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In her latest NY Times "piece" today.

My favorite part is the first two sentences.

I hate spending time in hospitals and nursing homes. I find them to be some of the most depressing places on earth.

Posted by: Gary at 04:30 PM | No Comments | Add Comment
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California radio station KOMY began broadcasting Air America back in July and the station owner, Michael Zwerling, has been begging and pleading local advertisers to by ad time on the station. That's right, since the station began airing the Liberal programming not a SINGLE BUSINESS has purchased advertising time!

However it's sister station, KSCO, which broadcasts Rush Limbaugh's show, is virtually SOLD OUT of its available ad time.

Boo-freaking-Hoo!

Limbaugh suggested Zwerling change his strategy towards looking for donors rather than sponsors:

"I think this is the lesson for all of you who wish to show some sort of financial revenue income by carrying liberal radio. You have to orient yourself to fund-raising, not commerce. Commerce has never been part of the recipe here. ... This guy has made a terrible blunder. He thought liberal radio was about commerce and dollars and business and selling advertising, and that's not what it's about. ... You are doing something good for the cause."

Posted by: Gary at 04:34 PM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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In the month of August, Fox News Channel scored its highest ratings to date according to Nielsen Media Research. Fox beat the competition again in prime time - with 11 of the 12 top shows in cable news and continues to pull viewership away from CNN and MSNBC in the industries most coveted audience.

"In the news demographic of adults 25-54, Fox News ruled again, with 541,000 viewers, up 12%, while CNN lost 9% to 236,000 and MSNBC was mostly flat at 145,000. Headline News averaged 160,000, up 111.%"

Of course, the Franken crowd will undoubtably point to this as further evidence that the "evil liars" at Fox are fooling even more of the unwashed masses with their GOP propaganda. The screeds should be coming shortly.

Posted by: Gary at 07:21 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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