Media Matters: Hey, Let’s Investigate the Private Lives of Fox News Reporters!
Some ideas for stalking one’s ideological opponents, from a Frisch — Karl Frisch of Media Matters:
A little after 1 p.m. on Sept. 29, 2009, Karl Frisch emailed a memo to his bosses, Media Matters for America founder David Brock and president Eric Burns. In the first few lines, Frisch explained why Media Matters should launch a “Fox Fund” whose mission would be to attack the Fox News Channel.
“Simply put,” Frisch wrote, “the progressive movement is in need of an enemy. George W. Bush is gone. We really don’t have John McCain to kick around any more. Filling the lack of leadership on the right, Fox News has emerged as the central enemy and antagonist of the Obama administration, our Congressional majorities and the progressive movement as a whole.”
“We must take Fox News head-on in a well funded, presidential-style campaign to discredit and embarrass the network, making it illegitimate in the eyes of news consumers.”
That phrase “presidential-style campaign” makes me smile a bitter, tight smile.
What Frisch proceeded to suggest, however, went well beyond what legitimate presidential campaigns attempt. “We should hire private investigators to look into the personal lives of Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors, senior network and corporate staff,” he wrote.
After that, Frisch argued, should come the legal assault: “We should look into contracting with a major law firm to study any available legal actions that can be taken against Fox News, from a class action law suit to defamation claims for those wronged by the network. I imagine this would be difficult but the right law firm is bound to find some legal ground for us to take action against the network.”
Note well: the memo does not suggest fact-checking Fox News, or taking them on with respect to the issues. No, instead the memo discusses trying to discredit the network by digging into people’s personal lives. By a strategy of planning to file lawsuits before any specific legal grievance is identified. Media Matters planned to respond to Fox News, not by responding to the message, but by stalking the messenger.
Unfortunately, this sort of thing appears to be an increasingly popular tactic among fanatics. The tactics you see discussed are, believe it or not, rather mild compared to what the fanatics are capable of. Once a fanatic has determined that his opponent is not just misguided, but in fact evil, simply due to the political opinions he holds, it is easy for the fanatic to justify all manner of outrages, including the criminal.
Framing your opponent, for the fanatic, becomes a convenient way for him to “catch” you at what he believes you are doing anyway. Trying to get you killed is simply one more method a psychopath uses to try to obtain your silence.
I have been a victim of the sort of thuggery I describe in this post, as have others close to me — to an extent that would probably shock many of you to hear about. So if this seems personal for me, well, it is. The full story will be told one day, but for now, suffice it to say that this post is not an academic exercise for me.
I picked this story up at Hot Air, and several commenters are making comparisons to the Stasi — which is, I think, an apt analogy. What I find disturbing is that some of them also claim that we need to “get tough” with the other side and start using their tactics against them. This sort of attitude is all too common whenever one side is shown the most despicable tactics of the other side’s fringe.
But it is important not to succumb to this point of view. I say this as someone who has seen criminal ugliness first-hand. The most dangerous attitude in the world is that of self-righteousness. It allows one to rationalize all manner of abuses that, in the abstract, would horrify anyone with a sliver of a conscience.
While we seem to see so very many stories about this sort of thing happening on the left, I have also witnessed thuggish attempts to silence dissent on the right. Organized smears and a mob mentality are not the exclusive province of either side. What is important is finding a way to articulate your principles without falling victim to the sort of thuggery Media Matters proposed (and probably engages in to some degree) — and also to avoid falling into the trap of engaging in thuggery yourself.
This country was built on the idea that speech can be countered by more speech. Increasingly, it seems that some take the attitude that speech you don’t like should be countered by destroying the messenger. Media Matters has fallen into this despicable category.
I don’t know that they are capable of feeling shame. But I still feel compelled to say: shame on them.
Shame on them.
With Soros money, who will be brave enough to expose them, to shame them? Stephanopolos? Please.
I’m worried. People are trying to out Alinsky each other. Only the Left can get away with that….again, due to the MSM.
Simon Jester (e66edd) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:39 amOne point to bear in mind: when through rationalization you sanction tactics that are immoral and/or criminal, you empower people who are by their very nature immoral and/or criminal, who will seize on the excuses your rationalization offers, in order to do what their evil natures spur them to do anyway.
Patterico (13e9ba) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:40 amLike the Stasi, the idea of this crowd is to make dissent so difficult that most are unwilling to engage in it.
Patterico (13e9ba) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:41 amPlus, Patterico, the other folks get a “pass” on their actions.
Simon Jester (e66edd) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:42 amHow to level the playing field?
Simon Jester (e66edd) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:43 am“(Media Matters) should hire private investigators to look into the personal lives of Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors, senior network and corporate staff,” (Karl Frisch) wrote.
Well, of course. IT’S. WHAT. FASCISTS. DO.
locomotivebreath1901 (b41f6b) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:43 amthis is the same Soros what bankrolls National Soros Radio I believe
happyfeet (3c92a1) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:54 amIn revolutionary Cuba, it was known as the ‘little tail’ the coletilla, to discredit any opponents of the New Govt, similar patterns recurr in Moscow, Managua, Caracas, one can see the Kimberlin/Friedman partnership in the same light,
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:59 amAlinsky’s 12th rule, I believe.
Shame is not something sociopaths can feel. I wish there was a way to make them personally witness the damage they do. Own what they have done, on a personal level to others, in front of their friends and loved ones.
They generally think they are swell people, and their opponents are eeeeevvviiillll. So it is okay to damage the lives of others.
Which takes us back to sociopathy.
Simon Jester (e66edd) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:01 amPoor dic pic management skilz can get you in trouble.
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:16 amResearch and lawsuits. The stuff of fascism.
lun (6554f2) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:18 amDirected botcott campaigns for telling the truth,
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:20 amthis is what Beck was trying to illustrate, I’m not sure even he knew how much MM was directly involved,
@ 11,
Careful. Your disingenuous underpants are showing. Of course this isn’t about research and lawsuits. But then, you already know that.
Dana (4eca6e) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:22 amI mean boycott, but then again I was more right than I knew, the CAP, the Olives, (who bankrolled
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:24 amKimberlin) the Fenton progressive archipelago all play a part.
Iamadimwit is nothing if not disingenuous and mendoucheous.
JD (321019) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:28 amlun – Are you wearing your hooker outfit this morning?
daleyrocks (bf33e9) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:33 amHas anyone noticed the latest Fox News “contributor”? Her name is Sally Kohn, she is a progressive radical formerly heading a number of Soros Funded organizations.
Her hiring at Fox News comes on the heels of Soros exposer Glen Beck’s departure (which by all accounts, he was forced out) and Fox just announced that Judge Napolitano will no longer have a show on the network.
Fox is being coerced to the left, no longer is hard news aimed at the president part of their agenda. It’s sad, we are losing our watch dogs.
Dwok (f0833b) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:40 am“the progressive movement is in need of an enemy.
It’s interesting that the progs don’t have confidence and belief in their own ideology and practices: If they did, why would the need to find a public enemy and scapegoat? Apparently that is the always their game plan – selecting Fox comes after that. But in choosing Fox, they clearly realize and understand the threat to their power they really are. (I realize this is Alinsky in practice, but it’s interesting to break it down).
It appears to me to be a bit of a ham-fisted maneuver. On one hand, one can see the attempted rallying cry of this – let’s find a common enemy and beat the hell out of them. Solidarity, etc., as well as doing serious harm to their perceived enemy. On the other hand, and underneath the surface, a simultaneous attempt to either appear more unified than they really are and rally their base (and yes, they have a base), or an attempt to distract mainstream America from seeing what this crowd’s end goals for our country really are.
Dana (4eca6e) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:42 amYou notice Dickinson at RS, Sherman at NY, anybody at Time and Newsweek, alleged the same things about
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:46 amFox, that they were doing at the same time,
To me this sounds like a version of what O’keefe does. I suppose you can argue that setting up stings where you can take ambiguous quotes out of context and apply your own narrative is ‘better’ than investigating reporters but I don’t see that there’s much moral superiority either way.
“What I find disturbing is that some of them also claim that we need to “get tough” with the other side and start using their tactics against them.”
Remember the ‘pimp boat’ scam that was done by project Veritas with the objective to humiliate a CNN producer and burden her career with a scandal? Conservatives are already doing it.
I don’t really think either ‘side’ has much moral superiority. Moore, O’Keef, Beck, and this bozo are all unreliable and somewhat scummy. If you really want to keep the fight out of the gutter you have to police your own side as much or more than you do the other side.
time123 (03e182) — 2/14/2012 @ 7:59 amWe just witnessed how the left and MSM approached the last presidential election: McCain’s first marriage but not his Medal of Honor, Palin’s children but not her gubernatorial performance.
I think the characterization of the recommendation for intrusive and inappropriate PI and barrages of lawsuits as a “presidential-style campaign” is perfectly accurate for the left and representative of how they do “business.”
jim2 (a9ab88) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:02 amMeanwhile like linebackers they block any inquiry into Obama’s background, policies et al.
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:04 amKarl Frisch?
Never heard of him.
Charles Gibson (7cefeb) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:09 amwell, all of this feeds into some basic criminal law advice that I have given to people for a long time. It is a really good guide to keeping yourself out of trouble:
And of course there are lots of things that are not necessarily immoral, but are still illegal, too. I don’t want you to think there is a one to one correlation between your conscience and the law.
and i will quibble with one thing about your analysis, Patrick. you write:
I do think that most people believe in their heart of hearts that they are the good guys and you are the bad guy and thus that rationalization works in most cases.
But sometimes I think the person is so devoid of morality, it isn’t about you being bad in their eyes or them being good. Its about if you are their enemy or not. And if you are, that is all they need to rationalize what they will do to you.
In other words, sometimes you deal with a person who himself is not just misguided, but evil. It is rare, but it happens. But even when you believe your opponent is actually evil–because there are evil people in the world after all–you still have to keep your sense of ethics. You do nothing wrong and nothing illegal, per my advice above.
Aaron Worthing (73a7ea) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:14 amtime123:
Do you have any examples of how the left polices itself?
For example, one reporter at CBS covered the Obama Administration’s scandalous Fast & Furious program but ABC and NBC essentially tanked the story. Where was the response from the left?
DRJ (a83b8b) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:29 amThe fallacy in your argument is assuming the Left has a sliver of conscience. Ask Robert Bork about that. Ask Clarence Thomas. Hell, ask Sarah Palin. Both sides have their lunatic fringe. For the Left, however, their lunatics are their mainstream.
Ralph Gizzip (5ab3ea) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:37 am“Framing your opponent, for the fanatic, becomes a convenient way for him to “catch” you at what he believes you are doing anyway. Trying to get you killed is simply one more method a psychopath uses to try to obtain your silence.”
Hmmmm…. wasn’t it Dem. Senator Chuck Schumer who got caught on an open mic saying that he would always call the Tea Party “extremist”?
same philosophy.
john b (cfdc77) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:39 am==To me this sounds like a version of what O’keefe does.==
MM manipulating the very “news” on a daily basis through pre-planned messages to the masses, and achieved by utilizing the major legacy media sounds like what O’Keefe does? Really?
I guess I was thinking more along the lines of Pravda or Xinhua.
elissa (687101) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:44 amYou misunderstand DRJ, that was the response, the story doesn’t exist outside of Atkinson and some
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:46 amelements of Fox.
That was just 50 Cent Trolling, elissa.
Simon Jester (d07d10) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:46 amDRJ,
I’m not sure what your Fast and Furious links are supposed to prove…I’ve long since given up on figuring out why some stories get legs and some don’t.
But to answer your question; Nothing compelling is in hand. I could probably find at least some mild approbation in Kevin Drum’s archive if I tried but my point wasn’t “you need to do as good a job as your opponents.” It was “If you want to improve the quality of the discourse you need to police your own team.”
James O’Keefe probably doesn’t care at all what Rachel Maddow thinks about him. But if Breitbart calls on him to apologize for going too far he reacts. Media Matter’s probably isn’t going to care that Patterico doesn’t like this strategy proposal. But I’ll bet you they’d pay attention to Greg Sergeant if he wrote a critical blog post.
time123 (03e182) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:47 amSo, again: why doesn’t the MSM Left police itself? Why, I got to hear a White House spokesman claim that 60 votes were needed in the Senate. The spokesman knows better, and the press just lapped it up.
You can find a correction on page C-18, but I don’t see it leading. Not the way that the press goes after “misstatements” by Republican folk.
The press is supposed to have an adversarial role with government, to help keep it honest. Instead, it has partisan kneepads.
Simon Jester (d07d10) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:50 amThe Administration is arming paramilitary factions opposed to center right regimes from Mexico down to Honduras, from the Sinaloa cartel to whatever the Honduran equivalent is, N-19 I think they aer called
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 8:51 amBecause they can’t.
That’s all they’ve got left.
It’s important for another reason besides the ones you mention, Pat. These are not tough people. They are wimps. I’d use other words, but they’re not polite.
It’s a tale of two Hungarian Jews growing up in the shadow of the Nazis. The real ones, not the imaginary ones the bacteria on the left see everywhere.
On the one hand, George Soros the collaborator, who learned the underhanded techniques of his masters and passed them on to his children at MMFA.
On the other hand, Imi Lichtenfeld, champion boxer, wrestler, street fighter who defended his Jewish neighborhood from brownshirts, and went on to develop the hand-to-hand fighting technique still used in the Israeli Defense Forces called Krav Maga.
I’d rather be Lichtenfeld’s child. Nobody ever even accused Lichtenfeld of some low, underhanded crime like insider trading let alone convicted him. Soros’ cockroaches can only survive in the dark. Lichtenfeld’s children can survive in the light but aren’t afraid of dark places.
We don’t want to be like them. They act out of fear. They don’t have the courage of their convictions, so their immediate instinct is to take the low road.
We should act out of strength. I’m channeling my inner Miyamoto Musashi via his Book of Five Rings at this point. We already know everything we need to know about these people. They will do anything except act openly and honestly. The Democratic/Media complex operates in close collaboration (do I need to go down the journOlist?). They will lie, cheat, steal, use PIs when they don’t have insiders in the Ohio state government who with no fear of repercussions from their bosses will go through and release the tax records of honest plumbers who ask a simple question that embarrasses the Cook County messiah. The TEA Partiers can hold a rally at the National Mall and leave it cleaner than when they got there, and the media and the Chris Matthews types will wail as if they just witnessed the Nuremberg rally; “the fascist curtain is descending upon America!” Meanwhile, the Occupy crowd can throw Molotov cocktails at police, smash buildings, burn flags, close ports, block traffic, s*** on peoples doorsteps and the national media won’t report it.
What more do we need to know?
I think our greatest strength is that we’ve all been lied to, lied about, and smeared. And that includes the independents. And rather than engage the lies and smears as if their was anything to them, we need to point out that they’re lies and smears. So what if MMFA dug up dirt on a Fox reporter? We all know, like Joe the Plumber, they’d do the same to us in a heartbeat. You know what it means? We stung them.
The problem is, we have candidates and politicians on our side who are afraid to say so. I think that’s what’s appealing about Gingrich. He’s not the complete package, but others need to rip a page out of his playbook. He fires back and calls them on their BS. The rest of them need to get over it. It’s a painful thing to watch. They’re playing a half-court game when they need to play a full-court game.
They aren’t capable of feeling it. They are only capable of saying it.
Somehow, they imagine they have the moral authority. Which I suppose makes sense, because they can only imagine what morality is.
Steve (20a23f) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:04 amPerhaps commenter 123 can point us to what time the influential Mr. O’Keefe presides over his own eponymous show on a major cable network (Maddow) and likewise where on the Washington Post site we can read his columns and go to find his blog (Sargent).
elissa (687101) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:11 amHey, Soros worked with the ACTUAL Nazis. Why should this bother him at all? He lost all shame decades ago, selling the possessions of gassed Jews for his Nazi masters.
Kevin M (563f77) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:11 am“Note well: the memo does not suggest fact-checking Fox News, or taking them on with respect to the issues.”
Have you been to their website lately?
“Why, I got to hear a White House spokesman claim that 60 votes were needed in the Senate. The spokesman knows better, and the press just lapped it up. ”
The Washington Post called it “misleading.” Talking points memo repeated ABC calling it “false.”
lun (6554f2) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:13 amJames O’Keefe probably doesn’t care at all what Rachel Maddow thinks about him.
Comment by time123
Hey, I agree with that.
Rue the day when conservatives are left standing on street corners handing out pamphlets that are the only honest news reporting left.
“If you think it can’t happen right here in America, wait ’till it happens to you”. – Larry Norman
I suppose we could flood Media Matters with lots of suggestions, like how George Soros is already funding Allan West for 2016.
I wonder if there is any circumstance where a documented conspiracy to deceive the public would turn into a RICO case.
I think this is why one of the 10 “Not Suggestions” was do not bear false witness.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:15 amWell he was what 17 at the time, facing the Arrow Cross, who were more fanatical then the Nazis themselves, but the lesson is what did he take from it, and he does seem like the real life Auric Goldfinger, which Thor and Clancy and even Walsh’s
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:15 amnovels seem to describe.
Nothing compelling is in hand.
Concerning the suggestion that the South Pole is cold.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:16 amThe Administration is arming paramilitary factions opposed to center right regimes from Mexico down to Honduras, from the Sinaloa cartel to whatever the Honduran equivalent is, N-19 I think they aer called
If true, this would be a giant campaign issue. DO you have credible links? For the administration to destabilize Latin American governments in a pro-Chavez, pro-Castro direction would be huge. It would doom Hilary forever, too. Links?
Kevin M (563f77) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:17 amKevin M
One would believe that you are correct, but after their treatment of Honduras and the cry that went up about that that continues to echo through the Rockies…
Hopefully something will finally wake a majority of people up.
MD in Philly (3d3f72) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:22 amtime123:
I picked Fast & Furious because no credible person could claim it isn’t a vital national news story. F&F involves allegations of rampant abuse of gun laws, crimes by government officials, innocent and avoidable deaths on both sides of the border, international relations with one of our nearest neighbors, and intentional decisions by our nation’s highest officials. How can anyone ignore it as some story that didn’t “get legs”?
DRJ (a83b8b) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:36 amActually, I think MM is hypersensitive to the great takedowns this blog has had for Boehlert’s BS and his pal Friedman’s BS too.
They want an echo chamber and that’s a pretty common theme from the radical left.
Dustin (401f3a) — 2/14/2012 @ 9:40 amMedia Matter’s probably isn’t going to care that Patterico doesn’t like this strategy proposal. But I’ll bet you they’d pay attention to Greg Sergeant if he wrote a critical blog post.
Did you see the earlier story on Media Matters at The Daily Caller? According to two different unnamed sourcse at Media Matters (yes, I am aware of the peril in believing “unnamed sources”), Greg Sargent is happy to publish any tidbit that Media Matters passes along to him. It means that Media Matters essentially has a direct conduit to a Washington Post political blog, without having to have their grubby fingerprints all over it. I wouldn’t hold my breath waiting for Sargent to criticize Media Matters in his blog.
JVW (f7d3ab) — 2/14/2012 @ 10:08 amFolks the entire concept of LIBTARDISM is dishonest.
Gus (36e9a7) — 2/14/2012 @ 10:22 amLiberals IN GENERAL are psychologically malformed. Take Obama for example. If the TRUTH WORKED, he wouldn’t like all the time.
JVW, I think the point is to establish only certain special people whose opinion matters.
And of course, these special people are those who obey orders from other Journ-o-list type scams.
And scam is exactly what it is. These guys owe every single paying reader a 100% refund.
We’ve seen this before with economists and global warming hoaxers who don’t want us to get our dirty finger prints on raw data.
If you don’t agree with the echo chamber, you’re just some little guy best ignored. The internet must be a miserable place for thin skinned egomaniacs, both on the left and on the right as we occasionally see here from a couple of the dishonest commenters.
Dustin (401f3a) — 2/14/2012 @ 10:34 amWell who were the recipients in the primary F&F, the Sinaloa cartel in Castaway, out of South Florida
directed toward Honduras, which has been in the administration’s gunsights since the Zapata deposing. Is it really that hard to see the motive
there, as with the aid to the Arab Spring.
Yes ‘Media Matters’ but only their media. some might call it ‘state run’ if not certified;
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 10:40 amThe “right” law firm can make somthing up? I understand that John Edwards has some time on his hands these days.
Comanche Voter (0e06a9) — 2/14/2012 @ 10:45 amIf you have a public relations campaign like the Levick Group, in combination, yes.
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 10:52 amJames O’Keefe probably doesn’t care at all what Rachel Maddow thinks about him.
Comment by time123
And he shouldn’t. As soon as the left’s opinion becomes viable and meaningful to the right, we have lost. They want their opinion to matter and will bully their way to that end, if necessary. Because they have the MSM in their pocket, the left will always use public peer pressure to leverage their agenda. Unfortunately, a huge portion of the public remains ignorant, naive, and gullible (take your pick) and without even realizing it, get played repeatedly.
People like O’Keefe, Fox News, Rush, etc., will have to be taken down because, if it weren’t for them the few that have seen the light, would never have, or the enlightening would occurred much more slowly and over a longer period of time. Think of the massive damage that could have been, instead of what is.
Dana (4eca6e) — 2/14/2012 @ 11:07 amhttp://www.miamiherald.com/2012/02/14/2639954_p2/the-profound-lies-of-deep-throat.html
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 11:10 amI agree with Breitbart,” F u. It’s war.”
sickofrinos (44de53) — 2/14/2012 @ 11:31 amIf that is how they want to roll, let us look into their private lives.
Michael Ejercito (64388b) — 2/14/2012 @ 11:53 amIf that is how they want to roll, let us look into their private lives.
I think those type of people are completely immune to embarrassment, no matter what skeletons they might have.
JVW (861862) — 2/14/2012 @ 12:34 pmI got this far: “One point to bear in mind: when through rationalization you sanction tactics that are immoral and/or criminal, you empower people who are by their very nature immoral and/or criminal, who will seize on the excuses your rationalization offers, in order to do what their evil natures spur them to do anyway.”
And just had to post – this is where they recruit jihadists from IMO; those who are already off the beam and looking for validation of their twisted thinking!
Amy Shulkusky (67fbd5) — 2/14/2012 @ 1:13 pmDon’t you miss the old days when the big freakout was the Bush Administration knowing the books you checked out from the library?
Kaisersoze (298188) — 2/14/2012 @ 3:10 pmCompromise and supposed smart talking elites our what got us here. Standing up and fighting back with tactics that deliver victory is what is needed.
sickofrinos (44de53) — 2/14/2012 @ 3:16 pmThat means the republicans are out.
Gutless swine is what they are.
I’m abo positive.
I think those type of people are completely immune to embarrassment, no matter what skeletons they might have.
True that. Hard to feel shame when you’re guided by the lowest common denominator. Lefties don’t embarrass easy.
Colonel Haiku (b48130) — 2/14/2012 @ 3:17 pmQuestion of the Day: How many pairs of knee pads has Greg Sargent worn out in 2012?
Colonel Haiku (b48130) — 2/14/2012 @ 3:26 pmComment by jim2 — 2/14/2012 @ 8:02 am
John McCain’s highest award was a Silver Star (Wiki), no MOH mentioned.
AD-RtR/OS! (b8ab92) — 2/14/2012 @ 3:35 pmRegarding Steve at #33.
Post of the Year candidate.
franke (5d360b) — 2/14/2012 @ 3:47 pmI hear there is a lot of dirt on Geraldo Rivera. Go for it Media Matters!
AZ Bob (7d2a2c) — 2/14/2012 @ 4:41 pmAD, that’s correct. Mccain did not win the MOH, however in my opinion his service was very much of the highest honor.
His record in office is very mixed, but he’s probably a better man than 99% of other Senators and House members.
Dustin (401f3a) — 2/14/2012 @ 4:53 pmYes, I almost missed that, of course, John Weaver,
narciso (87e966) — 2/14/2012 @ 4:56 pmthe skipper behind the wreck of the SS Huntsman, leaked the Iseman rumor to the Times. Much like the lies that Wallace and Schmidt peddled to Heileman and Halperin,
“We should hire private investigators to look into the personal lives of Fox News anchors, hosts, reporters, prominent contributors, senior network and corporate staff,”
To what end?
You can be POTUS, cheat on your wife right in the White House, lie about it under oath…and there’s no negative repercussions when it gets splashed all over the papers.
Think anyone’s going to get excited about what some Talking Head does?
Dave Surls (46b08c) — 2/14/2012 @ 5:05 pmThis impulse is . . . pretty much what I spent the whole post warning against.
Patterico (13e9ba) — 2/14/2012 @ 6:18 pmDo we really want to know who MadCow is seeing on a regular basis?
AD-RtR/OS! (7f57d2) — 2/14/2012 @ 11:49 pmOr Schultie?
TMI!
Oops…Schultzie.
AD-RtR/OS! (7f57d2) — 2/14/2012 @ 11:49 pmOne would hope that Schultzie is seeing his wife.
Icy (d609fb) — 2/15/2012 @ 1:45 amMcCain – Silver Star and DFC but no MoH.
My mistake, though I believe my point remains. Nonetheless, thank you for the correction, especially as I will be able to avoid repeating it.
jim2 (6482d8) — 2/15/2012 @ 6:18 amjim, your point was quite right.
Mccain’s heroism barely got a mention. His affair with that lobbyist got a front page NYT story and it didn’t even happen, though.
Dustin (401f3a) — 2/15/2012 @ 7:11 amWhats kind of funny is how many trolls have shown up on the Fox news forums, Media Matters people?
Who knows but they are a great source of insane aliens that I think does the regular viewers a World of good to know that they honestly do exist, and must be crushed.
Drider (b003e1) — 2/15/2012 @ 7:45 amIt would be limited only to those who actually do this conduct, and not, say, mere political opponents.
Michael Ejercito (64388b) — 2/15/2012 @ 8:06 pmWell we know IGI did most of the scut work on that front, during the Clinton era, and you know who was
narciso (87e966) — 2/15/2012 @ 8:08 pma high official back then, in that organization,
I love the line
The most dangerous attitude in the world is that of self-righteousness. It allows one to rationalize all manner of abuses …
T (d58a75) — 2/19/2012 @ 7:17 amit is appropriate for religious nuts and over zealous progressives
Sorry I have to disagree 100%.
The left is criminalizing Conservatism…we’re simply going to have to fight this out in the Courts using whatever means necessary.
Examples:
1. Ted Stevens
2. Scooter Libby
3. Border Agent Ramos & Compien
4. Border Agent Diaz http://is.gd/yr6789
5. ATF Whistleblowers Dodson fired for whistleblowing by DoJ
6. Tom DeLay
7. NJ Gun in the trunk case 7 years
8. NY Veteran with gun arrested and charged for carrying weapon.
9. Man who kills bear on his property arrested and charged.
10. Inhumane treatment of turkeys and cows…arrests
11. Violating wetlands policy for pond on property …arrests
etc etc
…meanwhile: Criminals like Laura Richardson, Maxine Waters, Charlie Rangel walk free….
These are just the things that come to mind…The point being that there is a concerted left wing effort to make ‘examples’ of conservatives on every single issue that separates liberal from conservative.
Afterseven (2fc50f) — 2/28/2012 @ 3:49 pm