Did I Get ‘Journolisted’?
This week, the Daily Caller published transcripts from the Journolist, a listserv comprised of several hundred liberal journalists. Among other things, the transcripts show a coordinated effort to bring a halt to articles and analyses about Barack Obama’s decades-long relationship with his pastor, radical Chicago preacher Jeremiah Wright.
According to the Daily Caller:
At several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate.
One “journalist” wrote to his colleagues:
In my opinion, we all have to do what we can to kill ABC [the leading newshound on the Obama-Wright relationship] and this idiocy in whatever venues we have.
Also according to the Daily Caller:
Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. … What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. … In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.
I was not surprised by the account.
Reading the report, I realized Ackerman and his friends used this same strategy against me, attacked me as a racist, and attempted to put me through the plate-glass window because of my exposés on the supposedly “pro-Israel” lobbying organization J Street.
All of a sudden, at the end of October 2009, a pack of howling bloggers started nipping at my heels, accusing me of racism. I had written for PJ Media a fact-filled exposé about J Street’s founders, and about some of the contributors to the J Street PAC who were well-known pro-Saudi, Palestinian, Arab-American, and pro-Iranian activists. I added a few State Department Arabists for good measure. How could this group call itself “pro-Israel?” I asked.
Immediately, a torrent of condemnations hit from some of Israel’s strongest critics and from J Street advocates (I prefer “J Street-Walkers”): Spencer Ackerman, Andrew Sullivan, Daniel Luban, MJ Rosenberg, and Max Fisher. Lara Friedman from Americans for Peace Now also weighed in.
They focused on my naming someone with an Arab surname from the Arab-American Institute who contributed to J Street’s PAC. Typical of other contributors, I pointed out that her affiliation with one of the premier Arab lobbies in Washington was nowhere to be found in the Federal Election Committee public records.
Their responses were brutal:
Ben David is a cowardly racist … East German Stasi spook, believes everyone with Arab blood in their veins is The Enemy, Joe McCarthy, J. Edgar Hoover, etc …
Spencer Ackerman even issued a threat:
Lenny Ben-David, you and I will meet someday, face to face. I hope it comes very soon. I promise you it will be an unforgettable experience.
MJ Rosenberg endorsed the threat, saying:
If there’s anything left of him.
It was an amazing, likely coordinated attack. “My God! You’re radioactive,” a staffer from a real pro-Israel organization told me.
After reading the Ackerman strategy to attack those who sought to expose the Obama-Wright connection, it’s very clear the same tactic was deployed to protect J Street. Serious Washington reporters who can smell J Street’s type of fraud from a mile away have avoided investigating the outfit, originally called “the Soros project” in its early life. Several reporters have material on a Turkish donor to J Street’s PAC who was thrown off of the Hillary Clinton campaign in 2008 when they learned he was involved in the production of the anti-American, anti-Semitic film Valley of the Wolves.
But not a word has been written.
They’ve seen the FEC data on an eccentric “Wyoming Latin teacher” who gave the PAC $36,000 this year — the largest contribution ever given to J Street’s PAC.
But not a peep.
It takes one click on the FEC site to see that leaders of the Arab-American and pro-Iranian lobby are still making major contributions. But no one has challenged J Street to publish its board of directors or its major contributors.
Clearly, I had stepped on some very sensitive toes, and the journothugs didn’t like it. Therefore, to not be a victim of their thug tactics, I ask that you all read my original column that lit their fuse.
In October, I responded publicly to the Arab-American activist who was the supposed victim of my racism:
My reference to your involvement with J Street has nothing to do with your ancestry, or even you personally. Your name could be Golda Meir as far as I’m concerned. Your friends who label me a racist are only attempting to deflect attention away from the questions raised about J Street and its lack of transparency.
What I find disturbing about J Street is the deception surrounding it. One donor signed federal documents saying he is “not working” and living in Orlando when he’s actually a Palestinian billionaire from the West Bank. You are registered in the PAC as a “consultant” for USUS, not for the Arab American Institute. These disclosures have nothing to do with ethnic background. Why do Saudi employees and partners — “WASPS,” I presume — like lawyer Nancy Dutton and former CIA station chief Ray Close give to a “pro-Israel” organization? Why would life-long Arabist diplomats? Or activists in Muslim centers around the U.S., centers which identify with the Muslim Brotherhood? Or Genevieve Lynch, an officer in the Iranian-American lobby, give $10,000-plus to J Street’s PAC?
Already, some journalists are challenging or dismissing the Daily Caller’s exposé. The test of good journalists will be if they actually investigate the “Journolist” allegations, stiffen their backbones, and start investigating J Street.
‘Spencer Ackerman, Andrew Sullivan, Daniel Luban, MJ Rosenberg, and Max Fisher. Lara Friedman from Americans for Peace Now also weighed in.’
That should read “Americans for Peace Now or We’ll throw You Through a Plate Glass Window”.
They’re a strange group.
‘Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists … What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left … In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear.’
Yeah, that would be an effective threat, except leftoid “journalists” are arrant cowards who weep if they get a paper cut. The only thing these pencil-necked geeks would fight for would be a spot at the head of the Dole Line if they ever get fired for being parodies of real newspeople.
“Pencil necked-geeks”…Classy Freddy Blassie. I love it.
Thanks Lenny. I never realized the Fenton connection with Jstreet. Job well done. I joined PJM after you published your article. It was an education to read it. Kudos. MBY
The problem is the government mafia. It allows these propaganda priests their cartel, their power, influence, ability to deflect, lie, cover-up, and create whatever “reality” they wish. This is because at the end of the day, these propaganda priests all serve one main purpose, and that’s to perpetuate the central bank warfare/welfare model, the anglo-american empire, the US-Saudi petrodollar, the fascist/corporatist leviathan state. The propaganda priest engage in a deliberately false dialectic for a staged theater. Israel is the distraction. It is the Roman circus of our times. The real show is the debt slave society they created with money printed out of thin air, while they loot people’s labor and rape the earth for resources.
The Soros project? My God that man is a bigger threat to America than 20 Bin Ladens.
I suspect Soros of many things. We know he paid for Moveon.org and probably other undercover events that included hacking into emails which were later published in tabloids as fact. I believe, even more than that, that Soros is the mastermind and money behind Obama. I think he called in favors to have dollars removed from Wall Street in the months just prior to the election with the sole purpose being to make the economy bad enough for people to blindly support his largely inexperienced, unvetted, but completely subsidized candidate, Obama. Once the market was in free fall I am sure those same folks picked up large numbers of American companies for dime on the dollar. Furthermore, Obama designate millions to go to Soros owned Petrobras in Brazil. Before the president had even awakened to the gravity of the Gulf Spill, Petrobras agents were in New Orleans and Houston offering to take idle deepwater rigs off their hands for a bargain price. I find this curious to say the least.
I believe Soros is evil. He has publicly stated he wants America to be socialist and he has a history of ruining currency. He did it to the British pound. We would be much better off if he went to his reward-whatever or whereever that may be.
Yes, Soros brought down the British pound and the Malaysian Rinngit. But he’s been a bad guy for a very long time. Born Gyorgy Schwartz, a Hungarian Jew who escaped the concentration camps by helping the Nazis round up his fellow Hungarian Jews. Young Schwartz/Soros would confiscate the jewelry and valuable possessions of the Jews he sent off to their deaths. It’s widely believed that by age 16, Soros had become wealthy simply by pawning the valuables he’d taken from his victims. Soros now has the audacity to call himself a “Holocaust survivor,” and to call conservatives “Nazis” (remember, back in ’04 he said that as someone who survived Hitler’s concentration camps, he was uniquely qualified to offer the opinion that George Bush was just like Hitler).
Also, Soros funds communist revolutionary movements and publications the world over. He’s also been the chief player behind the movement to legalize narcotics in America (first by getting medical marijuana legalized, then by getting all marijuana legalized, and finally arriving at across-the-board drug legalization). Although stating this will be piss off libertarians, Soros understands that the more stoned the population becomes, the more (politically) apathetic the population will be.
Thank you, T.S., for this startling and informative posting. Tell us more.
And Mr. Soros’ rationale for all that pitiful behaviour? I believe his statement was “Well, if I didn’t do it somebody else would have.”
Given the reverse behaviour of Christians in the Netherlands, a few in France, and so on – one can only wonder at what misery his “rich” life must be. If that is what it takes to have that level of money in this world, I’ll stay where I am, thank you.
Your comment regarding Soros that, ” Young Schwartz/Soros would confiscate the jewelry and valuable possessions of the Jews he sent off to their deaths. ” is nonsense. Anyone who has studied the events of the Shoah or has interviewed survivors knows that the scenario you constructed was impossible.
On the other hand for a Nazi to create a story that he was a Jew in order to escape prosecution is quite plausible and such instances have been recorded.
In a 1998 interview on CBS’ 60 Minutes, Soros admitted to having helped Nazis confiscate property from Jews during the Holocaust. I’ve seen YouTube video of the 1998 interview with my own eyes. I would link to the interview, but it no longer exists on YouTube (or anywhere else on the internet for that matter). Here’s a transcript though: http://sweetness-light.com/archive/george-soros-on-helping-the-nazis-during-the-holocaust
If, as you say, the young Soros-as-Nazi-collaborator scenario is impossible, then Soros must have been lying to 60 Minutes when he admitted to having collaborated with Nazis in confiscating Jewish property and valuables.
I will say this, it used to be fairly widely accepted that as a very young man (from ages 14-15), Soros collaborated with the Nazis in Hungary. And there used to be quite a few reputable sources of reference for such information online. Not so much now. Searching for such information online returns little more than links to Snopes’ and Media Matters’ alleged “debunking” of those charges. But since Soros is the primary source of funding for Snopes (which masquerades as a ‘nonpartisan’ final authority on all matters) and Media Matters (which masquerades as a ‘nonpartisan’ media ‘watchdog’ organization), those “debunkings” should be considered highly suspect.
Unfortunately, nearly all of the other sites that currently have unflattering biographical information on Soros — as opposed to 5-6 years ago, when such information was widespread — appear to be obscure right-wing blogspot and wordpress blogs, none of which I’d cite for evidence to prove a point (although that’s not to say that their information is necessarily wrong, just that they’re too obscure and sketchy to reference as reliable sources). (Debbie Schlussel’s site has some items about Soros’ collaborating with the Nazis, but although she did some good work in years past, she’s ultimately proven herself to be a highly unreliable/untrustworthy source as well).
For people looking for general background information on Soros (that isn’t bought and paid for by Soros himself — like Snopes), this Pittsburgh Live article from 2003 is good (though it doesn’t deal with the Holocaust): http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_143947.html
And David Horowitz has a decent Soros profile Discover the Networks:
http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=977
Soros was also the instigator behind and financier of the Democrat Party’s Secretary of State Project. After the 2000 election, the Dems decided that they must never lose a close election again. Recognizing that voter fraud could and would make the critical difference in close races, they reasoned that if they could own the secretaries of state in enough of the battleground states, they could control the outcome every time. And that is exactly what they did. For an investment on the part of Soros of just 3 or 4 million dollars, the Dems got corrupt secretaries of state elected in Ohio, Minnesota, Washington, and a number of other key states in 2004. In 2008 these same secretaries of state certified the obviously fraudulent election results in those same key states where the vote was close. The corrupt secretary of state in Minnesota was one of this class of 2004 who subsequently certified the obviously fraudulent vote count that stole the 2008 US Senate election from Norm Coleman and gave it to Al Franken.
Soros got a tremendous amount of mileage out of a very modest investment on his part. To date, the RNC has not even recognized what a threat this ongoing project represents to fair elections, let alone formulating any plans to counteract it.
That’s the theory at FPM, and it seems to be solid.
Good job Ben-David, you are the type of journalist who becomes the subject of articles as well as their author.
A fact-filled expose. When you’ve got to use words like “fact-free expose” to describe your work, it’s obvious that you don’t even believe it.
Actually, that seems to be the position of malcontents everywhere.
believes everyone with Arab blood in their veins is The Enemy
You have no defense against this charge, since your expose was focused on revealing people who contributed to J street who were suspicious because…what? They were Arabs and were Pro-Arab? As opposed to Anti-Arab Arabs? But they’re wrong, you’re too stupid to be racist.
Reading comprehension, Mr Troll. There are not only plenty of concrete actions cited by the people mentioned in the expose, but many of them are clearly not Arab, unless they changed their names.
Because they are MUSLIM. Muslim does not equal Arab. And Iranians are not Arabs either. Therefore pointing out that Muslims contributing to a pro-Israel lobby being suspicious is not racist. And Islam is not a “race”. Typical Leftist stupidity — name call “racist” at anything you don’t like.
Lenny, please don’t be distracted or discouraged by vile slander such as this, coming from enemies of the Jewish people. You are a G-d fearing righteous man, who has always aligned himself with the forces of good and G-d: from AIPAC to the Embassy of Israel in DC and the others who stand for truth in this world of wickedness. It takes giants like you to save our holy Eretz Israel from enemies such as J Street, who want to give it all to the Arabs. We don’t want the “peace” that J Street advocates. We want to remain in our promised land, the land of our Avot, of our Nevi’im, our Prophets. It is giants of your stature who could build a bridge of faith and determination between our blessed biblical past and our future as lords of this land, our land. You see it, Lenny. They don’t. It is not by coincidence that you are Ben-David. Even when you were Davis, you were Ben-David. May he come promptly, in our days. And let us say: Amen.
Lenny Ben David – Yasher Ko’ach. The leftists are not interested in truth, only in their meta-narrative. Given all the Arab donors, I would say J Street is a clever Arab Front. Watch out for that wolf in sheep’s clothing.
As for Mr. Gould’s Ghost, What Mr. Ben David is saying is that people have represented themselves as one thing while being something entirely different. Put simply, they are lying.
And so, Soros is behind J Street. Soros has Jewish antecedents, but there is an Hebrew aphorism about such people – from your loins shall emerge your enemy, and Soros seems to fit the bill quite nicely.
Ben-David, remember “A man can be judged by who his enemies are.”
You stand tall. Those keyboard gangstas look like poser punk thirteen year olds who think listening to gangsta music makes them BAAAAAD. They dont know how pathetic they now look to the public.
Early on in the primaries, I noted in my blogs that I was seeing repetitive phrases and commentary from disparate newspapers. I suggested then that there was some type of coordination going on that was outside the normal business of straight journalism. This was especially noted when Palin was discussed as information which would be more tabloid in nature was suddenly offered as “news.” I think the tipping point was when a paid hacker broke into Bristol Palin’s emails and published them. In the meantime, anyone who dared to ask substantive questions of Obama was immediately silenced with the Race Card. I guess we are moving toward the post racial age Obama envisioned because frankly few people give much attention to the label of racist anymore. This collusion of ideas goes far beyond the loose meeting that people claim. Indeed, the closing of the Journolist threads points to the idea that there are other and far worse inclusions. So how much of the last campaign was orchestrated? Hard to say, but I do know that I was working on another campaign and we tried to get coverage. The media shut us down saying they were only covering Clinton and Obama and Romney and McCain-and this was at a point when McCain had lost several primaries. It just doesn’t pass the smell test. It’s as if they cast a reality show that just happened to be the election to run America. And if, down the line, they find a connection to Soros, this wouldn’t surprise me one little bit.
The FEC page you link to has vanished.
FEC: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/fecimg/?C00441949
Lenny, you have every right to be wearing the distinction of being blacklisted by JournoList as a Badge of Pride.
Updates: Al Gore, DOMA, JournoList
In an effort to keep abreast of rapidly-developing news events, a few updates on Albert Arnold Gore, the Defense of Marriage Act, and JournoList, that group of liberal “journalists” who conspired against the American people.
Al Gore: In the matter of the former Vice President of the United States, the term, “keeping abreast” takes on a whole new meaning. Tipper seems to have bailed just in time before the Gore Maelstrom struck.
Already in hot water on a planet he says is inconveniently getting hotter by the hour, more dirt has developed about the Goreacle.
Molly Haggerty, the 54 year old Portland, Oregon licensed massage therapist had already outed the world’s pre-eminent environmentalist as a “crazed sex poodle” who groped her and attempted to take advantage of her when they were alone in Gore’s hotel room late one night in 2006.
Molly Henneberger, editor of PoliticsDaily.com, subsequently identified him as a man who couldn’t keep a civil tongue in his head and instead wanted to boorishly put it down a strange woman’s throat.
See ”The Continuing Crash of the Goreacle,” http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1786
Now it turns out . . .
(Read more at http://www.genelalor.com/blog1/?p=1799)
You can add Taylor Marsh and Philip Weiss, more Journolists, who attacked Ben-David in October 2009.
http://www.taylormarsh.com/2009/10/20/just-how-scared-of-j-street-is-aipac/
http://mondoweiss.net/2009/10/latest-tactic-against-j-street-anti-arab-racism.html
I forgot Matt Duss, another Journalister http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/10/21/former-bibi-adviser-launches-racist-attack/
Where, I wonder, is the SEC and the FCC in all this?
It sounds like the journolist is at least a conspiracy to collude in the marketplace, and that the nature of the conspiracy seems to violate their emp[loyer’s FCC charters.
Do these people really expect us to sit idly by while they take federal bailout money to keep the propagana organs afloat?
A great intro of a new verb … one we should use with enthusiasm.
“JournoList”
vt: to smear an opponent by falsely accusing him/her of racism.
Some comments this morning:
1. revolutions (social change) are instigated by those seeking some sort of gain they are not spontaneous*
2. when blogging: if you get attacked: mark your scorecard! you won a point!
3. always remember when blogging you are not going to win over the opposition but you are very likely to win over some of the “lurkers” and these are your real audience; those you seek to contact
4. Study the Classic Fallacies in logic. the most common attacks are Ad Hominem and ridicule. these are fallacies and you can embarrass and discredit your opposition by pointing out their use of such specious arguments.
~~
*one instance I know of that did spring from the people was the Warsaw ghetto uprising. this bears study as it indicates the level of pressure required to generate a spontaneous uprising from the people.
Have you seen this Ackerman “guy”? I’m almost 60 and I’d meet him right now for an “unforgettable” experience of his own. Is there anything more laughable than empty threats from pathetic wienies?
Spencer Ackerman even issued a threat:
Lenny Ben-David, you and I will meet someday, face to face. I hope it comes very soon. I promise you it will be an unforgettable experience.
Actually, if he’d treatened me like that, I’d make a point of hunting him down and confronting him in a public place. Let him see what an unforgettable experience is really like.
“cutthroat wannabes for peace”, what a bunch!
This all has to do with anti-semitism and the downfall of Israel, as well as the weakening of the United States. Everyone of us should be concerned and try to fight this while we can. Did anyone ever think that after the Holocaust we would again be looking at attacks on Israel and the Jewish Community? And it has slipped up on us, spread by snakes like Soros.
J Street-Walkers – an apt coinage. The quote from Spencer “Attackerman” confirms my suspicion that he is an Internet Tough Guy deserving of derision and scorn. That’s one of Alinsky’s rules, isn’t it?
LMAO.
Mr. Ben David,
Perhaps you have an opportunity here. You have been libeled and/or threatened in a coordinated way, now also armed with the knowledge of this coordination via Journolist. Pick your target and sue (Ackerman or his newspaper, eg). Demand all relevant emails from the Journolist in discovery. You would be doing us all a favor.
Threats made by the likes of Spencer and the leftie ‘pencil neck’ bloggers remind my of my Yorkie’s behavior-lots of bark. It’s called the small dog syndrome.
Instead of “journolisted,” houldn’t the term be “journoblacklisted?’
I can’t imagine being threatened by a cabal/posse of liberals. Wow that is scary stuff, considering how “strong” they all seem to be. Ha. My 5 year old has more muscle than these clowns.
If I were you Ben-David I would take this threat from geek Ackerman “Lenny Ben-David, you and I will meet someday, face to face. I hope it comes very soon. I promise you it will be an unforgettable experience”, and take him up on it. Truly I would make it an unforgettable moment! I am an old Marine but I would lift weights and take steroids to kick his ass back to the stone age. Keep up the fountain of truth about all of these corrupt bastards.
Ackerman graduated from Rutgers, and got fired from TNR for insubordination, according to Wikipedia. He is a fan of comic books and hardcore punk music.
The last guy I knew who talked like that got the stuffing kicked out of him by the smallest guy in the platoon, but maybe this time it’ll be different. Ackerman doesn’t have to be a bigmouthed punk. He could be tough.
My vote is for bigmouth punk.
JournoListers should rename themselves “Czars of Defenestration.”
In a hypothetical brawl between Spencer (Hummingbird Ass) Ackerman and Michelle Malkin, I would bet the rent money on Michelle.
I wonder if you have a defamation suit against these JournoList members and their publications?
Wait until Mr. Ackerman meets the Righteous Judge (Jesus Christ), face-to-face at the Great White Throne (Revelation 20:11-15). I guarantee you, THAT will be an “unforgettable experience,” because he will take it into eternity. As my friend Carl says, “Hell ain’t for the weekend.”
The notion of Spencer Ackerman — NancyBoy liberal propagandist — throwing anything larger than a baseball “through a plate-glass window” is simply hilarious.
What is it with little Jewish lefties like Ackerman and Rahm “the vicious ballerina” Emanuel talking all of this tough-guy crap? They might as well have their Moms duke it out.
Soros is a chknsht asswipe who will soon be six feet under. He and his money will gain nothing in the end. Thanks for exposing these morons and their money man.
Lenny Ben-David,
You are a hero in my book. I missed that article several months ago. Nobody likes their name dragged through the mud, but you do God’s work as far as I’m concerned. I wish the world had many more like you that would stand up for truth, and it takes real courage to expose evil at the risk of personal harm.
Remember, patience is a virtue. It took several months, but you’ve earned the ultimate reward of getting to say to those who mocked you, “Told You So.”
Question? Where is the Justice Department in all this? Are not the comments throughout Journolist hate speech?
Bill-busy suing Arizona over defending there population from an Invasion of illegal aliens from Mexico. Busy not filing charges against there racist pals the Moslem named New Black Panthers. Busy sucking Soros hind quarters. I guess Eric the A hole der is busy living up to the A in his name these days.
Indeed-if Ackerman thinks”it will be an unforgetable experience”, then make it one for him. Re-arrange his fugly commie face, as commies always talk tough and carry no stick.
I’ve never heard so much blowhard bluster in my now too-long life!
These little narrow-shouldered wispy high-voiced BETA males who populate DC like an overgrown anthill are getting comical/farcical. Spencer Ackerman clearly would like to kill SOMEONE. I’ll wager, historically speaking, his equal in character and morality would be an Adolf Eichmann. How many would Ackerman put into gulags for wrong-thinking if he had the authority? How many would he have killed, as examples to the rest of us?
This little guy needs the kind of ass-kicking he keeps threatening to give to others. I”ll put myself politely in line, hoping there’s some of him left by the time I get to the front of that line.
Spencer.. I”m 6’4″ and 290 lbs… as you say, unforgettable..
I just had a brilliant idea.
Throw Spencer Ackerman and King Shabazz into a room and lock the door. Who will win, the homicidal cracker-hatin’ Shabazz or the secretly violent and bloodthirsty beta-male journalist Ackerman? Will Ackerman poop himself before or after Shabazz hits him with the stick? If the room has a plate glass window, does that give Ackerman a chance?
Spencer Ackerman should eat a sandwich and do a few push-ups before he threatens anyone else with physical violence.
Lenny – Keep up the good work. Be strong, because those of us who are familiar with your work, know that the J-Street condemnation is incomprehensible.