KAMALA THE COP STRIKES AGAIN: Harris Claims Giuliani Has ‘Broken Many Laws’, Can’t Name Any.
When your campaign can’t handle Democratic Party operatives with bylines such as CNN’s Anderson Cooper (in the above link), BuzzFeed’s Ben Smith, and sucks at Photoshop memes, it’s officially not ready for primetime. Time for an upgrade?
‘SUCH HYPOCRITES!’: FORMER GOV. JAN BREWER (R-AZ) SLAMS MEDIA RESPONSE TO PELOSI FINGER-WAGGING.
Brewer was photographed poking her finger in President Barack Obama’s face when he visited Arizona in January 2012. She claimed that after giving him a written invitation to inspect the crisis on the Arizona border, the two engaged in a heated discussion about a passage in her book, Scorpions for Breakfast, which depicted Obama as condescending and dismissive.
Brewer took flak for her finger-pointing from both the media and the public, who accused her of disrespecting the presidency. More than 12,000 letters flooded her office in the ensuing days, most of which condemned her, calling her “trashy” and “tasteless.” Likening the act to belching at the president, a writer for the Washington Post scolded her, “If a thing is frowned upon in general, it’s even worse to do it to the president in particular.”
By contrast, Pelosi has met with adulation and gratitude from liberals after President Trump tweeted an image of her standing up during a meeting and wagging her finger at him.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines (and DNC talking points) and it all makes sense.
NEWS YOU CAN USE: Whatever You Do, Don’t Send Your Kids To J-School.
Jay Rosen has had it up to here with CNN moderators asking front-running Democratic Party primary candidates to explain their signature policy positions. “The ‘make Elizabeth Warren say she would raise taxes on the middle class’ question should be a credibility killer. For the journalists who keep asking it,” Rosen tweeted.
Not long ago, any person arguing that reporters should shun politically inconvenient questions of their favored candidates would be struggling to maintain credibility. Rosen, though, is a professor of journalism—it says “I teach journalism” right there on his Twitter bio.
The gist of Rosen’s case—always wrapped in a patina of academic earnestness —is that mainstream political media skews coverage towards the framing Republican desire. And so the professor busies himself browbeating outlets into adopting more ideological constructive coverage and rhetoric—use “climate emergency” or “climate crisis” to be used instead of “climate change;” that sort of Orwellian thing.
For example, on the Warren question, Rosen embraces Margaret Sullivan’s formulation: “Of course, it’s legitimate to dig into the costs [of ‘Medicare for All’], but not in a way that creates a nice GOP campaign ad, and misses the larger lens of overall costs. (Warren, notably, refused to take the bait.)”
Of course, long ago, Rosen had it up here with any ideology other than the left reporting and opining on the news:
While it would be great to still have Andrew here to call them out, old media — and those who teach future Democratic Party Operatives with bylines — have continued to do an excellent job imploding in the years since his passing.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: The Media Bend Over Backward to Protect Elizabeth Warren from the Washington Free Beacon’s Damaging Scoop.
ANNALS OF LEFTIST AUTOPHAGY: Biden campaign blasts New York Times in letter to Dean Baquet.
Earlier:
● Joe Biden rages at reporter who asks him about his son and Ukraine.
● According To Hunter Biden, Joe Biden Lied About Ukraine.
● NBC’s Today Show: My, but Hunter Biden’s business in China is interesting…
● Joe Biden campaign asks networks to stop booking Rudy Giuliani.
● Does This Photo Prove Biden Lied About His Knowledge of Son’s Ukraine Business Dealings?
● Hunter Biden: The Most Comprehensive Timeline.
● Ukraine must investigate Joe Biden’s son, says ex-Ukrainian PM.
● Wherever Joe Biden went, son Hunter cashed in.
● Warren Flustered by Hypothetical Ethics Question on Hunter Biden.
● ‘Well, Son of a Bitch’ : Ukraine Scandal Is About Biden.
● Peter Schweizer On Biden’s Ukraine Dealings — Seven Essential Facts.
A whole lot of Democratic Party operatives with bylines are going to be locked up in Joe’s closet…
THEY FIGHT: A new GOP comes out swinging.
One example can be found in the confrontation between Indiana congressman Jim Banks and NPR’s Michel Martin this past Wednesday. Martin was fulfilling NPR’s unwritten charter of putting the wildest fringe leftist thinking into comfortable terms to make them acceptable to the denizens of the suburbs. Banks, a freshman representative who saw service in Afghanistan, wasn’t having any.
Martin was attempting to put across the accepted narrative about the Trump/Zelensky call – that Trump asked the Ukrainian president for dirt on Biden as a “favor,” that he immediately turned the conversation to Hunter Biden, that there was a “quid pro quo,” and so on, all backed up by her claim that she had the transcript “in front of her.”
Banks immediately cut to the chase on that, shutting down Martin with a single line: “…read the part of the transcript that would indict the president on high crimes and misdemeanors.”
Of course, Martin could do no such thing, and despite some further word games, that was the end of it, leaving myriads of NPR listeners clutching their worry beads in shock and alarm.
Along with Elise Stefanik’s bold defiance of the House Democratic elite, this is a serious indication that a new GOP is pecking its way out of the shell.
Nice, isn’t it?
UPDATE (From Ed):
Just think of NPR as Democratic Party operatives with bylines and soothing monotone radio voices, and it all makes sense.
(Updated and bumped).
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Judicial Watch Posts Rod Rosenstein’s Secret Emails with Flattering Reporters.
YES, THIS IS ALL A SPOILING ATTACK INTENDED TO BLUNT THE IMPACT WHEN THE TRUTH COMES OUT: Dems, media aim to squash Barr’s probe of Russia collusion hoax.
UPDATE: But there’s a problem.
Story: Voters Don’t Trust Political News, Say Most Reporters Want to Stop Trump. If you think of them as Democratic Party operatives with bylines you won’t go far wrong — and nowadays, that’s how most people think of them.
IMPEACHMENT MAY LEAD TO ANOTHER OCTOBER STOCK MARKET CRASH.
If the fall of 2008 was any indication, an “unexpectedly” high number of Democratic Party operatives with bylines view that prospect as a feature.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE. Gallup Poll: 69 Percent of Democrats Trust the Mass Media.
POLITICO PUBLISHES ARTICLE TITLED, ‘JUST ANOTHER DAY IN F***NUTSVILLE’ BEFORE QUICKLY CHANGING.
On Friday morning, Politico Magazine published an opinion piece from author and founding editor of Politico John Harris titled, “Just Another Day In F***nutsville.”
The outlet quickly updated the headline to read: “Trump Killed the Seriousness of Impeachment.” For a brief time, the URL of the article still included the original title.
Steve Guest, the rapid response director for the Republican National Committee, flagged the error and included a screenshot of the original headline.
They should have stuck to their guns – it’s a perfect description of Washington, and the Democratic Party operatives with bylines such as the Politico, that keep F***nutsville churning along.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman notes Trump has switched from ‘fake news’ to ‘corrupt news.’
As Mollie Hemmingway tweeted in response to Haberman, “I use this word myself because it’s hard to find a better one to describe our corporate media’s unabashed move from ‘communications arm of the left’ to ‘strategic leadership of the opposition to the country’s duly elected president.’ And no clean-up of this corruption in sight…”
And it’s far from the first time — as Andrew Klavan noted at the end of August: ‘Watergate’ Doesn’t Mean What the Press Thinks It Means.
THINK OF THEM AS SLEAZY DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND EVERYTHING MAKES SENSE: Whoa: Text Messages Reveal NYT Reporter Told Kavanaugh Source What To Say.
DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES: In Which The New York Times Straight Up Lies About Ed Buck. “According to Excel, minus the returns, that’s a total of $114,900 accused serial murderer Ed Buck doled out to Democrats. I don’t think that fits most ordinary Americans’ idea of a ‘small time donor’.”
Getting gay men to overdose and sometimes die in pursuit of one’s own sexual gratification probably doesn’t fit most ordinary Americans’ idea of a victimless crime, either. Yet that’s exactly what the MSM-DNC spent so long trying to hush up.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Ted Cruz Says NY Times Kavanaugh Story Was Not ‘Accidental’ Because ‘They Want to Intimidate the Court.’
Not least of which, the asterisk strategy, to coin a phrase.
ANALYSIS: TRUE. The media has officially lost its damn mind:
Remember the dunking-kid meme from a couple of years ago? Little kid runs up to his tiny basketball hoop, dunks the ball, turns around to flex and holler. Meanwhile he doesn’t see that the whole backboard is wobbling and about to collapse on his head. When it does, he looks confused.
Congrats, New York Times! And Politico. And CNN. You’re all the Dunking Kids. You keep throwing down on the Trump administration. The backboard of truth keeps falling on your head. The rest of us laugh.
The New York Times just issued its most spectacular correction since my personal favorite, from Nov. 7, 2012: “An earlier version of this article misspelled the singer’s surname in a number of places. He is Bruce Springsteen, not Springstein.”
This Sunday’s correction cut the legs out from under its big Saturday scoop about a supposed new sex scandal about Brett Kavanaugh involving a woman who supposedly had Kavanaugh’s penis shoved into her hand when they were both at Yale. The Times’ gobsmacking correction noted that in the book from which its Saturday report was derived, “the female student declined to be interviewed and friends say that she does not recall the incident. That information has been added to the article.”
Backboard of truth meets skull.
And these two tweets tonight from Trump will keep the feedback loop alive:
Given the symbiotic relationship between the politicians of the Democratic Party and their operatives with bylines, Steve’s question earlier today takes on added meaning: Are the Democrats Committing Electoral Suicide?
DEATH BY METAPHOR? Arizona GOP Criticized for Wanting to Stop Dem Mark Kelly ‘Dead in His Tracks.’
Though to be fair, the Democratic Party operatives with bylines criticizing Arizona GOP Chair Kelli Ward is NBC, which promoted the idea that Sarah Palin’s clip art played a role in a madman shooting Kelly’s wife, Gabrielle Giffords in 2011, and the following year, argued that the words “golf” and “Chicago” were racist.
As Rick Moran writes, “There’s a simple way to stop it: stop responding as if the argument is legitimate. Instead of complaining about the attack, ignore it. Better yet, make fun of it. Call the perpetrators out for being monumentally stupid. It will take a while. But there are a lot of fair-minded people in America who recognize the idiocy for what it is: rabid, extreme ideology run amok.”
HOW THE MEDIA TURNED A TRUMP APPOINTEE WHO MOCKED ALT-RIGHT ANTI-SEMITES INTO AN ANTI-SEMITE:
On August 12, conservative lawyer Leif Olson began work in the Trump administration’s Department of Labor. On September 3, he resigned, after Bloomberg Law published what seemed to be a shocking expose of his anti-Semitism. The only problem: the entire allegation was false. Simply put, poor reporting took Olson’s clear mockery of Breitbart and the alt-right and recast it as support. Here’s how.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense. Read the whole thing.
Related: At Hot Air, Allahpundit adds:
I assume Olson’s resignation will be belatedly unaccepted as this becomes a conservative cause celebre online today. Maybe even you-know-who will weigh in with a tweet or two; a case of the media falsely accusing someone on his side as bigoted to serve its own agenda is political gold for him, a smoking gun that they’re cutthroat and can’t be trusted in their commentary on Trump himself. Coincidentally, this episode is playing out on the same day that Axios is reporting that allies of Trump are raising money to investigate the social-media (and personal?) histories of members of the media, a process that’s already resulted in embarrassment for the New York Times.
“Good luck finding anyone in conservative activism who has a problem with those tactics after episodes like this. Turnabout is fair play,” he concludes.
WHEN DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES LIE TO HARM THEIR OPPOSITION: The Media Claimed Andy Ngo Was Complicit in a Far-Right Attack on Antifa. But the Video Doesn’t Support That.
MIRANDA DEVINE: In praise of Melania Trump, the first lady treated terribly by the media. Just compare to their gushing over Michelle Obama.
Remember, they are — and these days even see themselves as — Democratic Party operatives with bylines.
JUST THINK OF THE POST AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: President Trump Furious With Washington Post: I’m Not Racist, The Squad Is!
THINK OF THE PRESS AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND THEIR “FLAWED COVERAGE” WILL ALWAYS MAKE SENSE: Comey’s classified misconduct and the media’s flawed coverage of it.
THAT WAS THE WEEK THAT WAS: The Media’s no good, very bad week (and what’s coming next).
I think this week is a harbinger of things to come. Why? Because the Mueller report didn’t work out as Democrats and the media hoped. There’s no public appetite for impeachment. Progressives are getting nervous and the NY Times has signaled privately and publicly, through its 1619 Project, that the 2020 election will be all about racism because that’s the best chance Democrats have to activate their base.
So what’s coming next? A lot more careless mistakes by the usual suspects looking to drag Trump and the GOP down. What this week demonstrates is that many of them care less about their credibility than ensuring the desired outcome. This isn’t really new of course. In fact, some version of this happens every four years. See dog-abusing-vampire-capitalist-with-80s-foreign-policy Mitt Romney for a previous example.
Which dovetails well with Tucker Carlson and Neil Patel’s look at how things went this week with the Democratic Party operatives without bylines, aka the politicians: Crackup in the Democratic Party.
Imagine you’re Biden’s political director, sitting offstage. All of a sudden, Biden wanders into the unscripted territory and says, “Imagine the assassination of Obama.” This is not an attack on Biden, but he’s not going to be the nominee. So the actual race comes down to Warren’s and Sanders’ competing visions of how to achieve the same socialist fantasy. Warren is promising reparations based on skin color. That’s popular. Sanders wants a government takeover of the entire energy sector. They will be working to out-crazy each other for the next six months. That is a dynamic guaranteed to produce even more extremism. And it has some Democratic leaders worried. The Democratic National Committee voted on a proposal to hold a debate focused exclusively on climate change. Why wouldn’t they? Well, because the solutions the candidates would promise live on television are insane: spend $16 trillion, ban airplanes, seize control of the entire U.S. economy.
The Trustafarians love stuff like that. Normal people find it terrifying. Even the party hacks here in D.C. don’t like it, and that’s probably a compliment. Do you really think Nancy Pelosi believes climate change is an existential crisis? Of course, she doesn’t think that. Plus, she flies private. Obama can say whatever he wants about carbon emissions. He can shake his chin and be concerned, but when you’re spending 15 million of your own dollars on a beachfront estate on Martha’s Vineyard, you’re not too worried about the oceans rising. But the Democratic base doesn’t get the joke. Democratic primary voters believe the talking points. And very soon, they will be powerful enough to nominate their own presidential candidate. And when that happens, it’s going to be a very different party.
Nobody should be getting cocky in this election cycle.
Classical reference in headline, from a time when the left still viewed satire as a weapon, before the revolution devoured its own.
NEW CIVILITY WATCH: If You Want Civility You Just Might Be a Neo-Confederate and Because of That the Left Really Does Want You Dead.
The opinion pages of the nation’s major newspapers never cease to disappoint. Just a couple of weeks ago, the New York Times announced that it has suddenly discovered that everything to do with everything in American history was a direct result of slavery. Now some twit writing at the Washington Post reveals that the whole call for civility by people on the right triggers her because it is exactly like the rhetoric of defenders of slavery in the antebellum South.
In January of 2011, the New York Times reported, “In Tucson, Obama Urges Americans to New Era of Civility.” Yes, Obama’s a Democrat. But I’m willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that’s he’s not a closet neo-Confederate.
More at Commentary, where under the headline, “Truth? That’s What the Slaveholders Say!”, Jonathan Marks writes:
In fairness to the Washington Post, it has been more than twenty-four hours since it had to correct an op-ed falsely claiming that J.D. Vance, the author of Hillbilly Elegy, had lamented a decline in white births. Perhaps its editors regret the error. But what’s truly regrettable is the impulse to publish any and every article, no matter how wrong or foul, postulating that anyone who crosses the left is a racist.
“Vote for us, you bigots,” is quite an interesting argument for Democratic Party operatives with bylines to be making during in the early innings of a presidential election cycle.
NEW CIVILITY WATCH: Nancy Pelosi tells 2020 Dems, “You have to be ready to take a punch. And therefore you have to be ready to throw a punch—for the children.”
If Sarah Palin or Donald Trump had said this, it would lead the 6:30 PM news broadcasts. Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines to understand how Pelosi can say this with impunity.
Flashbacks:
● Sen. Rand Paul had part of his lung removed this weekend because of damage from 2017 attack.
● Actor Jeff Daniels to CBS’s Stephen Colbert: ‘We Need Someone That Can Punch Trump in the Face.’
● Ilhan Omar Retweet Suggests Rand Paul Deserved to Be Assaulted.
● Senator Jon Tester (D-MT) to 2020 Dems: Don’t Run Away from Trump — ‘Punch Him in the Face.’
● Joe Biden: I Want to ‘Beat the Hell Out of’ President Trump.
● Patti LuPone defends violent attack on Rand Paul.
● CNN Host Palled Around with, Promoted ICE Firebomber’s Antifa Group.
● Leftist Thug Caught on Video Assaulting Conservative Berkeley Student While Fellow Students Laugh.
● Journalist Andy Ngo Beaten Up at Portland Antifa Rally.
● John Dickerson, the host of Face the Nation and the “political director” for CBS, wrote an article for Slate in 2013 charmingly titled “Go for the Throat! Why if he wants to transform American politics, Obama must declare war on the Republican Party.”
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: After griping about Huckabee Sanders and Fox, CNN hires … Andrew McCabe? Update: Conservatives pounce!
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: The Press in Iowa Caught by Surprise they Were Participating in a Bernie Sanders Fundraiser.
It was recently announced that Major League Baseball will be playing a regular season game at the famed Field Of Dreams stadium, in Dubuque Iowa. This is the now famous landmark location where the titular baseball motion picture was filmed, and the Sanders campaign officials were struck with an idea to hold a softball game at the location. Not much of a problem so far; these are just the kind of photo-ops campaigns stage to get publicity, and to raise more money.
* * * * * * * *
It is that last detail that emerged, much to the surprise of the journalists covering the Sanders campaign. See, it turned out the game being played for the Sanders campaign was a contest between his staffers, and members of the media on the opposing team. It was only “at the last minute”, according to Politico, that members off the CNN and ABC News organizations who were going to play in the game backed out. This was due to a fundraising email the Sanders team sent out regarding the game.
Baseball seems a little too on-point for Bernie. Flashback: Bernie Bro James T. Hodgkinson, Attempted Assassin Of Steve Scalise, Already Being Erased From History. And additional examples of leftist violence and eliminationist rhetoric at the link.
AT LONG LAST HAVE THEY NO DECENCY? NO DECENCY AT ALL? Baltimore Sun Attacks Trump Supporter Who Organized Massive City Clean Up.
For the writers at the Baltimore Sun, Presler’s visit simply “reinforces the tired image of our failing urban cores. That the poor people in this dilapidated city can’t take care of their own neighborhoods and all the public officials around them have failed as well.”
“The bureaucratic, all-talk Democrats strike again. If a crowd of volunteers could clean up 12 tons of trash in 12 hours, how incompetent and helpless must Baltimoreans be if they can’t manage it in decades, right?”
One would point out to the editorial board that this isn’t just a “tired image” but a reality of the fact that Democratic policies and politicians have failed.
And the Baltimore Sun is running cover for those policies and politicians. Well, think of them as Democratic operatives with bylines and you’ll realize that they neither possess nor desire decency. It might get in the way of their job.
A CASTRO, GINNING UP A MOB AGAINST HIS POLITICAL OPPONENTS: This Is Highly Irresponsible. Why Are Some in the Media Defending It? “It appears our national politics has reached a breaking point. Fellow members of Congress and members of the press are cheering on Joaquin Castro’s stunt because they want harm to befall Trump donors. Again, they can say they just want the knowledge out there, but that is a lie. We all know it is a lie. It is disingenuous to say otherwise, but members of Congress and the press are defending the lie because they too want harm done to Trump supporters.”
Well, think of the press as Democratic operatives with bylines and it all makes sense. And remember this the next time they go on about decency.
WE DON’T CALL ‘EM DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES FOR NOTHING — AOC IS JUST TELLING THEM TO STICK TO THEIR JOBS: AOC and the Democratic Party Declare Ownership of The New York Times: The actions of The New York Times can only lead to one question: Is This How A Free Press Acts?
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND THE STORY’S ABSENCE MAKES TOTAL SENSE: Nets Ignore NYC Man Beaten for Wearing ‘Make America Great Again’ Hat.
Evergreen:
DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES: Ilhan Omar made false, racist claim about killings. “The Post’s Glenn Kessler should have given four pinocchios to Ilhan Omar, not to Marco Rubio.”
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: The Photo Adorning The Economist’s Article on Jeffrey Epstein Features the Billionaire Not With Bill Clinton But With Donald Trump.
VIRGINIA CLOWN SHOW UPDATE, Or, Past Performance is no Guarantee of Future Results:
● Shot: Ralph Northam Must Resign.
—Headline, the Washington Post editorial board, February 6th. As Glenn wrote at the time:
Hey, WaPo editorial board — remember how you pushed Northam as some sort of racial healer, while gleefully spreading the bullshit claims that longtime milquetoast GOP pol Ed Gillespie was some sort of Stormfront stalking horse? Maybe you should resign, too, hacks. Don’t try to pretend this is just about the rottenness of Virginia’s Democratic Party. You’re part of the rot yourselves.
Indeed, to coin an Insta-phrase. How much so? That brings us to:
● Chaser: Ralph Northam: I expected better of Virginia’s legislators.
—Headline atop column by Northam at the Washington Post yesterday.
Back in April, the New York Times, which used to be a newspaper, wrote a headline passively titled, ‘‘It Just Went Poof’: The Strange Aftermath of Virginia’s Cascade of Political Scandals.”
The Post, which also once held itself out as a newspaper, didn’t simply take the pressure off Northam, they’re letting him contribute columns to their newspaper. Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines (and with bylines available to the right left people), and it all makes sense.
THE MAN WHO BROUGHT YOU THE WAR ON FARTING COWS AND AIRPLANES. The Democratic Party Operatives with Bylines at the Washington Post have a glowing profile of Saikat Chakrabarti, AOC’s chief of staff, and the author of her infamous Green New Deal rollout in February, with a curious, and not at all unexpected admission. Just look for the “unexpected” below.
On a Wednesday morning in late May, emissaries of two of the strongest political voices on climate change convened at a coffee shop a few blocks from the U.S. Capitol. Saikat Chakrabarti, chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.), was there to meet Sam Ricketts, climate director for Washington Gov. Jay Inslee (D), who is running for president almost exclusively on a platform of combating global warming. A newly released plank of Inslee’s climate change agenda had caught the attention of Chakrabarti and his boss, who had tweeted that Inslee’s “climate plan is the most serious + comprehensive one to address our crisis in the 2020 field.” Pleased by the positive reception from the demanding Green New Deal wing of the climate struggle, Ricketts had set up this meeting with Chakrabarti to establish a personal connection and share approaches to climate advocacy.
“Congrats on the rollout,” Chakrabarti told him as they sat down. “That was pretty great.”
“Thank you again for the kudos you guys offered,” said Ricketts. “We wanted to be pace-setting for the field, and I think we’re there now. … I want to ask you for input … in addition to hearing what you guys are working on.”
Chakrabarti had an unexpected disclosure. “The interesting thing about the Green New Deal,” he said, “is it wasn’t originally a climate thing at all.” Ricketts greeted this startling notion with an attentive poker face. “Do you guys think of it as a climate thing?” Chakrabarti continued. “Because we really think of it as a how-do-you-change-the-entire-economy thing.”
As conservative national security commentator John Noonan tweets in response, “One of the central tenets of Climate Change skepticism is that the threat is exaggerated to achieve political ends that are divorced from environmental health. Here’s an outward admission that the issue is used as a stalking horse for ambitious economic restructuring.”
The socialists that Ocasio-Cortez and Chakrabarti play footsie with had some ideas on the subject in the 1920s they may wish to crib from.
Related: Democratic Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay unloads on Ocasio-Cortez, chief of staff for ‘using the race card.’
UNDOING THE SPIN: Trump and the Sex Offender: Guess why the press makes a villain out of Jeffrey Epstein’s only successful prosecutor?
Mr. Epstein is back in a holding cell, under indictment by a U.S. attorney in New York. He will have his day in court. Presumably we will find out whether the evidence against the hedge-fund impresario for sexually abusing numerous underage girls in the early 2000s is as strong as it seems.
But one element of the story should give us pause, and that’s the seemingly concerted effort by the press to make a secondary villain out of the only prosecutor who succeeded in holding Mr. Epstein accountable till now because, 12 years later, that prosecutor is Donald Trump’s labor secretary.
A much-cited story in the Miami Herald last November is headlined “How a future Trump Cabinet member gave a serial sex abuser the deal of a lifetime.” The paper thereby invokes a previously unknown form of retroactive quantum action at a distance, since Alexander Acosta’s actions as a U.S. attorney in Florida in 2007 could not have been premised on Mr. Trump being president a decade later.
The headline is also misleading. In fact, the Herald’s 5,000-word exposé tells us very little about the reasons and circumstances behind the 2008 plea deal in which Mr. Epstein agreed to plead guilty to two felonies, serve an 18-month jail sentence, pay restitution to certain victims, and accept designation for life as a registered sex offender.
Instead, the paper tells us what its own sources are willing to say now about Mr. Epstein more than a decade after the prosecution. What a newspaper can report in 2018 and what a prosecutor can prove in 2007 are two very different things. A fact the Herald also should have made plain: It was precisely Mr. Epstein’s conviction at the hands of Mr. Acosta that helped fuel the filing of civil lawsuits and emergence of newly declared victims that became the basis for the Herald’s own reporting.
Making an even bigger joke of the paper’s positioning of Mr. Acosta as Mr. Epstein’s protector is this glaring fact: It wasn’t Mr. Acosta but New York County’s district attorney—a member of the city’s ruling Democratic elite, with the illustrious name of Cyrus Vance Jr.—who in 2011 sought to undo Mr. Acosta’s work by relieving Mr. Epstein of his Level 3 sex offender status in New York state.
But then Mr. Vance is not a member of the Trump administration. . . .
It also bears asking: Would the Herald even have invested in reporting the Epstein story if it couldn’t also have flounced up an anti-Trump angle?
Yes, it’s been rough couple of decades for the newspaper business. At the kindest, the Herald should have had the confidence to rest its claim to public attention on what it had to reveal about Mr. Epstein’s behavior rather than trying so pathetically to annex its reporting to an au courant anti-Trump narrative.
Think of the press as Democratic Party operatives with bylines — and Democratic Party operative editors — and you won’t go far wrong.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: When Will CNN Begin to Disclose its Financial Support of Kamala Harris?
CATHY YOUNG: Antifa, Quillette, and Media Bias. It’s pretty obvious that the press is covering for Antifa, rather than covering it, as befits Democratic Party operatives with bylines.
TEN YEARS AFTER HE BECAME VP, NEWS OUTLETS DECIDE BIDEN’S TRACK RECORD ON BUSING IS NOTEWORTHY. At Hot Air, Allahpundit writes:
Did Team Obama, at least, do that investigation? Vice presidents are normally vetted within an inch of their lives before being selected. Presumably O and his team knew all about Biden’s view of busing, the crime bill, and so on and determined that they were collectively not so problematic that they should look elsewhere for a running mate. But the media was free to render a different verdict, as it’s now in the process of doing, and to challenge Obama aggressively on it. They didn’t. And it’s no mystery why.
I think the most charitable explanation for this oversight is simple laziness. They didn’t give Biden the kid-gloves treatment in 2008 because they were in the tank and determined not to make trouble for a historic Democratic nominee, one might say. They gave him the kid-gloves treatment because they don’t do much investigating themselves, even of their own archives. Even this year, it may be the case that most of the media reports about Biden’s history with busing have been spoonfed to them by rival campaigns like Sanders’s or Harris’s. The reason Uncle Joe didn’t get dinged for this a decade ago might be as simple as the RNC’s oppo team having either dropped the ball or concluded that there was little to be gained by feeding the press stories about Biden’s opposition to busing (a position overwhelmingly shared by Republicans). But again: If you prefer this theory, you’re stuck believing that the press is uninterested in doing the basics of its own job, even when there are potentially high-stakes consequences in a national election.
Well, yes. Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: What the Viral Border-Patrol Video Leaves Out.
Predictably, the vast majority of the people and the outlets that shared this exchange failed to note that the violations being discussed had occurred during the previous administration, while those who did know failed to ask themselves (and others) why the violations didn’t receive similar coverage when they were first exposed. Instead, they jumped straight to the conclusion that the federal government, headed up by President Trump, was deliberately inflicting pain on babies. This isn’t true.
It wasn’t true during the Obama administration either. Then, as now, the violations weren’t part of an intentional or evil ploy, but were the product of the system’s being overloaded. Then, as now, the intended care at these facilities was humane, and consistent within the requirement under Flores. In 2014, the Obama administration was dealing with a serious crisis: a large influx of unaccompanied minors that strained the facilities. In 2019, the Trump administration is dealing with a serious crisis: a large influx of unaccompanied minors that strains the facilities.
The absence of coverage back in 2014 makes perfect sense. After all:
YOU’RE GONNA NEED A BIGGER BLOG: Power Line takes a deep dive into “the mixed-up files of Rep. Ilhan Omar.” The above link takes you to all of their recent posts on Omar, but you can drill down into a couple of the highlights by following the links included in the excerpts below:
Omar’s 2014 and 2015 tax returns reflect her wayward way with the truth, her penchant for shortcuts, and her treatment of the marriage to Elmi as a sham (which I believe it to have been). They also raise obvious questions that the Star Tribune appears so far to have failed to ask.
* * * * * * * * *
In their Ilhan Omar story today, Patrick Coolican and Stephen Montemayor refer repeatedly to Power Line as conservative. Let it be noted, however, that their story tacitly reveals the Star Tribune to be a pillar of Minnesota’s leftist/progressive establishment. Coolican and Montemayor note in passing (italics added): “Campaign e-mails disclosed by the campaign finance board also show a concerted effort to quash the Elmi story. An August 2016 internal e-mail written by campaign spokesman Ben Goldfarb, a veteran DFL operative, suggested reaching out to political newsletter writer Blois Olson ‘and shut it down with him as we do with the Strib.’”
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and that last paragraph makes perfect sense.
THE PROBLEM WITH OCASIO-CORTEZ’S SHAMEFUL IGNORANCE OF HISTORY:
It’s indeed strange to hear a leftist who champions anti-Israel causes and anti-Semitic politicians using this phrase, since the Jewish state is the most successful and enduring manifestation of Never Again.
The appearance of “Never Again” also undermines her later contention that she wasn’t talking about the Nazi camps.
We’re forced to take someone seriously who believes vegetables are a tool of colonial oppression because Ocasio-Cortez is both a charismatic elected official with many impressionable fans, and a person bestowed with a huge media platform. Only last weekend, she appeared on “Meet the Press” praising socialism—the other scourge of the 20th century.* Yet when we need our media to ask her to explain her profoundly childish and destructive statements, they are nowhere to be found.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
Regarding AOC’s disastrous roll-out of her Green New Deal fantasies at the start of the year, ultimately, they would be enforced with the barrel of a gun. As Virginia Postrel noted about 20 years ago when discussing The Future and its Enemies with Brian Lamb on C-Span:
The Khmer Rouge sought to start over at year zero, and to sort of create the kind of society that very civilized, humane greens write about as though it were an ideal. I mean, people who would never consider genocide. But I argue that if you want to know what that would take, look at Cambodia–to empty the cities and turn everyone into peasants again. Even in a less developed country, let alone in someplace like the United States, that these sort of static utopian fantasies are just that.
Although socialist North Korea begs to differ:
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES PERFECT SENSE: Isn’t it curious how the national media takes zero interest in Ilhan Omar’s tax irregularities?
C’mon, say it with Treacher:
THE TALKING POINTS HAVE GONE OUT: Elizabeth Warren has a plan. Just ask the DNC-MSM:
Propelled by her “I’ve got a plan for that” motto, Warren has improved as a retail politician since her first successful U.S. Senate bid in 2012. Proposals like the wealth tax, to go along with her drumbeat of ideas on issues on issues like canceling student debt and breaking up big tech companies, have flipped the media narrative on her presidential campaign. Here is just a short list of recent headlines:
Washington Post: Warren’s nonstop ideas reshape the Democratic presidential race — and give her new momentum
New York Times: Elizabeth Warren Gains Ground in 2020 Field, One Plan at a Time
The Guardian: Elizabeth Warren gains momentum in the 2020 race plan by plan
Bloomberg: Elizabeth Warren Rises in 2020 Race as Policy Focus Catches Fire
CNN: Elizabeth Warren Breaks Through Crowded 2020 Field — With A Plan
Politico: How ‘I got a plan’ became a thing: Warren nerds out and the crowds go crazy
Media members and liberal pundits have touted her as having a “plan for everything.”
Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines, and their marching in lockstep all makes sense.
KAMALA HARRIS AND WONKETTE — THE UNNERVING NEED TO BELIEVE IN POLITICIANS:
The other day Wonkette offered an article with a headline that declares — cleaning it up for your sensitive eyes — “Kamala Harris Doesn’t Have To Explain Herself To Your Dumb [Tushes].”
Infuriated by headlines about a Harris speech declaring that she is defending her record as a prosecutor, Stephen Robinson writes:
Is Harris on trial here? Why is she “defending her record”? Did she lose all her cases like the prosecutor who faced off against Perry Mason each week? That guy needed to explain himself. Harris put [bad words] in prison. She imprisoned [bad words] so well she was the first woman elected district attorney of San Francisco and the first black woman to become attorney general of California. She’s the Serena Williams of law and order.
While she’s undoubtedly better than Hamilton Berger, Harris’s record is a little more complicated than that. The article ends with a link to the Wonkette store selling Kamala Harris merchandise.
What is interesting here isn’t Harris’s record, or not-so-surprising development that a left-of-center web site wrote a piece fervently defending Harris’s record. (Whatever else you think of Robinson’s argument, he’s absolutely right when he declares, “it’s insulting to claim that black people can only have an adversarial relationship with the criminal justice system or that a black woman can’t prosecute crimes without betraying her community.”)
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their sycophancy makes perfect sense.
Just think of them as Democratic Party operatives with bylines and no sense of shame and you won’t go far wrong.
DOXXING PEOPLE FOR ENGAGING IN SPEECH THE MEDIA DISAGREES WITH IS THE NEW JOURNALISM.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
Related: Kevin Poulsen is the symptom, not the disease. “Excuse me, but… what? A reporter from the Daily Beast can just pick up the phone, call up Facebook, and have an official there reveal one of their user’s personal information? How does that work? One might expect that they wouldn’t be doing that for anyone other than a law enforcement official with a warrant.”
CLAIRE MCCASKILL AND A #METOO DOUBLE STANDARD?
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
BLUE-STATE CALIFORNIA NOW HARASSING JOURNALISTS:
Let’s assume, hypothetically, that an independent journalist working in Washington somehow obtained a confidential FBI report on the death of a prominent Trump administration official that described its lurid circumstances, including the presence of a woman not his wife and the use of illegal drugs that caused, or at least contributed to, his demise.
Let’s also assume that the Justice Department responded to the disclosure by raiding the journalist’s home and confiscating computers and other tools of his trade, hoping to learn who leaked the report.
Democratic politicians and civil libertarians would erupt in outrage at a heavy-handed government act intended to discourage journalists from delving into areas that officialdom considered off-limits.
So where is that outrage about the San Francisco Police Department’s May 10 assault on journalist Bryan Carmody, who had obtained a police report about the death of San Francisco Public Defender Jeff Adachi under exactly those unbecoming circumstances?
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their silence makes perfect sense.
WHEN YOU’RE A SOCIALIST, THEY LET YOU DO IT:
Imagine an older, powerful male politician belittling and questioning the intelligence and credibility of a female reporter for the New York Times. If the politician in question were a Republican, the media outrage machine would have kicked in immediately, with angry pieces about the perils of toxic masculinity and journalists under siege in abundance.
But when it’s an old communist senator mansplaining his longstanding anti-American sentiments, it’s just business as usual.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their reluctance to call out their bosses all makes sense.
NEW YORK TIMES ON NEW ABORTION LAWS: RALPH NORTHAM WHO?
Mr. Trump is using the issue to rouse his base, including the crucial voting bloc of Christian conservatives for whom abortion is an overarching issue. His false statements that Democrats would “execute” newborn babies — which he has repeated on his Twitter feed, during his State of the Union address and at campaign rallies, sometimes as he mimics swaddling a baby — are being picked up and repeated by conservatives all over the country.”
Catch that description? That the President is making “false statements that Democrats would ‘execute’ newborn babies.”
And right there this story becomes a jewel of an example of left-wing journalism by omission, in this case from the New York Times.
Missing entirely from the article was the name of Virginia Democratic Governor Ralph Northam. It was Northam, appearing on a radio show, who stirred the hornets nest by saying this about aborting babies when the mother is in labor. The direct quote was this, as reported here at National Review Online:
“If a mother is in labor, I can tell you exactly what would happen,” he continued. “The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.”
Here’s video of Northam uttering those words shortly before his medical school era blackface scandal erupted.
Speaking of the latter, as a Times headline noted in early April: ‘‘It Just Went Poof’: The Strange Aftermath of Virginia’s Cascade of Political Scandals.
The passive tense in the headline is telling. The Times can keep a story alive when it wants to, such as when the Gray Lady ran nearly 100 stories on the Augusta National Golf Club between 2001 and mid-2003. Similarly, the paper in Northam’s backyard ran approximately 100 stories in the fall of 2006 on George Allen’s “macaca” gaffe. The media’s selective amnesia on Northam’s blackface and endorsement of infanticide might lead a cynical person to conclude that they’re Democratic Party operatives with bylines, or something.
BOLD, INDEPENDENT LEADERSHIP: Buttigieg Backs Out Of Dave Rubin Interview After Media Backlash.
As Rubin tweets, “My invite for @PeteButtigieg remains. If he caves to Media Matters, Vox and HuffPo that isn’t a good sign for a presidential candidate. Doing what’s right often means standing up to the mob.”
To be fair, I can certainly understand why Democratic Party operatives with bylines want to limit Buttigieg’s exposure to interviewers: “Buttigieg compared Christianity to radical Islam on Friday during a radio interview with Hugh Hewitt.”
Buttigieg made the remarks when Hewitt asked him which form of Islamic extremism he thought posed the greatest overall threat.
“Do you find Iranians’ variant of Shia extremism to be more dangerous to the world than the Sunni variant that we see in the Taliban and perhaps in Hamas and some of the more radical elements of Wahhabism?” Hewitt asked.
“Well, you know, not unlike Christianity when it is motivating someone to do something extreme,” Buttigieg responded. “It can have a thousand different flavors.”
Deplorable, as Hillary would say.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Media Suddenly Silent On Importance Of Free Press As Warren Declares War On Fox News.
ALWAYS THE LAST TO KNOW: 50 Years Later, ABC ‘Uncovers’ ‘Little-Known Story of Mary Jo Kopechne.’ “Which begs the question, why is Kopechne’s story so little-known and why is ABC only now uncovering it 50 years later?”
In press materials, ABC admitted the media’s culpability in taking the spotlight off of Kopechne and putting it on Kennedy, stating that “her story has largely been lost to history as the media and the public focused on the man whose career was forever damaged by the accident, rather than the bright and young woman who did not live to tell us what really happened on that mysterious night.”
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and Kopechne becoming a footnote makes perfect sense.
PAST PERFORMANCE IS NO GUARANTEE OF FUTURE RESULTS: Where Was All of This Skepticism about Beto Last Year?
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
ANDREW MCCARTHY: Andrew McCarthy: Mueller’s letter to Barr – A neat trick by the Washington Post before hearings begin. Think of them as narrative police for their fellow Democratic operatives with bylines and you won’t go far wrong.
I suspect that all this sudden concern about the word “spying” is because the Obama administration was in fact doing a lot of spying on a lot of political opponents, and the Democrats know it.
Flashback, March 2017: “Hypothesis: The spying-on-Trump thing is worse than we even imagine, and once it was clear Hillary had lost and it would inevitably come out, the Trump/Russia collusion talking point was created as a distraction.”
The Democrats and their bylined operatives are acting worried.
VIRGINIA CLOWN SHOW UPDATE: Democratic Party of Virginia Tells Justin Fairfax They Don’t Want His Money, and His Office Is Fuming.
Meanwhile, CNN’s Brian Stelter “forgets” Gov. Ralph Northam’s infamous January 30th statement during an interview broadcast on Washington DC’s WTOP radio:
When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of the mother, with the consent of the physician. More than one physician, by the way. And its done in case where there may be severe deformities, where there may be a fetus that is non-viable.
So, in this particular example, if a mother is in labor I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.
Here’s video of Northam uttering those words shortly before his medical school era blackface scandal erupted.
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their amnesia makes perfect sense. Or as a New York Times headline put it at the start of the month, (with a nice use of the passive tense), ‘‘‘It Just Went Poof’: The Strange Aftermath of Virginia’s Cascade of Political Scandals.”
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Nets Brush Off Biden’s Grabby Hands, Spending Less Than Two Minutes On Controversy.
HOW OUT OF TOUCH WITH REALITY DO YOU HAVE TO BE, TO THINK THAT TRUMP IS “SLAVISHLY SUBORDINATE” TO PUTIN?
Mr. Mueller did indict 13 Russian nationals for offenses related to election meddling. We know Moscow spent money on Facebook ads designed to exploit America’s divisions, targeting voters on both sides of the aisle. And Mr. Trump and the Republicans have responded. Under legislation enacted by a Republican Congress, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs and intelligence agencies.
Beyond the meddling, Mr. Trump has slammed Russia with bold moves designed to weaken Mr. Putin on the world’s stage. This administration imposed sanctions on Russia for violating nonproliferation laws by supporting weapons programs in Iran, Syria and North Korea. The Trump administration also issued more sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and its continuing occupation of Crimea. In 2017, the administration expelled 60 Russian intelligence officers and ordered multiple Russian consulates to close after Russia used a military-grade chemical weapon in the U.K. Mr. Trump even blocked Mr. Putin’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for Russia if it goes ahead.
These tough actions have had an effect. Between January and July 2018, the Russian ruble declined 9% against the U.S. dollar. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry expects its economy to grow only 1.3% in 2019. The U.S. economy grew 2.9% in 2018 and is headed for another strong year.
In 2017, Mr. Trump supplied Ukraine with weapons so it could defend itself against Russian attacks. Remember, it was President Obama who stood idly as Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has also engaged in hard-fought battles with Russian mercenaries in Syria.
In a sense, Russia succeeded in its mission to stoke division and fear within America. Some top Democrats have played right into Moscow’s hands by pursuing endless partisan investigations. If Democrats care about thwarting Russian meddling and aggression, they will disavow their conspiracy theory that our president is Mr. Putin’s puppet, and stop wasting taxpayer money peddling disproved collusion narratives. Instead, they can support this administration’s efforts to stand tall against the consistent threat Russia poses to America’s national security.
As Walter Russell Mead wrote in 2017:
If Trump were the Manchurian candidate that people keep wanting to believe that he is, here are some of the things he’d be doing:
Limiting fracking as much as he possibly could
Blocking oil and gas pipelines
Opening negotiations for major nuclear arms reductions
Cutting U.S. military spending
Trying to tamp down tensions with Russia’s ally IranThat Trump is planning to do precisely the opposite of these things may or may not be good policy for the United States, but anybody who thinks this is a Russia appeasement policy has been drinking way too much joy juice.
Obama actually did all of these things, and none of the liberal media now up in arms about Trump ever called Obama a Russian puppet; instead, they preferred to see a brave, farsighted and courageous statesman. Trump does none of these things and has embarked on a course that will inexorably weaken Russia’s position in the world, and the media, suddenly flushing eight years of Russia dovishness down the memory hole, now sounds the warning that Trump’s Russia policy is treasonously soft.
Think of them as Democratic operatives with bylines, and no particular loyalty to the country’s best interests, and you won’t go far wrong.
But remember while America’s political class is focused on Russia, Chinese influence is running wild. That’s not an accident.
JUST THINK OF THEM AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND YOU WON’T GO FAR WRONG: “It is a little embarrassing that, according to recent polls, the top 4 candidates for the Democratic nomination are white males. I think the NYT is trying to help readers accept that rejecting white maleness should not be a priority.”
THINK OF THEM AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND YOU WON’T GO FAR WRONG:
THERE IS SOMETHING THAT DOESN’T FIT THE LIBERAL NARRATIVE IN NEW MAGA HAT ASSAULT STORY:
Okay, what’s being left out is that the victim is a legal immigrant from Togo. Whether intentional or not, I’ll let y’all debate that, it’s just another example of how the Left’s narrative about the Trump coalition is wrong. People of color can and do support President Trump. They will do so again in 2020. Trump did better with black voters than Romney and I think he’ll do better with this bloc next year. The Daily Caller has more.
“Whether intentional or not, I’ll let y’all debate that.” Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM THEIR FELLOW DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WHO POSSESS BYLINES: Although Trump Cut Taxes For Most Americans, Democrats Convinced The Public That They Paid More Taxes.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: WH Correspondents’ Association Hails CNN’s Kavanaugh Coverage.
IT WENT “POOF” BECAUSE IT WAS HURTING DEMOCRATS, AND THE MEDIA ARE BASICALLY DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES: ‘‘It Just Went Poof’: The Strange Aftermath of Virginia’s Cascade of Political Scandals.
In the space of a week in early February, the public was stunned by revelations about each of the three highest statewide elected officials, all Democrats: the racist photo in the governor’s yearbook; accusations of sexual assault against the lieutenant governor; and the attorney general’s appearance in blackface at a party in college. Protesters and news crews swarmed the Statehouse. Calls for resignations came from fellow Virginia Democrats, Republicans and even 2020 presidential candidates.
And then? “It just went poof,” said Natalie Draper, a librarian sitting in the back of a coffeehouse last week in Richmond. “It’s like it never happened.”
Remember, kids:
JUST NBC THE BIAS: Reporter: The head of NBC News’s political coverage tried to bully me out of a scoop — on behalf of the DNC.
It must be noted up front that there’s no evidence that the DNC put her up to doing this. It may be that Dafna Linzer, former WaPo reporter and current managing editor of politics for NBC and MSNBC, simply took it upon herself to do the DNC a solid.
But even if so, that’s news too. Since when does the head of an allegedly independent news organization do a favor for a political party?
Early and often — just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense. NBC’s PR flack is apparently going with “no comment” at the moment, as NBC coordinates damage control. I wonder if Linzer’s fellow former and current Democratic Party operative Chuck Todd, who famously compared old media to sports referees in 2015, will be asked to spin his way out of this one?
Perhaps he meant pro wrestling refs, which would explain the surprise political success in 2016 by a former host of WrestleMania events who knows how to work them properly?
THIS ARTICLE HAS IT WRONG: TRUMP WON’T BE CAMPAIGNING ON THE MUELLER REPORT, HE’LL BE CAMPAIGNING AGAINST THE PRESS.
Trump allies see Barr’s letter as a kind of Swiss Army knife—a tool useful in all kinds of situations. Not only is it exculpatory, they say, but it also implicitly rebukes the press for its coverage of the Russia investigation, inoculating Trump from any future scandal that reporters might unearth. According to a source familiar with internal discussions at the Republican National Committee and the pro-Trump super PAC America First, both organizations are “geared up for any nonsense to come.”
They’re already prepared to attack reporters. “Any reporter who tries that will be hit with 30-second spots of all their ridiculous claims about collusion,” said the source, who, like others interviewed for this story, requested anonymity to describe private conversations. “Their tweets have all been screencapped. It’s all ready to go.” (“It’s the same thing we’ve been doing the last two years. We’re going to hold the media accountable when we see fit,” an RNC official clarified, adding that this would include digital clips shared on social media.)
Earlier this week, Trump’s campaign previewed the in-your-face tactics they have in mind. A campaign official sent a letter to TV producers cautioning them against booking certain guests who had alleged that Trump colluded with Russia, including Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Democratic Representative Adam Schiff of California, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez.
“It’s not hard to figure where we’re going to go with this,” a current campaign official told The Atlantic. “We’re still in victory-lap mode, but it will turn into a message that [Democrats] will say or do anything to stop us from making America great again, including making up lies about the president and ruining a lot of people’s lives.”
Well, the nice thing about that argument is that it’s true. And Trump will treat the press like it’s made up of Democratic operatives with bylines, which is also true.
I’M SO OLD, I REMEMBER WHEN CNN STILL PRETENDED TO BE OBJECTIVE:
● Don Lemon tells Cory Booker ‘nice job’ in ‘hot mic’ moment during CNN town hall.
● Don Lemon Says He Texts Jussie Smollett Every Day Following Attack.
Last October, during the Kavanaugh hearings, when the Journolist decided that calling the violent left a mob was not permissible on DNC-MSM airwaves, the Daily Caller noted that “CNN host Don Lemon lost his cool with [right-leaning] network commentator Matt Lewis while discussing the ‘mob behavior’ of liberals versus conservatives Tuesday, telling him to ‘shut up’ while he made his point:”
Lewis tried to respond but Lemon wasn’t having it. “Will you let me finish, Matt, please, before you jump in? I’m making a point. Okay?,” he said. “I’m making a point. I can’t make it if you keep interrupting me.”
“You’re making a point. Are you the moderator or the host or arguing a liberal talking point,” Lewis shot back.
It’s the latter. Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
BRENT BOZELL: AFTER MUELLER REPORT, ‘I DON’T KNOW HOW CNN EVER RECOVERS.’
Predicting what will be coming, the MRC President [told Fox Business’ Stuart Varney], “I don’t know how CNN undoes the damage, because they not going to stop. They’re going to continue this. Are they going to say, ‘Oops! For two years we were wrong in our slandering of the President?’ They’re never going to do it.”
Exit quote:
“Half of me wants to burst out laughing. The other half of me wants to look seriously at American journalism and look at the damage these people have done to that institution. I don’t know how they repair it. I don’t know how some networks ever come back. I don’t know how Jim Acosta can ever be seen on television without people laughing at them. He’s ruined. Brian Stelter at CNN, Chuck Todd of NBC. These people are never going to be believed again.”
To be fair, I never thought CNN recovered from inviting young human shields to shill for Obamacare in 2009, serving cake on air in honor of the Obama stimulus in 2010, Candy Crowley sabotaging Mitt Romney during the 2012 presidential debate, or this “Oceania has always been at war with Eastasia” moment in 2008, which greatly helped to smooth Obama’s path to election:
Just think of CNN as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their actions all make sense.
TENN. CONGRESSMAN MARK GREEN: Democrats, Join Trump Against Russian Aggression: His administration has been tough on Moscow’s meddling, both in U.S. elections and abroad.
Mr. Mueller did indict 13 Russian nationals for offenses related to election meddling. We know Moscow spent money on Facebook ads designed to exploit America’s divisions, targeting voters on both sides of the aisle. And Mr. Trump and the Republicans have responded. Under legislation enacted by a Republican Congress, the Trump administration imposed sanctions on Russian oligarchs and intelligence agencies.
Beyond the meddling, Mr. Trump has slammed Russia with bold moves designed to weaken Mr. Putin on the world’s stage. This administration imposed sanctions on Russia for violating nonproliferation laws by supporting weapons programs in Iran, Syria and North Korea. The Trump administration also issued more sanctions in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine and its continuing occupation of Crimea. In 2017, the administration expelled 60 Russian intelligence officers and ordered multiple Russian consulates to close after Russia used a military-grade chemical weapon in the U.K. Mr. Trump even blocked Mr. Putin’s Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline, which could generate hundreds of millions of dollars for Russia if it goes ahead.
These tough actions have had an effect. Between January and July 2018, the Russian ruble declined 9% against the U.S. dollar. Russia’s Economic Development Ministry expects its economy to grow only 1.3% in 2019. The U.S. economy grew 2.9% in 2018 and is headed for another strong year.
In 2017, Mr. Trump supplied Ukraine with weapons so it could defend itself against Russian attacks. Remember, it was President Obama who stood idly as Russia invaded Crimea in 2014. Under the Trump administration, the U.S. has also engaged in hard-fought battles with Russian mercenaries in Syria.
In a sense, Russia succeeded in its mission to stoke division and fear within America. Some top Democrats have played right into Moscow’s hands by pursuing endless partisan investigations. If Democrats care about thwarting Russian meddling and aggression, they will disavow their conspiracy theory that our president is Mr. Putin’s puppet, and stop wasting taxpayer money peddling disproved collusion narratives. Instead, they can support this administration’s efforts to stand tall against the consistent threat Russia poses to America’s national security.
As Walter Russell Mead wrote in 2017:
If Trump were the Manchurian candidate that people keep wanting to believe that he is, here are some of the things he’d be doing:
Limiting fracking as much as he possibly could
Blocking oil and gas pipelines
Opening negotiations for major nuclear arms reductions
Cutting U.S. military spending
Trying to tamp down tensions with Russia’s ally IranThat Trump is planning to do precisely the opposite of these things may or may not be good policy for the United States, but anybody who thinks this is a Russia appeasement policy has been drinking way too much joy juice.
Obama actually did all of these things, and none of the liberal media now up in arms about Trump ever called Obama a Russian puppet; instead, they preferred to see a brave, farsighted and courageous statesman. Trump does none of these things and has embarked on a course that will inexorably weaken Russia’s position in the world, and the media, suddenly flushing eight years of Russia dovishness down the memory hole, now sounds the warning that Trump’s Russia policy is treasonously soft.
Think of them as Democratic operatives with bylines, and no particular loyalty to the country’s best interests, and you won’t go far wrong.
But remember while America’s political class is focused on Russia, Chinese influence is running wild. That’s not an accident.
Think of them as Democratic party operatives with bylines — and no concern for the welfare of their country — and you won’t go far wrong.
ANN ALTHOUSE ON JOURNALISM’S TRUMP/CHARLOTTESVILLE LIE: “I suspect that they keep repeating the falsehood because they are so clearly wrong that they can’t find any way to back down. And I also think they’ve seen the effectiveness of this attack on Trump. It has worked as propaganda, so why stop now? The hit to their credibility has already occurred, so why not keep manipulating minds?”
Think of them as Democratic Party political operatives with bylines and you won’t be far wrong.
CNN WINS CRONKITE AWARD FOR THAT GARBAGE GUN-CONTROL TOWN HALL IT HELD AFTER PARKLAND:
Dana Loesch was suckered into attending in the belief that this would be some sort of civil moderated discussion about the pros and cons of gun control. As it was, she was jeered for noting that some rape victims wished they had a gun during their attack, had people shout “murderer” at her, and allegedly needed a security detail to exit the event safely. Loesch reminisced about the magical evening she had earlier today on Twitter:
* * * * * * * *
It was embarrassing all the way through, less town hall than mob catharsis, and of course they’re being rewarded for it by industry watchdogs rather than reprimanded. If you wonder why big media is frequently so terrible, this is a small part of the answer: They’re incentivized to be that way by their own gatekeepers.
As long as it’s remembered that Cronkite himself, far from being the Mr. “And that’s the way it is,” was one of the original Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and would have loved CNN’s hard left coverage, then it’s an absolutely appropriately named award for CNN’s train wreck.
Related: ‘Go be a company man’! Dana Loesch calls out Jake Tapper for pulling this after she told truth about CNN’s Parkland ‘town hall.’ As Glenn posted earlier, Tapper unfollowed Dana — and also her husband Chris, “for pointing out what a sham this award is. Dana presented the facts and truth on that stage which were subsequently proven correct,” as Chris tweets.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: “How Reuters uncovered Beto O’Rourke’s teenage hacking days…Members of the group, which calls itself Cult of the Dead Cow, protected O’Rourke’s secret for decades, reluctant to compromise the former Texas Congressman’s political career. After more than a year of reporting, Menn persuaded O’Rourke to talk on the record. In an interview in late 2017, O’Rourke acknowledged that he was a member of the group, on the understanding that the information would not be made public until after his Senate race against Ted Cruz in November 2018.”
UPDATE (FROM GLENN): As always. . . .
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND THEIR SILENCE MAKES PERFECT SENSE: Newsrooms that went wild when David Duke endorsed Laura Ingraham suddenly silent when he did the same for Rep. Omar.
NBC ENTERING RERUN SEASON EARLY THIS YEAR: Days before his death, Wallace Broecker, “the ‘grandfather’ of climate science,” urged scientists to consider deploying a last-ditch solar shield to stop global warming:
It was time for humankind and the world’s scientific community to begin to seriously study more extreme solutions to the climate crisis, Broecker said. That included creating a massive solar shield in the Earth’s atmosphere, a tactic known variously as “geoengineering,” “the sulfur solution,” “solar radiation management” and the “Pinatubo Strategy.”
Funny, that’s what John Holdren, former President Obama’s “science” “czar” urged in April of 2009:
In a November 2008 cover story, Time magazine described Mr. Obama’s incoming administration, which was obsessed with radical environmentalism (at least a vehicle for crony corporatism) as “the New New Deal.” It was dubbed the “Green New Deal” by the EU Observer in March of 2009. That year, Democrats controlled both houses of Congress. Given all of the talk a decade later in 2019 of this year’s “Green New Deal,” will anyone ask former members of Obama’s administration why they had such a failure of nerve, when environmentalists were using the same grim talk about mankind’s future – or the lack thereof – as today? (We know that no current Democrat be reminded of all of the earlier doomsday prognostications — just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and their feigned amnesia makes perfect sense.)
UNEXPECTEDLY: America’s Cities Are Running on Software From the ’80s.
The only place in San Francisco still pricing real estate like it’s the 1980s is the city assessor’s office. Its property tax system dates back to the dawn of the floppy disk. City employees appraising the market work with software that runs on a dead programming language and can’t be used with a mouse. Assessors are prone to make mistakes when using the vintage software because it can’t display all the basic information for a given property on one screen. The staffers have to open and exit several menus to input stuff as simple as addresses. To put it mildly, the setup “doesn’t reflect business needs now,” says the city’s assessor, Carmen Chu.
San Francisco rarely conjures images of creaky, decades-old technology*, but that’s what’s running a key swath of its government, as well as those of cities across the U.S.
Shades of the New Yorker cover from 2013, which showed Obama with Gordon Gekko’s brick-sized cell phone and Kathleen Sebelius crossing her fingers while Jay Carney nervously inserted a five-inch floppy disk into the TRS-80-era Obamacare server. Not to mention the speeches that Newt Gingrich was giving during the heady Contract With America days of 1994 and 1995, when he would hold up in one hand a vacuum tube, and in the other a microchip. As he explained, vacuum tubes were still in use in some FAA-regulated Air Traffic Control towers in America.
As Kevin Williamson wrote during the disastrous Obamacare rollout, “We choose not between Marx and Adam Smith but between the DMV and the Apple store:”
I can walk out of the Apple store on Fifth Avenue in New York, which sees more visitors per day than any DMV office, with a couple thousand dollars’ worth of electronics without ever having to stand in line, much less fill out paperwork. When I found myself in need of an unexpectedly large sum of cash while out of the country a couple of years ago, one telephone call to American Express, lasting less than ten minutes, was all it took. Services such as Seamless and OpenTable have greatly simplified all sorts of commercial transactions, and services such as Uber have begun to disrupt longstanding cartels and monopolies on taxi services and other conveniences. Some services even make dealing with the government easier, such as the concealed-carry apps that use GPS to let you know whether you’re legally packing.
And Leviathan is not happy about that.
Fortunately, beginning in 2016, Democratic operatives with bylines advised out of work coalminers to learn to code, before receiving similar advice from former readers in more recent times. Hopefully all of the efforts of these nascent software engineers will eventually begin to pay off to bring urban governmental software into the 1990s.
* Now who’s being naive, Kay? When I lived in Silicon Valley, the numerous power outages were a reminder that the businesses trying to bring you the 21st century were reliant upon a power grid that, thanks to the NIMBY nature of Bay Area leftists, hadn’t been upgraded since the 1960s heyday of Pat Brown, Jerry’s dad.
VICTOR DAVIS HANSON: Trump As Tragic Hero.
I tried to use as many examples as I could of the classic Western, whether it was “Shane” or “High Noon” or “The Magnificent Seven.” They all are the same—the community doesn’t have the skills or doesn’t have the willpower or doesn’t want to stoop to the corrective method to solve the existential problem, whether it is cattle barons or banditos. So they bring in an outsider, and immediately they start to be uneasy because he is uncouth—his skills, his attitude—and then he solves the problem, and they declare to him, whether it is Gary Cooper in “High Noon” or Alan Ladd in “Shane,” “I think it’s better you leave. We don’t need you anymore. We feel dirty that we ever had to call you in.” I think that is what is awaiting Trump…
Still not tired of winning yet. Plus, Neo comments:
The article is interesting for what it presents of Hanson’s thoughts on the matter. But it’s also interesting because of the subtext, which is a cat-and-mouse game the interview believes he’s playing with Hanson. In the latter game, I’m not sure who wins, but I am pretty sure it depends on the bias of who is reading.
When I read the article, Chotiner’s lead-in descriptions of Hanson leapt out at me as being a debunking of the opinions of the man he is set to interview (supposedly respectfully). He can’t do away with Hanson’s obvious academic achievements and honors, but he distorts Hanson’s record outside of academia in a way that is meant to discredit Hanson in the reader’s mind before even reading any of Hanson’s words in the interview.
Well, think of journalists as Democratic operatives with bylines and you won’t go far wrong.
DISPATCHES FROM THE MEMORY HOLE: Democratic Virginia Scandals Evaporate from ABC, CBS, NBC.
Flashback: “Jim Geraghty of NRO estimated that in 2006, the Washington Post ran ‘approximately 100 articles, op-eds, [and] editorials’ spotlighting Republican George Allen’s moronic ‘macaca’ gaffe involving his botched effort at calling out a mohawk-wearing video tagger hired by his opponent, Democrat Jim Webb, to stalk the Allen campaign,” and then repeated the same playbook (this time unsuccessfully) three years later when Republican Bob McDonnell ran for the governship of Virginia.
As for the Virginia Democrats’ current racism and #metoo-related scandals being tossed down the memory hole, just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
THIS IS CNN: Don Lemon: The worst part about Smollett hoax will be all the conservative pouncing, you know.
“Sean Hannity is going to eat Jussie Smollett’s lunch every single second. Tucker Carlson is going to eat Jussie Smollett’s lunch every single second. The President of the United States is going to eat his lunch.”
As Ed Morrissey writes:
Sorry. Mr. Lemon. The media earned every bit of ridicule and criticism it earned by going all-in on Smollett’s weird claim from the get-go. They earned every bit of criticism for doing the same thing with the Covington Catholic High School kids for the same purpose — to pounce, if you will, all over conservatives, pro-lifers, and anyone who might have a little sympathy for Donald Trump.
At least in some corners of the industry, they haven’t learned a damn thing from either failure. Expect more to come.
“Don Lemon completely gives the game away of why CNN won’t simply own up to this and other failings. Because they are paid to act like opposition. Smollet, Parkland, Covington, list goes on… they believe they are political opposition. Not journalists,” Stephen Miller adds on Twitter.
Back in 20s, H.L. Mencken wrote, “It is the prime function of a really first-rate newspaper to serve as a sort of permanent opposition in politics.” If only old media had gotten that message instead of becoming Democratic Party operatives with bylines.
Flashback: Don Lemon Says He Texts Jussie Smollett Every Day Following Attack.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Fangirls? TV Reporters from CBS, CNN and NBC Help Kamala Harris Pick Out ‘Amazing’ Coat.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC PARTY OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE. Fail: WaPo & Vox Journos Get Northam Abortion Position Wrong, Accuse Trump of “Inciting Violence.”
The problem with what both Rupar and Gibson asserted regarding Trump “lying” about Northam’s stance on late term abortion? They’re both wrong. Trump got it right.
Here’s Northam’s actual quote from that WTOP interview, with bolded emphasis added:
When we talk about third trimester abortions, these are done with the consent of the mother, with the consent of the physician. More than one physician, by the way. And its done in case where there may be severe deformities, where there may be a fetus that is non-viable.
So, in this particular example, if a mother is in labor I can tell you exactly what would happen. The infant would be delivered. The infant would be kept comfortable. The infant would be resuscitated if that’s what the mother and the family desired, and then a discussion would ensue between the physicians and the mother.
Gaslighting. It’s not just for the Green New Deal anymore!
WAPO HELPS ELIZABETH WARREN WITH A PRE-SOTU DOCUMENT DUMP:
Using an open records request during a general inquiry, for example, The Post obtained Warren’s registration card for the State Bar of Texas, providing a previously undisclosed example of Warren identifying as an “American Indian.”
Warren filled out the card by hand in neat blue ink and signed it. Dated April 1986, it is the first document to surface showing Warren making the claim in her own handwriting. Her office didn’t dispute its authenticity.
This tidbit (click over for the photo of her Texas bar card) was buried eight paragraphs into a Washington Post story innocuously titled “Elizabeth Warren apologizes for calling herself Native American.” Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines, and the Post burying the lede makes perfect sense.
UPDATE: Heh — “Governor Northam should call on Senator Warren to resign,” Charles C.W. Cooke jokes on Twitter.
THINK OF THE PRESS AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE:
THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES AND YOU WON’T GO FAR WRONG: Ocasio-Cortez’s Media Attacks Are Constructive Criticism, Trump’s a Dire Attack on Our Democracy.
BAD, PRESS: How the media fail.
To watch Stelter’s show, Reliable Sources, after a reporting debacle is to watch a master class in whataboutism and faux-persecution, followed by the insistence that even the most egregious lapses in judgment or professionalism are to be expected from time to time and that we should actually be worrying about the real victim here: the media’s reputation. This, suffice it to say, is not helpful. Were a football commentator to worry aloud that a team’s ten straight losses might lead some to think they weren’t any good — and then to cast any criticisms as an attack on sports per se — he would be laughed out of the announcers’ box.
* * * * * * * *
Sometimes consciously, but most often unwittingly, journalists treat Democrats as normal and Republicans as abnormal and proceed accordingly in their coverage. Once one understands the rules, the whole setup becomes rather amusing. When a headline reads “Lawmaker Involved in Scandal,” one can immediately deduce that the lawmaker is a Democrat. Why? Because if he were a Republican, the story would make that clear in the headline. Without fail, stories that begin with “Republicans pounce” are actually about bad things that Democrats have done or said, while stories about bad things that Republicans have done or said begin with “Republican does or says a bad thing” and proceed to a dry recitation of the facts. A variation on this rule is “Republicans say,” which is used when a Republican says something that is so self-evidently true that, had a Democrat said it, it would have been reported straight. For a neat illustration of how farcical things have become, take a look at the Washington Post’s most recent “fact check,” which helpfully informs its readers that the claimed “one thousand burgers” President Trump bought for the Clemson football team were not, in fact, “piled up a mile high” because, “at two inches each, a thousand burgers would not reach one mile high.”
Democracy dies in darkness, indeed.
It’s not at all “unwittingly.” Just think of the media as Democratic party operatives with bylines, and you won’t go wrong.™
CNN’S TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY:
● Shot: CNN Does Not Know How To Question Ilhan Omar’s Conspiracy Theories And Anti-Semitism.
—The Federalist, yesterday.
● Chaser: CNN’s John King: Should Pence Family’s Christianity Disqualify Them from Secret Service Protection?
—NewsBusters, yesterday.
● Hangover: ‘You fail your profession’: Chris Cuomo says ‘Mueller didn’t do the media any favors tonight.’
—Twitchy, yesterday.
● The D.T.s: “‘The larger message that a lot of people are going to take from this story is that the news media are a bunch of leftist liars who are dying to get the president, and they’re willing to lie to do it,’ [CNN’s Jeffrey Toobin says of BuzzFeed]. ‘And I don’t think that’s true.’”
—The Washington Free Beacon, yesterday.
Narrator voice: It’s very much true. Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines, and yesterday’s meltdown all makes sense.
Some media outlets and activists are suggesting that Sen. Rand Paul (R–Ky.) is guilty of hypocrisy because he will travel to Canada for surgery related to his 2017 assault at the hands of a neighbor. Paul, after all, has warned loudly against adopting the Canadian health care system.
“Rand Paul, enemy of socialized medicine, will go to Canada for surgery,” tweeted Talking Points Memo. The tweet includes a link to a Courier-Journal story that reminds readers that “Paul has called universal health care and nationalized options ‘slavery.'” Newsweek went a similar route. . . .
Checkmate, libertarians? Nope.
Those who chuckled at this supposed irony missed a major detail, even though it was noted in the press coverage: Paul’s surgery will take place at the Shouldice Hernia Hospital in Thornhill, Ontario. The clinic is private, and run for profit; The Toronto Star’s Daniel Dale, who is from Thornhill, notes that it was “grandfathered in to Ontario’s socialized health system.”
Get beaten nearly to death by a Democrat, go for medical care, get mocked by Democratic Party operatives with bylines. And the press wonders why people hate it.
Related: Rand Paul’s attacker: ‘I lost it and became irate.’
Plus:
● Hillary: ‘You cannot be civil with a political party that wants to destroy what you stand for.’
● Former Attorney General Eric Holder: “Michelle [Obama] always says, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ No. No. When they go low, we kick them.”
● Politico: After failing to stop Kavanaugh’s confirmation, Democrats wonder if it’s time to be more ruthless.
● Democrat Doxxer Threatened To Reveal Senators’ Children’s Health Information.
● DC restaurant: We’ve received death threats after Ted Cruz, wife forced out by protesters.
● Networks Silent On Attempted Stabbing of GOP Candidate By Anti-Trump Attacker.
● Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA) Jokes About Threatening Trump Supporters ‘All The Time.’
As a sidenote, I was disappointed to see the Knoxville News-Sentinel pushing this bogus story on Facebook.
WE, THE PRESS: “Frank Bruni, formerly the New York Times’s White House reporter and now a columnist for the paper, has a long, long op-ed that is unintentionally revealing. It is headlined, ‘Will the Media Be Trump’s Accomplice Again in 2020?’ As though the press were pro-Trump in 2016! ‘We have a second chance. Let’s not blow it.’ A second chance to help a Democrat beat Donald Trump.”
Just think of them as Democratic operatives with bylines and you won’t go far wrong.
Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines grooming the next Obama, and it all makes sense.
THE DNC-MSM MORPHED INTO YASSER ARAFAT SO SLOWLY, I NEVER EVEN NOTICED: How Should We Read the American Press? In Arabic, Lee Smith writes at Tablet:
Other former U.S. intelligence officials who have joined the anti-Salman campaign, include ex-CIA director John Brennan, who suggested the United States freeze arms sales to Riyadh, ex-deputy CIA director John McLaughlin, and former CIA official Ned Price. All three are MSNBC analysts, along with other former agency officers. One upside of the Khashoggi operation is that it has helped illuminate another part of the map of the new U.S. media—MSNBC appears to be a destination of choice for CIA leaks.
Blurring the lines between journalists/analysts and officials/operatives is not simply a matter of convenient nomenclature. It’s part of a conscious strategy to legitimize the nature and structure of information operations by obscuring their political character. How dare Trump strip John Brennan’s security clearance! He’s infringing on the former CIA director’s free speech rights—as a journalist.
Branding political operatives and intelligence officials as “press” is also intended to shield these newly minted “analysts” from possible prosecution. Evidence of their crimes and abuses may be found in the steady stream of classified intelligence illegally leaked to a complicit press corps for the purpose of marketing the Russia collusion narrative. By relabeling government officials as “journalists,” the media is protecting both its clandestine confederates and itself.
An analysis of Russiagate coverage also seems to suggest that the Federal Bureau of Investigation tends to favor The New York Times as a delivery mechanism while the Department of Justice prefers The Washington Post. Last month, the Times published a story sourced to memos written by FBI officials, including former deputy director Andrew McCabe, portraying Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein as a conspirator plotting to bring down Trump. According to the account, Rosenstein told FBI officials that he’d wear a wire to record the president and gather evidence to remove him from office. When it was time for Rosenstein and allies at the DOJ to do damage control, their story went to the Post, published hours after the Times piece, explaining that Rosenstein was being sarcastic about spying on Trump, those FBI guys can’t take a joke!
Read the whole thing. Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.™
Flashback: “Lee Smith was fired very shortly after simply offering an article about Fusion GPS to the Weekly Standard. He merely offered it to them. And then the Weekly Standard suddenly decided things aren’t working out between themselves and Smith.”
(Classical allusion in headline.)
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: In 1998, Journalists Hated the Idea of Impeaching a President.
1973, 1987, 2006, 2018, not so much.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: What Are You Guys Doing?! AP Offers Tasteless Obituary of George H.W. Bush.
QUESTION ASKED:
Just think of the media as Democratic Party operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.™
MONICA LEWINSKY: “If you want to know what power looks like, watch a man safely, even smugly, do interviews for decades, without ever worrying whether he will be asked the questions he doesn’t want to answer.”
Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: MSM Claims, Without Evidence, That White House Acosta Tape Was ‘Doctored.’
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: Why did nobody mention that Robert “Beto” O’Rourke’s wife is a billionaire heiress?
As Jim Treacher has said:
Update: Leftists Lose Their Minds, Bash The New York Times After Beto O’Rourke Exposé.
NEW JERSEY STAR LEDGER EDITORIAL HEADLINE: Choke it down, and vote for Menendez.
Found via Dan McLaughlin, who tweets, “The level of moral compromise involved in supporting Menendez is pretty well illustrated by this headline.”
That the paper’s online slogan is “True Jersey” is a nice added touch. Just think of the media as Democratic operatives with bylines, and it all makes sense.
JUST THINK OF THE MEDIA AS DEMOCRATIC OPERATIVES WITH BYLINES, AND IT ALL MAKES SENSE: NBC Knew That Third Kavanaugh Accuser’s Claim Was Trash In September.
Related: “Oh cool — TIME sat on that Avenatti ‘white male’ quote since June 25.”
