Category: Media Bias

A Special Kind of Stupid: Only ‘Culturally Backward’ People Find Weiner’s Conduct Objectionable, Chris Matthews Says

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The Stupidest Man in TV News™ — the Ted Baxter of MSNBC — has perhaps outdone himself with his latest astonishing foray into the frontier of brain-addled commentary:

This is, to me, the stakes here. If [Anthony Weiner] stays, [Democrats] never get the leadership back. They never get the Speakership back because the people in the rural areas of this country who are Christian conservative culturally – you can say backward if you want – but they don’t like this kind of stuff at all. They’re not part of that 56 percent in Brooklyn and Queens who say, “okay, we can live with this guy.” Your thoughts, Ben? Isn’t that the cutting edge of this?

What did Ben Smith of Politico say in reply? I don’t know. But I hope when he left the studio, Ben sent an e-mail to an MSNBC producer asking, “Exactly why do you continue permitting this babbling fool to host his own TV show?”

Given the evidence suggesting that Weiner was cybersexing teenage girls, is it really true that 56 percent of Weiner’s constituents “can live with this guy”? Or is it rather the case, as I suspect, that many of them are not fully informed about what Weiner was up to online?

The weird thing here is, Chris Matthews is one of the few people at MSNBC who even acknowledges WeinerGate as a legitimate and politically significant story. Ace of Spades observes:

Most of MSNBC’s hosts . . . are on a campaign of minimziation.
See, especially, Rachel Maddow, who insists there’s nothing to see here and it’s all a laugh.

But how the hell is it, I ask, that the people who know the most about what Weiner has actually done — including Andrew Breitbart — are those who find it most objectionable? And why would Chris Matthews suggest that the “culturally backward” people in “rural areas” might be offended?

Is Breitbart a dimwitted backwoods clodhopper? Are 56% of voters in Queens and Brookly really more sophisticated than Breitbart?

Permit me to suggest that anyone attempting to “minimize” WeinerGate consider how the story has unfolded to date, and ask themselves: What new surprising revelations await?

(Hat-tip: Memeorandum.)

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Behind Blue Eyes

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Ann Coulter was interviewed by ABC News, and Terry Moran introduced the segment this way:

Simply put — a lot of people despise Ann Coulter, the conservative firebrand, because of her malevolent and acid rhetoric.

Who are “a lot of people”? Liberals. And toward whom is Coulter’s rhetoric “malevolent”? Liberals.

Keep in mind that Ann Coulter is one of the most consistently popular authors in America. Every book she writes is a No. 1 bestseller, every speech she gives draws a capacity crowd and every time she appears on TV, ratings go up.

Coulter is “despised” by “a lot of people” in the same sense that Wal-Mart and McDonald’s are “despised” by “a lot of people” — because liberals like Terry Moran hate anyone who succeeds in the free market, including the free market of ideas.

So the price of being a successful and effective critic of liberalism is that Terry Moran goes on TV and instructs ABC News viewers that everybody hates you before your interview even airs! And then he hands it over to Dan Harris, whose first question for Ann Coulter is, “Is it ever uncomfortable for you to be hated?”

You may be asking yourself, “What can I do to fight back against this kind of insidious media bigotry?” The answer is simple: Buy Ann Coulter’s new book, Demonic: How the Liberal Mob Is Endangering America. Because “a lot of people” will be angry when they open their Sunday New York Times and discover that, once again, Coulter is sitting atop the bestseller list.

Joan Walsh: ‘I Look Kind of Stupid’

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“The lying is what disturbs me. He implicated a lot of us. I gave him the benefit of the doubt, let’s just say that. And, you know, I look kind of stupid. But on the other hand . . .”

No, ma’am. There is no “other hand.”

You falsely accused Andrew Breitbart of “savaging a 21-year-old girl” and — on the morning of June 1 — doubled down by emphasizing the need to remind reporters “the story came from Breitbart and his right-wing smear machine.”

If Anthony Weiner did what Breitbart said he did, how is it a “smear” for Breitbart to describe what Weiner did? You still haven’t answered that question, Ms. Walsh and so, yeah, you’re right: You look kind of stupid.

And there is no “other hand.”


Breitbart’s Vindication

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Let’s be clear about one thing: Andrew Breitbart was right, right, right and his critics were wrong, wrong, wrong.

As BigGovernment.com explains, “Andrew Breitbart was in New York for previously scheduled meetings,” and went to Anthony Weiner’s press conference as an observer. So how did he end up on stage? I touch on that in my American Spectator column today:

It started with a Tweet that was reported on a blog and, by the time it led to a Monday press conference in Manhattan, the story known as “WeinerGate” was the first full-blown cybersex scandal of the New Media era. And it was perhaps altogether fitting that disgraced Rep. Anthony Weiner had to wait to make his guilty admission while Andrew Breitbart gave an impromptu lecture to the reporters assembled in a ballroom at the Sheraton Hotel.
“Everything we’ve reported about this story has been true,” said Breitbart, whose BigGovernment.com was first to tell how, late on the night of May 27, the Democratic congressman from New York’s 9th District had used Twitter to send a 21-year-old college coed a message that included a photo of Weiner’s underwear-clad crotch in a condition of obvious arousal. After ten days of denials from Weiner, ABC News was prepared to air new revelations and the congressman was at last ready to confess. Breitbart showed up at the Sheraton and was asked by reporters to speak, ascending the podium to declare: “Quite frankly, I’d like an apology from [Weiner] for being complicit in a blame-the-messenger strategy.” . . .

Read the rest at The American Spectator.

Yub Nub!

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Allahpundit had this creepy interview Anthony Weiner gave to ABC News last week:

Interesting story by Radar Online and Star magazine: “Weiner Used Jewish Sexual Stereotype To Facebook Sexting Partner.”

I’ve been busy the past few hours writing 1,300 words for Tuesday’s American Spectator, so I’ve lost track of what’s been happening online in the aftermath of Monday’s big press conference. I don’t care what anybody says, Weiner will resign soon. The Democrats just can’t afford to have him hanging around stepping on their message for the next several weeks. I’m very tired, but wanted to let Ace have the last word tonight, talking about the ABC interview:

It’s not just that he lies, but that he lies arrogantly and condescendingly, lecturing and hectoring the interviewer . . . And what is even worse is his constant insistence that the interviewer may not — may not — ask Weiner why he was following underage girls because to lay such a question at Weiner’s feet is to impugn the honor of these poor little girls, an affront Weiner shall not stand for.

Yeah, that’s going to haunt him, because Weiner spent an entire week flipping the bird in the media’s face, and they want revenge, baby. As for me, I’m ready to dance. Everybody sing along!

#WeinerGate: It Gets WORSE
UPDATE: Press Conference 4 p.m. ET UPDATE: ABC News Interviews Woman

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LIVE-BLOGGING THE PRESS CONFERENCE

* * * * *

The congressman gets shirtless in his latest embarrassing photo obtained by Andrew Breitbart.

OK, you can start the resignation clock ticking  . . .

CBS News is now reporting on Andrew Breitbart’s exclusive: “A spokesman for Weiner did not immediately respond to a request to confirm that Weiner had, in fact, sent the photos.”

Maggie’s Notebook highlights something I’d overlooked: Kirsten Powers said Weiner was the “only guy who ever dumped me.”

UPDATE: Now Radar Online busts Weiner on sex-texting, so that even Ace of Spades becomes squeamish:

Yeah, I’m going to say this ends tomorrow, and I hope it does. This is just awful . . .
Actually I’m changing that. I previously said tomorrow. Now I say today, this afternoon.
This is just pretty bad right here.
I’m ready to see this stop now. This is brutal.

We have heard nothing today from the soon-to-be-former congressman. This scandal just became unsurvivable. The only question now is how soon he resigns.

UPDATE II: Anticipating the release of further photos, I announced I was taking a short nap, and awoke to find a Twitter message from Donald Douglas:

 Don’t nap!! You’re missing it: “Anthony Weiner Upper Body Nude Photos!” http://is.gd/JDOcPa

Yeah, I was late on this one. But now that we’re awaiting a resignation, I’m well-rested.

UPDATE III: Just look at that Memeorandum thread:

Now imagine the New York Post and New York Daily News front-page headlines on Tuesday.

Like I said: “unsurvivable.”

UPDATE IV: Fisherville Mike: “That’s all, folks.” Yeah, but the question is, does Weiner know that?

UPDATE V: I’m trying to confirm a report that Rep. Weiner will hold a press conference today at 4 p.m. at the Sheraton Hotel. Pants optional, I’m told.

UPDATE VI: Just confirmed — press conference at 4 p.m. ET. Will have full report.

UPDATE VII: Yeah, that’s gonna leave a mark:

An ABC News employee said that the network has conducted an interview with a woman, who says she received the photos from Mr. Weiner, evidently the same photos Mr. Breitbart obtained.
As of this afternoon, the network was determining when it would broadcast the interview.

The odds of him surviving a broadcast network interview with this woman? Infinitesimal.

Because I Know What’s News

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“Has there ever been more manufactured and phony hype about a certifiable non-issue than so-called WeinerGate?”
— John Guardiano, “Weinergate: What’s the Big Deal?” Frum Forum

Few things annoy me more than having my news judgment questioned. Disagree on policy or doubt me on politics — we might argue, but such arguments do not call into question my competence as a professional journalist. And, by God, after 25 years in the news business, I know what’s news.

So I don’t mind the good-natured kidding I get about being all-Weiner, all-the-time for an entire week. While I initially reacted to Anthony Weiner’s apparent Twitter faux-pas as a mere joke, as soon as I began researching the background of last weekend’s incident I realized, Hey, there’s a legit news story here.

What’s more, there was a perfect opportunity to get ahead of the story, because the mainstream media had been initially reluctant to report it. Saturday afternoon, I checked Google News and there was zero, zilch, nada from major news organizations. Yet I anticipated (correctly) how the story would develop, and so began hoovering up every fact I could find online and aggregating every tidbit of information other bloggers were reporting.

Simple fact: Weiner is from New York, home of America’s best tabloid press. If you thought the NY Post and the Daily News weren’t going to make this front-page news, you’re crazy. And while no one could have predicted the spectacular awfulness of Weiner’s Tuesday press-conference meltdown, once it happened, it was blood-in-the-water time.

The story continues to develop. CNN’s Dana Bash reports Democrats are unsatisfied with Weiner’s response to the scandal so far:

Members of the House Democratic leadership have talked repeatedly to Rep. Anthony Weiner, D-New York, to try to get him to end what several Democrats call an unwelcome political distraction, a member of the party’s leadership tells CNN.
“It’s frustrating because we’ll talk to him, and say clean it up, and then he goes out and does stuff,” said the member of the House Democratic leadership, who declined to speak for the record about private discussions with Weiner.
“He’s got to put the period at the end of the sentence,” said the Democratic source, “it’s painful.”

And the story’s the same in the New York Post:

Rep. Anthony Weiner’s onetime Democrat allies were quick to abandon the lawmaker yesterday, just hours after he admitted it certainly could be his bulging crotch shot that was sent to a cute co-ed from his Twitter account.
Party backers in New York and Washington publicly criticized the randy rep’s attempts at damage control and his inability to shake the scandal. . . .
And in a major blow, some pols said outright that Weiner has crushed his dream of becoming the Big Apple’s next mayor — and may even have undermined the next election for his Brooklyn-Queens congressional seat, which he has held for six terms.
“Something like this better be put to rest,” said power broker Vito Lopez, the Brooklyn Democratic chairman.
“If it’s left outstanding, it could have damaging impact, even if it means the difference of 3 or 4 percent of the vote in a very competitive four-way or five-way race,” Lopez said about Weiner’s chances in a mayoral contest.

You see what I’m talking about? As silly or as trivial as the whole situation may seem, Weiner has painted himself into a corner and it’s hard to see a good way for him to get out of it. Here’s an Associated Press video:

The one way out is the way Weiner has refused to take — call the cops:

There’s one way Rep. Anthony Weiner could show that he didn’t send a salacious photo to a female college student from his Twitter account: Ask law enforcement to investigate.
The New York congressman has so far declined to ask for an investigation into the photo, saying it’s not a worthy use of government resources. The U.S. Capitol Police said it would not launch an investigation unless requested.
In asking a private security firm to investigate instead, Weiner won’t be able to prove his innocence by obtaining logs from Twitter showing where his account was accessed from. Twitter says it requires a subpoena or court order to hand over such information. A subpoena or court order would have to be initiated by police or the FBI, not private detectives.

And, with hat-tips to Ace of Spades and Iowahawk, here’s the latest viral video sensation:

Finally, all the possibilities surrounding the role of “@PatriotUSA76” in WeinerGate are hashed out by Ace of Spades.

UPDATE: Simple explanation:

I’m a girl. I’ve been on Twitter over two years. I know exactly what happened. . . .

Read the whole thing. What’s up with guys getting drunk and tweeting their junk? Is it really that common?

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Wow! Strange Plot Twists in #WeinerGate’s Third Act

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A sentence you won’t see me write very often: Tommy Christopher has done some excellent reporting.

Tommy’s story about @PatriotUSA and a 16-year-old girl who (falsely) claimed her friend was involved in Twitter “sexting” with Rep. Anthony Weiner is an absolute must-read. (BTW, Mediaite has posted Tommy’s story as five different pages, without a “single page view” or “print all” function, which annoys me, but that’s not Tommy’s fault.) One quote that stood out to me was this:

“I saw many other girls in the news and I wanted to be famous.”

Yeah. The desire to get fame for fame’s sake — fame without talent, fame without achievement, fame you don’t actually have to work for — is one of the great evils of our age. Nowadays, I’m often reminded of a line from Gone With the Wind, where Scarlett O’Hara says of one of her envious rivals: “She’d walk down the street naked if she thought anybody would look twice at her.” But we’ll save Ginger Lee for later . . .

I should probably write an essay about the underlying lesson here: How inexperienced, irresponsible and unscrupulous people, trying to play citizen-journalist, muck things up for everybody else in the “Army of Davids.” On the other hand, maybe we wouldn’t have this problem if the regular media could be trusted to do their job with minimal competence and fairness.

The statements from the girls and one of the girls’ parents are, I think, subject to criticism, but I will leave that to others for now. The failure of Markos Moulitsas to respond promptly to Tommy Christopher’s e-mail warnings is also likely to get enough criticism from others without me jumping on the dogpile.

Responsible reporting requires a sense of news judgment, even if that sometimes means foregoing a possible scoop.

Last Saturday, when the WeinerGate story first broke, some people sent me DMs or e-mails with phone numbers for Gennette Cordova and I thought to myself: Should I call? Continue reading Wow! Strange Plot Twists in #WeinerGate’s Third Act →