The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

‘BullyGate’: What Did Jason Horowitz Know, and When Did He Know It?

Posted on | May 11, 2012 | 27 Comments

The implosion of the Washington Post‘s “BullyGate” story — a rapidly rising item on Memeorandum today — has sparked questions about the sourcing of reporter Jason Horowitz’s article:

A key element of the Washington Post’s 5,000-word account of Mitt Romney’s alleged high-school bullying is based on a second-hand account of a conversation with a dead man.

In response to my earlier post about the journalistic standards of the Washington Post account, a news editor with more than a decade of supervisory experience in D.C. sent me the following questions that he, as an editor, would ask the reporter (language warning):

Jason Horowitz talked to the sisters (we know this because his story cites them as the source of “Lauber dead” fact). Did Horowitz ask them whether Lauber ever mentioned the incident? If so, what did they say? Was it the same as what they’re telling ABC now? If it’s the same, why did Horowitz privilege one chance meeting with a now-semi-stranger at an airport over what those closest to Lauber said?
If the family said to Horowitz something different from what they’re now telling ABC about the effect on Lauber, why wasn’t THAT in the story
And if Horowitz DIDN’T ask the Lauber family about the effect of this incident on him … why the fuckety-fuck not!!?!?
Two of the three scenarios I’ve outlined are discipline cases in any story; on a 5,000-word A1 feature on a presidential nominee, it’s firing.

The Washington Post owes its readers some answers to such questions.

UPDATE: It doesn’t take an experienced editor to spot the common-sense problems with the Washington Post story:

Da Tech Guy senses a purposeful distraction. Bryan Preston at PJMedia doesn’t believe the timing of the WaPo article was entirely coincidental:

Horowitz has some explaining to do, and so do his editors. Did he fabricate any part of the story and implant it with Mitt’s school friends? Did he work on the timing of the story’s release with anyone in the Obama campaign?

PREVIOUSLY:


Category: Election 2012, Journalism, Media Bias, Mitt Romney

Rutherford B. Hayes Sympathizes With Obama Sweat Shop Workers, Sort Of

Posted on | May 11, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Insty points to Jammie Wearing Fool, where sweat shop workers supporting the Obama campaign, unexpectedly, discover they are in a sweat shop:

A $95 sweatshirt currently being sold in President Obama’s campaign store is the work of Alexander Wang, a designer who’s facing a class action suit in federal court for allegedly running a sweatshop where garment workers were forced to work 100 hour weeks in a factory with conditions “comparable to those of third world countries” while being subjected to racial discrimination, verbal abuse and threats. C.K. Lee, the lead attorney representating the workers who are suing Mr. Wang told The Politicker he thinks the presence of the sweatshirt is “inappropriate.”

Read the whole thing. This blog was focused on capturing an important announcement from Rutherford B. Hayes: Read more

Category: Barack Obama

No ‘BullyGate’ Pulitzer for WaPo?
UPDATE: Using a Second-Hand Source for a Dead Man’s Words? WTF?

Posted on | May 11, 2012 | 37 Comments

Three recent headlines in the URGENT BREAKING SCANDAL:

Source for WaPo’s Romney hit piece:
Actually, I wasn’t present during the prank
— Hot Air

Sister of Alleged Romney Target Has
‘No Knowledge’ of Any Bullying Incident
— ABC News

A question emerges in reading
the Washington Post piece …
— Daily Caller

Of course, this URGENT BREAKING SCANDAL involves incidents that allegedly happened nearly half a century ago, so those sneaky Republicans have a had a long time to cover it up.

Certainly the latter-day Woodwards and Bernsteins at the Washington Post will have their work cut out for them.

UPDATE: When I say they “have their work cut out for them,” I mean they’re already trying to change their story as it falls apart.

The changes have been noted by so-called “bloggers” like Brian Cates:

Washington Post Caught
Making Sh!t Up Again

Of course, there are no so-called “bloggers” on the Pulitzer Prize committee, which is composed entirely of respected professional journalists like Stephen Glass, Jayson Blair, Dan Rather . . .

UPDATE II: Dana Loesch wonders why the Washington Post didn’t alert its readers to the changes in its 5,000-word investigative report. Probably because of budget constraints:

The Washington Post Co. reported its first-quarter earnings on Friday, and the news coming out of the newspaper division was mostly grim. The unit lost $22.6 million in the quarter, with revenue down 8% and revenue from print advertising specifically falling 17%.  . . .
[T]he paper has lost top talent lately, including James Grimaldi, who took a buyout and is heading to The Wall Street Journal. With his departure, the Post will have lost all three reporters who won its 2006 Pulitzer for their coverage of the Jack Abramoff scandal. The paper also shut out of the 2012 Pulitzers and weathered a blogger embarrassment that revealed its BlogPost operation to be a mini sweatshop.

The Washington Post can afford to assign a reporter to do a 5,000-word investigative report on a Republican’s high-school activities, but they can’t afford to let their readers know that they’re “making sh!t up” again. Because credibility is kinda expensive . . .

UPDATE III: Reading Ben Shapiro’s examination of the Washington Post story, my brain exploded when this part sunk in:

Sometime in the mid-1990s, David Seed noticed a familiar face at the end of a bar at Chicago O’Hare International Airport.
“Hey, you’re John Lauber,” Seed recalled saying at the start of a brief conversation. Seed, also among those who witnessed the Romney-led incident, had gone on to a career as a teacher and principal. Now he had something to get off his chest.
“I’m sorry that I didn’t do more to help in the situation,” he said.
Lauber paused, then responded, “It was horrible.” He went on to explain how frightened he was during the incident, and acknowledged to Seed, “It’s something I have thought about a lot since then.”
Lauber died in 2004, according to his three sisters.

FIRING OFFENSE, period.

By God, you can’t do that in journalism: You cannot base a key element of a story — in this case, the claim that Romney’s bullying left Lauber emoitonally traumatized for life — on a quote from the deceased “victim” attributed to him based on an (alleged) private conversation. Lauber isn’t around to verify or dispute the accuracy of Seed’s account, and therefore it is unethical to include the “quotes” that Seed attributes to Lauber.

When Jason Horowitz is fired — and it should be a matter of when he’s fired, not if he’s fired — this “Dead Man’s Quote” trick will be noted among the worst of his wrongdoings.

UPDATE IV: Just got off the phone with an experienced Washington news editor who agrees that the “Dead Man’s Quote” trick would be a firing offense in any reputable news organization. Permit me to explain exactly what’s wrong with this trick.

Our standards of journalism, including libel law, have accumulated in common-law fashion in accordance with our Constitution. The First Amendment is not a license for defamation. When journalism becomes a weapon to make accusations against private citizens, the Sixth Amendment’s “Confrontation Clause” must be considered.

That is to say, one cannot use claims of private knowledge by anonymous sources to accuse people of criminal wrongdoing, because the person accused is thereby deprived of the traditional right to face his accusers. It is one thing when anonymous sources are used to describe routine political shenanigans (“sources close to the campaign said”), but another thing entirely when what is being alleged could be construed as potentially libelous. In such a case, if the accused person wants to take you to court, and your anonymous source is not willing to come forward and vouch for the truth of his statements, you are screwed, blued and tattooed.

What Horowitz has done is something even worse: He has claimed to know the exact words spoken by John Lauber — a dead man Horowitz never interviewed — in a private conversation, based entirely on the word of David Seed. The substance of that alleged conversation is crucial to the accusation made by the Washington Post story that Romney’s alleged bullying had a lifelong negative impact on Lauber’s life.

Yet John Lauber is rather conspicuously unavailable for comment on the allegation, unless perhaps the editors of the Washington Post are willing to enlist a psychic to conduct a seance.

FIRING OFFENSE.

 

 


Category: Election 2012, Journalism, Media Bias, Mitt Romney

Easter Island Yields Ancient Prophecy

Posted on | May 11, 2012 | 7 Comments

by Smitty

Twitchy reports that the Easter Island heads are undergoing significant archeological digging.

asdf

When they got below ground, a surprising discovery showed that maybe the Easter Islanders knew more, five hundred years ago, than so many hipsters and academics do today. . . Read more

Category: humor

LIVE AT FIVE – 05.11.12

Posted on | May 11, 2012 | 2 Comments

— compiled by Wombat-socho


TOP NEWS
Sheriff Joe At Bay?

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio arrives at a news conference in Phoenix

“I am not going to surrender my office to the Federal government…I will fight this to the end.”

Romney To Woo Evangelicals At Liberty U.?
Will give commencement address Saturday

Edwards Prosecution Ends With ABC Video Of His Shameless Lies
Could get thirty years in the slammer for illegal use of campaign funds to hide, support mistress Rielle Hunter



POLITICS
House Shifts Budget Cuts From Defense To Social Programs

House Speaker John Boehner

Legislation not likely to be taken up in the Senate

Vikings On Verge Of Extorting New Stadium From Minnesota Taxpayers

SecDef Warns Against “Pet Projects” In Defense Budget

Christie Vetoes Bill For Obamacare State Insurance Exchange

Toddler Flagged On TSA No-Fly List, Removed From Flight

Sarah Palin Endorses Cruz In Texas, Fischer In Nebraska Senate Primaries

Kyrillos, Hoping To Unseat Menendez, Still Largely Unknown By NJ Voters

Bristol Palin Rips Obama For Taking Advice From Daughters On Gay Marriage



THE ECONOMY, STUPID
Oil Continues To Slide On Lack Of US Demand, Eurozone Instability; NYMEX $96.20, Brent $112.96
JPMorganChase Blows $2 Billion On Derivative Bet Gone Bad
Dow Squeaks Out 20-Point Gain After Six Days Of Losses
P&G To Move Skin Care/Cosmetics Group To Singapore
Facebook IPO Overvalued At $96 Million, Says Investor Poll
Credit Easing In US, Bernanke Says
Avoiding The Next Big Bank Bailout
Sony Reports Record $5.7 Billion Annual Loss
Bing Redesign Stresses Social Component
Microsoft’s Windows RT Firefox Ban: A Quick Explanation
Will Google Battle Get Oracle Just $150K In Damages?
Pebble Smartwatch Sells Out, Collects $10 Million On Kickstarter
Max Payne 3 Trailer Released
Blackberry 7 Smartphones Get Nod From DoD
Fannie Mae Finally Stops Racking Up Debt At The Treasury



SPORTS
Sixers Knock Off Bulls 79-78, Advance To Second Round

The Bulls' Carlos Boozer shoots as the Sixers' Spencer Hawes defends

Sixers will face Celtics in their first second-round trip in eight years

Garnett Carries Boston Into Second Round Over Hawks, 83-80




Rangers Top O’s 7-3 To Earn Doubleheader Split

Sabathia Notches 10 Ks, Yankees Take Series With 5-3 Win Over Rays

Anaheim Ducks Sign Boudreau To Two-Year Extension

Beckett Booed Off The Field As BoSox Lose Again, 8-3 To Indians

Strasburg Punches Out 13 As Nats Avoid Sweep



FAMOUS FOR BEING FAMOUS
Bruce Willis Debuts Daughter Mabel Ray

Bruce Willis and his youngest daughter

Mom, Dad and baby vacationing in Budapest

NBC’s “Community” Renewed for 4th Season, 13 Shows

“30 Rock” Coming Back For Final Season

Rihanna Drops Chris Brown

Johnny Depp Angry At Vanessa Paradis Rumors

What’s Bugging Halle Berry?

Sean Bean Arrested For Harassing Ex-Wife

Howard Stern Predicts Britney Will Be “A Train Wreck” On “X Factor”

WWE Star John Cena Files For Divorce



FOREIGNERS
Christians In Syria Living In Uneasy Security
Egyptian Rivals Trade Barbs In Historic Debate
Germany Remains Opposed To Calls For Stimulus
Greek Socialists Try For Unity Government After Talks With Democratic Left
India Steps Into PRC/Philippines Spat Over South China Sea
Putin Tells Obama He’s Too Busy To Attend G-8 Summit
Tymoshenko Ends Hunger Strike After Move To Hospital
Red Cross Suspends Most Operations In Pakistan
Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Kicks Off With Horse Show



BLOGS & STUFF
Bristol Palin: Hail To The Chiefs – Malia And Sasha Obama
Weasel Zippers: Biden Apologizes For Forcing President’s Hand On Gay Marriage
Legal Insurrection: U. Penn Law Also Identified Warren As Minority
Right Sphere: Guy Claiming Obama’s Auto Bailout Got Him A Job Has Actually Been Working Since 2006
Maggie Gallagher: Is Fox News Pro-Gay Marriage?
Jonah Goldberg: The Messenger Shooting Begins
Pirate’s Cove: The Cost Of Globull Warming Legislation
Lonely Conservative: Sometimes Obama Forgets About The Miserable Economy
Washington Free Beacon: Co-host Of Obama Fundraiser Under SEC Investigation
This Ain’t Hell: Why The Internet Has Milblogs And Why Spencer Ackerman Can’t Be One Of Them
NRO Corner: Poll – Walker Up Early In Wisconsin Recall Election

Category: Live at Five

Kate Beckinsale’s Ghastly Vagina of Death: Another Ex-Starlet Aborts Her Career

Posted on | May 10, 2012 | 60 Comments

Formerly attractive actress Kate Beckinsale, before she
turned her vagina into a political statement.

Maybe you have heard of Kate Beckinsale, an actress who used to be considered attractive. In fact, when she was still young — about 15 years ago — guys who saw her nude scene in Uncovered widely regarded Beckinsale as “hot.” As recently as last week, if you had asked guys to name some reasonably good-looking actresses in their late 30s, Kate Beckinsale might have made the top 10.

Then she killed it.

Her vagina, I mean.

When Smitty took note of the “Funny or Die” video Monday — it wasn’t funny, and therefore, died — I didn’t immediately realize that the producers of that unfunny partisan political ad had actually got a moderately well-known actress involved in their miscalculated election-year slur. Then I read Wyblog and learned the shocking truth.

Judy Greer? Andrea Savage? Never heard of ’em. But Kate Beckinsale? Yeah, that name rang a bell in a “nice rack, pretty face” kind of way.

Why would an attractive, young and reasonably successful actress get herself mixed up in that feminists-mocking-Republicans crap? There is a reason that kind of stunt-politics stuff is monopolized by D-listers and over-the-hill has-beens like Ashley Judd.

If an actress is young and hot, the last thing in the world she wants is to get mixed up in politics. Young hot actresses in Hollywood are cast for roles based entirely on the fact that they are young and hot, and their box-office appeal can only be damaged by taking controversial stands on political issues. The people who buy movie tickets don’t care whether an actress is Republican or Democrat, as long as she’s got a nice rack and a pretty face. As Sam Goldwyn once said, “If you want to send a message, call Western Union.”

Few things are more annoying than a starlet who supposes that she is employed on the basis of her extraordinary talent. Congratulations, darling: You remembered your lines and hit your mark. Let’s just call the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences right now and nominate you for an Oscar in the “Best Rack” category, OK?

What happens with such people, I think, is that they get so used to being catered to and fawned over, they actually start thinking of themselves as superior beings, and imagine that we lesses mortals are actually in need of enlightenment from them.

So when Kate Beckinsale chose to turn her vagina into a political statement, she killed it. And by “it,” I mean her vagina, which by logical extension is ultimately what we refer to when we speak of an actress as having “sex appeal.”

Abortion is about death, Ms. Beckinsale, and by publicly enlisting your vagina on the side of death, you killed it. Christian Toto reminds us:

Beckinsale, who stars in the upcoming “Total Recall” remake, once said she couldn’t believe anyone would actually admit to being a Republican in the first place.

We come to bury Kate Beckinsale’s vagina, not to praise it. After having bared her young tatas in Uncovered, the notorious homewrecker stole another woman’s husband while he was directing her in a forgettable vampire picture nine years ago, when she was still young and reasonably attractive — before she killed her vagina.

So now the remake of Total Recall will star a once-attractive actress with a dead vagina. The critics might not notice, but we will.

 

UPDATE: Some progressive troll on Twitter decided to complain about “objectification,” which prompted me to respond:

When an actress stars in a POLITICAL AD about ‘MY VAGINA,’ don’t complain about “objectification,” OK?

The title of the Funny or Die video was, after all, “Republicans, Get in My Vagina.” That is to say, Beckinsale and her colleagues thought it would be “cute” to make their vaginas the point of the “joke.” And we can say nothing in reply except polite demurrals?

Nuh-uh. Homey don’t play that.

RECENTLY:


Category: Abortion, Celebrities, Hollywood, National Offend a Feminist Week

#ObamaForgot

Posted on | May 10, 2012 | 4 Comments

by Smitty

Yet another brutal hash tag game. Click the image for my input.
Sometimes I am almost funny.
The Melvins video:
Poor Sooper Mexican. Hopefully the brain recovers.

Category: humor

BREAKING: Missing Girls Found Alive; Kidnapper Adam Mayes Commits Suicide

Posted on | May 10, 2012 | 10 Comments

Alexandria Bain, 12, Kyliyah Bain, 8, are reported safe

This guy was on the FBI Most Wanted List:

It’s the end of the line for fugitive Adam Mayes. The two Hardeman County [Tennessee] girls that he abducted were found alive Thursday evening. 8-year-old Kyliyah and 12-year-old Alexandria Bain are alive and safe.
Mayes was found near County Road 183 in Alpine. He is reported to be dead. Sources close to Fox 13 are reporting that Mayes died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

This story was just headlined on CNN.

UPDATE: MSNBC reports more:

Adam Mayes, suspected of kidnapping Jo Ann Bain and her three daughters, has been captured and is near death, according to reports from WMCTV.com in Memphis, Tenn.
The two younger daughters, Alexandria, 12, and Kyliyah Bain, 8, were both found safe and are now with authorities, WMCTV reported.
The Union County Sheriff’s Department found Mayes with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, the Memphis station reported. Initial media reports say that he was found at a church near Alpine, Miss., about 45 minutes from the Tennessee border.
Mayes was charged with the first-degree murders of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her eldest daughter, Adrienne Bain, 14, whose bodies were found buried outside Mayes’ mother’s home last week.

UPDATE II: While the initial reports said Mayes was already dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, there now seems to be some confusion. At any rate, this was a very strange crime:

Bain’s mother-in-law earlier said she believed Mayes killed the girls’ mother and her eldest daughter, and then ran away with the the two girls because he believed the girls were his own children.
Josie Tate, the mother of Mayes’ wife Teresa, told ABC News affiliate WTVC that her daughter and Mayes fought often over whether Mayes was actually the father of JoAnn Bain’s two youngest children.
Bain and her eldest daughter, Adrienne, were killed in their Tennessee home on April 27, and then taken with the two youngest daughters to Mayes’ home in Mississippi, according to police affidavits. Teresa and Mayes have both been charged with murder, but Mayes remains at large and on the run. The FBI has placed Mayes on its Top Ten Most Wanted fugitives list.

UPDATE III: Now Fox News reports Mayes dead:

The Mississippi man suspected of kidnapping four women in a Tennessee family and killing a mother and daughter died after shooting himself Thursday evening, a law enforcement source tells Fox News. . . .
Mayes and his wife, Teresa, are charged with first-degree murder in the deaths of Jo Ann Bain, 31, and her daughter, Adrienne, 14. Their bodies were found buried outside the Mayes’ home a week after they were reported missing by Jo Ann Bain’s husband, Gary.
Mayes’ mother-in-law Josie Tate told The Associated Press that Mayes thought the missing sisters might actually be his daughters and it caused problems in his marriage to her daughter, Teresa, who is jailed in the case.
In an earlier interview, Tate’s daughter, Bobbi Booth, said Teresa Mayes suspected her husband was having an affair with Jo Ann Bain.

OK, to sort out what is a bizarre and confusing story: Mayes was married to Teresa, who suspected him of having an affair with Ann Bain. But Mayes then kidnappeed Ann Bain and three of her daughters, the youngest two of which he believed to be his own children. He killed Bain and the oldest daughter. Mayes’s wife and mother have both been charged in connection with those murders.

UPDATE IV: America’s Most Wanted provides background on the crime:

Search warrants were executed at the Mayes residence in Mississippi, and during the search, two bodies were found in shallow graves behind the home. The bodies were positively identified as Jo Ann and her eldest daughter, Adrienne.
Mayes’ mother, Mary, has also been arrested and charged with conspiracy to commit kidnapping. Invesigators say Mayes had a plan to kidnap the two youngest girls. Cops say Jo Ann Bain and her daughter, Adrienne were killed in their home in Tennessee and then transported to Mayes’ house in Guntown, Miss.
Teresa and Mary both allegedly confessed during a police interview and said they witnessed Mayes digging holes in Mary’s backyard — where the bodies of Jo Ann and Adrienne were found. Cops say Teresa also told authorities that she was there when Adam killed Jo Ann and Adrienne in the garage of the Bain home.

Category: Crime, Mississippi, Tennessee
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