It’s blindingly obvious why corrupt leftist lawmakers including House Judiciary Committee chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.) and his subcommittee chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) won’t investigate their good friends at ACORN, but as evidence continues to mount of ACORN’s habitual, potentially criminal wrongdoing, why does the mainstream media refuse to investigate a scandal that “could be as historically significant as Watergate“?

Big Media seems to be taking cues from what NewsReal blogger Kathy Shaidle calls the George Soros Steno Pool at Media Matters for America. Throughout the continuing revelations about ACORN, Media Matters has steadfastly defended its allies at ACORN. One has to wonder if ACORN is keeping Media Matters on retainer and if so how big the regular checks must be.

Soon after the first few hidden-camera videos of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles surfaced in September showing the public ACORN’s barely concealed criminal proclivities, John V. Santore of Media Matters launched a sleaze attack against O’Keefe, Giles, and their online publisher, Andrew Breitbart.

Because O’Keefe, Giles, and Breitbart are conservatives there is no way they could be honest reporters of facts, implied Santore. Giles even attended events at the National Journalism Center, he noted. Heavens! Of course  ideological disqualification never applies to left-of-center media outlets.

Santore also focused on the journalistic ethics involved in the undercover video sting operation, arguing that because the reporters had an animus against ACORN they couldn’t be trusted. Tell that to the award-winning crusading journalists throughout American history who have helped to bust up (other) crime gangs and expose malfeasance everywhere. Having an opinion or a desire to do the right thing isn’t a requirement to be a reporter nor does it disqualify a person from being a reporter.

Appropriately, on his TV show Glenn Beck observed

The New York Times wonders why they are losing readers. It’s because reading their paper is like entering a time machine or reading the news in your rearview mirror. They didn’t even bother to jump on the ACORN story, which came complete with corruption, hookers and pimps.

The ACORN scandal is a great story yet apart from Fox News and a few other media outlets, the media has been ignoring it. What coverage we’ve seen –especially from the Associated Press– tends to focus not on ACORN’s corruption, but instead on the political ramifications of what is now happening to the radical advocacy group-cum-organized crime syndicate. Still other news stories focus on the journalistic ethics involved in the hidden-camera videos of James O’Keefe and Hannah Giles that helped to show the public ACORN’s barely concealed criminal proclivities.

Particularly tedious are the whiny, typo-laden essays of Eric Boehlert of Media Matters who declares that whatever the videos are, they’re “not really journalism at all.”

Media critic Jack Shafer of the liberal Slate.com website excoriates the mainstream media for ignoring the ACORN story. Shafer wrote:

The liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America complains that the ACORN videos, which aren’t a “major story,” are driving an “incomplete, misleading” media stampede. But Media Matters is wrong. Independent news organizations, including the Washington Post, the New York Post, and the Baltimore Sun, are chasing the ACORN story not because they’ve been bamboozled by the Breitbart exposé but because the dress-up stunt has pointed them toward what could be fertile grounds for wrongdoing.

Actually, when Shafer wrote the above referenced column on Sept. 23 it appeared the media was actually going to do its job and thoroughly investigate ACORN.

Alas, it was not to be.

June 26, 2009

I’ve always been fascinated by the chronology of blogging and how it became the media bohemith it is today. Now, every newspaper, magazine, and even government agency has a blog. But when the movement began, it was defined by a cohort of unpaid independents who blogged secretly at work, or at nights and on weekends… whenever they could fit it in. Eric Boehlert, the Media Matters blogger who was once a Salon reporter, tied some of these stories together in his book Bloggers on the Bus. I spoke to Boehlert about Obama-era netroots, up and coming wonks, and the future of the blogosphere. Hear the podcast and read the interview.

Here’s an excerpt:

It’s interesting, the stories I enjoy telling were bloggers who really didn’t fit the classic caricature of a liberal blogger. The idea of someone right out of college with a laptop and black glasses and a beard typing away was never really accurate, but I think it got pushed in the press. I found, instead, people like Mayhill Fowler, who was a campaign correspondent for “Off the Bus” project last year. She’s the one who broke the “bittergate” story and she’s the one who broke, on the last day of the campaign, Bill Clinton going off on a Vanity Fair reporter on the rope line. She’s in her sixties, she’s a mother from the Bay area who had no connection to politics or journalism prior to the last campaign. People like Howie Klein who runs Down with Tyranny, who’s been very helpful in terms of getting funding for some of those insurgent Democrats. Those very liberal candidates who want to run for Congress. Howie used to be a record company president – Reprise Records – he had a very long and distinguished career in the music industry and then he turned 60, and decided that he wanted a second life and that it would be blogging. One other one that I’ll mention real quick is John Amato, who created Crooks and Liars in the summer of 2004. John was playing saxophone with Duran Duran as his last job before starting Crooks and Liars, which revolutionized blogging and liberal blogging by introducing video into the content. And of course this was pre-YouTube, when it was impossible just to get snippets of a TV show and put it on your blog. John cracked the code and was able to do that. John turned 50 during the campaign last year. So I enjoy telling the stories of people who had more of a life resume and came to blogging later in life and brought with them this unique perspective and unique talent that otherwise, without the Internet, never would have been tapped in to.

The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am to talk rude about the news of the day.

Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:30am to co-host Right Wing World.

Morgan Hurley, reporter for SDGLN.com (San Diego Gay and Lesbian News), calls in at 8:30am to talk about her story regarding a proposed ban on divorces in California.

Afghanistan’s Election Commission announced this morning that Saturday’s runoff election between Hamid Karzai and Abdullah Abdullah has been cancelled. Abdullah dropped out of the race yesterday, and the Obama administration said it was prepared to work with Karzai to combat corruption and confront the Taliban insurgency.

GOP nominee in New York’s 23rd Congressional special election tomorrow, Dede Scozzafava, announced this weekend that she’s suspending her campaign. Her exit leaves Conservative Party nominee Doug Hoffman as the favorite to win the formerly hotly contested 3-way race. Scozzafava threw her support behind Dem Bill Owens.

The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that just 2 percent of Americans younger than 65 would sign up for the public option plan under the health care bill that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) is steering toward House approval

The New York Yankees beat the Philadelphia Phillies 7-4 last night to take a 3-1 lead in the World Series.

The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am to talk about gays in the military, and the historical inaccuracies at the GOP’s new website.

Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am to co-host Right Wing World.

Rep. Joe Sestak (D-PA) calls in at 8:30am to make a major announcement about his campaign to be senator from Pennsylvania.

Three days after the world watched a giant balloon fly through the air as a tearful family expressed fears that their 6-year-old boy could be inside, authorities announced what millions already suspected: The whole thing was staged. Colorado authorities believe the event was a “publicity stunt” by the family to market themselves for a reality show.

The White House will not commit to health care legislation that would cap insurance premiums or tax benefits, taking a wait-and-see approach as congressional negotiators seek a deal. President Obama will not demand that a final bill include a public option, though that’s his preference, advisers said yesterday.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates is undertaking the tricky task of trying to persuade allies to remain committed to the war in Afghanistan even as the Obama administration debates whether to send more troops to fight. Allies like Japan and Great Britain, however, are showing signs of pulling back.

Bush covered up global warming, hid info from Dems from Raw Story

Carbon emissions must peak by 2015 from Common Dreams

At UN, US votes against Gaza war crimes report endorsement

Code Pink delivers Afghani women’s petition to end war to Obama

VIDEO- Ron Paul at 10/15 Congressional hearing on Afghanistan

Ariana Huffington: Joe Biden should resign to oppose Afghan escalation

Afghan election fraud investigation trims Karzai’s votes from AFP

House Republicans call for Muslim investigations by Glenn Greenwald

Goldman Sachs to double their bonuses by Cindy Sheehan

Liz Cheney launches pro-war pro-torture group from Air America Radio

Judge closes Blackwater trial to public from Raw Story

The Israeli Brand from Adbusters

The press needs to change the way it covers Fox News by Eric Boehlert

Surprise: Perils of open government by Lawrence Lessig

Special interests see copyright treaty, we can’t from Wired

Gore Vidal: America is rotting away, Obama can’t save it

Interview with furious Gore Vidal from The Independent UK

VIDEO- Rachel Maddow confronts Tim Phillips

Finland: 1st to make broadband access legal right from Tech Crunch

Telecom industry should tell the truth about billing by Megan Tady

Joel Kelsey from Consumers Union on telecom billing from WA Post

New FCC blog on open Internet

Blue Bell Dems ask FCC to tone down net neutrality from Wall St Journal

Dems do telecom’s net neutrality bidding in letter to FCC by Megan Tady

Communications Workers oppose net neutrality by Art Brodsky

Al Franken on net neutrality from The Rag Blog

Should incumbents or independents do broadband mapping? by Drew Clark

Huge developments in AP vs. Shepard Fairey case from Editor & Publisher

Lt. Dan Choi said no to Don’t Ask Don’t Tell by Amy Goodman

Lt. Ehren Watada out of the miliary from Courage to Resist

Nobel Peace Prize: Hope, hopelessness and change by Josh Stearns

Mainstream media is propaganda from Naked Capitalism

CNN will not air anti-Lou Dobbs commercial from Huffington Post

Senate Judiciary: AM/FM must pay more for music from Future of Music Coalition

Seattle NPR affiliate raises $1M in eleven days from Blather Watch

VIDEO- Target Women: Beauty contraptions by Sarah Haskins

Checking Facebook or Twitter the new after-sex smoke? from Ars Technica

VIDEO- The entire financial crisis in 7 minutes from Huffington Post

Namapahh Radio on Columbus Day Congressional apology

VIDEO- Bill Frist right, Bill Maher wrong on vaccines? from The Contrarian

Old Van Jones interview from Hollywood Clout on Air America Radio

The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am to talk about Rep. Grayson (D-FL) and other rudeness in the news.

Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow for Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am to co-host Right Wing World.

Nicole Sullivan, formerly of Mad TV, calls in at 8:30am to tell us about the second season of her Lifetime series, “Rita Rocks.”

The Obama administration is considering steps to ease the burdens of laid-off workers, including possible extensions of unemployment and health benefits, officials said Saturday. The administration has stopped short of calling for a second economic stimulus package to augment the $787 billion measure approved this year.

The White House said yesterday it sees signs of progress in confronting Iran’s nuclear program while members of Congress endorsed authorizing tougher U.S. economic penalties against the Tehran government. International inspectors are to visit Iran’s newly disclosed uranium enrichment site on October 25.

President Obama said Friday he has “no doubt” that Chicago put together the strongest bid it could to win the 2016 Olympics. He said he wished he had brought back better news from Friday’s voting in Copenhagen, where his personal appeal did not help his adopted hometown win.

The Rude Pundit (Lee Papa) calls in at 6:30am to talk about Glenn Beck and allegations against ACORN.

Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am for a live edition of Right Wing World.

Iran’s powerful Revolutionary Guard has test-fired one of the longest-range missiles in Tehran’s arsenal, state TV reported today. The missile is capable of striking Israel and U.S. Mideast bases and parts of Europe. It was the third round of tests meant to demonstrate the country’s preparedness for an attack.

President Obama on Saturday resumed his push to overhaul the health care system, telling a Congressional Black Caucus conference that there comes a time when “the cup of endurance runs over.” He underscored that we’ve “been waiting for health reform since the days of Teddy Roosevelt… we cannot wait any longer.”

The White House acknowledged for the first time Friday that it might not be able to close the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay by January as President Obama promised. They said resolving thorny legal issues and logistical questionsmeans the deadline may slip.

Oscar-winning filmmaker Roman Polanski has been arrested in Switzerland on a decades-old arrest warrant stemming from a 1977 sex charge in California.

Eric Boehlert is the guy on the left.

I love Eric Boehlert. His book, Lapdogs: How the Press Rolled Over for Bush, was terrific. And he even mentioned The Confluence in his recent effort, Bloggers on the Bus: How the Internet Changed Politics and the Press. But really, this is too much.

A President was killed the last time right-wing hatred ran wild like this

I’ve been thinking a lot of Kennedy and Dallas as I’ve watched the increasingly violent rhetorical attacks on Obama be unfurled….The radical right, aided by a GOP Noise Machine that positively dwarfs what existed in 1963, has turned demonizing Obama–making him into a vile object of disgust–into a crusade. It’s a demented national jihad, the likes of which this country has not seen in modern times.

Here is the link that Boehlert used to back up his claims of violence and racism at Glenn Beck’s September 12 event. It shows a number of tasteless signs that attack President Obama and a couple of wacky videos of Glenn Beck and Orly Taitz.

Eric, are you serious? I have no doubt that some of the right wingers who have attended the tea party events are racists, but that doesn’t make their attacks on Obama worse than the ones previous Presidents have endured. Have you forgotten the incredibly vicious attacks on President Clinton in the ’90s? If you’ve forgotten where the term “right wing noise machine” came from, here is a short reading list to refresh your memory.

Joe Conason and Gene Lyons wrote a whole book about it, remember?

The Hunting of the President: The Ten-Year Campaign to Destroy Bill and Hillary Clinton

Their book was even made into a documentary that was shown in theaters.

Here is a great summary of media attacks on the the Clintons:

eRiposte: THE MEDIA’S GORE-ING OF PRESIDENT BILL CLINTON (AND HILLARY CLINTON)

And to refresh your memory about the vicious attacks on Bill and Hillary Clinton by “progressives” during the 2008 primary campaign, here’s another piece by eRiposte at The Left Coaster: Clinton Derangement Syndrome = CDS = Clinton Double-Standard.

Finally, here is a recent blog post by Glenn Greenwald at Salon: Is the Right’s attack on Obama’s legitimacy new or unprecedented?

The attacks on Obama are far from unprecedented, and they are nowhere near as vicious as the ones I can recall lefties using against Richard Nixon or the ones that the right wingers used against the Clintons.

As much as I hate to admit it, even George W. Bush was ridiculed in some pretty nasty ways. The Nation lampooned him as Alfred E. Newman. And he was likened to a chimp all over the internet, here for example I’d say that’s pretty demeaning.

I can’t stand Glenn Beck or the rest of the rabble rousers at Fox “News” Channel. And I certainly have no patience for the nutty folks who believe that Obama was born in Kenya or that he’s a closet muslim. But every President faces public attacks and ridicule and yes–even the risk of assassination attempts. JFK was the last U.S. President to be assassinated, but have you forgotten that Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan were victims of assassination attempts? Both men were Republicans, and their failed assassins weren’t crazed right wingers.

Squeaky Fromme made a weak attempt to shoot President Ford in September, 1975. She later claimed she did it to bring attention environmental issues. Later that same month Sara Jane Moore shot a gun at President Ford and was stopped by a bystander. According to the LA Times,

Moore was an FBI informant who was enmeshed in radical politics after moving to the Bay Area. A peripheral player rather than a leader, she volunteered for a group that distributed $2 million in food, as had been demanded by the Symbionese Liberation Army, the extreme leftist band that kidnapped newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst.

The man who tried to assassinate Ronald Reagan was John Hinkley, Jr., a paranoid schizophrenic who was trying to impress actress Jodie Foster. I don’t think there was any right-wing hatred involved with that one either.

There have been people who tried to assassinate every modern President, including Richard Nixon. Wikipedia has a list of recorded assassination attempts here.

The truth is there are nuts on both sides of the political spectrum. I guess it depends on whose ox is being gored. And please don’t accuse me of calling President Obama an ox, okay? No doubt there are plenty of right wing nuts who hate Obama. But that’s politics. It ain’t beanbag, you know. Let’s hope the Secret Service does its job well and keeps President Obama safe.

In the meantime, Eric, please get a grip.

digg!!! tweet!!! share!!!

Add to: Facebook | Digg | Del.icio.us | Stumbleupon | Reddit | Blinklist | Twitter | Technorati | Furl | Newsvine

Comedian John Fugelsang fills in for Steph today, with the Mooks sitting in as well!

Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners calls in at 7:05am to discuss the need for more spirituality in the debate on health care reform.

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America calls in at 7:30am to talk about accusations of racism against President Obama, and Fox News smearing ACORN.

Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-NY) calls in at 8:30am to talk about health care reform.

Sen. Max Baucus (D-MT) unveiled the Senate’s version of health care reform yesterday. The plan would require all Americans to have health insurance, but lacks a public plan option or even a trigger for a public option.

The White House says President Obama doesn’t believe he’s being criticized because of his race. They were asked about the topic following comments on Tuesday by former President Jimmy Carter. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs says some people have disagreements with some of Obama’s decisions but that those concerns were not because of his race.

ACORN, an advocacy group under fire after some employees were caught on camera appearing to advise a couple posing as a prostitute and pimp to lie about the woman’s profession to get housing help, said Wednesday it is ordering an independent investigation and is refusing new admissions into its service programs.

Mary Travers of 1960’s folk trio Peter, Paul, and Mary, has died, according to her publicist. She was 72.

Rep. Robert Andrews (D-NJ) calls in at 6:06am to talk about health care reform.

Comedian Will Durst calls in at 6:30am to do a little bipartisan bashing and to promote his upcoming gigs in Washington, DC.

Eric Boehlert, Senior Fellow at Media Matters for America, calls in at 7:05am to give us even more info about the Birthers.

Rep. Chris Murphy (D-CT) calls in at 7:30am to talk about health care reform.

Judge Sonia Sotomayor is expected to easily win Senate confirmation today as two more Republicans, Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri and Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, announced their support for the country’s first Hispanic high court pick.

President Obama announced yesterday that the federal government will provide $2.4 billion in grants for the development of more fuel-efficient, battery-powered automobiles. Obama’s announcement was the latest in a series of administration initiatives designed to accelerate a nationwide transition to a “green economy.”

Former U.S. Rep. William Jefferson of Louisiana was convicted yesterday on 11 of the 16 corruption charges against him in a case that included the discovery of $90,000 in his freezer. A federal court jury convicted Jefferson on four bribery counts, three counts of money laundering, three counts of wire fraud, and one count of racketeering.

By itself, Bloggers on the Bus provides an interesting tour of the not-so-distant past political landscape (the 2008 presidential campaign), with stops at particular intersections where citizen journalists – online bloggers – both analyzed and influenced events.   Author Eric Boehlert  makes a nice case for the importance of amateur and volunteer online reporters.   He makes it clear that the traditional media (television, radio, and the relics known as newspapers) are now falling behind the times.   To his credit, he has located specific story lines that were either ignored by big media or picked up too late.

In this brave new world chronicled by Boehlert, amateur and professional writers on the web perform such a credible job of instantly tracking events and issues that true political junkies feel lost without web access.   Fox News and MSNBC might as well be sending us telegrams from across the Atlantic; they seem to be as current as buggy whips.

The problem with this book is the manner in which it has been publicized:  “In the tradition of the classic book The Boys on the Bus…”   Sorry, but I knew The Boys on the Bus as a fun, frolicking ride that puts you, the fortunate and somewhat shocked reader, on the magic bus with a new-wave gang of rowdy reporters.   This is not that book.

However, most readers with even just a hint of politics in their blood will surely enjoy Boehlert’s book just fine.   Its almost 300 pages go by quite quickly.   This is the good news.

The bad news is that this is simply not The Boys on the Bus Part 2.   The publicist who came up with that narrative did the author’s own campaign more harm than good by placing undue pressure on, and expectations for, Boehlert’s book to be something it is not.

Free Press, $26.00, 265 pages

Reprinted courtesy of Sacramento Book Review.

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA) calls in at 6:30am to talk about health care reform and the supplemental spending plans for Iraq and Afghanistan.

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters for America calls in at 7:05am to talk about Bill O’Reilly and the rise of fanatical, supremacist hate groups and crimes.

Rep. Pete Stark (D-CA) calls in at 7:05am to talk about health care reform and the stimulus package.

Rep. Chris Van Hollen (D-CA) calls in at 8:05am to talk about health care reform and the accelerated stimulus package.

A rifle-wielding white supremacist entered Washington, DC’s Holocaust museum yesterday afternoon, fatally shooting a security guard before being wounded himself by the return fire from other guards. Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as James Von Brunn, an 88-year-old neo-Nazi from Maryland.

President Obama urged lawmakers yesterday to work through partisan differences that are threatening health care legislation just as it starts moving through Congress. He insisted they pass a bill this year that reins in costs and helps provide coverage to nearly 50 million uninsured people.

The Obama administration issued new regulations yesterday that set pay limits on companies that receive TARP assistance, with the toughest restrictions aimed at seven recipients of “exceptional assistance.”