Miss. Gov and Former RNC Chair: Omitting of Slavery in Confederate Proclamation Is a ‘Nit,’ Doesn’t Mean ‘Diddly’
In Mississippi, he’s probably right.
Month: April 2010
Palin Shares Runner-Up Title with Newt in SRLC Presidential Straw Poll Beauty Pageant
While Mitt Romney skipped the Southern Republican Leadership Conference in New Orleans last week, Ron Paul attended and gave a speech that was enthusiastically received. In the SRLC straw poll — said to be the first vote in the GOP presidential beauty pageant — Romney and Paul tied with 24 percent of the vote. Romney won on a technical, however. He beat Paul by one vote, 439 to 438.
Here are the results:
Initial Choice
(If the primary election for president were held today, for whom would you vote?)
Newt Gingrich 18% (321)
Mike Huckabee 4% (80)
Gary Johnson 1% (3)
Sarah Palin 18% (330)
* Ron Paul 24% (438)
Tim Pawlenty 3% (54)
Mike Pence 3% (58)
* Mitt Romney 24% (439)
Rick Santorum 2% (41)Second Choice
(Who would be your second choice in the Republican Primary Election for president?)
* Newt Gingrich 20% (339)
Mike Huckabee 11% (178)
Gary Johnson 6% (104)
* Sarah Palin 20% (332)
Ron Paul 6% (98)
Tim Pawlenty 7% (114)
Mike Pence 8% (141)
Mitt Romney 14% (242)
Rick Santorum 7% (125)
In case you wondered — Gary Johnson is the former governor of North Dakota. At 57, he’s a youngster in this crowd.
But doesn’t the inclusion of a second choice on the ballot sound like something rigged to ensure that Sarah Palin would win something? What other reason could there be — except to provide a runner-up (who is not Ron Paul) who can take over if the winner is unable to fulfill the duties of the straw poll winner, for whatever reason.
It’s also interesting that she tied for runner-up with Newt Gingrich, who is the master of the game of being completely unelectable as president — never ever gonna happen — and yet maintaining status as a possible candidate in order to score lucrative book deals and speaking gigs and face time on Fox News.
But it’s apt that this beauty pageant has runners-up, even if it’s a pageant where the contestants, except for Palin, a former runner up in a real beauty pageant, are all not particularly attractive middle-aged men — a fact that may explain why one of the SRLC’s sponsors was Pfizer, makers of Viagra.
We’re Not Saying Dick Morris of Fox News Was Involved in the Death of the DC Madam
We are not saying that Morris was involved in Palfrey’s death. That would be snarky and disingenuous. But on April 29, 2007, during proceedings in court, Palfrey’s attorney accused Morris of hiring prostitutes from Palfrey:
Dick Morris, the television commentator and former adviser to President Bill Clinton, who resigned in 1996 after reports that he was seeing a prostitute, was also a customer, Ms. Palfrey’s lawyer has said in court. Mr. Morris has denied the accusation.
Palfrey’s attorney, Montgomery Sibley, also announced that he planned to depose Morris in order to get him on the record about his dealings with Pamela Martin & Associates, Palfrey’s escort service in the capitol.
On May 1, 2008 — just a few days shy of exactly one year after the threat of a lawsuit against Morris was made — Palfrey was found dead in a storage shed behind her mother’s mobile home in Tarpon Springs, Fla. She had been hanged. Investigators found what were apparently suicide notes, and the coroner determined the death to be self-inflicted.
But because Palfrey had many powerful enemies, presumably including Dick Morris, there has been speculation that foul play, not suicide, caused Palfrey’s death, as noted in the New York Times:
All over the Internet, from reader comments on The Lede to the far misty corners of conspiracy-theory land, hardly anyone seems inclined to accept the initial police judgment that Ms. Palfrey simply committed suicide. A quick search turns up scores of variations on the same theme: She knew too much about too many powerful men, so it must have been murder. (More about all that in a minute.)…
Dan Moldea, who tried to develop a book proposal for a Palfrey biography, is quoted by Time magazine saying that Ms. Palfrey told him she would sooner kill herself than go to prison again (she served a sentence for prostitution in California in the 1990’s).
That claim is being called a part of a cover-up by many of those disinclined to believe that Ms. Palfrey’s death was suicide, because she had often said the opposite — that she was not the kind to kill herself, unlike one of her former employees, Brandy Britton, a onetime university instructor who took her own life in February 2007 while awaiting trial on prostitution charges…
Back to the dead-women-tell-no-tales story line: It seems to be widely taken for granted that Ms. Palfrey had more, bigger, juicier names to name than the handful of prominent customers who have surfaced…
Morris, who is unquestionably big and might well be juicy, has made a tidy career out of bashing the Clintons on Fox and in books that reviewers have routinely found to be antifactual. Morris’ antipathy toward the Clintons is fueled by gigantic fit of pique that started when they fired him as their longtime political adviser just hours before the 1996 Democratic Convention, after the aforementioned prostitute revealed in a tabloid that Morris had a fetish for sucking toes.
In his aptly titled 2004 memoir, “Rewriting History,” Morris alluded to the allegation that Hillary Clinton was responsible for the murder of her associate Vince Foster. Here’s an excerpt from a review:
Morris implies that [Hillary] Clinton is capable of murdering anyone who crosses her, saying once (p. 229) that none of her close friends discusses Clinton’s private life “and still lives” and (p. 230) that if someone did speak of it without authorization “she’d be floating, figuratively, face down in the Hudson River.” For conservative cognoscenti, this is a reference to the ridiculous and totally unfounded assertion that Clinton murdered former White House counsel Vince Foster and then dumped his body in a Washington, D.C., park.
Morris apparently remains suspicious about the circumstances of Foster’s death in 1993, despite the fact it has been the subject of three federal investigations — one by the United States Park Police and two by Republican independent prosecutors, first Robert Fiske and then Clinton nemesis Ken Starr. In each case, Foster’s death was found to be a suicide.
Similarly, people with suspicions about Palfrey’s death might suggest that Morris’ allusion to the fantasy that Hillary killed Foster to silence him could be interpreted as a projection of Morris’ own deep-seated desire to silence his critics with murder.
That said, the circumstantial evidence here — that Morris was a frequenter of prostitutes, that he wrote about silencing adversaries by murdering them, that he was threatened with a lawsuit by Palfrey’s lawyer that could have killed his lucrative career on Fox News — is stronger than it is with other questions hanging out there, including the rumor that Glenn Beck murdered and raped a nine-year-old girl in 1990, the Vietnam War era stories floated by right wingers that Sen. John McCain collaborated with the North Vietnamese when he was a POW, and the equally persistent allegations among some on the right that Pres. Obama was born in Kenya or Indonesia and that he is a socialist fascist Muslim.
Again, we’re not saying Dick Morris hired someone to kill Deborah Jean Palfrey, we’re simply saying questions are out there. Let’s hope Morris doesn’t make the same mistake Glenn Beck has made in refusing to address his alleged incident in 1990. If Morris hides behind a wall of silence on this issue, he could find that, like the rumors about Beck’s alleged involvement in rape, murder and pedophilia, the question could linger for years to come: What does Dick Morris know about the death of the DC Madam.
Finally, there’s this. Tarpon Springs, where Palfrey died, is the sponge capitol of Florida. Sponges are often used to clean toes — Dick Morris has a toe fetish.
You do the math.
Verbatim
Greg has — frequently gets in with a group of people that have really radical ideas and that are not consistent with myself or the rest of the family and — which gets him into problems. And apparently I would say this must be another one that somehow he’s gotten onto either by — I’d say Fox News or all of those that are really radical, and he — that’s where he comes from.
Eleanor Giusti, whose son, Greg Giusti, was arrested for threatening House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
Murdoch: It’s Unethical for Fox News to Support Tea Party
Speaking at a forum for the public affairs TV series, The Kalb Report, the News Corp. CEO valiantly declared that his rival networks — MSNBC and CNN — “tend to be Democrats” while those at his own Fox News “are not Republicans.”
…Asked later during the question and answer session to name a single Democrat who worked for Fox News, however, Murdoch struggled.
“They are certainly there… Greta Van Susteren is certainly close to the Democratic Party,” he said, after blanking on names first and insisting that Ailes would have a long list. “She doesn’t do many political stories. She is just a great journalist… but people who have been involved in Democratic politics and so on, yeah we have people…” Asked later during the question and answer session to name a single Democrat who worked for Fox News, however, Murdoch struggled.
Hint for Mr. Murdoch: Rhymes with “Schmalan Schmolmes.”
And:
Asked by an official at the progressive watchdog group, Media Matters, whether it was ethical for officials at Fox to promote the Tea Party movement (as has been documented on some occasion) he replied without hesitation.
“No. I don’t think we should be supporting the Tea Party or any other party. But I’d like to investigate what you are saying before condemning anyone.”
Apparently, the boss was not watching Fox News when it heavily promoted the tea baggers’ first konclave last year.
Fox Failed to Vet O’Keefe’s Deceptively Edited Video and ‘Reporting’ – ACORN Cleared of Wrongdoing in California
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Fox News racked up the ratings by tossing red meat to the right-wing racist fringe when it ran video produced by James O’Keefe, the fake investigative reporter, in which he posed as a pimp seeking help finding housing for his prostitution business from ACORN, the anti-poverty group whose clients are mostly African-American inner-city dwellers.
But newly released unedited versions of the video reveal that key sections of footage O’Keefe shot in California were omitted from Fox’s broadcast package in order to create the false impression that ACORN employees were being helpful to O’Keefe’s pimp character when in fact — and in context of the real interview — they definitely were not.
It’s a tribute to the propaganda power of Fox that as a result of its broadcasting O’Keefe’s video, ACORN, which was founded in 1970, shut down last month.
The most superficial and yet telling deception by Fox News and O’Keefe was that during his interviews with ACORN, O’Keefe was dressed as a caricature “Superfly”-era pimp and that ACORN employees were untroubled by this costume, as if they dealt with flamboyantly dressed pimps every day. While it’s true that Hannah Giles, O’Keefe’s associate was attired at the meetings as a prostitute, and O’Keefe was filmed in the Superfly outfit outside ACORN offices, when he went in to the meetings, he was wearing business-casual slacks and a a pin-striped dress shirt. (The Brad Blog has aggressively covered this deception, which corporate media reported without checking. The New York Times, in particular, has refused to correct the record on this issue.)
More significantly, another segment edited out of Fox News’ broadcast package would have clarified why an ACORN employee was so eager to learn details — their current whereabouts, etc. — about the underage prostitutes O’Keefe said he had under his control. If Fox were a legitimate news organization, a segment producer would have followed up on the interview and discovered that as soon as O’Keefe left the meeting, the ACORN employee called the cops on him. Instead, based on the deceptive video Fox aired, the ACORN employee was fired.
The unedited video also reveals that another employee who appeared to be encouraging O’Keefe in his prostitution venture was actually offering supportive words — “You can do anything. Don’t give up.” — to Hannah Giles, who was posing as a prostitute in desperate need of housing.
Based on the complete video record and an investigation into the actions of O’Keefe and Giles, California Attorney General Jerry Brown has cleared ACORN of wrongdoing in California last week. Unfortunately for ACORN, the finding was too late.
A legitimate news organization would have checked O’Keefe’s reporting. The raw footage would have been accounted for and follow up calls would have been made.
But this was not sloppy journalism. It was a highly effective tactic by a propaganda outlet for the Republican Party intended to hobble an anti-poverty group that is allied with a demographic group that Republicans revile and so votes as block for Democrats: the urban poor.
The airing of this intentionally deceptive video would have been a major embarrassment for a legitimate news outlet. But — with the exception of Rachel Maddow on MSNBC — this incident of journalistic ineptitude (or, more likely, malfeasance) has been ignored by the corporate media. Their silence is telling. They no longer take Fox seriously enough to be outraged, or even take note, when Fox News’ “journalism” is revealed to be disinformation in support of the GOP.
Similarly, the nation’s leading journalists were silent last August after a poll revealed that around 75 percent of Fox viewers said they believed as fact four key Republican lies about health-care reform — that undocumented aliens would be covered, that it was a government takeover, that it would cover abortions and that it would institute “death panels.”
The continuing silence from the American media establishment — its refusal fight back, to stand up and say that what Fox presents is propaganda, not news — is another signal that journalism as we once knew it is dying, if not dead.
Tea Bagger in CA GOP Senate Primary Trails Badly In Three-Way Race; And ‘Demon Sheep’ Failed: Ad’s Target Leads All
On ABC’s “This Week” in February, George Will predicted that the tea bagger candidate in the California Republican primary, Chuch DeVore, would beat out the moderates, Tom “Demon Sheep” Campbell and Carly Fiorina in the election on June 8:
TAPPER: George … I’m wondering if you could comment on the fact that Republicans are now running to the right for this mantle of fiscal conservative. Certainly that’s something we see in the Tea Party movement. We’re seeing it now in California, as well.
WILL: Sure, because California has a closed primary. Republicans will vote in it. And about 15 percent of the decline to states will vote in it. That’s — Fiorina running an ad against Tom Campbell, who was running for governor until enticed back into the Senate race, I think by Meg Whitman, who’s running for governor and really doesn’t want two former Silicon Valley CEOs running in tandem on the ticket, Meg Whitman coming from eBay, Carly Fiorina from Hewlett-Packard.
That said, it’s the dog that didn’t bark there. There’s another candidate there, and he’s Chuck DeVore. He’s the conservative in the race. And I’ll make you a small wager that he is the Republican nominee, neither of those two.
Too bad no one took George Will up on that bet. Two recent polls show DeVore trailing Campbell and Fiorina — badly. The polls also show that while Fiorina’s “demon sheep” ad against Campbell — in which she asserted that Campbell, one of the few principled conservatives in the state, not to mention the nation, is a FCNO, or fiscal conservative in name only — made a big splash among corporate media pundits in D.C., it not only failed to help Fiorina in California but its outlandish+ depiction of Campbell, may have backfired by costing her support among centrist Republicans in the state.
In the Los Angeles Times/USC poll released this month, DeVore trails wiht 9 percent:
In the Republican Senate contest, former U.S. Rep. Tom Campbell held a slim lead over one-time Hewlett-Packard chief Carly Fiorina, 29 percent to 25 percent. Coming in a distant third was Orange County Assemblyman Chuck DeVore, at 9 percent.
At this early stage of the campaign, Boxer has a comfortable cushion over a generic Republican, 48 percent to 34 percent, as she seeks her fourth term. Although somewhat diminished in popularity, Boxer maintains a positive impression among California voters, the poll found.
In a Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) poll out late last month, DeVore trailed with 8 percent:
The Republican primary race for U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer’s seat has tightened since January, when Tom Campbell led both Carly Fiorina and Chuck DeVore among Republican likely voters (27 percent Campbell, 16 percent Fiorina, 8 percent DeVore). Today, Campbell and Fiorina are in a close race (24 percent Fiorina, 23 percent Campbell), and DeVore’s level of support is unchanged (8 percent). In this campaign — which has seen little advertising — the largest percentage of likely voters (44 percent) is undecided, similar to January (48 percent).
Boxer, who has not begun campaigning, has at least two factors working in her favor for the fall. The LAT/USC poll found a 17 point lead among Californians who say they will vote to reelect their congressional representatives who voted for health care reform, as Boxer did.
Also, a ballot initiative on the November that would legalize marijuana in the state will likely energize the Democrats’ young, liberal base.
Nate Phelps, Estranged Son of ‘God Hates Fags’ Leader, Says His Father Is a Sociopath and His ‘Church’ Is a Cult That Could Turn Violent
Joytv-The Standard-Nate Phelps INVU from Jonathan Roth on Vimeo.
In an interview on Canadian television, Nate Phelps, the son of Fred Phelps, leader of the “God Hates Fags” Westboro Baptist Church, discusses growing up as one of Phelps’ 13 children. He says Fred Phelps frequently beat his wife and children and would subject them to verbal abuse that went on for hours.
He also says (around 17:18) that his father exhibits the characteristics of a sociopath:
PETER KLEIN: What you’re … I’m not a psychologist — not even, don’t even want to be an armchair psychologist — but if there was a case where you could say someone has a mental illness, seems like this would the case. Even the Baptist minister who ordained your father, [garbled] McAllister, says that at some point, something just changed. Do you think that he’s mentally ill — and sort of the second question is, if he is, does that sort of forgive some of the things he’s done?
NATE PHELPS: Well, I’m not an expert on it, but I’ve, you know, read some of the characteristics of certain mental illnesses. And I think he demonstrates the characteristics of someone who is a sociopath. A complete lack of empathy for others and is extremely self-focused — so, yeah, I don’t have any trouble with the idea he’s got some mental illnesses.
Nate Phelps also says (around 19:20) he believes the Phelps’s “church” in Kansas is a cult:
PK: Do you consider it a cult? Some people have certainly characterized it as a cult.
NP: Yeah.
PK: Because there’s a brainwashing quality… But it is a cult in your mind?
NP: Cult is a … The short answer is yes, I think it is … They fit the definition, and I’ve said for years that all it would really take is if my father made the decision, found the right justification in the Bible, that they would turn towards violence — either violence towards themselves or someone else. That’s not to say they will, that’s just pointing out how completely my father affects their thinking and their lives.
Nate Phelps left the family cult about 30 years ago and until recently worked as a cabbie in Canada. A casual conversation with a fare, who happened to be a journalism student working on story about the Phelpses prompted him to come forward to tell his story:
[A] chance encounter with a journalism student in his taxi led to a riveting news article…which led to a speaking engagement at an American Atheists convention…which led to this. Last week, Phelps sat down for an extended TV interview with reporter Peter Klein of The Standard, Canada’s 60 Minutes. This is no prodigal son; he ain’t ever going back. But the story of where he’s been and what he’s seen is absolutely amazing, from the stories of abuse to his father’s drug dependency. Watch the full video and read selected quotes after the jump.
More excerpts from the interview:
NP: I think ultimately it’s that [Fred Phelps] hates everybody. I think, ultimately, it comes back to what’s happening going on inside of him, and that it manifests itself in all these ways that we see in the signs and their activities.
…
NP: Part of his belief system was that he was to administer corporal punishment on not only the kids, but to his wife…
PK: Corporal punishment … like beatings?
NP: Yeah, there was a lot of that … He was a very angry person. So, when he was administering it, it was extremely violent at times, lasting for hours … there would be some of the violence, then he would just go on these hour-long rants about how our behavior was violating God’s law.
Nate Phelps has a blog titled “A Journey to Reason,” located at http://n8rphelps.blogspot.com/.
