Jeff Gannon - A Voice of the New Media

« July 2005 | Main | September 2005 »

August 27, 2005

Press restrained in corruption probe

In contrast to the demands from Democrats and insinuations from the press that Karl Rove be fired over the CIA leak probe even though he hasn't even been accused of wrongdoing, the media demonstrates remarkable restraint in a corruption probe of the administration of Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, a Democrat who has already seen 20 of his subordinates enter into plea deals.

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:09 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 25, 2005

Journo rag goes antiwar

Editor & Publisher magazine has finally revealed its Leftist bias in suggesting that newspapers across the country should begin writing antiwar editorials. Editor Greg Mitchell is exhorting other editors to advocate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq. So much for an impartial press.

This was followed by an editorial critical of the American Legion who urged patriots not to let public protests against the war to go unanswered.

In a related article, E & P reports the results of a poll that indicated a majority of Americans are critical of the media's reporting on the war. Is it any wonder?

Posted by jeffgannon at 06:35 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 24, 2005

Democratic leader survives stroke

Last weekend, Senate Minority Leader Harry Ried suffered a "ministroke" that briefly interrupted the supply of blood to his brain. The AP reports that he is resting and looking forward to returning to the Senate when it reconvenes in September.

No jokes here, only prayers and best wishes for continued good health.

Posted by jeffgannon at 02:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 23, 2005

Cindy Sheehan "unhinged"

By the standards of the Left, I'm going to "smear" Cindy Sheehan by providing a video clip of her arriving in Crawford, Texas on the "Impeachment Tour" bus on August 6. CLIP REQUIRES QUICKTIME.

All of the major media had cameras rolling and in one segment CBS' Mark Knoller is interviewing the antiwar activist. Here is Sheehan in her own words:

"Freedom fighters are coming in (to support insurgents)." 6:00

"He (Bush) killed my only son." 6:15

"My son was murdered by Bush and his insane, arrogant, callous foreign policy." 14:15

"I want to ask the President: Why did he kill my son?" 14:30

"I want him to justify his killing, his murdering and his imperialistic foreign policies on my son's blood, on my son's honor." 15:05

"I'm not going to call him Mr. President because he does not deserve our respect." 15:35

"He's not our President." 15:45

Hard-core Leftist or useful idiot? Her words or antiwar talking points? It doesn't matter because as soon as she spoke them, she owned them.

More shameful than this publicity stunt is the White House Press Corps' failure to report her words. It continues to prop her up as a grieving mother because it suits its own political agenda.

Posted by jeffgannon at 05:49 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 22, 2005

Democrats at war with themselves over Iraq war

Since the late 1960s, the base of the Democratic Party has been anti-war and opposed to the use of force to deal with threats to the peace and security of the United States. It is the party that has opted for appeasement instead of confrontation. Had foreign policy been left to Democrats, the Soviet Union might still enslave millions. They were voting for a nuclear freeze while Ronald Reagan precipitated the regime's collapse by forcing it to spend itself into oblivion in an arms race.

If Democrats like John Kerry had his way in 1991, Kuwait would have fallen under Saddam Hussein's bloody domination without challenge. The weapons of mass destruction programs he had at the time would not have been disrupted or destroyed and he would have been emboldened to wreak more havoc in the volatile region.

But the Washington Post has suddenly "discovered" that the Democratic Party is torn between an increasingly vocal radical left wing and it's few remaining centrists that want to win national elections. For observers like me, this is not news, since we have been tracking these hard-core elements since September 11, 2001. From the moment the liberal activist group, MoveOn.org called for restraint in the face of 3,000 murdered Americans, it was clear that Democrats still had the instinct to shrink from a fight, to cut and run at the first sign of trouble. Karl Rove was spot on when he said that after 9/11, conservatives prepared for war and liberals searched for understanding.

The phenomenon that the Washington Post has only recently recognized is not a policy debate within a political party, but a manifestation of cowardice and a betrayal of the vision, strength and courage of Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman and John Kennedy. This truth is revealed by the fact that those opposed to the war in Iraq offer no plan - nor desire - to win it. In fact, they hope that we lose and seem to delight in every soldier's death and bit of bad news that comes from the war front.

The activists and their media cheerleaders openly talk about a "tipping point" of public sentiment against the war. They have done everything they can to bring it about - not because of an ideological principle - but for the hope of regaining political power. What they fail to realize is that the "tipping point" on them having political power came shortly after the Twin Towers fell.

The sickening scenes that are playing out in Crawford, Texas and mimicked around the country will not further the liberals' cause. It will only serve as a reminder to Americans why it is they don't trust them with the defense and security of the United States.

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:51 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 19, 2005

Would discovery of 'gay gene' change gays' pro-choice stance?

How committed to unfettered access to abortions is the gay community Catch my latest column on the subject.

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:19 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Smear of Able Danger whistleblower underway

The Washington Post is taking the lead in the effort to discredit Lt. Colonel Anthony Shaffer, who says that a military intelligence unit knew about 9/11 highjacker Mohammad Atta in 2000, but lawyers prevented the information from being shared with the FBI.

The Old Media is cautiously disparaging Shaffer instead of engaging in a full-fledged smear campaign, just in case something revealed in pursuing his claims reflects badly on the Bush administration. He could then be elevated to whistleblower status alongside Coleen Rowley, Richard Clarke and Joe Wilson.

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 18, 2005

How liberals 'support the troops'

A Pittsburgh, PA antiwar group has announced a protest intended to shut down a military recruiting center on August 20.

Demonstrations like this aren't unusual as the pro-terrorist Code Pink Women for Peace have protested outside Washington, DC area recruiting stations for several months. They also stage a weekly antiwar protest outside Walter Reed hospital on Friday nights, where soldiers recover from serious wounds.

Posted by jeffgannon at 10:18 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sheehan protest spurs backlash

Cindy Sheehan's supporters are calling published reports of her extremist statements "smears," because they don't want you to know how radical she is. STORY

The antiwar protests are producing a backlash across the country from Americans who support the war.

Ohio

Cindy doesn't speak for me tour

Predictably, The New York Times reports that the war is becoming a problem for Republicans.

But Newsweek's Howard Fineman told MSNBC's Don Imus this morning that Democrats need to be concerned about appearing to be the antiwar party going into the 2006 elections. Such an image, with Michael Moore, Howard Dean and Jane Fonda at the fore would reinforce the perception that Democrats are weak on national security and predisposed to cut and run at the first sign of trouble.

The rhetoric of the Vietnam antiwar movement isn't helping either. Some of Sheehan's suppporters have dredged up John Kerry's famous phrase that he used during his 1971 Senate testimony: "How do you ask a man to be the last man to die for a mistake?" So far, no reporter has aksed the Massachusetts Senator if he thinks it is appropriate for his words to be applied to the war in Iraq.

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 17, 2005

Clinton spinners to work overtime on 9/11 revelations

The journalists, pundits and former officials that have so far shielded the Clinton administration from responsibility for undermining America's intelligence gathering capability in the face of bolder terrorist strikes will need to work overtime to refute the wave of new information emerging about the years preceding the 9/11 attacks.

There are several key articles today about warnings that went unheeded, missed opportunities and restrictions that impeded the sharing of information that might have prevented the devastating terrorist attacks four years ago.

Officer Says Military Blocked Sharing of Files on Terrorists - this is a misleading headline, since it was LAWYERS that nixed sharing the information

State Dept. Says It Warned About bin Laden in 1996 - note that the NYT manages to reinforce Bill Clinton's claim that he didn't pass on a chance to take Osama bin Laden when he was expelled from Sudan. See this story for clarification. Clinton Warned After Giving up bin Laden

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:33 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Democrats in uproar over missing documents

Senate Democrats are distraught about lost documents, but it's not the Rose Law Firm billing records or the highly-classified memos that Sandy Berger stuffed in his pants to remove from the National Archives. They are concerned about a file that was misplaced at the Reagan Library after being reviewed by two White House staffers doing research on Supreme Court nominee John Roberts.

Sen. Ted Kennedy has requested a Justice Department investigation. How long before he demands a special prosecutor? STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 16, 2005

Wheels coming off Sheehan’s antiwar juggernaut

After nine days, the activist that has become the face of the antiwar movement in the United States expressed fatigue and complained about how her solitary protest now has a “Disneyland” atmosphere. Cindy Sheehan has been overwhelmed by the support she has received from groups ranging from the pro-terrorist Code Pink Women for Peace to MoveOn.org and Democrats.com, which form the base of the Democratic Party. But it seems her simple message of a mother’s grief has been overtaken by her own contradictory statements about her meeting with President Bush last year and her recitation of Leftist talking points about Israel and empire.

Members of her family have issued public statements disagreeing with her protest and expressing support for the war and the President. Her son is pleading for her to return home. Sheehan’s husband has filed for divorce. But Casey’s mother is now a captive of the antiwar movement, no more able to return to private life now than John Kerry was in 1971. She has vowed to continue her protest until all American troops are withdrawn from Iraq.

The Old Media fawns over Sheehan while she conducts press conferences scripted by Fenton Communications, media consultants on loan from MoveOn.org. Liberal pundits shriek about the “smear campaign” being conducted by their conservative counterparts who would have the audacity to question Sheehan’s motives or extreme rhetoric. Talking heads bloviate that the White House needs to be concerned about this woman and her impact on Americans’ support for the war in Iraq.

But it’s Democrats who need to be concerned about what Sheehan has started. The words she speaks about a lying George Bush murdering her son and members of the administration being held for war crimes sound like the delusional rantings of a John Conyers or Louise Slaughter, and emphasize a radicalized Democratic party that presidential hopefuls like the newly-minted centrists Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden need to rein in order to win in 2008.

The antiwar playbook hasn’t been updated since the 1960s and what worked then to turn a nation against the struggle to stop the spread of Communist tyranny isn’t going to be successful in 2005. Cable television, talk radio and the Internet has destroyed the Old Media’s ability to significantly influence public opinion. Already, there have been counter-demonstrations that support the United States’ efforts in the global war on terror and other mothers who have lost sons are able to come forward to say that their sacrifice is for a noble cause.

Christoper Hitchens writes about Sheehan's "Sinister Piffle" for Slate and a San Antonio news outlet's headline summarizes the troublesome message of her protest.

Posted by jeffgannon at 06:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 15, 2005

Newspaper editors question AP reporting

Complaints from readers about unbalanced and negative Iraq war coverage have prompted newpaper editors across the country to confront the Associated Press. It seems veterans returning from the war are telling a much different version of events in Iraq than the wire service offers. STORY

This is more evidence that the Old Media and Cindy Sheehan and her ilk will have a much harder time undermining America's efforts in Iraq. It's not 1971 and the United States isn't losing the war on terror.

Posted by jeffgannon at 02:14 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Iraq veteran speaks out on Sheehan

The New York Post interrupts the 24/7 Old Media lovefest of Cindy Sheehan and her Leftist handlers to allow an Iraq veteran to offer a different point of view. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:07 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Liberal journalists want Pulitzer pulled

Two liberal journalists have petitioned the board that awards the Pulitzer Prize to revoke the honor it bestowed on New York Times reporter William Laurence for his coverage of the Nagasaki bombing. They are claiming that because the journalist was also on the payroll of the U. S. War Department at the time he wrote for the Old Grey Lady, his reporting was biased.

This article is rich with irony. Harry Truman, a Democrat, was President at the time and Laurence actually penned statements for him. Democrats hired a journalist to craft favorable news?

Better yet, the pair behind the protest aren't seeking the revocation of the Pulitzer from New York Times reporter Walter Duranty, whose fraudulent reporting covered up the starvation deaths of millions of Ukranians in the 1930s at the hands of Joseph Stalin.

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Peacniks oppose 9/11 remembrance march

When the Pentagon announced last week that it was organizing a 9/11 remembrance march, the Left was apoplectic. As we have seen time after time, The Left supports free speech for everyone except those who that have a differenct point of view. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:58 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Jouno rag promotes article ripping media over CIA leak

Editor & Publisher is promoting a Vanity Fair article critical of the media's behavior in dealing with the alleged leak of Valerie Plame's identity. Michael Wolff is slamming Time and The New York Times for covering up for Karl Rove. STORY

I wonder who enjoys it more than I do when the liberal media elites form up the circular firing squad. It's all part of the plan...

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 14, 2005

A mother's vigil (brought to you by MoveOn.org, Michael Moore, Jane Fonda, Howard Dean, Air America, CNNABCNBCCBS...)

Posted by jeffgannon at 02:53 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 12, 2005

The Left is in full Cindy mode

The antiwar relics of the 1960s have all come out to put their support behind antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan. A click over to Huffington Post will give you no less than 21 pro-Cindy columns. Not a single one of them mentions the anti-American radicals that are behind her publicity stunt. But then of course, some of the radicals are the ones writing the posts - the others are a collection of what Mona Charen would call "useful idiots."

The Left is going full tilt on this. It will be interesting to watch the whole thing play out. This isn't 1971, the Left only dominates, but does not control the media. I'm waiting for the "Rove moment."

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Sheehan family splits with grieving activist mom

A group of family members of Casey Sheehan issued a statement Thursday expressing support for the Iraq war, the country and the President, but the Old Media is slow to include this information in their reports. It still hasn't identified the radical groups that are providing all the support for Sheehan's publicity stunt.

Today is Day 6 of the New York Times' fawning coverage of Sheehan, with Anne Kornblut describing the woman's "soft-spoken, articulate presentation." The NYT reporter ignores some of Sheehan's nonsensical rantings of leftist talking points in order to make her a more sympathic figure.

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:34 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Will destroys a Carter lie

Conservative columnist George Will takes a bitter and petty Jimmy Carter to task for a lie that the former president continues to tell after 25 years. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Illegal immigration problem worse than thought

The United States is in big trouble with illegal immigration. The following story indicates that it's worse than generally believed.

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:03 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 11, 2005

Newspaper exposes pro-terror groups supporting Sheehan

As a followup to my column about the radical Code Pink, I present to you an editorial from the NY Sun. It nails down the groups that have adopted a grieving mother to be the sympathetic face for their anti-American, pro-terrorist agenda.

It's a great piece that makes the point that every Old Media reporter refuses to write: "Ms. Sheehan's "coalition" includes a lot of people who think the persons who killed her son were justified."

Posted by jeffgannon at 01:15 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kofi to rid UN of 'bad apples'

For those who continue to believe the United Nations is an organization that can be trusted to be charge of anything need to read Secretary General Kofi Annan's tepid statement of 'action' to deal with corruption.

These guys weren't taking office supplies home - they were subverting international sanctions against one of the world's most brutal tyrants!

Posted by jeffgannon at 01:03 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

New York Times continues string of favorable Sheehan coverage

The Old Grey Lady ran an Associated Press story today that continued a string of favorable coverage of the antiwar mother camped outside the Bush ranch in Texas.

The AP managed to work Sheehan into a companion piece on the visit of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to the Western White House on Thursday.

Posted by jeffgannon at 12:29 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Was this info in Berger's pants?

Rep. Curt Weldon's claim that a military intelligence group tracking three of the 9/11 hijackers in 1999 were prevented from sharing that information with the FBI has reignited a debate over conclusions reached by the 9/11 Commission. It appears that the information was kept from the Commission by staffers.

Was this information contained in the highly classified memos Sandy Berger illegally removed from the National Archives and later destroyed? Why has Berger's sentencing been postponed until September?

Posted by jeffgannon at 12:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Air Force Lt. Colonel nabbed vandalizing vehicles with pro-Bush stickers

An Air Force Lt. Colonel in charge of a reserve unit has been arrested for vandalizing cars with pro-Bush bumper stickers. STORY

Which is the greater crime: Vandalizing cars or disrespecting one's Commander in Chief during the act of destroying personal property? What about the free speech rights of the victims of the crime?

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 10, 2005

Raising the threat level to Pink

There's a media circus going on outside the Bush ranch in Crawford, Texas. Cindy Sheehan, the mother of a soldier killed in Iraq last year, is camped along the road that leads to the Western White House demanding to confront the President. She blames him for the death of her son Casey, who perished during an April 2004 mortar attack in Baghdad. Most would agree that no one should minimize this woman's grief or her right to express it.

It is clear she is angry, but her words and actions contradict statements she made to her local newspaper, the Vacaville Reporter after meeting Bush a year ago. At the time she found him to be "sincere", but now she says he "acted like it was a party." The newspaper issued a statement Tuesday where it stands by its story.

The White House press corps, trapped in the heat and misery of a fifth consecutive August in Texas, fawns over Sheehan, partly out of boredom and resentment of the circumstances that consigned them there, but also because she fits their partisan agenda. She told an activist news group that many members of the media who interviewed her expressed support for her cause, which is the immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq and the impeachment of Bush.

Not surprisingly, The New York Times is promoting Sheehan in a series of favorable articles and an editorial. It portrays her as one woman on a mission, but it fails to mention the Leftist antiwar groups that she is affiliated with and that are there in Crawford supporting her.

Article, August 7 Article, August 8 Editorial, August 9 Dowd column, August 10

One of the groups Sheehan is allied with is Code Pink Women for Peace. It is led by longtime Leftist activists who have rebranded their racialism under this new banner. Members of the group who wear pink outfits during protests have staged publicity stunts by disrupting several Congressional hearings and interrupting Bush's inauguration speech this year thanks to Democratic Hill staffers who slipped VIP tickets to several activists.

Code Pink is supporting Sheehan's protest, by organizing facilities, collecting donations, staging a hunger strike and helping with media relations. At the same time, the group is gathering signatures on a petition to calling for the removal of American troops from Iraq.

While these activities on the surface may be legitimate forms of political expression, a closer examination of Code Pink reveals more insidious motives. One of Code Pink's leaders, Medea Benjamin, is an unabashed supporter of dictator Fidel Castro, having lived in Cuba during the 1980s.

She and other members of the group worked to stymie U. S. efforts in Iraq before the invasion by going to Baghdad as guests of Saddam Hussein's government. After Baghdad fell, Code Pink established Occupation Watch in the Iraqi capital to document "attrocities" by Coalition forces and to encourage American solidiers to abandon their brothers in arms by becoming conscientious objectors.

Code Pink has been demonstrating outside military recruiting centers and try to bar recruiters from high school and college campuses. The Washington, DC chapter of Code Pink spends Friday nights protesting against the war and the Commander in Chief outside Walter Reed hospital, while the families of seriously wounded soldiers visit their loved ones.

But it is with the Code Pink's assistance that many of those soldiers were maimed and others killed. Last December, Benjamin boasted that Code Pink gave $600,000 in cash and humanitarian aid to "the other side" in Fallujah. In addition to monetary and material aid to the terrorists, the group is encouraging their attacks on American soldiers and Iraqis. In a blog posted from the World Tribunal on Iraq, another Code Pink leader, Jodie Evans wrote:

"We must begin by really standing with the Iraqi people and their right to resist. I can remain myself against all forms of violence, and yet I cannot judge what someone has to do when pushed to the wall to protect all they love. What does the Iraqi resistance have to lose? They are fighting for their country, to protect their families and to preserve all they love. They are fighting for their lives, and we are fighting for lies. It is so amazingly obvious; we must get out of Iraq now. They will rebuild their country, it will take time, a long time, but they cannot start until we are gone."

In Sheehan, Code Pink and their pro-terrorist allies have a face and a voice for their anti-Bush and anti-Operation Iraqi Freedom rhetoric. The degree to which she is being exploited is difficult to measure, since her talking points are the same as the Leftists groups that support her. She has been making the rounds of events sponsored by these groups, so it doesn't appear that she is an innocent dupe but a willing participant.

In April of this year, she gave a speech at San Francisco State University where she expressed her admiration for a co-speaker at the event, Lynne Stewart. She called Stewart, who has been convicted of abetting terrorism, her "Atticus Finch."

Sheehan has written that Bush and members of Congress have "blood on their hands." But in truth, it's the terrorists that have blood on their hands and also those who aided them are the same ones standing all around her, especially Code Pink.

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:59 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 09, 2005

Boston Globe's Dem operative columnist takes up Sheehan cause

Last week Boston Globe columnist Joan Venocchi was giving Democrats advice on how to win elections. This week she is taking up the cause of antiwar activist Cindy Sheehan, who has now become a tool of the radical Left, staging a protest outside his Texas home.

Venocchi wails about President Bush's disinterest in a SECOND meeting with the woman as if he has some obligation to do so simply because she and the media demand it.

The Boston Globe scribe has never written about the media bubble that protected John Kerry from even a single question about his unwillingness to sign form 180 to release his full military service record during the campaign. It is likely she will not wonder why Hillary Clinton never faces tough questioning from any interviewer.

I've got a question for Sen. Clinton that I'm certain will never be asked: "You stated in January of 2005 that the U. S. economy was on the verge of collapse but that Social Security was rock solid for the next 50 years. How do you reconcile those two views, which seem 'Divorced from Reality®'?"

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:39 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What Cindy Sheehan said last year

The antiwar mom camped outside President Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas demanding a face-to-face meeting so she can tell him off, sang a completely different tune when they met in June 2004. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:31 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Demonizing the Federalist society

Gail Russell Chaddock has an article in the Christian Science Monitor that likens the Federalist Society, an association of lawyers who share an originalist view of the Constitution to a plot. What does that make the anti-American, anti-Christian, pro-gay ACLU - a cult? STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 07:15 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

and the horse you rode in on...

Posted by jeffgannon at 06:48 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dem talking points on energy bill in AP story

Deb Reichman's AP story on the signing of the energy bill Monday started of with Democrats' top two talking points on topic. She writes: "President Bush on Monday signed sweeping legislation that provides billions of dollars in tax subsidies to energy companies, yet does little quickly to ease gas prices or lower America's reliance on foreign oil." STORY

At first I thought it was a press release from the DNC, but then, I guess it was.

Posted by jeffgannon at 06:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 08, 2005

'Bolton Effect' felt at United Nations

Despite being in the job for less than a week, the presence of United Nations ambassador John Bolton has already had an effect on the international body. A report on corruption in the UN's oil-for-food scandal was stuck in a bureaucratic quagmire for months, but Bolton's appearance in New York seems to have shaken it loose. One former official has been arrested on corruption charges with more expected in the near future. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 03:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Hollywood's fake critics

When Hollywood publicists can't get positive ratings from the suck up critics they routinely bribe with cash, gifts and access, they just invent them - the critics, not the quotes. Phony reviews from faux critics? This is so rich! Where's the outrage from the liberals? C'mon Media Matters, get with it! STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 02:08 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Democrats get more free advice from media

So anguished is Boston Globe columnist Joan Vennochi about yet another election lost by the Democrats, that she felt compelled to give the Pelosi-Dean-Kennedy-Kerry-Clinton Party some pointers on what it has to do start winning. EDITORIAL

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Journos jilt Judy

The jailed New York Times reporter, Judith Miller will not be receiving the Conscience in Media award given to her by the American Society of Journalists and Authors (ASJA). The group rescinded the honor it conferred on the journalist who was imprisoned for not revealing her sources to CIA leak probe Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald. A majority of the board felt that Miller was protecting a wrongdoer in the Bush administration instead of defending a principle. STORY

Perhaps the award will be given to Time magazine's Matt Cooper, who not only sang like a canary when threatened with jail, but also violated the confidentiality he had with one of his sources, Karl Rove when attributing "background" comments to him in an email to his bureau chief.

Posted by jeffgannon at 10:35 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 05, 2005

Castro opposed Bolton for UN post, too

Humberto Fontova writes in Human Events about how Cuban dictator Fidel Castro views America's new ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton. But unlike the Democrats, whose opposition was based in blatant partisanship, Castro holds Bolton responsible for helping blow the whistle on one of his operatives who had snookered the State Department.

Ana Belen Montes was arrested in 2001 on espionage charges for providing sensitive information to the totalitarian regime in Havana and exposing FOUR UNDERCOVER AGENTS WORKING IN CUBA. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 06:04 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

DNC sends talking points to CNN

This is not anything new, except that they usually do it via email of fax - not a press release. This is what the Democratic National Committee concerns itself with while Republicans govern. RELEASE

Posted by jeffgannon at 05:13 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Former Clinton official calls for more leaks of classified info

Ann Wright, former ambassador to Afghanistan under Bill Clinton is urging government officials to leak classified documents. In the wake of the Democrats' lynch mob chasing Karl Rove - who hasn't been charged with any wrongdoing in the alleged leak of the name of a CIA official who may or may not have been covert - liberals are actively soliciting government employees to give serect documents to the media. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

What did Franken know and when did he know it?

Despite being ignored by the Old Media, the Air America continues to grow. The folks over at Free Republic have suggested a few questions that balance-impaired media figures might ask Franken when they see him at the next coctail party since it is clear they won't ask him anything as part of a news story. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 07:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Another House ethics scandal

This week the FBI raided the home and offices of a member of the U. S. Congress. It is unclear what investigators what investigators were looking for, but acknowleged that it was a corruption probe. The most interesting bit: "A source familiar with the case said the investigation had no connection to the inquiry into Jefferson's brother-in-law, Alan Green, a former state judge." Green was recently convicted of mail fraud. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 07:01 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Another Fitzgerald indictment - still not Rove

U. S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald, Special Prosecutor in the CIA leak probe, announced another indictment this week. Much to the disappointment of Democrats and the Old Media, it was no one from the Bush administration. A few weeks ago, Fitzgerald brought up two members of Democratic Mayor Richard Daley's administration for corruption. This time, it's a major Democrat fundraiser that is accused of conspiring to defraud an Illinois teachers union. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 06:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 04, 2005

Dems' denials thin on Wilson dumping

So potent is the story I wrote last year posts about the Kerry campaign cutting Joe Wilson loose that when columnist Robert Novak referenced it a few days ago, liberal talking points were released in an effort to refute it. A pair of "journalists" took to the task of rewriting history, one of them being Tim Grieve at Salon.com.

All references to Wilson vanished from the campaign website shortly after the former ambassador was publicly chastised by the Senate Intelligence Committee in July 2004 for his dishonesty. But Peter Daou, who worked on Kerry's site, denied that the campaign was consciously distancing itself from the disgraced diplomat and implied that incompetence was the reason for Wilson's disappearance. Both articles quoted him saying, "It just got lost in the redesign of the Web site, as did dozens and dozens of other pages."

After I drew attention to the disinformation campaign under way, Grieve trotted out another Democrat to back up Daou. Kerry flack David Wade said that Wilson worked the campaign trail on behalf of the Massachusetts senator and drew standing-room only crowds as a surrogate. Grieve's research found that Wilson headlined one fundraiser on October 16 in Arizona.

But it wasn't just me who took note of Wilson's hard fall from the spotlight he relished. James Taranto chronicled the phenomenon in two articles at OpinionJournal.com and during an appearance on PBS. Taranto pointed out that the flamboyant ambassador, who was everywhere, was suddenly nowhere. STORY1, STORY2, STORY3 Richard Benedetto, a White House correspondent for USA Today wrote about it as well and Matthew Continetti also referenced it when recapping the Senate Intelligence Committee's evisceration of Wilson in the Weekly Standard. Mark Steyn actually predicted Wilson's vanishing act in a Washington Times piece.

Additionally, the online community was abuzz about how completely any reference to Wilson had been scrubbed from the Kerry site. Instapundit, Dislogue, Qando1, Quando2, Patriot Paradox, Junkyardblog and Bluesite all saw the same thing I did.

The article I wrote in July 2004 reflected what was happening on the national stage. Even though he might have continued to make appearances at pro-Kerry rallies, Wilson had gotten the hook . The base has never lost faith in Wilson in the same way it has always believed George Bush lied about weapons of mass destruction. The reality was that Wilson's credibility was shot as far as Tim Russert and his imitators were concerned.

As the crowning touch to his historical revision, Grieve retreats to the last resort of scoundrels, personal attacks. However, it's a distraction that doesn't change the facts. If what I wrote wasn't so damaging, there wouldn't be such an urgent need to refute it.

Wilson is a fraud and it may turn out that Plame and her associates at the CIA will have been caught running an operation against a sitting president. If there is "frog-marching" to be done, perhaps it will be from Langley. A number of senior officials have already been shown the door since Porter Goss took over the dysfunctional agency late last year.

Not coincidentally, Sandy Berger suffered the same fate as Wilson after the Clinton National Security Advisor was caught removing and later destroying highly classified documents from the National Archives. He stuffed papers that would reveal embarrassing information to the 9/11 Commission about the Clinton administration's failures in dealing with the threat of terrorism into his trousers. Until that time, he like Wilson was a senior foreign policy advisor to Kerry.

Liberals who are shrill about the leak of Plame's name are oddly silent about Berger's offense. They are not the least bit interested in what he had in his pants, but can't stop talking about what might be in mine.

Posted by jeffgannon at 12:10 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 03, 2005

Examiner chides "suicidal" White House columnist

The DC Examiner puts Helen Thomas and Gannongate in perspective. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 02:21 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dems pushed out of shape over Bush's good health

Democrats have once again proven that they are devoid of ideas and "Divorced from Reality®." The Democratic National Committee issued a press release that criticized President Bush for exercising and being physically fit, while cutting gym classes from the nation's public schools. STORY

I can imagine how the release would read if he was a junk-food eating sloth who had to have heart bypass surgery at age 58: "Bush is setting a bad example for the nation's youth and is using up limited health care resources by living a careless lifestyle while millions go without health insurance. Women and children hardest hit."

Posted by jeffgannon at 12:16 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Liberal groups' failure teaches political lesson

The demise of the liberal activist groups, Americans Coming Together and the Media Fund, which raised and spent several hundred million dollars during the 2004 elections with little to show for it is a stark reminder to the message-impaired Democratic Party that ideas, not money win elections.

Billionaires George Soros and Peter Lewis, who personally contributed a combined $38.5 million to the effort aimed primarily at defeating President Bush for re-election, expressed disappointment in the groups' effectiveness, despite the involvement of former Clinton staffer Harold Ickes, EMILY's list founder Ellen Malcom Clinton and Service Employees International Union President Andrew L. Stern.

Washington Post OBITUARY

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:45 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Dems see victory in yet another defeat

Republican Jean Schmidt won Tuesday's special election in Ohio's 2nd Congressional district, held to fill the seat of Rob Portman who left to become U. S. Trade Representative. She defeated Democrat Paul Hackett, the first Iraq War veteran to run for Congress.

The race was close in a district that Portman carried several times by wide margins and voted heavily for Bush in 2004. The election gained national attention when the Old Media threw its support behind Hackett because he is a veteran in the John Kerry mold. He served a few months in a war zone, then returned to run for Congress as something of an antiwar candidate, although that message was somewhat muddled. During the campaign he waved the flag and bashed the Commander-in-Chief, spouting schizophenic rhetoric about the war and the troops. The Washington Post's report on the election shows which side it was on.

Democratic activists from across the country threw themselves at the race and claimed victory in the narrow defeat. Old Media types parrotted the talking points of the election being a "bellweather" for the 2006 midterms and a "wake-up call" for Republicans.

Except that Hackett didn't run as a Democrat. In fact, his TV ads don't mention his party at all. One of them opens with President Bush praising the troops! But in statements to reporters he called the President a "chickenhawk."

Democrats would be well advised not to read too much into this election. In 2006 they will have to focus on many more races than just one in the middle of the summmer in an off year with a low turnout. But then again, it will be interesting to see how this will fit into the positions and message the Democrats are trying to put together to convince the voters they should be returned to power.

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:36 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

I'm collectable!

Next stop: a cereal box! E-BAY

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:02 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 02, 2005

Today's liberal talking points: Novak using Gannon to smear Wilson

Here's the second article of the day advancing the same premise: Columnist Robert Novak is using a story by Jeff Gannon to smear Joe Wilson.

Tim Grieve at Salon.com ALSO quotes the same guy, Peter Daou, the webmaster for the Kerry campaign. Frankly, I'm flattered, but the story is rock solid, Wilson was dumped - hard.

Let's see if other similar stories emerge from the lazy, activist Old Media echo-chamber.

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:52 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Kerry webmaster claims Wilson not dumped, pages "lost"

Last year when the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence publicly rebuked Joe Wilson for his flawed report on an Iraq-Niger connection and his "misleading" statements about how he was selected to go on the mission, the Kerry campaign dropped him as a senior foreign policy advisor. He disappeared from sight for eight months, emeriging only recently to join Democrats' efforts to undermine the Bush administration.

Liberal activist Robert Parry writes at Consortium News that Kerry's webmaster insists that Wilson was not dumped from the Kerry campaign and that the pages that referenced the former ambassor were "lost."

Parry then proceeds to trash me with many of the slanders that have already been disproven.

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:47 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Activist wanted White House press corps to walkout over Gannongate

CBS News' Mark Knoller steers clear of a liberal activist's suggestion the White House press corps should have staged a protest over Gannongate. Of course, no one that works for CBS should say much of anything since its credentials weren't suspended in the wake of the phony documents scandal that went to the very top of the news division, to Dan Rather himself.

Posted by jeffgannon at 11:23 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Old media not interested in Air America scandal

For nearly a year, the Old Media couldn't stop gushing about Air America, the liberal radio network. But when a financial scandal involving the Al Franken/Randi Rhodes daily hatefest exploded, it doesn't even appear on the MSM radar screen. The New York Sun reports the story the others are trying to supress. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Novak breaks silence on CIA leak

Columnist Robert Novak, whose July 2003 article about Joe Wilson and Valerie Plame developed into an investigation that required a Special Prosecutor be named is speaking out about the mischaracterization of his original report. STORY

He had intended to remain silent until Patrick Fitzgerald completed his investigation, but said that he needed to refute Wilson and a former CIA spokesman on several key points.

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:27 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Old Media steps up attacks on Bolton after recess appointment

When Democrats failed to keep President Bush's reform-minded nominee from becoming ambassador to the United Nations, their Old Media handmaidens duitifully began a campaign to undermine him. MSNBC's Chris Matthews set the tone for the onslaught, wondering how Bolton could be called the permanent ambassador when he is "only a temp," a reference to the recess appointment that will expire in January 2007 if he is not given a Senate confirmation vote before then.

AP's Tom Raum had an "analysis" that reads as if it were written by Barbara Boxer or Ted Kennedy. The allegedly impartial journalist suggests that Bush's appointment of Bolton was an "in-your-face gesture, to Congress and to the global community."

The Houston Chronicle was one of a dozen news outlets that trumpeted the talking point of Bolton being a "lame duck." The Old Media abruptly dropped that description of Bush last week when the president managed several legislative victories on energy, trade and gun manufacturers' liability.

The New York Times reliably weighed in with a story Tuesday that said Bolton won't screw things up too badly at the UN because most of the reforms desired by President Bush are well underway. That would be news to Sen. Norm Coleman, who is still waiting for information about the oil-for-food scandal.

The AP follows up with a suggestion that Bolton is so damaged that he will need to compromise with the very people who make up the organization he is to reform.

Posted by jeffgannon at 07:50 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

August 01, 2005

Recess appointment not so rare

The Washington Post has compiled a list of the recess appointment records of past presidents. Take note of the recess appointments to the Supreme Court of Chief Justice Earl Warren and Associate Justices William Brennan and Potter Stewart. Now there's a precedent that Democrats should be aware of.

Posted by jeffgannon at 10:05 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Air America for the eyes debuts today

Al Gore launches Snore TV today. Is it a pre-emptive strike against al Jazeera? How will the other liberal networks react to the challenge to their consistently shrinking market share. STORY

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:28 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Bush sends Bolton to UN despite Democrats' complaints

The Senate hadn't been out of Washington for more than a few days when President Bush decided he would no longer tolerate Democratic obstruction of his nominee to be ambassador to the United Nations. He gave John Bolton a recess appointment to represent the United States at the corruption-ridden international body. STORY

It's about time!

Posted by jeffgannon at 09:14 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Journalism rag critical of Republican reporter jumping into politics

Editor & Publisher offers another stunning display of hypocrisy in writing an article quoting an Ohio newspaper publisher's expression of concern over one of his former reporters becoming a political consultant. It suggests that one of the Toledo Blade's reporter might have resisted reporting a scandal involving a GOP fundraiser because he is a Republican.

E & P adds its own "impartial" comments: "Nothing at all is proven, but it's worth recalling the dangers — even if it's just in public perception — of jumping from political campaigning to political reporting and back again."

This is rich! It never wrote anything about Paul Begala and James Carville when they joined the Kerry campaign and still kept their jobs on CNN's Crossfire. And it ignored the workshop major media figures had for Kerry to help him prepare for the campaign. I don't recall E & P ever writing an article about the revolving door between Democratic politics and journalism.

And then there was Newsweek spiking the story about President Clinton and an intern...

Posted by jeffgannon at 08:49 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack