Associated Press: Journalism's Asshat Posers

[travelinman67]

Been saying it for awhile...

...AP has joined the ranks of MSNBC and ABC as the pathetic unapologetic agents for the DNC.

...Samuel Clemens would cry were he alive today.

AP Turns Heads for Devoting 11 Reporters to Palin Book 'Fact Check'
Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the Associated Press' treatment of Palin's book seems an unprecedented move at the wire service
by Robert Shaffer
November 17, 2009

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/11 ... act-check/

When the former Republican vice presidential candidate and former Alaska governor wrote her autobiography, the AP found a copy before its release date and assigned 11 people to fact check all 432 pages.

The AP claims Palin misstated her record with regard to travel expenses and taxpayer-funded bailouts, using statements widely reported elsewhere. But it also speculated into Palin's motives for writing "Going Rogue: An American Life," stating as fact that the book "has all the characteristics of a pre-campaign manifesto."

Palin quickly hit back on a Facebook post titled "Really? Still Making Things Up?"

"Imagine that," the post read. "11 AP reporters dedicating time and resources to tearing up the book, instead of using the time and resources to 'fact check' what's going on with Sheik Mohammed's trial, Pelosi's health care takeover costs, Hasan's associations, etc. Amazing."...

...Reviewing books and holding public figures accountable is at the core of good journalism, but the treatment Palin's book received appears to be something new for the AP. The organization did not review for accuracy recent books by the late Sen. Ted Kennedy, then-Sen. Joe Biden, either book by Barack Obama released before he was president or autobiographies by Bill or Hillary Clinton. The AP did more traditional news stories on those books...

...Biden's book "Promises to Keep" became an instant best-seller when he was chosen to be Obama's running mate, but was not fact-checked by the AP and only received passing interest. In a story last year on Biden's Vietnam War draft deferments due to asthma, the reporter notes Biden didn't mention the malady in his book.

Palin is not the standard presidential possibility for 2012, Underwood said.

"She's a figure who's a politician, but also a part of popular culture," he said.

Palin supporters believe 11 reporters poring over every word of her book is excessive- and further proof of the media's obsession and maltreatment of the hockey mom from Wasilla.

"They're obsessed with trying to discredit her," said Adrienne Ross, New York state organizer for the 2012 Draft Sarah Committee. "Because she's a conservative woman, they make fun of her accent, comment about her looks. She doesn't come in the package they want her to come in."

Man destroys that which he fears...and Sarah Palin apparently scares the crap out of the socialist left.

[Wedgebuster]

I'd fuck her floppy box 'till the rubber starts burning.

[houndawg]

I'd **** her floppy box 'till the rubber starts burning.

I suspect that her disposition would be greatly improved by three square meals per day of Uncle Houndawg's Turkey Neck Surprise.

[travelinman67]

Speaking of asshats...

[UNHWildCats]

And FOXNews is a pathetic unapologetic agent for the RNC.

[travelinman67]

Deleted

[travelinman67]

"And FOXNews is a pathetic unapologetic agent for the RNC."

...brayed King Asshat.

[Cap'n Cat]

Hey, T. Whud I tell you about smacking around my liberal friends on here, bitch?

[travelinman67]

Hey, T. Whud I tell you about smacking around my liberal friends on here, bitch?

And the saints keep marching in...

[Appaholic]

Speaking of asshats...

[Appaholic]

Hey, T. Whud I tell you about smacking around my liberal friends on here, bitch?

And the saints keep marching in...

[andy7171]

Hey, T. Whud I tell you about smacking around my liberal friends on here, bitch?

And T is gay, that's a hate crime!

[andy7171]

I'd **** her floppy box 'till the rubber starts burning.

I suspect that her disposition would be greatly improved by three square meals per day of Uncle Houndawg's Turkey Neck Surprise.

[travelinman67]

The reason for the left's fear of Sarah Palin...


Why the Left Fears Sarah

By Bob Weir
November 18, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/ ... sarah.html

Have you ever seen so much hatred for, and vitriolic criticism of, someone who had only a brief stint on the national political stage? More than a year after the presidential election in which Sarah Palin, as the GOP nominee for Vice-President, campaigned for about three months, she is still being pilloried by the left-wing loons as though she had been elected and were actively engaged in dismantling the liberal establishment. Not a day goes by in which we don't hear or read vicious attacks on a woman who represents the wholesome conservative values of Middle America -- values that have been insidiously and incrementally eroded during the last few decades.

There's an interesting contrast between Palin and Barack Obama. We keep hearing that she's not qualified to be president, but Obama is. Why? Some say it's because she didn't have enough experience in government. Yet as Governor of Alaska, Palin earned executive experience, while the current Oval Office resident had only a few years of legislative work. Others point to the interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson during the campaign last year.

Let's understand something: Couric and Gibson are liberal journalists who live for those gotcha moments when they can embarrass a conservative and get a round of high-fives at the next penthouse cocktail party on Central Park West. In contrast, Obama's interviewers seemed like they were more interested in dating him than they were in getting answers to questions. Obama's personal lapdog, MS-NBC's Chris Mathews, gets a thrill up his leg from the chosen one. It's obvious that Mathews has some sort of unresolved intimacy issues to deal with.

In the liberal mind, Obama can do no wrong, mainly because he's black. If he fouls up with a misstatement or a faux pas, they'll cover for him as though they were protecting a child with a debilitating disease. It reminds me of what Bush 2 used to refer to as "the soft bigotry of low expectations." When one of these sycophants asks Obama a question, it's not only a softball, but it comes with heavy breathing and dangling tongues.

Compare that to the lion's den that Palin walked into every time she sat down with one of Obama's obsequious panderers. Given the ideology of the interviewers, I already knew how things would turn out. What really impressed me was watching this woman muster the courage to face her liberal antagonists on national television. How much courage does it take for Obama to engage in one of those cozy love-fests with his fan club?...

...But we're living in an era of in-your-face corruption, a time when elected officials rob us blind and dare us to do something about it. The powerful Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, New York Congressman Charles Rangel, is facing a growing investigation of ethics violations and tax scandals. When the man empowered with the responsibility to write our tax laws refuses to pay his own taxes, something terrible has happened to our country. With a laundry list of misbehavior attributed to him, Rangel boldly clings to his seat, his chairmanship, and his reelection bid.

This has become a pattern across the country. Whether the politicians get caught with their fingers wrapped around bribe money, or with their arms wrapped around someone else's spouse, they arrogantly tell the public that it will not deter them from running for reelection. Once upon a time in America, a politician might be unscrupulous, but if he got caught, he'd be history. Now, we have a president of the United States who appointed a tax cheat (Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner) to his cabinet and attempted to appoint another tax cheat (Tom Daschle) to lead Health and Human Services. Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas Governor, ended up with her job only after paying about $8,000 in back taxes.

I could illustrate hundreds of other examples of rampant corruption by people in elective office. Pointing to government decay is the job of the free press. But are they hounding any of the power-hungry scoundrels that masquerade as symbols of decency and honor? No, they're engaged in a continuous merciless attack on a woman who has led the way in the fight against the very corruption being overlooked by those who have become blinded by ideology.

Sarah Palin is a threat because she symbolizes decency in a country taken hostage by moral degenerates. If she isn't stopped, this country might end up reclaiming some of the values that made us the envy of the world.

Author...Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the executive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas.

Spot

On

[Appaholic]

The reason for the left's fear of Sarah Palin...


Why the Left Fears Sarah

By Bob Weir
November 18, 2009

http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/11/ ... sarah.html

Have you ever seen so much hatred for, and vitriolic criticism of, someone who had only a brief stint on the national political stage? More than a year after the presidential election in which Sarah Palin, as the GOP nominee for Vice-President, campaigned for about three months, she is still being pilloried by the left-wing loons as though she had been elected and were actively engaged in dismantling the liberal establishment. Not a day goes by in which we don't hear or read vicious attacks on a woman who represents the wholesome conservative values of Middle America -- values that have been insidiously and incrementally eroded during the last few decades.

There's an interesting contrast between Palin and Barack Obama. We keep hearing that she's not qualified to be president, but Obama is. Why? Some say it's because she didn't have enough experience in government. Yet as Governor of Alaska, Palin earned executive experience, while the current Oval Office resident had only a few years of legislative work. Others point to the interviews with Katie Couric and Charles Gibson during the campaign last year.

Let's understand something: Couric and Gibson are liberal journalists who live for those gotcha moments when they can embarrass a conservative and get a round of high-fives at the next penthouse cocktail party on Central Park West. In contrast, Obama's interviewers seemed like they were more interested in dating him than they were in getting answers to questions. Obama's personal lapdog, MS-NBC's Chris Mathews, gets a thrill up his leg from the chosen one. It's obvious that Mathews has some sort of unresolved intimacy issues to deal with.

In the liberal mind, Obama can do no wrong, mainly because he's black. If he fouls up with a misstatement or a faux pas, they'll cover for him as though they were protecting a child with a debilitating disease. It reminds me of what Bush 2 used to refer to as "the soft bigotry of low expectations." When one of these sycophants asks Obama a question, it's not only a softball, but it comes with heavy breathing and dangling tongues.

Compare that to the lion's den that Palin walked into every time she sat down with one of Obama's obsequious panderers. Given the ideology of the interviewers, I already knew how things would turn out. What really impressed me was watching this woman muster the courage to face her liberal antagonists on national television. How much courage does it take for Obama to engage in one of those cozy love-fests with his fan club?...

...But we're living in an era of in-your-face corruption, a time when elected officials rob us blind and dare us to do something about it. The powerful Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, New York Congressman Charles Rangel, is facing a growing investigation of ethics violations and tax scandals. When the man empowered with the responsibility to write our tax laws refuses to pay his own taxes, something terrible has happened to our country. With a laundry list of misbehavior attributed to him, Rangel boldly clings to his seat, his chairmanship, and his reelection bid.

This has become a pattern across the country. Whether the politicians get caught with their fingers wrapped around bribe money, or with their arms wrapped around someone else's spouse, they arrogantly tell the public that it will not deter them from running for reelection. Once upon a time in America, a politician might be unscrupulous, but if he got caught, he'd be history. Now, we have a president of the United States who appointed a tax cheat (Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner) to his cabinet and attempted to appoint another tax cheat (Tom Daschle) to lead Health and Human Services. Kathleen Sebelius, the Kansas Governor, ended up with her job only after paying about $8,000 in back taxes.

I could illustrate hundreds of other examples of rampant corruption by people in elective office. Pointing to government decay is the job of the free press. But are they hounding any of the power-hungry scoundrels that masquerade as symbols of decency and honor? No, they're engaged in a continuous merciless attack on a woman who has led the way in the fight against the very corruption being overlooked by those who have become blinded by ideology.

Sarah Palin is a threat because she symbolizes decency in a country taken hostage by moral degenerates. If she isn't stopped, this country might end up reclaiming some of the values that made us the envy of the world.

Author...Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the executive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas.

Spot

On

I agree with his sentiment regarding current politicians & the ultra-lefts hatred of Palin, but that doesn;t explain moderates, independent's, etc's (ie; normal people like myself) dislike of her....I don't like Palin for the same reason I don't like Pelosi...I can't stand what they represent...they are idealogues who manipulate data to support their twisted misrepresentations....the Palin supporters have become what they loathed from 2000-2008... a group of whiners bitching because they lost power because, once in power, they offered nothing but more of the same....Palin doesn't represent decency, she represents the the attention-starved reality TV crowd...she has as much depth as a kiddie pool...why anyone would give her opinion a serious forum is beyond me....might as well rally around Al Franken...Frank in the WSJ has it about right this morning...

The Persecution of Sarah Palin
Her memoir is full of vindictiveness and score-settling.

Maybe in their business lives, conservatives are the stern, unforgiving masters of capitalist lore. But when it comes to politics, oh, do they love a whiner!

It is her mastery of the lament that explained former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s appeal last year, and now her knack for self-pity is on full display in her book, “Going Rogue.” This is the memoir as prolonged, keening wail, larded with petty vindictiveness. With an impressive attention to detail, Ms. Palin settles every score, answers every criticism; locates a scapegoat for every foul-up, and fastens an insult on every critic, down to the last obscure Palin-doubter back in Alaska.

From Ms. Palin’s masterwork, we learn that the personal really is the political. Every encounter with a critic seems to be a skirmish in the culture wars, from the Alaska debate moderator who didn’t play fair once to the “wealthy, effete young chap” who ran against her for governor but who, in one of the quickest transitions from anti-snob to snob in all of literature, is also said to have served as “our limo driver at [her husband] Todd’s cousin’s wedding.”

We read about the mean things people have said about Ms. Palin’s daughter Bristol, Ms. Palin’s suspicions that the neighbors of the Alaska governor’s mansion disapproved of her kids’ toys, her assurance that she lived a spartan life as governor, “despite what some critics would later accuse me of doing.” There’s the nonscandal she calls “Troopergate,” which is virtually impossible to follow in this telling, except for the insults Ms. Palin directs at one of the men who was (apparently) on the other side of the issue, whatever it was.

In other circumstances, Ms. Palin seems like a woman of grit. When she discovers that her fifth child is going to be born with Down syndrome, she is initially upset, but then writes a letter in God’s voice—incidentally, one of the book’s creepiest moments—instructing the rest of the family to “accept that I [i.e., the Almighty] only want the best for you. . . .”

But the mean things people say and do during her vice presidential run—these are not to be taken in the same spirit. These are to be recalled and deplored, one by one, as if from a master list Ms. Palin has been keeping all this time. She reminds us that someone hacked her email, that she got a prank phone call, and that she once saw someone wearing an insulting T-shirt in Philadelphia.

She claims that what ruined her famous interview with wily CBS News personality Katie Couric was the latter’s “condescension,” which caused Ms. Palin to bungle questions like the one in which she was asked to name her favorite newspaper. And she introduces us to Steve Schmidt, the Republican campaign strategist who is the book’s No. 1 bad guy—almost alone among the book’s characters, he is always referred to by his last name—and who, as Ms. Palin tells it, once implied to an aide that “if there were any more leaks critical of anybody in the handling of Sarah Palin, then a lot more negative stuff would be said about Sarah Palin.”

And, lo and behold, there is. Much more. All of it neatly catalogued, bemoaned, and for sale.

But amid all this score-settling, Ms. Palin wanders into some predictable traps. When explaining her political philosophy, for example, she tells readers that “conservatism is a respect for history and tradition”; on the very next page she instructs readers to accept the creative-destructive whirl of the market, which affects society the way “wildfires in Alaska burn away deadfall to make way for new growth.”

So much for tradition. The respect she shows history, though, is the kind of respect you show the flag when you soak it in kerosene and touch a match to it. “[W]e tried growing government to save the economy back in the 1930s, and it didn’t work then either,” Ms. Palin writes. It is a modest assertion, though, compared to the astonishing finding Ms. Palin reveals in the next sentence: “Massive government spending programs and protectionist economic policies actually helped turn a recession into the Great Depression.” If this is, as it seems, a reference to the New Deal, then history, per Ms. Palin, sometimes goes backwards, with the WPA and its ilk actually bringing about events that took place before they were launched.

But Ms. Palin’s life is meant to be an inspiration. Maybe I should follow her example. The opinion-page equivalent of the Palinesque style is easy enough to imagine: I would use this space to recite the indignities the world forced on me over the course of the week—an effete-looking young person ignored me the other day—plus glimpses of heartland authenticity—I sure do like pot roast—before concluding, darkly, that the reason I suffer is because I am such a sterling American.

I can’t wait to get started.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000142 ... 49052.html

[JMU DJ]

11 may be a bit excessive, but the AP is a news outlet and Palin is a polarizing individual who stirs the shit and welcomes the media focus while putting out the number one selling book prior to its release.

Not just the Libs tearing the book apart either, McCain aids are on it too:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/1 ... 58124.html

... Rush and Fox news don't seem to be on the same page with this either.



Scared of decency? Please. She may politically represent wholesome values and traditions, but her home life sure doesn't reflect that.

[Appaholic]

11 may be a bit excessive, but the AP is a news outlet and Palin is a polarizing individual who stirs the shit and welcomes the media focus while putting out the number one selling book prior to its release.

Not just the Libs tearing the book apart either, McCain aids are on it too:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/1 ... 58124.html

... Rush and Fox news don't seem to be on the same page with this either.



Scared of decency? Please. She may politically represent wholesome values and traditions, but her home life sure doesn't reflect that.

...nor does her propensity for embellishment....

[SeattleGriz]

I find it hilarious how so many people are saying that she is making excuses. Why aren't these same crybabies pointing the finger at Obama. He blames everything on Bush, even when he shows his vast incompetence by copying everything Bush did in regards to antiterror policies.

Typical liberal shit. Do what you want, as long as it is what I want you to do.

No slam on App, he at least put forth reasons why he dislikes her.

[JMU DJ]

I find it hilarious how so many people are saying that she is making excuses. Why aren't these same crybabies pointing the finger at Obama. He blames everything on Bush, even when he shows his vast incompetence by copying everything Bush did in regards to antiterror policies.

Typical liberal shit. Do what you want, as long as it is what I want you to do.

No slam on App, he at least put forth reasons why he dislikes her.

Didn't Bush blame everything on Clinton? Seems like that's what the Prez does when


Just sayin'.

[SeattleGriz]

I find it hilarious how so many people are saying that she is making excuses. Why aren't these same crybabies pointing the finger at Obama. He blames everything on Bush, even when he shows his vast incompetence by copying everything Bush did in regards to antiterror policies.

Typical liberal shit. Do what you want, as long as it is what I want you to do.

No slam on App, he at least put forth reasons why he dislikes her.

Didn't Bush blame everything on Clinton? Seems like that's what the Prez does when


Just sayin'.

I don't believe Bush did much blaming of Clinton. Most of the Clinton complaints came from his supporters.

Bush sucked it up like man.

[houndawg]

Didn't Bush blame everything on Clinton? Seems like that's what the Prez does when


Just sayin'.

I don't believe Bush did much blaming of Clinton. Most of the Clinton complaints came from his supporters.

Bush sucked it up like man.

Yeah, he sucked it up like a man and didn't blame Clinton's budget surplus for his miserable failure in reducing government spending or his abject incompetence at finding Osama bin Laden.

Ol' dubya is a real stand up guy.

[Wedgebuster]

Didn't Bush blame everything on Clinton? Seems like that's what the Prez does when


Just sayin'.

I don't believe Bush did much blaming of Clinton. Most of the Clinton complaints came from his supporters.

Bush sucked.

[native]

11 may be a bit excessive, but the AP is a news outlet and Palin is a polarizing individual who stirs the **** and welcomes the media focus while putting out the number one selling book prior to its release.

Not just the Libs tearing the book apart either, McCain aids are on it too:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/1 ... 58124.html

... Rush and Fox news don't seem to be on the same page with this either.



Scared of decency? Please. She may politically represent wholesome values and traditions, but her home life sure doesn't reflect that.

Sarah Palin is polarizing in part because of the mindless little sheeple who listen to the committed left wing "moderates" in the mainstream press, who accept their elite status without question and cannot put themselves in a responsible OR God-fearing OR patriotic OR small-business person's OR self-made person's shoes.

[Appaholic]

11 may be a bit excessive, but the AP is a news outlet and Palin is a polarizing individual who stirs the **** and welcomes the media focus while putting out the number one selling book prior to its release.

Not just the Libs tearing the book apart either, McCain aids are on it too:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/1 ... 58124.html

... Rush and Fox news don't seem to be on the same page with this either.



Scared of decency? Please. She may politically represent wholesome values and traditions, but her home life sure doesn't reflect that.

Sarah Palin is polarizing in part because of the mindless little sheeple who listen to the committed left wing "moderates" in the mainstream press, who accept their elite status without question and cannot put themselves in a responsible OR God-fearing OR patriotic OR small-business person's OR self-made person's shoes.

So, unless we like Sarah Palin, we cannot be patriotic, god-fearing small business-supporting, and/or self-made? It's that attitude that has turned me off to idealogues like Palin, but I can't decide if it's her or her supporters attitude (like this) that turn me off the most. Perhaps it's her mindless little followers that are equally polarizing...

[Grizo406]

Author...Bob Weir is a former detective sergeant in the New York City Police Department. He is the executive editor of The News Connection in Highland Village, Texas.

Spot

On

Spot on is more that right!

Never cared that much for The Grateful Dead, but Weir did make some pretty good music that seemed to get his message across! Really surprised to hear he was a cop!