Documents show media plotting to kill stories about Rev. Jeremiah Wright
It was the moment of greatest peril for then-Sen. Barack Obama’s political career. In the heat of the presidential campaign, videos surfaced of Obama’s pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, angrily denouncing whites, the U.S. government and America itself. Obama had once bragged of his closeness to Wright. Now the black nationalist preacher’s rhetoric was threatening to torpedo Obama’s campaign.
The crisis reached a howling pitch in mid-April, 2008, at an ABC News debate moderated by Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos. Gibson asked Obama why it had taken him so long – nearly a year since Wright’s remarks became public – to dissociate himself from them. Stephanopoulos asked, “Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?”
Watching this all at home were members of Journolist, a listserv comprised of several hundred liberal journalists, as well as like-minded professors and activists. The tough questioning from the ABC anchors left many of them outraged. “George [Stephanopoulos],” fumed Richard Kim of the Nation, is “being a disgusting little rat snake.”
Others went further. According to records obtained by The Daily Caller, at several points during the 2008 presidential campaign a group of liberal journalists took radical steps to protect their favored candidate. Employees of news organizations including Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic participated in outpourings of anger over how Obama had been treated in the media, and in some cases plotted to fix the damage.
In one instance, Spencer Ackerman of the Washington Independent urged his colleagues to deflect attention from Obama’s relationship with Wright by changing the subject. Pick one of Obama’s conservative critics, Ackerman wrote, “Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists.”
Michael Tomasky, a writer for the Guardian, also tried to rally his fellow members of Journolist: “Listen folks–in my opinion, we all have to do what we can to kill ABC and this idiocy in whatever venues we have. This isn’t about defending Obama. This is about how the [mainstream media] kills any chance of discourse that actually serves the people.”
“Richard Kim got this right above: ‘a horrible glimpse of general election press strategy.’ He’s dead on,” Tomasky continued. “We need to throw chairs now, try as hard as we can to get the call next time. Otherwise the questions in October will be exactly like this. This is just a disease.”
(In an interview Monday, Tomasky defended his position, calling the ABC debate an example of shoddy journalism.)
Thomas Schaller, a columnist for the Baltimore Sun as well as a political science professor, upped the ante from there. In a post with the subject header, “why don’t we use the power of this list to do something about the debate?” Schaller proposed coordinating a “smart statement expressing disgust” at the questions Gibson and Stephanopoulos had posed to Obama.
“It would create quite a stir, I bet, and be a warning against future behavior of the sort,” Schaller wrote.
Tomasky approved. “YES. A thousand times yes,” he exclaimed.
The members began collaborating on their open letter. Jonathan Stein of Mother Jones rejected an early draft, saying, “I’d say too short. In my opinion, it doesn’t go far enough in highlighting the inanity of some of [Gibson's] and [Stephanopoulos’s] questions. And it doesn’t point out their factual inaccuracies …Our friends at Media Matters probably have tons of experience with this sort of thing, if we want their input.”
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In killing this and other stories instead of doing their actual jobs they have also managed to kill off viewship. Karma is a bitch.
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How sad is it, that for the first time in my life, (and I’m no spring chicken), I hesitate to post my thoughts on the web because I feel like Obama and his crew are watching everything and everybody. They want to control the press, the internet and everyone’s thoughts. And has anyone tried to reason with a liberal lately? It’s like they’re orbiting another planet. I keep waiting for Rod Serling to step through the door.
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Keep up the great work!! I had thought that integrity in journalism was dead, but DC is thankfully demonstrating that there is still a glimmer of hope that truth will be told.
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no surprise the libturds are doing this. no surprise at all.
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I just want to know who is on the journal “list”. And why has it taken so long to uncover it.
When I was young and there was only 3 chanels n my area. My father stood at the TV, (no remote controls), and showed me that the first three stories on each major news chanels were the same. The news midea has been corrupted for years.
Charley Gibson and Shefier didn’t know about major news stories because they were on vacation? Please!!!!!! They had not been informed because thay were not
watching FOX!!!!!
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I’m shocked…I keep checking Huffington Post and MSNBC to see their coverage of this story, but can’t seem to find it anywhere…Guess I’ll keep checking.
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The funny thing is that most people were not and still are not fooled by their lying. What has happened to America? Hillary Clinton blustered about a “vast right wing” conspiracy, when in fact she is part of the “vast left wing” conspiracy. Google “Cloward and Pliven Plan” and Saul Alinsky. Look at Hillary’s relationship to Alinsky and how, just after Bill was elected President, the White House tried to get back Hillary’s college paper she did on Alinsky. Read about all this stuff and you’ll understand what Obama is doing and how the liberal press helps this happen.
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Chet and David must be rolling over in their graves.
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I miss David and Chet.
“Good night, Chet.” … “Good night, David.”
A little nostalgia: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uYf3eyRjfYA
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We are being ruled by thugs, liars, and radicals who will use bribes, force, and any crisis, or dishonest tactic and strategy to push through their socialist agenda and power-grab. The majority of news reporters are democrats and liberals and they are supporting Obama. They put a positive spin on everything Obama and his administration say and do. The liberal bias news reporters control what information is reported and how it’s reported.
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