Media Matters Daily Summary 07-30-10

Fox makes faulty comparison to suggest AZ ruling may "leave people in danger"
Fox News' Alisyn Camerota compared the number of "deaths along the U.S. border" to the number of "soldiers killed in Iraq" to falsely suggest that Judge Susan Bolton's decision to block parts of Arizona's new immigration law put "people in danger." In fact, crime rates in border states have declined in recent years and are at their lowest levels in decades. Read More

Fox & Friends ignore their own interview to mislead on DHS immigration memo
Fox & Friends misled on a Department of Homeland Security memo on immigration reform, falsely claiming it "appears to show the White House has an amnesty plan," which they plan to implement by "going around Congress." The hosts continued to mislead even after White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs confirmed that the administration "doesn't support amnesty" and intended to deal with immigration "through Congress"; Fox & Friends also failed to mention that the DHS memo itself recommended against deferred action, saying it would be "controversial, not to mention expensive." Read More

Varney ludicrously lauds Bush economic record, slams Obama's
On Fox & Friends, Fox Business' Stuart Varney argued that it is "inaccurate" to attribute the recession to President Bush and claimed that "President Obama's policies have not fixed that ongoing recession." In reality, Obama's policies have created growth in the GDP and the Dow Jones Industrial Average, while turning around the increases in joblessness that began under Bush. Read More

Right-wing media respond to AZ ruling with unhinged rhetoric
Media conservatives have responded with a torrent of unhinged rhetoric to an Arizona judge's ruling that blocked parts of the state's immigration law from taking effect. For example, Rush Limbaugh suggested the ruling would prevent the state from defending itself from an "invasion," and Jeffrey Kuhner suggested Arizona should consider secession. Read More

The Smashing Pumpkins - Tonight, Tonight

Smashmouth - Walking on the Sun

Led Zeppelin Knebworth 1979 - The Rain Song

Led Zeppelin - Trampled Underfoot

Led Zeppelin Reunion - Black Dog

Porsche 918 Spyder Plug-In Hybrid Is Only the Start of Green Program

NYT

Citing an “overwhelming response from the public and customers,” Porsche said on Wednesday that it intended to move its ultrapowerful and gorgeously styled 918 Spyder plug-in hybrid from concept to production model. The decision complements a second, more modest environmentally themed test program announced on Monday that will put three battery-operated versions of the popular Boxster into what the company calls “field tests.”

Gary Fong, a Porsche spokesman, cautioned that the 918 decision doesn’t guarantee that the car will actually be built, just that a production-intent program will go forward. In any case, it will be a true exotic. According to Bloomberg, citing “people familiar with the matter,” the 918 could be priced at an incredible $640,000. But Mr. Fong called that number “pure speculation.”

The 918 Spyder was shown at the 2010 Geneva auto show and at Auto China in Beijing. Porsche said that its combined a 500-horsepower V-8 and twin electric motors producing 160 kilowatts, for a combined 718 horsepower. All of the numbers for the Spyder are big, including a 198 mile per hour top speed and a zero-to-60 time of 3.2 seconds. It will also reportedly achieve 78 miles per gallon, though obviously not with that huge V-8 at full throttle..................

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-29-10

Fox News invents a rule exempting SEC from FOIA compliance
Fox hosts are falsely claiming that a provision in the financial reform legislation gives a "complete pass" to the Securities and Exchange Commission from complying with the Freedom of Information Act. In fact, the provision reportedly only protects proprietary information gathered from regulated firms during the course of examinations or investigations, which mirrors exemptions that exist for bank regulators. Read More

Right wing rushes to malign AZ judge -- who Kyl called "highly competent, very well respected"
Following her decision to place an injunction on certain parts of Arizona's immigration law, right-wing media have attacked Judge Susan Bolton by suggesting she is a partisan who was "bought by" the Obama administration. However, Judge Bolton, a registered Independent, is widely respected, and has recently been praised by Arizona Republicans Gov. Jan Brewer and Sen. Jon Kyl -- who recommended her nomination to then-Pres. Bill Clinton in 2000. Read More

Conservative media oblivious to major increase in border enforcement
Following Judge Susan Bolton's decision to block the controversial portions of the Arizona immigration law, conservative media have claimed that Arizona passed the law because the federal government is refusing to enforce immigration law and secure the border, but this rhetoric -- which directly echoes that of Republican politicians -- bears no relation to the facts. Data show federal enforcement efforts are up and illegal immigration is down.
Read More

Beck denies being "responsible" for planned massacre at office of group he demonized
Glenn Beck has denied being "responsible" for a planned attack on the leaders of the Tides Foundation, a nonprofit organization Beck has repeatedly demonized. Beck has said that he "stand[s] by each one" of his attacks on the group and lauded his coverage of the organization. Read More

The latest bogus attack on Kagan: She's anti-small business
A piece in National Review claimed that Elena Kagan is anti-small business because as solicitor general, she filed a Supreme Court brief arguing that the Court should throw out a case brought by a business. But Kagan's alleged anti-small business argument was first made by the Bush Justice Department, and legal experts say Kagan's solicitor general briefs are not necessarily proof of her personal views. Read More

Before admitting a "breakdown," Fox aggressively denied prematurely covering Sherrod story
Fox News Senior Vice President Michael Clemente has now admitted that a "breakdown" allowed Foxnews.com to run a story about Shirley Sherrod's comments before she resigned. Prior to this statement, a barrage of Fox personalities aggressively pushed the claim that Fox had not run with the story before Sherrod's resignation. Read More

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Republicans block small business lending bill

TPM

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-28-10

One year after calling Obama a "racist," Beck is still busy race-baiting
One year ago today, Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people." Since those explosive comments, Beck has continued to use racially charged rhetoric while his colleagues at Fox News have defended him, even in the face of a growing advertiser boycott. Read More

One year later: Right-wing media routinely call Obama racist
On July 28, 2009, Glenn Beck called President Obama a "racist" with a "deep-seated hatred for white people or the white culture." While Beck has reportedly lost more than 100 advertisers since he made those comments, right-wing media figures now routinely call Obama or members of his administration "racist." Read More

Fox opens its airwaves to anti-Muslim activist Geller
Hannity and Fox & Friends hosted Atlas Shrugs blogger Pamela Geller to promote her book and attack President Obama and Islam. Fox made no mention of her history of outrageous, inflammatory, and false anti-Muslim and anti-Obama comments. Read More

Memo to Media: Obama is not "the first sitting president to appear on a daytime talk show"
Media outlets have run with the false claim that President Obama's upcoming interview on The View will mark the first time a sitting president has appeared on a daytime talk show, when in fact, President Bush appeared on Dr. Phil in 2004. Right-wing media have seized on this false claim and his appearance in general to attack Obama's "priorities."
Read More

WND throws the kitchen sink at Kagan to promote "Stop Kagan" scam
Promoting their "Stop Kagan" scam, which asks readers to send WorldNetDaily $24.95 in order to mail personalized letters opposing Elena Kagan to all 100 senators, WorldNetDaily repeated numerous myths and falsehoods about Kagan including Larry Klayman's ridiculous charges that Kagan violated her ethical duties and possibly criminal statutes through her work on "partial-birth abortion" bills.
Read More

Fox now promoting GOP activist Adams' false claim DOJ is "ignoring" military voting law
After trumpeting GOP activist J. Christian Adams' fabricated New Black Panthers Party story, Fox News is now reporting his false claim the Department of Justice is "ignoring" a military voting law by allegedly "encourag[ing]" states to use waivers to bypass the law. In fact, the waiver process is built into the law, and Adams offered no specific evidence to support his claim that DOJ is "encourag[ing]" states to use those waivers. Read More

Cavuto falsely claims judge "went beyond" constitutional issue in AZ immigration law case
Neil Cavuto falsely claimed that Judge Susan Bolton "went beyond" the issue of the constitutionality of Arizona's immigration law when she stated that there's "a substantial likelihood that officers will wrongfully arrest legal resident aliens." In fact, as Bolton noted, the Supreme Court struck down a state law that singled out non-citizens for "inquisitorial practices and police surveillance." Read More

"Race war": Right-wing race-baiting takes on a violent tone
Continuing their long history of engaging in race-baiting attacks against President Obama, right-wing media figures have accused Obama, his administration, and the progressive movement of trying to start a "race war" in order to divide the public and "seize absolute power." Read More

Defending the "so-called rich": Fox News' class warfare
Over the past two weeks, Fox News has frequently defended the wealthy and derided the poor. Fox News figures have criticized the extension of unemployment benefits and the expiration of the Bush tax cuts for the "so-called rich," all while accusing Democrats of using "class warfare rhetoric." Read More

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-27-10

Fox News' long history of race-baiting
Howard Dean and Joan Walsh recently called out Fox News, criticizing what they called its "racist" handling of the deceptively edited Shirley Sherrod video clip. Indeed, Fox News and its personalities have a long history of aggressive race-baiting and racially charged commentary. Read More

O'Reilly falsely claims that Sherrod story marks "first time" he's had to retract a story
On The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, Bill O'Reilly falsely claimed that his apology to Shirley Sherrod was the "first time in 13 years" he had to apologize or retract a story. In fact, Media Matters has documented several instances in which O'Reilly has apologized for or corrected a story that he got wrong. Read More

Beck, Fox & Friends take a trip down health care misinformation lane
Fox & Friends hosted Glenn Beck to rehash tired health care reform misinformation, including that the health care reform bill is modeled after the British system, which will lead to "very little care" and "death panels" for infants and the elderly, and that Center for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) appointee Donald Berwick is "into rationing care." In fact, the new health care reform law does not create a health care system modeled after the British system; the existence of death panels in health care reform has been comprehensively debunked, and in his comments about rationing, Berwick was pointing out that insurance companies already ration care. Read More

Fox's Varney still revising history to claim tax cuts caused "gigantic increase in revenues"
Fox News' purported business expert Stuart Varney falsely claimed that tax cuts enacted under Presidents Reagan and George W. Bush caused "a gigantic increase in revenues to the federal treasury, reducing deficits. That's historically accurate." In fact, virtually no economist believes the evidence supports this notion.
Read More

WND's Klein attacks mainstream Islamic organization as "radical Muslim group"
WorldNetDaily's Aaron Klein called the Islamic Society of North America a "radical Muslim group." In fact, ISNA is a mainstream Islamic group whose president was among Muslim leaders who met with President Bush after the 9-11 terrorist attacks. Read More

Mixed message: Beck spews violent rhetoric, but tells audience to reject violence
Glenn Beck routinely admonishes his audience to reject violence, but he himself has frequently spewed violent rhetoric. Recent incidents of violence that have been linked to rhetoric like Beck's call into question which message his audience is getting. Read More

Still digging: Conservatives won't let up barrage of attacks on Shirley Sherrod
Even after Andrew Breitbart's video of Shirley Sherrod's NAACP speech was uncovered as a deceptively edited excerpt that distorted her comments, conservatives have continued to attack Sherrod with a barrage of false or ludicrous smears. Read More

Department of Defense can’t account for 96 percent of money administered in Iraq reconstruction fund.

THINK PROGRESS

Yesterday, the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction (SIGIR) released its findings on how the money was spent from a special Iraq reconstruction fund set up by the Department of Defense (DOD) between 2003-2007. The account used Iraqi oil money to fund the reconstruction of Iraq. SIGIR concluded that 96 percent of the $9.1 billion the reconstruction program cannot be accounted for by the DOD:

A US federal watchdog has criticised the US military for failing to account properly for billions of dollars it received to help rebuild Iraq. The Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction says the US Department of Defence is unable to account properly for 96% of the money. Out of just over $9bn (£5.8bn), $8.7bn is unaccounted for, the inspector says. [...]

The funds in question were administered by the US Department of Defence between 2004 and 2007, and were earmarked for reconstruction projects. But, the report says, a lack of proper accounting makes it impossible to say exactly what happened to most of the money.

SIGIR also notes that the “U.S. military continues to hold at least $34.3 million of the fund, even though it was required to return it to the Iraqi government in December 2007.” The “Department of Defense comptroller promised to report back to the inspector general’s office by November on progress made.”

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-26-10

Right-wing media falsely claim White House "supported" release of Lockerbie bomber
The right-wing media are distorting a U.K. Sunday Times article to claim that the "White House backed [the] release of [the] Lockerbie bomber," Abdel Baset al-Megrahi. In fact, the Sunday Times article right-wing media figures are citing makes clear that "the United States wanted Megrahi to remain imprisoned in view of the nature of the crime." Read More

Rinse, repeat: Right-wing media just can't stop pushing fake stories
After their smear of Shirley Sherrod dissolved, the right-wing media moved on to two new fake stories: that Mexican gangs had "invade[d]" Texas and taken over two ranches, and that President Obama "backed the release" of the Lockerbie bomber. Indeed, the right-wing media regularly embarrass themselves by running with entirely fabricated stories. Read More

Shocking video shows Brietbart's true allegiance: Al-Qaeda

Breitbart To Headline RNC Fundraiser

TPM has obtained a copy of an invitation to an upcoming RNC fundraiser in California headlined by Michael Steele -- and Andrew Breitbart.

--David Kurtz

Bachmann Bungles Rollout Of House Tea Party Caucus

TPM

Rep. Michelle Bachmann's (R-MN) House Tea Party Caucus debut yesterday mimicked the tea party movement it hopes to represent in Washington -- it was confusing, bumbling and offered a dearth of solid policy goals.

Bachmann says the caucus aims to be a "receptacle" in Washington D.C. for the tea party's frustration with spending, taxes, socialism and, uh, billboard design. But if the caucus' first day is any impression, Bachmann's group will also mirror the amateurish political organizing of the movement.

[TPM SLIDESHOW: Meet The Tea Party Caucus]

Before yesterday's unbelievably diverse press conference introducing the caucus got underway, a Bachmann staffer handed out a list of the 28 Republicans that Bachmann's office said were members of the caucus. Before we fourth estaters could fold the thing up and dutifully bury it in a pocket somewhere, we were told the list was wrong -- it was missing Rep. John Mica (R-FL), we were told.

The trouble is, Mica isn't in the Tea Party Caucus -- as a general rule, he doesn't join caucuses ever, his staff told reporters. Turns out that wasn't the only thing wrong with the list -- or the last stumble of the caucus roll-out.

As David Frum's blog reported all day yesterday, Bachmann's caucus list was about as good an example of a poorly-run organization as you can find this week, save for the Department of Agriculture. The Tea Party Caucus list changed throughout the day, with names disappearing and reappearing as reporters called to verify things. The list itself disappeared from Bachmann's website for a time, before finally showing up again and staying up for good.

One Capitol Hill Republican with knowledge of the process told me the embarrassing debacle of the list was a 100% Bachmann affair -- the caucus list is run out of her office and its errors were, as far as my source knew, thanks to Bachmann's staff.

But Bachmann can't be blamed for the other fail of the tea party caucus rollout yesterday: the complete and total lack of any policy specifics. The tea party, as Bachmann and other Republican representatives at the press conference yesterday rightfully stated, is one of the most powerful political groups on the radar at the moment. The movement strikes fear in the hearts of Republican moderates everywhere (and often causes total loss of perspective in less-Republican circles, like the aforementioned Dept. Of Agriculture.) Yet the movement has often been hard to read policy-wise, making it hard for anyone to understand exactly what the movement stands for.

The Tea Party Caucus rally yesterday was no different. Though the gathered members talked a lot about "taking our country back" and "not taking it anymore," they offered essentially no specific policy agenda moving forward. Here's how the New York Times reported what that sounded like:

The caucus will work against new taxes and government spending in an effort to keep activities of the federal government within "constitutional limits," Ms. Bachmann said. She would not elaborate on how the group would move forward, whether, for instance, the Tea Party Caucus would offer legislation of its own or whether its members would work collectively for or against bills put forward by either party.

For reporters there, it was a struggle to find anything specific to write in our notebooks. Mine has these two phrases underlined several times: "Add Skype" and "cite Constitution." Those represented the two clear policy goals I heard from the Tea Party Caucus and its members. The first came from Bachmann, who called on Speaker Pelosi to allow the use of the popular video phone service at the Capitol so that caucus members can speak to tea partiers more easily.

The second came from Rep. Steve King (R-IA), a caucus member and tea party superstar in his own right. Asked by reporters after the event what specific laws he'd offer as a legislator carrying the tea party banner into the House, King said the only thing he could think of for the moment was a law requiring members to cite the Constitution when sponsoring legislation.

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-22-10

Attacking the victim, right-wing media brand Sherrod a Marxist
Media conservatives, including Glenn Beck and Rush Limbaugh, have continued the right wing's attacks on Shirley Sherrod, who was forced to resign from her position at the Department of Agriculture after Andrew Breitbart posted edited video of a speech she gave to falsely label her a racist. These conservatives have branded Sherrod a Marxist, Maoist, communist, and socialist. Read More

Doocy's deception: "Fox News Channel" did not touch Sherrod story "until she had actually quit"
Fox & Friends co-host Steve Doocy once again deceptively claimed that "Fox News Channel did not touch" the Shirley Sherrod story "until she had actually quit." In fact, Doocy's statement ignores that FoxNews.com published a story based on the deceptively edited video before Sherrod resigned; indeed, a subsequent FoxNews.com article reported that she resigned "shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video." Read More

Timeline of Breitbart's Sherrod smear
Media Matters has documented a timeline of Andrew Breitbart's smear of Shirley Sherrod, from Breitbart's initial posting of his deceptively edited clip of Sherrod -- which was amplified by Fox News and other right-wing media -- through the release of the full video of Sherrod's comments, which made clear the context of her remarks. Read More

When will Fox & Friends apologize for attacking Sherrod?
After Andrew Breitbart posted a deceptively cropped video and smeared Shirley Sherrod as a racist, Fox & Friends followed suit, airing the video clip and claiming that Sherrod's remarks were "Exhibit A" of "what racism looks like." The full video of Sherrod's remarks has since shown that Breitbart's clip was incredibly unfair, yet Fox & Friends has not acknowledged its mistake or apologized for attacking Sherrod's character on national television. Read More

Fox & Friends dredges up debunked claim that NAACP president was in attendance at Sherrod speech
Fox & Friends guest co-host Juliet Huddy dredged up the debunked claim that NAACP national president Ben Jealous was in the audience during former USDA employee Shirley Sherrod's now-infamous March speech. In fact, Media Matters for America confirmed that Jealous was not in attendance. Read More

Kelly's obsession with phony scandal is just the latest "hint of her political outlook"
Megyn Kelly has been a driving force behind Fox News' heavy promotion of the phony New Black Panther Party scandal. Kelly has been criticized for showing "hints of her political outlook" from the anchor desk and has a history of advancing right-wing smears and falsehoods. Read More

Media denounce Breitbart's tactics, highlight his loss of credibility
With the implosion of Andrew Breitbart's smear of Shirley Sherrod, many in the media have criticized Breitbart's tactics, called on him to apologize, or pointed out how this episode has depleted any credibility he may have had. Read More

CNN's Cooper detonates Breitbart's NAACP applause falsehood
Andrew Breitbart has attempted to divert attention from his falsehoods about former USDA official Shirley Sherrod by claiming that her NAACP audience applauded "as she described how she maltreated the white farmer." While some in the media have uncritically forwarded his falsehood, CNN's Anderson Cooper has definitively exposed it as false. Read More

Right-wing conspiracy: Sherrod controversy "orchestrated" by the White House to "smear Breitbart"
As Andrew Breitbart's Shirley Sherrod smear dissolved, rather than blame Breitbart for posting the deceptive clip of her speech, Glenn Beck, Michael Savage, and Rush Limbaugh ludicrously began speculating that he and the conservative media could have been the victim of a "set-up" that had been "orchestrated" by the White House. Read More

Rachel Maddow Uses Humor To Respond To Bill O'Reilly And Make Him Look Like The Pompous Chump He Is

Boehner, Fox’s Shep Smith, And Other Journalists Slam Breitbart For His Race-Baiting Smear Campaign

THINK PROGRESS

This morning, President Barack Obama apologized to former USDA official Shirley Sherrod for her forced resignation based on a highly misleading video produced by right-wing media tycoon Andrew Breitbart. Obama “expressed his regret” in a phone call with Sherrod, which she described as “a very good conversation.” Sherrod also said she is considering suing Breitbart — who has refused to apologize or retract the story — for defamation, noting, “He was willing to destroy me…in order to try to destroy the NAACP.”

But Sherrod isn’t the only one denouncing Breitbart’s deceitful tactics. Speaking to the Daily Caller, House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) called it “unfortunate” that Breitbart “didn’t lay out the whole story, as opposed to a part of it.” “They only put a little piece of the story out there and people make judgments and they rush and they make bad decisions. They make rash decisions,” Boehner said.

Meanwhile, Fox New anchor Shep Smith — whose network breathlessly promoted the smear campaign — slammed Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com as “widely discredited,” and blasted the White House for acting on its video. Smith even called out his own employer, saying, “The video, taken completely out of context, it ran all over the Internet, and television, including on this network:”

We here at Studio B did not run the video and did not reference the story in any way for many reasons, among them: we didn’t know who shot it, we didn’t know when it was shot, we didn’t know the context of the statement, and because of the history of the videos on the site where it was posted, in short we do not and did not trust the source. [...]

[The White House based its decision on] an edited videotape on a widely discredited website that has had inaccurate postings of videos in the past–edited to the point where the world was deceived. … What in the world has happened to our industry and the White House?

Watch it:

As Media Matters documented, a number of high-profile journalists have joined Smith in condemning Breitbart. CNN’s Anderson Cooper said Breitbart’s video was “clearly edited to deceive and slander Miss Sherrod.” Cooper added that Breitbart’s efforts to “weasel his way out of taking responsibility for what he did to Miss Sherrod is a classic example of what is wrong with our national discourse.” Politico’s Ben Smith noted that “Breitbart’s sites now have a growing credibility problem.”

Even conservative journalists, like the Weekly Standard’s John McCormack, denounced Breitbart. “Breitbart’s posting of the partial clip, which leaves out crucial information, was unfair to Sherrod,” McCormack wrote. “Sherrod deserves an apology from Breitbart for posting the edited video.” The National Review’s Jonah Goldberg agreed, writing Sherrod is “owed apologies from pretty much everyone, including my good friend Andrew Breitbart.”

However, Breitbart has at least one defender in hate radio host Rush Limbaugh. Limbaugh attacked Shep Smith for “cav[ing]” in acknowledging that “Breitbart is wrong.” The NAACP should not be spelled “R-A-C-I-S-M,” Limbaugh added.

Angle holds three-minute press conference, then runs from questions.

THINK PROGRESS

Yesterday, after “dodging the press” for more than a month, Sharron Angle, the GOP Senate candidate running against Sen. Harry Reid (D) in Nevada, held her first press conference since her primary win in early June. However, it wasn’t much of a press conference because, like another GOP Senate candidate last month, she dodged reporters’ questions and rushed out the door of the building. The Las Vegas Sun reports:

In the warehouse of a family-owned clean diesel manufacturer in Sparks, Angle delivered a three-minute speech on her desire to permanently repeal the estate tax. When invited by the final speaker to stay and answer a few questions, she turned on her heel and rushed out a back door with a small cadre of staff members.

Reporters, including one who is six months pregnant, chased after her, calling out questions on unemployment benefits and other topics she has largely refused to address.

Watch it:

Angle may have been reluctant to answer questions since she spent her last interview calling unemployed Americans “spoiled.” Or perhaps she just knew that she would not have had an opportunity to plug her website and ask for campaign donations.

–Charlie Eisenhood

Woolsey to introduce ‘robust public option’ bill

RAW STORY

WASHINGTON – What, did you think the fight for health care reform was over?

Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA), co-chair of the progressive caucus, is making good on her promise to continue pushing for a public health insurance option after the enactment of sweeping reform legislation.

On Thursday afternoon, the Northern California congresswoman will announce the introduction of a bill offering consumers a choice between private plans and a "robust" public plan in the health insurance exchanges set up by the law.

"The robust public option offers lower-cost competition to private insurance companies," Woolsey told Raw Story. "This will make insurance more affordable for those who do not have it and keep insurance affordable for those who do. We are introducing the public option now so is will be available as a ready-made off set or deficit reducer in this or the next Congress."

In an email, she promised it would "rein in the spiraling costs of premiums" and "save billions of dollars and improve health care while doing it.".................

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-21-10

Beck's long history of ripping quotes out of context
Stating that "context matters," Glenn Beck suggested he takes care to present information on air only if he has the "full context." However, Beck has repeatedly and grossly distorted the context of people's remarks. Read More

Media across the board reject Breitbart's race-baiting lies
Andrew Breitbart smeared former USDA official Shirley Sherrod as a "racist," using as "proof" a heavily edited video of comments she made during a March NAACP event that he posted on his site BigGovernment.com. In fact, the full video of Sherrod's statements vindicated Sherrod, showing that she was telling a story about getting beyond race, and media figures and outlets from across the board have rejected Breitbart's false claims against her. Read More

Doocy resorts to falsehood in defense of Fox's terrible Sherrod coverage
Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy falsely claimed that "Fox News did not do" the Shirley Sherrod story "until after she had already resigned." In fact, FoxNews.com published a story based on the deceptively edited video before Sherrod resigned; indeed, a subsequent FoxNews.com article reported that she resigned "shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video." Read More

Wash. Times uses discredited allegations to accuse DOJ of "rigging" elections
Washington Times editorial writer Quin Hillyer dubiously accused the Justice Department of "rigging" elections, citing DOJ actions against the New Black Panther Party, black leaders in Mississippi, and state election officials in Missouri to support the allegation. In fact, the DOJ sought injunctions to protect voters in two of those cases and dropped the third due to outdated evidence.
Read More

"Bravo": Right-wing media's initial praise for Breitbart's "great work" on Sherrod
The right-wing media initially praised Andrew Breitbart for his "great work" in publishing a video which he said depicted the supposed "racism" of then-Obama administration official Shirley Sherrod. However, Breitbart's claims quickly unraveled when more information about the incident emerged and the full, unedited video was released. Read More

Big Falsehoods: An updated guide to Andrew Breitbart's lies, smears, and distortions
Following the dissolution of Andrew Breitbart's smear of former Obama administration official Shirley Sherrod, Media Matters provides an updated look at how his sensationalist stories have been based on speculation, gross distortions, and outright falsehoods. Read More

Despite claim that "context matters," Beck played heavily edited Sherrod clip on radio
On Fox, Glenn Beck said that because he didn't have the "full context" of the clip of Shirley Sherrod speaking to the NAACP, "this is something that I wouldn't air and demand a resignation on." However, earlier that day on his radio show, Beck played the clip and suggested it indicated that America has "transported into 1956 except it's the other way around." Read More

Breitbart flounders as his Sherrod story collapses
As his story about former Obama administration official Shirley Sherrod has disintegrated, Andrew Breitbart has desperately tried to maintain his credibility. Media Matters chronicles Breitbart's shifting stories, lies, and attempts to spin the story and pass the blame to others. Read More

Fox News' response to Sherrod fallout: Ignore, whitewash, mislead
Fox News spent much of July 19 and 20 ginning up controversy about the false claim that Shirley Sherrod made racist remarks at a NAACP meeting earlier this year. As the claim unraveled, Fox media personalities disappeared their role in the story, continued to smear her as "descriminat[ory]" in the face of contradictory evidence, and boldly suggested the network did not contribute to the controversy. Read More

Rachel Maddow: FOX News Continues to Demonize Blacks

RNC failed to report over $7 million in debt.

THINK PROGRESS

Earlier this month, reports leaked suggesting the Republican National Committee had failed to report “hundreds of thousands of dollars” of debt to the FEC. It now appears that the level of debt is much greater than originally estimated and may have been hidden by committee leadership. The Washington Times reports:

In a memo to RNC budget committee members, RNC Treasurer Randy Pullen on Tuesday accused Chairman Michael S. Steele and his chief of staff, Michael Leavitt, of trying to conceal the information from him by ordering staff not to communicate with the treasurer – a charge RNC officials deny.

Mr. Pullen told the members that he had discovered $3.3 million in debt from April and $3.8 million from May, which he said had led him to file erroneous reports with the FEC. He amended the FEC filings Tuesday.

Campaign-finance analysts said that simply misreporting fundraising numbers to the FEC can lead to millions of dollars in fines and that criminal charges can be levied if the actions are suspected to be intentional.

Though RNC aides and officials are strongly denying any wrongdoing or misreporting, the organization has brought on “former [FEC] Chairman Michael E. Toner” as outside counsel, an “unusual and significant move,” according to Heritage Foundation legal pundit Hans A. von Spakovsky. He noted, “The RNC normally uses its own inside counsel to deal with the FEC, but if I had a really serious problem with the FEC, Michael Toner is one of the first guys I would turn to help me out.” It also looks like another serious problem for Steele, who just got done weathering numerous calls for his resignation after suggesting that the U.S. should not be involved in Afghanistan.

Now reopen Breitbart's ACORN fraud -- and get the story right

By Joe Conason

Former USDA official Shirley Sherrod, a dedicated public servant innocent of the prejudice and misconduct falsely imputed to her, deserves justice. As soon as the White House and Tom Vilsack restore her job, with an appropriate apology, they will begin to remove a stain of cowardice from their administration. But while that may be all the government can do, it isn’t sufficient to close this case.

Real justice, as I suspect Sherrod would agree, also requires due process for Andrew Breitbart, the Internet impresario who framed her on his Big Government website. In these circumstances, that means a fair, thorough and tough examination of the media fraud that launched his operation last year: the ACORN tapes, whose misuse by Breitbart closely parallels his behavior in the Sherrod affair.

Recalling Breitbart from his days as eager lackey to Matt Drudge, I warned from the beginning that nothing he produced would resemble journalism. More than once since then, I’ve mentioned the accumulating evidence of deception by O’Keefe and Breitbart in creating and then publicizing the ACORN tale. It was a "scandal" that became a national story only after wildly biased coverage on Fox News Channel, followed by sloppy, scared reporting in mainstream outlets, notably the New York Times, the Washington Post, CNN, and the national TV networks (some of whom flagellated themselves for failing to publicize this canard sooner!).

Investigations by former Massachusetts Attorney General Scott Harshbarger, Brooklyn District Attorney Charles J. Hynes, California Attorney General Jerry Brown, and the nonpartisan Congressional Research Service, among others, have served to exonerate ACORN of the most outrageous charges of criminality (while still criticizing ACORN employees and leadership). More important, from the perspective of journalistic ethics, those investigations revealed that the videotapes released and promoted by Breitbart’s website were selectively and deceptively edited to serve as propaganda, not news..................................

Doocy resorts to falsehood in defense of Fox's terrible Sherrod coverage

http://mediamatters.org/research/201007210032

Fox & Friends' Steve Doocy falsely claimed that "Fox News did not do" the Shirley Sherrod story "until after she had already resigned." In fact, FoxNews.com published a story based on the deceptively edited video before Sherrod resigned; indeed, a subsequent FoxNews.com article reported that she resigned "shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video."

Doocy whitewashes Fox News' irresponsible coverage of Breitbart's deceptive video

Doocy: "Fox News did not do the story until after she had already resigned." From the July 21 edition of Fox News' Fox & Friends:

DOOCY: Yesterday, the NAACP came out and they said that we are now apologizing to her and they say they were snookered by Fox News and Andrew Breitbart but as Dana mentioned, there's a timeline problem. Fox news did not do the story until after she had already resigned. So she was pressured by the Department of Agriculture to quit, she quit, and then we did the story. So for anybody to say that Fox News pressured her out, that is simply a lie.

In fact, FoxNews.com ran the story before Sherrod resigned

FoxNews.com: "Video Shows USDA Official Saying She Didn't Give 'Full Force' of Help to White Farmer." A July 19 FoxNews.com article reported on the video, noting that it was "first posted by BigGovernment.com" and reported that:

FoxNews.com is seeking a response from both the NAACP and the USDA. The clip adds to the firestorm of debate over the NAACP's decision to approve a resolution at its convention last week accusing some Tea Party activists of racism -- a charge Tea Party leaders deny.

FoxNews.com: "The Agriculture Department announced" the resignation "shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report." A July 20 FoxNews.com article stated: "The Agriculture Department announced Monday, shortly after FoxNews.com published its initial report on the video, that Sherrod had resigned." That initial report was replaced by the July 20 article, but it was copied on a discussion thread here.

Breitbart’s New Conspiracy Theory: The ‘Purported’ Farmer’s Wife Is A Plant

THINK PROGRESS

Two white farmers who were supposedly discriminated against by former USDA official Shirley Sherrod spoke out on her behalf yesterday, saying “no way in the world” is she racist.

But last night, the right-wing blogger who instigated this faux controversy questioned the white farmers’ honesty and repeated his false racist charges. In interviews with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and CNN, the Iron City, GA couple Roger and Eloise Spooner described Sherrod as a “friend for life” and a “good person” who helped save their farm. Speaking with CNN’s John King, right-wing provocateur Andrew Breitbart challenged Eloise Spooner’s “purported” story, accusing King of trusting Sherrod “that the ‘farmer’s wife’ is the farmer’s wife”:

You tell me as a reporter how CNN put on a person today who purported to be the farmer’s wife? What did you do to find out whether or not that was the actual farmer’s wife? I mean, if you’re going to accuse me of a falsehood, tell me where you’ve confirmed that had this incident happened 24 years ago. [...]

You’re going off of her word that the farmer’s wife is the farmer’s wife?

Watch it (full interview, part one and part two):

Of course, CNN wasn’t just going off Shirley Sherrod’s word, but also the word of Eloise and Roger Spooner themselves. Just for the record, if the “purported” Spooners are a hoax, they’re a quite involved one:

– Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Marcus Garner confirmed to ThinkProgress that the paper independently found Eloise Spooner for her interview.

– Eloise and Roger H. Spooner are listed in the Iron City, GA phone book.

– The Spooners’ 62nd wedding anniversary, according to a blog post of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, was celebrated at the 2009 Tennessee Truck Show.

– Roger Spooner has been cited in “mainstream” news reports, including a 2002 Associated Press story in the Lexis-Nexis database, claiming to be a “survivor” of the USS Yorktown at anniversaries of the Battle of Midway, which purportedly happened in 1942.

– In a 2009 article, USS Yorktown survivor Roger Spooner claimed to have “discharge papers” from the Navy in his “wallet.”

In his desperation to defend his ugly tactics, Breitbart is resorting to dragging an innocent family’s name through the mud.

Louisiana Bishops Rebuff New State Gun Law: “We Don’t Think It’s Appropriate To Have Guns In Churches”

THINK PROGRESS

Earlier this month, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) signed a bill into law that allows people to bring concealed weapons into places of worship. Anyone who passes a background check and completes “eight hours of tactical training each year” can be designated “as part of a security force” for “churches, mosques, synagogues or other houses of worship” that allow carriers of concealed weapons. USA Today reported this week that Catholic churches in Louisiana will still not permit congregants to bring guns to their services:

Concealed handguns won’t be allowed in Roman Catholic churches, despite a new state law allowing them.

“We don’t think it is appropriate to have guns in churches,” Danny Loar, executive director of the Louisiana Conference of Catholic Bishops — the church’s public policy arm in Louisiana, said Monday. …

Bishops discussed the issue when reviewing bills, Loar said.

“The bishops decided that, if the bill became law, the bishops would let their pastors know that this would not be permissible in Catholic churches,” Loar said.

The previous law let only law enforcement officials carry concealed weapons into churches.

Local faith leaders began speaking out against the proposal even before it became law. In June, Catholic Archbishop Gregory Aymond said, “Church is supposed to be a place of sanctuary. The idea of guns there — I’m pretty skeptical.”

And, even though the bill’s principal champion, state Rep. Henry Burns (R), claimed that the new policy would make houses of worship in “declining neighborhoods” safer, local clergy deny that concealed weapons would be any help. “We’ve been here 29 years, and there’s never been a time that a gun would have solved anything,” said John Pierre, a church elder in “a gritty Central City neighborhood.” Reverend John Raphael, whose congregants “had to duck for cover when gunfire suddenly broke out nearby” after one Sunday service, still “said an armed presence in the sanctuary is incompatible with what a church is supposed to be.”

David Frum - Shirley Sherrod and the shame of conservative media

When Andrew Breitbart unveils a selectively edited tape to defame a federal employee, conservatives blame Barack Obama

You want to see media bias in action? Okay — look at the conservative media reaction to the firing of Shirley Sherrod.

Sherrod is the former U.S. Department of Agriculture employee fired for supposed anti-white racism. On July 19, Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com website posted a short video clip from a speech Sherrod had delivered to an NAACP gathering in March.

In the clip, Sherrod confessed to having deliberately declined on racial grounds to help a white farmer faced with a foreclosure on his farm. She was immediately terminated by the USDA and condemned by the national NAACP.

But a second look at the tape made it obvious that the tape had been severely edited, abruptly cut short. Within hours it emerged that the story on the tape was exactly the opposite of the story Breitbart had wanted to tell............................................

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-20-10

Beck distorts Obama administration's language on terrorism
Glenn Beck made a series of false claims regarding language the Obama administration uses to describe terrorism, painting it as weak in fighting terrorists by suggesting that the administration avoids using terms like "terrorism" and "war on terror." Read More

Why is Fox pushing a falsehood to fuel outrage over NYC Muslim community center?
Following right-wing media who pushed the claim without providing evidence, Fox News falsely reported that the Muslim community center and mosque set to be built near Ground Zero will open on the anniversary of 9-11. However, Daisy Khan, executive director of one of the organizations leading the project, told Media Matters that the allegation is "absolutely false" and that "the timeline has yet to be determined." Read More

UPDATED: Myths and falsehoods about Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination
Media Matters for America has compiled an updated list of 45 myths and falsehoods about Solicitor General Elena Kagan's Supreme Court nomination. Read More

The right wing's convenient Mark Williams amnesia
On Larry King Live, The Nationwide Tea Party Coalition organizer Dana Loesch and conservative strategist Michael Reagan attempted to paint recently embattled Tea Party Express leader Mark Williams as an obscure, unimportant tea party member. But as NY Daily News points out, Williams' Tea Party Express--of which Williams served as the organization's public face--"is one of the most influential in the conservative movement," and has raised "$2.3 million this year." Read More

Breitbart's Sherrod narrative unravels
Based on what appears to be selectively edited footage, Andrew Breitbart falsely suggested that Shirley Sherrod said that, in her former position with the USDA, she had discriminated against a white farmer. In fact, Sherrod's statements in the video corroborate her statement that the story she was discussing is 24 years old. Moreover, Sherrod says that the video took her remarks out of context to omit that she was actually telling story about her work to get "beyond the issue of race."
Read More

Wash Times pairs Islamophobic column with image of Kagan in turban
In a Washington Times column accompanied by an image of Elena Kagan in a turban, Frank Gaffney attacked Kagan for allowing Harvard Law School to sponsor an Islamic Finance Project during her deanship. However, sponsorship of Islamic finance programs is not extreme; the Bush administration sponsored such programs, as have major banks. Read More

Full Video Of Sherrod's Speech

TPM

The NAACP just posted the full video of Shirley Sherrod's speech in front of the Coffee County NAACP this past March.

The relevant part starts about 16 minutes in. Sherrod is talking about how her father was killed by a white man when she was 17; that night, she says, she made a commitment to stay in the South and work toward change.

She says that she was only thinking about black people when she made that commitment. But God had other plans, she said.

"You realize the struggle is really about poor people," she said, and then tells about "the first time I was faced with having to help had to help a white farmer save his farm."

Once you get past the part shown in the Big Government clip, Sherrod goes on to say that that white farmer experienced an obstacle she had never seen: He was blocked from filing bankruptcy, and his farm was foreclosed on. The lawyer, she says, had told the farmer he should just give up the farm.

As Sherrod tells it, she intervened and found the farmer a lawyer who could help him.

"Working with him made me see that it's really about those who have versus those who don't. They could be black, they could be white, they could be Hispanic. And it made me realize then that I needed to work to help poor people, those who don't have access the way others have," she says.

Watch:

Quick note: There is, as you can see, an edit in the middle of the speech. An NAACP spokesman tells me that, according to the local chapter, that's when the tape was switched in the recording. What's missing, he said, is a line about Sherrod being offered tobacco.

Exclusive: Religious group calls out Glenn Beck’s ‘warped gospel’, launches ad campaign

RAW STORY

When Glenn Beck attacks Christianity, some just see red. Others -- they spy opportunity.

Dan Nejfelt, a communications associate with advocacy group Faith in Public Life, has been high on Beck's smear-list ever since his group began running Christian radio ads quoting scripture as a way of encouraging believers to stop paying attention to the right-wing Fox News personality.

The group, which says their ads are sponsored by over 100,000 members nation-wide, has gone so far as to target their ads for every city Beck is visiting this summer.

RELATED: Long-time Glenn Beck advertiser Goldline under investigation

Their efforts have been getting Beck's goat in a big way. In recent days he's even played their ad on his radio program and increased the ferocity of his rhetoric against Christians who see poverty, war, climate change and economic tyranny as core social ills.......................................

Media Matters Daily Summary 07-19-10

NY Post op-ed completely inverts Obama's remarks about oil spill crisis
In a New York Post op-ed, James Jay Carafano claimed that President Obama's message in a July 16 press conference about the Gulf oil spill was that "the crisis is over; let the vacation begin!" In fact, Obama said the opposite. Read More

Fox News overlooked voter-intimidation allegations against Minutemen
In contrast to Fox News' repeated hyping of voter-intimidation charges against members of the New Black Panther Party during the 2008 election, a search of the Nexis database indicates that Fox News' top shows did not report on similar allegations that members of the Minutemen harassed Hispanic voters at an Arizona polling center in 2006. Read More

Rove falsely claims Biden's stimulus numbers "don't match up"
Karl Rove falsely claimed that Vice President Biden's "own numbers don't match up" since Biden said the Recovery Act has saved 3 million jobs, while Recovery.gov lists less than 700,000. In fact, those figures reflect only a portion of the Recovery Act spending, and more detailed economic analyses conducted by the Obama administration, private analysts, and the nonpartisan CBO conclude that the stimulus has raised employment by between 1.4 and 3.6 million. Read More

Media reported New Black Panthers "controversy," not conservative's statement that it's a right-wing effort to "topple" administration
After reporting on the right-wing accusation that racial bias motivated the Justice Department to drop charges against members of the New Black Panther Party, major print outlets have not reported that the Republican vice chair of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights has stated that conservatives on the panel are using the issue to try to "topple the [Obama] administration." Read More

Disgraced Tea Partier Mark Williams a frequent CNN guest: 10 appearances since August
CNN has frequently hosted Tea Party Express spokesman Mark Williams despite his history of incendiary and racially charged rhetoric, which most recently resulted in his expulsion from the National Tea Party Federation. CNN has hosted Williams as a guest 10 times since August 2009. Read More

Fox's tea party affiliate expelled from National Tea Party Federation
Fox News has relentlessly promoted the Tea Party Express, a tea party organization founded by a Republican consulting firm, and has denied the existence of racist elements among tea party supporters. On July 18, the National Tea Party Federation announced that the Tea Party Express had been expelled from the federation in the wake of racially incendiary comments by its spokesperson. Read More

UPDATED: Manufactured scandal: Right wing's phony allegations against the Justice Department
J. Christian Adams' accusations that President Obama's Justice Department engaged in racially charged "corruption" in the New Black Panther Party case do not stand up to the evidence. Adams is a right-wing activist tied to the Bush-era politicization of the Justice Department who has admitted he lacks first-hand knowledge of the events he is discussing, and his claims fall apart given the fact that the Obama DOJ obtained judgment against one defendant, while the Bush DOJ declined to pursue similar allegations in 2006. Read More

Palin (R - Idiot) - Kodiak largest US island

CONCORD, N.H. – Sarah Palin incorrectly calls Alaska's Kodiak Island the largest island in America in a Facebook post endorsing a Senate candidate in New Hampshire.

The Big Island of Hawaii is about 440 square miles larger than Kodiak, where Palin and her family were headed Monday.

In endorsing Republican candidate Kelly Ayotte (AY'-aht), Palin also strayed a bit from the facts in praising her for having "won" a case before the U.S. Supreme Court.

As state attorney general, Ayotte defended a law requiring parental notification for teenagers seeking abortions. But it was repealed after the U.S. Supreme Court sent it back to a lower court.

Ayotte is among seven candidates seeking the GOP nomination for the seat being vacated by Republican Sen. Judd Gregg. Rep. Paul Hodes is unopposed in the Democratic primary.

Quit calling the Tea Party populist!

By Joan Walsh

Too many reporters have described the Tea Party movement as some kind of populist uprising at "elites" channeling economic anxiety about the recession. Sadly (because he should know better), the New York Times' Matt Bai is typical, writing just last month: "The only potent grass-roots movement to emerge from this moment of dissatisfaction with America’s economic elite exists … in the form of the so-called Tea Party rebellions that are injecting new energy into the Republican cause."

The latest Democracy Corps poll and report might make Bai and his editors think about a correction — or at least a follow-up. From a database of 2,600 interviews between April and June, in which "strong supporters" of the Tea Party supporters made up a quarter of respondents, Democracy Corps concluded that Democrats should be worried about the Tea Party's role in the 2010 midterms, but warned, "Don't mistake it for a populist rebellion."

Far from an uprising against Wall Street and big business, Tea Partiers are among the most pro-big-business segments of the electorate, the poll found: 54 percent rate big business warmly; only 20 percent coolly.

And they are likewise far from the independent, nonpartisan movement some in the media seem to believe they are: The Tea Party is strongly affiliated with the GOP: 86 percent of movement supporters and activists either identify with or lean toward the Republican Party, and 82 percent say they will vote for the GOP candidate in the November 2010 midterms; only 9 percent say they won't. That margin is actually higher than it is among self-described "conservatives," where it's 72 to 18 percent.

Appallingly, the movement is united by the false belief that Barack Obama is a socialist: 90 percent of Tea Partiers polled call our centrist corporate-Democratic president a socialist. The authors write:

The driving force behind their negativity toward Obama is the belief that his actions and goals are un-American. Throughout the focus groups, people repeatedly invoked “Obama’s Socialist Agenda” — with the occasional communism comment thrown in. Participants said it is this socialist agenda — which underlies all of Obama’s policies seeking to make citizens more dependent on the state — that has put people over the edge and launched a movement that has been percolating for a long time...............................................................

I-580 Oakland shooter Byron Williams was Tea Party sympathizer

sfgate.com

According to Bob Egelko and Henry K. Lee of the San Francisco Chronicle, the man who terrorized Oakland (causing Adams Point residents to take to online chat rooms about the helicopter and shooting noise) was a parolee named Byron Williams who hated left-wing politicians and had on a bullet-proof vest. In other words, a Tea Party sympathizer.

That he was on the Oakland stretch of I-580 may have been no accident, considering Oakland's a hot bed of left-wing political activity. Byron Williams also reads like a Tea Party sympathizer, and not exactly the warm and fuzzy kind. More like the kind that wants to harm you if you disagree with him.

Is this what we're coming too? A Northern California man who's mother says was upset by "the way Congress was railroading through all these left-wing agenda items." Another Tea Party-type nut?

Doesn't that sound something like Joe Stack, the man who flew his plane into the Austin, Texas IRS Building earlier this year and who was called a Tea Party sympathizer? Or how about the Tea Party Express' Mark Williams, who just last week wrote a racist blog post against the NAACP? Someone white, male, generally middle-aged, at times not economically successful or comfortable, and angry, and who wants to take a gun or a plane (or a blog) to wreck society? All because they say they don't like the left wing political agenda (whatever that is, since the left can't seem to agree on things), when the real issue is they can't get a good job? Rush Limbaugh, this is your fault.

As I've written before, the USA's got to fix this economy, and the only fast way is with another stimulus package. But I will put a finer point on it: the GOP has two problems: it's becoming known by the company it draws in loony-bin angry older white men like Rush Limbaugh and who want to harm people either mentally or physically, and really because their own economic lot isn't great (except for Rush, who makes a half-billion off hate), and the GOP is not helping President Obama fix the economy. So the GOP and the Tea Party, and its extremist expressions of hate for liberal politics are in a way responsible for encouraging the actions of i-580 Shooter (now he has a title) Byron Williams, and for Joe Stack too.

The GOP better look at itself and start being part of the solution, because it and Fox News are helping to produce domestic terrorists at an alarming rate. Republicans can't just ignore the Tea Party Express, it must totally repudiate it, and the actions of its most hateful members. Fox News has to stop being the place where people like Byron Williams and his Mom get their half-basked anti-American-government ideas, and, I assert, become so riled up they take action against America and its people.

This has to stop.

Bush ally: Black Panther story a ‘fantasy’ to ‘topple Obama’

RAW STORY

A Bush administration civil rights appointee says the conservative media uproar over allegations the Justice Department is protecting the New Black Panther Party from voter-intimidation prosecution is a "fantasy" designed to oust Attorney General Eric Holder and harm the Obama administration.

"This doesn’t have to do with the Black Panthers; this has to do with their fantasies about how they could use this issue to topple the [Obama] administration,” Abigail Thernstrom, former vice chairwoman of the US Commission on Civil Rights, told Politico.

“My fellow conservatives on the commission had this wild notion they could bring Eric Holder down and really damage the president,” Thernstrom said.

Thernstrom's views on this issue line up with many voices in the progressive media, who argue the claims that the Justice Department is showing pro-African American racial bias are illegitimate.

Blogger Karoli at Crooks and Liars notes that Thernstrom has been known for her otherwise socially conservative views, including opposition to affirmative action......................................

Ozzy Osbourne - Let Me Hear You Scream