Liberal Journalists Protected Obama And Smeared Critics

If you thought Dave Weigel was the only outrageous thing to happen on the liberal and now defunct Journolist, you'd better think again. If you'll recall, the list was shut down and Weigel resigned from his position as a journalist "covering the right" after remarks he had published on the list became public. For example:

"Honestly, it's been tough to find fresh angles sometimes–how many times can I report that these [tea party] activists are joyfully signing up with the agenda of discredited right-winger X and discredited right-wing group Y?" Weigel lamented in one February email.

In April, Weigel wrote that the problem with the mainstream media is "this need to give equal/extra time to 'real American' views, no matter how fucking moronic, which just so happen to be the views of the conglomerates that run the media and/or buy up ads."

Now we have evidence, gleaned from the same source, that mainstream media personalities actively worked to defend Obama and defuse situations that might harm his candidacy. Journalists from Time, Politico, the Huffington Post, the Baltimore Sun, the Guardian, Salon and the New Republic actively planned to defend Obama.


Remember the Reverend Jeremiah Wright scandal? Journalists decided to actively defend Wright (and through him, Obama) from attacks by "the right." Likewise
http://dailycaller.com/2010/07/20/documents-show-media-plotting-to-kill-stories-about-rev-jeremiah-wright/

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.”

So here we have hard evidence that a group of liberal reporters decided to actively protect Obama from harmful stories, and to smear those who reported the allegations.

Fred Ackerman, then with the Washington Independent, had a plan to deflect attention from the Wright scandal by making false accusations of racism to those covering the story.

"I do not endorse a Popular Front, nor do I think you need to. It’s not necessary to jump to Wright-qua-Wright’s defense. What is necessary is to raise the cost on the right of going after the left. In other words, find a rightwinger’s [sic] and smash it through a plate-glass window. Take a snapshot of the bleeding mess and send it out in a Christmas card to let the right know that it needs to live in a state of constant fear. Obviously I mean this rhetorically.

"And I think this threads the needle. If the right forces us all to either defend Wright or tear him down, no matter what we choose, we lose the game they’ve put upon us. Instead, take one of them — Fred Barnes, Karl Rove, who cares — and call them racists. Ask: why do they have such a deep-seated problem with a black politician who unites the country? What lurks behind those problems? This makes *them* sputter with rage, which in turn leads to overreaction and self-destruction."

Lovely, isn't it? These are the people who report the news, folks, and they are actively conspiring to destroy peoples' lives... forcing critics of Obama "to live in a state of constant fear."

All of those involved should be fired and drummed out of the news business entirely. They've shown that they can't keep their ideology from interfering with reporting the news. Additionally, they've proven that they are far too willing to abuse the power they have as journalists.

I'd also like to know if the people so smeared by them might have the legal basis for suing them for intentional harassment to harm.

Just a thought...