As featured on p. 218 of "Bloggers on the Bus," under the name "a MyDD blogger."
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Journamalism!
So Glenn Thrush of Politico, seeking to post a sexy headline and justify it, hid the context of a Tom Perriello quote with ellipses to make it seem like he was tarring everyone who attended his town halls as a racist. When questioned, Thrush restored the full text without commenting that he changed it.
A couple of days ago I ran an item on Rep. Tom Perriello (D-Va.), who appeared on MSNBC to talk about the town halls -- and commented that he had witnessed some racist comments over the summer.
The video, which had gone viral among conservatives, was sent to me by a tipster. I watched it, thought it was interesting, and began to transcribe the key parts. As I was transcribing, I got an email from a NRCC spokesman Andy Sere, who wanted to comment on it, appending what appeared to be a full a transcript of the exchange.
A time saver, I thought, so I cut-and-pasted. What I didn't immediately realize was that Sere had replaced key words -- that provided important context --with elipses. When the error was pointed out, I quickly fixed it.
Shorter Glenn Thrush - I was writing a story when a partisan operative passed me some text, so I dutifully copied it without checking.
I think this comment says it all: "did you WIN THE AFTERNOON though?"
Politico's Glenn Thrush murders a quote from Tom Perriello to make it seem like he's saying that opposition to Obama's agenda is rooted in racism. Now, forget about the truth of that statement. In order for Thrush to meet the evidence promised in his headline and get eyeballs and make sure everyone passes around his link, he has to bury the context in an ellipse.
What Thrush provides:
Perriello: “Well, you know, making the comment or not making the comment doesn’t change the reality that clearly this is part of what’s going on…I conducted over a hundred hours of town hall meetings in central and southern Virginia…and there were…cases where very racist remarks were made. Sometimes they were called out by neighbors in the audience, sometimes they weren’t. Clearly, race remains a factor in America…there’s also a lot of disagreement here that is genuine here and not based on race, so I think we have to have both conversations.”
What Perriello actually said:
Well, you know, making the comment or not making the comment doesn’t change the reality that clearly this is part of what’s going on, but not all of what's going on. I conducted over a hundred hours of town hall meetings in central and southern Virginia…and there were the rare cases where very racist remarks were made.
he put "the rare" in an ellipse. That is just journalistic malpractice, deliberately sensationalizing a quote to elicit a response that puts a Democratic lawmaker into a flashpoint debate for no reason.
After getting some heat for it, Thrush returned the full context of the quote he took out of context without noting what he did.
He is a blogger, so you can't use the ever-ready phrase "Call a blogger ethics panel" with the requisite irony. Just suffice to say that this is what Politico calls "journalism."
...Here's the Google cache of that page, showing Thrush's ellipses burying the context of Perriello's remarks.
Creating fake grassroots organizations to show presumed local support for typically corporate initiatives is known as astroturfing. Corporate lobbies forging letters from local groups to show that same fake support should be called... I don't know, astroforging?
As U.S. Rep. Tom Perriello was considering how to vote on an important piece of climate change legislation in June, the freshman congressman’s office received at least six letters from two Charlottesville-based minority organizations voicing opposition to the measure.
The letters, as it turns out, were forgeries.
“They stole our name. They stole our logo. They created a position title and made up the name of someone to fill it. They forged a letter and sent it to our congressman without our authorization,” said Tim Freilich, who sits on the executive committee of Creciendo Juntos, a nonprofit network that tackles issues related to Charlottesville’s Hispanic community. “It’s this type of activity that undermines Americans’ faith in democracy.”
The faked letter from Creciendo Juntos was signed by “Marisse K. Acevado, Asst Member Coordinator,” an identity and position at Creciendo Juntos that do not exist.
The person who sent the letter has not been identified, but he or she was employed by a Washington lobbying firm called Bonner & Associates.
Staffers found five forged letters of this type, including one from the local chapter of the NAACP, just in Perriello's correspondence. So you know there are lots more. This seems like the uncovering of a scam that's been going on for years. Ed Markey wants an investigation from his perch in the Global Warming subcommittee.
Obviously the power of lobbyists has grown so much to become completely divorced from the Constitutional mission of petitioning government for redress of grievances. Lobby shops have funded and supported the teabaggers, and they're offering training sessions on how to approach town hall meetings during the August recess. They are busing people around the country to different town halls. Members of Congress somehow still think these meetings reflect the considered opinions of constituents. They should look at Tom Perriello's mail.
Obama did indeed grab that extra electoral vote from Nebraska-02. So make it 365 EVs, with great moves into previously red territory in Indiana, North Carolina, and Nebraska.
As Jon Stewart said on his show this week, "So he won the election by 6 percentage points, but 2-1 in the electoral college. Yes, the Electoral College makes perfect sense!" Which is true, and we need the National Popular Vote, but just like in the primary, Obama's campaign worked with the playing field that they had. They knew how to microtarget at the state and even district level to maximize the votes they needed. And it was incredibly successful.
Meanwhile, we have two more calls for Democrats in the House: Frank Kratovil in MD-01, and Tom Perriello in VA-05. Kratovil's going to be a Blue Dog, but it's notable that he won the seat occupied by Wayne Gilchrest, an antiwar Republican who was primaried out by the Club for Growth. Gilchrest then supported and campaigned for the Democrat and helped him win the seat. As for Perriello, this is a glorious upset. Virgil Goode was a grade-A wingnut, and Perriello is a smart progressive who helped found Avaaz.org, the global MoveOn. He was a Responsible Plan endorser, too. He ran a come-from-behind race that made up maybe 30 points in the final months.
And in the Senate, Al Franken keeps closing the gap on Norm Coleman - it's down to 221 votes. That's going to hit a recount. Plus, Nate Silver has done an analysis of the uncounted votes in the Alaska Senate race, and he thinks Mark Begich could still pull it out. Don't underestimate the Silver.
Like I said, it's hard to evaluate Election Day until all these races are called. It's rounding into a very good night.
I thought the idea that the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 isn't responsible for the financial crisis of 2008 would be self-evident, simply because you would have to believe that the system worked fine for 25-30 years until now, which is just ridiculous. But I underestimated the ability of Republicans to willingly delude themselves. They are desperate to find a scapegoat that doesn't have an (R) next to their name, and people with dark skin are an inviting target. I mean, you have one House Republican getting out the Photoshop and painting his opponent as a bearded darkie (the guy is in fact as white as could be and clean-cut).
So here we go with the blaming of the CRA and minority homeowners, claiming that the government forced the banks to give bad loans out. It doesn't matter than the biggest foreclosure regions are in rural areas and exurbs. It doesn't matter that the CRA only applies to banks and thrifts, and not across the lending market, and certainly not where almost all subprime mortgages were created. Bonddad has the best refutation:
While we're on the topic -- the CRA had nothing to do with the problems at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac either:
Note, too, that Fannie and Freddie have nonpareil lobbying operations and formidable political strength, owing to their hefty donations and penchant for hiring former political operatives. Besides, the agencies claim they've landed in their current predicament through no fault of their own. As Freddie Mac Chairman and CEO Richard Syron recently put it, the GSEs have been hit by a 100-year storm in the housing market, accentuated by some higher-risk mortgages that they were forced to buy to meet government affordable-housing targets.
The latter contention is more than disingenuous. A substantial portion of Fannie's and Freddie's credit losses comes from $337 billion and $237 billion, respectively, of Alt-A mortgages that the agencies imprudently bought or guaranteed in recent years to boost their market share. These are mortgages for which little or no attempt was made to verify the borrowers' income or net worth. The principal balances were much higher than those of mortgages typically made to low-income borrowers. In short, Alt-A mortgages were a hallmark of real-estate speculation in the ex-urbs of Las Vegas or Los Angeles, not predatory lending to low-income folks in the inner cities.
A simple Google search with help from Wikipedia would have revealed how clueless the CRA caused this mess claim is. But that's not the point. The entire financial system is under tremendous stress on the Republican's watch. It's their policies that are under the microscope right now. And they just don't look that good. So now the political game is to shift the blame to Democrats. And who better then to blame then ... Jimmy Carter.
It's just utter know-nothingism, but that hasn't stopped the Republicans before. Good for the CBC to challenge these racists directly, pivoting off of comments supporting this nonsense from Rep. Michelle Bachmann:
In a new letter to House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-OH) obtained by ThinkProgress, 31 members of the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) call Bachmann’s claims “ridiculous” and ask Boehner whether her comments represent the views of the Republican Caucus:
It is clear from Rep. Bachmann’s comments that she believes that the bipartisan laws enacted over the past decade ensuring that minority communities have equal access to banking and other financial services are the cause of this financial situation. […]
There is no evidence to support Rep. Bachmann’s assertion that “minorities” caused the current financial crisis. Laws designed to open opportunities for equal access to credit do not require banks or thrifts to make loans that are unsafe or unprofitable. In fact, laws like the CRA mandate exactly the opposite. […] Additionally, research clearly shows that the majority of the predatory loans that have led us to this financial mess were originated by non-bank financial institutions and other entities that did NOT have a CRA obligation and lacked strong federal regulatory oversight. Shifting the blame for the current economic crisis to laws that allow equal access and opportunities to communities of color is ridiculous.
As members of the CBC, we simply ask if Rep. Bachmann’s position that it was lending to minority communities that caused the current financial crisis, represent the position of Republican Caucus?
Here's a few things I saw in some of the downballot races that interest me in this election:
• CA-04: Charlie Brown, a patriot in the strictest sense of the term, has been running his campaign for Congress based on some simple directives - to help those in need, to work in their own community, and to lead before ever getting to Washington. This week, in the wake of the California wildfires, he has provided supplies and relief to evacuees in Butte County, one of the hardest-hit areas.
• VA-05: This kind of volunteerism and early leadership is something we're also seeing in the campaign of Tom Perriello, who's facing Rep. Virgil Goode in the general election. This is about service, but it's also about raising the bar for activism as an outgrowth of a political campaign.
Early on, Perriello set aside 10 percent of the time and resources of his campaign staff to work on local projects. Larry Campbell, assistant pastor at Bible Way Cathedral in Danville, Va., says he was surprised that Perriello's campaign wanted more than a photo op when they visited his food bank.
"I've had many political candidates come through, but I've never had any work along with us in the area of social-action changes," he says, citing ongoing help from Perriello volunteers. "Most candidates who are running for national office have more programs just getting people out voting for them, but to give back to the community is a heavy statement for social change."
• TX-Sen: The DSCC is hammering John Cornyn for only changing his vote to halt Medicare cuts after the bill was assured of passage. He already lost the Texas branch of the AMA's support over this vote. His opponent, Rick Noriega, is going to need a lot of cash to catch up to Cornyn, but he has raised $1M online, making him the "largest (non-presidential) online fundraiser with ActBlue since its inception." Unfortunately, Texas is such a big state that you probably need LOTS more than Noriega has been able to raise to run a solid challenge.
• CO-Sen: Bob Schaffer, the Republican vying for this open seat, can't stop stepping in scandal. The latest is that he helped negotiate a lucrative oil deal in Iraqi Kurdistan, against the wishes of the State Department, and it's causing major problems for Iraqi efforts to negotiate a hydrocarbon law. Tied to Big Oil and putting personal benefit over country; quite a feat! Mark Udall is the Democrat here.
• MN-Sen: I thought Al Franken's latest ad was pretty good, and represented some outside-the-box thinking:
"In Washington, they debate whether former members of Congress should wait one year or two years before they become registered lobbyists. How about never? I'm Al Franken, in Washington I'll fight for a new law to prevent members of Congress from ever becoming lobbyists."
It's a sharp message, picking up on anti-Washington sentiment. What's more, it's not off the typical shelf of "Democratic issues" we hear over and over again.
• AK-Sen: In other ad news, Mark Begich's latest uses the culture of corruption which has consumed Alaska politics and contrasts it with his personal integrity.
Begich says how he's made all his finances public, so the people can know what he's up to. "But it's not that way in Washington, DC," Begich says. "It's time to end the secret deals for special interests, and the special favors for elected officials."
There's nowhere that will work better than Alaska.
• GA-12: The primary between John Barrow and Regina Thomas is this Tuesday. Blue America has been running ads in the district, and Barrow is peeved.
Howie Klein of Los Angeles, a retired music industry executive and one of Blue America's founders, said the PAC got behind Thomas because of Barrow's votes supporting the war in Iraq, President Bush's signature tax cuts and a recent bill to protect telecommunications companies that help the government eavesdrop on American phone and computer lines.
"He's in a Democratic district and he's still voting worse than anyone else," Klein said. "If we can somehow harm to his chances of being elected, there is a state senator who seems very progressive and intelligent who could do the job." [...]
Barrow responded with a statement saying his support for an increase in the minimum wage and opposition to cutting veterans benefits and privatizing Social Security, among other issues, have put him at odds with Bush plenty.
"Apparently the only way to persuade some people that I'm not a rubber stamp for George Bush is to become a rubber stamp for Nancy Pelosi," the Democratic House speaker, Barrow said. "And I refuse to be a rubber stamp for anyone."
Attacking liberals and dismissing Democrats seems to be an awkward strategy for a primary, but he is the incumbent and Thomas hasn't raised much of her own money. Frankly if we can make this competitive it'll be a win.
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