Obama, Che, Windows 7, NY Times, Nonsense and Crime

Blogs, Links and INFO:
Hot Stuff in the Blogosphere




November 13 2008

• Coulter: Libs Lecture Losers
• Change.gov Hits the Delete Button Again
• MS Windows 7 an Evil Twin of Vista
• SPLEEN-Tastic!
• Criminal Antics
• Obama's Che Jones
• Quick Hitters

---

LIBS LECTURE LOSERS

The New York Times reported that Barack Obama won.

That's a step up from not reporting news, ala John Edwards scandal. From GOP Vote Declines Less Than NYT Profit:

For the first time in 32 years, Democrats got more than 50 percent of the country to vote for their candidate in a national election, and now they want to lecture the Republican Party on how to win elections. Liberal Republicans have joined them, both groups hoping no one will notice that we just lost this election by running the candidate they chose for us.
...
In January this year, [David Brooks of the NY Times] boasted of McCain's ability to attract "independents."

And then Election Day arrived, and all the liberals who had spent years praising McCain all voted for Obama. Independents voted for Palin or voted against Obama. No one outside of McCain's immediate family was specifically voting for McCain.

We'd label this a "good trade": libs get a majority of the presidential popular vote every 32 years and in return, the Times gets to deliver a lecture.

The Times can now return to its status of a conservative chew-toy.

---

MORE CHANGES at CHANGE.gov

Remember when the 'Office of The President Elect was created? You don't? Well, don't feel bad: nobody else remembers either.

That's because there is no such office--outside the imaginative seal/sign wizards in the Obama campaign. The Obama campaign continues its run for the 2012 presidency before taking office in 2009, by using "Change.gov" to announce "change".

More web scrubbing from the industrious Internet-savvy Obama Bunch.

From Change.gov Removes Immigration Agenda - I Have A Screenshot [Pic]:

In an effort to hide their agenda, the website for Barack Obama - Change.gov which touts itself ridiculously as being part of the "Office of the President-Elect" which doesn't actually exist - has apparently removed a whole host of agenda items. Included in this was their agenda on immigration, which I was planning on posting an article about, but when I went back today it was mysteriously deleted. It seems that the website has lived up to the name of "Change".
...
I have managed to grab a screenshot of the immigration page prior to it's deletion and you can click the image at right to see a full version of the page.

DBKP had previously written about the 'America Serves' page at Change.gov: which detailed "required" volunteering of middle school, high school and college students--parts of which were quickly changed and/or deleted at Change.gov.

* Barack Obama: Compulsory Service REQUIRED of Middle, High School, College Students
* Changes You Can Believe In: Change.Gov Changes America Serves Post

Doug Ross has ANOTHER disappearing Change.org page--this one on Obama gun ban tactics: Obama's plans to dismantle the Second Amendment disappear down the Memory Hole

New Slogan for Obama/Change.gov: "Now You See it, Now You Don't!"

---

MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7 and VISTA: EVIL TWINS

PC World gets a sneak peek at Windows 7--the "upgrade" to the "upgrade" of Windows Vista. Randall Kennedy writes in "Under the Hood, Windows 7 Is Vista's Twin":

Bottom line: So far, Windows 7 looks, behaves, and performs almost exactly like Windows Vista. And it breaks all sorts of things that used to work just fine under Vista. In other words, Microsoft's follow-up to its most unpopular OS release since Windows Me threatens to deliver zero measurable performance benefits while introducing new and potentially crippling compatibility issues.
...
Windows Vista has permanently eroded the company's reputation among IT decision makers, and from what we've seen of Windows 7 so far, Microsoft still doesn't get it.

Microsoft may have been better off making those unfortunate enough to use Vista sign a marriage vows-like certificate purchase agreement promising to stay with the operating system through "better or worse".

[Background--also by Kennedy: Death match: Windows Vista versus XP
Does Vista have what it takes to knock XP off the enterprise desktop? Not by our scorecard. Point by point and blow by blow, we offer 10 reasons enterprises can skip Windows Vista and stick with XP]

---

THE BABBA ZEE SEAL OF GOODNESS


Latest from the Outraged Spleen of Zion:

• WFRL: You Ain't Goin' Nowhere
• WFRL: Last Bongo in Belgium
• WFRL: Dog Eat Dog
• Melanie Phillips does Dick Dawkins

The last is my personal favorite.

What's in your Spleen?

---

CHE GUEVARA STILL A FAVE of OBAMA SUPPORTERS

One of the great untold love stories of the 21st Century.


[ABOVE: Obama Rally flags in Houston, TX]

All things Che and Obama: Che Che Cha Cha Com Commie Obama.

I can't leave ya, babe.

---

CRIME TIME

The Trenchcoat Chronicles, where Trench Reynolds--of DBKP's This Week in Crime--is

"Poking the world of crime in the eye with a sharp pointy stick".

• Dillard High School shooting leaves one dead
  
• Pearson pleads no contest
  
• Woman killed at Klan initiation

Eye for an eye.

---

STOP THE ACLU!

Nonsense noted then expounded upon for the naive.

Media and Academia, Historical Illiterates du Jour
Obama "just like" Lincoln, FDR? Oh brother.

Conservatives have a better sense of humor
Stop it, you're killing me!

Ted Nugent: It’s RINO Hunting Season
No limit.

---

QUICK HITTERS

1. No New York Times to kick around?
   Doug Ross@Journal: The Gray Lady's not dead, She's just restin'
   
   
2. It's coming: Obama's Youth Corp.
   Liberal Rapture: If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a draft
   
   
3. Hank Paulsen spins a tale of woe; Adam Smith spins in his grave.
   No Runny Eggs: When Smith Barney Talks, People Listen!
   
   
4. A Georgia Congressman is worried.
   CRIPPY's World: Congressman Warns of Coming Dictatorship
   
   
5. A pony is hidden in some piles of manure.
   Conservative Punk: Capitalism: The Philosopher's Best Friend
   

One man's 50-cent tour through the blogosphere.

by Mondo
images:
* 2moons
* diggers realm
* info rodeo

Throbbing Memo Anniversary: MSM vs. the Blogosphere

The 'Throbbing Memo':
Dan Rather, CBS News Not the Only Ones Put on Notice
Blogosphere Comes of Age
Now Watching the 'Watchdogs'


The famous "throbbing" memo at Little Green Footballs
[NOTE: Our memo might not "throb"; for that you'll have to visit LGF.]


"I opened Apple’s TextEdit word processor, and with default settings typed in the same text from the August 18, 1973 memo as found at CBS News, with the same Times New Roman font at the same 12 point size."

That sentence, posted on Fri, Sep 10, 2004 at 4:40:11 pm PST at Little Green Footballs by Charles Johnson, signaled the beginning of the end for American dependence on the gatekeepers of the Mainstream Media for their news.

As Johnson wrote today, "Four years ago, the Dreaded Throbbing Memo that haunts Dan Rather’s fevered dreams was born."

According to Wikipedia--not the best source for current and/or political events; as any who sought unbiased, well-sourced info on either John Edwards' scandal or Sarah Palin can attest:

The Killian documents controversy (also referred to as Memogate, Rathergate or Ra^thergate) involved six documents critical of President George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard in 1972-1973. Four of these documents^[2] were presented as authentic in a 60 Minutes Wednesday broadcast aired by CBS on September 8, 2004, less than two months before the 2004 Presidential Election, but it was later found that CBS had failed to authenticate the documents.^[5] Subsequently, several typewriter and typography experts concluded the documents are forgeries, as have some media sources. No forensic document examiners or typography experts have authenticated the documents, and this may not be technically possible without original documents. The provider of the documents, Lt. Col. Bill Burkett, claims to have burned the originals after faxing copies to CBS.^[9]

CBS News producer Mary Mapes obtained the copied documents from Burkett, a former officer in the Texas Army National Guard, in the course of pursuing a story about the George W. Bush military service controversy. The papers, purportedly made by Bush's commander, the late Lieutenant Colonel Jerry B. Killian, included criticisms of Bush's service in the Guard during the 1970s. In the 60 Minutes segment, anchor Dan Rather stated "we are told [the documents] were taken from Lieutenant Colonel Killian’s personal files" and incorrectly asserted that "the material" had been authenticated by experts retained by CBS.

The original throbbing memo can be seen at Another CBS Document Experiment

This episode led to CBS News first stonewalling, then later firing Dan Rather.

Four years later, CBS is still stonewalling: look no further than the blackout of any news the John Edwards affair/scandal/cover-up prior to August 8th, when Edwards called Bob Schieffer and, in effect, told CBS and Schieffer it was okay to now mention the story.

In the Edwards' story, CBS was joined by the entire posse of the Mainstream Media. Only the intrepid persistence of the National Enquirer and some blogs finally broke through the determined MSM "cone of silence".

[Background information: access over 100 DBKP stories on the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter affair, scandal and cover-up: John Edwards Love Child Scandal Library.]

Even after Edwards was confronted by the Enquirer's reporters on July 21 and barricaded himself in a Beverly Hilton mens room, the watchdogs in the MSM didn't think any of that was news--even though Edwards had just been named by Time magazine as being on Barack Obama's short list for vice-president.

Now shift to another party, another VP: the same MSM that ignored the Edwards story is operating under a completely different standard.

The Mainstream Media is crawling all over Alaska in an effort to uncover something--anything--negative to write about Sarah Palin, John McCain's VP choice. Not being able to find anything classified as "dirt" hasn't stopped the almost-hourly binge of negative Palin stories in the MSM.

If the press had expended 1% of the effort in the Edwards story it has in trying to find something "bad" about Palin, the John Edwards' story would have been dealt with in December and January.

All this brings us back to the "throbbing memo".

Dan Rather and CBS News tried to influence the 2004 election by releasing a story based on forged documents--and got caught by the blogosphere.

Four years later, CBS and the MSM are still at in the business of trying to influence elections, this time by their 24/7 attacks on the conservative Republican VP.

This time around there is not only Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs watching them do it: there's a cast of, literally, thousands to assist.

Happy Anniversary, Blogosphere vs. the Mainstream Media.

Happy Fourth Anniversary, "throbbing memo"!


by Mondoreb
image: Little Green Footballs

MSM vs. the Blogosphere: INFO WARS

INFO WAR Heats Up
Sarah Palin vs. John Edwards Coverage




MSM "News" Coverage a Scandalous Joke
MSM Stockholders Laugh While Selling


Did you hear the one about the Mainstream Media's biased news coverage?

You didn't? Then you must be one of the few remaining customers of the MSM.

Everyone else has heard the joke and taken action: either they've turned to other news sources; or, if holding stock in MSM companies, they've used a bullhorn to tell their brokers to "Sell!"

2008 will go down in journalistic history as a year in which the bias in Big Media's handling of "news" became a story in itself.

First, there was the nine-month "don't ask, don't tell" policy that the MSM pursued in the handling of the John Edwards' scandal/affair/cover-up. With the exception of ABC News, they're still resolutely non-covering the story and its cover-up aftermath.

The Mainstream Media did not cover the Edwards story--a presidential, vice-presidential and cabinet candidate--until John Edwards himself gave the MSM his blessing on August 8 by 'confessing' on ABC's Nightline.

Most of the subsequent Edwards 'coverage' fell into the following categories:
1- Articles about why the MSM didn't tell its customers about the story before Edwards' Nightline appearance.
2- Background pieces--many stolen from the part of the blogosphere that did cover the story--attempting to bring readers/viewers up to speed on the events since last October. Many of these pieces doubled as candidates for inclusion in categories #1, 3 and 4.
3- Pieces about why it's time to "move on". Bob Schieffer of CBS News said, after CBS was on the story for less than three weeks, "We don't have time to fool with this". CBS stockholders have spoken the past four years, and it doesn't look like The Schieffer Standard of Investigative Reporting is doing so hot on Wall Street.

CBS Stock Prices Sept 2004 - Sept 2008 How much confidence do stockholders have in CBS? From $67.28/share in 2004, down to $16.18/share in 2008. DATE OPEN CLOSE 03-Sep-04- - - -68.00 67.28 26-Aug-05- - - -69.62 67.54 01-Sep-06- - - -28.75 28.86 07-Sep-07- - - -31.72 30.95 29-Aug-08- - - -16.72 16.18

4- Articles about "we knew but didn't tell you because...". Readers can supply their own reasons, although the MSM pundits tried out various and sundry excuses, such as "ethics", "standards", "it was in the National Enquirer" and so on and on and on.

Three weeks after John Edwards green-lighted the MSM to now let their readers in on his story of an affair, fatherhood and cover-up involving--well, that's still being worked out, just not in the MSM--the "ethics" and "standards" of the Mainstream press were on display when John McCain named Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin, as his vice-presidential pick.

The Washington Post's resident media apologist, Howard Kurtz, calls the reaction to the media's Palin feeding frezy, War Against the Press.

If Kurtz wants Washington Post stockholders to join him, good luck. They've also been AWOL since 2004.

Washington Post Stock Prices June 2008 - June 2008 How much confidence do stockholders have in the Washinton Post Company? From $965/share in 2004, down to $585/share in 2008. DATE OPEN CLOSE 11-Jun-04- - - -965.00 955.50 10-Jun-05- - - -828.00 829.60 07-Jul-06- - - -776.00 768.86 08-Jun-07- - - -767.00 765.00 13-Jun-08- - - -599.00 589.95

Sen. John McCain's top campaign strategist accused the news media Tuesday of being "on a mission to destroy" Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin by displaying "a level of viciousness and scurrilousness" in pursuing questions about her personal life.

In an extraordinary and emotional interview, Steve Schmidt said his campaign feels "under siege" by wave after wave of news inquiries that have questioned whether Palin is really the mother of a 4-month-old baby, whether her amniotic fluid had been tested and whether she would submit to a DNA test to establish the child's parentage.

Questions the same press--and Kurtz--refused to even talk about for months when they concerned John Edwards. Of course, if Palin had jetted her 4-months-old handicapped son, Trig, around on Fred Baron's jet, put him up in a $4 million mansion and paid him $15,000 a month, maybe Palin wouldn't have had to deal with those questions either.

The fact that unsubstantiated allegations appear on the Internet "is not a license for smearing" Palin, he said. "The campaign has been inundated by hundreds and hundreds of calls from some of the most respected reporters and news organizations. Many reporters have called the campaign and have apologized for asking the questions and said, 'Our editors are making us do this, and I am ashamed.' "

"The most respected reporters" is an unintended oxymoron.

Three times as many Americans believe in UFOs (56%) than trust the mainstream press (19%).

Nobody's accused The DailyKOS of being in the Mainstream--media or otherwise--but the "new center of the Democrat Party" started the ball rolling by doing what it does best: letting "anonymous" members of its "reality-based community" post pieces on the site and then running from them when the kitchen gets too hot.

The intensity of media inquiries hit a new level after an anonymous blogger on the liberal Web site Daily Kos last weekend charged that McCain's running mate is actually the grandmother of Trig Palin, the 4-month-old baby born with Down syndrome, and that the real mother is her daughter, 17-year-old Bristol Palin. That led to mainstream media inquiries, which prompted the McCain camp to disclose in a statement Monday that Bristol is five months pregnant and plans to have the baby and marry the teenage father.

Only this time, KOS isn't running from the deed.

"The site's founder, Markos Moulitsas, said he did not know the contributor's identity but thought that the admittedly "weird" pregnancy questions were a legitimate line of inquiry that he should not suppress."

What a difference a month makes for Comrade Markos. Last month, Lee Stranahan posted a series of DailyKOS pieces on Edwards and promptly got booted from the site for his "line of inquiry". [John Edwards Scandal: DailyKOS Bans Stranahan for Writing About Edwards].

How legitimate was Stranahan's "line of inquiry"? Edwards' August 8 admission of his "mistake"--he never mentioned the word "affair"--rendered the question rhetorical. Except to Stranahan, who remains banned from the KOS' Progressive Paradise.

Moulitsas, proud progressive that he is, denied knowing who Stranahan was when asked.

I e-mailed Moulitsas to ask about the ban. “I don’t know who Lee Streehan [sic] is," he replied, "but my community decided they didn’t like him, and they’re usually right about such things.” (On his blog, however, Stranahan points out that Moulitsas called one of his videos "the best parody video of 2007.")

Pencil in DailyKOS as one more place you don't get news--even if one of their "community" writes about it. Outside of right bloggers mining the rich vein of KOS Diaries for nutroots' quotes, who to the right of Raoul Castro reads DailyKOS anyway?

However, don't tell the New York Times that. The NY Times has a dream: to become the national, print version of the DailyKOS.

"All the News Fit for the Nutroots"

The plan is succeeding beyond the wildest dreams of whatever financial Einstein dreamed up that strategy. As we reported earlier, the "NY Times is now the fourth-largest newspaper in New York City". [NY Times Dishes Palin Dirt; Loses 30,000 More Subscribers]

The NY Times, however, is losing more readers than it can replace--and don't think stockholders have taken notice.





Kurtz lumps in members of the MSM with "bloggers" when convenient. As in, "Last year, the New Republic retracted a soldier's dispatch on petty wartime cruelty in Iraq, and National Review Online acknowledged that two blog postings by a former Marine about military movements in Lebanon were misleading."

The New Republic is part of the blogosphere? Better clue them in, Howie--they might quote you. Again, the New Republic didn't retract anything until called on its fictions by the blogosphere and The Weekly Standard.

Kurtz did get one thing right: the MSM are gatekeepers no longer.

Major newspapers, magazines and networks no longer play their traditional gatekeeper role in the digital age, as was evident during the eight-month period when the National Enquirer was charging former senator John Edwards with fathering an out-of-wedlock baby. Most [all] national news outlets did not report the allegations until last month, when Edwards acknowledged an affair with a former campaign aide but denied being her child's father.

Kurtz sees it all as just politics: "Denouncing the news media as biased also plays well with many Republican voters."

The LA Times concurs: ""Delegates to the Republican National Convention whirled in their seats en masse and called out from the floor: 'Tell the truth! Tell the truth!' The chants and finger-wagging were directed toward the sky boxes. Their target: the television networks and the rest of the 'liberal mainstream media.'"

Perhaps it's because Republicans have been the traditional whipping boy of Big Media? But Hillary Clinton became the MSM whipping girl during the Democrat primaries and her supporters still haven't forgotten their candidate's treatment from a "fair and balanced" press.

National Review notices.

"The New York Times's webpage on Tuesday led with no fewer than three stories about Bristol Palin's pregnancy. CNN has tried to exploit Miss Palin as a laboratory specimen for a high-profile examination of sex-education. MSNBC and the Huffington Post are titillating viewers with exposes on Miss Palin's boyfriend. Slate, owned by the Washington Post, is running a 'Name Bristol Palin's Baby' contest. US Weekly has 'Babies, Lies, and Scandal' on its cover.

Howard Kurtz calls it "The War Against the Press". We call it the "Info Wars" and they've been fought for the last ten years on the digital front of the Internet.

Big Media thinks the problem is the messenger, not their message. The MSM has its own Internet blogs, in a an attempt to fight back and stem declining circulation, viewership, ad revenues and stock prices.

But few are fooled by the MSM blogs. As Victor at GameSpot Forums says:

"You can dress a Turd in a Tuxedo, But at the end of the day, it's still a Turd."


by Mondoreb
images:
* gaming.hexus.net
* hyscience

John Edwards Affair: Some Silly Edwards News, Before Scandal Turns Serious Soon

John Edwards Scandal News
TV Movie Parts, Gary Pearce, 3 Stooges, Fred Baron Blurbs, Mickey Kaus, Kathy G, and Faith

"This is NOT my baby!" [photo: DougRoss@Journal]


"All work and no play make Jack a dull boy."


It's going to get serious in the immediate future for all involved in the John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Rielle Hunter, Andrew Young, Fred Baron, and of course, John Edwards himself. So, before it does, we thought we'd present this collection of odd and ends in the John Edwards Scandal.


Deceptive Nuggets


Deceiver has bits and pieces--but what nuggets they are!

That Moneyed Fred Baron Is in a Fix* contains a quick view of Edwards' Big Wallet, Fred Baron.

The New York Times has a story just out that has Baron bobbing and weaving, while spewing words that would make Bill Murray in Wild Orchids proud. (It's after this item.)



We bring this up because tagged onto the end of the Deceiver piece, Simon Scowl posed the question of who might play the role of Edwards' sacrificial lamb friend and former campaign worker, Andrew Young in the movie. Young is above left--a likely candidate for the movie is on the right.

Gob!


[Background information: Access almost 90 DBKP John Edwards-Rielle Hunter Scandal stories since December: John Edwards Love Child Scandal library.]


Fred Baron Forgets to Order Memorite

Fred Baron is asked more questions about the money trail in the Edwards scandal and seems to remember something about about someone sometime. And just exactly how did Rielle Hunter and Andrew Young procure the high-priced legal help that issued their infamous December denials claiming Frances Quinn Hunter was a joint effort between the two? From Lawyers' Ties in Edwards Case Suggest Extent of Hiding Affair:

On Wednesday, Mr. Baron said he might have directed Ms. Hunter to Mr. Gordon.

"I have this recollection of somebody asking me for lawyers in New York, and I remember naming three or four, and he must have been one of them," Mr. Baron said. Referring to Ms. Hunter, he added, "It was either her who called or somebody on her behalf."

And how did Andrew Young's legal representation in December come about?

"I remember getting a call from Pam and her telling me that she was representing him," Mr. Baron said. "I may have sent him over there, but on the other hand I may not have. I don't have an accurate recollection."

Sounds like Baron forgot something else--like his Memorite.


The Scoop From Snoop at Political Party Poop

Snoop at Political Party Poop has resurrected a post from April 2007: John Edwards Cynically Exploits His Wife’s Cancer To Get Fund Raising Emails.

Short and sweet and a reminder all politicians have no shame--and Edwards was a politician. As anyone who's visited PPP knows, there's so many hilarious things there, you won't know where to begin. We'd suggest Obama...Fame... and Blog Watch: Time to Clean out the Gene Pool.


Gary Pearce Wants to Give Edwards the 'Niagara Falls' Treatment





Gary Pearce, the Democratic strategist who ran John Edwards 1998 Senate race, isn't at all pleased with his former client. Pearce most probably believed Edwards--before a crush of Enquirer facts forced Edwards to a new defensive perimeter.

One almost can hear him join the Three Stooges as they performed their "Niagara Falls, slowly I turned..." routine.

Edwards even continued disparaging “supermarket tabloids.”

Earth to John: The National Enquirer now officially has more credibility than you do.

He said we can’t beat him up more than he’s beat himself up. Well, we’ll sure try.

By comparison, Richard Nixon’s Checkers speech was Churchillian in its dignity and honesty.

It’s not clear who gets the gold medal for biggest phony Friday night: Edwards or the Chinese who organized the Olympics’ opening ceremony.

Edwards’ performance in the interview was a disaster from the start. Woodruff hit him head-on: Did you have an affair?

Instead of saying “yes,” Edwards smiled and thanked Bob for coming by. He did everything but welcome Bob to his lovely home.

But wait! There's more... at the The Verdict is In].


We Made the Headlines!

And it was at Ace of Spades HQ, not the MSM!

On the left sidebar, under "Headlines", Hmmm...; Pseudonymous Wikipedia Editor with Great Interest in Rielle Hunter's Bio Seems to Know a Lot about the Limited Movie Career of Rielle Hunter, as Well as Unpublicized Facts about Hunter's Family



John Edwards, You Gotta Have Faith

Doug Ross: Faith Guiding our Votes


More Like The B-spot

Kathy G. sounded a bit bitter about Mickey Kaus bringing up the John Edwards scandal--at any point.

A Gentle Reader asks:

So when's Kathy going to apologize to Mickey Kaus?

Here's what I say to that: Mickey Kaus can kiss my royal Irish ass.

I said that the story about Edwards was dubious, but I never said that it wasn't or couldn't be true. However, I did argue that Kaus's obsession with it was bizarre and unseemly, which it was and is.

Kathy G. ends up with this observation: "The only thing it could do was to hurt and publicly humiliate Elizabeth Edwards and her two young children -- and I think you'll agree that that family has enough on its plate as it is. The only people clamoring for this to go public were heartless, vicious assholes like Kaus."

She then invites Kaus to partake of her left one.

Kathy G's really gonna be bitter with all the speculation that Elizabeth Edwards may have been an accomplice.

Guess Kathy G will get the right one ready at that point.

And when we publish a photo that we just received from a reader [and one would guess former Edwards supporter] later this morning?

Well...

I guess we'll get ready for the double whammy?

by Mondoreb
images: deceiver; michelemiller

The InvestigateOSphere vs. The ProtectOSphere




Doug Ross: "Put simply, a tabloid and the blogosphere -- both of which have been ridiculed for years by the MSM -- broke and publicized an immense story regarding a major presidential candidate and potential cabinet member."

Ross presents his evidence and it's damning--for the Mainstream Media.

Exhibit A?

The above chart showing the number of people searching for information on "Rielle Hunter" on Google over the last nine months--because the only place they could get that information was in the pages of the Enquirer [John Edwards Love Child Scandal] and the few sites in the blogosphere who covered it for more than a day or two after the Enquirer printed its December 18 story. [Mickey Kaus at Slate, Doug Ross and DBKP all three covered the story after the initial reaction to the Enquirer story on the blogs.]

Number of times "Rielle Hunter" was mentioned on any MSM newscast--other than a few FoxNews mentions in July and August--or in any MSM newspaper, Time magazine or Newsweek prior to late July: zero.

The National Enquirer first revealed Hunter's name in December. A few blogs, including DBKP and this humble journal, picked up the story because there were a variety of variables that all pointed to the fact that Edwards was a sleazebag.

How the National Enquirer and the Blogosphere Forced John Edwards to Confess


Edwards' Drilling Problems


A comment on Ann Althouse's July 22, "Today is Fitzmas for Mickey Kaus":

David said:
"Do you suppose Edwards went to the hotel to see if he could drill himself out of the problem?

He certainly seems to have drilled himself into it."

by Mondoreb
image: DougRoss@Journal

MSM Using Blogosphere as an Unpaid, Uncredited Research Dept.

Blogosphere: Doing the Research the Mainstream Press Won't Do

MSM: Trying to improve the Bottom Line?



Simon Scowl at Deceiver is upset.

He's discovered that the blogosphere, which was the only place--besides, of course, the National Enquirer--doing any digging into John Edwards' affair with Rielle Hunter and his cover up operation--is serving as the Mainstream Media's unpaid and uncredited Research Division.

Weird, huh? Deceiver was the only place talking about this stuff for at least a week and a half, and all of a sudden everybody else has been doing original research on it the whole time? Or maybe it doesn’t count as research when we do it, since we’re just a silly gossip blog with a hot-pink logo. Maybe that’s it.

Dear Serge F. Koveleski, Patrick Healy, Toby Lyles, and everybody else at the New York Times:

You know the blogs and tabloids beat you to this story. Everybody knows. It wasn’t exactly difficult, considering you guys waited almost three weeks for John Edwards to give you permission. You’re not going to salvage your reputation by pretending otherwise.

Also, somebody should talk to whoever writes your headlines. “Behind a Meeting That Exposed Edwards’s Affair”? Why not just type out an equivalent number of Z’s?

Signed,
Your uncredited researcher

Updates to story at DBKP.com: Mainstream Media Uses Blogosphere as Unpaid Research Wing in Edwards Scandal

DBKP also has been affected. A few weeks ago, the Times of London's SARAH BAXTER, inserted material from our July 23 John Edwards Affair: Interview with David Perel, Editor-in-Chief of the National Enquirer into her Times' story--without a word about the source where she stole the material.

We wrote about the plagiarism after being alerted by blogger, Doug Ross in MSM Stealing Blog Content: Times Online Joining Growing MSM Trend?. Baxter's article (readers will have to do their own Googling--the Times gets no link here) gives the impression that she contacted National Enquirer's Editor-in-chief, David Perel and talked to him.

Our three letters to the Times remain unanswered. The Times Online still carries Baxter's story with our material, without attribution.

These two cases are not the only ones: one reader alerted DBKP yesterday that portions of a story posted on one network's website "sounded suspiciously like something you wrote about a few days ago".

We read the article and suspected a little--okay, a lot--rewriting may have occurred. But, what the hell? At least, some effort was expended by a Mainstream Media reporter furiously trying to get up to speed on a story Big Media blacked out for nine months with all the fervor of a religious zealot.

Of course, the MSM wouldn't have had to resort to these shady practices if just one of the members of their clubby community had investigated allegations surrounding John Edwards nine months ago: but that would've put a dent in the invitations to the wine-and-cheese parties.

The only investigation came from the National Enquirer and a few bloggers. But, you wouldn't know it if you watched the Big Media frenzy of this past weekend. Some stories didn't even mention the National Enquirer by name--it became an unnamed "tabloid".

John Edwards' "confession"--forced on him by the "tabloid trash" National Enquirer-- transformed the MSM from an early-July Rip Van Winkle into August 8 Woodward and Bernsteins. Don't believe that? Readers only have to stifle their gag reflex and tune in to the MSM coverage.

Readers--and writers--of the blogosphere can expect more of the same. With MSM "news" organizations cutting staff in an effort to stay afloat, stealing from the blogosphere serves as a profitable way to "cover" stories previously denied to readers.

The John Edwards scandal is only the latest battle between citizen journalists and a MSM in a death spiral. It won't be the last. Big Media has proved incredibly resistant to changing editorial policies that have driven readers and viewers to find other, less left-leaning content.

Polls show that the percentage of people who trust what the MSM writes hovers somewhere between carnival barkers and used car salesmen. More Americans believe in UFOs than believe the Mainstream Media is unbiased.

The media reaction: attack citizen journalists and hunker down behind excuses of "standards" that drove ex-customers away with the highly-selective nature those standards were applied. Oh, and practice a code of denial that would make John Edwards proud.

The Mainstream Media wants to improve their bottom line?

Clean house of editors intent on serving up the same cheesy gruel of socialist opinion masquerading as news. The public's been onto that scam for years: falling stock prices and ad revenues confirm it.

Or CBS, NBC, ABC, CNN, Time, Newsweek, and the New York Times could try billing the Democrat National Committee for PR services rendered.

P.S. Welcome to the club, Simon.

by Mondoreb
image: dbkp reference file

John Edwards Affair, Leftblogosphere: No Good Time to Talk About Edwards

Let me tell you about a story I didn't want to write about back in December...

Left bloggers--who didn't want to report any of the John Edwards allegations back in December, never mind investigate them--are up in arms because John Edwards is being reported by Fox in August.

To be fair, the left side of the Blogosphere did
comment on the National Enquirer's allegations back in December: mostly, they hurled invective at those who did write about it.

Satyam, Think Progress [Fox News Host Refuses To Talk About Russia-Georgia War, Insists On Covering Edwards’ Affair, like a magician, wants readers to look at the war in his one hand while whisking away the Edwards scandal in his other.

Yesterday, Russia launched a major military offensive against Georgia, which Georgia has called “a state of war.” Nearly two thousand people have died and the conflict risks sparking a wider war. Also yesterday, former senator John Edwards admitted to having an extramarital affair in 2006.

Of course, a look back at a July 11, 2005 Think Progress post, It’s Not the Crime, It’s The Cover-Up, showed a completely different standard.

Hello, Washington Press Corps. What is the thirty year rule that has defined every White House scandal since Watergate? It is not the crime, it’s the cover-up that gets you in trouble.

What a difference three years--and party affiliation--make: TP was referring to Karl Rove and the Valerie Plame affair.

Steve Benen, Carpetbagger's Report, [War, schmar, there’s Edwards gossip to obsess over], has a headline just as strident. However, the tone of the post is more reasoned.

Media interest in John Edwards’ adultery controversy is probably inevitable. He’s not a sitting lawmaker or candidate for anything anymore, but he’s a well-known political figure caught up in a sex scandal. News outlets are going to cover this; it’s unavoidable.

My Left Wing, [Curmudgette :: Fair, Balanced, All Edwards, All the Time] posts the following--with which we heartily agree:

Now I would be the last person to say that the Edwards affair is not news. In fact, I've pretty consistently argued that it is news. But this is positively surreal.

The major media didn't breathe a word about Edwards while he was running for president. No effort was made to check out the places, dates, license numbers and other hard facts reported by the Enquirer back in December.

As has been noted countless times at DBKP, not one reporter even asked him about the Enquirer's allegations in December. Thus, Edwards--contrary to MSM reports that cite his "continuous denials" and "Edwards denied it December" angles to explain their non-coverage--did not address the issue of Rielle Hunter after November 29, 2007.

Edwards never had to address the Enquirer's allegations once they became specific in December. He could easily deny the October Enquirer story, which was general in nature at that point. The tabloid did not even name Rielle Hunter at that point--even though Hunter issued a denial then. [Why Did Rielle Hunter Denounce the National Enquirer NINE WEEKS Before the Paper Would Name Her as the “Other Woman?]

DBKP, though it has almost 80 stories on the Edwards scandal since December, didn't even write about the October Enquirer allegations. We felt there really wasn't anything to write about at that point: it fell totally in the realm of gossip--though who doesn't like gossip?

However, the December Enquirer allegations were a completely different animal. Anyone giving them a fair reading in August 2008 wonders that not one MSM reporter thought they were "curious", to say the least.

On December 23, 2007, we introduced one story with [The Edwards Scandal, The Press, The Enquirer and the Blogosphere]:

The story so far of John Edwards, his campaign and Rielle Hunter, the uncovering of hard facts by the National Enquirer, the Mainstream Media’s non-reaction, and the blogosphere’s fondness for the comfort that only sitting on one’s ass brings.

We observed then how the other half of the blogosphere operates.

DBKP has previously written about Sam Stein, a writer doing a fairly routine piece for Huffington Post about the new ways candidates were trying to reach Internet readers.

One of those new methods was something called a webisode, a short video for letting Internet users see a candidate in a more personal way. John Edwards wanted users to see “the real John Edwards”, as he says in his recently-rediscovered video.

Stein recounted his surprising adventures with seeing the Edwards video. That Stein was having a tough time running down something that should have been screaming for publicity interested him.

When he wrote about his adventures, a certain section of the blogosphere pilloried Stein and his musings on the subject. At that point, Rielle Hunter was not as well-known as she is today. Running down information on her required a little digging.

Sam Stein did that digging and was rewarded for his efforts with a mound of vitriol.

A reporter who had done actual work on a story was ridiculed by writers who had sat on their asses.

“Sam Stein and the Enquirer are nothing but lazy, no-good trashy gossips”

The Think Progress piece mentions a Fox interview with PBS’s Bonnie Erbe. Ms. Erbe is quoted as saying that the Edwards affair is “not the stuff the American public wants to hear about in this election cycle.”

Au contrair, Bonnie.

"Rielle Hunter", "John Edwards", "John Edwards affair" and "John Edwards scandal" were four of the top seven search terms on July 22 at one point. They have remained, to one degree or another, in the Top 100 Most Searched at Google since then. So, Ms. Erbe, there have been plenty of Americans searching for information on this topic. They had to: PBS joined the other MSM in not mentioning it, prior to August 8.

PBS didn't discuss it back in December; they didn't discuss it prior to July 21 either. Bonnie Erbe didn't want to discuss it today, though one would suppose that Bonnie knew the topic to be discussed when invited to appear on Fox News. Just exactly when would Erbe's PBS like to discuss this topic?

All readers who said, "never" or "seldom" get a cookie.

The same portion of the blogosphere who only wanted to discuss how vulgar those that did discuss it in December are back to their same arguments in August. Most Americans are vulgar, it must be supposed.

We agree that the zero-to-media-circus coverage now is a little much. However, a little discussion during the last eight months might have prevented the 24/7 news status the Leftblogosphere is complaining about today.

Some blogs have mostly remained silent or made a few comments and let it stand at that. That's a perfectly reasonable position to take: there is other news to discuss. But it's not reasonable to attack those who do discuss it.

That's the job of Big Media.

by Mondoreb
images: dbkp file

John Edward, Rielle Hunter Affair: Love Child Update!

One Major Network Reportedly Ready
to Finally Report on the Edwards Love Child Scandal
Is Mainstream Media Blackout Ready to End?



UPDATE: DBKP has learned that "one major news network" is reportedly "ready to go" with a report on the Edwards' hotel meeting with the National Enquirer's reporters and photographers. The Enquirer reportedly had a team of seven reporters at the Beverly Hilton when Edwards arrived.

Will just one mainstream media reporter ask Edwards what he was doing at the hotel in the early AM? Does any MSM reporter have the balls to risk having his access to ask softball questions of Edwards cut off?

We'll see.

More details continue to emerge from the National Enquirer's Love Child Scandal Update.

The Enquirer has released the identity of the man who drove Edwards to the meeting that the Enquirer's reporters caught wind of and recorded. He's Bob McGovern, the very same man who drove Rielle Hunter to the tryst at the Beverly Hilton.

ALSO at DBKP.com:
Over 35 stories on the Scandal from 2007 to present.



From National Enquirer: John Edwards Love child Update

We can now reveal that the man who drove Edwards was Bob McGovern, the same man who drove Rielle to the hotel from Santa Barbara and rented her room in his name.

He was driving a 1999 four-door midnight blue BMW.

Said Butterfield: "The car had a baby seat in the back for Rielle's infant. He pulled into the parking lot, took a ticket from the automated machine, pulled forward, and stopped right after the parking gate lowered. Edwards got out of the passenger side, walked around the front of the car and went in a side entrance near the swimming pool.

"McGovern parked the car and then slowly walked back inside the hotel and went upstair

s."

The Enquirer also released more information--no doubt pouring in from the same interested parties that have kept DBKP's Email-box full of tips--on the Edwards camp's reaction and possible mainstream press interest.

Finally.

The Enquirer drops a few more tid-bits about the fall-out from the confrontation, which according to one source, was caught on the hotel's video surveillance system. Another source has already confirmed to DBKP that pictures of Edward's run-in with the Enquirer's reporters were caught on film and will be released in the near future.

* Edwards' advisers are "spitting mad and furious" that his late-night escapades have made international headlines because it could derail his chances of becoming Barack Obama's running mate.

* Edwards has not explained his whereabouts to any members of other news media outlets who have been trying to follow up on the story.

* His mistress, blonde divorcee Rielle, meanwhile, has returned to her home in Santa Barbara, Calif., and sources say she is "in despair" that Edwards might cut off contact with her because their latest rendezvous has been exposed in the media.

The meeting of Edwards and his advisers was, reportedly, not pretty.

After we posted the details of Edwards shocking meeting with Rielle, political sources close to Edwards revealed how he was candidly scolded by his advisors hours later.

One political source divulged: "His advisors told him they were furious that this had been brought out by the NATIONAL ENQUIRER right when Obama is considering whether he's V.P. material with the Democratic National Convention (Aug. 25-28 in Denver) only weeks away.

"From what I hear, John was read the riot act by his people. The fallout from this could cost him the job of running mate. They told him Obama doesn't want to pick someone and be embarrassed by the choice. This 'bimbo eruption' at this critical time will do him absolutely no good.

"While his people are not trying to tell him how to live his personal life, this baggage isn't going to help him convince Obama that he's the right guy to be his veep."

A day after the incident, Edwards traveled to Denver for an appearance at the University of Denver in support of the anti-poverty campaign, called Half in Ten. The very first question put to him at the event was about whether he'd become Obama's running mate.

Edwards was quoted as saying: "I'm not seeking the job. I don't expect to be asked…but anything that Sen. Obama would ask me to do, whether it's in his campaign or in his presidency, I would consider seriously."

But Edwards made no official comment on our bombshell disclosure about his late-night antics less than 24 hours earlier.

Said another source: "He's going out of his way to avoid discussing it - he knows whatever he says will come back to haunt him. If he denies being there, he doesn't want to be found out to be a liar."

"Liar"?

At the moment, that seems to be the least of John Edwards' several problems.

[Further updates to follow later on Wednesday]
by Mondoreb
Source: national enquirer: Love Child Scandal Update

image: fotosearch

John Edwards, Rielle Hunter Love Child: What if they Gave a Scandal and Nobody Came?

The Dereliction of Duty
of the Mainstream Press



The John Edwards-Rielle Hunter episodes highlight what is, increasingly, a clear case of dereliction of duty in the Mainstream press.

The media mavens at all the old places people used to turn to for news (Time, Newsweek, NY Times, CNN, CBS, etc.) are not only silent, they have--and are--aggressively protecting John Edwards from any PR fallout of his affair with Rielle Hunter.

To paraphrase the age-old question, "If a scandal breaks and the Mainstream Media doesn't report it, does anyone hear about it?"

The answer these days, is "Yes"--thanks to the Internet. Bloggers are the favorite whipping boy of major media apologists in academia--most who spend their time flacking for former employers and castigating the Blogosphere as "irresponsible".

What label should be applied to news organizations who, during the Edwards affair, have strict observance of omerta would have made any Mafia chieftain proud?

Would "irresponsible" be appropriate?

Mickey Kaus is looking for signs that big media organizations, having accepted John Edwards' elaborate denials of the mistress/baby story, might now be interested in the latest developments. He speculates, correctly I'm sure, that the Obama campaign has noticed the news. But as far as the mainstream is concerned, nothing yet.
--Byron York, National Review: Edwards, Cont'd

When the Enquirer first broke the Edwards story in October 2007, the details at that time were sketchy. A generous person will forgive the lack of attention it received at that time in the mainstream press. Curious details escaped the press then: such as why a then-obscure Rielle Hunter would come forward to denounce the Enquirer's story on a small blog--when the Enquirer hadn't named the "other woman" in October. [Why Did Rielle Hunter Denounce the National Enquirer NINE WEEKS Before the Paper Would Name Her as the “Other Woman?]

When next the Enquirer returned to the Edwards-Hunter affair in December, it named Rielle Hunter--formerly known as Lisa Druck--as his companion. It also reported a number of verifiable facts that were also ignored by the MSM: Hunter was now settled in a gated community 5 miles from the Edwards campaign HQ; she was driving around in a BMW registered to Edwards' former Director of Finance; and, she was living in a multi-million dollar house owned by a Edwards' backer.

The press remained curious un-curious. [Curious Circumstances Excite No Curiosity in the Mainstream Media].

Even the fact that Elizabeth Edwards--a campaign mainstay up to that point--suddenly disappeared from the campaign trail after the second story, broke brought no interest.

NOT ONE question was put to Edwards on the campaign trail by the members of our "adversarial" press.

Part of the blogosphere picked up on the story and another half screamed because of that attention. [The Edwards Scandal, The Press, The Enquirer and the Blogosphere]

Bob Schieffer of CBS News revealed the new MSM standard of proof in play when one of their "chosen" are threatened.

BOB SCHIEFFER: Well, you know I saw that this morning. I believe that — I believe that’s a story that we will be avoiding, because it appears to me that there’s absolutely nothing to it. I’m told that another — a man says that the child is his. I’m told that the woman who seems to be pregnant says it’s not his. So I guess — I guess we’re going to pass on that. Unless you come up with some new information on this, Don.
–When asked about the John Edwards-Rielle Hunter story On the Don Imus show

“I said I need back-up!! NOW!!
I got Bob Schieffer’s sense of curiosity here!”

Scandal? Well, Edwards denied it so there's no story. Right, Bob?

Mickey Kaus of Slate followed the events that happened--and was constantly under attack for having done so. Kaus now wonders, rightly, about what the MSM will do now that Edwards was caught visiting Hunter in LA yesterday by the Enquirer:

P.P.S.: Will this be the first presidential-contender level scandal to occur completely in the undernews, without ever being reported in the cautious, respectable MSM? That's always seemed an interesting theoretical possibility--a prominent politician just disappears from the scene, after blogs and tabloids dig up dirt on him, but nobody who relies on the Times, Post, network news or Mark Halperin has the faintest idea why.
--Mickey Kaus, Slate: Edwards Busted

Perhaps, the MSM found it difficult to tear themselves away from their PR duty on the Obama Magical Mystery Tour?

Again, Byron York, wonders:

On the John Edwards story, I do wonder how much, if any, coverage this report will receive. Edwards is, after all, in the pool for the Democratic vice presidential nomination; after first seeming to take himself out of the running, he put himself back in the race two weeks ago, telling NPR, "I'm prepared to seriously consider anything, anything [Obama] aske me to do for our country."

Of course, there's the question of whether the big media outlets will want to pick up a National Enquirer story. If I remember correctly, the Rush Limbaugh oxycontin story was broken by the Enquirer, and the press ran with that one.

Byron York: RE: Edwards

Of course, the MSM and the shrinking few who depend on them for "news" had their stock answer: "It's in the Enquirer".

Roger Simon had a ready answer:

...Oh, one last thing, for those of you who say it’s The National Enquirer, how do we know it’s true? I suggest you Google the “National Enquirer and OJ Simpson.” They broke most of the important stories on that case. In general, these days they’re vastly more reliable than The New York Times.
Roger Simon, John Edwards in a Feydeau Farce at the Beverly Hilton

The Enquirer may have been a tainted news source (John Edwards Love Child Scandal: Source Too Tainted for MSM?], but at the scandal game, they proved much more reliable than the New York Times during their sad attempt: the John McCain-Vicki Iseman story.

Doug Ross, in Enquirer: John Edwards Visits Rielle Hunter and their Love Child provides a complete recap of the Edwards-Hunter story--and the original lack of interest by the MSM in a Democrat cheating on his cancer-stricken wife.

Pareene, at Gawker, has an excellent take on the media coverage:

The National Enquirer spent months chasing John Edwards and digging into his relationship with Rielle Hunter before busting him spending the night in a hotel with the woman and the former Democratic presidential candidate's alleged love child. It was impressive and quintessential tabloid work. But there's no reason the paper should have had the scandal all to itself. Isn't this the sort of thing traditional newspaper tabs like the Post used to cover? And even starchy broadsheets should have had some interest — it was the Miami Herald that busted Gary Hart in 1988 (when his mistress left his townhouse — shades of the Edwards affair) and the Times that broke the story of Eliot Spitzer's whoring earlier this year.

Don't forget, also, that Newsweek's Michael Isikoff had the initial dirt on Monica Lewinsky a decade ago. A reputable magazine could have broken this story, as well!

In fact, the media had a full nine months to get the goods on VP hopeful Edwards following an October Enquirer story and coverage in the Huffington Post and Slate, and even longer if they were paying attention. According to the Enquirer, Edwards met secretly with Hunter "several times" after the fall coverage, so there was dirt there for an enterprising reporter to find.

Of course.

Gawker then asked several questions: "When is an affair a political career killer? Bill Clinton was able to stump effectively for his wife despite the Monica Lewinsky mess; San Francisco mayor Gavin Newsom is said to be eyeing a run for California governor despite sleeping with an aide's wife and people have already begun talking about Spitzer's rehabilitation.

"More to the point: When is an affair while your wife is dying of cancer NOT a political career killer? Is there a "he needed to get through the pain" angle? Or is it more "he needs to not show his face around here again, ever" situation?"

Perhaps the emphasis on this story will shift much more quickly this time around. From John Edwards comically taking refuge in a mens room, it will move to the MSM's retreat into omerta.

If the role of the press--especially during election time--wasn't so important, their dereliction of duty would be fodder for a hilarious reality show.

by Mondoreb
Sources:
Gawker: How Did Edwards Affair Stay Hidden?

image: blue roof