Busted… Proof That Far Left Media Hacks Are Colluding to Spin National News at JournoList
Posted by Jim Hoft on Wednesday, June 30, 2010, 7:30 AM
This is a photo of Dave Weigel.
Dave Weigel is holding a “Teabag Them Before They Teabag You” doll.
Dave was hired as the “conservative writer” for The Washington Post despite his leftist leanings.
Dave is also a member of JournoList.
Leftist media hack and WaPo journalist Ezra Klein founded Journolist with far left crank Joe Klein from TIME magazine in February of 2007. Klein admitted that Journolist was an “insulated space where the lure of a smart, ongoing conversation would encourage journalists, policy experts and assorted other observers to share their insights with one another.” But, you had to be a leftist to join this group. It was an exclusive club. And, it grew to include 400 of the most prominent leftist American journalists who shared ideas and helped spin the far left narrative in the state-run media. This is where far left cranks colluded to spit out the DNC’s talking points and to defend President Barack Obama’s radical agenda.
Last week Dave Weigel was outed as a member of Journolist and resigned from his position as “conservative writer” for The Washington Post. The left was hoping this would be the end of the story. They were wrong. Yesterday, Andrew Breitbart announced that he would reward $100,000 to anyone who could provide the full “JournoList” archive, source fully protected.
Of course, this was too enticing a story for the left to ignore. In response to the news of a reward, JournoList member Ben Smith mocked Breitbart on his popular blog at The Politico:
This is a classic case in which secrecy produces wild imaginings. There aren’t many good conspiracies involving 400 people, some of them ideologues, some columnists, some mainstream media types like me who enjoyed access to that conversation, as I sometimes enjoy access to private conservative conversations at venues like New York’s off-record conservative Monday Meeting.
But that’s also a lot of money for a working journalist. I called Breitbart just now with a modest proposal: I’d sell him my own 55 contributions to the list, many of them just copies of blog items, all fairly dull — for a mere $5,000.
Of course, Ben Smith doesn’t want the truth to get out about JournoList, so he deflected the story by using Alinsky tactic #5: “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon… You do what you can with what you have and clothe it with moral arguments.”
But, unfortunately for Mr. Smith and the rest of the 400 far left JournoList cranks, there’s evidence that this group of prominent leftists work together to organize and promote their agenda in the state-run media. Tom Maguire found one clear example in 2009 of the Journolist members colluding on their talking points.
How great is the JournoList, that off-the-record electronic salon where liberal journalists and policy gurus can exchange views, and which is emphatically *not* an echo chamber?
Let’s see – Matt Yglesias of JL on the AIG furor – it’s a distraction:
But it’s not healthy to just go ’round and ’round in circles over this issue endlessly. If 18 months from now the economy’s still shrinking and unemployment’s at 15 percent, nobody’s going to feel particularly happy about the fact that we stuck it to some scumbags from AIG back in early ‘09.
JL founder Ezra Klein on the AIG furor – its a distraction:
News of Bernanke’s “money from helicopters” maneuver is below the fold on the Wall Street Journal‘s front page (though they do have a good roundup of expert reactions elsewhere on the site). Same goes for The Washington Post. Everyone, however, has continuing, above-the-fold coverage of AIG’s bonuses, which are about one-ten thousandth monetary value of the Fed’s move.
Noam Scheiber, JL member, on the AIG furor – it’s a distraction:
I have to say, I’m starting to find the obsessive “what did Geithner/Obama know and when did he know it” line of questioning a little tedious. Yes, it’s worth establishing a rough chronology so we know if public officials are telling us the truth. But the endless preoccupation by my colleagues in the media–when did the Fed tell Treasury, when did Treasury tell Geithner, when did Geithner tell Obama–is getting a little ridiculous. This just wasn’t a huge substantive mistake. It was a small substantive mistake–we’re talking about a tiny fraction of the $200 billion we’re floating AIG here–and a huge political mistake. I’m just not sure how helpful it is to reconstruct the genesis of a political mistake in painstaking detail when we’ve got these huge substantive issues to deal with.
Kevin Drum (gotta be JL) – it’s a distraction:
I don’t, frankly, care all that much about the AIG bonuses. The only reason AIG isn’t in Chapter 11 is technical (they’re too big to fail!), so morally I don’t see any reason not to treat them as if they were in Chapter 11 like any other failed company. That means employees stand in line for their bonuses along with all the other creditors. On the other hand, this whole thing really is small potatoes in the grand scheme of things, and Tim Geithner and the United States Congress have better things to worry about.
And, finally, Ben Smith from The Politico- It’s a distraction:
AIG reality check
The horse has, of course, long left the barn on this, but a trader emails with amazement on the all-consuming AIG bonus story:
The Fed yesterday committed to buy $1.5 trillion in assets, and all that we are talking about today is $146 million in bonuses for traders at AIG. I understand the politics and the optics of the situation but this is getting ridiculous. People need to get some perspective.
Just to do the math, the bonuses are equivaent to .001% of just today’s new government spending.
By Ben Smith 02:32 PM
This is just one example of how far left cranks are colluding to promote the radical the progressive agenda. Obviously, this was not an isolated incident.
If the JournoList archives ever are produced in full it would be the largest media scandal of all time.
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Published May 24, 2012 at 8:46 pm - 88 Comments
HandyBill commented:
Ben Smith and his ilk are a joke. No one with a brain gives a crap what he thinks.
Kenny Solomon commented:
Remember this and know it well:
The people – supposed Americans – on the ‘Journolist’ thing are among those who would literally kill, or worse, imprison folks like us just because we believe in the rights of the individual, freedom and liberty.
It’s gone way beyond Democrat and Republican. Way past that now.
Braintrust commented:
What dull, silent dimness lurks behind thine eyes.
The brutish gaze of zealotry marks thee as a pawn.
kato commented:
Hasn’t every intelligent person who reads a newspaper or watched a news program not come to the conclusion that most journalism is skewed to the left and written as if from a template?
This is not a new phenomenon. It’s been going on since at least Reagan.
Most journalists are either useful idiots or liars. My garbage man has more insight than the average journalist. But my garbage man isn’t a leftist ideologue.
Corky Boyd commented:
The chances of Andy Breitbart awarding his $100,000 are virtually nil. But rest assured those who are members of JournoList 2 or whatever it is named, will save copies of everything published, just in case they need a big bucks payday.
In this day of anonomous journalism who will ever know who leaked it?
And that will throw a chill on the whole concept of a left wing internet secret get-togethers to manipulate the news.
Thankyou Andy Breitbart.
HandyBill commented:
I bet someone will leak the list. Its inevitable. These cockroaches will not only attempt to devour us, but turn on each other just the same. Remember there is no honor among theives, and they are all theives and liers. I bet some of them are already typing up their resignation letters at this moment.
Bob Grant commented:
Jim
Great Job pointing out Ben Smith s use of Alinsky Power tactics.
Read them — learn them — expose every instance of their use.
1. “Power is not only what you have, but what the enemy thinks you have.”
2. “Never go outside the expertise of your people. When an action or tactic is outside the experience of the people, the result is confusion, fear and retreat…. [and] the collapse of communication.
3. “Whenever possible, go outside the expertise of the enemy. Look for ways to increase insecurity, anxiety and uncertainty. (This happens all the time. Watch how many organizations under attack are blind-sided by seemingly irrelevant arguments that they are then forced to address.)
4. “Make the enemy live up to its own book of rules. You can kill them with this, for they can no more obey their own rules than the Christian church can live up to Christianity.”
5. “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon. It is almost impossible to counteract ridicule. Also it infuriates the opposition, which then reacts to your advantage.”
6. “A good tactic is one your people enjoy.”
7. “A tactic that drags on too long becomes a drag. Man can sustain militant interest in any issue for only a limited time….”
8. “Keep the pressure on, with different tactics and actions, and utilize all events of the period for your purpose.”
9. “The threat is usually more terrifying than the thing itself.”
10. “The major premise for tactics is the development of operations that will maintain a constant pressure upon the opposition. It is this unceasing pressure that results in the reactions from the opposition that are essential for the success of the campaign.”
11. “If you push a negative hard and deep enough, it will break through into its counterside… every positive has its negative.”
12. “The price of a successful attack is a constructive alternative.”
13. Pick the target, freeze it, personalize it, and polarize it. In conflict tactics there are certain rules that [should be regarded] as universalities. One is that the opposition must be singled out as the target and ‘frozen.’…
“…any target can always say, ‘Why do you center on me when there are others to blame as well?’ When your ‘freeze the target,’ you disregard these [rational but distracting] arguments…. Then, as you zero in and freeze your target and carry out your attack, all the ‘others’ come out of the woodwork very soon. They become visible by their support of the target…’
“One acts decisively only in the conviction that all the angels are on one side and all the devils on the other.”
Peggy commented:
I don’t mean to be an idiot. But all of these journalists are saying the AIG bonuses were no big deal. I thought they were a big deal to the left. I did not care about AIG bonuses, as free marketeer. I cared that AIG was bailed out. They should not have been. I assume the lefty “journalists” were just trying to provide cover for O et als b/c the bonuses did look bad in light of govt bailout, even though the bonuses were not wrong.
Callipygian1 commented:
I am a member of Journoleftist… (did I spell that correctly?) -I only post that Obama is a raving lunatic, Harry Reid is a former lightweight boxer and a featherweight politician, Nancy Pelosi has toys in her attic, Joe Biden should never have risen to any position of importance than school safety patrol, and Hillary Clinton is a foul-mouthed , smarmy weasel with a law degree, in order to maintain my deep cover.
Sorry about the world’s longest run-on sentence; I gotta go drag my knuckles and read the latest issue of Poor Richards Almanac…
Ruebacca commented:
The left fully deserves Andrew Breitbart. Go get him tiger.
bill-tb commented:
Brilliant, simply brilliant …
We knew they were doing what they were doing all along.
mrt commented:
Yet more liberal media collussion via Michelle Malkin:
“Left-wing group’s grant will “educate” MSM on Obamacare law”
“This afternoon, a journalist writes in to expose a cozy propaganda arrangement between the self-identified “progressive” Commonwealth Fund and the Society of American Business Editors and Writers”:
http://michellemalkin.com/2010/06/29/left-wing-groups-grant-will-educate-msm-on-obamacare-law/
TalkinKamel commented:
Callipygiani1; and your point is. . . ?
(Alinsky tactic #5, right?)
(“Poor Richard’s Almanac” is good reading.)
kansas commented:
Hey, isn’t leaking a liberal talking point list like………unpatriotic or something? At least I read that on a formerly reasonable now totally insane blog.
tom22ndstate commented:
Sheesh,
Breitbart already has a copy of the list and he’ll have at least another by the end of the week. This will prove to authenticate what he has in hand as well as reveal what morally deficient characters inhabit the leftish fringes.
Callipygian1 commented:
Do you think Ben Smith’s diatribe against St. Andrew Breitbart was intended to head off the impending Journolist doomsday? Basically he is outing himself before the furor starts… and others will do so as well. I like how he states that he posts on leftist blogs as well as conservatives blogs… because he’s like, fair & balanced.
I only hope Andrew gets to review the archives as well, because there are going to be quite a few red-faced pinkos outed… they’re going to be sweating like an illegal in a Phoenix traffic stop.
TalkinKamel commented:
(Uh-huh, Alinsky tactic #5.)
HandyBill commented:
Breitbart is turning their rules against them. These pimple faced dweeb youngsters are going to be exposed for the liberal hacks they claim not to be.
gus commented:
The problem with LIBTARDS is that they are completey dishonest and without conscience.
They remind me of STALIN, they don’t care about anything but their own pleasure and ideology.
Problem is much of America hears and reads what these people say and have no idea that they are being lied to and misled.
Khan Krum commented:
Is there any way for Breitbart to raise the bounty on that list? I’d certainly donate to a fund to raise it. We really need to get that list and publish it for all to see.
Kenny Solomon, you’re right as usual. We’re in a whole new “ball game”.
Kathy from Kansas commented:
Jim Hoft,
Honestly, I don’t know what I’d do without this blog. First site I go to every time I sit down at the computer. I rely on you to select, from the hundreds of news items every hour, the ones we most need to know about.
THANK YOU!
down with dems commented:
Andrew Breitbart is doing his part, offering the $100,000 reward for a full copy of the archives. $100K is a lot but still might not be enough… some other conservatives should chip in and raise the reward. Everyone has a price, and some hacker out there (or some greedy corrupt liberal “journalist” who was on the list) should be able to produce the full archive.
Robert commented:
Meanwhile, and unremarked on by the press, oil is still leaking into the Gulf of Mexico, and the U.S. federal government is still acting ineptly on all fronts.
Robert commented:
These guys aren’t the only hacks around. Democrat hacks in the Senate (that would be all of them) have approved Gen. Petraeus to head up the effort in Afghanistan after savaging him as a liar under President Bush.
kansas commented:
Obama’s response to the oil spill is now so bad, that it has dropped out of the news.
sliderblaze commented:
the face of a fahk stick
J.W. Cox commented:
Hm. So, would this post and the comments be “just one example of how far [right] cranks are colluding to promote the radical [conservative] agenda?”
Because “Obviously, this was not an isolated incident.”
Chisum commented:
Because “Obviously, this was not an isolated incident.”
Troll.
sliderblaze commented:
lol, we arent Journalists…. dumbass…. apparently reading is not fundamental in your case
sliderblaze commented:
it has been amazing to watch all the NBC, CBS, ABC using the same language to describe the same stories, “unprecidented” “unexpectantly” ‘brilliant” etc. etc.
also, describing conservative as being radical, makes no sense…. in fact, arent they the complete opposite of each other
Bob Grant commented:
@ # 28
The J. W.stands for Just Wants correct?
Of course the glaring differences are we don’t get paid to be public watchdogs & are not granted special liberties aimed at ensuring good governance the way the 400 humps over @ Journolist do.
&
Also JournoLies or JournoLess is a better name for the 400
sliderblaze commented:
i mean damn, if your gonna come in and troll, at least be half way intelligent… u made it waaaay to easy.
Strong national defense
Boarder security
Read the Bills
Curtail out of control debt/spending
accountability
energy independence
yep, seems radical to me…. douche
Robert commented:
It occurs to me that, if the holders of Journolist were proud of their content and had nothing to fear or be ashamed of, they would produce it all on every media source at their disposal, as a refutation to Andrew Breitbart.
Instead, we shall see if they continue to hide in the darkness.
dallasdan commented:
Just another liberal media POS exposed. No news here.
Bob Grant commented:
Yeah Dallas Dan
400 media members conspiring to keep the public uninformed… Is a non-story…
Do you have any family in South Park named Barbrady?
http://www.entertonement.com/clips/wszpqzwsys–Nothing-to-seeSouth-Park-Trey-Parker-South-Park-Season-2-Officer-Barbrady-
ProudConservative commented:
The Slobbering Statist Media and Obama now know that the whole world is laughing at them.
“Let us be perfectly clear, Mr. Obama, you are troublesome and our boots are on your throat!”
Harrison commented:
Methinks it won’t make the evening news. Wonder why?
Marsh commented:
For God sakes. Stop posting his picture! I keep throwing up.
nelli commented:
Yet another, lower, smellier, more disgraceful disgrace to journalism. Journolist, the roll call of the damnable. Those who conspire not to present the news, as their customers expect (and pay for), but to neutralize the news, or better yet twist it to help the political party they favor. However they got there, nobody cares. Give them a laughable Pulitzer and a hilarious Nobel putz prize, and make their shame complete.
toby928 commented:
I will be amusing when Ben Smith turns out to be a member.
A_Nonny_Mouse commented:
” Tom Maguire found one clear example in 2009 of the Journolist members colluding on their talking points … ”
==========
Was it on Hannity? (just after Obama replaced McChrystal with Petraeus) that Fox News ran a montage of clips from “the usual suspects” at other news outlets; each of the anchors called Obama’s action “brilliant”. Each-and-every-one.
Noooo, they’re not all getting talking points from some shadowy group trying to orchestrate national opinion, certainly not! (Mpppf! Snort! Giggle!)