Give Ryan Grim of the Huffington Post credit: it takes courage to change one’s mind, and to admit an earlier mistake.

Grim has written that he was wrong to dismiss a November 2011 report by 60 Minutes (based on Breitbart editor Peter Schweitzer’s book, Throw Them All Out) on insider trading in Congress:

At the time, I wrongly reported that 60 Minutes’ poor choice of targets for its report, and its clumsy attempt to connect specific trading to specific legislative action, set momentum for the bill back. Instead, in fact, the report propelled the legislation forward.

Grim had initially reported that the 60 Minutes report “falls short.”

What has changed his view is not the merits of the argument against insider trading–which Grim acknowledged at the time as “a serious problem in Washington”–but the fate of the legislation, which President Barack Obama suddenly supported during his State of the Union address last night:

Much of the left and the left media–including the Huffington Post, Politico, and Media Matters for America–dismissed the issue of insider trading and tried to discredit both the allegations and their source. Now that Obama has taken up the legislation–with its sponsor, Senator Scott Brown (R-MA) obtaining Obama’s explicit commitment to make Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid move it through the Senate–the left is scrambling to catch up.

Grim’s (honest) change of heart is likely the beginning of a broader and less principled shift, in which the left will attempt, in Orwellian fashion, to rewrite the history of its opposition to the Schweizer book, the 60 Minutes report, and congressional legislation on insider trading.

Big Brother says insider trading in Congress is wrong; therefore it has always been wrong. (more…)

With the publication of Peter Schweizer’s best-selling book Throw Them All Out, Media Matters for America embarked on a scorched-earth campaign in an attempt to undermine both Schweizer and his book, while dismissing the topic of insider trading in Congress.

Bet they’d like to have that one back.

Here’s just a taste of their relentless attack. Each headline represents another post, with even more vitriol at the link on MMfA’s website:

60 Minutes Questions Suggesting Pelosi “Conflict” Reportedly Based On Schweizer Book

Bush, Beck, Breitbart, Palin: Schweizer’s Deep Right-Wing Ties

Schweizer Previously Pushed Dishonest Smears Of Pelosi In Prior Book

Schweizer Wrote Falsehood-Laden Op-ed Accusing Al Gore Of “Hypocrisy”

Schweizer Authored Book Blaming “Big Government Liberals” For Financial Meltdown

For its part, Politico mostly followed the Media Matters line on the story, with much of its report relying on quotes from Nancy Pelosi’s office. They even included a shot at Schweizer: (more…)

Somebody missed the boat. But when you’re so full of your own arrogance and assume no one would dare leave port without you, those things tend to happen.

While MSNBC, CBS News, ”Daily Beast/Newsweek” and others have done superb work in covering the story of Congressional insider trading, Politico and AOL/Huffington have been the most obvious and egregious in their quiet crusade to ignore and/or wrist-flick this inconvenient story down the memory-hole.

But who knew that at the beginning of the week both outlets had only just begun to embarrass themselves?

First there was AOL/Huffington Post, whose front page screamed “HIT JOB FALLS FLAT“ within hours of  Sunday evening’s “60 Minutes” investigative report. This particular segment featured our own Peter Schweizer, whose book Throw Them All Out finally uncovered the dirty little secret of how too many of our elected officials are able to go from Mr. Smith to Daddy Warbucks in just a few short years.

And then there was the Cain-obsessed Politico, that found a nothing-story about decade-plus old allegations of sexual harassment worthy of somewhere around 200 articles, but the revelation of legal (but immoral and corrupting) Congressional insider trading hardly worth a peep.

We now know why the the Huffington Post was so eager to protect the corrupt status quo and defend Nancy Pelosi even if it meant defending John Boehner. Yes, just a few days after HIT JOB FALLS FLAT ran, there they were, Nancy and Arianna, sitting in a tree s-c-h-m-o-o-z-i-n-g.

As far as Politico, as someone who saw that rag for what it is three years ago, it’s been extremely gratifying to watch the outlet all but ignore this story just days after baring their collective asses with a failed attempt to crucify Herman Cain with a nothingburger of a story that even left-wing media observers declared a nothingburger. To say the least, the damage Politico’s done to their brand has opened many eyes.

(more…)

This isn’t a criticism of Steve Kroft, but has the CBS news veteran ever before left the confines of “60 Minutes” to go out on the cable news circuit with his interview subject (in this case our own Peter Schweizer) in order to push a story?

For those of us obsessed with news and the narrative and what’s happening in Washington D.C., the video below is dogs and cats sleeping together:

—–

Consider the dynamic. You have an openly conservative Breitbart editor, Peter Schweizer, joining forces with the mainstream media (Kroft) to expose the immoral insider trading taking place within the ranks of both Republican and Democrat Congressional members, and doing so on MSNBC.

Meanwhile, as The Huffington Post pretends none of this can possibly be happening and Politico gives it only cursory coverage, Schweizer’s story is shaking up D.C. as hearings are called, a GOP presidential candidate catches the wave, and Rep. Barney Frank(!) suddenly discovers his inner reformer.

These are strange times and strange bedfellows, to be sure. But this isn’t about partisan politics. If it were, Andrew Breitbart, the publisher of this site, wouldn’t have openly called for a sitting Republican Congressman to resign.

(more…)

Is it a coincidence that four days after Nancy Pelosi sat and gave an exclusive pep talk/schmooze session with AOL’s Arianna Huffington and an all-female editorial meeting in the offices of AOL/HuffPo, Arianna’s Washington Bureau Chief phoned-in a “nothing-to-see-here” apologia for the former-Speaker’s congressional insider trading scandal?

Huffington Post's wishful thinking headline a few hours after a "60 Minutes" report on congressional insider trading.

As liberal news outlets like CBS News, Daily Beast/Newsweek and even MSNBC saw fit to report the fact that former Speaker Nancy Pelosi was involved in a sweetheart IPO for VISA, while at the same time ensuring that tough regulations that would have stifled VISA’s profits stayed bottled up in the Pelosi-controlled House of Representatives, AOL/HuffPo opted to re-print Pelosi’s talking points and obfuscations in lieu of doing actual reporting.

With the awkward and ham-handed headline “Hit Job Falls Flat,” you can almost see Arianna herself hammering out bullet points on her blackberry, firing them off to reporter Ryan Grim in an effort to put her elegant fingers in the metaphorical dyke to stop the gushing in the most serious corruption story to hit Pelosi’s long career.  The banner headline, full of wishful thinking, ran just hours after the “60 Minutes” story.  First thing on a Monday morning at the beginning of a news cycle is a curious time to declare that a story “fell flat.”

In fact, the story was talked about on cable news and in the halls of congress all day.  It inspired new legislation to finally make the corrupt practice of congressional insider trading illegal.  Presidential candidate Rick Perry produced a 30-second ad featuring the story and calling for jail-time for any politician who profited from insider information.  If this is “falling flat” I would like to see AOL/HuffPo’s idea of a successful investigative report.

Seriously, I’d really like to see one.  Do they even do anything like that, or do they just sit back and let the rest of us do all of the real reporting?

(more…)

Sunday night, CBS aired an edition of “60 Minutes” that took a rare look at corruption in Washington on both sides of the aisle. It even took a book by a conservative journalist and Big Peace editor, Peter Schweizer’s Throw Them All Out, as the basis for its investigations.

Yet as Noel Sheppard of NewsBusters points out, “60 Minutes” “cherry picked” Republican examples from Schweizer’s book–so much so that four out of the five targets of its investigation were Republican, even though “60 to 70 percent” of the politicians described in Schweizer’s book are Democrats.

Eighty percent Republican was still too much for Politico, whose journalists appear on the majority of daily shows on the far-left, hyper-partisan MSNBC network, according to a Daily Caller report today. The Washington-based political digest panned the CBS story.

Nevertheless, CBS seems to have revealed that a 4-to-1 ratio of Republican to Democrat targets is the minimum threshold that a mainstream media outlet must reach before it exposes massive corruption in Washington. (more…)

Below is a truly astonishing piece of C-Span video with Politico reporter Jonathan Allen:

Now watch this “60 Minutes” report and tell me there’s not a story worth pursuing here.

Obviously, Jonathan Allen isn’t at all interested in how Nancy Pelosi received access to an exclusive IPO courtesy of Visa or the wild coincidence surrounding Speaker Boehner’s health care stock trades or how this legal insider trading members of Congress are using to enrich themselves might be having some sort of corrupting influence. Why would he? He knows these people.

Move along.

Nothing to see here.

Trust us.

When I first saw the 60 Minutes report, I was flabbergasted to discover that Congress is legally allowed to use non-public information in their stock and land deals. In other words, our own public servants have an advantage over those they serve when it comes to the game of winning and losing in the world of financial speculation. This, of course, manages to answer a ton of questions as to how the Mr. Smiths who go to Washington frequently return home as Daddy Warbucks.

What really concerned me, though, was how this could have a corrosive effect on legislation. It’s bad enough (and infuriating and outrageous) that our elected representatives have loop-holed themselves from insider trading laws, but what about those who angle legislation against what’s best for the country in favor of their own portfolio or whatever land is available to purchase? Other than putting pressure on Congress to end that loophole and put their portfolios in a blind trust, that’s obviously where this story should lead to next.

And note the language I’m using here. You don’t hear me talking about liberals or Democrats or the left. Because this isn’t about partisan politics. This is about a corrupt political class exempting themselves from the laws you and I are forced to abide by as they feather their own nests.

(more…)

Faced with a groundbreaking investigation by investigative journalist and Breitbart editor Peter Schweizer that reveals corrupt self-dealing on both sides of the aisle in Congress, the mainstream media had two options:

1. Criticize both sides in proportion to their involvement.
2. Defend both sides, in order to protect Democrats in power.

Yesterday, Politico chose #2. Today, Huffington Post has joined it, defending the Republican speaker it routinely derides, in order to protect the former Democrat speaker that many of its contributors hope to reinstate.

Screen grab by NewsBusters.org

As Noel Sheppard of NewsBusters points out:

As far-left outlets like the Huffington Post applaud what’s happening with the Occupy Wall Street movement around the country, you would think they’d welcome the sunlight being brought by Schweizer and 60 Minutes exposing a little known way that lawmakers use their access to further their own nests.

Pelosi is said to be worth $35 million. If she is using her position in Congress to add to her riches, shouldn’t the Huffington Post, as an unapologetic supporter of the Occupy Wall Street movement, applaud efforts to end such graft as it’s being exposed? (more…)

- Heavy fallout from the “60 Minute” piece based on the book by Big Peace editor Peter Schweizer.

- Watch the original report here.

- Big Journalism’s Dana Loesch appears on ABC’s “This Week.”

- John Dickerson is named as CBS’s new political director, and then this happens.

- Ashton Kutcher to outsource editorial discretion of his Twitter account to his PR team after he abuses the social media format with repeated attempts at stupidity.

(more…)

In response to this evening’s groundbreaking report on 60 Minutes, which targeted both Republicans and Democrats for insider trading in Congress, Politico has circled the wagons around Washington’s political elite.

The CBS story was based on original research by Hoover Institution fellow and Big Peace editor Peter Schweizer for his new book, Throw Them All Out: How Politicians and Their Friends Get Rich Off Insider Stock Tips, Land Deals, and Cronyism That Would Send the Rest of Us to Prison.

That, apparently, was enough to send Politico–and the clowns at Media Matters for America–into a panic.

While hyper-partisan Media Matters has vomited a torrent of non-sequiturs to defend House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi from charges of inside deals (she paid high wages to her non-union farm workers? really?), Politico has attempted to defend Washington’s political class as a whole.

First, says Politico’s John Bresnahan–before describing the 60 Minutes report in any detail–Schweizer is a conservative. Hence, by implication, he has an agenda (unlike Politico, of course).

Second, Bresnahan claims, Schweizer’s allegations are old charges–nothing to see here:

The allegations regarding Bachus, Hastert and Gregg [all Republicans!] covered by 60 Minutes are several years old and have received extensive media coverage already.

Curiously, Bresnahan does not link to previous reports by Politico on these individuals. (Perhaps they were at the bottom of the page somewhere, near the Solyndra scandal.)

Third, Bresnahan adds, Pelosi and House Speaker John Boehner (also criticized in Schweizer’s book and the 60 Minutes report) are innocent of wrongdoing, because… because… they say so:

“I have not made any decisions on day-to-day trading activities of my account and haven’t for years. I do not do it, haven’t done it and wouldn’t do it,” Boehner said during a Nov. 3 press conference when asked about the transactions by Steve Kroft.

Boehner’s office dismissed the 60 Minutes report as absurd…

“First of all, what you’re contending is not true,” Pelosi said. “Second of all, we are very proud of our record of what happened.”

Instead of following up original research by Schweizer–and by CBS, which did its own, independent investigations–Politico has stepped in to act as mouthpiece for the leaders of the Washington elite.

(more…)

Hey, I’m stealing the line that Leslie Stahl used in her interview with lobbyist Jack Abramoff on “60 Minutes.” I’m mad at you, Leslie.

To Abramoff, she said, “I’m mad at you” when he confessed to her on camera that he was buying politicians (old news, yes, but it must be brought up again.)

It was classic TV drama, Stahl with facial expressions and comments made it clear that she was angry at how Abramoff was ruining the country.

“I really think that what you were doing was subverting the essence of our system,” said Stahl.

“I’m mad at you, I’m not kidding, I’m not kidding,” as she closed her eyes and shook her head in disdain.

“I’m sick to my stomach…’cuz it’s hurting our country.”

Okay, Leslie, we got it. You’re mad.

I guess I’m mad at you because I wish you would show even a portion of the same anger towards those in power “subverting the essence of our system” as we speak.

First, you go after people who are no longer in power. That’s easy, that’s a layup. How hard is it to be mad at corrupt people no longer in power? I’ll join you. I’m mad a Jack Abramoff too (but since he’s a corrupt Republican selling a book, he gets airtime.) There; we’re all mad at Jack Abramoff. Grrr. I’m going to growl to show how mad I am. While we’re at it, can we get mad at Nixon again?

Second, my theory in reporting is that it is 10 times better to go after the people in power who choose to be “bought” by the lobbyists, than it is to go after the lobbyists. The corruption lies in those who succumb to the temptation, not so much the tempters. The temptation to be a corrupt politician will always be there, no matter how you try to legislate against it (as you suggested at the end of your piece,) let’s focus on politicians who are being bought.

(more…)

The Wrap:

Andy Rooney, the cantankerous “60 Minutes” commentator known for delivering decades of provocative opinions in a plain-spoken style, has died at 92.

Rooney died in a New York City hospital of complications following a minor surgery.

“It’s a sad day at ‘60 Minutes’ and for everybody here at CBS News,” said Jeff Fager, chairman of CBS News and the executive producer of “60 Minutes.” “It’s hard to imagine not having Andy around. He loved his life and he lived it on his own terms. We will miss him very much.”

Rooney delivered his last commentary on “60 Minutes” on Oct. 2. He said he always thought of himself as a writer, and that he would continue not to sign autographs because he didn’t believe in them. It was his 1,097th essay for the show.

“What kind of idiot wants my name on a piece of paper?” he asked.

He worked for CBS for six decades, half of them on the air. Once he was given his “60 Minutes” slot in 1978, he used it to comment on topics from the pressing to the mundane with the same directness and wry humor. (A CBS roundup of his commentaries is here.)

(more…)

Forget “Sixty Minutes”–it took the geniuses over at Media Matters for America (MMfA) all of about 60 seconds to pounce foolishly on the Breitbart TV video of CBS’ Steve Kroft asking a question of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. MMfA immediately pronounced it a “Right-Wing” smear job.

Right-Wing’s Pelosi Smear Ignores Historic Credit Card Reform Passed Under Her Watch

And MMfA didn’t stop there. It was like watching a one-legged man off to the races, down the track of a newly discovered dastardly Right-Wing smear campaign in action:

Breitbart.tv: “60 Minutes Challenged Nancy Pelosi On Her Conflict Of Interest While Speaker And Facilitating Financial Reform While Being Involved With Credit Card Companies.” The exchange was posted on Andrew Breitbart’s Breitbart.tv website, promoting the notion that Pelosi faced a “conflict of interest” while overseeing credit card reform as Speaker:

Fox Nation: “Pelosi Visibly Shaken When ‘60 Minutes’ Confronts Her About Shady Investments.” Fox Nation suggested that the exchange demonstrated that Pelosi had “shady investments”:

From there, MMfA quickly circled the wagons around the former Speaker, desperate to show her as an innocent champion of the people against those evil credit card companies–one of which she seems to have invested with on favorable terms, despite relevant legislation making its way through the Congress she then led.

Wall Street Journal: “Congress And The White House Are Taking Aim At Controversial Credit-Card Practices.” In April 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported:

McClatchy: “Consumers … Would Get Strong New Protection” Under Credit Cardholders’ Bill Of Rights. McClatchy reported in May 2009:

(more…)

In a curious nod to James O’Keefe-style guerrilla filmmaking, Steve Kroft of CBS’s 60 Minutes turned up at Capitol Hill press conferences yesterday with surprise questions for both House of Representatives Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-CA).

Kroft quizzed both about their stock transactions in their respective roles as Speaker.

Pelosi’s shocked response set the rumor mill going:

Boehner was more collected, calling for House members to follow existing rules on insider trading:

(more…)

NEW YORK (AP) – CBS says Scott Pelley will take over as its evening news anchor, starting on June 6.

The network on Tuesday announced the expected selection of Pelley, the veteran “60 Minutes” reporter, to replace Katie Couric on the “CBS Evening News.” Couric is pursuing a syndicated talk show, but hasn’t said where she will be working next. The date for her final CBS broadcast has not been set.

Pelley is a Texas native who has worked at CBS for two decades. He will inherit a broadcast that is in last place in the ratings behind NBC and ABC, and has been for some time.

CBS said Pelley will continue to do stories for “60 Minutes.”

60 Minutes talking to a leftist Supreme Court Justice. Blind leading the blind and both fell into the ditch.

I went into the Scott Pelley interview with retired Justice John Paul Stevens with low expectations and I was not disappointed. It was correctly mentioned that Stevens had been nominated by Gerald Ford as a moderate Republican, but eventually became the leader of the Court’s liberal wing. Something happens to people who spend too much time in DC, but that’s another story for another day.

First, the issue of the 2000 Presidential election. Pelley asked Stevens whether the recount of the Bush victory over Al Gore should’ve continued.  Predictably, Stevens said it should’ve continued. What was missing from the interview were two critical points. Pelley never asked the follow-up question; “Okay, if it should’ve continued, which standard should’ve been used?” Remember, the main issue was over how to count votes and how the various standards used led to much of the confusion. Democrats love election recounts to go as long as possible until they have enough votes to win. Anybody wish to challege my contention using the last decade of election history?

(more…)

Steve Kroft got to sit down with the leader of the free world for a “60 Minutes” broadcast that aired Sunday night.

Which brings us to his excuse for losing the last election. Twice Obama intonated that the reason he got pounded during the election was that he just wasn’t clear enough with the people about how brilliant he is and about how hard he was working to take over America. We just don’t get it. Oh, Obama said it was his fault for not communicating properly, but clearly when you are as smart as he knows he is, he is blaming us for not getting it. Kroft sat silent. Not sure if he got it.

Kroft asked Obama if he was going to “pivot to the middle,” after this last election. He settled for a non-answer from Dear Leader, never following up by demanding to hear Obama’s direction for the future. It might have been nice to get that answer. Obama did say he was going to “reach out to Republicans.” Kroft’s question then was brilliantly naïve. “Have you tried that?” queried Kroft. Steve – where have you been the last two years? You know whether he has tried that or not, and he has not. Seriously, were you not following the closed door, 100% Democrat sessions on the Obamacare bill? Obama’s answer to reaching out to Republicans was, “I have, but, uh, I’m gonna keep on trying.” To that, reporter Kroft came back with, “But so far the Republicans aren’t showing much interest.” So, let me get this straight. Republicans get ripped for not showing much interest in meeting with Obama, even though they are not even in power yet, and Obama gets a pass for shutting them out for two years. Hummmm. Soak it up there, Steve. (more…)

Imagine the following scenario taking place on the world stage:

Scene 1: Employees of one of the world’s largest oil companies are found to be in league with a right-wing film producer in an effort to produce a documentary aimed at helping the company fend off a lawsuit in a third-world country’s court that, if lost, could cost the company more than U.S. $100 million.

Scene 2: New York-based lawyers, said to be working on behalf of thousands of poor plaintiffs in their suit against the oil company, ask a U.S. federal court judge to order the right-wing film producer to provide his court with outtakes from the documentary, and the judge says, “Yes.”

Scene 3: Recognizing that the outtakes are now part of the official court record, members of the news media request copies of them. In turn, the federal judge orders that copies of the outtakes should not only be provided to members of the media requesting them but to members of the general public.

Scene 4: After obtaining the outtakes, members of the media spend countless hours airing video snippets, painting the “Big Oil” company in the worst light possible and, in so doing, aiding and abetting the plaintiffs in the lawsuit.

Unfortunately, a real-world scenario diametrically opposite the one described above seems to be taking place now. Below is a list of the players involved: (more…)

George Soros is the source of the dirty money behind the front group to destroy Israel, J Street, as J Street executive director Jeremy Ben Ami has finally admitted to the media, after lying about it since the group’s founding: “I accept responsibility personally,” said Ben Ami, “for being less than clear about Mr. Soros‘ support once he did become a donor.”

Of course it was Soros. George Soros vowed years ago to start an anti-Jewish organization under the nefarious guise of a Jewish organization, in order to counter the influence of the American Israel Political Action Committee (AIPAC). He knew full well that there would be lowlife Jews who would be only too happy to serve as funktionshäftling.

He assisted the Nazis, so is it any wonder he wants to destroy the Jew? If at first you don’t succeed…

If you are unfamiliar with Soros’s actual past, remember that, as 60 Minutes reported in 2006, “While hundreds of thousands of Hungarian Jews were being shipped off to the death camps, George Soros accompanied his phony godfather on his appointed rounds, confiscating property from the Jews.”

Since then, Soros — convicted in France for insider trading — has his black hand in every evil thing: the legalization of drugs and prostitution; betting against America and making millions by making what he called “a good call against the dollar”; violating the U.N.’s neutrality by funneling money through its Development Program to Georgia’s President. He was financier of guilty terror lawyer Lynne Stewart’s defense fund; and was involved via his stooges at America Coming Together in election fraud and via his investment in WellCare, in Medicare irregularities. (more…)