Conor Friedersdorf, subbing for Andrew Sullivan at The Atlantic, is trying to tell you how to talk about Pigford.

In a couple of pieces recently, Friedersdorf focuses on the gap between the number of Pigford claimants and census records of the number of the black farmers. It’s an odd issue to focus on – although Media Matters does it, too – because it doesn’t really prove anything. It’s just floating numbers. What does prove something are the testimonies of Jimmy Dismuke, Willie Head, Eddie Slaughter, Lucious Abrams, and other black farmers who all have first hand knowledge of Pigford fraud.

Of course, Friedersdorf doesn’t mention the black farmers. They aren’t his concern. He’s much more interested in slicing and dicing numbers, comparing reports and – mostly – trying to impugn the motives of people like Andrew Breitbart (and Republicans in general) for covering the story in the first place.

Friedersdorf doesn’t care about the black farmers and their stories, so he can’t imagine anyone else caring, either.

And then the echo chamber begins, with The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates discussing the motivation of Republicans while ignoring the actual black farmers and then The American Prospect’s Adam Serwer opining on what Friedersdorf and Coates said, while once again ignoring what the black farmers said. (more…)

If one looks at the politics of pseudo-conservatives Andrew Sullivan and Conor Friederdorf at the Daily Dish, along with their link patterns, they may be more Trotskyites than conservatives. Propped up by a Left-leaning magazine and approvingly linking to the Left more often than the Right, they are also conducting a not-so-subtle campaign to quash the most ardent and honest voices of conservatism.

Yesterday, they again partnered with the Left to launch a dishonest attack on National Review’s Andy McCarthy. Below, the aptly named Adam Serwer writes for the American Prospect. One can make what they will of Beck’s bit. A McCarthy passage Friedersdorf dishonestly casts as the same thing Beck is saying isn’t that at all. But Friedersdorf never seems to have a problem lying to push his agenda.

Once again, Adam Serwer is calling out Rich Lowry for criticizing Glenn Beck’s loony ideas even as he publishes similar stuff:

Either these guys don’t read their own magazines, or they’re perfectly comfortable printing paranoid nonsense about American liberals and Islam if it fits with their political agenda. The only real difference between Beck, Kristol, and Lowry is that the latter two let the mask slip more often.

That goes a bit too far, but it’s true that Lowry has published lots of indefensible work by Andy McCarthy. And every so often you’ll see something at NRO that makes you wonder what exactly they’re about:

Below is what McCarthy wrote that has Friedersdorf attacking him. It’s fact-based, not the thinking of some crazed conspiracy nut. Conservatives have had problems with State as far back as WWII. It’s no secret that they often tend toward accommodation, as opposed to confrontation, when it comes to America’s enemies. (more…)

Let me say up front that I think Koran burning is a bad idea for a lot of reasons. In fact, I think what this little church in Florida is doing is actually harmful to the nation, their own safety and, unfortunately, the reputation and safety of Christians around the globe.

This is all kinds of stupid.

It’s also completely protected by the first amendment. In fact, it’s a two-fer involving both freedom of speech (remember, flag burning is free speech) and freedom of religion.

So where are the Democrats who, just a couple weeks ago, were lecturing us all on the inviolable first amendment? I assume all of those who supported the ground zero mosque are also in support of Koran burning in Florida, yes? (more…)

All through the 2008 presidential campaign we saw it time and again: any potential threat to then-candidate Barack Obama was sought out and destroyed by the Leftist media – MSNBC, Media Matters, Daily Kos and the like–  before it could could reach a critical point in the MSM and do any damage to Their Annointed One.  Whether it was Bill Ayers, Sarah Palin, Reverend Wright or Obama’s weaker than weak resume, the goal was to blow legitimate stories out of the water using whatever amount of lies, distortion, or double talk was needed to muddy those waters and confuse the narrative.

This tactic was designed to either give the MSM enough cover to ignore the story altogether or hand them the talking points necessary to blow the story back into the face of Republicans and the McCain campaign.

My favorite example of this template at work is how Obama’s ties to domestic terrorist Bill Ayers somehow morphed into a full-blown MSM storm about “hate-filled and dangerous” McCain campaign rallies. Second place goes to how Obama mangling a revealing answer to an honest question from a constituent immediately turned into a media meme over whether or not this private citizen had a plumber’s license. And let’s not forget how we all walked into the voting booth knowing more about Sarah Palin’s tanning bed than Barack Obama’s college records.

SIDE NOTE: Conservative or not, anyone who thinks this happens by accident instead of design needs to get out of the way because you’re part of the problem. (more…)

The left is jumping up and down screaming “Gotcha!” over a post at American Prospect by Adam Serwer that purports to debunk the New Black Panther voter intimidation story.

Serwer’s headline:  “When Was the Black Panther Case Downgraded” is an important part of the obfuscation that runs through the reaction to his post as left-leaning media types desperately try to make his “find” mean something that it doesn’t.

First, let’s watch the highest-profile regurgitation of Serwer’s storyline, Keith Olbermann:

Seems pretty cut and dried, right?  The charge that Obama’s Justice Department dismissed the case against the Panthers is patently false because it was actually the Bush DOJ that dismissed them.

Well, at least that’s what Olbermann and his poor, tortured producers and staff want you to think.

Remember I pointed out that Serwer’s headline is the beginning of the obfuscation?  Read it again:  “When Was the Black Panther Case Downgraded.”

Get it? (more…)