New York Times’ columnist Frank Rich outs himself as a conspiracy theorist in his Saturday column,  “Welcome to Confederate History Month,” wherein he fabricates a synthesis of current anti-Obamacare sentiments and events. To build his theory, he connects dots that don’t exist, and realigns a few that do, into a mishmash construct bordering on a rant.

His goal is to use the new “N” Class word to refer to the millions of American citizens who have rallied against the vast expansion of the federal government at public events called Tea Parties. In Rich’s mind, these Americans are the “R” Word.

Racists. (more…)

It’s quite a stretch to call The Nation’s Max Blumenthal a journalist.

A real journalist is free to have an opinion and even to express it, but he doesn’t fabricate things to make his subject look bad. A real journalist tries to understand his subject and help his audience understand it instead of just subjecting it to abject ridicule.

Blumenthal, who leaped to conclusions in his since-corrected Salon.com article to slander Andrew Breitbart and James O’Keefe, is an ethically challenged agitprop creator and self-indulgent performance artist. His slurring of O’Keefe, who helped to expose the criminal inclinations of ACORN, as a racist is the same thing that ACORN does when it’s attacked. If you disagree, you’re a racist. Nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!

This left-wing extremist, who wrote the book Republican Gomorrah: Inside the Movement that Shattered the Party, is so consumed by his hatred of the other side that he can’t think straight. His work is littered with factual errors, non sequiturs, selective use of evidence, glittering generalities, and hyperbole.

Blumenthal hates the Christian right, evangelicals, supporters of Israel, tea party activists, conservatives, and Republicans. This is not an exhaustive list. To him, conservatives are a “movement that’s filled with people who can’t handle individual freedom and the pressures of democracy.” Conservatives also are needy losers seeking redemption, according to Blumenthal: (more…)

This week, thousands of Haitians will be the beneficiaries of Pat Robertson.  In fact, long before the horrific earthquake struck on Tuesday, when many of the more fashionable humanitarians who always flock to every tragedy probably would have been hard-pressed to find the island of Hispaniola on a map, Robertson’s Operation Blessing was already hard at work, helping to address the centuries-old tragedy that is Haitian poverty.  Many Haitian bellies have been filled in the past, and undoubtedly many more Haitians will live and be fed in the coming days, because of Robertson and his organization, which has given more than $500 million in aid to suffering people since it began in 1978.

Just a little thought worth bearing in mind about Robertson while watching this clip of his High Moral Majesty, Keith Olbermann, discuss damning him to hell:

Of course, Olbermann is also outraged by Rush Limbaugh (Olbermann is always outraged by Rush Limbaugh), but Rush’s deliberate tweaking of the left by using the words of their own party’s leader in the Senate doesn’t need any defense from me, nor does the irony of Olbermann attacking his political rival while people are still dying in Haiti need any further exploration. (more…)

What do Jake Tapper, Alan Colmes, Rich Shapiro, John Cook and Mike Potemra all have in common?  All of them reported that reliable media punching bag, Pat Robertson, blamed the devastating earthquakes in Haiti on a “pact with the Devil.”  But did Robertson really do that?

Did the former Republican presidential candidate really state on his national TV program, The 700 Club, “that the earthquakes were the Haitians own fault”?

First, readers can listen to Robertson, then form their own conclusions. The video is below.

At no point do I hear Robertson actually blame the earthquake on “a pact to the Devil.”  Whether you agree with Robertson or not about the “why,” he was also correct about the long-time suffering of the Haitian people.  And he asks for his viewers to contribute generously to his relief fund.

So, what could have caused so many to get this item so wrong? (more…)