Free Republic

Reality Check: The "Rationing" Smear... Again?Posted by Dan Pfeiffer November 20, 2009 at 03:03 PM EST When people use arguments they know are bogus, it's probably because they know they don't have any valid arguments at their disposal. So it would seem with opponents of reform in the Senate spending today obsessed with arguments about "rationing" that were debunked months ago. Their attacks are focused on the fact that the legislation supports research into what treatments work best for patients. Before we go any further, let's just say this as plainly as possible: Under health insurance reform, this research cannot...

On the Friday edition of Morning Meeting, host Dylan Ratigan featured fake photos of Sarah Palin during a mocking segment on why Americans are fascinated with the former vice presidential candidate. While listing the show’s top ten reasons, Ratigan showed a doctored photo of Palin’s head on the bikini-clad body of a woman holding a weapon.

It looks like CNN has been so busy the past 24 hours running news stories on its website and on air about Meghan McCain's existential Twitter crisis, that Rick Sanchez's own Twitter page was only place where he could find the space to issue a mealy-mouthed apology for falsely attributing a racist quote to Rush Limbaugh. Sanchez Tweets this evening: i've know rush. in person,i like him. his rhetoric,however is inexcusably divisive. he's right tho. we didn't confirm quote. our bad. What courage. It only took three days following his initial report and the Huffington Post to retract the quote...

In another blow to the false narrative advanced by Tea Party operatives and Fox News that the movement is a “grassroots� uprising of ordinary Americans. A co-founder of the national anti-tax Tea Party Patriots movement, failed to disclose during her numerous media interviews and TV appearances that she and her husband filed for bankruptcy and owed the IRS half a million dollars.

At the town hall health care meetings this summer far left LaRouche activists showed up with Obama-Hitler signs. This same extremist group held Obama-Hitler signs at several events. But, now the AP and Obama are making it sound like these protesters were conservatives. The AP reported: At the G-20 economic summit that wrapped up Friday in Pennsylvania, Obama told a story about an unnamed foreign leader who privately told the president he didn't understand the at-times contentious debate over changing the health care system. "He says, 'We don't understand it. You're trying to make sure everybody has health care and...

The Left has launched a massive campaign to destroy Glenn Beck -- who right now, and along with Rush, is the most eloquent, fearless and effective warrior standing between Barack Obama and a collectivist state. The politics of personal destruction is what the left does best, and in many ways it is all the left does. "Purge" -- as in defame and then dispose of your political enemies -- is a term that leftists invented in the 1930s when Joseph Stalin staged show trials of his political enemies, defamed and demonized them, and then buried them. Witch-hunts are a leftist...

Glenn Beck, the hottest right-wing voice on the air, worried aloud to his listeners the other day that powerful, sinister forces trying to destroy America might soon "shoot me in the head." But there's fear among his critics, including calmer conservatives, that the victim more likely will be one of Beck's many broadcast targets. After a summer of mob anger at town hall meetings on health care - some of which featured gun-toting protesters - and a burst of Beck-fanned hysteria over President Obama's back-to-school speech last week, the former top 40 deejay has emerged as a goofy dark...

Where in the world is Sarah Barracuda Palin? Alaska's sultry superstar has once again mysteriously disappeared right before she was scheduled to speak at one of her very important fundraisers, this one so slutty teenagers who get knocked up have no choice but to have the baby unless they want to get the ol' parental approval for an abortion. Now normally Sarah's habit of shirking her duties is limited to elected terms in office, but ever since becoming an unemployed publicity hound and Facebook junkie, Palin's erratic behavior has instead metamorphosed into canceling paid speaking engagements at the very last...

The Daily Kos has a post up quoting MSNBC personality David Shuster's Twitter page stating his show will be covering the controversy over Free Republic and comments about Malia Obama:@mikelord @thejoshuablog. We will cover this monday: http://bit.ly/3pqS7M. But follow @joetrippi for what can be done on-line. about 2 hours ago from webThe embedded link goes to the Vancouver Sun hit piece posted earlier to FROver at Twitter, the leftists are all in a hypocritical lather over FR.David Shuster is on sometime mid-afternoon East Coast time Monday-Friday.

MSNBC’s David Shuster and Tamron Hall labeled the circulation of a photo of President Obama...a “right wing smear,” and singled out Fox News and Drudge as culprits. They brought on a Media Matters spokesman, who accused these sites of being motivated by a “racist stereotype of an oversexed black man being a predator.” They let this accusation go unanswered (audio clip from the promos and the segment available here). Shuster and Hall promoted the segment on the Obama picture from the start of the 4 pm Eastern hour of MSNBC’s live coverage. A graphic on-screen at the top of the...

Air America host Ron Reagan attacked Rush Limbaugh on his show as a wife-beater. In June, Limbaugh criticized Obama for hiring a new "adviser on domestic violence." This gave Reagan fodder to hit Limbaugh for his several previous marriages and to imply he abused them.

A hard-hitting piece on Sarah Palin in the new Vanity Fair has touched off a blistering exchange of insults among high-profile Republicans over last year’s GOP ticket – tearing open fresh wounds about leaks surrounding Palin and revealing for the first time some of the internal wars that paralyzed the campaign in its final days. Rival factions close to the McCain campaign have been feuding since last fall over Palin , usually waging the battle in the shadows with anonymous quotes. Now, however, some of the most well-known names in Republican politics are going on-the-record with personal attacks and blame-casting....

On Monday, Letterman "joked" that 14-year-old Willow Palin was "knocked up" by Alex Rodriguez during a baseball game. Last night, he associated Willow Palin with Eliot Spitzer and prostitution: Video of Letterman making utterly reprehensible slur against Willow Palin and Eliot Spitzer.

AP Picks Up Huff-Po Blogger's Lame Smear Alleging Palin Plagiarism By Warner Todd Huston (Bio | Archive) June 9, 2009 - 06:43 ET If you would like a great example of how the Old Media takes a story that has no legitimacy at all and uses it as the basis for a smear job, the Associated Press offered a wonderful sampling of the tactic for you on June 8. From a headline that makes the issue seem more weighty than it is, to the lack of competent reporting from both sides of the matter, AP employed this favorite Old Media...

I see where some folks are trying to nail Bill O’Reilly for somehow inciting the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, a Kansas abortion provider, as Tiller was handing out programs at his church Sunday. I think O’Reilly is a pompous jerk, and the evidence demonstrates that he clearly went well overboard in his condemnation and demonization of Tiller. But let’s be serious here. It’s irresponsible to link O’Reilly in any way to the crime in question. Even if you had evidence that the suspected killer was an O’Reilly devotee — and I have seen nothing to that effect — you...

Fox 'News' host had long charged KS physician with 'operating a death mill,' 'executing babies,' carrying out 'slaughter'Update: Wingnut 'FreeRepublic' commenters celebrate Tiller murder...

Geraldo is on his show as we write ... and he has plastered Rush Limbaugh in a "very disgusting" image, of his eyes squinted, fat face bulging, and is portraying Rush in a very negative light. This disgusting display of "fair and balanced" news reporting has just made up my mind ... "no more Geraldo for me", ever again ... even if he is on my favorite show, Bill O'Reilly. I will NEVER WATCH HIM AGAIN ! Geraldo just "USED ANN COULTER", and turned her words around, as if she was bragging about Sonia Sotomayor, which she DID NO SUCH...

The nation cannot have a Speaker of the House whose candor and judgment are in serious question.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. -- CBS Sports golf analyst David Feherty came under sharp criticism Saturday for a joke he wrote in a Dallas magazine article that suggested American soldiers would be just as likely to knock off House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Leader Harry Reid as they would Osama bin Laden.

Video on link.

Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty and South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford have largely conservative support (a few say they are moderates). Regardless, why have both signed deals with an environmental advocacy group to administer their respective states' programs to confront global warming?   The two Republican executives have followed the example of more liberal governors by inviting the nonprofit Center for Climate Strategies to advise their climate change action groups. The states' respective panels consist of dozens of "stakeholders" who will consider greenhouse gas-reducing measures. The groups will approve most of those action items, then pass them on to state lawmakers...

Legal bills have mounted fighting complaints that she called partisan, false and frivolous, starting with "the politically motivated Troopergate probe," Palin said in a written response to questions. "I must defend against these baseless ethics accusations out of my own pocket as the use of public monies to do so could itself violate state law," Palin wrote. "On August 29, it seems the political landscape changed in Alaska. Now, it seems in order to do this job as Governor, with the political blood sport some are playing today, only the independently wealthy or those willing to spend their income on...

(snip)...Christen's application included her membership in several charitable groups, including some from her past, but did not mention that she was on the board of Planned Parenthood in the mid-1990s. The organization, which didn't provide abortions in Alaska until 2003, is now on the opposite side of a Palin-supported bill to require girls under 17 to get parental consent for an abortion. (snip)

I was struck that Sarah Palin did so poorly in the straw poll of conservatives (13%, tied with Ron Paul) at the big conservative confab this weekend. It may be that participants were just annoyed that she didn't show up but I also wonder whether we have another Dan Quayle scenario. Conservatives rallied around Quayle because he was mocked by liberal elites. But when he actually went out on his own and presented himself as a leader of the Republican Party in 2000, he fizzled (came in 8th in the Ames Iowa straw poll). It turns out that conservatives loved...

I have a question for you. What happens when you decide to run with a story cooked up by DailyKos bloggers and then don't do any original reporting or, you know, fact-checking? I'll tell you who could answer it for you: Keith Olbermann. And by answer it, I mean totally not answer it since, when you call, they pretend nobody is around and dodge your questions. "Oh, Producer X isn't here after all, my bad. I must have been seeing a mirage earlier when I said he had stepped away from his desk."

WBAL-TV has fired a reporter who inserted a graphic phrase in a video for a prank — only to have the doctored version surface on Web sites nationwide. Wanda Draper, director of public affairs for the NBC affiliate, confirmed Tuesday afternoon that technology reporter John Sanders no longer is employed by the station. According to accounts published on the Internet, Sanders admitted inserting a graphic phrase into a video to make it appear that John Gibson of Fox News was denigrating U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder. In the faked video, which appeared first on YouTube and later on The Huffington...

A headline at Huffington Post blares: John Gibson Compares Eric Holder To Monkey With Bright Blue Scrotum (VIDEO). Writer Alex Leo lays it all out: At the end of a long and pointless conversation between two Fox News reporters covering a zoo escape, John Gibson compared Attorney General Eric Holder to a monkey.... At 2:48, they toss to John Gibson who complains that he can't get away with saying "bright blue scrotum" on the radio then follows that up by saying, "We were talking about Eric Holder today on the radio and his bright blue scrotum." --snip-- There's only one...

Gov. Sarah Palin's signature accomplishment — a contract to build a 1,715-mile pipeline to bring natural gas from Alaska to the Lower 48 — emerged from a flawed bidding process that narrowed the field to a company with ties to her administration, an Associated Press investigation shows. Beginning at the Republican National Convention in August, the McCain-Palin ticket has touted the pipeline as an example of how it would help America achieve energy independence. "We're building a nearly $40 billion natural gas pipeline, which is North America's largest and most expensive infrastructure project ever, to flow those sources of energy...

One of the most striking parts of Colin Powell’s endorsement of Barack Obama was his accusation that Republicans have helped spread the rumor that Sen. Obama is Muslim, and turned the word into a smear. “I have heard senior members of my own party drop the suggestion he’s Muslim and he might be associated with terrorists,” he said. Some Republicans took umbrage at the comment, saying John McCain and Republicans haven’t directly made such an accusation. Jonah Goldberg, a writer for The National Review, said it was a “low and dishonest blow,” and asked: “Is there really much evidence that...

In the October 13 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, October 6): 'She's One of the Folks (And that's the problem).' Editor Jon Meacham writes an essay about how Sarah Palin's populist view of high office is risky for the country.

WASILLA, Alaska - Though Sarah Palin depicts herself as a pit bull fighting good-old-boy politics, in her years as mayor she and her friends received special benefits more typical of small-town politics as usual, an Associated Press investigation shows. When Palin needed to sell her house during her last year as Wasilla mayor, she got the city to sign off on a special zoning exception — and did so without keeping a promise to remove a potential fire hazard. She gladly accepted gifts from merchants: A free "awesome facial" she raved about in a thank-you note to a spa. The...

NOTE: this was posted already but has joined the million posts currently in cyber purgatory. I thought it was important for you to see. Rusty Skakleford has done great work on this story at THE JAWA REPORT. LATEST STORY FROM THE JAWA REPORT LISTEN TO THE VOICE COMPARISONS ON THIS VIDEO *** When I have gone back to the video, it shows that there is no video. If that happens to you, try clicking on the start and pause button. *** Let me tell you why this may be important. A hit piece was run on Sarah Palin with false...

THE PALIN SMEAR EXPOSED AT 9PM EASTERN Dr. Rusty Shackleford, The JAWA Report Andrea Shea King Set Reminder Date / Time: 9/23/2008 6:00 PM Category: Politics Conservative Call-in Number: (646) 478-4604 Dr. Rusty Shackleford and his team at The Jawa Report have published an expose about the Obama campaign that is WHITE HOT. It is so explosive and so detailed, you need to clear your desk, pour a cup of coffee, hold your calls for the next twenty minutes, and be prepared to get educated. It is going "viral" on the internet, and just a news cycle away from...

Can anyone help corroborate this? If there is direct linkage that can be proven, this is huge.

I am tired of all the smear tactics used on Governor Palin by the media. This is unacceptable. This is the kind of yellow journalism, which would make William Randolph Hearst smile. It is time for us to fight back. Leftists riot on the street. Republicans riot with their wallets. One of the big sponsors of the National Enquirer and US Weekly is State Farm Insurance. Here is the number to their ad department: (309)735-2153. Tell them what you think.

A Friday hearing revealed that an Obama partisan has manipulated an independent investigator’s subpoena list for a controversial inquiry against GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The investigation is intended to determine whether Palin abused her office by firing Safety Commissioner Walt Monegan. Palin says she fired him over budget issues. Her foes believe the firing was due to Monegan’s unwillingness to fire Palin’s former brother-in-law State Trooper Mike Wooten, a man who has admitted to “tasering” his stepson, illegally shooting a moose and has been accused of threatening his former father-in-law with violence and drinking in his police car....

Palin – the Devil in disguise 12.09.2008 Source: URL: http://english.pravda.ru/opinion/columnists/106354-palindevil-0 The candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States of America, whose experience in small town politics, mothers´day dos and the local hockey club is her claim to fame, threatened to open the gates of Hell by attacking Russia in the event of another invasion of Georgia in a televised interview on ABC (shown today). One question for this self-opinionated upstart: Do you know what a nuclear holocaust is? Sarah Palin, Mrs. Nobody know-it-all shreiking cow from Alaska, the joke of American politics, plied with a couple of vodkas...

I suppose this is a vanity. This video has been picking up steam with the Left. Please view it and post comments and rebuttals, because it's going to be used to challenge us all as part of the main-stream media's PDS. I apologize if it has been posted previously, but a search didn't bring it up. Thanks in advance, Fellow Freepers.

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To my knowledge no Vice Presidental pick has come under this kind of fire storm from the media. The latest article in USA TODAY http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-10-rape-exams_N.htm Is nothing more than an attempt at a high tech lynching. By linking Palin to this policy that she didn't make, nor did she fight against the law that was subsequently passed to stop this practice, they have smeared her. I am calling for a boycott of USA TODAY not only that though I am calling for community action. I have sent an email to USA TODAY that I have copied below. Since USATODAY hasn't...

CNN Transcript, 09/12/2008: KOCH: Plucky is a compliment but when I say she [Palin] scares the hell out of me, I use one illustration. There are others. Of her allegedly, according to "The New York Times," it's in dispute but "The Times" has not retracted, that she went to the library in the town of which she was mayor and she told the librarian she'd like to have certain books censured. COSTELLO: I think that has been disputed and we have found it's not true. KOCH: No. It's been disputed - COSTELLO: It's not true. KOCH: But "The New York...

Since Bloomberg content is link only, and likely the headline can't be posted verbatim, I made one up. Trust me, the real one is no less offensive. The scum attempting to destroy the career of a fine American with the most blatant of lies deserve nothing less than retribution. I also call on FR management to fight back against these attempts at censorship by the media outlets. We must be able to discuss what's being said in the media without fear of litigation. Such discussion is at the absolute heart of American Democracy.

Despite snowballing reports and rumors, Sarah Palin's eldest son, Track, was not part of the gang of four teenagers who criminally vandalized 44 Alaska school buses in 2005, a key culprit told The News. "Track wasn't with me. Track had nothing to do with it," participant Deryck Harris, 20, said Wednesday in an exclusive interview.Citing an anonymous judicial source, the Anchorage radio station 1080 KUDO was the first to report last week that Track Palin was the unidentified 16-year-old delinquent who not only trashed the buses but also swiped the bottle of alcohol that fueled the teen rampage. The...

(CNN) — John McCain's campaign released a new ad Wednesday that portrays Democratic operatives as a vicious wolfpack hunting VP nominee Sarah Palin. “The attacks on Governor Palin have been called ‘completely false’…’misleading,’” says the female announcer in the 30-second spot, which points to a report from Factcheck.org shooting down many attacks on the Alaska governor. “And they've just begun.” The announcer cites a Wall Street Journal column that 30 Democratic lawyers and researchers have been “air dropped” Alaska to conduct “dig dirt” on Palin. That column, by pundit John Fund, cites anonymous sources in reporting that unnamed Democrats have...

The lead dog on the Troopergate smear campaign has a little explaining to do himself. On his official State of Alaska website he claims to have been in the Marine Corps Reserve in 1977-78 as a private. There is also a reference to (PLC). As a former Marine, this smells fishy. In another story French claims he spent six weeks at Quantico, VA. As every Marine knows, Quantico is where Marine officer training occurs. For French to have been a Marine private he would have had to complete basic training at either Parris Island or San Diego, which takes about...

LEBANON, Virginia (AFP) — Democrat Barack Obama late Tuesday launched his most scathing attack yet on his Republican White House rivals' reformist credentials, likening their approach to putting "lipstick on a pig." "We've been talking about change when we were up in the polls and when we were down in the polls," Obama told a rally here as surveys suggested John McCain and Sarah Palin have overhauled his lead for the November 4 election. "The other side, suddenly, they're saying 'we're for change too.' Now think about it, these are the same folks that have been in charge for the...

Obama: "Lipstick on a pig, still a pig."

Amie Parnes reports from Lebanon, VA: Obama poked fun of McCain and Palin's new "change" mantra. "You can put lipstick on a pig," he said as the crowd cheered. "It's still a pig." "You can wrap an old fish in a piece of paper called change. It's still gonna stink." "We've had enough of the same old thing." The crowd apparently took the "lipstick" line as a reference to Palin, who described the difference between a hockey mom and a pit bull in a single word: "lipstick."

Nobody should be surprised that the day after Sarah Palin knocked the ball out of the park with her acceptance speech; the Associated Press ran an article claiming she was using a corked bat. This is because the mainstream media, while completely in the tank for Obama, isn’t so blinded by the Messiah’s divine light that they can’t see a huge threat when it appears. In the case of Mz. Palin, her appearance on the political scene has given the liberal press the same sense of dread that the people of Alderaan must have felt when a moon sized space...