Debate and Switch (myDD/Kos hysterical FNC lies get printed in San Fran Chronicle)

via LGF ^ | 2-24-2007 | Johnny Dollar

[FreedomNeocon]

Debate and Switch

What do MyDD, Daily Kos, and the San Francisco Chronicle have in common? They're all involved in The Lie of the Week.

The Fox haters' echo chamber is reverberating like crazy. They've got a new bee in their bonnet: Freeze Out Fox News! The Nevada Democratic Party has had the affrontery to cosponsor a Presidential debate with the eeevil FNC, and the haters will have none of it. The anti-Fox warriors always find it necessary to embroider the truth (what's left of it) with a tapestry of tall tales, stories that the gullible swallow uncritically in the blink of an eye. The lies in this case seek to use Fox's sponsorship of a September 2003 debate as evidence of their misdeeds. We traced this one back to two blue blogs: Daily Kos and MyDD. The perpetrator appears to be one Chris Bowers, who sets the stage by describing the 2003 debate:

Controversial questions included the accusation that Howard Dean had a racist gun policy by Fox News analyst Juan Williams.

The source for this claim is...the transcript? Um, no. The source is an online petition that, just by coincidence, Bowers is promoting! The actual transcript doesn't exactly resound with "accusations" of racism:

WILLIAMS: Ambassador Braun, Governor Dean has suggested that states like Vermont, Montana and Wyoming with overwhelmingly white populations really don't need gun control, in part because of their rural character. But urban areas, such as Baltimore, Maryland, with large minority populations do need gun control. Do you agree?

But wait, there's more. Bowers, not content with mere misrepresentation, takes things to the next level:

Four years ago, in typically unfiltered fashion, Fox cut away from the Democratic debate they hosted a couple of minutes before it ended, in order to give arch-conservative William Bennett the first shot at post-debate spin.

It took only moments for this tale to reverberate through the echo chamber: AmericaBlog, Hullabaloo, and even the High Priest Daily Kos himself. What's more, Bowers's sidekick even got this story into the San Francisco Chronicle:

When Fox broadcast a Democratic candidate debate in September 2003, [Matt] Stoller noted that the network's post-debate story was headlined, "Democratic Candidates Offer Grim View of America." It cut away early from the show, Stoller said, giving conservative pundit William Bennett first crack at post-debate analysis.

Only it's not true. Chris Bowers is lying. Matt Stoller is lying. Exhibit A is the Lexis/Nexis transcript for the Fox News broadcast of this debate. The debate that was cut off "early" so William Bennett would have "first crack" at analysis. Let's pick it up with the closing statements of the participants:

HUME: I'm sorry. We have to go to closing statements now. Time presses on us. And we begin closing statements. We hope to confine them to 45 seconds if possible. With Carol Moseley Braun, please.

At this point, statements from Braun, Sharpton, Edwards, Kerry, Dean, Lieberman, Kucinich, Gephardt, and Graham were given. The Lexis/Nexis transcript of the coverage then continued...

HUME: Thank you, Senator.
And that concludes our debate. We would like to thank the candidates for their time, the staff of Morgan State University, the Congressional Black Caucus Institute, and of course, our audience here in Baltimore and at home. Our next debate will be Sunday, October 26th in Detroit.
Stay tuned in the meantime for more debate coverage on Fox News Channel.
I'm Brit Hume. For our panel of journalists and for all of us at Fox News, good night.

Did Fox switch away from the debate before it was over? No. Where did Bowers & Co get that idea? They made it up! And what about the claim that Fox switched from the debate to give Bill Bennett "first crack" at analysis? The debate lasted 90 minutes, followed by 30 minutes of analysis. The transcript shows the analysis segment, hosted by Tony Snow, offered commentary by:

• CECI CONNOLLY (Washington Post)
• MORT KONDRACKE (Roll Call)
• FRED BARNES (Weekly Standard)
• CARL CAMERON (Fox News)
• BRIT HUME (Fox News)
• ELIJAH CUMMINGS (D-MD)

Where was William Bennett? Nowhere! He wasn't even on during the post-debate analysis program! That was another lie. But wait, there's more.

Back to Lexis/Nexis. William Bennett does show up...with Hannity & Colmes. Aha! So they gave him "first crack" at analysis. Well, no. H&C began by interviewing Al Sharpton. Then Bennett came on? Um, no, then they discussed the debate with a member of the black caucus from Alabama. Only after that did William Bennett appear, an hour after the debate ended, after at least ten other people commented on it before him. That's what Stoller and Bowers call giving Bennett "first crack" at analysis. Another lie.

These reckless fabulists go on to make the claim that the banner over the stage (approved by the Black Caucus) and the onscreen graphics read "Democrat Candidate Presidential Debate," a misconstruction of "Democratic". They provide no evidence, no screen grab. Never mind that the transcript reveals not one use of "Democrat" in that context: it's always "Democratic". Never mind that they cite not one contemporaneous writing that points out this faux pas. (Certainly this one didn't.) But Stoller and Bowers have already been exposed as frauds and liars. So nothing they say can be trusted, and everything they write should be presumed unreliable, unless proven otherwise.

Stoller, Bowers, Kos, and the rest of their crowd made up a fabrication about Fox News and in just a few days got it into a major newspaper. The Fox haters' echo chamber performed at peak efficiency. Clearly there can be no other choice for The Lie of the Week.

[JohnLongIsland]

straight out of the lenin/trotsky playbook.

[johnny7]

KOS has been considered 'a reliable source' for years in the DBM... The Huffington Post as well.

[reg45]

the lenin/trotski/carter/clinton/dean playbook.

[Jacquerie]

Truth to the left is that which advances their goals.

Factuality is irrelevant.

[flynmudd]

We believe what we want to believe. Just like some people only hear what they want to hear. Unfortunately a lie will travel around the world before truth can get his pants on.

[Txsleuth]

bttt

[PatrickF4]

The Dems have always used lies to try to push their way into power; it's just now, they can't get away with it so easy. Right, Dan Rather?

[mtnwmn]

These folks have been after FNC for some time. If Fox gives in then it's on to talk radio. Truth is irrelevant to these people.....and they don't want any interference either.

[Jacquerie]

Speaking of Rather, my blood still boils when I think of "fake but accurate."

Every year we are reminded by the old media of the anniversary of Nixon's resignation. Ignored is an attempt by a leftist news organization to bring down a sitting President with 100% fabricated evidence! What other 20-21st century political event even comes close? What would our Constitutional system have done if Bush's poll ratings plummeted after the story, he lost by a whisker, then afterwards we found out that SeeBS politically shot a sitting President?

Here are a few more ignored anniversaries. Please add the ones I have forgotten.

Chappaquiddick 16 July 1969, negligent homicide (at least) by the Pig Kennedy.

Ruby Ridge 21 August 1992, murder by BATF.

Waco Massacre 19 April 1993, another murder by BATF and assorted government agencies. Hey, where did the armor come from?

Bill and the Beast, 1993-2001. Vince, Ron Brown, MacDougal . . . Thank goodness I was never one of their friends.

Impeachment of William Jefferson Clinton , 10 Dec 1998. “Da fix was in.”

[CaliGirlGodHelpMe]

If confronted with this, the leftists will first say, "Well, if you want to talk about lies, look at George Bush...". Then when you refuse to rise to their bait, and instead drag them back to the subject, they'd say, "Yeah well, who controls the Lexis/Nexis transcripts - some neocon, I'll bet!" If finally forced to confront reality, they'll say what all lefties say when backed into a corner: "Well, at least I didn't _______ (fill in half-baked crackpot lefty theory of the week)."

I can't tell you how glad I am, daily, NOT to be one of these illogical, juvenile, easily-fooled, unhappy individuals.

[Fido969]

We have the same problem in Portland Maine. Moonbat blog ideas end up on the Portland Press Herald editorial page with an eerie sense of deja vu.

[PatrickF4]

I think you have summarized quite well the facts behind the assertion that the Liberal Leviathan has had it's tenacles around our culture for about forty years.

[Jacquerie]

My mistake. "Politically shot" should read "politically assassinated."

[Condor51]

Where's an honorable liberal reported like William Rivers Pitt when you need him?

(big) /s

[Condor51]

oops, spell check gremlin got me.
'reported' = reporter

[ishabibble]

Have you seen this one?

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1790839/posts