Posted on 06/14/2008 7:22:25 PM PDT by PJ-Comix
Miami Herald columnist, Andres Oppenheimer, is like a high school football player who just scored a touchdown. You can spot him in the end zone triumphantly spiking the football and performing his over the top victory dance. However there is something a bit too overenthusiastic about Oppenheimer's self-celebration as if he knows there is a huge caveat to his "victory."
You can read his not quite convincing "celebration" in his Miami Herald column, "About time! Reckless TV anchors put on spot:"
Bravo! A new study has found widespread fear-mongering and reckless journalism by cable television hosts such as CNN's Lou Dobbs and Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, who have made a career of bashing Hispanic undocumented immigrants and their home countries.
Gee! Doesn 't that sound impressive? However guess who did this "study?"
The study by Media Matters Action Network, a watchdog group, says Dobbs, O'Reilly and CNN's Glenn Beck serve up steady anger, resentment and myths ``seemingly geared toward creating anti-immigrant hysteria.''
Yes, Media Matters. That leftwing group financed by billionaire George Soros to attack conservatives. Not exactly an unbiased study group there. Of course, Oppenheimer continues to condemn people opposed to open borders illegal immgration as "creating anti-immigrant hysteria." According to Oppenheimer and other open borders advocates, there are only "undocumented immigrants," not illegal aliens. And anybody opposed to open borders is somehow a Know Nothing nativist.
Oppenheimer also celebrates some related "good news." Barack Obama shares his distorted vision about illegal immigration:
Also good news: Likely Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama told me in an interview last week that he shares concerns ''about the anti-immigrant tenor that I have seen in some of the broadcasts,'' which are helping create a climate of hatred against Hispanics.
So now the ball is in the court of Oppenheimer and Obama. Could they cite some specific examples of those broadcasts creating a "climate of hatred against Hispanics" who are here legally? Your humble NewsBusters correspondent knows that neither his Hispanic wife nor in-laws who are here legally feel any such imaginary climate of hatred. As for Oppenheimer's readers, most of them just aren't buying his smug victory celebration based on a "study" by a far left group with an agenda. Here is a small sampling of what Oppenheimer's readers had to say about his column both in the Herald and on his blog:
Calling an ILLEGAL ALIEN an "undocumented immigrant, is like calling a crack dealer and "unlicensed pharmacist" - ILLEGAL is ILLEGAL, regardless of ethnic background.You use a very liberal source without revealing their agenda and use it as a rallying point for the Democratic candidate and wonder why people won't subscribe to your leftist agenda driven newspaper?
EVERY country in the world has an immigration policy. ILLEGAL immigration is a CRIME in every country in the world. I would love to see you go across the border into MEXICO as an UNDOCUMENTED IMMIGRANT/ILLEGAL ALIEN. As has been reported they are very tough on illegals and you would be put under the prison for daring to enter Mexico illegally. Try to write your column from there !
Media Matters in the news. Funny how it passed for a source here once upon a time.
And bank robbers are making an “unauthorized withdrawal.”
Well, I don't call 'em mediasmatters for no reason. ("To study or approach superficially; dabble in.")
Smattering: "Superficial or piecemeal knowledge"
Media Matters was started by the Clintons!
Democrat Senatorial Campaign Committee staffers, one of whom - Katie Barge - previously worked for MEDIA MATTERS and before that John Kerry’s former VP pick John Edwards, illegally obtained the personal credit report of Maryland’s Lt Gov Michael Steele...
Media Matters’ founder and CEO is David Brock. A reporter for the conservative magazine The American Spectator in the 1990s, Brock (in the aftermath of his biography of Hillary Clinton that brought disastrous reviews) engaged in a public self-denunciation, characterizing all his past writings critical of liberal figures as a confection of lies and slanders. In Brock’s present judgment, the mainstream media have fallen under the sway of conservative ideology. He believes that conservatives have moved the mainstream media “to the right and therefore they’ve moved American politics to the right. … I wanted to create an institution [Media Matters] to combat what they’re doing.”
Standing behind Brock was John Podesta, a former chief of staff in the Clinton administration and the head of the “progressive” Washington, DC think tank, the Center for American Progress. In 2004 Podesta provided Brock with office space for his fledgling enterprise. Soon after, Media Matters received over $2 million in seed donations from a roster of affluent donors including Leo Hindery Jr., a former cable magnate; Susie Tompkins Buell, a co-founder of the fashion company Esprit and a close ally of Senator Hillary Clinton; James Hormel, a San Francisco philanthropist who nearly served as ambassador to Luxembourg during the Clinton administration; Bren Simon, a Democratic activist and the wife of shopping-mall developer Mel Simon; and New York psychologist and philanthropist Gail Furman. Media Matters, which can accept tax-deductible contributions under section 501(c)(3) of the tax code, has also benefited from the patronage of Peter Lewis, chairman of Progressive Corporation and a longtime consort of leftist financier George Soros.
Media Matters has not always been forthcoming about its high-profile backers. In particular, the group has long labored to obscure any financial ties to George Soros. But in March 2003, the Cybercast News Service (CNS) detailed the copious links between Media Matters and several Soros “affiliates”—among them MoveOn.org, the Center for American Progress, and Peter Lewis. Confronted with this story, a spokesman for the organization explained that “Media Matters for America has never received funding directly from George Soros” (emphasis added), a transparent evasion.——?
Wonder how much a minor league propagandist like Oppenheimer takes those morons for every week.
What’s up with NewsBusters? Every time I try to go there, I get a Network Solutions Domain name registation site.
Looks like someone forgot to pay their domain registration fees. Not good.
That happened to me once. There should be a grace period.
That’s what it looks like on the placeholder page.
I've heard the same from my "legal" Hispanic friends....
Mexico places restrictions on foreigners that Beck, Dobbs, and even Buchanan would not tolerate.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.