Posted on 02/10/2005 10:41:44 PM PST by conservative in nyc
The Web site began as a sort of Internet boutique for like-minded conservatives and libertarians, suspicious of federal power and angry at President Bill Clinton.
Started in 1997 by a reclusive California conservative, freerepublic.com saw its membership blossom with Clinton's impeachment and the election of George W. Bush. Attention to the site reached a zenith last fall, when a "freeper" -- the group's moniker for its bloggers -- first discussed flaws in documents CBS News used in a report critical of Bush's National Guard service.
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One participant working under the handle MD4BUSH, whose identity is unknown, drew Steffen into a private conversation and appeared to coax him to share more details about his role in spreading the rumor. Copies of those chat room e-mails were later provided to The Washington Post.
The Oct. 18 conversation began with MD4BUSH complimenting Steffen and saying how obvious it was that the rumors about the mayor were true. Steffen, writing under the name NCPAC, replied:
"I don't look for the MO'M [O'Malley] story to hit for a little bit yet. . . . However, a lot of what everyone knows about MO'M is because of work that has occurred. It's been a wild ride."
MD4BUSH later probed further:
"Your saying that my dentist knows [about the rumors] because of work you did? Wow, I must say, I'm impressed. I mean really, everyone knows -- how did that happen?"
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
It's just like I said days ago. Everyone had heard the rumor. Even my parents had heard it and they don't have a wide circle of friends.
The papers waited until they could find a way to sting the GOP with it. And it was only possible because the "media" ignored the story in the first place.
WOO HOO!
It just keeps coming.
Looks like the media is in full attack mode with a target rich environment.
Everything and anything that dissed them. Namely everyone we know.
EHRLICH MAKES UP MAKING UP QUOTES: In an interview on WBAL Radio, Ehrlich defended banning officials from talking to Sun columnist Michael Olesker, claiming he had "made up quotes," referring to a May 14 column that included quotes from Lt. Gov. Michael S. Steele on multiculturalism. Olesker denied the charges, saying, "They are trying to deny having conversations with me that absolutely occurred and that I would never in a million years make up." Ehrlich's administration finally came clean by reversing itself last week and "acknowledged that Steel did have the conversation with the columnist."
WATCH YOUR METAPHORS: The governor's office also tried to attack Olesker for describing the governor's communications director as "struggling to keep a straight face" while testifying that use of taxpayer money in tourism ads was not politically motivated. Ehrlich says Olesker wasn't at the hearing and thus didn't know what Schurick's face looked like; Olesker has explained it was a figure of speech and he didn't mean the phrase to be taken literally. In retribution, Ehrlich used this as his justification for banning the Maryland government from talking to Olesker.
EHRLICH KICKED REPORTERS OUT OF THE STATE HOUSE: This isn't Gov. Ehrlich's first attempt to muscle out journalists. Last summer, he concocted a plan to bodily evict the Maryland press corps from its long-held offices in the State House. (After the resulting uproar, he recanted and reporters were able to stay on site.) He also removed newspaper boxes from the State House for "security" reasons. The Governor "has professed not to read the newspapers, maintains that The Washington Post and The (Baltimore) Sun are biased against him, and has professed a preference for talk radio."
I hope you realize your rant does not pertain to this circumstance at all.
As it was fortold in the prophecies, the "War on Freepdom" has begun.
The stars are in alignment, and the dark lord Hillary has deemed that those who "Freep" must be silenced...
No, I haven't switched to decaf, why?
Think the alphabets channels aren't PO'd they're getting whupped by a bunch of folks in pajamas? Sounds like revenge is well under way.
And if they think they are going to strip us of our freedem, they simply don't know what war is.
O'Malley's administration has been full of corruption and scandals. They kept hiring corrupt philandering, party-animal boneheads from the NYPD to head the police, among other lunacies. Makes you start to wonder. The old line about "birds of a feather..."
Nah. FR has had scammers before and when it all goes out like this, it usually means an increase in donations to keep FR up and stronger.
Old FRs went through "Deep in the..", Larry Whatislawyer, Pardek and a few other scammers that monopolized the interest for a while and came away stronger
Ok, just in case someone hasn't already done it:
This is very series!! Oh boy, this is hugh!!
It's the mentality behind the people who are pulling all the strings, they have been rejected time after time and they really want to get violent but they know what that means so we are seeing a bunch of cheap shots that make them look petty.
Very interesting. Thanks for the post.
At a lecture at Towson University regarding the dispute Ehrlich said to a class, "I would argue that the elitists [at the Sun] cannot deal with the fact that Michael Steele is an African American and a Republican."
They are lashing out wildly, frantically, for anyone to blame or hit for why they are so unhappy and frustrated.
Here, they considered Annapolis their private fiefdom of liberal-socialist tyranny. They are absolutely livid that they lost the state house in Maryland.
The governor says Olesker fabricated an entire conversation with the lieutenant governor. "Why would I make up a quote? If I made up a quote, I wouldn't last 29 minutes, let alone 29 years. I'm a fair and honest reporter," Olesker said.
The far from shy governor has ordered his staff not to talk to or return phone calls from Olesker or from the Sun's State House Bureau chief.
"It's not anything other than with respect to two reporters from the Sun. They now need to direct their questions to our press office. Because we don't trust them to report news, or report quotes accurately, which is what they do for a living," Ehrlich said.
Governor Ehrlich's battles with the Sun actually go back before his election. In endorsing Ehrlich's Democratic opponent, the paper's editorial page suggested Lieutenant Governor Michael Steele brought little to the team other than the color of his skin.
"Clearly what they've done and said about Michael is part of this. It's so far out of bounds, so racial, so inappropriate, that we've asked for a retraction and apology for two years," Ehrlich once said.
The Sun's editor fiercely defends both Olesker and the state house bureau chief. And he says the news department operates completely independently of its editorial pages.
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