Archive for the ‘opinion/news’ Category

FLASH! Charles Johnson trolls for hits: Lobbies to be an MSNBC regular…

Posted: December 1, 2009 by datechguy in internet/free speech, opinion/news, personal
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You know as someone who got less hits all of last year as Robert Stacy managed in the month of November you might expect me to put up a “look at me” post to drive some traffic over here.

It’s a real measure of how far LGF as fallen to see him putting up a “Look at me” post. There was a time when he was one of the top 10 bloggers around. But when you have thrown almost everyone under the bus, censored comments and stifled dissent and attracted readers with all the friendliness of a Basil Faulty something has to be done.

A lot of this stems from his feud with Pam Geller but the breaking point was actually in April when Glen Beck hit him. The real bus throwing started around that time.

Ironically I wrote a post defending Johnson that week, and a quick follow up that didn’t take sides. I then discovered Robert Stacy’s Magnum Opus on the subject that prompted a long post of my own, my first comment , link and regular reading of his blog.

The turning point for me was was two fold, the Van Jones story and gave this warning:

one must always beware the specter of Sullivan’s syndrome that turned a once reasonable blogger into a Bush hating trig truther. Beck’s issues (and he HAS some) do not make the Obama administration in general or Van Jones in particular clean. A lot of Bush Derangement and Palin Derangement comes from the it

I accepted Charles Challenge to research Jones and found evidence that supported his position, it was also around that time that I got more into comments on LGF and discovered that like the Senate and amendments the real action at LGF is in comments. It was in comments that I had a personal dispute with Charles where I considered myself slandered and demanded satisfaction. After pressing the issue I got an acceptable response in comments and deleted the detailed post on the subject I had prepared. That really opened my eyes but since the response was acceptable I was ready to leave it there.

Then came the attack on the Tea Parties in general and Robert Stacy in particular.

to me the attack was cheap and came from nowhere. Robert Stacy being Robert Stacy did what was required, he fought back but more importantly people who knew him spoke up for him leading me to say this:

I don’t know Robert Stacy McCain personally, but after hearing his friends come to his defense, I sure would like to.

As I followed the fight in detail I investigated in the same way and concluded that Charles behavior dishonorable:

However there is another factor here, Robert Stacy McCain is the father of six. Those six carry his name and to some degree his reputation. He is fighting for their honor, his father honor and his great grandfather’s honor. He also as a father has to set the example for his children to stand up for themselves. If he lets this go without satisfaction he the example he will be setting will be terrible. As a father I see it and nod.

This is why as long as there is not an honorable resolution Robert Stacy will make sure in the words of Jeb Stuart whom he quoted “He will regret it but once, and that will be continuously.” It is not possible for him to do anything else, the consequences otherwise are too great and the longer it lingers the smaller the chances of an honorable solution will be..

All of this ended in my banning at LGF and others (Hi Peg), sudden LGF love from Andrew Sullivan and Firedoglake my single favorite post. Some brief defenses from Charles’ minions in my comments, and a long phone call from Robert Stacy which began a long distance friendship.

In the meantime LGF was last linked by Glenn Reynolds Aug 27, 2009 (on rathergate) and Charles last mentioned by name on April 16th 2009 (Beck v Johnson can’t we all just get along?). Robert Stacy’s Instalances? I count 11 Instalanches for him since Charles last one.

And here lies the REAL reason for today’s post by Charles…

Look at this page, you will see that Charles last instalanche was his 234th. Roll that number in your heads bloggers that is 233 more than me (are my posts that boring?) His first instalanche was April 22 2002. So in a 90 month period that is an avg of 2.6 instalanches a month or just under one instalanche every twelve days. Just to remind you here is what my one instalanche from last Feb did to my traffic:

instalance

Also consider that an instalanche means other blogs will pick up your posts in reference. Imaginable the cumulative effect of this happening every two weeks for 8 years. It is mind boggling!…

…and then it suddenly stops!

Now suddenly his blog has to stand on it’s own two feet, Charles is a good programmer and his blog design is in my opinion one of the best on the web but what good is that if you aren’t getting the traffic?

The left already hates you and doesn’t link, Glenn doesn’t link and neither does the right, even LGF watch hasn’t posted on him in over a month what do you do?. He choose Rule 4. Pick a fight but it can’t be just any fight, the right has left you and the left doesn’t trust you enough to link so to win the left over it is necessary to pick the Right Fight!

Plan A was to hit Sarah Palin via association, it took 5 days but Rachel Maddow picked up his attack obliquely. But it still didn’t do the trick, the hits didn’t keep coming so now comes plan B…

Pull an Ariana Huffington/David Brock: The left absolutely LOVES people who cross over. His post today is an attempt to get Dede Scozzafava attention. She has become the left’s favorite Republican. This is Charles play to get love from the lefty bloggers in general and maybe even MSNBC.

If he can manage to get himself on Maddow’s show he will have the attention he wants, it will not be the Instalanche but it will do.

This is all about ego and Charles need to feed it. Will it work, that depends on the if the left thinks he can be a useful idiot. At the moment he has the idiot part down pat but his support of Israel and the war on terror (proving his has not totally lost it yet) is going to be a sticking point, but maybe that will be their “big tent” move. Here’s how I think it will end…

.

I can hear the words from Charles now: “All right Mr. Reynolds I’m ready for my instalanche!”

Update: He got a link at Politico, that might be his “in” to morning joe. Will the plan work?

Meanwhile Ann Althouse (who still gets plenty of instalove) puts it in perspective:

Personally, I don’t need to go through the exercise of figuring out what happened to Johnson. I’ve avoided him all these years because he seemed too extreme and hateful. Now, he’s fired up about other people being extreme and hateful? And he’s fired up in a way that seems extreme and hateful? I do not need to go there. That was never my scene.

You don’t need to go there but he needs your link. This is trolling for an instalanche to start and MSNBC to finish.

Jules who is quoted by Ann expands on it:

I would have preferred a detailed description of the moment when all that inclusive thoughtful concern hit him like a silver bullet, when the switch flipped on the bright shining light on the road to Damascus, when … enveloped by its warm, mentally balanced, nurturing embrace … he started frothing about the hateful craziness. Also, how the crazy hating on his new side of the aisle fits into his new anti-hate/crazy world view. Not on offer in this brief crazy hate-a-thon. But it’s pretty obvious he bought this line that it is all about crazy hateful bigoted insurrection, which comes across ironically as crazy and hateful sounding.

Jules you aren’t getting it, it’s about the hits today that will be up and the gig tomorrow that he dreams of.

Update 2: Can we now safely say that HotAir’s move of Charles to their left channels slot was right? I still have a front page link to him myself, it is the “Rush Limbaugh, Honorary Lizardoid” link that goes to his Oct 20th 2006 post by that title. He has not pulled it yet or re-directed it. It will stay there to show we remember.

Update 3: Jules Crittenden links, thanks! I’ve always wondered if he was the newspaper guy standing next to me at the Boston Tea party talking about how he got out in time to another reporter.

Rush makes the Rose Mary Woods connection

Posted: November 30, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news, personal
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Rush Limbaugh 11/30/09 :

Rose Mary Woods where are you now?

DaTechGuy 11/29/09:

The woman above is Rose Mary Woods. She was President Nixon’s secretary who claims to have “accidentally” erased the 18 1/2 minute gap in the Watergate tapes. Lets pretend it is 1973 and All the Watergate tapes were erased and only “reconstructions” created by the Nixon White House were available. Would you have taken the Nixon White House’s word that the tapes were “accidentally” erased? Did you take Rose Mary Woods word? Is that credible?

It’s a cheap ego boost but it might drive hits so i’ll take it.

Plenty of other people are covering the gruesome murders on the west coast…

Posted: November 30, 2009 by datechguy in elections, opinion/news
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Robert Stacy, Michelle and oh just look at memeorandum thread and start clicking if you want details and it is all over it.

What I have to say is indirect commentary, much less important than the actual act but very telling…

In the first hour or so of Morning Joe today Mika was simply giddy with the idea that Mike Huckabee said on camera that he will likely not run since he doesn’t have the support of the base, she snidely talked about him not passing the “purity test” of the GOP and stressed it as an insult.

At this point Joe and Willie brought up events in Seattle and the fact that the killer was released by Mike Huckabee’s and will become his Willie Horton Moment.

You should have seen Mika’s face, it twisted and changed as if someone had run over her puppy. However later in the show the subject of “purity tests” came up again without the Huckabee connection and she was herself again.

Although the blindsiding of Mika, famous for wanting to deal with “hard news” was funny the real story was the fact that Joe and Willie knew all about what was going on in Seattle and it wasn’t making the news, the Houston Chronicle headline was shown but no further discussion.

Was it due to the race of the subject? Was it because it was concerning a released felon? I think it is because it has no bearing on their media template or ability to hit conservatives in general. It can only hurt Huck and they perfer Huck after all he is very beatable, even by Obama.

Today they briefly mentioned ACORN wanting to change it’s name, the dumping of documents? Not a word.

This is really about the News selection, the people at ABC, CBS, NBC, MSNBC, CNN et/al they KNOW about these stories, (Charlie Gibson not withstanding) and they choose to pretend otherwise or are ordered by their bosses to do so.

They are some of the best of the media’s coffee clatch crowd but are still part of that crowd and want to stay there. There is only so far off the reservation you can go and still be welcome at the parties and get the attention for the shows. That is the tightrope that they choose to walk. Re-admittance to that crowd was Andrew Sullivan’s reward for his change, would he be a regular on Chris Matthews’ show without it?

That’s why Sarah Palin drives them all nuts, she believes what she believes and you can take it or leave it , same with Rush he believes what he believes and doesn’t care what others think about it. They refuse to let others define them. It is a threat to the entire world view of the media culture.

I think their Radio show is going to be interesting, what will they choose to cover?

Note as I’m finishing this post there is 30 min to go in the show and they have hinted they will touch the topic again. Lets see…

Update: Nope Joe didn’t cover it but other liberal outlets are. The Huffpo commentators in particular see Huck’s Christianity and are charging like bulls toward a red cloth.

Meanwhile the Washington post says what I just did:

In a new Washington Post poll, Palin beats other GOP leaders on two questions: who best represents the party’s core values, and who Republicans would vote for if the presidential nomination battle were held today. But she has particular appeal to the loyal followers of Limbaugh and Beck, two of the most popular conservative talk show hosts in the country.

As long as she is unafraid her foes will be.

They don’t call it “talking points memo” for nothing

Posted: November 30, 2009 by datechguy in opinion/news
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Speaking of “Talking Points”

Do our beliefs form the basis of our partisan and ideological affiliations? Or is it vice versa?

There’s been a lot of recent evidence not only that Republicans disproportionately disbelieve the evidence for man-made global warming but that their skepticism is growing. I think that trend is fairly classed under the general heading of Republican/conservative hostility to science. But the other point interests me no less.

I’m going to go out on a limb here and assume that Mr. Marshall didn’t spend his thanksgiving in a cave somewhere either in a cave or somewhere neither of those phone network maps have coverage and did in fact hear that there is some new “global warming news” out there.

Don Surber states the obvious:

That is ironic because it is the left — not the right — that is ignoring the growing body of evidence that discredits the theory of anthropogenic global warming. Climategate revealed that data supporting this theory is corrupted by the political agenda and quest for government grants by proponents of anthropogenic global warming at Penn State and at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.

Today I’m am over an 1:15 into Morning Joe and no mention, the media is doing it’s best to totally ignore this story in keeping with its niche market model. I presume that Marshall has decided to do the same. He should take a lesson from Paul Mirengoff at Powerline:

In the law, the discovery of this sort of intentional document destruction would quite likely give rise to some form of “adverse inference instruction,” wherein the judge would instruct or encourage the jury to assume that the discarded evidence was harmful to the case of the party that destroyed it. I might be hesitant to apply this logic to the world of scientific inquiry were it not for the fact that the CRU scientists have demonstrated as little regard for honest adjudication of their position as your run-of-the-mill spoliator of evidence.

To be sure, the current head of the CRU was not in charge when the data were thrown away in the 1980s. Moreover, climate change was not such a heavily politicized issue in those days.

Still, Roger Pielke, the Colorado professor who asked for the records, is quite correct when he says that the CRU is basically insisting that we trust it, a demand that’s inconsistent with the scientific method for resolving debates.

One need not be a hard-core global warming skeptic to question whether we should alter the way we live in response to predictions based on findings that cannot be checked because the raw data was intentionally destroyed by the outfit that made the findings.

Ah but one apparently does need to be a person not wedded to the hard core left for their readership or customer base. When you don’t care about your credibility anything is possible.

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