Are Tea Parties Fertile Recruiting Ground For White Supremacists?

Have these tea parties become a fertile recruiting ground for white supremacist groups around the United States of America? The Anti-Defamation League has an article about the tea parties that first sprouted up as "tax" tea parties around the nation on April 15, 2009.

An excerpt from the Anti-Defamation League article:

The Tea Party phenomenon, which began with anti-tax rallies staged across the country on April 15, 2009, will continue as activists in almost every state are planning similar events on July 4. Notably, white supremacists are again planning to participate. As they have done with other political and social issues, for example, promoting the Ron Paul campaign and using the immigration debate, white supremacists and anti-Semites are planning to exploit Tea Parties to disseminate their hateful views and recruit a larger following.

This is also from the article:

Stormfront, the most popular white supremacist Internet forum, is home to discussion between extremists eager to influence the events. In addition to circulating a list of local organizers and promoting planned rallies, Stormfront members are trying to find ways to involve themselves in the events. In posts to the forum, many voice their intent to attend the Tea parties for the purpose of cultivating an "organized grassroots White mass movement."

So, have these tea parties become a recruiting base for white supremacist groups? It is difficult to know how effective a recruiting base it has been for such groups, but there seems little doubt that there are potential recruits for these groups to reach out to - people who might be receptive to their messages of hate. These tea party protests have been diversity challenged and clearly appeal mostly to individuals on the far right of the political spectrum (since I certainly do not recall such protests during the administration of George W. Bush).

Anti-Defamation League:
http://www.adl.org/main_Extremism/White_Supremacists_July_4_Tea_Parties.htm

Steve McNair Dies

The death of former National Football League star quarterback Steve McNair, a former NFL Most Valuable Player, is another tragic reminder of how precious life is and how quickly it can be taken away.

Right now, we still have more questions than we do answers.

It's a premature, tragic, puzzling and devastating end to a hard-working man's life. Watching how hard he worked to build his football career and to provide for his mother only further illustrates the magnitude of this loss.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the family of Steve "Air" McNair ... a true football warrior taken from us far too soon.

Sarah Palin Quits As Alaska Governor

Sarah Palin quitting as governor of Alaska is probably not a really big surprise. The timing, however, is a little surprising to me.

Think Progress reads:

Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin (R) announced this morning from her home in Wasilla that she will not be seeking re-election and that she will be stepping down in a few weeks. Lt. Gov. Sean Parnell will be inaugurated as Alaska’s governor on July 25.

So, there are some questions we’re left to ponder: 1. Is Sarah Palin gearing up to make a run for the presidency in 2012? 2. Is there some scandal forcing her out? 3. Is she simply tired of politics and the media? Time will answer those questions and others. Indeed, there are probably a lot more questions, but those are some that come to mind at first thought.

Here’s another question: Is Palin a serious candidate for the presidency?

Personally, I just can’t see how she can be taken seriously as a presidential candidate. Republicans would be unbelievably stupid to nominate her for the presidency in 2012 (unless they want to put her up as a sacrificial lamb thinking President Obama could be unbeatable).

This is from Fox News right-wing (I know, it’s kind of redundant)contributor Charles Krauthammer as quoted by POLITICO:

Now, as to Palin, I agree entirely with what Mara said. She is — she has star power without any doubt. She has an extremely devoted following. But she is not a serious candidate for the presidency.

She had to go home and study and spend a lot of time on issues in which she was not adept last year, and she hasn’t. She has to stop speaking in clichés and platitudes. It won’t work.

It could work for eight weeks if you’re the number two candidate, as she was last year. But even so, she got singed a lot in that campaign. You cannot sustain a campaign of platitudes and clichés over a year and a half if you’re running for the presidency.

Palin can’t be taken seriously as a candidate for the presidency. If she was even going to attempt to be taken more seriously she would be better advised to take on a role as a senator or congresswoman. She was severely lacking on the national stage beyond one-dimensional popularity among hardcore right wingers who were pleased to see someone other than an old white guy become popular with the big “R” by their name.

Sarah Palin went out on the Alaskan stage the way she stepped onto (and off of) the national stage: Crying relentlessly about the media (an easy target), singing her own praises (the ones she could muster) and vomiting one-dimensional Republican talking points.

Palin would be best served to go home and chill out since “only dead fish go with the flow.”

It’s better than sleeping with the political fishes in 2012.

Juan Williams Did Host A Recent O’Reilly Factor, But Don’t Be Fooled

Juan Williams is supposedly one of the “liberals” on Fox News even though he is nothing of the kind. Williams is, at best, a moderate. But, in all honesty, he barely fits that description based on upon how often he is in agreement with Bill O’Reilly. It is impossible to be considered a liberal or even a moderate when you agree with O’Reilly as much as Williams does.

Now, I can imagine Bill O’Reilly putting Juan Williams in the anchor chair for self-serving purposes as a fill-in host of The O’Reilly Factor. He uses the reputation of Williams as “a liberal” to portray himself as more fair and balanced than he is (since most of us understand that O’Reilly is neither fair nor balanced). Williams is being pimped by O’Reilly. Williams is very well paid for services rendered, I would imagine, so he must be cool with this role as the pretend liberal.

O’Reilly is certainly free to have whoever he wants host his show, but it’s laughable to try and portray Williams as anything but a right-leaning moderate (who generally is double teamed, when offering up liberal opinions) by Mary K. Ham and O’Reilly.

Here is a comment from The O’Reilly Sucks Blog:

Juan Williams filled in for O’Reilly so there was no TPM. Juan made the Obama agenda the top story and had the White House Deputy Press Secretary Bill Burton on to discuss it. They talked about health care, cap and trade, etc. Juan sounded just like O’Reilly, he hammered Obama on every plan he has, and did not have one good thing to say about anything Obama plans to do. He asked a series of long questions to Burton with criticism of Obama in every question. Burton answered his right-wing spin questions, and it was pretty much just like O’Reilly was asking the questions. In fact, I would not be shocked to find out O’Reilly wrote the questions for him.

Juan is the so-called Democrat on FOX but he sounded more like Newt Gingrich than he did a Democrat. All his questions were full of Obama criticism and right-wing spin, just as if O’Reilly or Crowley were there asking them. It was just like having O’Reilly there, with just a different person to ask the questions. I would bet O’Reilly wrote those questions for him, because they sounded exactly like the questions O’Reilly would spin out. So if you thoughtBlogger: Best Seat In The House - Create Post the Factor would be any different with Juan Williams hosting you would be wrong. It was no different than if O’Reilly had been there, except without all the screaming and yelling.

Well said. Juan was brought in there to play a role and when you’re hosting the O’Reilly Factor, whether you’re Bill or not, you’re expected to be a right winger. Williams did what he was paid to do. He played his part well so as not to be punished.

The O’Reilly Sucks Blog:
http://www.oreilly-sucks.com/

Fox Nation Seems To Mischaracterize Ron Reagan’s Statement About Rush Limbaugh

Leave it to those good Americans at Fox Nation to mischaracterize a comment Ron Reagan made smacking down negative comments about President Obama having an adviser on domestic violence.

Here is how the headline reads: Air America’s Ron Reagan Accuses Rush of Domestic Violence

Here is a line below the video: Ron Reagan: Domestic violence marred Rush’s marriages

Well, I didn’t hear anything along those lines in the video. That leaves opinions up to interpretation. Naturally, Fox Nation makes the worst-possible interpretation and seems to assert that Reagan was saying domestic violence marred Limbaugh’s marriages.

Fox Nation is free to interpret whatever way they want (almost exclusively from a pro-right wing perspective), but I believe Reagan was referring to Limbaugh’s insensitivity to women and women’s issues (something he has turned into a science over the years).

Fox Nation:
http://www.thefoxnation.com/ronald-reagan/2009/07/02/air-americas-ron-reagan-accuses-rush-domestic-violence

Fox News Going Tabloid With Its Michael Jackson Coverage

Fox News tries to portray itself as a legitimate and professional news organization, but headlines like this one (about Michael Jackson’s memorial service) reflect more of a tabloid mentality interested more in sensationalism than in hard respectable news.

“Jacko’s Farewell Set” is what you would expect from a tabloid. It appears Fox News had sufficient space to use his full name, but instead chose to beat up on a dead man.

But, considering some of the other Jackson stories, it’s easy to see the pattern as Fox News goes tabloid to smear Michael Jackson.

Sanford Got Himself In Scandal … Media Is An Easy Scapegoat

In reading an article on News Busters I read from a writer who is upset about coverage of the controversy surrounding Republican Gov. Mark Sanford of South Carolina. Now, the media coverage on this has been big (for a lot of reasons … reasons that have nothing to do with political parties). The writer, Rich Noyes, articulates a few controversial cases involving Democrats he asserts have not garnered as much coverage as Sanford’s crazy tales. But, the writer seems to have omitted a couple of things that caught my eye as I read over the story: (1) I saw no mention of how the media beat up and beat down former Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards (and, actually, continues to go after him) and (2) I saw no mention of the affair controversy involving a Republican, Sen. John Ensign of Nevada (an affair that is not getting much coverage all things considered). The writer also seems to ignore that Gov. Sanford disappeared, few people seemed to know where he was, he is responsible for the people of South Carolina, there was dishonesty about his whereabouts, Republicans have portrayed themselves as the party of family values, he was missing around Father’s Day and … on and on it goes.

Here is the News Busters article:

In the week since South Carolina’s Republican Governor announced he had flown to Argentina to carry on an extra-marital affair, the broadcast morning and evening news shows have gone full bore on the scandal, cranking out 49 stories even in the midst of other major stories like Michael Jackson’s death and the continuing repression in Iran.

The morning after Sanford announced his affair, on the June 25 Good Morning America, longtime correspondent Sam Donaldson used the scandal to broadly charge Republicanswith being “sanctimonious. They thump the Bible. They condemn everyone else, and when they [act] human, they don’t have much credit in the bank for forgiveness.” Unlike when New York Democratic Governor Eliot Spitzer was caught consorting with a prostitute in March 2008, all three broadcast networks immediately identified Sanford’s party ID.

A number of top Democrats are enmeshed in embarrassment or facing allegations of wrongdoing, but the networks have far less interest in publicizing those cases.A rundown of ABC, CBS and NBC morning and evening coverage so far this year [ talks about Rep. Charles Rangel (D-NY), Rep. John Murtha (D-PA), Rep. Pete Visclosky (D-IN), Rep. Jim Moran (D-VA) and Ex-Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA).]

I am not saying those are not scandals, but to imply bias seems off base.

Noyes’ headline: Heavy Coverage of Sanford’s Woes, But Where Are Democratic Scandals?

Noyes must have been asleep during the presidential primaries.

Ask John Edwards if his affair got far less interest.

Forget The Grunting, Ban The Whining In Tennis

I’ve been amused listening to all of the whining the last few days about some tennis players grunting when they hit the ball. We have some of the old-school women tennis players coming out with their complaints about grunting – whether some call it cheating or some simply see it as an annoyance. Whether it’s cheating or an annoyance – the whining about it is nothing short of pathetic.

There’s no crying in baseball, but there is whining in tennis. Check out the article below that can be found at ESPN’s Web site: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/news/story?id=4293867

SYDNEY — Tennis great Chris Evert has joined the chorus of complaints about the noise level in women’s tennis, saying the “grunting” was getting out of hand.

Evert stopped short of joining former rival Martina Navratilova in labelling the practice as cheating, but agreed it had reached unacceptable levels.

“Grunting is one thing but the shrill sound that you hear with players nowadays, and especially they get louder when they hit a winner, that’s the thing that I observe as a player,” the former world No. 1 told reporters in Sydney on Monday.

“It comes before they hit the shot. That’s the first thing you hear and you are kind of like thrown off guard as a player and then before you know the ball gets past you.”

Evert is visiting Sydney with her husband Greg Norman, who announced he would play in the Australian Open golf championship for the next three years.

“It is distracting when you are hearing this and I think the grunts are getting louder and more shrill now with the current players,” she said.

“The next time you watch say a Maria Sharapova — the grunting is consistent but all of a sudden when she has a set up to hit a winner.

“I don’t understand, they say you’ve got to blow air out when you hit the ball.

“Steffi Graf hit the ball a ton and she didn’t grunt. There were a lot of players, hard-hitting players, and you never heard a peep out of them.

“I don’t understand the philosophy of it.”

I’m cool with Chris Evert, but this is the kind of whining about things that are happening in tennis that seems to serve no useful purpose. In a way, it almost makes some of these former players sound older and bitter (modern translation: player haters).

It’s time for the whiners to focus less on the grunting and more on the great tennis.

Otherwise, it perpetuates a negative image of snobbery.

As Expected, Fox News Downplays Democrats Super Majority In The Senate

It’s no big surprise that Fox News would come up with some way of pouring salt on the election of Sen. Al Franken (now that Norm Coleman has conceded).

Like an oasis in the desert, the 60-vote Democratic supermajority is a mirage.

Yes, former comedian Al Franken is now Minnesota’s senator-elect — thanks to the state Supreme Court’s ruling Tuesday — giving Democrats enough members in the Senate to hit a filibuster-proof majority. This is no laughing matter.

But that’s on a really, really good day. For all intents and purposes, Democrats don’t truly have 60 votes in the Senate.

With the addition of Franken, they technically have 58. Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Joe Lieberman, I-Conn., caucus with Democrats but don’t define themselves that way.

While there is some truth to this Sanders, Lieberman and even Arlen Specter are wild cards) … leave it to Fox News to pour salt on something that is a positive for Democrats.

Fox News:
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/07/01/democrats-senate-supermajority-strong-advertised/

Brian Kilmeade Blasts Sen. Al Franken, People Of Minnesota

This video is Brian Kilmeade and Andrew Napolitano (two more right wingers) on the radio flipping out with hate over Franken’s election.

KILMEADE: Explain to me this Minnesota. How you could do something that is such an embarrassment to America … to put this hateful character into the U.S. Senate, who is a clown of a person, who is maniacal by nature and ran as a comedian and … you don’t like Norm Coleman … that’s one thing, but for you to sit there and vote for Al Franken … I don’t get it.

This is more right-wing stuff from Kilmeade who holds a prominent position at Fox News.

KILMEADE: … He is an angry, evil person who wrote two hateful books. He is a bitter, partisan pundit without any depth to his character and the people of Minnesota have thrust him upon us.

This is laughable coming from someone who works for Fox News.

Still, what a vicious and aggressive attack by Brian Kilmeade who showed his partisanship and proved he has no credibility in terms of objectivity.

The video is here: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200907010021

Conservatives Flipping Out Over Al Franken

This is kind of funny watching the far right wingers whining about Sen. Al Franken’s election basically becoming official.

Peace out, Norm Coleman.

It’s funny watching the right-wing nutjobs lose their minds and begin the campaign of attacks as Media Matters for America is beginning to document:

Greg Gutfeld Needs To Make A Visit …

... to the Wizard to see if he has a spare heart and brain stored in his Oz headquarters.

Gutfeld offered this moronic statement (the latest in a line of moronic statements):

So Obama was right: he truly is the citizen of the world, even as his own country is left wandering and confused. I suppose it’s easy, however, for Jabrail in Azerbaijan to swoon over Obam, when he’s not faced with cap and trade, nationalized health care, and those new mandatory curly light bulbs. But then again, in Azerbaijan, I guess you’re just happy to have any kind of light bulb. Even if it’s a candle shaped like a light bulb.

But I digress. The poll looked at “confidence ratings” and found that while Obama had the highest, and would “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” Vladimir Putin and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad had the lowest. Now, these standings might mean something, if Obama actually had the balls to take advantage of them. I mean, what’s the use of being loved if you can’t actually scare the crap out of those who love you? It’s what confuses me most about our President. He chose initially to sit on the sidelines – as the people of Iran cried out for help – preferring to see which dude wins. A true leader, however, would know that it’s not the leaders who matter, but the people caught in the middle.

Which is why Obama’s recent response to the Honduran mess is even more bizarre. Immediately after the coup – Obama raced to condemn it. So our President develops a spine over an abducted politician in pajamas – but not about widespread bloodshed of innocent folks in Iran? Where the heck are his priorities, or his sense of proportion?

Let us forget the stupid and lying-ass right wing points mischaracterizing President’s response to the crisis in Iran.

When will these conservatives learn to stay out of the business of foreign countries who already hate us after eight years of the Texas cowboy and the Wyoming cowboy running roughshod over the world like J.R. Ewing running Ewing Oil on the old television show “Dallas” from back in the day?

Maybe Gutfeld wanted President Obama to heed the joking words of Sen. John McCain and “Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb, Bomb Iran.”

Perhaps Greg Gutfeld wants us to go over and try to whip North Korea, too.

It’s possible he wants to see just how many wars we can involve the U.S. in.

Gutfeld has been known to shoot off his mouth … even to the point of slamming our allies:

In the clip, Gutfeld says the Canadian military “wants to take a breather to do some yoga, paint landscapes, run on the beach in gorgeous white capri pants.”

“Isn’t this the perfect time to invade this ridiculous country? They have no army!” he asks the panel.

Right-wing nut Greg Gutfeld did apologize, but longer after inflicting significant damage. What a moron (even though it is Fox News).

Boy, Red Eye can give you blue balls.

Is Rush Limbaugh Comparing Minnesota Senate Race To Iran Election Controversy?

One of the intriguing aspects of Sen.-elect Al Franken’s victory over former Sen. Norm Coleman has been watching the conservatives whine and complain (because of how much they hate Franken). So, leave it to Republican leader Rush Limbaugh to come up with the comparison of Franken’svictory over Coleman to the Iran election scandal.

LIMBAUGH: Look at this. From Iran’s press television, the state-run media in Iran: Ahmadinejad gains votes in recount, just like in our country! It had — just like in our country. Norm Coleman wins in Minnesota in a recount, and they keep having recounts, and Al Franken wins. So they had the recount in Iran, and shazzam! Ahmadinejad gained votes!

I think the people of Minnesota deserve better than to be smeared by someone like Rush Limbaugh.

Rush, like it or not – the people of Minnesota has spoken and Sen.-elect Franken is finally taking office if Republicans will cease with the obstructions.

Crooks and Liars:
http://crooksandliars.com/john-amato/rush-limbaugh-compares-al-frankens-win

Nutjob Steve Malzberg Plays His Role Well

I was going to ask where CNN comes up with nutjobs like Steve Malzberg, but then I saw it was Lou Dobbs Tonight and I understood.

Here is a small piece of what Malzberg said after whining about coverage of Michael Jackson’s death:

MALZBERG: (Obama is) trying to take over this country more and more.

Some of these right wingers are just going nuts.

Maybe he caught the wrong flight and ended up at CNN instead of Fox News. But, then again, if he was on Lou Dobbs’ show then there really isn’t much difference from Fox News.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906300043

Glenn Beck Still Doesn’t Get It … This Time With Al Franken

The announcement that Al Franken will soon become Sen. Al Franken, representing the state of Minnesota, is not sitting well with a number of right wingers – especially those on the far right (like Glenn Beck of Fox News).

BECK: This is like having me in the Senate. … it shows that we’ve lost our minds.

First, Beck has to have had a mind, at some point, to have lost one.

Second, Franken (unlike Beck) has a track record of bring successful as a politician, a track record of being funny and a track record of being sane.

Beck fails in all of those categories.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906300045

Who Is It That Tries To Portray Jesse Jackson And Al Sharpton As Leaders Of So-Called The Black Community?

This is an excerpt from a story on Fox News (but, it could have been just about any other mainstream media outlet) about the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the Rev. Al Sharpton and the so-called black community.

Here it is from Fox News:

The Rev. Jesse Jackson and the Rev. Al Sharpton have converged on Michael Jackson’s family since the King of Pop’s sudden death last Thursday, acting as semi-official spokesmen and advisers.

Now the two preachers — who have spent decades jockeying for the unofficial title of America’s leading black activist — appear to be auditioning for a role in Michael Jackson’s final act: his funeral.

It remains unclear just what they are hoping to do for the clan in mourning as they offer their services to Michael Jackson’s family, but both have been vying for a prominent position.

Who exactly is pushing Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton to be “America’s leading black activist” these days? There is little question that both men enjoy the spotlight and media attention. I’ll be the first to concede that. But, what is up with the media outlets that shower Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton with this attention any time there is some big-time news involving a black person?

Why does the media look for these two guys all the time in stories involving black people?

Who are the spokesmen for the white community?

Who are she spokesmen for the Latino community?

Where are the spokesmen for the gay community, for Asians, for Native Americans, for handicaps?

Why do these leaders have to always be men? Can they be women?

Who are the leaders for the women’s community?

Maybe Rev. Jackson and Rev. Sharpton are not vying to be THE black leader. The media always run to the two men whenever something big breaks out involving black people or a prominent black person. Of course, the two men could say “no comment” to the media, but that’s not often going to happen.

I think the media controls their status as “leaders” of the so-called black community more than the Rev. Jesse Jackson or the Rev. Al Sharpton.

Rush Limbaugh Remains A Fountain Of Misinformation

Right-wing nut Rush Limbaugh was on the air today discussing the tortured argument about whether or not President Obama was born in the United States of America. It’s an old story that the conservative haters continue to harp on to try and portray the president as not being “one of us” as being “different” or something else.

Here is the headline from a Media Matters for America story:

Limbaugh: “I don’t know” where Obama was born, “supposedly Hawaii”

This is a thoroughly debunked storyline that was a smear during the presidential campaign and is continuing to be a smear even to this day.

Media Matters for America:
http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/200906300027

Another Detroit Pistons Coach Bites The Dust

The Detroit Pistons have let go of another coach as the inexperienced Michael Curry was fired by team president Joe Dumars on Tuesday.

I guess this is somewhat of a surprise, but Dumars should never have hired Curry in the first place. Curry was not seasoned enough to be put in such a position and, thus, did not have the best chance to succeed.

Then, All-Star guard Chauncey Billips was traded to Denver – case closed on Michael Curry’s tenure as a head coach. In reality, Curry might as well have resigned after the Billups trade and his inexplicable decision to bench Richard Hamilton in favor of Allen Iverson.

Curry, who some day could become a solid head coach (with a little more experience under a strong and successful head coach) completely blew it there and truly sealed his own fate (a fate that has played out today with his dismissal).

Now, Joe has a big decision and he must go with a veteran head coach (one he will have to pay for). He has some choices out there with guys like Doug Collins, Avery Johnson or Jeff Van Gundy.

There are some viable candidates out there, but will high-quality coaches want to come to the Pistons with Joe’s record of firing or forcing out a lot of good coaches (including Larry Brown and Flip Saunders).

What Is Going On With Joe Jackson?

Look, I’ll cut Joe Jackson a little slack as he is mourning the somewhat mysterious and sudden death of his son, legendary entertainer Michael Jackson (the greatest entertainer of my lifetime and arguably the best ever). But, I found it more than a little uncomfortable listening to him at the BET Awards and during a news conference today (flanked by the Rev. Al Sharpton) promoting his record label.

Sorry, but it just didn’t feel right.

Here is how one blogger saw it:

This is just awful. Earlier tonight CNN’s Don Lemon interviewed Joe Jackson on the red carpet at the BET awards, where Jackson displayed indifference over the recent death of his son and then plugged some Blu-Ray disc he’s peddling.

The Blu-Ray plugging comes in at about the 3:20 mark, but the whole thing is completely cringe-worthy right from the start and doesn’t stop until the very end. To his credit, Don Lemon maintained his composure throughout the interview and resisted what must have been an overwhelming urge to grab Jackson, slap him across his face a few times and shake him vigorously while screaming, “What the hell is wrong with you old man!”

That was painful to watch and listen to at the BET Awards and to listen to him in a press conference today (June 29).

Again, I will cut him some slack as this might simply be his way of grieving the stunning death of his son.

Remember the movie “The Jacksons: An American Dream” (from the early 1990s) that still plays once in a while on VH1? The portrayal of Joe Jackson in that movie looks too similar to the Joe Jackson we’re seeing today. Joe’s handlers might want to work with him a little more because, right now, Joe is not coming across well.

Frankly, it’s too early to discuss business ventures, protecting Michael’s legacy and promoting record labels.

Hopefully this merely is Joe’s way of grieving.

I know some people will think I am being tough on Joe Jackson. I just hate to see him come across the way he’s coming across (negatively).

Reliable Sources Confrontation Was Pretty Lame

I can imagine Howard Kurtz, host of CNN’s Reliable Sources, was pretty excited about the prospect of an on-air confrontation (primarily between Washington Post writer Dana Milbank and Huffington Post blogger Nico Pitney … with the highly-conservative TownHall commentator Amanda Carpenter present to eagerly assist Milbank with a double team Pitney). Sunday was the day that Reliable Sources turned into a cable news television version of MTV’s The Real World. It did not work well for television as it just sounded like two guys who didn’t like each other arguing about something that is little more than a nontroversy. Back to Nico Pitney. Personally, I commend this man for his work to build sources in Iran and his work to try and understand the conflict in Iran from those who were on the ground in a country in such historic turmoil following a disputed presidential election. Instead of us applauding Pitney for his work to build sources, grind out information and present it to people, he gets bashed by a right winger who probably can’t stand Huffington Post (Amanda Carpenter) and a mainstream media, big newspaper snob (Dana Milbank) who probably (perhaps out of some sort of jealousy) enjoyed taking such a shot at Pitney and (as probably an added bonus) President Obama’s White House to try and portray both in the most negative light possible.

Yeah, I wonder if Kurtz knew what Carpenter, Milbank and Pitney were going to discuss when they came onto the program?

Is it reliable when you know two people are going to double team one person on a show that is supposed to be about (among other things) fairness, balance, objectivity and accountability in the media?

OK, Milbank and and Pitney had a lively exchange (the video is below) that became rather heated (more so than you would expect for Reliable Sources).

After the confrontation heated up, Milbank left Pitney with this thoughtful nugget from inside his head (according to Pitney):

The only thing that surprised me was when Dana turned to me after our initial sparring and called me a “dick” in a whispered tone (the specific phrase was, I believe, “You’re such a dick”). Howie Kurtz wrote on Twitter that he didn’t hear it, which is understandable — he was doing the lead-in for the next part of the segment on the ABC White House special. But it happened (I urge Howie to watch the video of the panel during the ABC intro) and it was frankly pretty odd.

I find the entire issue odd and stinking of partisanship and snobbishness. Pitney asked a better question and probably did more research than some of the snobs who are trying to throw him under the bus. You know, I suspect many people who watched that segment, and got a feel for Milbank, would hardly be surprised to hear him say something along those lines.

I’ll end with some impressions of the Sunday-morning confrontation:

Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nico-pitney/debating-the-iran-questio_b_222001.html

Crooks and Liars (this entry, among other things, debunks a claim of alleged favoritism for Pitney in terms of his positioning in the room):
http://crooksandliars.com/nicole-belle/reliable-sources-dana-milbank-gets-h-0

Hullabaloo:
http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2009/06/pitney-vs-milbank-by-digby-just-to-put.html