20060701 Spin slander distort and repeat

Spin, slander, distort and repeat

(Note: this post first appeared on KDDC on July 1st, 2006: “20060630 KDDC Spin, slander, distort and repeat.” At the time it was linked by: “Black and White.”

In case you missed it, The Washington Times really took the gloves off over the hatchet job that Washington Post reporter Matthew Mosk, [that’s him → depicted as this week’s winner in the Democratic main stream media mouthpiece award: “June 30, 2006 DMSM Bias Mouthpiece winner Mosk” (© Kevin Dayhoff, June 30, 2006)] who editorialized in a particularly offensive piece last Monday, June 26th, 2006 entitled:

"Steele's Donor List Stirs Racial Questions"

Those Who Offended Blacks Contribute

By Matthew Mosk, Washington Post Staff Writer, Monday, June 26, 2006; Page B01

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Hang Right Politics has something to say about this in a post entitled, "Racist Press Target Black Republicans" - see here.

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For those of us with the "1s and 0s." we were happy to have those with the "barrels of ink" join in the fray. But many key questions remain, including, but certainly not limited to, why would the Washington Post stoop so low as to allow such a blatantly bias and agenda driven article appear in the paper? Is Mr. Mosk going to review the campaign contributors of candidate Mr. Ben Cardin or Mr. Kweisi Mfume?

On April 17, 2006, Maryland Republican Party Chairman John M. Kane raised an interesting point:

“Ben Cardin has some explaining to do. Maryland voters deserve to know how he has managed to take more than $4.2 million from special interests while representing just one district in Maryland, topping Senator Sarbanes who has had to campaign several times statewide. More than that, Cardin needs to explain to Marylanders what his connections to some of these groups say about his own beliefs and how they could influence him in the United States Senate.”

Cardin Has Received $42,500 From The Association Of Trial Lawyers Of America (ATLA). (Federal Election Commission Website, www.fec.gov, April 7, 2006)

Cardin Has Received Over $830,000 From Big Labor Special Interest PACs. (Political Money Line Website, www.tray.com, Accessed April 7, 2006)

It would seem that Mr. Mosk wrote his article with the the March 27 confidential report prepared for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee by a top National Democratic Party strategist - Cornell Belcher - and paid for by the Democratic National Party - - at his side, for a template and guide.

Please review my posts; "20060419 Dems Smear Politics in Maryland" and "20060417 Maryland Dems Smear Steele At Their Peril"

Read what Gregory Kane said here, and what the New York Post and the New York Sun have recently said…

Meanwhile, I have pasted the Washington Times Editorial here. Hats off to the Washington Times!

Democrats and name-calling

Washington Times Editorial

TODAY'S EDITORIAL
June 30, 2006

The Democratic strategy against black Republicans is easy enough to understand: Call them sellouts; label them dupes of the racist Republican machine; link them to as many white conservatives as possible; and repeat. Maryland Lt. Gov. Michael Steele is no stranger to this program ever since the Baltimore Sun editorialized that the only thing he brought to the gubernatorial ticket of Robert Ehrlich was "the color of his skin." Now, with Mr. Steele's Senate campaign scaring the wits out of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, The Washington Post saw reason to run a tidy little hit piece Monday headlined "Steele's Donor List Stirs Racial Questions."

With such an ominous sounding headline, you might think Mr. Steele accepted a donation from a known Klansman or skinhead. Alas, reporter Matthew Mosk digs so deep into the Federal Election Commission campaign finance reports -- available online to everyone -- he uncovers the astounding news that Mr. Steele has taken donations from Republicans. Adding insult to injury, they were white. It turns out that one of the donors, Floyd Brown, who produced the now-infamous "Willie Horton" ad in the 1988 presidential campaign, actually held a June 22 fundraiser for Mr. Steele.

Mr. Mosk doesn't enlighten his readers about what the "Willie Horton" ad was, but he writes that "it came to symbolize the cynical use of skin color as a political wedge." That's one way of putting it. Another, more accurate way is that the ad exposed the dangerous Massachusetts furlough program for felons that became a campaign issue between Vice President George H.W. Bush and Mass. Gov. Michael Dukakis.

The Bush campaign attacked Mr. Dukakis' support of the program, as Democratic candidates had similarly done during the primaries. Willie Horton, serving life in prison for murder, raped a woman while released on furlough. Mr. Brown produced an attack ad, featuring Horton as a poster child for the furlough policy. But because Horton is black, Democrats accused Republicans of using race as a wedge issue.

Eighteen years later, Mr. Mosk regurgitates the race angle without any of the above history. The article also slanders radio host William J. Bennett, who, Mr. Mosk tells readers, suggested "aborting black babies would help reduce crime." That's a complete distortion of Mr. Bennett's comments, which were actually meant to show the absurdity of a pro-choice argument, advanced by some liberals, that abortion helps reduce crime. The Post also names former first lady Barbara Bush, a Steele supporter, as another member of "Racists for Steele."

Such an article would never have been written were Mr. Steele a white Democrat. But there's a racially tinged strategy at work here: Spin, slander, distort and repeat.

Hat Tip: MS and Chairman DJ Thanks

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