Connecting Dots

So Sunday while I was surfing, I ran across this article at Little Green Footballs. Though I am aware of their work, I don’t normally read LGF, but I was drawn by the headline at Memorandum and clicked it. Here are the essentials:

I don’t even know what to say about this any more [sic]. There’s a real sickness running rampant in the right wing; the Fox News comment thread on Whitney Houston’s death is yet another disgusting deluge of outright racism: Singer Whitney Houston Dies at 48 | Fox News.

I read a few on that page and then clicked through, and yes, the comments are offensive as hell, with the n-word littering the discourse. Damning, no?

Now I’m not in the habit of defending FOX news by any stretch of the imagination. But here’s the thing; I’ve been reading FOX news for years now, not exclusively, but I treat them like I do CNN or MSNBC–they’re interesting for what they’ll tell you about that faction’s POV on a given subject, and sometimes they do just straight up report stories. In my years of reading them, I have never once witnessed a train wreck like that one. Never have I seen FOX commenters en masse racially attack someone.

I’m not saying it’s not real; I’m saying I’m suspicious. I remember all too well the online games that went down with operatives and volunteers in the 2008 primary, and I am aware of Cass Sunstein’s work manipulating online watering holes. Most of us were at DKos, Jeralyn’s place, and other prime online targets and we are well aware of the methodology. My suspicions primarily revolved around this information, and knowing that race is an easy exploitation device, one for which the Obama Administration has reached again and again.

So imagine the alarm bells that went off for me when I found this article on David Brock and Media Matters (via Dana Loesch on Twitter) at The Daily Caller (who, you may recall, broke the Journolist story):

Last spring, some at Media Matters headquarters and in other parts of the progressive world were caught off guard by an interview Brock gave to Ben Smith at Politico, in which he promised to wage “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” against Fox News. “It was insane,” says a coworker. “David was totally manic at the time. We were all shocked.” [Bolding mine]

Now this paragraph is 5 pages deep in an article that discusses the web of media contacts that Media Matters has cultivated and the methodologies they use when a reporter is resistant to working with them.  It’s pretty damning stuff. There’s also a lot about founder David Brock’s mental and emotional status, which I think detracts from the overall article, but I suppose they hope it intensifies the  negative portrait they are trying to paint. (Still, I recommend you click through to it. I think it’s going to be hot today.)

They don’t need it. What has happened to the left, how it has completely adopted wholesale the methodologies they once claimed they despised, and, more important, the policies they once claimed they despise, is self-evidently ugly and negative. What happens when there’s no one to tell the truth is that one must spend huge amounts of time reading between the lines looking for subtext, connecting dots, and trying to reverse-engineer strategy. Which will, in turn, get you accused of being conspiratorial (to come properly full circle with Sunstein).

But I’ve digressed. My point is that I’m now wondering if the comments on that FOX News article are an early indication the Obama administration’s online ground game with conservatives, and neutralizing FOX news this election year. And David Brock would have knowledge of such a campaign, which would certainly be sabotage, and may even bear some responsibility for perpetrating it via Media Matters vast web of members and contacts. I can’t know for sure, but I certainly smell something fishy.

Update: Hot Air is covering the DC storyand Ed Morrissey also notes the odd framing Tucker’s team put on it. It really serves to hide the most salient points of the exposé:

The actual story here might be the reverse of how Carlson et al frame it here.  This sounds as though the White House uses Brock and Media Matters to conduct a proxy war against its perceived enemies in the news media and to push its propaganda out through the MSM.  The DC’s descriptions of attacks on reporters and media outlets who don’t fall in line would make MMFA a very valuable pitbull for Jarrett and Obama, and one with some plausible deniability, at least until now.  This should really be the screaming red flag in the article, rather than some of the salacious tidbits about Brock.

Occupy AIPAC?

Will You Occupy AIPAC?

Dear friends,

We are excited to announce that plans for OCCUPY AIPAC are under way and we hope you will join us March 2-6 in Washington DC.

With the Occupy movement that has swept the country demanding social and economic justice, many have concluded that AIPAC—the powerful pro-Israeli government lobby that distorts U.S. policy in the Middle East— is a mandatory “occupy target”. Adbusters, the magazine that issued the initial visionary call for the takeover of Wall St. on September 17th, has declared: “The time has come for the Occupy Movement to demand an end to the Occupation of Palestine… We need a hashtag, #occupyAIPAC” (Kalle Lasn).

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Yeah, this will settle all those unfounded rumors about antisemitism and the Occupy movement.

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Some thoughts on Whitney and the downside of freedom

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As we all know, Whitney Houston died yesterday. The cause of her death is “undetermined” but it’s a safe bet that drugs played a role in shortening her life if not outright killing her. You can expect to be hearing a lot about her in the next few days, and there will undoubtedly be some kind of memorial tribute for her at tonight’s Grammy Awards.

I was never a big fan of Whitney, but that’s because during her best years I was more into rock music. But it would have been hard to make it thru the late 80′s and early 90′s without being aware of her work.

In 2009, the Guinness World Records cited her as the most-awarded female act of all time.[3] Her list of awards includes two Emmy Awards, six Grammy Awards, 30 Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, among a total of 415 career awards as of 2010. Houston was also one of the world’s best-selling music artists, having sold over 170 million albums, singles and videos worldwide.

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She starred in a couple hit movies too.

In 1992 Whitney married Bobby Brown, and in the years that followed rumors began too circulate about their drug use. Her behavior started to become erratic and she began showing up late for interviews, appointments and rehearsals and canceling concert appearances. When she did appear it was noticeable that she had lost weight. Although Whitney denied using drugs it was obvious she wasn’t being truthful.

When the reality television show Being Bobby Brown aired in 2004 people were shocked by the behavior and deteriorated appearance of Whitney. To say that the clips of her were unflattering would be putting it mildly. Whitney separated from Brown in 2006 and filed for divorce. During the past few years until her death she was working on a career comeback.

Her autopsy will reveal whether she had put her demons behind her or not. But heavy drug use takes it toll – quitting does not repair the damage it only stops it from getting worse.

Which brings me to my point. When we see a great talent like Whitney’s ruined by drugs it is easy to react by demanding that such substances be made (or remain) illegal. The ravages of alcohol abuse were the reason for Prohibition.

But prohibition cures nothing and brings along evils of its own. Cocaine has been illegal in the United States since before any of us were born. Nixon announced the War on Drugs in 1970. Crack cocaine was singled out for special treatment in 1986 when the Federal Sentencing Guidelines were amended to increase the penalty for possession and sale to 100 times that of powdered cocaine.

The War on Drugs is invariably a war on drug users. The vast majority of people arrested with drugs are busted for possession for personal use. Most drug dealers do so to finance their own addictions. We are putting people in prison to protect them from drugs.

When it comes to personal behavior I am very libertarian. I am an adult, so as long as I am not harming anyone else what right does the government have to tell me what I can and can’t do? Drug prohibition did not save Whitney Houston. She made some bad choices, but they were HER choices.

Would locking her in prison have been a better answer?

The downside of freedom is that some people misuse it. Some problems just don’t have solutions.

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Happy Birthday Abe!

Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865)

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On this day in 1809 a young boy was born in a one-room log cabin in Kentucky. Raised in Indiana and with only one year of formal education, this self-educated man became one of our greatest presidents. We could use a man like Abraham Lincoln again.

“Be not afraid of greatness; some are born great, some achieve greatness, and others have greatness thrust upon them.” – William Shakespeare

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