New Jersey's Newest Smear Outlet?

by: Juan Melli

Mon Apr 02, 2007 at 02:49:42 PM EDT

(Update: The post has been retracted. The author wrote: "I would like to retract this post. As you can see, my source for this post was the Drudge Report and I have recently learned that The Drudge Report's "exclusive" report on Michael Ware cannot be corroborated by other sources." - promoted by jmelli)

In 2005, anonymous conservative blog and bottom of the right wing-smear-machine-totem pole Enlighten-NJ posted rumors alleging that "a videotape of Corzine, inebriated, making statements that will damage him beyond belief with African Americans" was about to come out. It didn't take long for the Drudge Report to pick it up and push it to Fox and finally mainstream media outlets. Instead of admitting how wrong they were, they bragged about it.

Picking up the baton for the flailing smear blog is the NJ-based Red Generation ("Promoting a New Generation of Republican Leadership"). Launched just two weeks ago, they set a new record for repeating baseless, unconfirmed accusations. This time, the smear machine ran in reverse and they dutifully took their marching orders from Mr Drudge himself.

This was their post yesterday:

In fact, the entire video from that press conference is available online. The reporter is sitting in front of the camera to the right, wearing a light colored shirt. You can see for yourself that his "unforgivable" actions at this press conference included sitting, taking notes, and at the end raising his hand once. The press conference ended abruptly without him speaking a word. Maybe next time they will check the facts before repeating the claims of a known liar.

They're barely over two weeks old. I wonder if they really want to be known as simpletons who will pass on any rumor that's drudged out of the muck, or would they rather actually report facts about how terrible we liberals are?

Everyone makes mistakes, and unlike Enlighten, these guys have their names out there, so they might have reason to protect their credibility. Will they issue a correction admitting their mistake? After 17 months without a correction, Enlighten has set the bar pretty low. Don't trip, guys.

Juan Melli :: New Jersey's Newest Smear Outlet?

Tags: Red Generation, Enlighten, smear mongering, Drudge, (All Tags)

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New Jersey's Newest Smear Outlet? | 5 comments

That's a pretty weak retraction ... (0.00 / 0)

"Cannot be corroborate"? Give me a break. There's video that directly contradicts the story, and that's why it should be retracted.

It's sad that when pulling a dishonest story (which was not their fault) they have to give their own dishonest explanation.

by: huntsu @ Mon Apr 02, 2007 at 23:20:28 PM UTC

by: you @ soon

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Why the GOP spin machine did that (0.00 / 0)

The day or so before McCain left on the surprise trip, he told American reporters that things were just dandy in Baghdad, that Gen. Petreaus travels around anywhere, anytime without an armoured vehicle. The context of his quote was remarkable, not at all like his 180 in this clip that still understates the danger and deterioration we hear from real reporters on the ground.

Mick Ware is a regular correspondent call-in on Air America Radio www.airamericaradio.com/listen . I was listening when AAR had Ware on live and played the McCain clip cold for Ware.

Ware reacted, stunned, and spouted off-the-cuff as he's prone to do something like, "McCain is batcrap crazy," and went on to explain that no Americans in their right mind would go out anywhere in Baghdad without security troops and armor.

Mark my word: The disinformation campaign is directly against Ware in an attempt to "Rathergate" him out of Baghdad and out of Time magazine, which I think is his employer.

Journalists are very much the target of right-wing retribution, every day in insidious and pervasive ways, at home as well as overseas. And some who dared to speak truth still are on unemployment lines. Never forget how they drove Gary Webb (the Dark Alliance series on Iran/Contra) out of work, into despair and to alleged suicide, with two bullets.

by: anonymous3 @ Tue Apr 03, 2007 at 03:10:15 AM UTC

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AH come on, Webb killed himself (0.00 / 0)

2 shots to the head...

SO..... he killed himslef .... twice...

yeah thats it.

Were you citing the Mercury News series on coke ?

Check out my 3 paragraph primer on Polywell Fusion.

by: FogerRox @ Tue Apr 03, 2007 at 03:30:45 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Yes (4.00 / 1)

Coroner's report says two bullet wounds to the head and coroner backs it as viable suicide. Webb's family believes he was despondent enough to have killed himself and he had good reason to be, with career in ruin thanks to the disinformation campaign against him.

But I keep an open mind, because his behavior seems consistent also with someone who feared being killed. I'm not saying I have a contrary conclusion; I'm just suggesting it seems odds would be pretty slim anyone could shoot themselves in the head twice. Maybe. What do you think? At least one of Webb's former black ops sources is in the wilderness and continues to be a source for journalists on other matters. Sorry for getting off-thread. Just wanted to point out there's a wide and long range of risks for journalists in this political environment.

by: anonymous3 @ Tue Apr 03, 2007 at 12:07:48 PM UTC

[ Parent ]