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April 14, 2009 BBC World

Chris Matthews ask neocon Frank Gaffney and David Corn whether Spain has any legal standing to prosecute Bush officials for war crimes. Of course Gaffney doesn't think the U.S. needs to abide by our treaty agreements or any sort of international laws. He also claims our current situation has nothing to do with the Nuremberg trials.

Why does Matthews feel it's necessary to keep putting this neocon Gaffney on his show? It reminds me of the way he would trot Tom DeLay out there every chance he got as someone any of were are supposed to take seriously.

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Lou Dobbs promoting the tea parties and comparing the grass roots anti-war movement on the left and MoveOn to those organizing the tea parties now. Both Dobbs and Brianna Keilar fail to mention the involvement of Fox News and corporate lobbyists who are funding the movement. As John pointed out, even Howard Kurtz on Dobbs' own network hit Fox News for their promotion of the tea parties, and it's costing them a great deal of money to do it.

Apparently Dobbs didn't think his fellow CNN anchor's reporting was worth noting in this supposed fair and balanced report of his. I'm sure if Dobbs ever wants to leave CNN, Fox News will happily bring him on board.

April 13, 2009 MSNBC

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From Anderson Cooper 360 April 13, 2008. While discussing Rick Warren's recent statements on Larry King Live, which contradicted what he had previously said about his support for Prop 8, the Rev. Mel White slams Tony Perkins for his bigoted stance on gay marriage. Perkins, like Warren, tries to keep the rhetoric from becoming too heated (unlike the Dobsons and Falwells of the world). But as Rev. White points out, that doesn't make their message any less hateful or harmful to the gay community.

White: It's really important for people to realize that Tony and Dobson and these others have been misleading the public for so many years about sexual orientation and gender identity. It's so important to see through their half truths and their hyperbole. It's really important to realize the damage they're doing by not saying that god created us gay. God loves us gay and we should have all the rights that the American people provide to all of us. So, Tony sounds good like, like Rick but they're really saying things that are horrible and destructive.

Cooper: Tony I'll give you a quick response since it was directed to you.

Perkins: Well, I would just say what we...we..it's not true. Uh..the Bible speaks for itself.

White: The Bible says nothing about homosexuality Tony, and it's really important to quit confusing people..(crosstalk).

Perkins: Hey Mel, nonetheless I love you. Appreciate you as a human being.

White: Don't say that. The things you say about gay people lead to destruction, the breakup of families...

Perkins: No, that's not true, Mel.

White: You continue this..we love you, but we hate you.

Perkins: No, I didn't say that.

White: We love you but we don't want you to have rights.

Perkins: I didn't say that.

White: Tony I've read your material. I've monitored you for ten years. You've got to get off this anti-gay stuff because they are leaving the churches because they've seen through your fundamentalist stuff.

Perkins: Actually, Mel, you're wrong on that point. The surveys, the polling data shows that Christians churches that are preaching the truth are the ones that are gaining members. It's the mainline liberal denominations that are losing membership.

White: That's not true at all either.

So we've got religious organizations tracking polling data like we'd expect from political parties now. Isn't that special? And Rev. White is right: You cannot pretend you love gay people and then do things that inflame hatred towards the gay community or suppress their civil rights.

April 13, 2009 MSNBC Rachel Maddow Show

April 13, 2009 CNN

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This wanker was also on Washington Journal today and from the little bit I got to hear of it on my XM radio he was just as infuriating there as well. Apparently Stephen Moore got the same memo as Lou Dobbs today on this "grass roots"...cough... rather astroturf tea bag movement from the conservative lobbyists and Fox Noise as to who is driving it. That Rick Santelli is just such a populist don't you know. He represents the people!

At least Matthews, unlike Dobbs was honest enough to show the extent that Fox is promoting this thing even though he plays as though he's clueless during this interview as to where this movement is being financed. I think Matthews knows full well who's funding it but just doesn't want to come straight out and say it.

Bob Cesca summed this interview up pretty nicely here: Ass Troturfing:

The last time we saw Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal, he was participating in Glenn Beck's insane "War Room" episode during which he helped to game out Beck's paranoid delusions. And the next day, Colbert discredited the whole ridiculous event -- right in front of Moore's smirky face.

Somehow being a laughing stock on both FOX News and Comedy Central hasn't prevented Moore from appearing on Hardball where he lied about the tea bag parties:

This really isn't something that's being driven, a) by the Republican Party, or b) by the national conservative groups. You gotta give credit where credit is due on this Chris, it really is a genuine kind of grassroots thing that kind of just spontaneously combusted around the country.

Lies. FOX News Channel, which could be considered a national conservative group, is promoting the tea baggers. FreedomWorks, a national conservative lobby, is funding the tea baggers. Fine -- whatever floats their boat. But don't say it's grassroots when it's clearly astroturfing of the highest order.

From Al Franken's press conference on the news tonight that the Minnesota court had ruled in his favor, declaring him the winner of the 2008 U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.

Norm Coleman's case was dismissed with prejudice by the court. Coleman is expected to appeal the ruling to the Minnesota Supreme Court. As such, it is not yet clear when a certificate of election will be issued, something Franken will need in order to be seated in the U.S. Senate.

The UpTake is a Minnesota-based citizen journalist organization which has provided yeoman's service in covering the prolonged U.S. Senate race in Minnesota.

h/t FairWinds at Daily KOS. From their diary:

On April 6, 2009, the University of Colorado hosted the 61st Annual Conference on World Affairs, which included a panel presentation entitled Rebranding Republicans: Don't Misunderestimate Us, recorded by and broadcast on C-SPAN. Among the panelists was Robert G. Kaufman, author of In Defense of the Bush Doctrine: Moral Democratic Realism and American Grand Strategy, published in 2007. In a ten-minute presentation, Mr. Kaufman posited five "core principles" that Republicans must embrace if they are to succeed "when Obama fails."

There is much to find disturbing in Mr. Kaufman's presentation, such as his assumption that Obama will fail and his assertion that "multiculturalism is a euphemism for the Balkanization of the United States". However, his "recommendation" that the GOP "acquire another television network" to disseminate its message in future elections is both an audacious proposal and a stunning admission.

Kaufman stated: The fifth thing that Republicans have to do is understand the problem of communicating in a world where much of the television media, particularly, is hostile...If I had to recommend one single thing that the Republicans should be doing to help articulate the message, it is to acquire another television network so that there is not just FOX, but multiple sources of alternative information that will do a much better job than we did in 2008 to keep things honest.

Kaufman is not a spokesperson for the GOP but this slip is one that probably deserves some notice as the diarist writes. Heaven forbid that any of them they don't have enough control over our airways as it is already. Right now there are about six media companies that control almost everything we watch on television, at the movies and listen to on the radio. How could the GOP survive without one more Fox News channel to promote their agenda? It just boggles the mind.

My take on this is that it was unusual to have anyone actually admit that the GOP controls Fox, much less say they need another one. Maybe someone can look up Mr. Kaufman to see if he wants to stand by his statement and ask him who told him that the GOP has "acquired" Fox.