The President’s freelancers
When Carrie Prejean answered a question about her faith honestly and politely on the Miss America pageant and Perez Hilton called her a bitch (and worse) for answering the question he’d asked, I expected a firestorm but things seemed to die down. But even before the smear attacks on Prejean, this incident was an example of why, even when my politics are to the left, I prefer dealing with people on the right.
I agree with Mr. Hilton that gay marriage should be legal. I, however, realize that I’m in the minority. Even in California I’m demonstratively in the minority: we passed a proposition just last year forbidding gay marrage. The President of the United States also disagrees with me, as does the Vice President. So, unlike Hilton, I appreciate Miss California’s polite statement of her opinion after having been asked. It shouldn’t be an excuse to hurl sexual slurs and insults.
And it definitely isn’t a reason for the media to go digging into her medical records or insinuating raciness that isn’t there. Or digging into her parents’ divorce and airing that to the world.
What’s up with the media these days? They’ve never been reliable but they didn’t used to be this viciously dishonest other than to President Bush. Is there a void of hatred they need filled now that he’s gone? I wonder if some of them don’t secretly wish that Palin had won, just so they’d have an outlet for their hatred inside the beltway.
What did Joe Wurzelbacher do to deserve vitriol, lies, and smears from the press? Ask a better question than they’d been asking, or have since? Did 17-year-old Bristol Palin and 18-year-old Levi Johnston really deserve the public scrutiny they received? It’s no wonder their marriage failed. It’s hard to imagine any young couple surviving what they went through unscathed.
Governor Palin’s been the subject of unrelenting spurious attacks ever since she became the Vice Presidential nominee; there was more reporting on her family than there was on the Democratic Presidential nominee’s policies. Even 5-month-old Trig Palin became a target for their crazed hatred, at the Atlantic of all places. And it’s still going on!
Now Carrie Prejean has incurred the news media’s wrath. Why? Her answer was as polite as an answer can be and still disagree with me. Was it the applause she received? Or just the fact that she must have known she was throwing the pageant by answering honestly? Honesty seems to frighten them.
Heh. Or maybe they’re worried that politics will become a beauty contest with youth and looks trumping experience and competence.
From Joe the Plumber to the Palins, the “free” press decided that anyone who posed an electoral threat to Obama deserved a media thrashing. Now they’ve continued their blood frenzy after the election. That leads down a very dark road. It leads to the press becoming a willing arm enforcing government dictates. And it means that the White House can threaten opponents with media smear campaigns.
One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.
Completely unbelievable last year; there’s no way that the press would trash someone’s reputation just because that person opposed a White House project when Bush was President. Today? I don’t know. I don’t want to believe it. But I’ve already seen it happen. And in the end it doesn’t really matter whether the news media would go that far; all that matters is that it’s a credible threat for the White House to wield. Would you take that chance?
Miss California
- As Leftists Mock and Belittle Carrie Prejean She Becomes More Popular: GayPatriotWest at Gay Patriot
- “For offering a view of marriage nearly identical to that of the Democratic President of the United States, she has been repeatedly ridiculed on the left. Do those who mocked her know how nasty they sound? Do they have any sense how people outside the liberal enclaves where they reside will react to such bile? Do they realize that most people who heard Miss Prejean speak, even the great majority of those who disagree with her, would appreciate the civility with which she expressed her opinion?”
- Campaign to destroy Miss California somehow turns even nastier: Allahpundit at Hot Air
- “Usually the very first bit of mud to be thrown at a conservative critical of gays is the charge that they’re gay themselves. Now at last it’s time. With a twist: It’s not Prejean herself who’s being called a closet case but dad. Classy.”
- Miss California’s Racy Photos: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
- “Prejean isn’t just an ally of the right anymore; she’s a martyr for the cause. She’s being burned at the stake by intolerant thugs, and that makes her a hero.”
- The occult meaning of “controversial”: John Hinderaker at Power Line
- “Why is it that opposition to gay marriage is deemed ‘controversial,’ while opposition to bailouts isn’t? I can’t fully explain the phenomenon, but what happened at the Miss USA pageant last night shines an uncomfortable light on a rather dark corner of our public life.”
- Surprise: Miss California Getting the Joe the Plumber Treatment: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
- “But they are essentially acting as the bullies and secret police—secret police as in blackmail and public revelation of embarrassing information, not backroom beatings—of the government.”
- Two scandalous photos of anti-gay marriage proponent leaked to FA!: Wordsmith at Flopping Aces
- “Too ‘racy’ for the TODAY Show? Give me a break! A year ago, the Today Show had no issue with showing a ‘racy’ photo of influential teen star, Miley Cyrus. Make no mistake: They’re only feigning the photo is too risque for their viewing audience, because they share an agenda with like-minded liberals, out to nail another conservative to a cross.”
- Video: Campaign to destroy Miss California escalates: Allahpundit at Hot Air
- “presumably they’re drawing some gratification from the mere thought that they might be causing her discomfort. Pure vindictiveness, but then what did you expect?”
White House
- A Bully in the White House: John Hinderaker at Power Line
- “Barack Obama’s lawless conduct in connection with the Chrysler bankruptcy is sending shock waves through the business community. Many think that Obama is merely engaging in crony capitalism, favoring his political supporters (most notably the Auto Workers Union). It is much worse than that: Obama has tried to bully those who have not bought his favor—Chrysler’s non-TARP secured creditors—into giving up their legal rights by threatening to use the powers of the White House to damage their businesses. This sort of lawlessness is common in some of the more corrupt Third World countries, but it is brand new to the United States.”
- Hedge Funds Outraged At Obama Bullying But Also Cowering In Fear: Clifford S. Asness
- “When hedge funds, pension funds, mutual funds, and individuals, including very sweet grandmothers, lend their money they expect to get it back. They know, or should know, they take the risk of not being paid back. But if such a bad event happens it usually does not result in a complete loss. Bankruptcy court is about figuring out how to most fairly divvy up the remaining assets based on who is owed what and whose contracts come first. Without this recovery process nobody would lend to risky borrowers.”
- Inappropriate Relations With Those Firms: Charges of White House Threats: Ace at Ace of Spades HQ
- “Who in the press corps will press? A few here and there. But by and large the press will allow this to slide. After all, they have to conserve their editorial resources for the time when Obama sics them on a creditor who won’t play ball.”
- Lauria allegations of threats corroborated: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air
- “One participant in negotiations said that the administration’s tactic was to present what one described as a ‘madman theory of the presidency’ in which the President is someone to be feared because he was willing to do anything to get his way. The person said this threat was taken very seriously by his firm.”
- Obama uses WH press corps as threat against Chrysler investors: Ed Morrissey at Hot Air
- “McCain threatened to make public officials ‘famous’ for wasting taxpayer money. The Obama administration allegedly threatened to use the WHPC to destroy the reputations of private citizens as a punishment for not relinquishing their contractual rights for having helped float Chrysler. There’s a huge difference between the two.”
- White House Thuggery: Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit
- “One of my clients was directly threatened by the White House and in essence compelled to withdraw its opposition to the deal under the threat that the full force of the White House Press Corps would destroy its reputation if it continued to fight.”
More journalism
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