Blue Spot

Media: The Netroots Responds

On Monday night, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly aired a segment full of misleading, inaccurate claims attacking the upcoming YearlyKos blogger convention, its namesake DailyKos, and one of the event's sponsors, JetBlue. In his "report," O'Reilly cherry-picked an extreme minority of reader comments and diaries from the hundreds of thousands on DailyKos, claiming them to be representative of the community website and the greater netroots movement that will be gathering in Chicago from Aug. 2-5, 2007 for the progressive convention. Calling the netroots "the radical left" and DailyKos "hatemongerers" like "the Ku Klux Klan" and "the Nazi Party," O'Reilly compared YearlyKos to "a David Duke convention," calling it "one of the worst examples of hatred America has to offer." O'Reilly's segment, which has been latched onto by his ideological allies in the conservative blogosphere, is an attempt to discredit a movement that "each day" is having "more impact" on America's political discourse while "helping to renew our democracy." O'Reilly's pre-emptive attack on the convention is a testament to the fact that the netroots are not a "nutroots" fringe movement as critics would like to characterize it, but rather a snapshot of energized progressive activists agitating for change in America.

MYTH OF THE 'CRUDE,' 'ANGRY,' 'CRASS' FRINGE: The shoddy journalism of O'Reilly's YearlyKos hit piece is not the first time the progressive blogosphere has been the target of disingenuous attacks labeling it "the radical left." After several Democratic presidential candidates backed out of Fox News's debates due to the news channel's ideological bent, O'Reilly attacked the grassroots activists who agitated for the pullout, calling them a "radical movement" that uses "propaganda techniques perfected by Dr. Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi minister of information." Searching through two years of Washington Post articles, media writer Eric Boehlert could find just one profile of a progressive blogger. The article -- "The Left, Online and Outraged" -- portrays My Left Wing blogger Maryscott O'Conner as "a Bush-hating lunatic," using such key phrases as "angry," "rage," "fury," "angriest," "outrage," "crude," "loud," "crass," "inflammatory,""attack." As Boehlert notes, the Post's profile of prominent conservative blogger Michelle Malkin was "a Valentine's Day week mash note, presenting Malkin as a pugnacious, on-the-rise pundit who has her liberal critics up in arms." In reality though, the image of progressive bloggers as "unhinged," as Malkin describes them, is just a myth. The make up and politics of the netroots are actually quite mainstream.

By the way, here are some comments from Michelle Malkin's site:
On July 16th, 2007 at 6:23 pm, CruisersChicklet said:
Can’t you just see a Dem sleepover? Playing “Light As A Feather, Stiff As A Board” while Teddy-boy tries to steal bras to soak and then put in the freezer.. ugh!

On July 16th, 2007 at 6:24 pm, Rick Moran said:
I will tell you what is absolutely pathetically ironic about this.
Yeah, Reid is a grandstanding moron with the brains of a marmoset and the ethics of a hamstser. But this all nighter he’s planning proves a very important point.

On July 12th, 2007 at 10:41 am, freaksloan said:
Mr. Boehner is being too nice. Put a mic in front of me, and let me tell you what I think about these Rino’s. Mr. Voinovich here is Ohio is a total moron and doesn’t have the mental capacity to understand the threat we are under. If I ever come face to face with this Ohio Rino he will get more than just being called a Wimp.

On July 12th, 2007 at 2:02 pm, johnv40 said:
When is that old gasbag Helen Thomas going to retire? David Gregory is a disrespectful S.O.B

On July 18th, 2007 at 8:50 am, Independent Conservative said:
In addition to prosecuting and deporting criminal illegal aliens, several measures have to be taken to ensure the security of this nation:

1 - Put a limit on all kinds of visas. Entrance to the U.S.A. must be controlled. Legal Immigration shouldn’t be as easy as it is right now.
2 - Visas shouldn’t be easily granted to Muslims. And better if they weren’t granted at all. Let’s be blunt here. Yes, the State Department with the help of the FBI/CIA can find out who is Muslim and who is not.
3 - All borders must be completely sealed.
4 - The Muslims living in this country have to be monitored and investigated, all of them.

From Little Green Footballs:
itellu3times 7/18/2007 11:41:57 am PDT reply quote
re: #64 00buckshot

Chelseal Clinton asked if, as an American fighting man, anything scared him.
He told her there were only three things he feared:
1) Osama
2) Obama
3) Yo Mama

From Powerline:
Posted: 15 July 2007 06:47 PM [ ] [ # 22 ]
B. Goldwater

Total Posts: 2948
Joined 2007-03-24 Q. What’s the difference between Michael Moore and a one ton CARE package?
A. Michael Moore, if sliced real thin, can feed a larger Afghan village.

Signature
Muslim jihadists, posing as American libs and dems use web forums in a weak attempt to sow hatred and dissent amongst us Nanat sag suk mizaneh!

“To ERR is human, to FORGIVE divine. HOWEVER, neither is Marine Corps Policy.”


Well...that's all I could find in five minutes, but you get the point.

Labels: Fox propaganda, Netroots, YearlyKos