Sunday, February 20, 2005
First Jimmy Carter, Now Minnesota Politics Guru: John Hinderaker and Company Just Can't Stop Smearing Their Betters
Check it out, from the Minnesota Politics Guru. He asked the folks at PowerLineBlog this:
Your recent post on the JD Guckert/Jeff Gannon story has to be one of the saddest examples of conservative head-in-sand syndrome I have ever seen. You claim that there are three issues being brought up by liberals: 1) He isn't a "real" journalist, 2) He was a Bush administration plant, and 3) He had something (God knows what) to do with the Valerie Plame story. Of course, you blatantly ignore the most important issue, the one that is easily found on hundreds of blogs covering the story: how did a person using a fake name get access to the White House? If I applied for a pass to the White House using the name "Max Power", I would not get in unless I had some friends high up at the top. A closely-related issue is exactly what the links are between GOPUSA and Talon News. Now, you may think it perfectly acceptable for the President and press secretary to consistently call on a reporter who is working for what is essentially an arm of the Republican Party. If so, it would be nice if you would admit it. That doesn't mean that others aren't allowed to have a problem with that arrangement, however. You also take Americablog to task for "finding nude photos of Gannon and posting them online." He didn't "find" photos taken by some paparazzi at a secret party; he found websites where Guckert (let's use his real name, not his pretend name) posted his own photos. If you posted photos of your family on your web page and I posted a link to these photos, would that make me a low-life "outing" you? Come on. Guckert is not ashamed of these photos, otherwise he would not have put them on the web in the first place. If somebody else finds them and points them out to the world, they are doing nothing wrong. Just one, just once, it would be nice to see a conservative with the ability to find fault with other conservatives. I won't hold my breath, though.A harsh post, but factual, to the point, and blessedly free of the cuss words that I must admit I would have been tempted to use, well, liberally. Here's the oh-so-erudite, reasoned and rational response (NOT!):
You dumb shit, he didn't get access using a fake name, he used his real name. You lefties' concern for White House security is really touching, but you know what, you stupid asshole, I think the Secret Service has it covered. Go crawl back into your hole, you stupid left-wing shithead. And don't bother us anymore. You have to have an IQ over 50 to correspond with us. You don't qualify, you stupid shit.Isn't this lovely? Notice how he uses cuss words as intimidation weapons -- he doesn't bother with logic, and he only makes one attempt at an actual argument, his statement that Guckert got access using his real name. Too bad that this is wrong. See, Ari Fleischer -- the guy who was the Bush White House press secretary when James "Jeff Gannon" Guckert first started showing up at WH presscons -- is on record as saying that he had no idea that "Jeff Gannon" was a pseudonym. This brings up a few possibilities: 1) Ari is lying. This is by no means unlikely -- dissembling was Ari's stock in trade. But let's check out all the options first. 2) PowerLineBlog is lying. This is also by no means unlikely, and for the same reasons as 1). But again, let's check out all the options. 3) Ari is telling the truth, and the Secret Service didn't bother to give him Gannon's real name. This is too scary a possibility to contemplate. 4) Rove told both Ari and the Secret Service that they were to be very, very nice to "Jeff Gannon". This is by far the most likely scenario, simply because it's becoming more and more obvious that neither Ari nor the Secret Service were allowed to vet this guy. Minnesota Politics Guru is by no means the only person that the PowerLineBloggers have viciously and unfairly attacked recently. If you remember, John "Hindrocket" Hinderaker also called Jimmy Carter -- yes, THAT Jimmy Carter -- a traitor last week on the PowerLine blog. Call John H. "Hindrocket" Hinderaker at (612)766-8430 and demand that he apologize, in print and on his blog, to James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, a distinguished veteran and former president, as well as to the proprietor of this fine Minnesota weblog. And yes, this is fair, since Hinderaker posts his daytime phone number -- which also happens to be for his Faegre & Benson law firm office -- on his blog. In fact, it might be nice to make sure that some of F&B's upper echelon -- as well as their clients -- know about this, too.
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