Fresh on the heels of Ms. Huffington's hypocritical lecturing of Fox News only four days earlier on responsible journalistic standards... though we're not sure --- would this fall under the category of "conspiracy theories and inflammatory claims" that she decried, or "angry minds that traffic in heated exaggeration, suspiciousness, and conspiratorial fantasy"?
On February 4, the splash headline at HuffPost was:
So did Rep. John Boehner, pictured, tell any Wall St. CEO that he/she should pay the GOP for its "services"?
Of course not.
So why did HuffPost put this up as its headline? (And does Celebrity Cruises really know what it's paying to support?) Who knows. Perhaps one day someone in a position of influence will ask HuffPost to answer that question (and why it has such a long history of constructing false and misleading headlines, which always seem to target conservative individuals and groups, as well as Israel and Jews).
Here's the HuffPost story page:
Click here to read the HuffPost story. Here's the "money" quote:
Last week, House Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio made a pitch to Democratic contributor James Dimon, the chairman and chief executive of J.P. Morgan, over drinks at a Capitol Hill restaurant, according to people familiar with the matter.
Mr. Boehner told Mr. Dimon congressional Republicans had stood up to Mr. Obama's efforts to curb pay and impose new regulations. The Republican leader also said he was disappointed many on Wall Street continue to donate their money to Democrats, according to the people familiar with the matter.
So, a leading politician from one party asked a huge donor to another party to reconsider his/her funding, now equates to "telling a Wall St. CEO to pay" the first party for its "services"? Really? We wonder what a Journalism 101 professor at a cash-strapped community college would have to say about this.
Not that it's a problem - HuffPost is only the #1 blog on the planet, with top members of the U.S. Congress as bloggers, access to White House news conferences, whose founder testifies before Congress, and enjoys more traffic than Washington Post, whose publisher says she could "learn from" HuffPost.
And how does this "news" item fit in with the following (genuine) news story, which broke earlier today --- but the data has been out there for weeks?
HotAir/Politico: Dem Senators Retreat To South Beach With 108 Lobbyists
There has been talk about the Democrats moving to co-opt the country’s populist mood. But it is just talk:The guest list for the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee’s “winter retreat” at the Ritz Carlton South Beach Resort doesn’t include the price tag for attendance, but the maximum contribution to the committee, typical for such events, is $30,000. There, to participate in “informal conversations” and other meetings Saturday, were senators including DSCC Chairman Robert Menendez; Michigan’s Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow; Bob Casey of Pennsylvania; Claire McCaskill of Missouri; freshmen Kay Hagan of North Carolina and Mark Begich of Alaska; and even left-leaning Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
Across the table was a who’s who of 108 senior Washington lobbyists, including the top lobbying officials for many of the industries Democrats regularly attack: Represented were the American Bankers Association, the tobaco company Altria, the oil company Marathon, the Edison Electric Institute, which has battled climate regulation, several drug manufacturers, the defense contractor Lockheed, and most of the large independent lobbying firms: Ogilvy, BGR, Quinn Gillespie, Heather Podesta, and Tony Podesta.
The retreat’s guest list is a marked contrast to Menendez’s recent rhetoric, which has echoed the White House denunciation of “special interests” and “fat cats.”
Mind you, Menendez spent last week howling about corporations exercising spending money to speak in political campaigns. Apparently, his main objection was that the money should be paid to politicians, primarily the party currently in power, to shore up their incumbency.To demonstrate the blatant access-peddling at work, I must correct the Politico story in at least one respect. Ben Smith claims that Edison Electric Institute has “battled” climate regulation. Not really. In fact, EEI has been lobbying senators to pass the stalled cap-and-trade bill. Why? Because EEI drafted the method for emission allocations incorporated into the House bill. Small wonder that EEI might want some schmooze time with the senators from Michigan.
(For more, see Michelle Malkin's blockbuster book, "Culture of Corruption.")
Funny, none of the information about the Democrats' hypocrisy, and schmoozing with big-dollar lobbyists in a posh resort in the middle of winter, who are writing legislation, was featured at HuffPost today.
Perhaps its crack team of news editors and headline writers felt the following stories were of far more importance to HuffPost's readers, and to the "civility" that Ms. Huffington recently excoriated Fox News for supposedly lacking:
Arianna Huffington co-hosts morning program:
Australian band "Men At Work" is guilty of ripping off a song --- 29 years ago:
A panda's (Tai Shan's) fanatical followers:
"Most Popular on HuffingtonPost" --- 7 weirdest things women do with their privates; Lady Gaga; stupidest country lyrics...
Perhaps this is what HuffPost means when it claims it is "a nonpartisan newspaper, not positioned ideologically," that it has "new ideas about balance and fairness," is "delivering news in a 21st century kind of way," is only in pursuit of "the truth, consequences be damned," and that it is on a quest "to debunk the left-right way of thinking."
Yes, that must be it.
Now, need you ask what kinds of user comments this story incited --- and which HuffPost dutifully reviewed, approved and decided to publish? Of course not. Scroll the thread.
It turned into a predictable hate-fest, based on the Pavlovian response that could have been predicted as a result of this shameless incitement based on false claims.
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UPDATE 1: From Huff-Watch fan "Protheus".. to which party does Wall St. really give its money?
Wall street put its money behind Obama:
http://uk.reuters.co m/article/ idUKNOA535 2552008060 5
Democrats are the darlings of Wall St.:
http://articles.lati mes.com/20 08/mar/21/ nation/na- wallstdems 21
Workers at top Wall Street firms give millions more to Democrats :
http://www.businessa ndmedia.or g/articles /2008/2008 1031114947 .aspx
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