HuffPost's laughably hypocritical "blogger standards," and desire for "civil discourse"

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~~~~~ SPECIAL FOR BIG JOURNALISM ~~~~~

On March 24, HuffPost once again revealed its subversive, hypocritical, double-jointed double standards --- this time, in regards to the standards of conduct it applies to actions and statements by its official article writers ("bloggers")...
...even off-site.

In this case, as reported by Big Journalism, HuffPost decided to punish one of its co-founders (and bloggers) Andrew Breitbart for daring to call self-professed communist (and fellow HuffPost blogger) Van Jones a “commie punk” and “a cop killer-supporting, racist, demagogic freak,” in an article at the Daily Caller. It should be noted that he said all that after Van Jones organized a petition drive against Breitbart even being allowed to post on HuffPost, in which he attacked Brietbart with a toilet-full of... ad hominem attacks.

HuffPost's VP-Media Relations, Mario Ruiz, had nothing to say about Van Jones' attack on Breitbart.

Regarding Breitbart's response, however, Ruiz laid down HuffPost's supposed "law":

The Huffington Post is committed to fostering a lively and often provocative debate about the issues of the day and encourages a wide range of voices from all perspectives to participate. Andrew Brietbart’s ad hominem attack on Van Jones in The Daily Caller [...] violates the tenets of debate and civil discourse we have strived for since the day we launched. As a result, we will no longer feature his posts on the front page.

He is welcome to continue publishing his work on HuffPost provided it adheres to our editorial guidelines, as the two posts he published on HuffPost did — guidelines that include a strict prohibition on ad hominem attacks...

Wow, that's some "standard" that Ruiz described.As you're about to see, however, the facts demonstrate that Ruiz's claims are 100% bullshit from top to bottom, inside out, back to front.

The first thing to know is that what Andrew said is an opinion that is based on factual, well-documented facets of Van Jones' history and statements. See this profile of Van Jones at Discover The Networks for a good introductory primer (don't miss all the sidebar articles). Update: Also see this in-depth piece by Dana Loesch at Big Journalism.

Now, let's move on to examining HuffPost's relationship with other bloggers, to help us to put its "policy" --- and Andrew's supposed "sin" --- into context.

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Where were HuffPost's supposed "standards" when it decided to not dissociate itself from blogger Roseanne Barr ---
... after she dressed up for another publication as Hitler, and ate burnt Jewish "people cookies" out of an oven?

As we documented in this article, on July 30, 2009 Newsbusters revealed the fact that Roseanne Barr had been photographed while dressed up as Hitler, standing before an oven, eating burnt Jewish "people cookies."

At that point, Barr was known as one of America's most vicious anti-Israel libelers and propagandists:

• May 3, 2007: Roseanne Barr: I Hate Israel Too Much To Host The View, by Michelle Malkin
• December 31, 2008: Roseanne Barr Says Israel's Destruction 'Assured,' Rick Moran, American Thinker
• January 2, 2009: Roseanne Barr: Israel Is A 'Nazi State,' by Michael Freund, Jerusalem Post

So what was her first article at HuffPost? A vicious anti-Semitic rant that included the sentence, "How will Obama handle his Jewish problem? He has to pander to the pro Zionist Jews of America." Barr's anti-Semitic, anti-Israel hysteria was so well known at that point that even the neo-Nazi site Stormfront featured her pieces.

And after all this, after her pictures as Hitler eating burnt Jewish people cookies ended up all over the conservative blogosphere, what did HuffPost do?

It kept her as a blogger. In fact, HuffPost published its most recent article by Barr on March 8, 2011, on its front page --- the same front page that Ruiz said Andrew is no longer suitable for:

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Where were HuffPost's supposed "standards" when it decided to not dissociate itself from blogger Peter Mehlman ---
... after he claimed President Bush is more evil than Hitler, because Hitler at least "meant well," by exterminating Jews?

On June 20, 2007, as reported at the time by the Media Research Center and Little Green Footballs, HuffPost published an article by official blogger Peter Mehlman that included the following insane ad hominem attack on President Bush --- and a moral vindication of Adolf Hitler:

So now we’re six and a half years into Bush and everyone from Helen Thomas on down is declaring him the worst president ever. What no one is saying is the one overarching reason he’s the worst: the Bush administration is the first that doesn’t even mean well. [...]

You could argue that even the world’s worst fascist dictators at least meant well. They honestly thought were doing good things for their countries by suppressing blacks/eliminating Jews/eradicating free enterprise/repressing individual thought/killing off rivals/invading neighbors, etc.

Surely, you say, given the tough blogger standards that Ruiz laid out, HuffPost instantly ejected Mehlman from its blogger ranks, right?

Wrong. Not only has HuffPost kept Mehlman as a blogger, and allowed him to post 18 additional articles since then, it never even removed that incendiary ad hominem attack on President Bush from the site (below screencap is from March 24, 2011):

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Where were HuffPost's supposed "standards" when it decided to not dissociate itself from blogger Tony Hedra ---
... after he repeatedly expressed his desire to see Vice President Cheney murdered?

On November 23, 2006, as reported at Commentary Magazine on February 8, 2011, HuffPost published a "Thanksgiving" article by blogger Tony Hedra which included the first of his repeated, open expressions of his wish to see Vice President Cheney murdered:

[...] I give thanks O Lord for Dick Cheney's Heart, that brave organ which has done its darn-tootin' best on four separate occasions to do what we can only dream about. O Lord, give Dick Cheney's Heart, Our Sacred Secret Weapon, the strength to try one more time! For greater love hath no heart than that it lay down its life to rid the planet of its Number One Human Tumor.

As if that weren't enough, HuffPost then published Hedra's open regret on February 27, 2007, that the Taliban was unsuccessful in its attempt to assassinate Cheney; you need read nothing more than the headline to see where this rant went:

"Suicide Bomber Fails to Stop World's # 1 Homicide Bomber"

Surely, you say, those tough HuffPost standards would require that it immediately dissociate itself from Hedra, to maintain the "civil community" that Arianna assured the general public of when HuffPost went online in May 2005, right? After all, she said, "If you’re looking for the usual flame-throwing, name-calling, and simplistic attack dog rhetoric....don’t bother coming to The Huffington Post.”

Wrong. HuffPost not only didn't dissociate itself from Hedra, it left both of the above articles posted to this day...

(At right: Do you think the CEO of CapitalOne is aware that it appears as if his firm is supporting HuffPost's ability to enable and protect raving lunatics like Tony Hedra? You might contact him and ask.)

... and it allowed him to post dozens of hate-filled articles since then --- the most recent of which was on March 17, 2011.

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Where were HuffPost's supposed "standards" when it decided to not dissociate itself from blogger Ed Schultz ---
... after he openly advocated for the murder of Vice President Cheney?

On February 1, 2010, Arianna dared to lecture FNC president Roger Ailes on the need for journalists to dissociate themselves from those who incite hate.

On February 20, 2010, Radio Equalizer (h/t Newsbusters) caught HuffPost blogger Ed Schultz saying this about Vice President Cheney, after he was recently hospitalized for a heart attack:

"We ought to rip [Cheney's heart] out and kick it around, and stuff it back in him... [he is a] a war criminal and... on the take from Halliburton..."

And here's a video produced by the Media Research Center that helps us appreciate how hard Schultz works to honor HuffPost's strict blogger behavior standards:

So after all that, has HuffPost ejected Schultz from its blogger ranks?

Nope --- it allowed him to continue publishing articles there. In fact, on March 23, 2011 --- the day before it ejected Andrew Breitbart --- HuffPost published another article by Schultz... on its front page:


Did Arianna even make a stand for "civility" by not appearing anymore on his Schultz's hate-infested (1, 2, 3, 4), dismally-rated TV show? Nope.

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Updates:

• From NewsBusters, we're reminded that on Sept. 24, 2010, Schultz called NJ Gov. Christie "a big bully... a cold-hearted fat slob."

• From The Right Sphere, we're reminded that on March 4, 2011, Schultz used his Twitter account to call an individual "one of the biggest douchebags in all of politics."

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Where were HuffPost's supposed "standards" when it decided to not dissociate itself from blogger Jane Hamsher ---
... after she posted a hate-filled article that included a picture of Sen. Joe Lieberman in blackface?

On August 2, 2006 HuffPost published an article from blogger Jane Hamsher that included (a) a truckload of vicious ad hominem attacks ("Meanwhile the slavishly bovine Sue Haigh of the AP...") --- and (b) a picture of Joe Lieberman in blackface:

(H/T Michelle Malkin)

For those unfamiliar with the incredible racist insult that "blackface" represents, especially in the context of Jews, learn more here. HuffPost's enabling of Hamsher's hate was widely reported across the blogosphere.

Now, let us recall: Mario Ruiz claimed that Andrew Breitbart was ejected because he "violate[d] the tenets of debate and civil discourse we have strived for since the day we launched."

How is one supposed to reconcile Ruiz's claim with the fact that HuffPost not only didn't dissociate itself from Hamsher, it left the article published...


... and has allowed Hamsher to post dozens of new, hate-filled articles since then, the most recent of which was on January 11, 2011?

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And here are a few of the civility-destroying ad hominem attacks that Arianna Huffington has posted on HuffPost's front page

But we're quite sure that it's somehow "different" when she does it:

• December 13, 2005: She claimed, on HuffPost's front page, that President Bush "a zealot... [a] deluded cockeyed optimist."
  

• March 20, 2008: She claimed, on HuffPost's front page, that "Bill O'Reilly spews hate as readily as he breathes. It's his lifeblood. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if O'Reilly had one of his staffers put these offensive comments up on HuffPost, just so he could have something to rail against."
  

• February 1, 2010: She claimed, on HuffPost's front page, that "[Glenn] Beck preys on fear, political instability, and economic suffering, which, in turn, means that Fox News profits from fear, political instability, and economic suffering."

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Late additions:

• March 18, 2011: Front-page HuffPost blogger Bill Maher called Sarah Palin "a dumb twat." (For our older readers, see a rough definition of this slur here) Did HuffPost instantly eject him? Hardly. Maher is still an active, front-page blogger.

• April 7, 2010: HuffPost ran this front-page blog article by Bob Cesca in the top-most position, despite the fact that it contained a vicious ad hominem attack: "Exposing Glenn Beck As A Dangerous Fraud."

Did HuffPost immediately dissociate itself from Cesca? Did it order him to stop these ad hominem attacks, and to stop harming the "civil discourse" that it works so hard to facilitate, especially on its front page? Judge for yourself. In the coming weeks, HuffPost published two more front-page blogs by him --- both on its front page:

• April 14, 2010: Exposing Glenn Beck as a Dangerous Fraud, Part 2

• April 21, 2010: Glenn Beck: the Televangelist Con Man Selling God's Plan for America

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These are but a few examples of how HuffPost routinely uses lies and deception in order to conceal its persistent double-jointed double-standards, and the fact that it is now essentially ground zero on the Internet for radical leftist hate speech and propaganda.

Here are some more richly-detailed examples:

Beyond chutzpah: Arianna Huffington objects to PolitiFact claiming she tells "half-truths"
Ten documented examples of how HuffPost publishes false, inflammatory headlines, which often contain vicious ad hominem attacks, that can only serve to incite hatred of conservatives, the U.S. military, and Jews and Israel.

Beyond hypocrisy: Arianna Huffington accuses Fox of "inciting" hate
Arianna dared to lecture Roger Ailes on standards, and falsely claimed that she "prohibited inflammatory claims and conspiracy theories" at HuffPost. Extensive documentation shows she was once again lying through her teeth. But if you believe her claims, you should also know that she's now selling timeshares.... on Uranus.

HuffPost uses Rep. Giffords as a political prop to falsely accuse conservatives, Sarah Palin of inciting shooter
One of the most ghoulish, repugnant aspects of HuffPost's journalistic depravity we've ever had the misfortune to investigate. Detailed documentation on how HuffPost, and even Arianna and her star "reporters," put forth a narrative-by-omission that clearly implied conservatives, Sarah Palin or the Tea Party were responsible for the Tucson shooting --- and pathologically ignored the growing tidal wave of facts that proved that narrative wrong. A follow-up article dissects how Arianna then essentially stood atop the corpse of a 9-year-old victim to push an agenda.

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