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View Full Version : Anatomy of a Politico Smear campaign against Rand




Libertea Party
05-24-2011, 12:49 PM
This is how "news" works. They put out a smear and then edit later when no one is looking and the damage is done. I saw this from the Associated Press, Courier-Journal and other news outlets during the Kentucky Senate campaign but never did get the screenshots to prove it. Unfortunately the same thing happened here. I'm automatically taking screenshots from now on and suggest you do too!

Like many of you I saw this "story" (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?294797-Why-wasn-t-Rand-there) from earlier today claiming that Rand Paul was protesting Netenyahu's speech/Israeli aid. From the headline and the facts presented that was the conclusion that most people would draw given what they "reported". Something seemed really amiss to me and I noticed some details and posted this (http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?294797-Why-wasn-t-Rand-there&p=3296387&viewfull=1#post3296387):


Politico has reached a new low. It's obvious that Rand Paul is taking the opportunity to seize the empty Senate floor to protest Reid's duplicity on the Patriot Act.

Anyone with a modicum of skepticism toward Politico can see that this propaganda by Reid et al to smear Rand Paul for outmaneuvering Harry Reid and taking advantage of the empty Senate floor.

Instead of calling it like it is they do what Beltway outlets exist to do: Push the propaganda of the powerful.

How despicable is this? Politico gets direct response from Paul on the matter:

“This is about the PATRIOT Act and Reid not yet keeping his agreement on amendments,” Bagley said.

And what do they propagate for their DC masters? This disgusting smear:

"Still, Paul’s decision to engage in a likely futile procedural exercise rather than attend Netanyahu’s speech was telling. Earlier this year, Paul came under fire from both Democrats and Republicans after proposing cutting all U.S. foreign aid, including the $3 billion the country spends on military assistance for Israel each year."
Despicable doesn't begin to describe this.

Yet that was just the beginning. You see they just added the entire context to this story after propagating the smear that Rand Paul was protesting Israel.

This entire paragraph was missing from the original:


"Paul, a tea-party-backed senator who opposes the Patriot Act, has said he wants to “drag out” the process of renewing key provisions of the counter-terrorism law which expire Friday. Reid had hoped to recess the Senate during the speech and count that toward the cloture clock, but Paul stayed on the Senate floor, kept the chamber open, and was able to stop the cloture clock. "

They just added it without any notice that they changed their story. How craven! I slipped up by not taking a screenshot so I guess when you see a Politico (or any story) from now on you need to take a screenshot or else they will initiate a smear campaign on orders from powerful Senators without any consequence.

Smear and then "edit" the story once the smear and their chosen narrative gets out. That's how "news" works.

UPDATE: Here's at least one quote where we've got Politico dead to rights. New Yorker Magazine quotes Politico (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/netanyahu_tells_congress_jerus.html) as Paul "staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America's foreign aid to Israel,"

The new version of the Politico story doesn't have this line and it shows beyond any doubt that Politico was pushing a smear without even the usual innuendos. They literally said "staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America's foreign aid to Israel,". New Yorker Magazine still has it there.

That New Yorker Magazine is propagating this shows that Politico/Harry Reid's dishonorable Goebbels inspired tactic is working in certain circles again "“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

Here is a screenshot of the New Yorker quoting Politico:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4121/nymag.pnghttp://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3618/nymag1.jpg

Update II: Here is a google search (http://www.google.com/search?q="staging+what+appeared+to+be+a+silent+protest+of+Am erica's+foreign+aid+to+Israel") for the phrase: "staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America's foreign aid to Israel". As you can see it's spreading.

specsaregood
05-24-2011, 12:51 PM
ok, so it wasn't just me. I knew that 2nd part wasn't there when I first read it.

JoshLowry
05-24-2011, 12:54 PM
PSA: You should learn how to take screenshots if you don't know how.

If you use Firefox, get the screengrab (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/screengrab/) add-on for your browser.

You can save the whole page or a selection very easily.

Libertea Party
05-24-2011, 12:59 PM
ok, so it wasn't just me. I knew that 2nd part wasn't there when I first read it.

If this didn't happen to me before I would have thought I had just missed it too. They rely on us thinking we could have just made a mistake and that belief is what lets them get away with this disgusting garbage.

The narrative is out that "Rand Paul is Protesting Israel" and that spreads like wildfire. Then that's all people get and when the truth comes to the fore hours later it won't get as far as the smear did i.e. "“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

Libertea Party
05-24-2011, 01:36 PM
PSA: You should learn how to take screenshots if you don't know how.

If you use Firefox, get the screengrab (https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/screengrab/) add-on for your browser.

You can save the whole page or a selection very easily.

This is much easier! I always used the old PrintScreen key approach. This is a lot better. Thanks!

sailingaway
05-24-2011, 01:41 PM
I've been working on this on twitter. Rand's winning from what I can see, but there will be those who don't see, or don't want to disseminate, the corrections.

BamaFanNKy
05-24-2011, 01:44 PM
Should I remind you guys of what I had to write almost 2 months ago: http://www.freemaninky.com/2011/03/truth-about-senator-paul-and-senate.html

Libertea Party
05-24-2011, 01:55 PM
Here's at least one quote where we've got Politico dead to rights. New Yorker Magazine quotes Politico (http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2011/05/netanyahu_tells_congress_jerus.html) as Paul "staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America's foreign aid to Israel,"

The new version of the Politico story doesn't have this line and it shows beyond any doubt that Politico was pushing a smear without even the usual innuendos. They literally said "staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America's foreign aid to Israel,". New Yorker Magazine still has it there.

That New Yorker Magazine is propagating this shows that Politico/Harry Reid's dishonorable Goebbels inspired tactic is working in certain circles again "“A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on.”

Update: Here is a screenshot of the New Yorker quoting Politico:
http://img28.imageshack.us/img28/4121/nymag.pnghttp://img13.imageshack.us/img13/3618/nymag1.jpg

Update II: Here is a google search (http://www.google.com/search?q="staging+what+appeared+to+be+a+silent+protest+of+Am erica's+foreign+aid+to+Israel") for the phrase: "staging what appeared to be a silent protest of America's foreign aid to Israel". As you can see it's spreading.

One Last Battle!
05-24-2011, 02:37 PM
The comments on that article are great. Barring a couple of joke posts, I found maybe three that are against him.

Cowlesy
05-24-2011, 02:54 PM
.................................................. ..............

Leave it to Rand Paul, a constitutional conservative, to be the ONLY Senator doing EVERYTHING in his power to protect American Liberty, while the left ignores him and his efforts, and the right tries to paint him as Anti-Israel, at the same time.

It's the f'ing Twilight Zone.

MaxPower
05-25-2011, 05:00 AM
This is very similar to the Libya protest of a couple months ago; Rand takes a principled stand which makes both the left and right in modern politics uncomfortable, sprinkling in legislative strategies which, if covered, will inescapably draw attention to the illegality and hypocrisy of the government's actions, and so the establishmentarians dodge the issue altogether and offer a diversionary smear tactic, which spreads like wildfire.

radiofriendly
05-25-2011, 06:55 AM
I hope you got your facts correct, because I just posted from your article:
http://dyn.politico.com/snetwork/profile/profile_blog_view.cfm?id=E1B34C677652ABE60AB67D0B8 2394A25

Hope you don't mind.

angelatc
05-25-2011, 06:59 AM
I hope you got your facts correct, because I just posted from your article:
http://dyn.politico.com/snetwork/profile/profile_blog_view.cfm?id=E1B34C677652ABE60AB67D0B8 2394A25

Hope you don't mind.

LInk doesn't work. Since when does Politico have blogs?

NewRightLibertarian
05-25-2011, 04:09 PM
These media guys sure know who their bosses are, don't they?

Libertea Party
05-28-2011, 07:00 PM
Just a reminder of how Politico/Reid, from Day 1, tried to smear Rand Paul heroically standing up for our liberty. Is it any surprise Reid wound up saying he was pro-terrorist?

Libertea Party
11-20-2012, 10:10 PM
Looks like this lie has taken on new life. Bump for the paper trail. Honestly I think this approach was planned to hurt Rand's political chances from the beginning.

Maybe Cesar Conda, Neocon great hope Rubio's chief-of-staff (http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/sen-marco-rubio-hires-cesar-conda-to-be-chief-of-staff/1148232) and prominent 2010 anti-Rand (http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/34582.html) organizer started this. The fact that it came out again in Commentary even though it was debunked makes me think that they plan on using it in Presidential debates and campaign ads.