On Anderson Cooper’s CNN blog, we read “Anderson Cooper goes beyond the headlines to tell stories from many points of view, so you can make up your own mind about the news.” They forgot the caveat: “except when they want to slam conservatives.”
While doing my cardio today at the gym (the only time I ever watch CNN), Cooper was reporting with a straight face on the new Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report, Rightwing Extremism: Current Economic and Political Climate Fueling Resurgence in Radicalization and Recruitment.
After reviewing that document, Ed Morrissey asks us to engage in a little thought experiment:
Imagine, if you will, what the Left would say if we took this entire document and replaced all references to “military veterans” with “Muslims”, and all references to “abortion” with “universal health care”, and then predated this DHS report to 2008, during the Bush administration. They’d be screaming about being smeared as traitors for their political beliefs, and they’d be right to do so. That’s exactly what the Obama administration and Janet Napolitano has done here.
Rand Simberg has done just that and second Ed’s assessment.
Yet, it didn’t even occur to Mr. Cooper to go beyond the headlines and wonder about a left-of-center Administration releasing a supposedly damning report about those on the opposite side of the political aisle.
Yeah, I realize there are some right-wing kooks of whom we need to be wary. But, there are likely just as many such folks on the left. If DHS released a report that focused on left-wing extremist groups, do you think Cooper would feature it on his show?
But, apparently this report goes beyond those radical right-wing extremists who would use violence to further their political goals or wreak vengeance on their adversaries:
Readers insist the report is focused solely on violent groups, and they’re probably right that this is the authors’ intent. But that isn’t how it reads necessarily. Indeed, it goes out of its way to note that many of these groups haven’t done anything violent. The concern is that because they are right-wing they might be violent as if there is causation between being right-wing and being violent.
And it’s simply amazing, but not surprising that Anderson Cooper, a man who boasts a commitment to going behind the headlines wouldn’t bring anyone on to look behind its overheated language.
Michelle distinguishes this from past DHS reports on animal rights terrorists and environmental terrorists:
those past reports have always been veryspecific in identifying the exact groups, causes, and targets of domestic terrorism, i.e., the ALF, ELF, and Stop Huntingdon wackos who have engaged in physical harassment, arson, vandalism, and worse against pharmaceutical companies, farms, labs, and university researchers.
By contrast, the piece of crap report issued on April 7 is a sweeping indictment of conservatives. And the intent is clear. As the two spokespeople I talked with on the phone today made clear: They both pinpointed the recent “economic downturn” and the “general state of the economy” for stoking “rightwing extremism.” One of the spokespeople said he was told that the report has been in the works for a year. My b.s. detector went off the chart, and yours will, too, if you read through the entire report — which asserts with no evidence that an unquantified “resurgence in rightwing extremist recruitment and radicalizations activity” is due to home foreclosures, job losses, and…the historical presidential election.
John Hinderaker finds the report short on specifics:
Weirdly, however, the report makes no effort to document any such increased recruitment or extremist activity of any sort. As far as one can tell from the report, “right wing” militias and similar groups may be dying out rather than growing.
In this, perhaps the best analysis I have read of DHS document, John concludes, “this Homeland Security report is politically motivated, and reflects the authors’ political prejudices more than an objective evaluation of a significant terrorist threat. ”
If Anderson Cooper really wanted to go beyond the headlines and tell this story from “many points of view,” he could have done a quick google search, uncovered those posts cited above (or others like them) and invited their authors onto his show.
It would have helped him live up to the blurb his network uses to describe his show.
Or maybe he had other goals in mind, like distracting us from the tea party message.
For some reason, I think there will be more people at today’s tea parties than who watch Cooper’s show.
You need to read Andrew Sullivan, if you haven’t already. We tried to tell you. Also, to cover the whole story, Balloon J. There is a price to be paid for winding the toys this tight.
Oh please, TP. Resurrecting the “domestic surveillance” lie? This is nothing more than a blatant attempt to smear our soldiers and cast the folks going to the tea parties as “right-wing extremists”. It’s short, vague and offers NO EVIDENCE to back up their “assessments”.
You can take the “I told you so’s” and shove them sideways.
T.P.
There is an ENORMOUS difference—legal, constitutional and moral—between surveillance of terrorists overseas/people talking to overseas terrorists and wiretapping political opponents.
The courts ruled the latter unconstitutional long ago when Kennedy was wiretapping Martin Luther King, but have NEVER ruled wiretapping our enemies unconstitutional, Indeed, they have made it clear over the years that the president has the constitutional authority to do so even without a warrant, even when one party in the conversation in in the US.
The FISA court has just RE-affirmed the constitutionality of Bush’s wiretapping program , the Democrat Congress re-affirmed it with virtually meaningless legislation “authorizing” what is a constitutional power and Barack Obama voted for it.
That you and Andrew Sullivan cant grasp the enormous difference that everyone else plainly understands only emphasizes your irrationality.
YOU need to read more reality and less liberal ranting.
“Anderson Cooper, a man who boasts a commitment to going behind the headlines…”
I hear he likes going behind a lot of things, if you know what I mean. 😉
Just sayin’.
Regards,
Peter H.
AE: the profanity-laced post at BJ was more honest in its invective:
But still missed the point because Bush wasn’t just wiretapping people overseas. You never really read those court cases, did you?
http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/
Glenn covers this. Once again, there’s no need for hypotheticals or ‘little thought experiments.’ The Bush administration spent time monitoring left wing groups, too.
#6 – “The Bush administration spent time monitoring left wing groups, too.”
Name one. And provide evidence. I double-dog-dare you.
Regards,
Peter H.
Name one. And provide evidence. I double-dog-dare you.
I provided a link. It wasn’t but a couple of months ago that they were arresting college students and journalists at the RNC convention for absolutely nothing.
Evidence doesn’t work on you people anyway.
Um, Levi, Glenn Greenwald is hardly a reliable source. More a hysterical one.
#8 – “It wasn’t but a couple of months ago that they were arresting college students and journalists at the RNC convention for absolutely nothing.”
Perhaps it was because they were affiliated with ANSWER, Code Pink and were able to get protestors on the floor of the RNC in direct violation of established procedures?
Try again, fool.
Regards,
Peter H.
Perhaps it was because they were affiliated with ANSWER, Code Pink and were able to get protestors on the floor of the RNC in direct violation of established procedures?
Try again, fool.
That’s not what I was talking about, but it doesn’t matter anyway. This link:
http://theplumline.whorunsgov.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/hsa-leftwing-extremists-increase-in-cyber-attacks-dated-26-january-2009.pdf
…. should do a lot better job of assuaging your paranoia.
Levi, you admit you never read links or information that doesn’t support your worldview, so we’re supposed to take any link you give as reliable?
Best of all, that DHS link you posted is bull:
DHS/I&A assesses that cyber attacks are attractive options to leftwing extremists who view attacks on economic targets as aligning with their nonviolent, “no-harm†doctrine and tactic of “direct action.â€
Tell that to the people the weathermen blew up, or to those who lost property and livelyhood to ELF and ALF.
Of course the DHS info linked lists easily a half a dozen groups on the left, but can’t find any boogymen on the right, except for veterans.
Must have been written by Jack Murtha
Not to mention the fact that DHS Secretary Napolitano has stood by her indictment of so-called “right-wing extremists” per the story below –
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/16/napolitano-stands-rightwing-extremism/
And that US veterans are hoppin’ mad at the SnObama Administration for putting this forth:
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.f518f4e6c90c93ccbc86decf6aca79d4.161&show_article=1
Match, set, game for Levi. You lose. Thank you for playing.
Regards,
Peter H.
Getting back on topic regarding Anderson Cooper, son of jean queen Gloria Vanderbilt (for Murjani) – here is his soundbite on “teabagging,” if you will:
http://newsbusters.org/blogs/matthew-balan/2009/04/15/cnns-anderson-cooper-its-hard-talk-when-youre-tea-bagging
Apparently, Ms. Cooper can’t stop talking about “conservative teabagging.” I guess he likes the taste of conservative teabags as compared to liberal ones.
Similarly, it’s kind of funny that it’s conservatives who are “teabagging” the Dhimmicrats – and yet they’re the ones enjoying it.
Heh. 😉
Regards,
Peter H.
I saw this while doing cardio at the gym as well. Did see you there though 🙂
I thought the graphic was funny, it included the Republican Elephant with a title “Recession Radicals” or something like that. I just rolled my eyes and listened to my ipod.
It seems to me that this is saying that pro-gun democrats are “right-wing extremists”. Guess that applies to the Blue Ball democrats.
But still missed the point because Bush wasn’t just wiretapping people overseas.
Yes, heaven forbid, he was actually wiretapping people who were working with and communicating with terrorists whether they were inside the United States or not.
According to torrentfag, the minute the 9/11 terrorists set foot on US soil, they were absolutely protected from any sort of wiretapping and that to do so was unconstitutional.
The entertaining thing is that torrentfag and his liberal ilk blame Bush for not intercepting and stopping the 9/11 plot when they insist that any attempt to listen in on or otherwise detain or inconvenience the terrorists who carried it out was an unconstitutional invasion of privacy.
And again, Levi runs away with his tail between his legs.