Romney Fundraising Scandal Ignored By <i>Liberal Media</i> - Clinton Gets Hammered Over Hsu
August was a disastrous month for Republicans and the Romney campaign took a huge hit when it's national finance committee co-chairman, Alan B. Fabian was charged in a 23 count indictment, including charges of money laundering, mail fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice. It's reported Fabian, a former Bush Pioneer, allegedly ran a scheme that netted him millions of dollars which were used to purchase beach front property and travel. The Romney campaign said they would return Fabian's $2,300 campaign donation, but not funds donated by others through him. Fabian stepped down from Romney's campaign shortly after his August 9th indictment -- but you may not have heard much about this scandal.
However, you may have heard of a scandal involving Senator Hillary Clinton's campaign and a less-than savory character named Norman Hsu. According to reports from the LA Times, Hsu skipped out on a 1991 plea agreement in San Mateo Co. CA, in which he was to serve three years for grand theft. Hsu, who turned himself in to authorities in CA on Friday and awaits a September 5th bail hearing, became a top Democratic fundraiser and contributor to Hillary Clinton's campaign as well as other Democratic candidates, including Senator Barack Obama, much of which was laundered through others. The Clinton campaign has agreed to return $23,000 in campaign donations from Hsu, and Obama has agreed to donate his $2,300 donation to charity.
While both scandals hold equal potential for damage to the respective candidates involved, the media, for unknown reasons, gave Mitt Romney a pass, while devoting ample time to Hsu and the Clinton campaign. According to Media Matters, NBC, CNN and FOXNews all covered the Hsu scandal, but none of the aforementioned networks dedicated any time to the Romney/Fabian scandal that can be found in the Nexis database. More from Media Matters:
Summary: In recent days, NBC, CNN, and Fox News have all aired reports or discussed the case of Norman Hsu, who The Wall Street Journal suggested may have funneled illegal campaign contributions to Sen. Hillary Clinton. However, when Mitt Romney's national finance committee co-chairman Alan Fabian was charged with mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice, the three networks did not report or discuss it during programs available in the Nexis database.
What if there was no need to raise money to run for office?
And we were to expect what, exactly?
Sometimes I wonder if anyone is payin' attention to the MSM at all any more. I certainly don't- or at least I don't count on the MSM fer anything resemblin' the truth. Fer entertainment? Sometimes. I've gotta feelin' more people watch the myriad of alternative choices on cable now, whether it's Animal Planet, The Food Network or TNT(aka the Law & Order Channel).
Am I the only one who's got a feelin' that the only people watchin' the news and readin' the papers are only doin' so fer the sole reason of offerin' partisan critiques?
Just wonderin'...
Where theres smoke theres fire.....fuckem all.
Andy K @ 2:
Personally, the only thing I watch is Mc Neil/Lehrer, Frontline, NOW, and Bill Moyers on PBS, or BBC World News. For the most part, the American MSM is little more than a lackey for their conservative corporatist masters.
I'm sorry, but the more both sides keep hammering Hillary, the more I ike her. And I'm a Clark gal.
And the ironic thing here is that Fabian was an actual employee of the campaign, whereas Hsu was merely a contributor. I'll bet that Romney knew about it and condoned it, because they kept all the other money funneled through Fabian. It's just another case of the repubs being more crooked at every turn, yet they point their fingers at the democrats.
bmw 528 @ 4:
bmw 528 @ 4:
Oops. See, this is why you should never drink and comment.
This is their idea of "fair and balanced"? The networks do seem to ignore much of what republicans do while dwelling on democratic candidate foibles. Is there a fix in? Is the next President simply a given? You have to wonder.
Romney, fake mormon, fake republican
With this campaign scandal, it only makes him more tantalizing and delicious to republicans. "he's got what it takes!"
He's tall ,too.
Sun Myung Moon has spent BILLIONS finding the rise of the theocratic right the last 25 years. 3 billion on the Washington Times alone - it will never make a dime. Moonie Millions for Falwell, LaHaye and to bail out fright mail guru Richard Viguerie. Millions funding Moon front groups designed to bring about Moon's vision of a right wing, homophobic, theocratic America. Millions and free labor for Moon fronts like the American Freedom Coalition. The AFC at one time had over 300,000 members and was called one of the two most powerful conservative grassroots organizations in the country. The money comes from overseas and according to Moon's own daughter law is laundered into the country, mostly from Japan.
Top all that off with the fact that non citizen Moon's organization has been found guilty of swindling hundreds of millions of dollars from the Japanese targeting widows. The group fighting these frauds says the damages to the Japanese runs several BILLION US dollars. One lady was awarded 2.4 million USD just last year.
Absent this money the right wouldn't be as far right, nor as theocratic and would NEVER have gained all three branches of the government in 2001 and would not be turning the Supreme Court into a theofascist dreamland.
And you won't see damn thing about any of this subject at MediaMatters, NBC, C&L, TPM, TP...NO ONE will mention it. Splain that one Lucy.
Some details here.
Once again, it's the point of character in a similar set of circumstances that would theoretically make or break the level of interest in each respective story. But like always, it won't.
I think Hillary's woes make it obvious how difficult it is for the candidate themselves to actually know where all the money is coming from. What do you do when you find out? Well, Hillary gave it all away to charity, and it appears to be a paltry sum at that. (Though who knows if she got more out of Hsu and isn't telling.)
No Republican would ever bother making a gesture that indicts themselves as having a negative connection.
Time to send some emails. Tomorrow would be the a better time as today is a holiday. Wednesday would be better.
bill@BILLPRESS.COM
evening@cbsnews.com
ctc-editor@tribune.com
hardball@msnbc.com
dsaunders@sfchronicle.com
james@edschultzshow.com
countdown@msnbc.com
letters@latimes.com
wendy@edschultzshow.com
viewerservices@msnbc.com
dan.abrams@msnbc.com
Nightly@NBC.com
letters@nytimes.com
rebekah@stephaniemiller.com
MTP@NBC.com
letters@washingtonpost.com
ombudsman@washpost.com
Somebody get a picture of Romney and Fabian together and it'll get a lot more coverage. Pictures, like the one of Hsu and Hillary, make it easier for the media to tell the story.
Strawberry @ 8:
I thought I was seeing double.
Some things never change. All politicions are corrupt, we are still in Iraq, Bush is still pResident, and soon all these crooks are going to give Bush another 50 billion for he and his cronies to steal. but first they are going to have to raise the debt limit to 10 plus trillion dollars. New Orleans is still a cluster fucking mess. All the repurbs are still fucking hors or sucking dicks. All the poor are getting poorer and the rich are getting richer. The sun comes up and the sun goes down, and life goes on until we die, but we always leave a mess for the next generation to clean up!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
[...] Romney Fundraising Scandal Ignored By Liberal Media - Clinton Gets Hammered Over Hsu » This Summary is from an article posted at Crooks and Liars on Monday, September 03, 2007 This [...]
bmw 528 -
I watch The News Hour pretty regularly, and I listen to NPR. I watch the local news occasionally, and only for the weather or local sports scores. My hometown newspaper does a dishonor to any fish wrapped in it.
I haven't seen any polls lately that tell how many folks rely on the MSM fer their news, but I wonder, if ya break down whatever the results may be, that many people tune in fer weather, sports and "consumer awareness" news and zone out when "hard" news- whether honest and reliable or not- is on.
As fer the partisanship I mentioned earlier, I don't watch O'Reilly(or, at least, I didn't when I had cable) or listen to Rush(though I've worked in places where his show is on). I don't read the WSJ. But I'm sure I've got a mirror out there who doesn't watch Olberman or read the NYT.
We think, in 2007, that news should be fair and balanced. It's an idea that we got from Murrow and Cronkite, from the NYT of the middle to late 20th century. But in the late 18th century and runnin' through the early 20th century the media- because of the technology of the times the print media- was very partisan. There were Democratic papers, Federalist papers, Whig papers, Abolitionist papers, Labor papers.... Perhaps the idea of middle-of-the-road concensus was merely a creation of the mid-20th century media itself.
And, specifically, that imaginary concensus was created by networks of the broadcast medium. After all, before radio, while some cities might contain Hearst Syndicate papers, many cities had independent newspapers- the New York Times, the Chicago Tribune, etc.- that offered perspectives unique to the communities in which they were published. But with the advent of radio, all of America heard the news from NBC, Mutual or CBS and a national concensus was formed and influenced by the entities that controlled those networks.
It's a good thing to critique the MSM, imo. But I don't think that we should expect the MSM to change. It's up to us to offer the counter-arguments to the MSM. And that's what the netroots are doin'.
For the most part, the American MSM is little more than a lackey for their conservative corporatist masters.
====
and for the remaining part it appeals to lowest common denominator, but not even in a news sense, but in an National Enquirer sense....gah, who could have guessed so many years ago when you chuckled at the Enquirer cover in line at the grocery store that this would be the direction of all MSM in the future? Other than Murdoch I mean.
Good advice Kaptain K send them some mail and ask them to speak out.
And while you all are writing them ask them why they NEVER _ NEVER _NEVER report this.
Even liberal media outlets are afraid or too uninformed to touch the real problem that has been subverting the nation. They are all afraid to admit he isn't the clown they have been telling themselves he is. Hell, he openly brags about being involved in the six ways talks over North Korea and HE IS.
NOT A PEEP.
Think about that and ask yourself why.
Quoting James Whelan, the first editor of Moon’s Washington Times.
Hey now. Don't be too hard on our MSM friends. Why just look at the things I wouldn't know about if not for CNN.com:
--There is a hurricane bearing down on Central America
--When two little girls fall down a mine, and one dies, the parents are distraught
--The movie Halloween set a Labor Day record
--A chihuahua has won the 'fastest' title
--A little boy has died digging a sand tunnel
I could go on. There is simply a plethora of earth-shattering, very important news there. While sites like this one are wasting their time whining about a lying president, people dying in war, subversion of the constitution, etc., I still have to rely on the MSM to tell me the real important stuff like this.
Andy K @ 17:
Agree with you. Journalistic integrity and impartiality such as we experienced with Chet Huntley, David Brinkley and Walter Cronkite have been replaced by manipulative corporate partisans who use their flaccid media puppets to deliver their slanted message. Unfortunately, the Neocons sincerely believe that the ends justify the means--Fox Ooze is the living example of the "whorehouse network" the movie Network satirized--except it's a reality.
I think it's hard to claim left/right media bias when the primary subject in question is Hillary Clinton. I mean she is SO hated by the right and frankly I bet many on the left that don't actively support her also hate her. So maybe not a case of anti-left bias, but just anti-Hillary bias?
I mean, take Hillary out of the equation and say its just a story about Hsu and Obama, still big media coverage? I don't think so.
Still crappy journalism by the MSM no doubt about it.
A.Political @ 18:
I thought the movie Network was satire---little did I realize that UBS was the predecessor of the Fox Network.
The media are getting stooped backs from carrying Romney's water. "shoulders you can land a 737 on"-Roger Simon "straight back like Reagan"-O'Reilly "son looks like Tom Brady"-some newspaper writer "smells great"-CNN reporter
[Deleted. Wacko]
You don't hear much about Rev Moon's media control because he is King of America and doesn't want you to know.
Just thought I'd pass that along http://www.google.com/search?q=rev+moon+crowned+senate+building&rls=com....
But his greatest sin according to media reports was making his dog ride on the roof of the car.
bmw 528 @ 20:
Well, I probably didn't make myself clear enough...Cronkite, Huntley, Murrow, etc. were, imo, part of the problem. There must have been dissent to the news as they presented it, but who really saw that dissent? Because there was no obvious dissent, we tend to sentimentally enshrine these men as fair arbiters of the truth. Certainly there were instances when these men showed some bravery- Murrow's fight with McCarthy and Cronkite's denunciation of the Vietnam War leap to mind- but, fer the most part these men toed the company line. The lack of a challenge to Bushco's Iraq/WMD evidence was stunningly reminiscent of the MSM's initial reaction to the Gulf of Tonkin Incident.
No, those golden years of the MSM seem cheap to me because there was no standard against which, in those times, to judge the MSM.
My, my...how did the liberal media miss this?
the msm will position hillary as the pre-emptive front-running Dem and all the while demonizing hillary at every opportunity.
That way, after she gets the nomination, they can demonize her to help the repug candidate(s).
They have it all planned, even the support from Murdoch.
For that matter, how much press did the cocaine charges against Rudy Giulaini's SC campaign chair Thomas Ravanel garner? Hardly a peep.
The crowning of Moon is another thing Moon did that makes people think he is a clown. But he was swindling billions and funding the right years before that happened. You linked to google search so who knows what article you quoted but this:
That is a bullshitting moonie deception, poor reporting or troll driven. Sen John Warner (R-Va) rented the room. Dayton was targeted by a scam, had no knowledge Moon was involved, had his picture taken with a constituent and wasn't there for more than ten minutes. The Moonies didn't roll sata..n, er a Moon out and crown him till long after Dayton left. Moon needed a white liberal to smear and he found one. Even Moon's operative admitted Dayton had no idea Moon was involved.
There are some naive and foolish democrats who send Moon greetings. However, Moon has spent billions funding the rights's rise to power and other than a few thousand in speaking fees over 30 years he has spent about zero on anything liberal. He is a right wing theocratic fascist.
The fact that you quoted that as you did without comment is a problem, liberals are uninformed.
The Bushes on the other hand, have taken over 3 million from Moon just since 43 took office.
Is there anyone on the left who knows shit about the guy who spent billions screwing our democracy? Other than he conned some people into giving him a room to be crowned and the "Franklin CoverUp" (which btw wasn't anything remotely about what most liberals discuss.) Liberals wouldn't know an issue if it bit them on the keester.
It's not just he MSM, include the Huffington Post.
and another thing
That is just one part of it and he gets away with that because liberals won't educate themselves to know his media isn't independent of his goals and plans. The right will tell you the Washington Times is "independent" of Moon. Any of you know how to reply to them? You could start with, and I mean "start" with this here. That just scratches the surface. Bet you won't read it because C&L or Digby didn't post it.
What about the funding of the individuals in the theocratic right, the front groups which molded and pushed the right further and further off the charts? This man has literally spent billions subverting our nation and all liberals or trolls can say is "Oh he got crowned. heheheh."
Geezuz, educate yourself.
How many of you knew that Moon has funded and supported about every torturing dictator in South and Latin America the last 30 years? How many knew that after Jimmie Carter cut off Operation Condor that it was Moon who stepped in to help the likes of Stroessner?
geez, and it isn't just here in USA the man has been screwing the world and the sad part is he is just now getting started. He knew he had a fork in the USA by the early 90s, now he is moving on the planet but you do not see and so you are still ten years behind understanding.
And if you want to puke big-time, read Tuesday's Wash Post editorial on those dirty little Democratic bundlers. Of course,being Washington experts ( read Glenn Greenwald on this farcical phenomenon), the editorial doesn't mention Romney or any other Repug.
I quoted C&L in my comments; others here should also comment on this biased editorial on the Wash Post comment section.
Murrow, Cronkite et al were from the old school. They started out in print and were journalists first. They also saw themselves as an extension of the people - the 4th Estate.
They still decided what they thought we should think was important and because they were the only game in town people listened to what they had to say.
The news divisions back then were similar to "loss leaders" used in retail stores. Items that don't make much if any money but can be used to draw a customer to other products.
Today MSM is all about the bottom line. They have to contribute to the income and profit of the conglomerate that owns them so that is why they broadcast or print items people want to see or read - not necessarily that is important to know. It is all about ad dollars and ratings.
That's why you see the legacy of Murrow on PBS, NPR, or the BBC. They happen to still tell us what we should believe is important and aren't rating whores.
I think both Senators Obama and Clinton did the right thing to get rid of that dirty money.
This is the reason all of them need to be very careful about the money they get from these people and I bet this man had an agenda to shove in their face.
To tell you the truth, I can't see a whole lot of difference between Romney, Clinton and Obamma. Their rhetoric differs, but their allegiances are all to the same set of masters. And, I'm not talking the American People.
StirFry @ 10:
Don't forget, he smells sooooo good.
I'm telling ya, he's a cardboard cut-out doll, and my gut tells me, very very bad news, indeed, this Romney character.
Captain Kangaroo @ 13:
I'm keeping this on file. Thansk for all that hard word compiling them.
Both HSU and Fabian are crooks. The reason Hillary received more coverage than Romney is because the issue involved campaign fraud. HSU is linked to funneling campaign money above the maximum $2300 through the Paw family. This is an illegal campaign donation. That's why Hillary's donation involved $23,000 because of HSU had made donations in the name of the various members of the Paw family totaling $23,000
Romney's donation that he received from Fabian did not involve campaign fraud. The problem was Fabian himself was charged on 23 counts of fraud. Romeny's campaign refunded his donation.
The "liberal" media:
A) Ignore GOP scandals while devoting lots of coverage to any Democratic misdeed.
B) Downplay GOP scandals while manufacturing fake Democratic "scandals."
C) Cover GOP scandals while adding a disclaimer that Democrats do it too, without any examples or proof given.
D) Blame the Democrats for exposing a GOP scandal.
The biggest wire fraud in America is the corporate media.
This would actually be a great story for Clinton to elevate. It clarifies the difference in MSM coverage of Dems, especially those named Clinton, vs. Repugs. And the fact that Fabian was hired, rather than just a donor as was Hsu, is the clincher. This is a gift to Clinton, if she wishes to take advantage of it.
I'll say it again...
Hillary = guiliani = Obama = the GOP = Big Oil = MSM = The Singing Senators = BushCo...etc, etc, etc...
They're all part of the same fixed system, and they're nothing more than glorified actors and actresses, albeit criminal ones.
Perhaps Romney's associate's problems weren't publicised as much in the media because he has such poor national recognition numbers.
No news editor is going to run a story for very long when their viewers say, "who's that?"
Amazing. I bet the MSM ignored Romney because, well, gee, there've been so many scandals among Republicans we don't want to report every one or they'll say we're biased. It's a stupid stance, of course, but then the MSM is a stupid media cartel.
Romney is an empty suit. I wonder how much his haircut cost? Oops, can't ask that question. It would be biased.
And, hmmm, I wonder what kind of school he went to as a young Mormon. Oops, can't ask the "madrassa" question of a Republican: it would be biased.
OK, so if he supports the war how come none of his 5 sons is in the military -- oh, they do their patriotic duty working for their father's campaign? Ooops, that question was asked and answered; mustn't ask it in again, even when he expounds on his support of the war because to do so would show bias.
Besides, it's not fair to ask questions about family members, unless it happens to be the candidate's wife and she has terminal cancer.
Ain't it great to live in a country whose MSM shows no bias against Presidential aspirants --- unless they're Democrats?
Correction: The Clinton campaign is *also* donating Hsu's contribution to charity, not "returning the money" to him.
...and people wonder why Hillary has a bad rep?
Thanks MSM!
One of Romney's big fundraisers in Maryland, a CPA named Alan Fabian, just got indicted in August on 23 counts of mail fraud, money laundering, bankruptcy fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice. (Fabian was also a big fundraiser for Bush in 2004)
You know, typical GOP stuff.
Of course this follows the standard 'traditional' media (corrupt corporate media CCM) model. The only defensible thing I can come up with is that Romney isn't really a viable candidate whereas Hillary likely will be a shoe-in. Of course I feel that way about all the Republican candidates. They've nary a snowball's chance in hell of winning. Think of the wasted time and resources they're all blowing. If anything, that lazy Thompson fellow has it right. He might as well run a sleepy half-assed campaign as his chances for success are minimal. He's saving his energy for the young wife.
Enjoy.
If this were about drugs, even if allegedly, law enforcement would confiscate his ill gotten gain and sell it to the highest bidder. The money would go into the police department coffers.
Yah, That damn liberal media, my ass.
Sorry to say this but we have to look into our own house before being critical of others. Suppose to be liberal websites like Huffingtonpost.com, TPM, democratic underground continue to post negative news about Hillary Clinton. Not only such news about Hillary are reported on these websites I have rarely seen any positive news about her on these suppose to be liberal websites. Now Hillary may not be first choice of lot of liberals but if she ends up being democratic nominee aren't these websites hurting her chance to beat republican nominee in general election by constantly publishing negative news about her. I have found c&K as one of the most impartial website that gives you facts and you make your own decision. I have stopped reading huffpo, TPM and democratic underground.
The mainstream media is not interested in the Republican presidential candidates, because they don't have a prayer of winning. So it's not news unless it involves a democratic candidate.
[deleted - enough with the caps and bold.]
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Romney Fundraising Scandal Ignored By Liberal Media - Clinton Gets Hammered
[...]The Romney campaign took a huge hit when it?s national finance committee co-chairman, Alan B. Fabian was charged in a 23 count indictment, including charges of money laundering, mail fraud, perjury and obstruction of justice. Fabian stepped down f...
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