Barney Frank calls John Fund a 'liar' and a 'coward' and explains how the Right Wing Noise machine operates
Barney Frank took the gloves off on the floor and called John Fund out for making up a story about a phony bill and then he outlined how the right wing noise machine works as a propaganda arm of the republicans to push that narrative into the mainstream.
Frank: You are entirely wrong about me and in the absence of your being able to show any basis which you made such a statement to ask you to acknowledge that fact. He's not only a liar, he's a coward. He wouldn't do it. My staff member asked him, called him up and said, what was this based on? Well, I made a mistake. Well, have you made a retraction? Oh, yeah, he said. Can we see it? "I told a couple of people." Mr. Fund makes it up. It's a lie, it's a myth. There was nothing there and it's to discredit all democrats.
His right-wing cohorts echo it and echo it. The next thing is it will be on the floor in the next two weeks. This is the democrat disregard for the electoral process. And when we call Mr. Fund's attention to the fact that this was a lie, what does he say? Whoops. but he's not going to tell anybody about it. Mr. Speaker, this is not the only case of this and I know this has happened before. But because I was directly involved here, I was in position to document this. It begins with a lie from this editorial writer from "the Wall street journal." it is then a lie repeated by his right-ring colleagues. He refuses to do anything about.
It doesn't get any clearer than that. Frank posted the entire story on the web.
Frank responded to fabricated accounts of his supposed plans to introduce a bill on “universal voter registration.” The story began in November at the conservative Restoration Weekend conference in Palm Beach, Florida, where for $1,700 per person activists were able to hear talks by conservative opinion leaders on the theme, “Defending our Country and Culture.” At one session, John Fund, a writer for the editorial pages of the Wall Street Journal, claimed that Congressman Barney Frank and Senator Chuck Schumer had hatched a plan to game the election system by registering felons, illegal aliens and others to vote:
Democrats were very rattled by the November 3rd election results. What do liberals do when they lose elections? They change the rules. In January, Chuck Schumer and Barney Frank will propose universal voter registration.
What is universal voter registration? It means all of the state laws on elections will be overridden by a federal mandate. The feds will tell the states, “Take everyone on every list of welfare recipients you have, take everyone on every list of unemployed you have, take everyone on every list of property owners, take everyone on every list of driver’s license holders, and register them to vote regardless of whether they want to be.”
The allegation against Congressman Frank is absolutely false and has no basis in reality. The Congressman in fact heard about it for the first time after the story was launched in the conservative media.
On January 5th, Glenn Beck of Fox News, which like the Wall Street Journal is owned by Rupert Murdoch, repeated the same fallacious story, specifically citing John Fund as his source. The next day, Rush Limbaugh retold the story on nationwide radio, also quoting Fund. On January 7th, the Washington Times, owned by Reverend Sun Yung Moon’s Unification Church, ran an editorial titled “Letting Crooks and Illegals Vote.” None of the outlets called Frank’s office to verify the story.
In addition, right-wing web sites have also posted the story online, often embedding video of Mr. Fund’s talk, giving the fictitious story an even longer life-span.
Congressman Frank addressed a letter to John Fund on January 13th, asking the writer to either corroborate or publicly repudiate his statement. When called by a staffer who was seeking a fax number for Mr. Fund, Fund claimed that he had issued a retraction. When asked for a copy of the retraction, he stated that he had not actually issued a written correction, but that he had simply told a few inquiring bloggers that he had made a mistake. To date, Mr. Fund has still not issued a public retraction.
Fund's idea of a retraction was to tell a few people. The Wall Street Journal should suspend him from their pages if they had any real integrity. Fund did his job well. Promote a lie and then watch it take off because he knows that once the story is out there---then it's out there.
hahaha, shurely you jest. No Murdoch organ has integrity because it is lacking in the owner.
me-oww!
Say, isn't John Fund the closeted gay-basher who beat his wife or girlfriend, or something along those lines?
In other words, just another typical reich-winger?
Congrats, Mr. Frank. Your frankness about the Mighty Reich-wing Wurlitzer is much needed and much appreciated.
BID
Hard...Call/ email --Cnn is pushing the new Senator from Mass as a Repub but he said in his pressor that he was INDEPENDENT --In fact he rarely mentioned the repubs while campaigning---He was elected as an outsider to the Inside the Beltway crowd!
Frank is a legislator for the people--the fact is that Fund & Co need to be called out --loudly and often by us --demand the truth and threaten them with sponsor boycott..Money in the pocket or out of it is the only thing that works! They have no shame!
"WSJ should suspend him...if they had any real integrity"
LOL! What do you think they are? A newspaper?
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
it was said satirically...I should have made that more evident...
And my response was made with tongue firmly in cheek. ;o)
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
Switched to the Financial Times. World-oriented, well-researched, great writers, and pretty pink paper.
We're not going to get very far if you keep injecting logic into the conversation!
I've seen Fund on Real Time. He is a liar and a coward.
Geez, where does Fund get his material from, Glenn Beck? This sounds exactly like the silly shit Beck spurts out every day. I'm sure as soon as Beck hears about it he'll run with it too.
Good for Barney for kicking the guy's unprofessional ass!
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
I'm going to keep saying this as long as I see comments by politicians, media figures, and anyone else who seem suprised when these liars lie. At what point does any and everyone understand what their ethical and moral boundaries are, which is they have none. I'm always amazed to hear people ask why these people keep saying the things they say. Then they make some asinine excuse for them. Look, when a bank robber robs a bank, are you surprised. It is not enough to say, well not all of them are bank robbers, because they didn't come inside and steal the money. No, the likeminded people who don't support these lies need to call them out and challenge them publicly and directly, or else they are just as culpable as the ones who act in these ways.
These people are who they are, or to quote Dennis Green; "They are who we thought they were". They are liars and cheats. The only reason they keeping getting away with it is because most people don't openly challenge their lies the way Barney Frank did(Kudos Barney). These people know the sheep who follow them aren't the brightest bulbs on the tree, as a matter, most of them are downright stupid. I know I live in Georgia.
Republicans and conservatives are about power for powers sake only. They will lie, as Fund, Limbaugh, Beck, O'Reilly, and the many other conservative columinsts and commentators do; they will cheat, as they did when they stole the elections of 2000 and 2004, and they will steal, as their corporate masters do daily.
If the collective we keep trying to find someone logical rationale for the behavior of the sociopaths and psychopaths, we will continue to allow them to get away with it. There is no reasonable, logical, or rational reasons for these people's behaviors. And we will not put a stop to it until we confront it and them each and every time, and it must be done as publicly as possible. I think the only way to break the hold these cretons and morons have on their followers is to hourly, daily, and weekly call them out in the most public way possible. Shame may not bother these criminals, but their followers being repeatedly confronted with their lies and cowardice, will be shamed. I have witnessed it personally myself. But if we don't do it all the time, it can't have the desired effect of changing the minds and hearts of their followers.
All true, but they don't lie for no reason. Their lies are carefully calculated to reinforce the right-wing narrative of the day. Besides, their audiences don't care if they do. Fox has proven (and polls support) that its the narative people care about. They place their trust in those who report the narrative they want to hear. They prefer lies that validate how they feel, to truth that makes their head hurt. Why else would polls say that Fox is the most 'trusted' news service in the country? Link: http://newsmax.com/InsideCover/fox-news-trust...
Not one Fox listener will be swayed from buying Fund's next lie by Frank's moxie (Even though I love him for it.). The sad truth is every dem in congress could get up on the floor and eloquently denounce republican lies and it would not turn one republican into a democrat. The republican is by definition not interested in looking carefully at facts or policies. They just want their ignorance validated. So much so, in fact, they're willing to ignore their own interests to get that validation. The party of corporate power and greed has studied the ignorant in this country for generations and have perfected the art of herding them.
What we need to do is wrestle the media away from the billionaires and give it back to the public. I propose an independent government supported news service to compete with the for-profits (the public news option!). Let there be one source of news run completely by journalists. Not one editorial decision made by a business man (except on the business page). Also, make it a crime to tell an outright lie in the media. If it can be demonstrated in court that the liar knew he was misleading the public he should have to do time. Free speech is not a license to do harm. It is arguable that these echo chamber lies are doing real harm to the electorate.
He's a vertebrate? Either way, I love me some Barney Frank when he's on a roll like this. Though he likes to play the shell game with LGBT rights, he calls them like he sees them.
Barack Obama: Change we can only imagine
Incestuous bunch aren't they?
The NY Post runs a story, Faux Noise picks it up and cites to the Post. Then the WSJ runs the story citing the Faux Noise report, and Drudge picks it up. Rush reads Drudge, and passes the story along.
TA-DA, now we have a nationwide, corroborated and sourced story--truth be damned.
*sigh*
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
Cheney informs Judith Miller about shit, Judith Miller writes a story, w/o mentioning The Dick, then The Dick cites the NYT article on the Sunday Propaganda Shows.
me-oww!
And Miller ends up with a contract on Fox news.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Well yeah, that's where all the crazies go when they get out of jail.
Right-wing Affirmative Action. ;o}
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
that daisy chain larger
[NSFW or around the kids-Sitemonitor]
me-oww!
AWESOME!!!
Thanks for the laugh. I gotta say. sublime.
What is your conceptual, continuity?
And slightly naughty!
:D
edit: sorry for neglecting to warn, S mon.
me-oww!
Something about the pictures on that page reminded me of the Sunday morning talk shows.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Shame on all three of you! Go to my room! LOL.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
That whole deregulation of the media was really a great idea, huh.
"Anyone that makes less than $150K in this country, has no business voting Republican."
—
We're not going to get very far if you keep injecting logic into the conversation!
Fund says it was a "mistake"? A mistake is when you hit the wrong key and type ""dof" instead of "dog." A mistake is when you are driving and turn left instead of right.
These self-righteous right-wing nuts are astounding.
The media is still calling the invasion of Iraq a "mistake". In my opinion it was a "crime".
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Why hasn't he?
We're not going to get very far if you keep injecting logic into the conversation!
I'm trying to picture what Fund looks like. Is he the guy who looks like he sucked his thumb much longer than he should have?
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
it ain't purty:
http://www.nndb.com/people/899/000051746/john...
In that photo he looks more like a large frog. Thanks for the link.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200608160004
me-oww!
and it wasn't his.
Copied and saved that. Truly pithy.
We're not going to get very far if you keep injecting logic into the conversation!
oh, this one is priceless:
http://cache.trustedpartner.com/images/librar...
"I like how the cover star is the only person in the whole magazine!"
it is about damn time that people started calling the liars liars.
..he did just that.
Mickey: "It was an epiphany. Do you know what an epipany is?"
Keoni: "NOT NOW MICKEY!"
Defamation lawsuits?
???
You would think so, wouldn't you? I think the one suing has to show some damage that was done to them as a result of the publication.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
True. And as a public figure, Frank would have to prove that Fund knew what he said was false, and repeated it anyway with 'malicious intent'.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
That second part might not be too difficult to prove as it is so outrageous.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Playing devil's advocate for a minute, I took the phrase, "universal voter registration" to the google, and found a LAT article from Nov. 2008, which was picked up by Malkin at the time (another daisy-chain!).
So Fund could easily say that he believed Malkin or the LAT reporter , David G. Savage. If Fund believed what he said, no malicious intent.
I pledge allegiance to the Constitution of the United States of America, and to the republic which it established, one nation from many peoples, promising liberty and justice for all
Yeah, most worms can find a hole if they search enough.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
A journalist investigates. This claim would have been easily verifiable.
By declining to conduct due diligence, anyone who simply repeats this nonsense is a liar too.
Barney did not go near far enough. If everyone call Glenn Beck a liar, instead of delusional, he might have to respond. And if repeating a lie can work, let's try repeating the truth. Beck is a liar. Beck is a liar.
Sowing lack of trust in business due to damage to the reputation of the victim.
Sue the publications for lack of due diligence.
And not following best practices
That's exactly why the WSJ won't suspend or fire him. When it's your mission and goal to lie, smear and incite, you're not going to discipline someone for doing just that.
Barack Obama: Change we can only imagine
RuMur's agenda.
I'd like to propose something new; the end of for-profit journalism. A lot of the most important stuff gets pushed to the side for the sensational. Or the message is skewed for partisan political reasons. I'd have to take a few weeks to write out a solid plan, or even to see the flaws, but I'm thinking it might be a bit better than what we have now...
Fund should be forced to explain where he got his info, even if the original source is the thing he's sitting on.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
Nice call out by Frank.
However, this type of derogatory activity will not subside unless there are legal ramifications.
Frank should bring suit for libel and slander against Mr. Fund.
Sue the publications for lack of due diligence.
And not following best practices.
suing for libel / slander in the U.S. is pretty much a nonstarter.
if this were the UK...
but just bringing forth a public libel suit might teach the WSJ a lesson.
Does Fund have any?
Junkie on a street corner talking to an old wino "Come on old dude, tell me some lies so I won't have to deal with the truth."
Richard Pryor
"What do liberals do when they lose elections? They change the rules."
Identifying a Pathological Liar
'checklist':
Lies when it is very easy to tell the truth.
Lies to get sympathy, to look better, to save their butt, etc.
Fools people at first but once they get to know him, no one believes anything they ever say.
May have a personality disorder.
Extremely manipulative.
Has been caught in lies repeatedly.
Never fesses up to the lies.
Is a legend in their own mind.
“A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is still putting on its shoes”
Mark Twain
LuLu
The dastardly deed they accuse Frank of perpetrating is an attempt to institute mandatory voting. Heaven knows the right wing wouldn't like it if everyone voted.
insurance companies is a good thing, but mandatory voting is a scandal? Bizarro world.
'...how the right wing noise machine works as a propaganda arm of the republicans to push that narrative into the mainstream.'
um, donchya mean FAUX news? why donchya just call out Ailes propaganda machine?
Maybe this was one of Rove's old plans, that even they thought was too bizarre to use, so rather than let it go to waste, they tried to use it to smear Frank.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
call it like it is
a good piece on this when it happened
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=7496
This is news? That John Fund is a liar? I was screaming this years ago. Why doesn't Frank and the others scream this from the floor every day? That is the question.
can have such a huge affect on an entire country, in fact the whole world. I'm speaking of Murdoch, of course. He's had a lot of help from our politicians, but he is a major source of the ghastly mess our planet is mired in.
Anti taxes: supported loudly by Fox & other Murdoch outlets.
Disbelief in Global Climate Change: presented as a Big Government "plot" by Murdoch&Co.
Anti-abortion conviction to the point of murder by bombing or gunfire? Fox is right there provoking and publicizing & justifying murder.
War? Ha. In this respect Fox is only one of many corrupt "News" (propaganda) blasted in the public's face 24/7.
Well, anyway! Putting Murdoch and other criminals in jail would be a good start in cleaning up the mess (shit) they've smeared over the whole world.
On a broader point, Fund's attack can be used to illustrate a means of indirectly attacking a different target.
It's a version of straw-figure attack. The idea is that you denounce an extreme which no one is thinking of and then if anyone proposes anything moderate under the same heading, you scream "See? I told you! This isn't about A, it's actually about B! That's what they really want! Stop it now before it's too late!"
In this case, you would be preemptively attacking any actual attempt to make it easier for people to register to vote, such as motor-voter, registering by mail, same-day registration, and so on, by suggesting it's "really" about the supposed horrors of "universal registration."
If you need a real-world example, try the health care debate: "This is really about a complete government takeover of all heath care decisions! That's what they're really after."
republicans always lie! If you name it they have lied about it or will lie about it if they feel a need to.
republicans in the last thirty years have almost totally destroied everything that was good and honest in America.
These people need to be called out in public, on tv, on the radio, in print. They need to be shown for the godless lying coniving scumbags they are. I think public stocks would be good for these people like fund and kristol, any of the paid rightwing liars!
The guy on the daily show said it best. These people will be so embarrassed if they ever develop the capacity to feel shame.
They are truely the most shameful people of our time.
republicanism/conservatism is a mental illness!
Well Barney, I really wish you democrats would do something about the Orwellean right wing media in this country. Their ability to brainwash complete dumbasses like the tea baggers, is destroying our nation!
First of all, why is Fox allowed to call itself a "news" station? They are no more viable a "news" source, than a carnival barker selling bottles of snake oil.
Next, why is every media outlet in this country saturated with conservative fascist psycho bigots; when they are absolutely a minority party in this day and age.
You can go to the most left wing liberal cities in the country, and its still wall to wall right wing nutjobs, even though their ratings are lower than whale shit!
And another thing, make these rich bastards start to pay taxes at 70-90% marginal rates. If these SOB's can afford to pay liars like Fund and the other so-called think tank bufoons millions in donations for the sole purpose of destroying working people, then these bastards can afford to pay millions more in taxes!
It is long past time to expose these fascist worms for what they are; the anti christ to middle class americans and the poor.
Rush Limbaugh is what a smart person thinks a stupid bigot sounds like.
call it a LIAR. Thank you Barney.
NOBODY 2012
about this whole thing is: 1) this "universal voter registration" threat has been circulating around the nut-o-sphere for quite awhile. In fact, most working class Republican supporters seem to chronically have a hard time comprehending the meaning of democracy.
They have resented that non-caucasions, women and them damn hippies got the vote.
Frankly, I have a real problem with our policy of denying the vote to all felons, regardless of the type of crime they committed or how long ago or whatever, it is a way of eliminating the poor people's vote.
If they had half the chance, they'd deny all poor people, anyone on social security, anyone who ever received assistance from any agency, anyone who was a member of a union, anyone who didn't grow up in the suburbs, anyone who wasn't properly light skinned or owning testicles, or swearing allegience to the flag and giving up two years to compulsory service, anyone who doesn't own property or a business, or 40 acres...
The list goes on.
Pretty soon polling places will be at Ivy League colleges and country clubs and you know what?
The irony is that most of the Republican base would be locked out of voting too.
I don't think most of these morons understand that fact.
I just find it appalling that anyone who would call themselves a patriot of this "democratic" country would even find the possibility of a mass voter registration as threatening to democracy.
I can't get my mind around the irony.
otherwise they cannot win.
When more people vote, the people win.
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
I support your defense fund
Seriously - time to stop this crap
lie his head off. And Fox News won a lawsuit in Florida saying so...
So who can you trust in the faux "news" business?
Only when the last tree has died
and the last river has been poisoned and the last fish has been caught
will we realize we cannot eat money.
Take this idea and run with it, Barney.
In the name of democracy.
THIS is what Obama and the Dems , every one of them , need to do , call them out publicly every time , tell it exactly like it is and use the "L" word ! Wishful thinking , I know .
Frank's example fits nicely with Kathleen Hall Jamieson and Joseph Cappella's book "Echo Chamber: Rush Limbaugh and the Conservative Media Establishment."
@ artboyz:
"I propose an independent government supported news service to compete with the for-profits (the public news option!)"
wow. I almost shot coffee through my nose at that one. What are you going to name it, "Truth"?
It's like debating with the dining room table...LOL
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