Anatomy of a "Movement": "INAFJ (I need a freakin' job)" - UPDATED AND CORRECTED
Please see the updates at the bottom for the most current status. The original post was based upon a mistaken identity. I have left the original post intact with corrections below it.
If you were to believe Jeff Baker, you'd think that he was just a disgruntled small business owner who is frustrated with the economy squeezing him to the point where he needed to shut the doors. It's a story we've all heard, one I can even tell with my own specifics.
But Jeff Baker wanted to be sure the President heard him, so he put up a billboard on Interstate 190 that says "I need a freakin job. Period."
But every lost job hurts, said Jeff Baker, a Buffalo native who was forced to close his niche textile company near Albany, Adirondack Blanket Works, during the financial collapse more than a year ago.
"Losing a business is right up there in catastrophe land," said Baker, who had planned the billboard long before learning Obama was coming to town. "It's personally catastrophic and having to let go of people who were like family for over 10 years, you go through all that heartbreak."
He and his brother put up the sign and launched a website (www.inafj.org) with the hope of steering the conversation in Washington back toward the average American worker.
It's a really nice website, too. Not a homegrown. boring kind of site at all. It's got merchandise, videos, even "inafj.tv"!
A website like that doesn't come cheap, even if they hire a designer who uses a stock template and stock photos. It's nicely done.
See, here's what they didn't tell you. Scott Baker works for Breitbart.TV. [see update #2]
Scott Baker has reported and anchored television news for nearly 20 years.
He became interested in broadcasting while working on political campaigns during his school years at Wheaton College (Illinois).
He has worked at the Voice of America in Washington, D.C., CBS News in New York, and at local television stations in Erie, Pennsylvania, and Saginaw, Michigan, and for the last 13 years at WTAE-TV in Pittsburgh.
Viewers have come to know Scott best for both his humor and his skills anchoring and reporting during breaking news events.
According to Jeff Baker, Scott Baker paid for the sign, and likely for the rest of their 'movement', too. Or Breitbart did.
A movement? No. A campaign? Yes. Non-partisan? No. Hidden agenda? Yes.
Got it? Good. Now tell everyone else, including the MSM like CNN.com, CBS.com, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and anyone else you can think of, because presenting this as the effort of one disgruntled businessman and his brother is just a lie, and Andrew Breitbart knows it.
John Amato is debating Breitbart in Beverly Hills next week. I hope he nails him with this duplicitous nonsense. [See update #2]
Update: A commenter points to this article published in the Buffalo News after mine was written which states that Scott Baker lives in Akron and is "vice president of operations at a local manufacturing company."
Would that be a local manufacturing company in Akron, or in Buffalo? Quite a commuting distance between the two. (3:40pm Although it is true that there's an Akron, NY as well near Buffalo.)
It goes on to say this about the video and website:
The CBS segment included two of the Buffalo State College students who appeared on the billboard and on a video posted on the brothers’ Web site, www.inafj.org . Scott Baker said his brother designed the site and produced the professional- looking video, using students Scott found through a friend on the college faculty, Jim Mayrose.
Obviously, if this article is accurate, I am inaccurate. And if I am accurate, the other article is inaccurate. Yes, the name Scott Baker is a common one, and I was able to find a listing for a Scott Baker in the Cleveland/Akron area. There's even a listing for a Scott Baker, HR Director of Cintas Corporation online, though one could wonder why a human resources specialist would be open to promoting this particular campaign. Still, those facts certainly support the conclusion that I was incorrect. Despite the fact that one of the earliest mentions (2 days ahead of the President's visit) was on Breitbart.com and Fox News got the first "exclusive" with the "creator of the movement", these facts would have cast enough doubt to stop me from concluding what I did.
I've given you the additional references so you, the reader can decide. Based on this additional information, I would not have made the definitive conclusion that I did last night. I would have said that given the commonality of the name no firm conclusion can be made.
I'd also recommend Jeff Baker consider web design or video production as his next career, since he did such a splendid job on the site, the integrated Facebook page, the social media PR management and the billboard. He's obviously quite talented.
I have one more question to ask Andrew Breitbart. When will he admit his "error" by publishing video edited to make ACORN look guilty when in fact, they acted in strict compliance with the law?
Update #2: I believe it's fair to say, at this point, that the Scott Baker associated with Breitbart.tv is NOT the same Scott Baker. In this case, it would appear that MSM has it right, that *I* got it wrong, and for that, I apologize to the Baker brothers, Scott Baker and Andrew Breitbart for getting it wrong. Additional information supports what was reported in the Buffalo News article in my first update.
I could ask to have this post pulled down completely but for the fact that bells can't be unrung, and I believe in owning my words AND my mistakes.
Please note: John Amato was not involved in the creation, research or updated information attached to this post. I take full responsibility for it and apologize to all readers for misleading them on this one.
I figured this was some engineered operation. Mainly because of its widespread media coverage yesterday. That Breitbart is a real piece of work if not a criminal. He was behind James O'Keefe who effectively destroyed ACORN and their voter registration drive and efforts to help the poor. He also got off easy after attempting to wiretap the phones of Senator Landrieu's office.
This is so much like the manufactured Tea Party movements and Glenn Beck's 9/12 crap. It's really too bad the corporate wing of politics has unlimited funds to partake in all this chicanery. We'd be wise to keep our eye on this phoniness and call it out every time they try to engage in it.
The Media never covers, in any fair proportion, other movements of people such as Anti-War, or Truth Advocates, or Election Integrity groups etc. The Media is as much a part of this bullcrap as anything. We really live in a complex corpatocracy where too many people are also satisfied with censoring themselves to fit into it.
Thanks for this enlightening coverage.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
If by Truth Advocates you mean "9/11 conspiracy theorists" than it's GOOD that media ignores them. Any rational person should.
I agree with you about everything else, however.
No I mean. Advocates of Truth in our Government. Transparency advocates. Anti-war advocates. Election integrity activists. And all those standing up for our Constitution and Bill of Rights etc. I did not mean to single out any particular group. I just notice how the Media selectively covers subjects and frames them according to their corporate slant and that pee's me off how so much of it gets passed on and accepted as real news.
"Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people." ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
Well, duh. "Real americans" don't get widespread media coverage.
karoli - simply RAWKS!
Keep on nailin' them - you do it so well.
"I know that there are people who do not love their fellow
man, and I hate people like that! " ~ Tom Lehrer (1928 - )
everyone will see moving forward, that his little sparkler won't stay lit as long. He doesn't truely care about jobs, and isn't truely interested in building a movement. He just wants ride that newscycle bull for 8 seconds, sometimes that bull can gore you in the process of getting off of it.
these guys have a plan for everyhill they come to. They need to do something between now and when primaries are done, when the real knives come out and America turns an eye to them and notice they haven't actually done shit. When they look and see that in one year Obama has create more jobs than Bush did in his entire tenure. Breitbart is the guard. What happens when they stop believing that tax-cuts solve everything.
"America turns an eye to them and notice they haven't actually done shit."
That's the feeling I get from reading liberal blogs that past few days. I don't see that happening, though. A significantly large portion of the populace will blame the foreign born Marxist in the White House for raising their taxes and controlling government, for banning guns and fishing and for murdering babies. The noise machine is too loud, and frankly, I'm worried.
They've gone from exaggerating their "movement" to simply hiring actors to make it appear to be real. I guess when you can't win on merit you cheat... That's pretty much the MO of the Repukes.
"I could give a flying crap about the political process.... We're an entertainment company."
- Glenn Beck - Forbes interview; April 26, 2010
Big media doesn't seem to understand the concept of digging into a story before reporting about it. Thank you again, Karoli, for doing what others are just too lazy to do.
Say what you mean. Mean what you say. But don't say it mean.
When you paint Breitbart into a corner, he responds with, "What the hell are you talking about?" to try to diffuse the topic.
The only way to deal with people such as Breitbart is to confront them with the facts and evidence of what they've done, and when he asks, "What the hell are you talking about?", show him the proof!
If he refuses, then put it to his face, or, better yet, on display - for all the world to see.
Given the track record of our worthless mainstream media, this will be elevated to Spontaneous Grassroots Movement, and featured along side the TeaBaggers (they self-applied the name, deal with it).
is in on it at the higher levels...to derail Obama and the Dems in small (sound) bites. Don't kid yourself.
Says it all. Bible thumping private college in a bible thumping city in a dark red county(DuPage, IL).
costs a lot more than even a well done website.
I went over to their facebook and it's attracting an interesting mix of people. There's a clear tea-party presence, but it's balanced by others that are not. A few interesting discussions.
*
In the last ten years corporations moved manufacturing job to China and other countries. I far as i know, is not much manufactured in America. If Republicans really take on November, they will solve the American unemployement the way they do it all the time: War. By attacking Iran, they'll pump up jobs thru weapons, truck, ammo, and anything related to war production. The Republican way.
Actually war is not necessary for that purpose.
For one thing we technically haven't had a war since World War II, the rest have been Police Actions.
And two and lastly, although America spends more on beer and cigarettes, we give millions of dollars a year in foreign aid, that is more often than not in the nature of military aid to our allies, and that's above board. That doesn't include anything covert or normal day-to-day business with arms manufacturers selling directly to foreign countries not yet our enemies...
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
That the 'bootstrap party' is making an effort to humiliate this President by expecting government to fix their problems while preaching the evils of government.
Does that make the Democrats the jock-strap party?
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
I have some yard work that needs to be done but I wouldn't be able to pay you much. I'm on a fixed income.
had one of these guys on yesterday painting him as some homegrown dude who just wants a freaking job.
DR - you're good. Take a lesson from Rachel - first without facts is no better than last place.
Edit - karoli. You too.
Hmm... First Without Facts. Sounds like something I should call Faux News.
Conservatives sticking up for factory jobs. Rich.
I propose a counter-group called GOYLBDA - Get off your lazy butt, dumass.
These people now whining they can't find jobs are always the same ones who whine that there is too much government intervention in business in the first place. It's simply because of the lack of government intervention in the first place, allowing for a financial meltdown, that created the poor job market. It was government intervention that so far has stabilized the market to begin improving the job market.
So despite the rhetoric, they want government intervention when they personally are affected as a result of laissez-faire business policies, but when they're fine they want to complain the government is somehow holding them back from doing more or better business.
Can't have it both ways. It's called hypocrisy.
He wants welfare for conservatives in Hollywood, welfare for faux disabled frauds, and welfare for poor little privileged conservative college students.
You know what would have made it even greater?
If it were actually true!!!
http://*****/c93de
That's right. There are many many Scott Baker's in this country. And the one who is this Jeff Baker's brother happens to be a VP of Operations of a manufacturing company. NOT the Scott Baker of Breitbart TV's TheBCast
Now, Karoli. Issue an apology and a very public correction of your piss poor hit piece.
And.. while you're it. Lose the smugness. It isn't deserved.
[URL shorteners are not allowed here. Feel free to post the actual URL-Sitemonitor]
thanks.
http://www.buffalonews.com/2010/05/14/1050035...
"“I’m overwhelmed by it, personally,” Scott Baker, an Akron resident,"
"“You couldn’t spend money any better,” said Scott, who is vice president of operations at a local manufacturing company."
TheBCast's Scott Baker 1) doesn't live in Akron and 2) isn't the VP of a local manufacturing company. He lives in Pittsburgh PA.
We were not born yesterday, fyi.
Perhaps you should speak to the Republicans so desperately against manufacturing jobs in the United States, and against buying American?
Not that the Wal-Martization of the US is solely their problem, but focusing on the Dems and cozying up to the Breitbarts is ridiculously dishonest.
Member for
21 min 58 sec
Sup Jeff/Scott/Andrew, how's it hangin in Drudgeville?
I'm looking it up independently.
Thanks for the update, contrarian as it may be.
To note, though, regardless of what you feel about the site, if you want people to investigate the claims, realize that the hostility will put people off, especially in a new account. There are more "matter of fact" ways to put the information forth.
Thx.
But in the interest of actually enlightening people, directness cuts through the pissing contest and shuts any disinformation down sooner. I mean, we both obviously disagree on the path Obama should take, and what the causes of the economic fuck-ups are, but there is at least an objective truth in this incident that should be stressed.
Either way, whether this is THE Scott Baker or not, it's still astroturfing of some variety.
http://www.breitbart.tv/dailyshowlive/
TheBCast Scott Baker is interviewing INAFJ.org's Scott Baker RIGHT NOW.
Their signs ought to read, "Free Market Capitalists, I need a freakin' job!"
The government has done and continues to do what a government can do to "create jobs"; among them...stop the plunge, stabilize the systems, keep or put survival and spending money back into the pockets of those who would not have it otherwise.
Now it's up to Free Market Capitalists to stop hiding under their beds, get into the driver's seat and show us their stuff, make good on their public relations team's claims that they're the ones who "create jobs" and expand economies...as long as someone else (always the government) has pulled the economic car out of the ditch and put it back into drive mode for them, that is.
In fact, it has been up to those supposedly brave Free Market Capitalists to take over and show us their stuff for several months now and they've been, shall we say, quite a bit less than brave about doing so.
But then, that is normal for Free Market Capitalists.
They are always, always, always the first into the life rafts (to mix a metaphor) and the last to timidly tip-toe back into the fray, and only then after someone else has done all the dirty work of rescue and recovery and made the prospects of success as comfortable and secure as possible without a hint of uncertainty on the horizon.
The concept of "brave" Free Market Capitalists simply is not supported by any evidence throughout history.
They actively "create jobs" when it is expedient in a thriving market, they're "helpless" to market forces and destroy jobs when it's anemic.
I liken Free Market Capitalists to the guys who used to sell sandwiches and chewing gum to us on the train.
They're not the least bit interested in getting themselves dirty and sweaty shoveling the coal into the engines to get the stalled train to start chugging away from the station.
But they're delighted to arrive at the station and hop on whichever train is already on the move. These days, that applies to any place in the world that looks to a Free Market Capitalist like a moving train.
Free Market Capitalists serve a purpose in any economic expansion, of course. Hey, I like sandwiches and chewing gum, too.
But expecting a Free Market Capitalist to dive into a tanking economy in order to stabilize it and jumpstart that train into pulling away from the station is a colossal, counterproductive waste of valuable time.
Despite the hysterical PR claims to the contrary, that just isn't what Free Market Capitalists do. Ever.
That's what governments do in the face of a tanking national economy. Good governments.
One might almost get the impression that the disgruntled Mr. Baker is aiming for a spot on the government payroll.
Whoever it was who paid for the billboard, the very first thing I thought when I saw it on CNN was that someone who's really in need of a job sure as hell couldn't rent a billboard to make what is obviously a not-so-sharply-pointed political point. CNN has been running the "news" story about the billboard's appearance for about three days now... like it's "news"(????).
"Here is a real journalist story you might want to look into. How about the expansion of the Patriot act under Obama"
It has been investigated on this site!
"or the expansion of control the president now has?"
Something you were not concerned about under Bush, and something we are concerned about as well, fairweather friend.
I know you don't read the site and just joined for this one issue, but you don't know what you're talking about.
Point being that none of this is any surprise and it's disgusting no matter who does it.
Instead of holding the media to task for not reporting on it, you attack the media for being too "liberal".
My point is that I wished that you and others had been with us during the Bush years, and I wish that you could help us now keep Obama in check. The trick is, of course trying to figure out the constructive ways to do so :)
...on C&L into question? Stop being overly dramatic.
It's disappointing, but what do you expect from someone who didn't read before, joined for just this one article, and won't pay attention to anything else?
[Comment Deleted By Administration For Violation Of Terms Of Service]
(I was feeling left out).
Diabolus est Deus Inversus
Um there is a commuting distance Akron NY outside of Buffalo.
As a web designer and developer, I'd have to counter the "nice" call on the inafj.com site. The graphics, like logo and buttons, are probably a B, B+ ; bro's got a good eye. But looking at the source code shows that it appears much of the site was pulled from publicly-available code libraries and templated. The design of the site rolls in as a B, the coding of the site a D, photography at a C-, and the optimization (all those things you do so Google can rate you as relevant) at an F. They'll get tons of incoming links, but not much else.
When I first found this, I was most amazed at both the open hostility in the article (and the following comments) AND that some people are shamelessly stating that it is the government's role to create jobs. I am also a bit baffled at the level of hostility and personal attacks against Mr. Breitbart in the article by Karoli, which diminish her position as a journalist and makes me question the validity of these claims as well as her frankness, but I will reserve judgement.
If Mr. Breitbart were even half as "bad" as some have stated here, then they would have no need for so much vitriol or exaggeration. Since I just registered today and I am not following the herd, I expect nothing but venomous responses spewed in my direction as seems to be the trend.
After reading the second update, I have new respect for Karoli.
Thank you for setting the record straight. I admire your mettle and will continue to follow your work.
Made a mistake. Owned up to it. Done. Bang!
Good stuff.
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