Defending the Congresswoman

Accountability.

The word Republican's hurl around like third graders in T-ball. Eventually, someone catches it but its funny to watch the process.

As you recall, Congresswoman Bachmann stated publicly, that a plan for the dividing of Iraq existed, with Iran obtaining a large portion, in the north west portion with a name that Bachmann thought was right, but was not 100% sure.

She failed to return multiple phone calls from reporters and then issued a statement that her comments were misconstrued.

We did not misconstrue anything Congresswoman, we heard you loud and clear.

Pundits like Jason Lewis, Andy at Residual Forces, and an anonymous blogger going by the handle dare2sayit, all defend the Congresswoman's idiotic statements.

They cited an extreme liberal media bias, a bias that runs deep in the Twin Cities media market.

Stories break all the time. Eric Black admits that writers at Dump Bachmann tipped him off.

It does not make it any lessor of a story.

What about all the breaking "news" on Keith Ellison, Mike Hatch, Tim Walz, Matt Entenza, and Amy Klobuchar.

Jason Lewis and Residual Forces had a great deal of fun "exposing Democrats". Stories on all these individuals made local headlines.

Remember the E85 gaffe?

It was a gaffe. Dutcher was held accountable for her words.

So what do the Republicans do? They attack Eric Black from the Startribune and writers at Dump Bachmann.

Reject the premise of the question. That tactic always works for the GOP.

But the other side of the story, from us people who think most of Bachmann’s
statements are plausible and defensible are being ignored by Black, because HE
demands that HE is the one who gets the answers and directly from Bachmann. The
answers HE wants to have Bachmann provide to HIM and HIM alone.

Andy thinks her statements are plausible? He calls the Dump Bachmann crowd "derranged"!

Perhaps my standards are too high. I would have expected the Congresswoman to simply hold a news conference and clarify her statements. Explain how she got that information. Not too difficult really.

Silence feeds the problem.

DJ Tice at the Startribune comes out and defends the actions of his colleague and the paper.

Bill Pendergast, a contributor to Dump Bachmann states,

You and Black think YOU’VE got problems with the Jason Lewis crowd?
I’m one of the contributors to DumpBachmann, like most of the contributors I’m a
patriotic married male heterosexual who loves his country–and Lewis repeatedly
described us to the Twin Cities radio audience as a bunch of “angry lesbians,”
“radical militant lesbians” who “hate America, hate the western tradition, and
hate capitalism.” What a jackass, as is anyone who trusts him to tell them the
truth.

It’s not that Lewis and his audience don’t "understand" how journalists
get tipped off to stories–it’s that they don’t "care," they don’t care about
reality. They live to smear; their careers are built on feeding the anger and
paranoia of their audience, regardless of the facts. It’s a propanganda program,
like almost all conservative radio since Rush. Since when do those guys care
about checking their information or getting the facts right and presenting them
to the public truthfully?

Eva Young, who spoke on air with Lewis states,

Jason Lewis called both I and Karl Bremer insane. He also said the site was
liberal democrats - and he knows very well that I’ve been involved with Log
Cabin Republicans. In fact, I was a guest on his show in that capacity.

I don’t think newspapers should just take tips, and do no additional investigation. Instead, good journalists, take tips, and research further. In this case, that’s what Eric Black did. Lewis made the claims that Black never got a statement from Bachmann before running his story. The reason for that was because her office refused to talk to him about this story.

This is what Lewis said about Dump Bachmann:

“This story was nothing more than a plant by a website run by a bunch
of angry lesbians and radical pacifists called Dump Michele Bachmann. In fact I
know one of the people that heads up Dump Michele Bachmann - and this woman is
so obscessed with her sexuality - to her own detriment by the way - that she’s
lost all sanity. I know some of the people who are involved with Dump Michele
Bachmann that give it aid and comfort if not directly involved - like idiots
down in Stillwater by the name of Bremer who is a pacifist, just a lunatic, they
hate America, they hate Bachmann, they hate western tradition, they hate
capitalism.”

At Dump Michele Bachmann, we’ve documented Bachmann’s bizarre
statements and behaviors for years. It’s good that she’s finally getting the
spotlight she deserves.

Eric Black also comments. Nice to see that Jason Lewis is so willing to have open dialogue. Black offered to go on air and Lewis declined the offer.

I heard Jason Lewis had gone after me by name Friday and Monday, so I called him and asked that if he is going to publicly impugn my integrity, he have the decency to offer me a chance to come on the show and defned myself. He replied that he was under no obligation to do so, but would try to in future because we know each other. He also said he didn’t believe he had impugned my integrity.
Then I listened to the tape of the show. He portrayed me as ‘on my knees” before the anti-Bachmann “lesbians” and America-haters, taking dictation from them. I’m quoting from memory, but I’m pretty sure he said that all who consider themselves journalists should be ashamed because of what I had done.
Not sure what he would have said if he had wanted to impugn my integrity.
He also defended Bachmann’s statements as accurate and something of which people all over Washington are aware.

Yikes. I thought I remembered Jason being smarter and more intellectually honest when he was here the first time. I was torn between ignoring the whole thing, and writing a post about it, so thanks again Doug for providing this opportunity for me to relay this without having to base a whole thread on it.

Jason Lewis is the typical chicken hawk, Republican coward.

Remember, this all started because a Congresswoman opened her mouth and spoke on a subject that was beyond her knowledge base. She sounded crazy and accepted no responsibility for her words. As long as she continues to play dodgeball with the issue, we'll keep fighting.