Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:08 pm
The Western Journalism Center, a right wing group that is most famous for push Vince Foster conspiracy theories, has put out a You Tube video calling Rachel Maddow a liar, because she correctly pointed out on Meet the Press that MoveOn.org never ran an ad that compared George W. Bush to Hitler. The problem is that they are wrong. MoveOn never ran the ad.
Here is the WJC video:
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If you are going to call someone a liar, you better have your facts straight, and in this case the Western Journalism Center is dead wrong. As Terry Krepel pointed out on the Media Matters County Fair blog, “But the WJC is the liar here. While the video includes a clip of something that appears to be a MoveOn ad comparing Bush to Hitler, at no point does the video note that it was submitted as part of a contest MoveOn ran in 2004 and never ran as a paid ad by MoveOn.”
MoveOn also put out a statement at the time making it clear that the ads were not theirs, “nor did their appearance constitute endorsement or sponsorship by MoveOn.org Voter Fund. They will not appear on TV. We do not support the sentiment expressed in the two Hitler submissions.”
As Maddow’s popularity continues to grow these are the kinds of attacks that she will increasingly be confronted with. Maddow is more dangerous to the right wing than someone like a Chris Matthews or a Keith Olbermann because she tends to deal in facts. I have a hunch that some on the right didn’t know much about her, until she turned up on Meet the Press on Sunday.
The strategy of using you own lie to prove that someone else is a liar is borderline mentally challenged. Of course, we are dealing with people who believe that the Clintons had Vince Foster murdered, so the attack on Maddow could be considered an intellectual breakthrough, but the groups like the Western Journalism Center have nothing substantial to offer, so they spend their time making things up, and ignoring facts.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
