Welcome To The Left Wing Echo Chamber

Steve Benen of The Carpetbagger Report and formerly of Salon admits his error on the McHenry "US soldier was a two-bit security guard story" but digs himself deeper anyway:

Update: With regard to McHenry and the “two-bit security guard,” I referenced the guard as a member of the U.S. military based on the reports of multiple sources.

"Multiple sources"?  Follow his links and you will find:

(a) the Sigmon for Congress website offering a copy of the Sigmon press release attacking McHenry, as well as the YouTube link to the McHenry dinner speech video; let's note that this press release refers to "a sentry protecting U.S.  personnel in Iraq", not a US soldier, and that nothing in the dinner speech suggest the guard was a US soldier.

(b) Carolina Politics Online, which uses the word soldier in their headline (McHenry Refers to Soldier as “Two Bit Security Guard”) and offers as support... a link to the Sigmon press release and the YouTube video available at the Sigmond site.  New evidence?  None.

(c) ThinkProgress, which uses the word soldier and offers as evidence... a link to Carolina Politics Online.  New evidence?  None.

Multiple sources indeed.  Hellooo, Steve... Steve... Steve... Can you hear me... hear me... hear me... three sites linking to one bit of evidence still means you have only one bit of evidence... evidence.. evidence...

I doubt I am getting through.  Hmm - we are sidling up to the point where we wonder whether Steve is kidding himself, or trying to kid his readers.  Well, maybe he is kidding his readers - I know I am laughing pretty hard.

And what about Amanda at ThinkProgress?  She ducks responsibility as follows:

Update Michael Goldfarb reports that the "two-bit security guard" was a foreign contractor, not a member of the military, as both Carolina Politics and Lance Simon (sic) originally reported.

Stop, please - Carolina Politics echoed the Sigmon site.  And where did the Sigmon site say the guard was a US soldier?  I don't see it, nor do I hear it in the video, to which Amanda was free to listen.

From the Sigmon site that started it all, with possibly helpful emphasis added:

LINCOLNTON- In a moment eerily akin to a Hillary Clinton "misspeak," 10th District Rep. Patrick McHenry called a sentry protecting U.S. personnel in Iraq a "two-bit security guard" in a brief appearance Saturday night at a Lincoln County Republican Party event.

McHenry's gaffe occurred in his telling of a story about his recent two-day visit to Iraq.  He said he was stopped by a military guard in the area known as the Green Zone, when he was going "to the gym" in the early morning hours on Easter after being unable to sleep.

The congressman belittled  the sentry- referring to him as a "two-bit security guard"- for following his orders by not allowing him to enter the gym without "proper credentials," according to McHenry's own telling of the story to an audience of some 160 Republicans.

Even after demanding to see the guard's superiors, by McHenry's own account, he still was refused entry into the gym and was told he had to return to his room, in a pool house at one of Saddam Hussein's former palaces in the Baghdad area.

..."Besides his obvious contempt for a guard's assigned duties, his belief that being a congressman makes him immune to the rules and his exaggerated claim of exposure to hostile fire, what really bothers me is the Iraq trip itself," Sigmon added.

The Sigmon team was pretty careful in their press release, unlike their heralds. [But See YOUTUBE CHICANERY, below]

Look, Amanda and Steve wanted to believe something and didn't want to bother to check it.  A little honor and accountability after the fact might help.  Or not.

As to the Sigmond people, this is pretty close to a lie:

McHenry's tale at the Lincoln County GOP's annual Lincoln Day Dinner also included a death that supposedly occurred during insurgent rocket attacks, which did occur in the Green Zone shortly after he returned to his quarters.

However, official U.S. Embassy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said the facts were somewhat different, emphasizing that there were no fatalities from that rocket attack.

Well, so what?  There were multiple rocket attacks that week; McHenry said that he was fortunate, and that one individual lost his life in the rocket attacks (understated but true) - presumably his point was that these attacks were quite serious, and whether anyone died in the specific attack he described is hardly the point.

Finally, let me note again the hypothesis that the Sigmond people have edited the YouTube video in order to distort its meaning.  It may well be that McHenry's speech was building towards a dramatic finish with the self-deprecating point that the "two-bit security guard" had saved his life by doing his job.  That is how he described it on the radio, apparently - he admits it was a poor word choice, says the guard was a foreign contractor, and says the speech concluded with a tribute to the brave men and women defending us in Iraq.

Karl at Team Protein is concise and brutal.

And Praise Allah:

  Still a jerky thing to say of a foreign contractor, as McHenry’s office acknowledges, but if he’s telling the truth, what he was trying to do is describe the ironic flash of pique he felt when the guard denied him access to the gym. Why ironic? Because the building was hit by a mortar minutes later. (Watch this video of McHenry, shot on the scene as the gym burns in the background.) Your call, then. Either he was speaking semi-facetiously about a guy who ended up saving his life by doing his job or else he’s still pissed after the fact that he wasn’t allowed in to use the treadmill and get blown to pieces.

We make these tough calls every day.

UPDATE: In a related piece, Bob Somerby picked Friday to wonder whether libs have become as stupid as conservatives; he deplores their research skills and eagerness to name-call.

YOUTUBE CHICANERY:  The Sigmond campaign posted the YouTube video of McHenry's speech; it is currently titled "Patrick McHenry calls guard "two bit", lies about death".

But either the Google cache is wrong and people miscopied it, or the original title was "Patrick McHenry calls soldier "two bit", lies about death". So the Sigmond people did get their hands dirty on this.

Comments

[Terry]

Good job, although I doubt it will have any influence over the folks on the Left. Just take a look at John Cole, the blogosphere's male equivalent of Cindy Sheehan, and you find that he's not taking anything back...and is damn proud of it.

[LH]

Multiple sources indeed. Hellooo, Steve... Steve... Steve... Can you hear me... hear me... hear me... three sites linking to one bit of evidence still means you have only one bit of evidence... evidence.. evidence...

Bwahahahhhaha, I love you man.

By the way, I would like to thank the pinko commie punks of the left for thier support for our contractors in Iraq. Haliburton, KBR others.

You come along way Baaaaby from "screw them" Hey

[SteveMG]

I dunno, seems like an awful lot of work for such meager results.

The left blogosphere hates the right blogosphere and the right hates the left and each side will quickly grab whatever anecdote they can find to attack the other.

Details to be determined later.

This does show the amazingly quick skills of TM's.

[clarice]

Man, you are good at following the bouncing ball game, TM.

[Danube of Thought]

Maguire, you're a one-man wrecking crew. All I have to do is wait for you to expose these weenies, then I go over to their blogs and taunt them, quite childishly, without mercy and with great relish. What a fun game!

[interested]

Surprise, surprise.

Olbermann's Countdown just went with the "two-bit security guard" as US soldier.

Granted, the line was delivered by Rachel Maddow, debuting as guest anchor in the absence of Keith.

Remarkably, even in Keith's absence, it sounds just like him and has the same reliance on the left-wing blogs.

[Sue]

Remarkably, even in Keith's absence, it sounds just like him and has the same reliance on the left-wing blogs.

Sadly, they could have relied on right-wing blogs today.

[clarice]

Take pity on MSNBC--they decided the dementos were the only audience they were likely to get and they are petrified that if they do any ratinal reporting they'll lose even these loons.

OT (I think my imagination is getting the better of me.):

For a few hours this afternoon I thought I was in one of those films noir where an innocent person is charged with the murder of a companion who simply disappears from the house with all the windows and doors shut, leaving no trace.
I was working at the pc playing with my cat who wandered in and out as is her wont. I was also putting away some stuff from a big household shopping trip today and running a sort of mental inventory of what we had and what we still needed for a visit next weekend by my family.

Suddenly I heard the cat cry out. I checked out the entire very large house from top to bottom, even looking into rooms where the doors were shut (something I do to make it easier to keep track of her.) All the while I'm calling out her name and getting nothing in response.

About an hour later, she cried out again, and I repeat the search, even looking under sofas and chairs and up the fireplace flues . Still nothing.

I had no recollection of opening the cabinet underneath a guest bathroom sink where she likes to snooze , but I decided to check there anyway, already figuring my husband would think I killed the cat when I told him the not credible disappearance story. There she was, and though she didn't seem the least put out, she did nip my hand at the first possible moment.

[hit and run]

TM:
Welcome To The Left Wing Echo Chamber

I don't know if it's original to RedState or not, but it's where I got it:

The reality based community is in fact a community based reality.

OH, and this should be Quote of the Day. For the next 7 days (assuming Obama or Clinton doesn't claim to have been present the day Martin Luther King, Jr. was shot):

Hellooo, Steve... Steve... Steve... Can you hear me... hear me... hear me... three sites linking to one bit of evidence still means you have only one bit of evidence... evidence.. evidence...

That right there was worth the price of admission.

Still laughing.

[clarice]

VIMH isn't exactly a vale of tears today, either, Hit.

[hit and run]

More importantly -- MayBee deserves accolades for her valiant attempts to penetrate the veil of togas.

[hit and run]

Oh, and Sue -- lifting the veil!!!

[Sue]

OT but I was looking at Obama's website under economy. Scroll to the very bottom of the link and see if you notice what I notice. Hint: Obama's record.

::grin::

[J]

OT (which I apologize for because it is a fairly delicious post TM) but have you guys seen Reverend Wright's letter to the NY Times. It's at Sweetness 7 Light (link under my name).

I post a paragraph for your amusement:

Forgive me for having a momentary lapse. I forgot that The New York Times was leading the bandwagon in trumpeting why it is we should have gone into an illegal war. The New York Times became George Bush and the Republican Party’s national “blog.” The New York Times played a role in the outing of Valerie Plame. I do not know why I thought The New York Times had actually repented and was going to exhibit a different kind of behavior.

[Rick Ballard]

There really wasn't any evidence at all, was there? There was a press release that was a distortion of clear intent that was then passed through the lefty "truth filters" (those are the ones that screen out anything resembling the truth) and the filtered lie was published and accepted by the usual suspects.

Or maybe I don't know what "evidence" really means? Perhaps an attorney could enlighten me?

[clarice]

J, look at the pic accompanying the S & L stoey--Is that a (clove of)garlic nose on Wright or are my eyes deceiving me--

[Elliott]

Hit and Run,

That struck me as well. This year's version of "Ground control to Major chch16."

[Sue]

Isn't it odd that Obama distances himself from Wright's sermons even though he had to have heard some of them, and Wright distances himself from Obama, even though Obama claims Wright brought him to Jesus, was his mentor, etc. These two, Obama and Wright, are just weird. Or is it just me who doesn't understand why they both think everyone else is stoopid?

[clarice]

I just heard Kerry saying his "swiftboating" was "an abuse of patriotism and an abuse of truth." He must be nuts or he wouldn't be able to go out in public,let alonr continue to maintain this charade of a life.

[Danube of Thought]

I'm glad the SwiftVets still piss him off. I hope he feels a sense of helpless, frustrated rage against them until the day he dies. He deserves it for what he did.

[Other Jeff]

Elliott:
That struck me as well. This year's version of "Ground control to Major chch16."

Elliott -- you know you are absolutely right.

And that reference brings me to something I had intended to do days ago -- but didn't just because I haven't been fully involved.

In honor of the passing of the name "Other Tom", I am changing my name to Other Jeff.

I had intended this to be permanent -- and it does make some sense since there was a Jeff that preceeded me -- but, the thought of it being abreviated to OJ is too much for me to bear.

So, this can be fairly represented as a one time eulogy at the passing of the name, Other Tom.

NO!!!! Not a eulogy -- a toast...TO OTHER TOM!

May Danube of Thought live up to the unyieldingness!

[centralcal]

Other Jeff - if you are the "other" Jeff, then who is Jeff?

(Sorry, having cocktails, and it is causing trouble with my following along coherently!)

[MayBee]

Oh Boy.

Here is John Conyers at Daily Kos, participating in that honest national debate about race his guy Obama called for:

McCain Waits 25 Years to Apologize for Voting Against the MLK Bill by Congressman John Conyers Fri Apr 04, 2008 at 04:22:40 PM PDT

Four days after Dr. King's death, on April 8, 1968, I introduced a bill that would allow this nation to celebrate the life and work of its greatest civil rights leader with a federal holiday. Though it would take 15 years, from 1968 until 1983, the King Holiday Bill was eventually signed into law through the efforts of friends on the ground and friends in the Congress. Unfortunately, John McCain was not one of those friends.

* Congressman John Conyers's diary :: ::
*

On August 2, 1983, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the King Holiday Bill by a veto-proof vote of 338 to 90. While Dick Cheney and Newt Gingrich voted for the bill, those in opposition included then-Representative John McCain. McCain likes to attribute his vote against the King Holiday to his being "brand-new in the Congress," but he certainly wasn't brand new to this matter of a holiday when he supported the Arizona governor's decision to repeal the state King holiday in 1987.

[I addressed this issue on MSNBC today outside the Lorraine Hotel. Crooks and Liars has that clip here.]

As we observe the 40th anniversary of Dr. King's assassination, I ask that we examine the principles and values on which Dr. King based his work, and apply them to our work today. It is 40 years later, and this country finds itself again poisoned by war, a war that is jeopardizing the civil rights and civil liberties of all Americans - and again, Senator McCain is complicit. From the Iraq War and a failing economy, to inadequate healthcare and unsatisfactory schools, it is up to us to finish Dr. King's work. So I ask Senator McCain that as he apologizes for his vote 25 years ago, that he may recommit himself to advancing Dr. King's legacy.

Nobody can ever just celebrate MLK and his life and his work. There's like a test you have to pass. It makes me sad, kind of.

[hit and run]

centralcal:
Other Jeff - if you are the "other" Jeff, then who is Jeff?

Oh, gosh -- someone else will have to explain the original JOM Jeff.

[Rick Ballard]

"someone else will have to explain the original JOM Jeff"

Easy - Jeff the Trillion Pixel Killer. Spawn of a misbred pairing of a the world's largest thesaurus with the OED, raised on meth and Prozac and thus unable to ever write a sentence that wasn't reflexively recursive to the point of incoherence.

That Jeff.

[Sue]

Other Jeff,

We can't even call you JD. We had one of those, too.

[hit and run]

Damn, Rick. Just when I thought Tom had quote of the week locked up.

It might take a coterie of super delegates to decide this.

[hit and run]

To ease Conyer's conscience, I would like to apologize for something that happend 25 years ago in my past...

...I stayed out past curfew to see a Def Leppard concert.

Mom, Dad, I apologize.

[Cecil Turner]

The Sigmon team was pretty careful in their press release, unlike their heralds.

Perhaps in their press release, but the title of their youtube video is:

Patrick McHenry calls soldier "two bit", lies about death

Both halves of that statement appear to be false (not a soldier, and the Corvallis man died after an Easter Sunday Green Zone rocket attack). In addition, the end of the clip is truncated at a suspicious point (where McHenry is getting ready to tell why the story is significant). If he said something like "the guy saved my life," then the clip is misleading as well.

So that's two lies minimum, because there's no way to reconcile the calculated release as a mistake . . . and perhaps an attempt to mislead. Not that any major media outlet is likely to call 'em on it, because . . . (which points up the ‘Imagine If A Democrat Had Said This’ formulation as the risible nonsense it is).

[narciso]

Just caught Olberman having to retract the "end of habeas corpus" comments; re
the Military Commissions Act he had made
back in 2006. Was watching BattleStar
Galactica; priorities. One recalls that
even Baltar was acquitted by the Colonial
version of a Military Tribunal. It's interesting how this show approaches an orthodox view of military patriotism than has to distort it. The Cylons, are the
Wahhabists, annihilating those who brought
them to prominence. They are blessed with
an infinite level of regeneration; so literally one rises after one kills. After a holocaust of sorts, they retreat fighting along the way; the whole event due to an Clintonian or possibly Dunhamiam egotist. There is a peace faction; "the why do they hate us" cadres, which it turns out are tied to the Cylon enemy. The aforementioned traitor who wins despite a justifiably stolen election; surrenders to the enemy proving the point. Becoming the Quisling or Petain to the 'toasters'In those instances, the Masada like moves of the Colonials, dictate desperate measures like suicide bombers; although those are futile for reasons mentioned above. There is a "Truth
and Reconciliation' phase, that is aborted
because the traitor must be punished; however the legal system makes it impossible
for him to be convicted. Not only is everyone out to get you; you don't know who
everyone is.

[clarice]

Do you suppose that McCain thought he'd pick up a lot of new Black votes when he spoke today?

Do you suppose that a lot of people seeing him booed will have a visceral reaction FOR McCain?

I think beneath the surface and not obvious yet in any of the polling is a boiling mad majority voter.

[Lesley]

Other Jeff: I feel your pain. I've been commenting on this site for years. One night, I'm scrolling through the comments and there's an entry calling Tom Maguire a moron, signed "Lesley".

Um, needless to say, it was not I.

I almost changed my sn to: The Good Lesley (Who Would Never Call Tom Maguire a Moron).

So, if the other Lesley who called TM a moron happens to be reading this thread, should you ever choose to comment here again, would you be so kind as to sign in as "The Evil Lesley?" Thanks in advance.

[Cecil Turner]

Do you suppose that a lot of people seeing him booed will have a visceral reaction FOR McCain?

I rather doubt it. Doesn't look like he got booed very much (and I can hear a man in the background say "we all make mistakes"). Fairly mild reaction, actually. (Unlike this weirdness at a Clinton rally.)

[Ann]

Clarice, I was watching Fox, too. John Kerry continues to live in his own fantasy-land. It really is sick.

If you missed it:
Video of John Kerry on Abuse of Patriotism and Truth

(Commercial before it starts)

[Rick Ballard]

Clarice,

Conyers is an overseer on a shrinking plantation. He's old, he's never been accused of being intelligent and he can't or won't get the fact that the hustle is over.

It's going to be easy to beat BHO as a Red, much easier than beating the Witch. I'm hoping that BHO gets beat in a manner that could shatter the glue that keeps the black bloc attached to the Dems. Not because the Reps need more blacks because we don't. Love to have lots of them along but "want" isn't "need". I want to see him beat as a Red because this crap can't end until continuing it isn't worth the candle.

A win on a backlash vote would still be a win but it wouldn't do the Republic much good - and it might improve the glue.

[Charlie (Colorado)]

A little honor and accountability after the fact might help.

Yeah.

And a pony.

And maybe some ice cream.

[Danube of Thought]

Thanks very much, OJ. I'm sure OT would appreciate your kind sentiments if he were still with us.

Boy, Clarice, am I ever with you on this one. I think by November the Bradley effect is going to be coiled like a cobra, ready to spring into action with unprecedented force. By all means, let's have a national conversation about race. Let's trot out Conyers, Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Jeremiah Wright, Maxine Waters, Sheila Jackson Lee, Calypso Louie Farrakhan and all those other endearing spokesmen. Bring it on.

[Topsecretk9]

Let’s play, ‘Imagine If A Democrat Had Said This’

Isn't time to play ‘Imagine If A Republican selectively edited, completely misrepresented and inserted new verbiage to reflect dishonestly what a Democrat actually did not say? ’

Well, that's kinda long, any suggestions?

Also, I was wondering about Think Progress's non-partisan 501 c status - last Amanda blow-it (McCain plagiarized himself) she said she got a "tip" - this blow-it it appears she relied on the democrat challenger campaign. Doesn't his episode sort of blow their lame "non-partisan org" crap outta the water?

[kim]

I'd like to know whatever happened to jukeboxgrad.
===============================

[Ann]

Kim,

This is for you from National Review :):

Meteorologists puzzled by snowball in Hell [Mark Steyn]
A headline from the BBC:

Global Temperatures "To Decrease"

Presumably it's in scare quotes because otherwise people might grow less scared. On the story goes:

Global temperatures will drop slightly this year as a result of the cooling effect of the La Nina current in the Pacific, UN meteorologists have said...

This would mean global temperatures have not risen since 1998, prompting some to question climate change theory.

Fortunately the insurance industry is still on board:

Climate change tops list of risks to insurers

I like this addendum to the report:

The analysts identified five additional emerging risks (not part of the Top 10) that have the potential to become as significant during the next five years. These include: over reliance on model-based risk management.

[Lesley]

Kim - JBG lives! Think I saw him over at PW not long ago.

[kim]

Thanks, Ann. That article, originally at BBC, has had some amusing changes to its headline. It is now back to the original, but for awhile said something like 'Global Warming to undergo a dip'. There have been minor changes to the text, also, as the Truth Ministry works it over. It is a little shocking to see something as honest as it is from the BBC. They've been among the worst of the cheerleaders.

It is finally striking home that carbon capping will cause real economic damage. Cosmetic changes to one's carbon footprint were all about feeling good without having to delve down and look into the real problem. Now that global cooling is rearing its cold and frightful head, more and more people are coming to their senses, and questioning the dogma. Skepticism is snowballing. Oops, that just slipped out.
====================================

[kim]

Good, Lesley. I was kind of fond of him after inventing as many pejorative variations of his name as I possibly could.
======================================

[Chris]

Clarice,
"I think beneath the surface and not obvious yet in any of the polling is a boiling mad majority voter."

You have nailed it. No question about it. America will not knowingly vote a marxist (sympathizer, if you want to be charitable) into the presidency. It's really that simple.

Leftys have a great time deriding the "neo-cons". Can we begin mocking the "neo-marx(es)"? On second thought, they're doing a pretty good job of it themselves.

[Chris]

"Skepticism is snowballing."

I blame Bush. Too funny.

[Ann]

04.05.08 drudgereport.com

"All charitable donations in '06 were to Clinton Foundation."

Clinton Charitable Gifts

Somebody tell me that the Clinton's charitable donations were not to the Clintons.. Tell me I am wrong, Puh-leeze!!

[clarice]

You must be a cynic, Chris, if you even dare suspect that the Clinton Foundation distributed the donated funds in a way that aided Hill's political career. Tsk.No Christian charity, here. Where's out resident Buddhist?

[Ann]

From the article:

The Clintons took a tax deduction in 2004 for $2.5 million in charitable gifts, $2 million of which went to their family foundation, which as a tax-exempt nonprofit is considered a charity under the tax code. That same year, the foundation gave away just $221,000 to charitable groups, according to its tax return.

[Chris]

Ann spotted that tidbit about the self-donating Clintons. Unfreakingbelievable. They donated money to their foundation, then took a deduction. They've certainly moved up. Wasn't that long ago when they were deducting used underwear donations. remember that?

[Lesley]

Kim, heh.

His approach and style have not changed.