While Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is quick to associate mainstream conservatives and veterans with the fringiest of racist and neo-Nazi kooks, liberal media types are not allowing anyone to associate the radical left with the mainstream liberal establishment.
Notice the utter lack of labels when radical-left protesters started breaking bank windows on Saturday. The Washington Post’s Sunday Metro section has a major article – authored by three reporters – all about smashing bank windows in downtown Washington to oppose capitalism:
Two bank branches in Logan Circle sustained more than $110,000 in damage before dawn yesterday when at least 15 people dressed in black used bricks, hammers and sticks to smash windows, smearing red paint symbols that denounced the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, police said....
The scale of vandalism was highly unusual, even in a city where political demonstrations are commonplace and sometimes unruly. Six people were arrested, and another person was charged later in the day when police clashed with almost 200 demonstrators.
The headline was "A Day of Vandalism, Violence: IMF-World Bank Protesters Clash With Police, and 2 Buildings Are Damaged." That seems to half-blame the police for the violence, and not directly blame the protesters for the damaged property.
Nowhere in this dispatch do reporters Michael Alison Chandler, Aaron Davis and Hamil Harris use any liberal or left-wing ideological labels. There’s two references to "anarchists," but nothing about the radical left or communism. Most of the protesters’ hatred of the American free-market system comes through in the quotes, not in the labels.
The Post didn’t provide readers with a photo of the damaged property on the front page of Metro. Instead, they published a large picture of protesters under a "cloud of pepper spray" surrounded by police in helmets. (Inside, there’s one damaged-bank photo, and one of a policeman spraying pepper spray into protester faces.)
Readers learned that the policemen were reminded of left-wing anger and vandalism after the second Bush inauguration:
Capt. Jeffrey Herold of the Special Operations Division compared the vandalism to the rampage through Adams Morgan after George W. Bush's second presidential inauguration. The impromptu incident in 2005 left windows smashed at a police substation and two bank branches, and about 80 people were arrested.
There were no labels for the organizers of the "peaceful" demonstrations – those are the ones who didn’t bust bank windows, but refuse to obey the police until the pepper spray and batons come out.
The District-based group Global Justice Action sponsored peaceful demonstrations Friday with about 75 people participating in a "speak out" at Edward R. Murrow Park. Speakers said the IMF is contributing to the worldwide economic downturn and hurting people in impoverished countries. Organizers said they support policies that put people's needs ahead of profiteering.
That protest and others were also planned as a reaction to the G-20 economic leaders' decision this month to earmark $1.1 trillion for an IMF-World Bank rescue fund, organizers said.
Global Justice Action’s website carries the motto "New ideas after the capitalism casino goes bust." Their promotional lingo didn’t sound non-ideological:
Starting in front of the IMF and World Bank, the leading ambassadors of the "free market" system that has ruined the world, the Carnival Against the G20 celebrated the opportunity to present new ideas.
The Post divided the protesters into amusing and threatening, as if threatening to crush economic liberty with dance moves wasn't threatening:
Yesterday's demonstrations were sometimes whimsical and sometimes threatening, with different splinter groups adopting different tactics.
About 8 a.m., a group of about 50 people marched in tank tops or spandex, doing fan kicks and arm curls while chanting "Kick out the capitalists!" and "Pump up the people power!"
Later, they joined with a group that had marched down Connecticut Avenue led by self-described anarchists. Members of that group dressed in black, and many wore hooded sweat shirts and bandannas over the mouths.
About 9:15 a.m., as they snaked down Pennsylvania Avenue past the IMF headquarters, chants turned darker. "No bailouts, no thanks! We'll burn down your [expletive] banks!"
A 20-year-old area college student and member of an anarchist collective said the group was not responsible for the vandalism but supported it.
"Banks should be abolished, and we believe in the destruction of capitalism and all organizations that support it," said the student, adding that he would not give his name because he feared government retaliation. "Housing is a right, and the banks are taking that away through foreclosure, so we do support any action against banks."
Doesn’t this kind of property damage suggest the Department of Homeland Security should be devoting more resources to worrying about the radical left? The Post treated this only as a Metro story, not a National story. No one asked Napolitano or left-wing groups like the Southern Poverty Law Center to denounce these attacks or the beliefs that animate them. And no one asked whether Barack Obama has succeeded in healing our divisions.
—Tim Graham is Director of Media Analysis at the Media Research Center.




















Editor at Large
Comments Policy
wait just a sec
April 26, 2009 - 08:22 ET by candanceLast month when we saw the vandalism in Europe and warned it would happen here, we were told the events in London had no bearing on America. But lookie here - the lefties are getting more emboldened.
Left Wing Protestors ...
April 26, 2009 - 10:06 ET by allanf... are usually given a playful slap on the wrist. Rarely are they agressively prosecuted.
Was Timothy McVeigh there....?
April 26, 2009 - 08:26 ET by superconIt's nice how they featured photos of the police pepper spraying people but left out the photos of people dressed in black like Hamas terrorists.
Because with a name like Obama... you know it has to be good.
Planes attack Pearl Harbor!
April 26, 2009 - 08:38 ET by P.J. GladnickFlash! Planes have attacked Pearl Harbor. There were red meatball circles drawn on the planes.
Meanwhile the Empire of Japan, after the attack, declared war on the USA.
Authorities have no idea of the origin of those red meatball planes.
"We Wouldn't want
April 26, 2009 - 22:56 ET by ahusserto interfere with the Empire of Japan's right to bomb us. We may hurt their feelings." said President Obama in a statement today. Also commenting on the 2000 plus military and civilians killed he stated that we deserved it for embargoing steel and oil to Japan. Privately he added that he is a little put out at the Japanese because he will have to change his plans for his Hawaiian vacation. Homeland Secretary Janet Napolitano said she is asking the FBI to investigate whether the U.S. Navy or Army provoked the attack attributing the provocation to right wing extremist elements embedded in our Armed Forces.
PS Not that I watch the MSM news but I have heard absolutely nothing about this or the clashes with demonstrators and I live not so far away. Crickets chirping on this one.
' I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'
Celebrating the Collective
April 26, 2009 - 09:11 ET by ConScottOne does not need to apply a label to the collective, they are only needed to identify those in opposition to the State.
Since the individual must be eradicated from our society, the media does find it necessary, by nature, to look forward, to project a future society where individual rights & property have no place. And they do so in a subtle, subliminal manner. Since they already see themselves as singular cells of the collective they are genuine in their beliefs, have empathy towards the foot soldiers (radicals to us) who carry the fight towards their utopian world.
They weren't leftists or even agitators....
April 26, 2009 - 10:01 ET by motherbeltI'm sure they were just "disenfranchised youths."
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
That's what they call them
April 26, 2009 - 10:54 ET by kgThat's what they call them in France too.
"DumbAssity of Dope"
Uh, yeah, kg....
April 27, 2009 - 09:53 ET by motherbeltI know. That's why I had quotes around it.
They might say "Wow, that sucks!" But at least they'll say "Wow!" -Duff Goldman, the Ace of Cakes
DHS doesn't respond to
April 26, 2009 - 10:21 ET by ebayerDHS doesn't respond to this kind of terrorism because it doesn't target politicians or government agencies.
DHS is only concerned about protecting government officials and their structures and not ordinary citizens.Unless those citizens are of a special interest group.
Look at Waco and Ruby Ridge and to some extent,Elian Gonzales.
It seems to me the government allows the left wing radicals to exist in order to do it's dirty work.
Complicit
April 26, 2009 - 10:46 ET by iveseenitallThe left-wing media is complicit in the coming social chaos in America. They support ignorance and apathy. While ignoring their Constitutional responsiblility to report the truth, they lie to forster their own political agenda. Objective, intelligent "journallism" is dead. Freedom, therefore, is dying. How dangerous. How sad.
NEVER,NEVER trust a "liberal"
Capitalism
April 26, 2009 - 11:06 ET by KC MulvilleCapitalism is the art of risk, played out in real life. It's a scary game, but in the end, it's the only game that can work.
What economic history has taught us, though, is that risk is the flip side of motivation. All of economics begins with motivation, and you can't have motivation without risk. No economy can succeed without risk. You increase security by limiting risk, but risk and motivation come together. To decrease risk is to decrease motivation. Risk is everything. These demonstrations, I argue, are just immature and adolescent yearnings for a risk-free economy. It's the liberal desire for a parental economy, where mommy takes care of all the risks.
Liberals are noble when they urge society not to cast off the economic "losers" whose risks went bad. It isn't always their fault, and society profits when we help the losers compete again, instead of throwing them away. But when liberals tell us that we have to get rid or, or emasculate capitalism, they're just being adolescent.
Wasn't me.
April 26, 2009 - 12:03 ET by JWFI was attending an angry right wing splinter group with other angry veterans at the American Legion.
We were planning on putting American Flags on veteran's graves on Memorial Day just like we do every year. Sorry, you know us angry vets can't be stopped.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
While Homeland Security
April 26, 2009 - 12:11 ET by RagamuffinWhile Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano is quick to
associate mainstream conservatives and veterans with the fringiest of
racist and neo-Nazi kooks
This is a lie.
If it is a lie, you can easily disprove it.
April 26, 2009 - 12:15 ET by JWFSo prove it. Grassy knoll troll. Show us all how it is a lie.
Back it up, grassy knoll troll. Man up. Let's see the proof it is a lie.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
She's never done
April 26, 2009 - 12:19 ET by RagamuffinShe's never done that.
Therefore it is a lie.
lol rag
April 26, 2009 - 12:21 ET by botgthe news isn't delivered under your bridge?
"Outside of a dog a book is man's best friend,------------inside a dog it's too dark to read" ---Groucho
Sombody ought to tell Napolitano then.
April 26, 2009 - 12:25 ET by JWFHomeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano apologized to veterans in a FOX News interview after a DHS report labeled returning troops at risk for embracing right-wing extremism.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/16/napolitano-apologizes-offending-veterans-dhs-eyes-rightwing-extremism/
Way to prove your case, grassy knoll troll.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
Rag must not read the news.
April 26, 2009 - 12:45 ET by pahuberHe probably gets his from KOS or some other redacted lefty version.
JWF, Janet Apologized? That's a bit of a stretch..
April 26, 2009 - 13:11 ET by upcountrywaterQuotes from the same article..
"To the extent
veterans read it as an accusation ... an apology is owed,
This was an assessment, not an accusation," Napolitano continued. "It
was limited to extremists those who seek to commit violence within the
United States. And all this was meant to do was to give law enforcement
what we call 'situational awareness.'"
If there's one part of this report that I would rewrite ...
it would be that footnote,"
It wasn't an apology in my view," said Pete Hegseth, chairman of Vets
for Freedom. "It was one of those non-apology apologies. She was sorry
that veterans were offended. She should either apologize for the
content of the report as it stands or they should rewrite the report
and reissue it."
Too many Janet's in soo little time..
Reagan VS 0bama
I was posting directly from the article sir.
April 26, 2009 - 13:21 ET by JWFThat is why it was italicized. Not giving a personal opinion. Just posting to show the drive-by grassy knoll troll he was wrong.
Why would she even attempt to apologise for a lie?
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
Hi JWF , I know Thanks for posting..
April 26, 2009 - 13:35 ET by upcountrywaterA very weak attempt, at apologizing, was my only point.
Janet is still hanging on to her views, let's see if she re-writes her POS story?
I'm betting NO.
JWF, Another fine troll whacking job, well done.
Reagan VS 0bama
Ah. My mistake.
April 26, 2009 - 14:19 ET by JWFNow I see what you were saying. Rightwingnews agrees.
http://rightwingnews.com/mt331/2009/04/napolitano_apologizes_to_veter.php
The Real Janet and her
April 26, 2009 - 14:27 ET by bigtimerThe Real Janet and her agenda....which the O-Team actually wrote...
By the way, on my PC I can enlarge this, so I hope you can too.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart
It's sad that you need to
April 26, 2009 - 22:40 ET by RagamuffinIt's sad that you need to be told, even after it was highlighted for you.
There is no correlation between what you said she said and what she apologized for.
Please learn to read
April 26, 2009 - 22:21 ET by RagamuffinEven your terrible FAUX News spin doesn't work:
If you actually bothered to read the report instead of listening to the FAUX News/Newsbusters lies about it, you'd see the report says that extremist groups would try to recruit veterans. Perhaps no one here is bright or literate enough to understand the difference between that and "embracing right-wing extremism."
Newsbusters lies?
April 27, 2009 - 07:21 ET by JWFOnly an idiot would come to a site he thought was lying to him.
You are not bright and literate enough to - no that is it - you are not bright and literate. Grassy knoll troll.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
This is one of the most
April 27, 2009 - 12:46 ET by RagamuffinThis is one of the most pathetic flames I have ever seen.
Don't bother unless you can do better.
Please, you haven't held your water yet.
April 27, 2009 - 13:05 ET by dvdaughtryI propose a gentlmen's agreement (just a figure of speech ladies). No blasting how pathetic a post is, when it is in response to a former post containing the ever-so-clever Faux News.
ALL IN FAVOR?
Say AYE!
AYE!
You trying to say Jesus Christ can't hit a curveball?
aye!
April 27, 2009 - 16:50 ET by RagamuffinBut that's so much for me to keep track of!
~Hmm
April 27, 2009 - 07:39 ET by choselife3xextremist groups would try to recruit veterans. Perhaps no one here is
bright or literate enough to understand the difference between that and
"embracing right-wing extremism."
Sooo..what you're saying is that veterans would join a group without embracing it's tenets. Sorta half-hearted like. "I'd like to hang out with ya fellas, but I don't believe any of the stuff you're ranting about." Makes sense, I can see why you have a great reputation for critical thinking around here. *cough*
That high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
Sooo..what you're saying
April 27, 2009 - 12:50 ET by RagamuffinNo.
See, that's the only way you conservatives can argue, is by creating straw-men then attacking them. No one, me or Janet N. or the Obama administration has said they would join. The report specifically says it would TRY to get veterans to join.
It's not difficult to understand. Should I bust out some hand puppets, would that help?
~That settles it then
April 27, 2009 - 13:17 ET by choselife3xIt doesn't say that veterans would join, so obviously they aren't implying that the DHS thinks they might....wait
That high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
I is disgurntled.
April 27, 2009 - 13:28 ET by JWFI is dismalussioned. I is suffering from teh psychological effects of all teh wars, yes all of tehm, even the ones I did not participate in. I hate trolls. I is a lone wolfs.
I sit by the phone. No call from teh stremists. I is lonely. Call me guys. I is so lonely.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
→ I got yer gruntle!
April 27, 2009 - 17:13 ET by Cool ArrowIsn't a gruntling a little piglet?
It's hard to talk when you're teabagging - Anderson Cooper
The only way to get
April 27, 2009 - 16:57 ET by RagamuffinThe only way to get to
from:
through a Bush administration investigation is through lying.
why don't go read the actual document...
April 27, 2009 - 17:15 ET by candance....before flapping your gums any more.
From the original text:
Rightwing extremism in the United States can be broadly divided into those groups, movements, and adherents that are primarily hate-oriented (based on hatred of particular religious, racial or ethnic groups), and those that are mainly antigovernment, rejecting federal authority in favor of state or local authority, or rejecting government authority entirely. It may include groups and individuals that are dedicated to a single issue, such as opposition to abortion or immigration.
~Ahem
April 27, 2009 - 17:34 ET by choselife3xRead 'em and weep, troll. MSNBC, no less. I love it.
That high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
we've heard this before
April 27, 2009 - 09:44 ET by candanceIt all depends on your defintion of sexual relations...
Nothing in there says that militias would kidnap, brainwash, or otherwise manipulate veterans. It says they would try to recruit veterans to their side and then those veterans would willingly join. Sounds a lot like embracing the cause to me.
It says they would try to
April 27, 2009 - 12:54 ET by RagamuffinThat's the point of organizations like FAUX News and NewsBusters, to make up things just like that to get you all worked up and hyperventilating because they know you don't check your facts.
Nowhere does the report say they would join.
what is it like to be such a blatant liar?
April 27, 2009 - 14:29 ET by candanceFrom the Associated Press:
The intelligence assessment issued to law enforcement last week said some military veterans could be susceptible to extremist recruiters or commit lone acts of violence.
From CNN:
"The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today," the report said.
We await your admittance that you get your facts from DKos.
~*takes deep breath, holds it*
April 27, 2009 - 14:34 ET by choselife3xThat high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
oh sorry chose
April 27, 2009 - 14:56 ET by candance*provides a rescue device in case chose passes out in waiting*
can & chose
April 27, 2009 - 15:48 ET by MrShyIn the one-time words (revised a bit) of Blonde:
We need a better class of troll.... all up in this joint. (TM)
You're the next contestant on...
THE MESSIAH IS... LEFT !!
~Don't worry, can
April 27, 2009 - 15:50 ET by choselife3xShy gave me mouth to mouth just in time. Now how do I get him to stop?
That high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
chose
April 27, 2009 - 15:53 ET by MrShyJust tell him you want control of him.
You're the next contestant on...
THE MESSIAH IS... LEFT !!
~Ah, there you have it
April 27, 2009 - 15:57 ET by choselife3xMr. Shy, I'm looking for a committed, long-term rela....jeez, lookit that feller run....
That high-pitched scream you hear is the troll under my heel.
Stop the mouth to mouth? This ought to do it...
April 27, 2009 - 21:05 ET by JerAsk him to sing for you.
Jer
rags to rags
April 27, 2009 - 15:42 ET by MrShyIt's FOX News, you thoroughly unoriginal, walking/talking point of a liberal moonbat, you.
You're the next contestant on...
THE MESSIAH IS... LEFT !!
grassy knoll troll.
April 27, 2009 - 20:58 ET by JWFI am thinking I need to collect the greatest sayings of the grassy knoll troll in an internal affairs forum. He is exhibiting the classic signs - faux news, antagonism to the contributors and commentors, unwillingness to concede a point and this weirdness here.
Nowhere does the report say they would join."
Um, can someone ask the idiot the entire point of the report then?
See the logic folks? Come on! Ragamuffin does!
The DHS put out a report that ragamuffin is disgruntled, disallusioned and suffering from the psychological effects of flame wars on NewsBusters. And the Mental Ward is trying to get him to voluntarily sign himself in for psychiatric treatment.
But he won't sign.
So really, the DHS report is not a slur on him at all now is it because he won't sign.
Sincerely,
a Veteran of a 1000 psychic wars.
Rag: "This is a lie" NO Rag, it is not and we have cited proof.
April 26, 2009 - 12:43 ET by pahuberYou mean you WISH it were a LIE.
LOL-Wow, Rag, you really don't get out much, do you?
April 26, 2009 - 13:03 ET by R D Helm-Dave
This coup has gone on long enough. The time to put it down is NOW.
The Rag Man is also now
April 26, 2009 - 14:11 ET by NewsbusterbrownThe Rag Man is also now AWOL since he has been shown to be an ignoramus.
“There are no easy answers' but there are simple answers. We must have the courage to do what we know is morally right.” - Ronald Reagan (1964 Republican Convention)
Nope, still here. . .
April 26, 2009 - 22:35 ET by RagamuffinAnd still waiting to be shown where she "associate[d] mainstream conservatives and veterans with the fringiest of racist and neo-Nazi kooks"
just when you think they can't possibly get any more stupid
April 26, 2009 - 14:30 ET by SickofLibsThe apex of dumbassosity.
This is not a lie.
The apex of
April 26, 2009 - 22:38 ET by RagamuffinThe apex of dumbassosity.
I thought it would be impossible to be more vapid than a NewsBusters post, but apparently it is.
Rag
April 27, 2009 - 16:41 ET by NorthCoasterYou're out of your league. Time to go back and hide under your bridge.
Skilled at pushing an agenda
April 27, 2009 - 07:05 ET by Blogger Guy00001The writers in the mainstream news media are very skilled at promoting their leftist view of the world.
All the leftists in the world know that the violent protesters are fellow leftists. The articles were written for the mental mush public, which doesn't know left from right, or much of anything else, so that the public wouldn't realize that the protesters are violent leftist maniacs out to destabilize the civil order.
accentuate the positive
April 27, 2009 - 12:59 ET by katainkentdisassociate from the negative. Par for the course.
I love to help the helpless but I'm not gonna help the clueless ~Dennis Miller
It is no use
April 27, 2009 - 15:20 ET by ahusserTo point out the truth to the deluded, malelovent, snarky troll population. Ragamuffin and most trolldom et ilk will not be swayed by any argument because their mission, which was accomplished, is to disrupt and dominate any blog they are on. As the adage says (and very very difficult to do) ignore and do not feed them. There are others of the liberal persuasion that can be debated with on these blogs but Ragamuffin is not one of them.
"Somehow, I told you so, just doesn't quite say it." Will Smith in 'I, Robot.'
well ahusser
April 27, 2009 - 15:29 ET by candanceI normally agree with you and normally do not engage in useless fights with trolls. But when someone posts things that are blatant lies, it behooves us to expose the truth.
there it is!
April 27, 2009 - 15:36 ET by katainkentthe tagline I love so much.
Trolls are not to be 'reasoned with'. Even when pummeled with factual information. There are scads of sub-threads that end unanswered simply because they could not refute it. That's why its best not to hold your breath ;) Those are amusing. And then there are threads that go on for pages being drawn further and further off-point. Those are annoying.
It's what they do. It's why they're here. Some are amusing and some are annoying. Most though, are non-entities. Drive-bys.
I love to help the helpless but I'm not gonna help the clueless ~Dennis Miller
Yep. It does get
April 27, 2009 - 15:43 ET by bigtimerYep.
It does get old.
Doubling down on stupid is not a particularly good idea. ~Andrew Breitbart