Skip to main content

Spencer Bachus

Peter Schweizer on Congressional Insider Trading and Why Media Have Mostly Ignored It

By Noel Sheppard | December 06, 2011 | 01:15

 A  A

Last month, NewsBusters reported 60 Minutes cherry-picking Peter Schweizer's book about Congressional insider trading to make it appear the problem was largely a Republican one.

Schweizer did a phone interview with NewsBusters last week to discuss this matter in greater detail including how with the exception of Fox News, despite this being a bipartisan issue, the media have largely ignored it to protect liberal politicians they revere (video follows with transcript):

Huffington Post So Eager to Support Pelosi They'll Even Defend Boehner

By Noel Sheppard | November 14, 2011 | 12:46

 A  A

To give you an idea of the lengths the Huffington Post will go to defend liberal politicians those involved in the website revere, a front page piece on Monday took the side of House Speaker John Boehner (R-Oh.) in order to give cover to House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Inside the front page headline story "60 Misses: CBS Gets It Wrong On Boehner, Pelosi Stock Trading," HuffPo reporter Ryan Grim went where seemingly no HuffPo reporter has gone before:

Media Irked by Congressman’s 'Socialist' Label; Ignores Double Standard

By Jeff Poor | April 10, 2009 | 14:13

 A  A

You could almost hear "How dare he!" being uttered by the left-wing establishment when Politico reported April 9 that a Republican congressman identified a specific number of "socialists" in the U.S. House of Representatives.

In a speech he gave at his home district, Rep. Spencer Bachus, R-Ala., the ranking Republican, Rep. Barney Frank's (D-Mass.) counterpart, on the House Banking Committee, said there were 17 socialists among him and his colleagues in the House.

Some in the media were also disturbed by Bachus' remarks and expressed dismay on MSNBC April 10. Emily Heil, a frequent guest on MSNBC and "Heard on the Hill" columnist for Roll Call, expressed her shock that Bachus would use "socialist" for a description of some members of Congress. MSNBC's Peter Alexander asked Heil what sort of backlash Bachus might face.

"Sure, well I think people are going to be pressing him on this and I think it was really a surprising thing to say - to say something that sort of inflammatory with that level of specificity, with providing an actual number," Heil said.