Give John Nolte a gold star. In a Friday post at BigJournalism.com entitled "Panicked AP Attempts to Memory-Hole Democrats’ #Occupy Endorsements," Nolte latched onto the beginnings of the establishment press's desperate attempt to distance President Obama and the Democratic Party from the rapidly devolving Occupy movement.
The disingenously headlined item Nolte caught, apparently from an earlier report ("Democrats see minefield in Occupy protests") appeared via Beth Fouhy on Thursday at the Associated Press, which yours truly has often taken to naming the Administration's Press. Later, as seen here, a revised version came in with this howler of a headline: "Wary Democrats keep distance from Occupy protests," while the calculated attempt to create separation in the article's text got even worse. First, excerpts from Nolte's post (bolds are mine; links were in original):
Occupy Wall Street’s imploding, Obama and the Democrats own the chaos, and now the AP is panicking.
... Two months ago, the White House, Democrats, and the MSM were all sure that the #OccupyWallStreet movement would save them in 2012. With thousands of astro-turfed morons in the streets raging against Wall Street, Obama’s allies hoped to use said morons to create a silver lining in the economic cloud he himself created.
... the idea was to create Occupy in order to give the MSM the cover they desired to spend every single day up until the election talking about greed and income inequality in order to blame both for the stagnant economy.
The hope was that by repeating this message incessantly, enough voters could be convinced that Wall Street, and by extension, evil Republicans, were to blame for our chronic unemployment, record deficits, and stillborn economic growth. President Obama who?
Fortunately for America, this plan has not only failed miserably it has backfired completely. Thanks to the rise of New Media and our unwillingness to let the MSM’s lies, bias, and cover ups stand for even one more day, Occupy is in its death throes and might take the President and Democratic party down with it. First and foremost, we uncovered the lie that Occupy was grassroots and then we exposed every Occupy rape, poop, death, overdoese, old woman thrown down the stairs, attack on a police officer, and public act of masturbation. In the process, public opinion turned against the Occupiers and as a result these Leftists have started doing what the Left always does when they lose, have a tantrum.
But like I said, the Left and their media allies didn’t expect New Media to own this story and to use the truth to drive the narrative out of their control. And we know they didn’t expect to lose this one because almost every prominent Democrat in America very publicly jumped aboard the Occupy movement with the expectation that their allies in the MSM could control the outcome.
So what’s a shameless left-wing media to do?
What they always do. Rewrite history.
And it looks as thought the Associated Press has decided to start the memory-holing ...
Here are the first three paragraphs of Beth Fouhy's memory-holing spotted by Nolte:
Democrats see minefield in Occupy protests
The Republican Party and the tea party seemed to be a natural political pairing. But what may have seemed like another politically beneficial alliance — Democrats and Occupy Wall Street — hasn't happened.
Although both Democrats and the Occupy protesters have similar views on economic inequality and corporate responsibility, each holds the other at arm's length. There's little benefit to Democrats in opening their arms wide to a scruffy group that has erupted in violence, defied police and shown evidence of drug use while camping in public parks across the country — much as the prospect of such a pairing delights Republicans.
Many protesters, in turn, are contemptuous of Democrats, arguing that both political parties are equally beholden to corporate interests and responsible for enacting policies that have hurt the middle class.
That's all complete horse manure, Beth, and in at least one instance Nolte found (I'm sure there are so many more, especially at the local and regional level) your wire service and your reporters know it:
- As Nolte pointed out with the help of a Drudge graphic ("Obama: 'We Are On Their Side") and links to stories showing House Democrats (Oct. 10, via AP), top Democrats (Oct. 5), Nancy Pelosi (Oct. 9), President Obama (Oct. 18), and the SEIU (Nov. 15), an alliance has already happened, and as far as I or anyone else can tell it hasn't been formally severed (until that happens formally and publicly, that alliance will remain in force).
- As noted, they aren't holding each other at arm's length. If this were a conservative movement run amok after expressions of Republican and conservative support, reporters would be hounding every politician who originally jumped on board demanding to know where they stand now that things have gone awry. But we're not seeing any of that from the press, are we? Imagine that. Maybe (not maybe, actually) it's because the press's own union, the Newspaper Guild, has so obviously thrown in with the Occupiers, and now journalists are scrambling to dig two groups' keisters (their own as well as Democrats') out of very big holes.
- Funny, Beth, your wire service did almost everything it could for about two months until your item came along to avoid describing the Occupy protesters as scruffy, violent, defiant of police, or drug users. Now I'm supposed to believe that they're the rabble with whom the Democratic Party has never associated? As I said above, horse manure.
- Finally, I note that the Occupiers didn't have much of a problem accepting money and help from the very government unions (and certain unions in the private sector) -- all of which are joined at the hip with the Democratic Party. So at ease with the so-called wariness, will you?
As I noted earlier, the dissembling got even worse in the early paragraphs of Fouhy's revised report:
Wary Democrats keep distance from Occupy protests
The arrests and occasional violence marking Occupy Wall Street's two month anniversary underscore Democrats' strategy of keeping their distance from the protest movement.
Democrats and Occupy Wall Street share similar concerns about economic inequality. But while the Republican Party and the tea party were a natural political pairing, Democrats have been reluctant to cast their lot with Occupy agitators who confront police and squat in public encampments.
Geez, it just keeps getting deeper doesn't it? It's more baloney from Beth:
- Democrats' have never had a "strategy" of keeping their distance, because they never have kept their distance.
- Democrats cast their lot with Occupy agitators two months ago, and have never let go.
Fouhy and the rest of AP want readers to believe that Democrats and the Occupiers have had almost nothing to do with each other. Sorry, Beth: The historical record is what the historical record is, and you no longer have sole ownership of what it will be.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
