‘Either You Did It on Purpose or…’

 

Ann Althouse is writing this morning about the media reaction to the Barr statement on the Mueller report. She quotes the WaPo:

“Russiagate” has been a news media obsession since Trump’s victory in November 2016…. The cable news networks, particularly CNN and MSNBC, have added hundreds of hours of discussion about the topic, too. The story undoubtedly was an important factor in shaping voters’ perceptions before the 2018 midterm election, in which Democrats won control of the House. But the conclusion of the inquiry has put a question once hazily debated into sharp focus: Did the mainstream news media mislead?..

Ann then answers that question perfectly herself:

I call fake news on the assertion that the question is just coming into focus! The question has been there all along, but the Trump-resistance media has deliberately blurred it and actively diverted us from it. I don’t even want to spend my time watching this phony hand-wringing over what went wrong. Either you did it on purpose or you’re so insane and incompetent that you’re not worth reading at all.

As I have said, this is a big moment and people like me are watching. Can formerly respectable people salvage their reputations and careers? Unlikely, but there’s a slim chance.

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  1. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    Tar? Check.

    Feathers? Check.

    Mob?

    I’ve got the pitchforks. Just tell me where the drop is. Use the secret (Russian?) back-channel.

    • #31
  2. The Reticulator Member
    The Reticulator
    @TheReticulator

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    Tar? Check.

    Feathers? Check.

    Mob?

    I’ve got the pitchforks. Just tell me where the drop is. Use the secret (Russian?) back-channel.

    I have a 5-tine manure fork.  Is that close enough? 

    • #32
  3. Western Chauvinist Member
    Western Chauvinist
    @WesternChauvinist

    The Reticulator (View Comment):

    Western Chauvinist (View Comment):

    Sisyphus (View Comment):

    Tar? Check.

    Feathers? Check.

    Mob?

    I’ve got the pitchforks. Just tell me where the drop is. Use the secret (Russian?) back-channel.

    I have a 5-tine manure fork. Is that close enough?

    Even better! Especially if there’s still manure on it!

    • #33
  4. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I’d like to express a contrary opinion. I agree with Charlie Sykes who quotes David Frum as follows:

    “It’s not a theory but a matter of historical record that Vladimir Putin’s Russia hacked American emails and used them to help elect Trump to the presidency.

    “It’s not a theory but a matter of historical record that agents purporting to represent Putin’s Russia approached the Trump campaign to ask whether help would be welcome, to which Donald Trump Jr. replied, ‘If it’s what you say I love it…’

    “It’s not a theory but a matter of historical record that Donald Trump publicly welcomed this help: ‘I love WikiLeaks!’”

    https://thebulwark.com/no-collusion-no-exoneration/

    Well now, if you are going to bring Wikileaks into this matter then you should pay attention to what Wikileaks’ founder Julian Assange has been stating about the Hillary email situation since almost Day One:

    One: the material delivered to Wiki was not from an outside  hacked event but from  a downloadable, on site  event. Forensic computer examinations has proved as much.

    Two: how interesting is it that the various illegal and semi legal activities of HRC revealed by the Wiki exposure were not denied or  defended by HRC or the DNC, but rather the attack was mounted by politicized DOJ and FBI agents such that somehow, HRC’s pay to play that brought us into the long lasting Syrian conflict has gone unpunished, while Donald Trump was made the victim of the Mueller  investigation?

    Three: although no one has gotten Assange to admit out loud that it was Seth Rich who did the on site download available to him while he was a staffer for the DNC, Assange has implied that it was indeed Rich. (In early July 2016, Rich was murdered in a suspicious and much covered up event, in which the many surveillance cameras there on the streets where the supposed botched robbery occurred somehow failed to be operating, and the chief of Washington DC police has deep ties to the DNC org.)

    • #34
  5. CarolJoy, Above Top Secret Coolidge
    CarolJoy, Above Top Secret
    @CarolJoy

    Gumby Mark (R-Meth Lab of Demo… (View Comment):

    Gary Robbins (View Comment):

    I’d like to express a contrary opinion. I agree with Charlie Sykes who quotes David Frum as follows:

    “It’s not a theory but a matter of historical record that Vladimir Putin’s Russia hacked American emails and used them to help elect Trump to the presidency.

    Actually this is Fake News. It is not a matter of historical record. Mueller made allegations but knows that they will never be tested at trial. Nor is it a matter of historical record that the hack helped elect Trump to the Presidency. Anyway, I understood it was Comey’s reopening the Hillary investigation that cost her the election. Never Trumpers need to keep their stories straight!

    “It’s not a theory but a matter of historical record that agents purporting to represent Putin’s Russia approached the Trump campaign to ask whether help would be welcome, to which Donald Trump Jr. replied, ‘If it’s what you say I love it…’

    Even if accurate, so what? The historical record shows that in the meeting referenced, at the Trump Tower, no such help was forthcoming. The record also shows that the Russian approaching Trump Jr with the offer was working with Fusion GPS, which had been hired by the Clinton Campaign, meeting with the its head before and after the Trump Tower meeting. The record also shows that the Clinton Campaign, through Fusion GPS and other cut-outs actually communicated directly with Russian intelligence sources and used information from them in an attempt to influence the election. There is no such record regarding the Trump campaign.

    “It’s not a theory but a matter of historical record that Donald Trump publicly welcomed this help: ‘I love WikiLeaks!’”

    Again, so what? If he was collaborating with the Russians, why was Roger Stone having to make contact with Wikileaks to see if they had the emails? That’s not my theory – that Mueller’s theory in his charge against Stone!

    David Frum is pathetic. And like so many other Never Trumpers does not give a damn about what has been shown to be a deliberate distortion of the legal process and corruption of the intelligence community to overturn the results of a presidential election. Their deliberate avoidance of this topic is proof they are acting in bad faith. If only Trump had promised to give Kristol and Frum the wars they so desperately want they would be onboard 100% with him, no matter what other flaws he has.

    It should also be noted that the Never Trumpers like Kristol and Frum also despise Trump for upsetting the Trade Agreement apple cart they relied on.

    • #35
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