After  previously highlighting comments on progressive  blogs, will
 
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 22:23:04 -0500

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<p><b>After  previously highlighting comments on progressive	blogs, will media
cover hateful comments on Free Republic about NH  hostage situation? </b></p>
<p><a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200712010003?src=item200712010003">http://mediamatters.org/items/200712010003</a></p>

<p><i>Media 
Matters for America</i> has previously 
documented several media figures who have highlighted controversial comments on 
progressive websites. <i>Media Matters</i> asks: Will the media report 
that while discussing <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200712010003&to=http%3A%2F%2Fthecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com%2F2007%2F11%2F30%2Fhostage-situation-at-clinton-office-in-nh%2Findex.html%3Fhp" title="http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/11/30/hostage-situation-at-clinton-office-in-nh/index.html?hp">breaking news</a> of hostages being taken at 
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton&#39;s (D-NY) presidential campaign office in Rochester, New Hampshire, 
numerous commenters on the right-wing website Free Republic posted hateful comments about the 
situation? </p>

<p>Examples of Free Republic <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200712010003&to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.freerepublic.com%2Ffocus%2Ff-news%2F1932902%2Fposts" title="http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1932902/posts">comments</a> on the situation 
include:</p>

<ul><li>Poster 
"Snoopers-868th" wrote at 10:36:23 a.m. PT: "Just another diversion or to seek 
attention and sympathy."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-1.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="256" height="103" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster 
"Thompson/Hunter 2008!" wrote: "Probably a man masquerading as a pissed off 
Republican. Upon further investigation, it will be found out the person is 
really a Hillary plant, trying to make Republicans look 
bad."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-2.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="97" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster "azhenfud" 
wrote: "Obviously the bomb is an implant to distract attention now focused on 
the Kerr Kunundrum," presumably a reference to retired Brig. Gen. Keith 
Kerr.<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-3.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="125" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster "NautiNurse" 
wrote, "Attention seeking on an otherwise slow news 
day."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-4.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="327" height="81" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>"Retired Chemist" 
wrote: "Probably works for the 
Clinton 
campaign."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-5.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="357" height="110" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster 
"swain_forkbeard" wrote: "My first thoughts: it&#39;s staged, designed to draw 
attention in N.H. Maybe Hillary even has to rush there dramatically and resolve 
the situation. I doubt it&#39;s true, but there is her 
record."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-6.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="120" /><br /></li></ul><ul><li>Poster "xzins" stated: 
"I would never want anyone injured, and unfortunately, given the candidate, I 
would never discount the idea of a staged crisis."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-7.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="106" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster "billhilly" 
wrote: "Staged by the Clinton Campaign to grab 
headlines?"<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-8.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="306" height="106" /><br /></li></ul><ul><li>"RoseofTexas" wrote: 
"Staged? Hmmmm the timing is suspicious!"<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-9.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="286" height="77" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster "Labyrinthos" 
quoted a previous post stating "I wonder what nutjob they paid to pull this 
stunt.... like all the people who they get to hang nooses to make people think 
conservatives are radical haters" and wrote: "Given the Obama surge of late, the 
Clintoons probably hired an African American guy named Barbarack 
Obaman."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-10.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="106" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster "Leisler" 
wrote: "Anyone know where [former Vice President] Al Gore is? Is the guy wearing 
a hubcap size gold medal with the words &#39;Nobel Prize&#39; on 
it?"<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-11.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="83" /><br /></li></ul>



<ul><li>Poster "jveritas" 
wrote: "Someone in Hillary Clinton campaign spread the lie that this happened in 
her campaign office thinking that this will generate sympathy to the most 
unlikeable and meanest Presidential candidate in modern 
time."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-12.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="504" height="111" /><br /></li></ul><ul><li>Poster "rvoitier" 
wrote: "It&#39;s setup to get the sympathy vote. Ticks don&#39;t fart unless it&#39;s 
choreographed by clinton first."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-13.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="449" height="61" /><br /></li></ul><ul><li>"theDentist" 
wrote:<br /><br />Aide: "Senator, 
someone is holding hostages at your headquarters in Rochester, NH"<br />Hillary: "Where?"<br />Aide: "Rochester"<br />Hillary: "And 
I should give a sh** because...?"<br />(a couple seconds pas [sic])<br />Aide: "It 
may help soften your image for voters."<br />Hillary (annoyed): "Well then issue a 
statement, but stop wasting my 
time."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-14.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="146" /><br /></li></ul><ul><li>Poster "Got a right to Life?..Huh?" 
wrote: "Now that is a creative use of campaign funds. I wonder if they paid a 
homeless man to pose as a wacko conservative. It would have cost them a pint of 
courage and a roll of duct tape. They need to keep close tabs on this witness, 
least she slip away without a trace. Hillary canceled her comments 
today."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-15.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="103" /><br /> </li></ul>



<ul><li>"CaliGangsta" wrote: 
"Hope everything is 
alright. Hope this isn&#39;t a ploy 
by Hillary to get voter sympathy. She planted questioners at the debate, I 
wouldn&#39;t put it past her to plant a &#39;terrorist&#39;."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-16.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="107" /><br /></li></ul>

<ul style="margin-top: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">

<p>Poster "Beatthedrum" wrote: "You can 
bet your bottom dollar the MSM wants this guy to blow his brains out, as long as 
he doesn&#39;t hurt anyone else. Great dramatic ending, that would give the story 
more legs.. Also if there&#39;s anyway this guy can be tied to a Clinton campaign worker 
(maybe urging him on for the publicity), it will shut him up if he&#39;s dead. 
Probably when the dust settles, dead or alive, this will be some nutcase who saw 
this as his chance at fame."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-17.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="99" /><br /> </p></li></ul>



<ul style="margin-top: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">

<p>Poster "sulu" replied to a comment 
he quoted as "I wouldn&#39;t be surprised if some rabid Clinton supporter pushed 
some whack job to do this" by writing: "I think you&#39;re right. My friends and are 
at work are saying that if it&#39;s a plant, they most likely threatened him to 
release photos or some such, and promised him he&#39;d be okay. In real life, I 
think this guy will have to end up having his brains blown out. You watch. He 
won&#39;t be allowed to live. Mark my words. They couldn&#39;t leave him alive to talk. 
He will be dead soon."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-18.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="99" /><br /> </p></li></ul>



<ul style="margin-top: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">

<p>Poster "chemicalman" wrote: "I may 
be a little late at saying this, but don&#39;t want to look through 1500 posts to 
see if it&#39;s there. First the Hillary campaign plants questions...now they&#39;re 
planting bombs."<br /><img  src="http://mediamatters.org/static/images/item/freerepublic-20071130-19.jpg" border="0" alt=" " width="400" height="85" /></p></li></ul>

<p><i>Media 
Matters</i> has previously 
documented media figures highlighting controversial 
comments on progressive blogs. For 
instance:

</p><ul style="margin-top: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">

<p><i>Washington 
Post</i> media critic Howard Kurtz&#39;s 
March 1 <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200712010003&to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.washingtonpost.com%2Fwp-dyn%2Fcontent%2Fblog%2F2007%2F03%2F01%2FBL2007030100335_pf.html" title="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/blog/2007/03/01/BL2007030100335_pf.html">column</a> 
highlighted offensive comments posted on the 
Huffington Post blog "after a suicide bomber blew himself up at 
Afghanistan&#39;s Bagram Air Force Base, 
while [Vice President Dick] Cheney was there." Right-wing pundit 
Michelle Malkin had 
posted the comments on her website, and Kurtz reprinted a sample of the remarks 
in his column. Kurtz wrote: "I would 
agree that it&#39;s absurd to view these assassination fantasies as anything other 
than the rantings of the fringe, and that they shouldn&#39;t be used to tar an 
entire ideology. All I&#39;m saying is that it&#39;s really sad that some loons feel 
this way, and that the Internet culture, however briefly, gives them a 
megaphone." </p></li></ul>

<ul style="margin-top: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">

<p>On the June 29, 2006, edition of Fox 
News&#39; <i>Big Story</i>, host John Gibson 
<a href="http://mediamatters.org/items/200607010005?src=item200712010003" title="http://mediamatters.org/items/200607010005">discussed</a> a Supreme 
Court <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200712010003&to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.supremecourtus.gov%2Fopinions%2F05pdf%2F05-184.pdf" title="http://www.supremecourtus.gov/opinions/05pdf/05-184.pdf">decision</a> issued that morning that 
prohibited the use of military commissions for the trial of detainees at 
Guant&aacute;namo Bay, 
and cited reader 
comments posted to the Daily Kos blog which 
discussed the decision. Gibson stated: "One of the 
comments on the far-left Daily Kos, which is a blog, in which writers purported 
to analyze the Supreme Court decision -- fair and balanced, of course -- one 
writer actually said, per today&#39;s decision, the administration appears to have 
been engaged in war crimes which are subject to the death penalty. Wow! They&#39;re 
excited over there on the far left." </p></li></ul>

<ul style="margin-top: 0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="color: black">

<p>In an August 21 column, <i>Washington Times</i> columnist Nat Hentoff <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200712010003&to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.mediamatters.org%2Fitems%2F200608220001" title="http://www.mediamatters.org/items/200608220001">cited</a> an August 8 <i>Wall Street Journal</i> <a href="http://mediamatters.org/rd?src=item200712010003&to=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.opinionjournal.com%2Fextra%2F%3Fid%3D110008763" title="http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110008763">op-ed</a> by Lanny J. Davis, former special counsel to President Clinton, that 
quoted from comments by blog readers that Davis characterized as "extremis[t], 
bigot[ed] and intoleran[t]." Hentoff 
wrote: "Connecticut Sen. Joe Lieberman -- now an insistently independent Democrat -- was pilloried during his losing primary contest with Ned Lamont, not only for his stand on the Iraq war but also because he is a Jew. Being one myself for many years, I was not surprised by the centuries-old persistence of this hatred among several of the fiercely anti-Bush bloggers during the campaign."</p> </li></ul>


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