Saturday, March 17, 2007

HuffPost: Using An Outright Lie To Foment Hate

I guess the folks behind The HuffingtonPost haven't had quite enough of being exposed, discredited and humiliated with indisputable facts regarding their actions lately, and those of the loonbatted visitors to their site (Particularly, by me - here, here and elsewhere throughout JQWorld)

Yet here we go again --- with one of the most blatant solicitations of hatred from their "commenters" based on a deliberately, demonstrably false headline, that I've seen there yet (and I've seen a LOT there).

Regardless of your views on John McCain
(mine are disclosed at the end), assuming you care about the truth, take a look at this screaming headline:



Do Condoms Help Stop Spread Of HIV? McCain: "You've Stumped Me"


Wow. So according to the HuffPost, Senator John McCain doesn't know if condoms help stop the spread of HIV? Well gee, if that's true, then of course, it'd be pretty shocking --- especially matched with that picture.

One little problem: It's a LIE --- and the HuffPost headline writers could not have avoided knowing that it's a lie.

Here
is the article that the story (NYTimes blog) cites, and below is the "money quote" --- as cited in the HuffPost thread:


Q: "So no contraception, no counseling on contraception. Just abstinence. Do you think contraceptives help stop the spread of HIV?"

Mr. McCain:
(Long pause) "You've stumped me."

Newsflash, HuffPost headline writers and commenters: McCain was NOT asked whether condoms help stop the spread of HIV. He was asked whether "contraceptives" do.

And here's yet another inconvenient truth for ya to chew on: most "contraceptives" DO NOT help stop the spread of HIV.


Contraceptives include any of a number of things --- including birth-control pills, spermicidal foams and jellies, IUDs, etc., NONE OF WHICH do ANYTHING to help stop the spread of HIV.

Condoms, which DO help to stop the spread of HIV, are also contraceptives, but that is NOT the question that was asked of McCain.

And if the HuffPost users who were so quick to condemn McCain over what he was accused of saying --- but which he did not --- would have the mental capacity to comprehend the "Quick Read" feature that HuffPost provides, (below), which contained the exact excerpt litsed above (which is also placed at the top of the thread itself), they would have realized that once again, HuffPost headline writers were deliberately misleading them.


Apparently, we can add reading comprehension to the list of the many defects that afflict the seething, rabid "new left," whose constituent members are so quick to condemn anyone, based on false, manipulated information, and which claims it has now "bought, paid for and owns" the DNC (here).

And to facilitate the rapid, easy spread of this propaganda, users are encouraged to just click on the area at lower left where it says "Spread The News!" (in the screen above), and you can instantly email this outright lie to as many folks as you want, via the screen below:

Marx, Goebbels and Mao would be SO proud... (sniff!): Ultra-speedy propagation of lies!

So, by denying what was asked, then manipulating McCain's answer, it fit the HuffPost headline writers' agenda: to skewer and discredit McCain by any means necessary, including a deliberate, outright falsehood
, which they knew --- or could reasonably anticipate, based on previous experience --- would incite hatred, hysteria and more among their "peaceful, tolerant, inclusive, diverse" body of whacked-out users.

And surprise, surprise, surprise, that was exactly the result of this latest example of misleading/false headlines at HuffPost. Here is but a sampling of comments from the "new left" --- the brigade of seething, hate-filled, America-bashing zombies --- that has taken over the DNC. Keep in mind this is just a sampling; to see the rest, go directly to
the thread:
Run McCain out of town on that stump!Jerk!What poor excuse of a politician and to think this fool thinks he's qualified to be President!!We're currently suffering threw 6 years of this BS I don't think we need another president who's so out of touch with the general population of the United States never mind the rest of the world.McCain you're a clown!**
By: chartoo on March 16, 2007 at 08:07pm

My oh my; how can there be so many damn stupid people in congress. What a complete ass this guy makes of himself.Peace to you and the world.
By: paixa3 on March 16, 2007 at 09:02pm

He's got to be dumber about HIV/AIDS even than Reagan was. That takes some doing.
By: OhioBob on March 16, 2007 at 09:03pm

Does McCain seriously think we would consider him a "serious" candidate after this?First, CFR, then illegal immigration, now condoms...what planet is John on?Do we need age limits on candidates?
By: blurredtruth on March 16, 2007 at 09:06pm

Well, that solves that: McCain is officially a moron. There are teenagers who know that condoms stop the spread of HIV. For McCain to be so uninformed -- or unwilling to give a real opinion so as not to piss off the Bible belters -- is inexcusable.
By: massive on March 16, 2007 at 09:08pm

How could that be? We've known about HIV/AIDS for years, its mechanism has been decoded and we even have vaccines. Little schoolkids know what AIDS is. What's not to know about it?Oh, right. McCain is a Republican. Nevermind.
By: grainger5 on March 16, 2007 at 09:15pm

How many years in Congress? How many briefings? Has he ever read a newspaper? Of course he is pandering to the religious right, but he is also playing with the lives of his constituents. He is unfit to serve.
By: sissymonster on March 16, 2007 at 09:15pm

This article was painful to read. The man is losing his mind. His wife and advisors really need to set him down and tell him that he's got no chance to be nominated. Get him off the road and out of the race.They can save him alot of embarrassment.
By: deeintexas on March 16, 2007 at 09:19pm

OK, so Mr. Straight-Talk Express can't give a straight answer. Lame.What's wrong, John? Not allowed to have your own opinion? Pitiful.Do you *really* need to go talk to your handlers before having a mind of your own? Pathetic.
By: CapedCrusader on March 16, 2007 at 09:25pm

LOFL"you've stumped me"What a coincidence ... that's what the pedophilia lovin republicans say every time they swap positions with the local GOP children! The GOP ... way out of their closet ... and well into yours!
By: CarlVVV on March 16, 2007 at 09:34pm

This is really not funny. The guy is a typical far right dipshit. Dangerous people.Man, this takes the cake. This will look VERY bad for us if the world sees that we put yet another idiot in charge. Think about it. Stupid enough to keep Bush in office two terms and now, another one? Don't do it BJ. Even if it means you having to vote for Hillary....... haha/hohowhat next?
By: ExRepublican on March 16, 2007 at 09:40pm

Perhaps it's dementia, perhaps he thinks it doesn't affect him so, why bother knowing. Whatever the case, MCCAIN is a LOSER. He DOES NOT represent his state and does not deserve to be commander in chief.
By: queeraz on March 16, 2007 at 10:07pm

If he wasn't a typical lying Republican who supports torture and an illegal war, I'd feel sorry for him because clearly he is becoming senile. He should know about condoms as all military guys were issued condoms to prevent VD during Vietnam.
By: FoolsontheHill on March 16, 2007 at 10:11pm

The h*ll with being president! Why is McCain still allowed to vote?
By: Michael7843853 on March 16, 2007 at 10:17pm

This comment by McCain is so unresponsible words fail to describe....I'm sick of the Republix party's attempt to muddy the waters of science to the point of risking and taking the lives of others. It's just effing infuriating. How the hell can anyone take someone like that seriously? Thankfully he's jumped the shark... no way this guy's gonna be the nominee.
By: Clevelandchick on March 16, 2007 at 10:34pm

Cool. Then bend over, John, and let me plow a load into you bareback.A few months later you'll be wishing you were pro-condom, Bitch.
By: leoninearies on March 16, 2007 at 10:40pm

Oh come on McCain! Have you lost your fucking mind? You insult us with your answer, which is,"I can't answer that because I have to check to see wht my handlers tell me my position on this is." Is that the kind of president you would be? At least Bush can tell you what he thinks, even if it doesn't jive with 2/3 of the country. You are a disgrace, sir! Don't come out on your bullshit express bus and expect us to take you seriously with comments like that. What do you take us for? Damn man, have you just lost you mind, or what?
By: whereisJesus on March 16, 2007 at 10:45pm

When I was young I really thought that in order to run and hold office you had to be really, really smart. Damn was I a fool! McCain doesn't know about basic sex, Bush can't open his mouth without someone telling him what lie to tell. If he speaks extemporaneously(say that if you can shrub) he can't even put a simple sentence together. If an alien race comes here after we've made ourselves extinct, I don't think they are going to find as as being very bright.
By: TheHandyman on March 16, 2007 at 11:04pm

Sorry to spring that NEW HIV/AIDS subject on ya grandpa.MOTHERF*CKER! how many years have we been educating people about HIV?oh Yeah, 25 years, and how many of those G*D DAMN years have you been a Senator..oh yeah ALL OF THEM!
By: underbear1 on March 17, 2007 at 12:01am

Why do all these Republicans need someone to lead them by the hand,is it possible the shrub is the smart one?
All the testimony from these old farts sounds like a geriatric Altzeimer daycare center.These are the people running our country,sending our boys to die,starting wars.............
By: bushmocker on March 17, 2007 at 12:16am

Did he really go from being his own man to being a fucking jerk?
By: JoeO on March 17, 2007 at 01:13am


Some commenters asked why McCain is still allowed to vote in the Senate.

I would argue that it's folks like these commenters who are FAR less qualified to vote if they cannot comprehend two simple sentences, provided up-front by HuffPost, that expose the lie that this headline represents. Oops, I forgot... these are the "enlightened, caring, sharing, loving, peaceful, tolerant and inclusive" among our society. Yeah.

Oh, and a note to the HuffPost techies:
It doesn't matter if you surgially scrub this thread of all these comments, or remove the thread altogether; I've saved the entire thing to a PDF to prove that it existed --- which I neglected to do re the infamous "Cheney Thread."


DISCLOSURE: MY OWN VIEW ON JOHN McCAIN:

As a conservative libertarian, I cannot support McCain for president.

Although I enormously respect his service in our military, and the character which enabled him to endure and move beyond the horrendous abuse he suffered for years at the hands of his captors, I beleive he has gone way off the rails of the libertarian foundation upon which America was built, and our Constitution is constructed.

Most notably, I contend the McCain-Feingold campaign finance "reform" bill was among the most blatant, naked assaults on freedom of speech in recent history, and his endless compromises with leftists in the Senate is getting to the point of being intolerable.

Sen. McCain does speak forcefully and with principle when he discusses the war that jihadist lunatics have declared on America, and his statements on free markets and economic liberty are in line with my own. I admire his tireless efforts to expose and combat pork-barrel spending, for which he's gotten no shortage of criticism from both Democratic and Republican colleagues and vested interests. That takes real courage.

But if his views on something as fundamental as free speech are based on so shallow an interpretation of individual liberty, of the right to support candidates of your choice with financial contributions up to and including the waning days of an election cycle, then his entire outlook must be suspect to criticism.

To disagree with Sen. McCain on what he actually says and does is one thing. It's called "principled dissent," which is apparently something that is all but totally lost on the loonbatted, hate-riddled "new left" in America.

But to deliberately manufacture falsehoods about him, then incite hateful, insane comments from a group of folks who have a demonstrated propensity for such lunacy, is completely irresponsible. Especially for someone like Arianna Huffington and her editors, who charge advertisers a small fortune to place their ads on this "heavily-visited" blogsite, and who claim to represent the "enlightened," moral segment of American society.

John McCain has earned the right to a high level of respect and dignity, for all the service he has rendered to America, despite how much some of us may disagree with some of his policies.

John McCain is entitled to a retraction and apology for HuffPost, immediately ---- and to facilitate this, even though I am not a fan of his, I will be emailing this blogthread to him.




Original content is © Copyright 2007 by Jon Quixote. Email to: jonquix@hotmail.com




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4 comments:

Lavender Pitt said...

Good morning Jon- hope you had a productive evening hunched over your keyboard last night. I was at the season opener for TRD's fourth season- and I have my first game next month! Loved the piece on Plame- even if we disagree fuindamentally on the serious issue, that doesn't prevent you from being a funny funny bastard.

(if she says she was covert in a Senate hearing, she probably has the chops to back it up , dear.)

BUT ANYWAY... the Huffpoo headline:

So what?

Fox News did exactly the same thing:

http://i96.photobucket.com/albums/l161/senchirai/415761712_28caa6b5cf.jpg

Again, another pair of examples that prove my basic position. Left right, or up the ole wazoo, it is the responsibility of the savvy media consumer to judge all the wingnuttery and loonbattery for what it is, cut through the chaff, and make up one's own mind as to where one stands on the issue.

Here, we come together from different positions. You have your reasons for disliking McCain, and I have mine; I bet most of them are different, and get us to the same place- voting for someone else.

As an unrelated sidebar, I find I've cooled on commenting on Huffpoo recently- the Cheney thread and the Huffpoo reaction kinda made me sick. I'd have rather the thread stayed. No-one was threatening the man, (really, they weren't! I was on that thread that day!) but dissatisfaction caused the hyperbole to roil out of control.

If everyone would stop navel-gaving via the mdeia long enough, we might be able to focus on getting something done in this country (The rain of subpoenas to clean Federal House are only a good start. It's like taking out the trash and spring cleaning before restoring a family home that you love). Once we do that maybe we can, I dunno, rebuild the highways and bridges? Work on funding the schools so that everyone can at least read and cypher? Stuff like that.

Just a thought.

JonQuixote said...

G'day Darwinita!

Um, no, wasn't hunched over anything last night... but that's ok, just one more notion about me you have to dispel. Re TRD, it sounds like fun, but as I have no idea what it is, it could be the Tucson Regional Dominatrixes, or something else... ;)

Re HuffPo, FNC, puhLEEEZEEE...

If you check the record, I'd bet you that conveniently selected frame was either:
(1) immediately preceded by others saying that Libby was found guilty of 4 of the allegations, or
(2) a typo that they acknowledged within 60 seconds, and which Hume's words were already contradicting.

Do you really think these are the same things? Every credible, semi-credible, uncrediable, discredited and mental hospital news source reported that Libby was guilty on 4 of the 5, but differed as to the reasons.

HuffPo deliberately lied and twisted the question, put it all into a screaming headline, in order to make McCain look like an idiot. You may not like him, I may not be able to support him for prez, but the man deserves better than this.

And besides, I thought the enlightened left were supposed to be above this sort of thing?!

Anyway.... that's my rant for a Sunday morning.

But as you can see, re the Plame thread, I do have a (wicked) sense of humor, and I found this entire stupid episode - with the transsexual in pink over her right shoulder to boot (now we know why JamesR hasn't been online!) - to be riotously funny.

I've said for ages, if BushCo are such evil geniuses, what would they get out of "outing" Val? Nothing - there is only a downside. They could pull a Clinton and sick the IRS on Lyin Joe's ass, or they could just focus their efforts on writing and delivering a blockbuster rebuttal to what he said, exposing the lies, manipulations, etc. There was nothing to gain by "outing" Plame, only things to lose - and as we found out 4 years later, Armitage is the one who went to his superiors, and DoJ, to explain that he was the leaker, the inadvetent one. And yet, Fitzgerald knows this and pursues it for 3+ yrs, when there was NO crime.

So it was a circus from start to finish.

At least in MonicaGate, we had proof that Bubba had suborned perjury, obstructed justice, and befouled a blue dress and the Oval Office curtains. ;) There actually were crimes.

So THERE. :)

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Lavender Pitt said...

if BushCo are such evil geniuses, what would they get out of "outing" Val? Nothing - there is only a downside.


but evil always holds the seeds of its own destruction! My guess is if they were shortsighted enough to think that Americans wouldn't notice they'd sold our country to Halliburton, they figured they could get away with anything. Until we had a Democratic Congress, they were right. Keep in mind they've only had 3 months to start unravelling the knitted sleeve of care that the Repubican Congress wove while sleeping throught the six years of Bushco's rampant disregard of anything but their own interests.

As for huffpoo/fnc, yes. I think they're equally as bad as each other. Hannity is a kneejerk Nazi in my view, and is as inflammatory as any headline Arianna's hacks come up with. The word you're looking for is "hyperbole"


I loved that trannie. SHe reminded me of this trannie that goes to the skating rink I patronize on THursdays.


TRD= Tucson Roller Derby Check it out!
http://www.tucsonrollerderby.com

later baby!

JonQuixote said...

Hi Darwinita:

Your description of the 'outing' of Valerie Plame is incredulous. No one 'outed' Plame as revenge for Lyin' Joe Wilson. Apparently the fact that she worked at the CIA on WMD was no big secret - and Armitage 'leaked' it.

There is no way that this was a deliberate attempt, that could only backfire; unlike Watergate, where the issue was to stop leaks, get an inside view on the DNC and its shenanigans, etc., there was an upside. Here, there wasn't.

Re Hannity being a "Nazi," gee - has he been murdering little kids cuz of their faith or ethnicity? Gassing hundreds of thousands? Rolling over under-militarized neighbors?

Arianna and her minions are propagandists, spinmasters, liars and deceivers. If you want to lump Hannity in with that description, fine - but also, please provide some backup. You may disagree with his views, but in general he comments on issues of the day - he doesn't "break" issues, as Arianna claims so often to do, and then, it's found that it is a total or partial fabrication.

Re roller derby, hey, I'll check it out. But re the transvestite at the Plame hearing, being that I am super-banned from HuffPost, please tell JamesR that I thought he looked... divine. Question is, does MCMentalCase know that his bee-yotch was out parading before the cameras in his pink t-shirt? 'Specially when he promised to clean up the trailer last Friday, so MCM doesn't kick him out again.

;) Heh, had to throw that last bit in.