PolitiFarce Gets Recalled

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, part of the largest corporate media blocs in the state, is, oh so proud of their PolitiFact, even though it misses more than it hits.

But I don't know what good it does anyone, since it is so skewed so often.

Take for instance, the issue of how many recall signatures were turned in.

The recallers claimed that it was more than one million signatures.  The GAB said that the actual number was 931,042.  That would mean that the recallers were off by a 7%.  For this, PolitiFarce gave them a "false" rating.

And that's it.  They didn't check out any other single claim that was flying around out there regarding the recalls.

For if they had, they might have found that the MacIver (Anything but a) News Service and the teahadists that were hosting the "Verify the Recall' McCarthyism revival were lying through their teeth when they claimed that a third of the signatures were invalid.  In reality, it was about one thirtieth.

If they had look further, they might have heard Charlie Sykes echoing these ridiculous claims.  They could have given him yet another "Pants on Fire" rating to go with his collection. (And it's not lost on me that Sykes has never been found to be telling the truth.)

If they looked even minimally, they would have found Sykes' pal, Jeff Wagner, who predicted the final number would be around 600,000 and sometimes predicted that the recall would fail outright.  Wagner was off by almost 50%, but he doesn't even warrant a mention.

They could have looked at Vicki McKenna and the Koch-sponsored Wisconsin Reporter who claimed that someone forged her name on a recall petition.  Yet according to their own Verify the Recall database, neither her professional name or her real name appear.  That would put them at 100% off.  But PolitiFarce won't even give them a smoldering ember much less a pants on fire.

The excuse that it was too hard to look around doesn't hold water either.  They could have just looked at their own bloody paper and found that they were off by five times the actual number of invalid signatures.  Maybe they could torch their own pants?

But since PolitiFarce chose not to look at the other side of the guessing game, I'll give them a rating:  Corporate Media:

Cross posted at Cog Dis.

Charlie Sykes The Misogynist

Charlie Sykes, the mouthpiece for WISGOP, just ended a tirade against his favorite Republican presidential candidate, Rick Santorum.  Santorum earned the wrath of Sykes because he said that as president, he would ban pornography.

Sykes stated that he thought the move was wrong, yelling things like:

"Keep your hands off my Internet! Keep your hands off my movies! Keep your hands off the books I read!"

This is the same Sykes that didn't have a problem with the GOP-controlled state legislature invading women uteri and telling them that they don't have a right to decide what happens to their own bodies.

I really can't tell which is more outrageous, his hypocrisy or his misogyny.

Those brainwashed high schoolers

We learn on Facebook that:

The afternoon Solidarity Sing Along on 3/15/2012 was invaded by students from a Sheboygan High School that chanted Stand with Walker.

Can you imagine what the WTMJ Republican radio talkers would have to say if the kids had decided to sing along? Brainwashed by left-wing, union goon teachers, no doubt.

Presumably they are in Madtown for the state basketball tournament, not on a class trip. That would be wrong, right?

Sykes' Hypocrisy Regarding Breitbart's Death

Last week, one of the most acerbic of the right wing's heroes, Andrew Breitbart died.

Breitbart was not a nice person.  Some of his claims to infamy included selectively editing videotape in order to defame Shirley Sherrod, saying "F%*$ you!" to union leaders, and telling Wisconsinites to got to hell because they wanted freedom and equality.

Sadly predictable, when Breitbart died, some people let loose a stream at vitriol as one last shot at the memory of this caustic person.

Even more sadly predictable, the hypocritical Charlie Sykes has tried to make hay out of this.

Actually, for Sykes to try to make something out of this is doubly hypocritical.

First of all, should anyone really expect Breitbart to be granted respect when he wouldn't show any respect when the late Senator Ten Kennedy passed away?

Secondly, Sykes should be keeping his mouth shut about anyone's comments when he has yet to even apologize for inferring that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is a pedophile.

Charlie Sykes, WTMJ Double Down On Libelous Tweet

About ten days ago, we reported about how Charlie Sykes went beyond the pale and made the inference that Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele was a pedophile.

This was brought to the attention of Abele's office and to the Democratic Party.

The Democratic Party took this offense seriously and sent a letter to Steve Wexler, Executive Vice President of the Journal Broadcast Group. In the letter, their outrage at this libel was expressed as well as giving that Sykes receive some sort of punishment, such as suspension or termination, for his vulgarity.

Wexler responded back in an unfortunate, but entirely predictable, manner:

Thank you for sharing your concern with me about a "tweet" by Charlie Sykes that you felt was inappropriate.

I've reviewed your letter and don't agree with your conclusion.

By the way, I am well aware of John Mercure's background, since he has worked for our stations for years, both on TV and as host of our afternoon radio news program.

Best regards,

Steve Wexler
Executive Vice President
Journal Broadcast Group
720 E. Capitol Dr.
Milwaukee, WI
53212

Direct Line: (414) 967-5205
Direct Fax: (414) 967-5596

swexler@jrn.com
Twitter: @wextmj

Sykes addressed this on his radio show. Or more appropriately, danced all around this issue. But even when asked directly what he meant by that tweet, Sykes refused to answer the question.

We cant' expect Sykes, or WTMJ's management, to do the proper thing on their own. They don't have the integrity or the honor to do so.

Perhaps it's time to take the same action that has Rush Limbaugh and Clear Channel sweating like the pigs they are. The only way to get their attention and get them to do the right thing is to go after the only thing they care about, their money.

I think it also may be time to drop a line to Sue Wilson and the Media Action Center.

Sykes Goes Beyond The Pale With Pedophilia Tweet

Last week, Charlie Sykes again took things beyond the pale with one of the most irresponsible tweets anyone has ever tweeted:

For those that aren't aware of the significance of this, John Mercure is the late afternoon squawker on WTMJ radio.  Before he became a squawker, he was a "reporter" for TMJ's TV station and was known for sensationalizing stories and specializing in child sexual predators.*  He was also well know for taking things too far himself.

The question is: What is Sykes' intent with this post?

If he was serious, he might have opened himself and Journal Communications up to a large slander lawsuit.  Even though Milwaukee County Executive Chris Abele is a public figure, and thus open to getting slammed more than a private citizen, the law does put limitations on what a person can say about them.  Accusations and inferences of being a child sexual predator goes a long way over the line.

If Sykes was "just kidding," it shows what a sick little man he is that he considers pedophilia to be something joked about.

Now, I am no fan of Abele's, and I have often offered up criticism of his Walkeresque approach to leading the county and his attempts to turn Milwaukee County into a plutocracy for himself and his rich friends, but this inference by Sykes goes beyond the pale.

Sykes needs to offer a public apology and his employer better look at if they need to take further actions to protect themselves from this liability.

*Even though Mercure styled himself as a crime-fighting reporter worried about kids' safety, he won't even talk about Brian Pierick, the Walker crony who has been charged with child enticement.

PolitiFact's Two-For-One And Why Is Sykes Still On The Air?

PolitiFact, the hit and miss "fact checking" product in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel gives Scott Walker a "Pants On Fire" rating for falsely blaming Governor Jim Doyle for one of Tommy Thompson's taxpayer's cash giveaway:

Facing a near-certain recall election, Walker that day used his Twitter account to highlight the story as a failure of the previous administration, that of Democrat Jim Doyle. (Other tweets included the fact he stopped for ham and rolls after church.)

His tweet: "Headline ‘State spends millions for 202 jobs’, missed rest of sentence:, ‘under program approved by Gov Doyle.’"

In other words, the poor performing program was created under Doyle. And that’s where the blame should fall, Walker says.

Did Doyle approve the plan?

The legislation creating the program was introduced in 1997 and passed and signed into law the following year -- not by Democrat Doyle, but by then-Gov. Tommy Thompson, a fellow Republican now running for a U.S. Senate vacancy.

Doyle didn’t take office until 2003, five years after the CAPCO bill was signed.

Indeed, the proposal had bipartisan support. It was authored by Democratic state Sen. Gwen Moore, now a congresswoman from Milwaukee. Among the 89 members of the state Assembly who voted in favor of the bill March 25, 1998: Walker himself.

But the go on to write how Charlie Sykes, Milwaukee radio squawker, took this from Walker and ran with it, even though he knew it to be false:

Walker’s tweet gained a broader audience the following day. WTMJ radio talk show host Charlie Sykes picked up on the topic and in a three minute segment linked Doyle to the CAPCO program five times. He called it "a Jim Doyle idea," and said the program was "one of Jim Doyle’s signature venture capital bills."

In an email, Sykes acknowledged that the program was created under Thompson. And he pointed out that Walker had tweeted on the subject the day before.

Sykes whined about it on the radio and sniveled about it on his blog, but not once did he even come close to apologizing for misleading his listeners or bothering to correct his lie. If anything, he doubles down on his dishonesty by mewling that Doyle wasn't mentioned enough in the original article, even though he just acknowledged it had nothing to do with Doyle.

Why Sykes is still on the air despite openly lying about things, and admitting he is lying, is simply beyond me. But it goes to show why a person can't believe anything that comes from corporate media shills like Sykes.

Something Else Sykes Won't Be Talking About

Last week, Charlie Sykes was so excited you could hear the spittle hitting the microphone as he squawked about Mike Tate, head of the Democratic Party of Wisconsin going to Chicago to talk to someone about something or other.  He was going on and on about dirty Chicago politics and the such.

I highly doubt that he's gonna be squawking about that now that Walker has hired two attorneys as he gets ready to meet with John Doe investigators.  One of Walker's attorneys is from Chicago and the other's father made his name representing mob boss Frank Balistrieri.

Sykes probably also won't talk about how he's named in one of the criminal complaints stemming from Walkergate.

He'll probably just do what he's done every day for the past two weeks: Whine about DA John Chisolm and about yours truly.

Limbaugh Caught In Action

Rush Limbaugh, while at the Superbowl Sunday night, was caught in action as he prepared for his show:

H/T James Rowen

Media Trackkkers Gets Called Out

Last week, the Cap Times doled out a royal smackdown on MacIver Institute.

On Friday, it was Media Trackkkers turn to get it.  This time it was Dan Bice at the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in his online chat about Walkergate delivering the what for:

Q: Nick, Appleton - What did you make of the Media Trackers folks alleging illegal leaks from DA's office? (http://mediatrackers.org/2012/01/da-chisholm-may-have-illegal-leaks-from-office/) 

A: Daniel Bice - Haven't seen it until now. Media Trackers has a spotty track record, so I would take what it is saying with a grain. The two guys there also toss around strong allegations and then try to temper them by saying something may or may not have occurred. That's not reporting. It's a rhetorical trick.

I wouldn't have even been that kind to that group of propagandists.

Now all we need is someone to do the favor for Wisconsin Reporter and we'll have a trifecta.

MacIver Institute Gets Called Out

The Cap Times lays a smackdown so hard on the Koch Brothers front group MacIver Institute that even David Koch felt it:

The John K. MacIver Institute for Public Policy is a conservative political operation — sorry, “think tank” — that seeks to promote Gov. Scott Walker’s agenda. Indeed, its website features a new advertisement that makes all sorts of claims about how the governor’s programs are “working.” The ad is amusing, as it asks Wisconsinites not to believe what they see going on around them and instead to fall for the spin developed by Walker’s messaging team.

So it is that, at the same time the state acknowledges that Wisconsin has lost jobs for six months running, the MacIver Institute is peddling a fantasy that says of the Walker agenda: “It’s working!”

“It” may be working. But if Walker keeps at it, Wisconsinites won’t be working.

Make sure you read the whole thing, especially the last three paragraphs.

The Right's Questionable Tactics

The right wing media has been beside themselves for the last couple of weeks.  What got their dander up is Ian Murphy had been traveling the state a few weeks ago to help encourage and reinvigorate recall volunteers in the last few weeks of the signature gathering phase.

Media Trackkkers did a story about Murphy.  Christian Schneider, paid propagandist, did a story.  (By the way, would some tell Schneider that Scott Walker did indeed meet with the Koch brothers?)  Sykes not only posted Schneider's article, but has been ranting about this and little else to his remaining 4.3 listeners.

Their collective faux outrage stems from the fact that Murphy wrote a piece years ago railing against the worst parts of war, things like what happened in Abu Graib.

But that is not what they are upset about.

What they are upset about is that Murphy is the guy who imitated David Koch last year in a phone call to Walker and showed Walker's true corrupt nature.

I don't know.  I could be quite wrong about this, but I wouldn't thing it's generally a good idea to keep drawing attention to the guy who naturally reminds everyone about that phone call and thus Walker's corruption.

But that stategy could explain why Walker's popularity numbers are so low and falling lower by the day. Maybe instead of criticizing these people, we should be thanking them for making our jobs that much easier.

Sykes on recalls, back when they were OK

"Businessman Michael Cudahy derided the recall supporters as a “lynch mob,” but outsiders who saw only the anger misunderstood the depth of the outrage. Supporters were neither puppets nor radicals: they were taxpayers who had raised their families in Milwaukee, bought homes, paid taxes, and played by the rules all their lives. They remembered when Milwaukee was known for its efficiency and integrity, and were offended at the insult to both their intelligence and their integrity."

That's Charlie Sykes, back when recalls were okay, when they led to Scott Walker coming to power, and when Sykes was paid by a group that also was funding Scott Walker. Recalls AGAINST Scott Walker? Not so much.

-- Source.

Who Does Paddy Mac Work For?

After years of trashing the government and the money wasted on bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., Patrick McIlheran became the second most hypocritical person* in the world when he left the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel to go work for Senator Ron "Sunspot" Johnson. As the paper reported at the time:

Patrick McIlheran, a columnist for the Journal Sentinel's op-ed page since 2004, is leaving the newspaper this week to take a job with Republican Sen. Ron Johnson's staff.

McIlheran, who will work out of Johnson's Washington, D.C., office, will research issues and write about them for the senator. McIlheran also will work for the Subcommittee on Oversight of Government Management, the Federal Workforce, and the District of Columbia, of which Johnson is the ranking member.

A little later, it was found that Paddy Mac was making around $93,000 a year, although it appears he does little more than tweet Republican talking points.

But now it gets really interesting.

Michael Horne, working at Milwaukee Magazine, has also been covering this story, and had the same facts. Despite this, RoJo's press secretary contacted the magazine, wanting a correction, claiming that P-Mac didn't work for the Senator at all and just for the subcommittee. Horne also reports that since Paddy has started suckling at the government teat, as he would quaintly put it, he's changed is Linked In and Facebook profiles to reflect the same.

Case closed, right?

Wrong.

Horne has this to add to his report:

Finally, our original reporting included a call to the subcommittee office asking for McIlheran. The operator said McIlheran did not work at the subcommittee’s office, and forwarded the call to the office of the senator.

Perhaps it's time for an open records request just to see exactly which teats Paddy Mac has been suckling on and how he got there.

If he's only been with the subcommittee, someone needs to explain RoJo's involvement in all of this. Did RoJo manipulate the system to get a job for someone who was lobbying hard for him?

And if Paddy Mac's getting money from both RoJo and the subcommittee, why is RoJo's office lying?

*The most hypocritical still belongs easily to Scott Walker, who holds that title by such a wide margin, he'll never lose it.

Yep, Jeff Wagner Proves Me Correct Again

Three weeks ago, on Cog Dis, I discussed the matter of Andrew P. Jensen, Jr., the Scott Walker crony who was put in the hoosegow for a day because he refused to cooperate with the John Doe investigation into Walker's sleazy campaign tactics and unethical behaviors. In specific, I would point out this blurb:

Oddly, Jensen's attorney, Patrick Schott, said that Jensen was jailed because Jensen "wouldn't adopt their version of events." But the facts that authorities tried to offer Jensen immunity and that he tried to take it if he could remain anonymous while doing so would indicate that Jensen knows what the score is, but is too afraid of the Republican party machine that he doesn't want it known that he sang.

Now that Jensen's been outed, watch for the right, especially in the form of talk radio, rally around him and try to make him appear as a living martyr in a feeble effort to discredit the investigation.* This is not so much to congratulate him for keeping his mouth shut - so far - as it is to remind him that they are watching in case he does.

And just like clockwork, here comes WTMJ squawk radio host Jeff Wagner with exactly what I had predicted:

Take the case of prominent Milwaukee real estate executive Andrew Jensen. Jensen is a well known area real estate broker, a past chairman of the Commercial Association of Realtors - Wisconsin and a relatively small dollar contributor to Governor Walker.

According to published reports, Jensen was to be granted immunity in this secret proceeding. However, according to his lawyer, Jensen irritated prosecutors by refusing "to adopt their version of events" - leading to his sudden arrest and subsequent release without charges being issued. In the meantime though, the media was tipped off about Jensen's situation and given an opportunity to trumpet his arrest and tarnish his name. Talk about your Star Chamber.

One way to interpret the public comments of Jensen's attorney is that prosecutors wanted Jensen to make a false statement and that Jensen was arrested after refusing to do so. If there is any truth at all to this suggestion, you have to wonder: "Is this Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 or Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 2012"?

You can read the rest of my post at Cog Dis to see just how badly Wagner is lying about the course of events.

It's bad enough that they can't admit the truth about what is happening, but do they have to be so bad and so predictable about it?