The fix is in

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The fix is in

Bookworm on Sep 29 2008 at 7:39 pm | Filed under: Barack Obama, Media matters, Presidential elections

I don’t think Glenn Reynolds will mind my reprinting this in its entirety, since it deserves to be read as widely as possible. Send it along to your friends — and, maybe, to your local newsroom:

A READER AT A MAJOR NEWSROOM EMAILS: “Off the record, every suspicion you have about MSM being in the tank for O is true. We have a team of 4 people going thru dumpsters in Alaska and 4 in arizona. Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae. Editor refuses to publish anything that would jeopardize election for O, and betting you dollars to donuts same is true at NYT, others. People cheer when CNN or NBC run another Palin-mocking but raising any reasonable inquiry into obama is derided or flat out ignored. The fix is in, and its working.” I asked permission to reprint without attribution and it was granted.

UPDATE: The Anchoress hears similar things. And reader Eric Schubert: “The Edwards debacle was proof enough of where the heart of the MSM lies, and lack of curiousity of the press about Edwards probably cost Hillary the nomination. And that shameful episode offers a warning to the MSM. What if Obama does have a skeleton in his closet (such as a shady deal or outright bribe) that is revealed after he wins the election? While the chance of this scenario is remote, imagine the backlash against the MSM if it could be shown that a reasonable investigation by the MSM would have easily revealed this secret to the public prior to the election?”

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32 Responses to “The fix is in”

on 29 Sep 2008 at 8:17 pm 1Ymarsakar

What if Obama does have a skeleton in his closet (such as a shady deal or outright bribe) that is revealed after he wins the election? While the chance of this scenario is remote, imagine the backlash against the MSM if it could be shown that a reasonable investigation by the MSM would have easily revealed this secret to the public prior to the election?”

Obama will then have the power of the police, the jury, the judge, and the executioners. He will easily be able to provide the media the support they need to weather public opinion. There are all kinds of laws you can put into place that hamstrings the competitors of the MSM while elevating the MSM. Course, we also can’t forget Fox. Obama’s going to have to dismantle them one way or another.

Given what is going to happen to Freddie Mac and Fannie May, he will have the precedent to do so as well.
on 29 Sep 2008 at 8:19 pm 2Ymarsakar

I’ve mentioned before that most Americans haven’t actually seen the full extent of Presidential powers used, even though they have been convinced by the Left and the anti-Bush league that Bush has been abusing Executive privilege and powers all 8 of his years.

The thing is, few people know the full extent of Presidential powers because few people have the imagination of how far ruthlessness really extends when it is backed by power, lots of power. They cannot imagine it. But I can.
on 29 Sep 2008 at 8:38 pm 3Ellie2

You misunderstand the phrase “the fix is in.” In actuality it means something like this:

POTUS: Ms Pelosi, if you deliver this bailout, the Repubs will not pin the cause of it on the Dems in the upcoming election. That includes McCain.

Pelosi: Well, I insist that at least half the Repubs in the House vote aye, otherwise the deal is off.

POTUS: Done!

What POTUS forgot to make clear was that Pelosi, likewise, would refrain from pinning the bailout on the Repubs. When she did that, the deal was off …

Hey, I learned something living in NJ for 30 years!
on 29 Sep 2008 at 10:53 pm 4Mike Devx

The truth always comes out in the end. I know it’s frustrating to have to wait for it, when you can already see it so clearly. But have faith that in the end, the truth will be known, and the media will eventually pay the ultimate price.

Certainly it’s true that the media are controlling the message for so many Americans. We see the list of issues with Obama that the media are refusing to cover; worse, we know that had any one of these issues been associated with the Republican, they would have been covered 24/7 for weeks.

This may very well be enough to throw the election to Obama. I understand how that can be distressing and enraging.

But if that were to occur, take the longer view. Obama is so clearly incapable of successful leadership that it will become clear early in his administration what a disaster he is. His record while in Chicago is one of complete failure, causing even pain to his poorest constituents (even while, as I keep saying, the Rich Friends of Obama skated away from the failures with millions of dollars). His time in the U.S. Senate has been spent fruitlessly – when it comes to leadership. He co-signed onto a few bills but exhibited no leadership in any way. All of this will become clear.

And the media’s role in this will eventually become clear. Just as the exposure of the sub-prime mortgage crisis has taken a long time – too long – to become clear, it has in the end become clear. The same will happen to the media. This election, even if it turns out badly, is not the end.
on 29 Sep 2008 at 11:44 pm 5nathan

The American people will eventually figure out the Obama con. Pelosi will lose her job and we will have Speaker of The House Eric Cantor in January, 2011. Sadly, Obama will do a lot of damage in the next two years.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 5:10 am 6Ozzie

One of the experts called in to testify on irregularites in Ohio in 2004, says that the “fix is in,” too.

He says that if all goes according to the script, we should expect MCain to win by 51% of the vote and by three electoral votes.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 7:51 am 7Mike Devx

Hi Ozzie,

If you’d used your “Ohio expert” to claim merely that Ohio was in the bag, your riposte would have been worth a grin. I wanted to enjoy it, but I ended up only rolling my eyes a bit.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 8:00 am 8Ozzie

If you’d used your “Ohio expert” to claim merely that Ohio was in the bag, your riposte would have been worth a grin. – Mike

I’m referring to testimony in the King Lincoln v. OH Sec. of State lawsuit that’s currently underway.

Republican cyber-security expert Stephen Spoonamore described what he refers to as a “Man in the Middle” cyberhack, which lague the financial services industry on a regular basis..

He says 8 states are in play in 2008.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 9:17 am 9suek

Ok…Ohio. Apparently this week only, citizens can register to vote and walk out with an absentee ballot. According to the news, Obama has 3 busloads of college students leaving from campaign headquarters every half hour to scour up unregistered voters. With their absentee ballots, no doubt.

And you say the fix is in for McCain?????
on 30 Sep 2008 at 9:36 am 10Ozzie

Ok…Ohio- suek

Ohio was an issue during the 2004, which is what this lawsuit is about..

This GOP cyber specialist is discussing Man-in-the-Middle setups where election resuts are routed through a middle man – and the only purpose would be to switch vote tallies.

This time around, MIMs have been set up in Illinois, Kentucky and Colorado.

There are other hacking/security issues, however, in addition to the MIMs, and Spoonamore also notes that a foreign country, like China, could also hack the vote.

What youre describing are shady election day tactics, which the GOP also engages in. College students in several key states have been given misinformation in an attempt to prevent them from voting.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 9:39 am 11Ozzie

Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae- From Blurb

I believe Lou Doggs covered Acorn last night, along with other related problems. You can find it on YouTube.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:07 am 12BrianE

Ozzie,
You can dismiss the problems Acorn has caused, but here in Washington state, where their fraud may have caused a democrat governor to be illegally elected in the biggest case of voter fraud in the history of the state, we’re not laughing.
I realize democrats just consider it payback for Florida, but the idea we’re going to decide elections by the concept of biggest fraud wins doesn’t give one confidence in the process.
Let’s leave Chicago politics in Chicago.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:13 am 13Ozzie

You can dismiss the problems Acorn has caused, – Brian

I’m not doing that, Brian. I’m refuting the claim that the media isnt covering it. Lou Dobbs discussed it at lengh.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:16 am 14BrianE

In the eyes of liberals, Lou Dobbs is CNN’s token crank, and shouldn’t be confused with journalists doing serious work.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:32 am 15Ozzie

In the eyes of liberals, Lou Dobbs is CNN’s token crank, and shouldn’t be confused with journalists doing serious work.
– Brian

When everything boils down to liberals vs conservatives, nobody even seems to care if what they say is accurate and/or the truth.

Making sure that their side “wins” is paramount.

The argument was made that the media is ignoring the Acorn story, which isnt true.

I went out to dinner last night, and Lou Dobbs was on, with the word ACORN splashed across the screen. Freddiemac and FannieMae received similar treatment.

I could not hear what Dobbs was saying so I went to YouTube this morning, and there it was.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:52 am 16BrianE

Is this the kind of hard hitting story about Acorn by the MSM you’re talking about Ozzie? This from the New York Times:

Republicans say the new rules are needed to prevent fraud, but Democrats say they are making it much harder to register the poor.

In the last year, six states have passed such restrictions, and in three states, including Ohio, civic groups have filed lawsuits, arguing that the rules disproportionately affect poor neighborhoods.

But nowhere have the rules been as fiercely debated as here, partly because they are being administered by J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state and the Republican candidate in one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the country, a contest that will be affected by the voter registration rules. Mr. Blackwell did not write the law, but he has been accused of imposing regulations that are more restrictive than was intended.

“In Washington, D.C., Congress may have passed the voting rights bill to extend voter participation,” said Katy Gall, organizing director of Ohio Acorn, an advocacy group that focuses on poor neighborhoods. “But out here at the grass roots, things are headed in the opposite direction.”

Ms. Gall said the group had collected fewer than 200 new voter registration cards in the last month, down from an average of 7,000 a month before the regulations took effect on May 2.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/06/us/06ohio.html?_r=2&ex=1155009600&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;en=ec28273e529b4e3e&ei=5087&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

More here about voter fraud by Acorn in Ohio:

http://porkopolis.blogspot.com/2006/08/new-ohio-voter-registration-rulesfile.html
on 30 Sep 2008 at 10:59 am 17BrianE

Is this the hard hitting criticism of Acorn you’re talking about? This is an August 6, 2008 story in the New York Times by Ina Urbina:

CLEVELAND — For Tony Minor, the pastor of the Community of Faith Assembly in a run-down section of East Cleveland, Ohio’s new voter registration rules have meant spending two extra hours a day collecting half as many registration cards from new voters as he did in past years.

Republicans say the new rules are needed to prevent fraud, but Democrats say they are making it much harder to register the poor.

In the last year, six states have passed such restrictions, and in three states, including Ohio, civic groups have filed lawsuits, arguing that the rules disproportionately affect poor neighborhoods.

But nowhere have the rules been as fiercely debated as here, partly because they are being administered by J. Kenneth Blackwell, the secretary of state and the Republican candidate in one of the most closely watched governor’s races in the country, a contest that will be affected by the voter registration rules. Mr. Blackwell did not write the law, but he has been accused of imposing regulations that are more restrictive than was intended.

Under the law, passed by the Republican-led state legislature in January 2006, paid voter registration workers must personally submit the voter registration cards to the state, rather than allow the organizations overseeing the drives to vet and submit them in bulk.

By requiring paid canvassers to sign and put their addresses on the voter registration cards they collect, and by making them criminally liable for any irregularities on the cards, the rules have made it more difficult to use such workers, who most often work in lower-income and Democratic-leaning neighborhoods, where volunteers are scarce.

“In Washington, D.C., Congress may have passed the voting rights bill to extend voter participation,” said Katy Gall, organizing director of Ohio Acorn, an advocacy group that focuses on poor neighborhoods. “But out here at the grass roots, things are headed in the opposite direction.”

Ms. Gall said the group had collected fewer than 200 new voter registration cards in the last month, down from an average of 7,000 a month before the regulations took effect on May 2.

Here’s more about voter fraud in Ohio:

500 new voters might not exist
State activists might be charged over questionable registrations
Friday, August 11, 2006
Robert Vitale and Mark Niquette
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

Workers paid by a liberal group to register voters in Franklin County have turned in more than 500 forms with nonexistent addresses and potentially fake signatures, elections officials said yesterday.

Board of Elections Director Matthew Damschroder said he has forwarded the cards to county authorities for possible criminal charges.

Elections workers verifying new-voter forms discovered signatures with the same handwriting, addresses that were for vacant lots and incorrect information for voters who already were registered, Damschroder said. One card had the name of an East Side man who?s dead.

All the questionable cards were turned in by workers for Ohio ACORN, a group that?s also paying people to gather signatures for a proposed November ballot initiative to raise the state?s minimum wage.

Katy Gall, the group?s head organizer, said ACORN is cooperating with the investigation and already has fired some of its paid circulators.

“We are interested in seeing people who are gaming the system prosecuted,” she said.

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, faced similar problems in 2004 during a drive that added 189,000 new voters to Ohio?s rolls. Prosecutors were unable to trace the originators of some falsified forms, but one ACORN worker was indicted by a Franklin County grand jury.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 11:11 am 18Ozzie

Is this the hard hitting criticism of Acorn you’re talking about? -Brian

Ha! You always do this. You start arguing against arguments that nobody’s made.

Once again, I was talking about Lou Dobbs’s piece on Acorn from last night.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 11:30 am 19BrianE

Ozzie said in post 11:
Not a single one looking into Acorn, Ayers or Freddiemae- From Blurb

I believe Lou Doggs covered Acorn last night, along with other related problems. You can find it on YouTube.

Ozzie said in post 13:
You can dismiss the problems Acorn has caused, – Brian

I’m not doing that, Brian. I’m refuting the claim that the media isnt covering it. Lou Dobbs discussed it at lengh.

Ozzie said in post 17:
Is this the hard hitting criticism of Acorn you’re talking about? -Brian

Ha! You always do this. You start arguing against arguments that nobody’s made.

Once again, I was talking about Lou Dobbs’s piece on Acorn from last night.

Brian says:
No, I don’t “always do this”.
Bookworm was talking about the MSM, not Lou Dobb’s, as enjoyable a populist as can be.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 11:34 am 20Mike Devx

Ozzie #13:

Lou Dobbs is partisan and makes no bones about it. Same for O’Reilly. They both freely say, “I’m a commentator, not a journalist.” A commentator is not a part of the Mainstream Media, by my standards. When a partisan such as Donna Brazile appears as a guest on a Sunday morning TV discussion panel, she’s not a part of the MSM either.

The deliberatively deceitful “objective” media are the problem. The refusal to prepare news pieces that discuss both sides. The suppression of significant information about one candidate, and the inclusion of stories of the same or lesser significance for the other (enemy) candidate. Vastly unequal treatment of candidates during so-called objective interviews. Slanted editing of such interviews. And so on. The accumulation of point data into a veritable mountain of such data can’t be ignored.

The American people will eventually catch on.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 11:56 am 21Ozzie

Vastly unequal treatment of candidates during so-called objective interviews. Slanted editing of such interviews. And so on. The accumulation of point data into a veritable mountain of such data can’t be ignored.

The American people will eventually catch on.- Mike

I think of Lou Dobbs and CNN being mainstream vs Internet and alternative media sites, which are not.

But the case can also be made that Al Gore was targetted by the MSM during the 2000 election while George Bush was depicted as the affable “guy you’d want to have a beer with.”

I noticed how bad the MSM was before the war in Iraq, when the foreign and alternative media did a much better job exposing the evolution of the war and the untruths that were being told.

I hope the American people finally catch on to the fact that reading newspapers from all over the world beats watching TV and that both political parties were bought and paid for long ago.

But as long as we’re engaged in stupid “conservative vs liberal ” nonsense, that won’t happen.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 12:19 pm 22BrianE

This should be easy to settle Ozzie.
Show me an article written this year by the NYT or Washington Post about the abuses of Acorn.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 1:21 pm 23Ozzie

This should be easy to settle Ozzie.
Show me an article written this year by the NYT or Washington Post about the abuses of Acorn.- Brian

Well, Brian, it’s not really all that easy to settle.

It appears that you see the New York Times and Washington Post as the mainstream media, while I include all major daily newspapers, along with magazines like Time and Newsweek, and most television networks, like ABC, CBS, NBC, CNN, MSNBC, CNBC, FOX as part of the MSM.

The premise here is that there has been no mention of Acron in the MSM. Since I saw it flashing across the TV screen last night, I begged to differ.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 1:28 pm 24BrianE

OK, Something from Time or Newsweek.

The reality is, if one of the major carriers picks up a story, the others follow. It’s the herd instinct and the vanity of reporters not wanting to be “scooped”.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 1:39 pm 25rockdalian

Ozzie,
Here is proof that the fix is in.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner won plaudits from voting rights activists by issuing a directive that they say will protect the ability of millions of registered voters to cast ballots on Election Day.

Since those voters skew urban, young and low-income, Brunner’s ruling could be good news for Democrats.

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13415.html

More:

Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has a reputation as the most partisan state official in Ohio. And she works hard to earn it. The Democrat’s latest stunt rejected absentee ballots for thousands of Republicans.

http://tinyurl.com/3k677u

More:

CLEVELAND (Map, News) – The Ohio Republican Party on Tuesday asked a federal appeals court to stop same-day registering and voting during a weeklong period in the state.

The 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati should either stop same-day voting or at least require the state’s top elections official to separate those ballots so they can be verified, the GOP said in court papers.

Republicans argue that the inability to verify the registration of new voters who cast absentee ballots between Tuesday and Oct. 6 will lead to voter fraud.

http://tinyurl.com/4wq92g

Yeah, the fix is in – by the Dems.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 1:45 pm 26Ozzie

OK, Something from Time or Newsweek.

The reality is, if one of the major carriers picks up a story, the others follow. It’s the herd instinct and the vanity of reporters not wanting to be “scooped”.- Brian

Just for Fun, I Googled “Acorn” and the first story that popped up was from CBS News. Is that not a part of the MSM?

While I disagree that Acorn is a taboo topic, I agree with you about the herd instinct, however, which works in various ways, such as pre-war, pro-war coverage and the 2000 election.

As I said, Al Gore was trounced by the MSM, with the “I invented the internet” lie reapted over and over.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 1:52 pm 27Ozzie

Yeah, the fix is in – by the Dems. – rock

Both parties do this sort of thing..the GOP has been very busy trying to prevent college students from voting, too. They’ve been behind a list of dirty tricks that make this look rather bland.

But this type of things is “business as usual” for both parties, which, I think God must watch with disdain…

And it’s small beans compared to setting up man-in-the-middle routing servers and hacking the vote.

As I said, the states to watch in this election are Colorado, Illinois and Kentucky.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 2:22 pm 28BrianE

Ozzie said: “Just for Fun, I Googled “Acorn” and the first story that popped up was from CBS News. Is that not a part of the MSM?”

Yes it is Ozzie. And this is the story. Whew! I’m blown away by the criticism of the piece. Acorn must be reeling… oh wait a minute. The piece is critical of conservatives!

No wait. Deep into the story is this: “At issue is ACORN, an organization fraught with controversy for, among other scandals, its fraudulent voter registration activities on behalf of Democratic candidates. WOW. That’s investigative reporting at its finest.

But don’t worry. The lead paragraph makes it all right. After all the Republicans are using ‘scare quotes’, so it must not be true.

What a joke, Ozzie.

ACORN Issue Fueling Bailout Opposition
By Ryan Grim

Sep 27, 2008

(The Politico) Earlier today, when House Republican leadership framed its opposition to the bailout bill as it currently stands, a principal objection focused on the group ACORN, which the e-mail alert called “the scandal-tarnished ‘community organizing group’” — with scare quotes in the original.

They’re referring to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a group generally allied with Democrats and derided by the GOP as corrupt, inefficient and a front-group for Democratic efforts on the ground.

In issuing the statement, House leaders are reflecting — and also feeding — a reaction to the provision that has exploded in the last day or more. Our colleague Ben Smith says he’s gotten more than a dozen anti-ACORN e-mails in just the last few hours. The viral uprising is both organic and institutionally driven. Prominent bloggers have fed the flames and so has the Wall Street Journal editorial page; several of the e-mails sent to Smith reference a House leadership alert on the “ACORN Slush Fund” and others refer to the Journal opinion. On Thursday night, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) told The Crypt that his friend Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) opposes the provision.

“The draft bill includes a left-wing giveaway that would force taxpayers to bankroll a slush fund for a discredited ally of the Democratic Party,” reads one leadership alert. “At issue is ACORN, an organization fraught with controversy for, among other scandals, its fraudulent voter registration activities on behalf of Democratic candidates. Rather than returning any profits made in the long-term from the economic rescue package, Democrats want to first reward their radical allies at ACORN for their (often illegal) help in getting Democrats elected to office.”

In the end, how much of the bailout’s potential profits are earmarked for ACORN? “None. Absolutely none. All funds would go to state and local governments,” said Steven Adamske, spokesman for Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), the chairman of the Financial Services Committee and a lead negotiator.

The opposition has grown so intense that critics refer to the measure in arcane legislative lingo. Erick Erickson titled a Friday morning blog post at RedState: “Section 105(d) of the Bailout Must Go.”

Oh, by the way. The story goes on to set the record straight. The 20% goes to state and local governments– and they can then give the money to Acorn.

This was not the final bill, by the way.
The point is, the MSM is in the tank for Obama.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 2:33 pm 29rockdalian

Ozzie,
I do not understand why you think Illinois needs watching.
20 miles east of me is the Cook County line. ( Official motto: Vote early, and often.)
This state is so solidly Dem leaning, that should a Rep ever win, all the Conservatives would suffer heart attacks.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 2:44 pm 30Ozzie

the MSM is in the tank for Obama- Brian

That could be. The MSM could very well be “in the tank for Obama,” just like they were for George Bush in 2000.

The American media is bizarre, which is why I try to avoid TV news, and read the foreign press, along with various sources.

But when I read “the fix is in,” I have to laugh.

The voting machine companies are in the tank for John McCain, though a GOP cyber security analyst recently admitted that China could end up hacking the election.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 2:49 pm 31Ozzie

I do not understand why you think Illinois needs watching. – rock

It’s one of the states that installed man-in-the-middle routers, rock. The three states that suposedly did so are Colorado, Illinois and Kentucky, though I also read that if you have to narrow it down to one state, Colorado wil be the one to watch.

In 2004, I read that all eyes would be on Ohio and it turned out to be so, so maybe there is something to that..

I wish we used still used paper ballots and that everyone wanted to play fair.
on 30 Sep 2008 at 2:51 pm 32BrianE

…derided by the GOP as corrupt, inefficient and a front-group for Democratic efforts on the ground.

Notice the subtle way the writer deflects the truth by using the negative word “derided” and attributes the claim to the GOP.

How refreshing it would be for an investigative reporter to look at the actions of Acorn for the last 8 years and say: “Acorn is a corrupt, inefficient front-group for the Democratic efforts on the ground.”

Now that would be unbiased reporting.