Democracy Has Prevailed.

December 27, 2009

The Trib Brain Trust Flubs A Story. Again.

Richard Mellon Scaife's editorial board got something wrong in one of today's editorials.

Yea, yea I know. What a surprise!

First the Trib:
Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Fla. -- who claims Republicans' idea of health care is to ask the sick to "die quickly" -- has asked Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate, fine and perhaps jail a Florida activist who reacted to the congressman's behavior by establishing the mycongressmanisnuts.com Web site. If the pecan fits ... .
Interesting thing is, if you look real close, you won't see why Grayson asked for the investigation. Go ahead, look again. I can wait.

You're back? Great. Perhaps the brain trust is thinking that the readers of the Trib will "connect the dots" and assume that Grayson was asking for the investigation because the Florida activist established the website.

That's not what Grayson wrote to the AG, of course. Not that you'd know it by the Trib's editorial, of course.

Here's the letter to the AG Holder from Representative Grayson. Grayson's complaint can be found in the letter's first paragraph:
I am writing to request investigation and prosecution of Angie G. Langley, 969 W. Lakeshore Drive, Clennont, FL 34711, personally, and also against the campaign committee "MyCongressmanIsNuts.com," P.O. Box 1063, Orlando, FL 32802 (the "Committee"), for criminal violation of 18 US.C. 1001. Ms. Langley is the Treasurer of the Committee.
So the next question is, what's "18 US. C. 1001"? Here it is:
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully—
(1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact;
(2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or
(3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry;
shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years...
And now back to Grayson's letter. He wrote that:
Ms. Langley and the Committee falsely represented to the Federal Election Commission that the Committee "supports or opposes more than one candidate," In fact, however, the committee name corresponds to a website that attacks me. and only me, while soliciting contributions to be used against only me. Moreover, Ms. Langley has falsely depicted herself as a constituent, in order to further this scheme.
Then there's this:
In the committee's Statement of Organization, Ms. Langley falsely claimed that the committee supports or opposes more than one candidate, and that it is not connected with any other organization. The website, however, clearly shows that the committee opposes only me. This also was true in the committee's news release, and Langley's statements in media coverage regarding the website. Moreover, in the Fox 35 interview, when the interviewer said "so your goal is to unseat him [meaning me]," Ms. Langley's response was "absolutely, that is our entire goal."
You can find the Committee's Statement of Organization here.

And on page two it does say the committee supports/opposes more than one federal candidate.

So that's a lie on an FEC document. Not a big lie, of course. Not an "Iraq has WMD and so we have to invade to disarm them before those WMD are used by the terrorists in another 9/11 attack" sort of lie, but a lie none the less.

Not that you'd know it from the Trib's editorial, of course.

7 comments:

Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...
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Social Justice NPC Anti-Paladin™ said...

Nice of David to try to defend Grayson in Media Matters style.
And minimize that Grayson wants to imprison someone for five years for executing their First Amendment rights.
Alan Grayson, asshat — unfit to serve in Congress
Grayson called for the Attorney General to investigate and prosecute Ms. Langley. His letter calls upon Langley and her political action committee to be prosecuted for fraud under 18 U.S.C. 1001, to be fined “and Ms. Langley imprisoned for five years.“
...
Nevertheless, I can think of few acts that would disqualify someone more from holding public office in the United States of America than trying to get a citizen thrown in jail for expressing her political beliefs — even if she is being a bit dishonest about them.

So much for the progressive talking point of Dissent is patriotic.
BTW, David do you support five years imprisonment for the following frauds who follow the progressive standard of honesty?
Called CSPAN saying he "took Sen. Coburn's advice" and "prayed that Senator Byrd would die"...
Pretended to be a spokesperson for the US Chamber of Commerce.

Dayvoe said...

Of course HTTT missed the point. Again.

And of course he failed to read the blog post carefully. Again.

And of course he embarrasses himself. Again.

Grayson's complaint had nothing to do with the 1st Amendment. But with Langley's dishonest SEC filing.

Did HTTT even read the blog post?

I don't think so.

EdHeath said...

Actually, Davoe meant FEC filing, not SEC.

Which is the point, HTTP. The FEC should get involved because this Angie Langley, who is apparently the former head of the Florida republican party, is hardly just a citizen. She has formed an organization, which she represented to FEC as created to support or oppose more than one candidate, yet she is apparently only opposing Grayson. She is telling people she lives in his district, telling people she feels he is not representing her. And she is raising money while making these misrepresentations.

Now, I don't know how good a Congressperson Grayson is, maybe he doesn't represent his constituents. And I don't know how serious (or accurate) Grayson's allegations are. And genuine personal dissent should not be squelched. But this is Swiftboating trying to fly under the radar of rules and ethics by pretending to be genuine personal dissent.

So where do you stand, HTTP, on being honest and accurate?

Dayvoe said...

Ed's correct - I meant FEC (the Federal Election Commission) not the SEC (Securities and Exchange Commission).

But Ed...how long have you been coming here?

It's D-A-Y-V-O-E.

:-)

EdHeath said...

D'oh! (or perhaps I should say D'oyh)

:/