March 7, 2005
TAPPED Out
Well, after going thru the entire day angry at what Garance has published, I've come to the conclusion it is her big loss.
You see, instead of looking for the boogy man under the bed and twisting the story to fit her vision of life -"right wing operatives take down 2nd liberal media figure" -- she lost the truth and the simple story easongate.com was.
It is a story of citizens outraged by a highly prominent CNN executive who declared that the US Military had declared open season on journalists. No facts to support it, just a statment whispered 3 different times in 3 different countries.
It's not a "right" story or a "left" story. It's a story about 150,000 young men and women who are black, white, hispanic, asian, republicans, democrats, independents, gay and straight and perhaps socialists who are sacrificing life and limb for the current Commander in Chief (doesn't matter if we agree or disagree with him -- they are there dying) -- and they have been accused of nothing short of murder....
Now I don't think it matters what side of the spectrum you are on. Those comments if true should anger you and you should be demanding an investigation as Rep. Barney Frank and Sen Dodd did.
Or if not true you should be demanding an apology immediately as www.easongate.com did, because you see, those kinds of statements could get some of the above right, left, black, white, straight, gay AMERICAN young kids killed.
This is a story about citizens being outraged and demanding accountability by those in the MSM.
This is a story about citizens coming together to defend those who are defending us.
This is not a story about right wing political operatives causing a sneak attack againist the opposition, as the story says. Or a smear attack as KOS and his followers did.
It's about regular people like you and like me tiring of unsupported lies and bias against our brothers, sisters, daughters, mothers and fathers -- the all volunteer military.
Kind of like the Orange Revolution, or the Cedar Revolution or the Iraqi vote of 1/30/05.
We're damned tired of being used, abused and lied to and we stood our ground -- pure and simple.
The article is spun of whole cloth by a person with a particular agenda who wants you to see only her vision -- and then the facts are only partial facts -- the truth of the story, the simplicity of the story was left on the cutting room floor.
It's a shame -- could have been a good story about the citizen uprisings in this country.
TAPPED weighs in on Easongate
The American Prospect weighs in on Easongate in an article titled Blogged Down, by Garance Franke-Ruta. Only one word is fit to descibe this article:
Predictable
Here is my email response to Garance Franke-Ruta:
Well, Garance, I cannot say I am surprised by the article in The American Prospect.I never expected to be treated fairly by your magazine, and the portrayal of Easongate was about what I expected. Even so, I decided to grant you the interview in the hope you may actually listen to the remarkable story of the creation of our site.
It really is a shame TAP cannot objectively report about the formation of Easongate. We are accused of acting in a political manner. Mike Krempasky and Lashawn Barber both came aboard two days prior to Eason's resignation - 4 days after the formation of Easongate - and their involvement in the decision making was limited to some posts and advice on the site™s operations. But TAP exaggerates their influence and downplays the other members of the group. Your depiction of us as "right-wing" bloggers is unfair and oh-so-predictable, it is laughable. Heavens forbid we could be called citizens disgusted by the attacks Eason Jordan had made (numerous times) on American soldiers.
I was very honest with you. Speaking to you on the phone, you seem like a very nice person. It is a shame you or your editor had to distort the formation of Easongate to fit your preconceived notions of a political hit machine. If this was your editor's doing, then you should be ashamed to put your name over this piece.
Liberals wonder why those to the right of them see media bias. The answer is simple, as your article quite clearly demonstrates. The media talks about the wonders of editorial oversight. At least when you read my work, you know it is my own, and not the words and distortions from an editor on high.
Kindest Regards,
Bill Roggio
the fourth rail (http://billroggio.com)
Update:
Blackfive weighs in at his site, and rightly notes that Cheryl was not brought in by him. In fact, Cheryl contacted me the Friday I posted at The Fourth Rail asking for assistance. That she knew Matt was merely a coincidence.
Cheryl eloquently posts her first article at Easongate to respond to Garance's hit piece.
Mike Krempasky replies at Redstate and addresses Garances obvious smears.
Brian Scott replies as well at The Blue States Conservatives.
