"You like to fuck with the Russians": FireDogLaker fluffs RT.com

[OilemFirchen]

Okay, so I rewrote the headline, 'cause it's actually buried in the lede and it's the Daily Beast and delicate sensibilities or something. I tried so goddamned hard to stay away from here for a while, so as to actually get some work done, but this story, every tiny bit, is holy shit rich:

Defending Putin’s Propagandists

... I have no interest in responding to neo-Nazis (though the Daily Stormer ends his post with an unintentionally hilarious flow chart revealing the intellectual poverty of anti-Semitic thinking that you would be remiss not to behold). I draw attention to this site merely because of the similarities in analysis it shares with other, more ostensibly mainstream people who see a subversive gay Jew pulling the puppet strings. Over the past week, I have been the recipient of a deluge of attacks on Twitter from RT fans alleging that I was somehow behind Wahl’s resignation. This afternoon, a gentleman identifying himself as Kevin Gosztola, who writes for the left-wing website FireDogLake, left a message on my cell phone. He claimed to be working on a project for First Look Media -- the high-profile investigative journalism start-up that employs, among others, Glenn Greenwald. (First Look's top editor says the Gosztola has nothing to do with the outlet. More on that in a second.) I post Gosztola's missive verbatim:

“So you don’t deny that you encouraged Liz Wahl to resign. We are going to be publishing a story at First Look Media and I know that you’re going to be losing control of the narrative that you’ve managed to create around Liz Wahl’s resignation. We have multiple sources.

“It’s fairly obvious that you have orchestrated this as part of some Foreign Policy Initiative [the think tank where I work] agenda. And this is what we’re going to be putting out there. So your fun little charade, public stunt that you’ve been putting on which the media has completely eaten up here in the United States, is hopefully over

“If you have any comment and if you’d like to respond to me and prove that this is not how it is, you let me know. But otherwise we are ready to go. And, you know, you like to ‘fuck with the Russians’ and we’re going to respond to that and let people know where you’re coming from as you have worked with Liz Wahl to expose what you call a propaganda network.”

[VanillaRhapsody]

1. RT TV actually put Alex Jones on as a legitimate news source...

along with Jesse Ventura...

nuff said.

[Cha]

5. Wow.. good to know, VR. Let's get this thing on

the Greatest!

[joshcryer]

2. Looks like he lost any shot for working for First Look Media.

[Cha]

6. Yeah, there's that..

[OilemFirchen]

9. Remains to be seen.

He's got that Wannabe-Breslin attitude going and the First Look "down in the trenches" image:



Maybe a fedora, a la Drudge?



Ha! New Journalism, I kid!

[Cha]

13. Hey, I think I should have a wait and see attitude on that..

[joshcryer]

18. It'd be a mistake to hire him in any event.

And I'm sure they're weighing that over there.

[KittyWampus]

32. He can team up with James O'Keefe.

[Blue_Tires]

37. LOL...That bullshit should have made him a prime candidate for First Look

Gosztola just made the mistake of overplaying his hand, that's all...

[jakeXT]

3. Kirchik! I guessed it, 100 points for me. /nt

[Cha]

4. OilemFirchen.. you're right.. this is way too "holy rich shit".. to pass up.. :)

"So you don’t deny that you encouraged Liz Wahl to resign. We are going to be publishing a story at First Look Media and I know that you’re going to be losing control of the narrative that you’ve managed to create around Liz Wahl’s resignation. We have multiple sources.

“It’s fairly obvious that you have orchestrated this as part of some Foreign Policy Initiative [the think tank where I work] agenda. And this is what we’re going to be putting out there. So your fun little charade, public stunt that you’ve been putting on which the media has completely eaten up here in the United States, is hopefully over.

“If you have any comment and if you’d like to respond to me and prove that this is not how it is, you let me know. But otherwise we are ready to go. And, you know, you like to ‘fuck with the Russians’ and we’re going to respond to that and let people know where you’re coming from as you have worked with Liz Wahl to expose what you call a propaganda network.”

Kevin Goztola-Fucking delusional-a right proper asshole.. James Kirchick says he "writes for the left-wing website FireDogLake". uh huh.

I like this young man.. James Kirchick~

*** My commentary.. LOL

[William769]

7. The truth shall set them free!

To bad the Putinista's wouldn't know the truth if it bit them on the ass! Pardon my language, but I thought it appropriate.

[Cha]

11. "RT RAH RAH RAH.. anything else is not the real thing.."

" " Who knew we'd live to see this on DU?!

William~

[William769]

8. Thanks, will be saving that link for future well you know.

[Cha]

16. SAVE-Sounds like a plan, William.. there's so many people invested in

trying to make sure RT is the only news source that's viable concerning Russia's actions in the Ukraine. it's mind boggling.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=4655175

[functioning_cog]

10. wow. so the fact that DU is graced with these 24/7 Kremlin apologists is nothing special

they are at all levels of U.S. media and online trying to seize the offensive in information wars. Good to see they are landing SPLAT on their noses.

[Capt. Obvious]

44. You can't even turn sideways here without hitting a Pro Putin poster

Some jerk even suggested starting a Progressives For Putin group.

[phleshdef]

12. That voice mail sounded so slimey. Another reason that I find FDL to be a cesspool perversion of...

Last edited Thu Mar 13, 2014, 04:03 AM - Edit history (1)

...left leaning politics. Its basically the (very small) segment of the left that intends on living up to the caricature of liberal/progressive that the Limbaughs and the Hannitys of the world paint for low information America.

[Cha]

14. I agree.. it's that segment of the

profiteering left that makes up shit on the fly.. to get their clicks. Too bad it's made of dust.

[joshcryer]

19. It's classic authoritiarian tactics.

Note how he wants Jeremy to "prove that this is not how it is." Proving a negative, eh? Extremely difficult. "Prove you're not beating your wife." "Well, here is every single photo I she ever had taken, here's every contact in our immediate family, here are interviews with her close friends and confidants, etc, etc." This tactic is most often employed by deniers or conservatives and even in my experience capitalist leaning Libertarians.

Kirchick does hold some negative opinions I'd disagree with, so I'm not defending everything he's ever written, though he did expose Ron Paul's racist news letters. It's fascinating how there's that convergence again.

[freshwest]

20. +1

[Cali_Democrat]

15. K&R

To the greatest you go

[Cha]

17. ...

[freshwest]

21. Nazispeak: 'Jews manipulate society to achieve their own ends... by appealing to human emotion...'

Well the insane clown posse is appealing to my human emotion there.

It's called the gag reflex.

Everyone can appeal to human emotion even if only arouses disgust.

[Behind the Aegis]

22. I said in another thread in regards to the Ukraine situation...

...the charges of anti-Semitism, while certainly true in same cases, is really nothing more than a game for some. The fact I see RT is "concerned" over anti-Semitism makes me gag. I am worried for the Jews there (as well as other minority groups; none of them will come out a winner), but the sudden concern from some is so hypocritical it is almost...ALMOST...comical.

[stevenleser]

38. If RT was really concerned about anti-semitism, they would have talked about it a lot before now

I know at least one host IS concerned about how many anti-semitic comments they receive on their youtube videos, but nothing was ever done about it, ever. They could have talked about it on their shows. They could have tried to foster understanding.

Everytime I appeared on RT, there were anti-semitic comments directed toward me in youtube comments. They were directed at every guest whose name sounded remotely Jewish. Nothing was ever done about that.

[freshwest]

53. There are a number of ruses used. Caring about (insert victim, well known or du jour here) at will,

but only if the concerns of good hearted people can be manipulated for their genuine outrage which is really about something else altogether.

There is a pattern in such that cannot be denied, when one sees what they really get into an uproar over. It is not those victims of discrimination that they use and discard, either.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/11873185

You made an excellent point regarding Sochi earlier. But the comical part of this, to me, is more like frustration. The callousness of manipulating those who care, or are directly affected, ticks me off, so I am more likely to not reply.

I'm not at the point some are who think these things are such stupid canards they are laughable and don't take them to heart. Some things will always be too personal to me. Hopefully, I will grow more.

[Cha]

23. Kick!

[stevenleser]

25. He and I wrote for Opednews.com at the same time. I can only say that this does not surprise me.

Publicly, I will leave my comments there.

[Cha]

28. Thanks steven.. I can tell by what he wrote to James Kirchick that

he's a sleaze and doesn't have a respectable bone in his body.

[Fumesucker]

26. Is there a TL;DR version of this?

It might as well be written in Sanskrit as far as my ability to figure out what this particular word salad might mean.

[Capt. Obvious]

27. Firebagger LOL

I think

[KittyWampus]

29. Read article at link. It makes sense in context, though it all seems a cautionary tale

about how screwed up politics on the fringes can get… where rightwing and leftwing politics meet in the shoals of lunacy.

[Fumesucker]

30. I had kind of determined it was something derogatory of the left by the group high fiving the post

Don't we really hear enough of that from Fox News and the rest of the M$M?

[KittyWampus]

31. ??? it isn't derogatory of the left…. it's pointing to unbalanced actors who just happen to appear

on the Left and the Right.

The article points out where NeoNazi's and RT apologists meet.

But hey, if you want to define "Left" as Putin mouthpieces, then it is derogatory.

[Fumesucker]

36. It's all way too inside baseball and too poorly written for me care enough to plough through that

The sheer glee of a certain contingent at finding someone "on the left" they can point fingers at is interesting though.

Who one chooses to nutpick says a lot about their priorities, it's not like we have anything remotely resembling a nut shortage in America.

[Adrahil]

34. We need to call out our own nuts too.... NT

[Fumesucker]

39. I was reading a book about the Cold War era USAF a few weeks ago

Something that struck me was the Air Force attitude that the Soviets were business but the real enemy was the Army.

And the Army felt much the same way and they both hated the Navy.

‎

[Capt. Obvious]

35. "the group high fiving the post"

I mark posts that way too.

[Fumesucker]

41. It's a good way to sort out the teams, isn't it?

[Capt. Obvious]

43. It is

You shall know them by their

[OilemFirchen]

45. If only I had 187 fanboiz offering up pithy "+brazillion" retorts...

I could be prom queen!

[Fumesucker]

48. On the other hand you could say what you think as clearly and accurately as you can

And do it with a little humor and perhaps a touch of grace and you wouldn't be saddled with that special desire to be prom queen.

Not that there's anything wrong with that you understand.

[OilemFirchen]

49. Wait...

TL;DR. Are you struggling with any specific word, phrase or sentence that you didn't read?

[Fumesucker]

50. It's just very "inside baseball" and I'm not into this (fantasy?) baseball league in the first place

[OilemFirchen]

51. Yet, as of this writing, you've posted seven times.

Your indifference is duly noted.

[Fumesucker]

52. I posted once asking for some explanation, the rest of the posts were replying to others

Including three posts of yours that still haven't provided any additional clarity on an opaque subject.

I am though kicking your OP multiple times thus increasing its visibility for which you should thank me rather than getting snippy about it.

[Marr]

47. I think you have to be right-wing to get it.

I think it uses a lot of coded language and relationships.

[Bluenorthwest]

33. While I can't say I always agree with Kerchick, he was great on RT in August

[stevenleser]

40. That was brave. And the network tried to cancel his car trip back to the airport afterwards.

I think that attempt to retaliate also speaks volumes.

[SidDithers]

42. DUrec. This is an excellent read...nt

Sid.

[NuclearDem]

46. This whole episode is just sad.

Jamie is absolutely right about RT, and a lot of journalists I usually respect are just on the wrong side of this (Kevin in particular).

The guy's still been a complete asshole to other good leftist journalists, especially ones I respect. Nobody wins here.

[Cha]

54. Kick!