ABC standing by Hastert story :D --->

[jsamuel]

here

Despite a flat denial from the Department of Justice, federal law enforcement sources tonight said ABC News accurately reported that Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert is "in the mix" in the FBI investigation of corruption in Congress.

...

"You guys wrote the story very carefully but they are not reading it very carefully," a senior official said.

It appears that the sources are verifying the correctness of ABC's story.

[fooj]

1. Hastert has been linked to Abramoff since the beginning...

No surprise here, imo.

[Supersedeas]

28. but how will the other networks and FAUX play this out....hmmmm

[kentuck]

2. But he has not been singled out....

He's only one of about 90 Congressmen involved with Abramoff's money...

[papau]

8. 90 includes tribe money always given to Dems - a way of making this look

"bi-partisan"!

:-)

[formercia]

29. Accepting a contribution is not illegal

but doing something in return for a contribution is. It's a very big difference.

[benburch]

3. Move over Truthout...

...looks like there is company on the "standing by a denied story" bench.

[Bluebear]

6. They are just "ahead of the news cycle".

:crazy:

[hootinholler]

9. And there I was

Sitting on the group W bench with father rapers and mother stabbers,
and the biggest, meanest, father rapist of them all walked up to me and
said "Kid, what ya do?" And I replied "Litterin. and creatin a nuisance"

Apologies to Arlo.
-Hoot

[spuddonna]

13. LOL!

Now, which one of the group W bench would be the biggest, meanest father rapist? Hmmm... That's gonna take some ponderin'! :evilgrin:

Thanks for the laugh! :7

[IndyOp]

15. You skipped the part about how they all moved away from him...

Hi Hoot! :hi:

"Kid, whad'ya get?" I said, "I didn't get nothing, I had to pay
$50 and pick up the garbage." He said, "What were you arrested for, kid?"
And I said, "Littering." And they all moved away from me on the bench there,
and the hairy eyeball and all kinds of mean nasty things, till I said,
"And creating a nuisance." And they all came back, shook my hand, and we
had a great time on the bench, talkin about crime, mother stabbing, father
raping, all kinds of groovy things that we was talking about on the bench.

I :loveya: Arlo!

[hootinholler]

16. It's been a while since I've listened to Alice.

If just 3 people...

Thanks for that you're right as usual.

:hi:

-Hoot

[FiveGoodMen]

27. Kid ... have you rehabilitated yourself?

[Catrina]

17. But, but Jason Leopold is the only reporter to ever 'get ahead of a story'

isn't he? I know the TO bashers will be here any minute to demand that ABC retract their story and reveal who their sources are to declare with absolute assurance that that reporter is mentally ill, and that ABC should withdraw their support for him and apologize. If they're not would that mean they've changed their minds about TO and JL's article? :sarcasm:

[Coexist]

18. I'll bet Kos bans ABC news as a sole source for diaries now

:evilgrin:

[Catrina]

20. Did Kos ban TO ? n/t

[Coexist]

23. Here is the diary - I don't know if it is a new rule or not:

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2006/5/25/24231/0300

There is a FAQ that has been completely rewritten. As of May 22, 2006 it has been spelled out explicitly that diaries who find their main source in Wayne Madsen, Capitol Hill Blue and/or Jason Leopold are not acceptable:

Note: Please use common sense when recommending diaries. Diaries that rely entirely on unreliable sources such as Wayne Madsen, Capitol Hill Blue, Jason Leopold, or Lyndon LaRouche are generally not considered acceptable. Recommending poorly sourced conspiracy theory diaries may result in banning without warning for all recommenders.

[IndyOp]

21. Did KOS ban truthout as a sole source for diaries?

That asshat! I've detested Kos since he banned discussion of election theft after 2004.

His book has some good stuff in it about why the national dems keep losing, but he is an asshat.

:grr:

[Coexist]

24. see above for link:

There is a FAQ that has been completely rewritten. As of May 22, 2006 it has been spelled out explicitly that diaries who find their main source in Wayne Madsen, Capitol Hill Blue and/or Jason Leopold are not acceptable:


Note: Please use common sense when recommending diaries. Diaries that rely entirely on unreliable sources such as Wayne Madsen, Capitol Hill Blue, Jason Leopold, or Lyndon LaRouche are generally not considered acceptable. Recommending poorly sourced conspiracy theory diaries may result in banning without warning for all recommenders.

[donbrunton]

19. Funny

They are already troll rating Chris Floyd at Daily Kos for his take on the Leopold bashing.

http://www.dailykos.com/comments/2006/5/25/24231/0300/1...

*chortle*


Well, if you think banning a journalist like Jason Leopold because he may -- or may not -- have been burned by his sources on a particular story (which happens to every investigative reporter, even Sy Hersh) will improve Daily Kos, then I assume you will now be banning any diaries that use ABC News as a source? After all, Hastert`s people have denied the ABC report he`s under investigation, just like Karl Rove`s people denied his indictment. And if Daily Kos now takes the word of Karl Rove as gospel, then why not sanctify Dennis Hastert as well? Shouldn`t ABC now be ranked with loonies like Lyndon LaRouche, and banished to Kossack Siberia?

I think banning any reporter or news source that reports something that makes powerful Republicans uncomfortable for even a few minutes is a wonderful idea -- if your aim is to sell out the progressive movement in order to prove that you`re a safe pair of hands for a nice job somewhere in the Hillary Clinton administration, that is. It`s a wonderful move if what you want to do is merely replace the current craven Democratic power structure with another craven Democratic power structure. If, however, your goal is to foster a genuine, vibrant alternative to the corruption and cowardice that now reigns in both parties and which has led the Democrats to aid and abet the Bush Regime`s depradations at every turn, then no, I think banning good sources and investigators that may get burned from time to time (although I don`t think that`s true in either Leopold`s or ABC`s case) is a lousy idea. If Daily Kos is just going to be another cautious, safe, hey, wouldn`t it be neat to be one of those`West Wing` guys for real!? locus of cautious centrism, then what`s the point? Why not just read USA Today?

(And by the way, the big telecoms have denied USAT`s NSA spy story. Surely, just like Rove and Hastert, they would never lie, would they? So shouldn`t you boot any diary that uses USA Today as a source now?)

Chris Floyd
The Moscow Times
Empire Burlesque

[Catrina]

22. Thank you, I just asked if DKos had bannedTO ~ good letter from

Chris Floyd ~ if they want to retain any credibility, DKos will need to explain why they banned TO if they do not also ban every publication that gets 'ahead of a story'. They'll need to post what their policy is on this ~ looks like maybe they 'jumped the gun' on this. That point was made over and over to the TO bashers here, that many reporters have published stories which have been denied by officials and/or received wrong information.

A standard has now been set, imo. Anyone who participated in the war on TO but gives a pass to other publications will have to understand when they lose the trust of those who tried to warn them that the TO was by no means unique in the world of journalism and wonder if there was some agenda behind the vitriolic attacks on TO and Jason Leopold.

[originalpckelly]

4. Hey guys...

remember Watergate?

"If all else fails, lie."

We know that they lied about the NSA call database because Qwest independently verified that they had been approached by the government.

This is just another lie to the pile. The Justice Department is so full of crap, they could pay for the deficit by selling their comments as fertilizer!

[Garbo 2004]

5. Denial that he is a specific target of the investigation, apparently.

From the article:

ABC’s law enforcement sources said the Justice Department denial was meant only to deny that Hastert was a formal “target” or “subject” of the investigation.

"Whether they like it or not, members of Congress, including Hastert, are under investigation," one federal official said tonight.

The investigation of Hastert’s relationship with Abramoff is in the early stages, according to these officials, and could eventually conclude that Abramoff’s information was unfounded.

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

7. Good For Them! Glad This Story Still Has Got Legs.

[mcscajun]

10. It's going to be a wild weekend

if this isn't sorted out by Friday afternoon. :)

[dweller]

11. we'll be lucky if it's sorted out

by November.

sure wish OLL and others would chime in to set the story straight.

oh yeah: :sarcasm:

dp

[Roxy66]

12. Brian Ross has got big Kahunahs....even though they are listening

in on everyone of his phone calls....

[suffragette]

25. And it seems this may be a reason why they have been listening in

I wonder if they'll trot out Kurtz or similar against him soon.

[jsamuel]

14. kick

[bunny planet]

26. Raw Story has it up now that Hastert has accused ABC News of libel.