२२ सप्टेंबर, २०२०

"Multiple voters characterized by ABC News as undecided—and selected to pepper President Donald Trump with questions during a network town hall—are longtime Trump critics."

"While the network claimed its Tuesday town hall 'provided uncommitted voters the opportunity to ask the president questions about issues affecting Americans,' a Washington Free Beacon review of social media posts found that two of the questioners have long denounced Trump. Kutztown University professor Ellesia Blaque—whom ABC repeatedly identified as 'uncommitted' in its coverage of the town hall—praised vice presidential candidate Kamala Harris during the Democratic primary, saying she would 'be there, volunteering' for the California senator in Pennsylvania. The English professor was not shy about her partisanship, calling Trump a 'f—ing moron,' 'pathetic,' 'pig," "swine,' 'punk ass,' and "'LOOSER' (sic) in a slew of 2019 tweets. She is a self-described 'liberal Democrat,' according to her Facebook profile, on the grounds that liberals 'are not motivated by money or power, but by humanity and the needs of the people.'... An ABC spokesperson told the Free Beacon that the voters 'all identified to [the network] as uncommitted.' The spokesperson would not say whether the network took any time to verify those claims, nor did he answer questions about the selection process."

Says the Free Beacon.

८६ टिप्पण्या:

Michael K म्हणाले...

No surprise. More to Trump's credit.

अनामित म्हणाले...

Man, my "shocked face" is getting quite the workout recently.

404 Page Not Found म्हणाले...

If you don't know that the liberal media lies to you daily, about pretty much everything, you are a brainwashed sheep.

Amichel म्हणाले...

More shockingly unshocking news.

rehajm म्हणाले...

The hot take was...

@GStephanopoulos
: “Our next question comes from Diane, she’s the president of the Delaware Valley Young Socialists Club and is an undecided voter...”

Nichevo म्हणाले...

Like, omigod, that's so shocking, this is my shocked face 😲

Skeptical Voter म्हणाले...

No kidding. ABC salted the mine? Color me shocked, I tell ya shocked that those weasels would do that.

campy म्हणाले...

Well, it's the same way debate questioners are picked ...

Leland म्हणाले...

Glad to know some journalist thought to investigate this. It's not really news, but that ABC thought they could do it anyway is. Sadly, the other networks, that ought to point out ABC's lack of integrity just from a competitive standpoint, have decided to collude with the lie by being silent. Thus ABC was probably right to think they could do it anyway.

MayBee म्हणाले...

If they didn't verify the claims, then it was because they didn't want to, right?

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

So lets see ABC do the same with Biden and questioners who hate him. That would make it fair, and prove that ABC is fair and balanced.

Ha, I crack myself up.

JPS म्हणाले...

I haven't been this far from shocked since I learned Donna Brazile leaked debate questions to Hillary Clinton before the debate.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent म्हणाले...

Did anyone under 70 think otherwise? You'd have to be trapped in some kind of oblivious 1950's bubble to not understand how this crap is rigged. The very fact that Trump agreed to do it speaks to his confidence and leadership. And contempt for Prog assclowns.

BUMBLE BEE म्हणाले...

As Gomer said.... surprise, surprise, surprise!

Jupiter म्हणाले...

Yeah, the MSM are a reeking collection of dirty, lying liars who lie. I thought we had settled that.

bagoh20 म्हणाले...

Well, to be fair, they were undecided. They were unsure if they wanted just Trump dead or the whole basket of deplorables.

n.n म्हणाले...

She is a self-described 'liberal Democrat,' according to her Facebook profile, on the grounds that liberals 'are not motivated by money or power, but by humanity and the needs of the people.

Libertarians are self-organizing. Liberals are divergent. Progressives are monotonic. Conservatives are moderating. Democrats are regime-oriented as in single/central/minority capital and control constructs. #PrinciplesMatter

The English professor was not shy about her partisanship, calling Trump a 'f—ing moron,' 'pathetic,' 'pig," "swine,' 'punk ass,' and "'LOOSER' (sic)

#HateLovesAbortion

n.n म्हणाले...

JournoLism.

Rick म्हणाले...

Of course the media colluded with Democrats. But even though they were caught how many people will even hear about this compared to the number who were influenced? Of that number how many will think this influenced them sufficiently to change their minds? They'll do it again next week.

Being caught doesn't matter a bit which is why they executed it so incompetently. How hard would it be to find an anti-Trump nut with no public history? There are millions of them.

Big Mike म्हणाले...

@Crack Emcee Refulgent, I’m way past 70 and my contempt for the mainstream media in general, and George Stephanopoulos in particular, is unbounded.

RK म्हणाले...

They do this same shit every election.

Howard म्हणाले...

Trumpers play victim card

gilbar म्हणाले...

Yes, they Are Biden supporters; BUT! they aren't democrats
Well, they ARE democrats; BUT! they aren't dues paying democrats
WELL, they ARE current on their dues; BUT! they aren't Card Carrying democrats
WELL, they DO have membership cards in their pockets, BUT they didn't pin them to their chests

So, they were 'undecided'

rhhardin म्हणाले...

liberals 'are not motivated by money or power, but by humanity and the needs of the people.'

Money and power are structure, part of a working system. Conservatives are motivated by stbility of the structure, not for example breaking out in chaos when the liberals act.

Lucid-Ideas म्हणाले...

They can't win without cheating, and they suck at that even. Come on...a little effort MSM please.

Narr म्हणाले...

Undecided, between beheading and drawing-and-quartering.

Narr
Subtle distinction

NorthOfTheOneOhOne म्हणाले...

The English professor was not shy about her partisanship, calling Trump a 'f—ing moron,' 'pathetic,' 'pig," "swine,' 'punk ass,' and "'LOOSER' (sic) in a slew of 2019 tweets.

An English professor who can't spell "loser" and I'm supposed to take this person seriously?!

TreeJoe म्हणाले...

If only there was some sort of independent watchdog over the media that could cause significant and meaningful ramifications to the organizations and people involved in such public treachery.

John henry म्हणाले...

I'd be willing to bet that PDJT knew exactly what to expect.

I've seen criticism of him being naive for doing the town hall. I think it was a great move:

It shows that PDJT is not afraid of a hostile forum with hostile questions

It shows that he can give coherent unscripted answers to hostile questions.

It shows that he has the physical and mental stamina to do it for an hour.

It, along with daily events, sometimes multiple daily events, is in wonderful physical and mental shape. A lot of 50 year olds could not keep his schedule.

Compare and contrast to Joe Biden.

I'll bet he picked up some undecideds from the town hall. Not anyone in the studio, perhaps but some out there in TV land.

He was absolutely right to do this townhall.

John Henry

MD Greene म्हणाले...

An English professor who can't spell "loser" should lose her job. I know a second grader who writes with greater precision.

wendybar म्हणाले...

That it surprises anybody, surprises me. Wake the hell up!!

Ampersand म्हणाले...

The credibility bonfire continues.
People need credibility, and they are finding it elsewhere.

Joe Smith म्हणाले...

Funny how this kind of journalistic fraud only goes on one direction...

wild chicken म्हणाले...

I tell pollsters I'm undecided, so I get lots of calls. No, I'm not terribly important and my time's not worth much.

And I love yo fuck with their heads.

JAORE म्हणाले...

Why would that Bad Orange Man say there is fake news?

A mystery for the ages.

boatbuilder म्हणाले...

It was once my shocked face. Now it’s the Tucker Carlson Face. And it is in almost constant use these days.

hombre म्हणाले...

Trump can’t have expected the mediaswine at ABC to play it straight. They’re Democrats. It’s not who they are.

Mikey NTH म्हणाले...

The Detroit Free Press did a similar thing back in the 2004 election (or was it 2008?) where it turned out that there panel of "uncommitted" voters were all Democrats, and some had been involved in county level party politics for years.

Not Sure म्हणाले...

By "uncommitted" she might have meant that the paperwork to commit her to a psychiatric ward hadn't yet been submitted.

Drago म्हणाले...

It seems to me that these far left/socialist democrat activists have a habit of self-identifying as "independent" and sometimes even as "lifelong republicans" in order to advance the lefty cause.

If I am not mistaken, and I don't think I am, we've seen quite a bit of that over the years here at Althouse as well.

The Cracker Emcee Refulgent म्हणाले...

" Big Mike said...
@Crack Emcee Refulgent, I’m way past 70 and my contempt for the mainstream media in general, and George Stephanopoulos in particular, is unbounded."

No offence meant to our more aware septuagenarians. I randomly chose that age because there's still a large segment of our older population, many of them very conservative, who simply believe whatever the television tells them.

hombre म्हणाले...

“Being caught doesn't matter a bit which is why they executed it so incompetently.”

The most objectionable thing about Democrats is their corruption. Their minions enable the corruption by tolerating, even applauding it. This gives rise to shameless corruption, maybe the worst kind in that it erodes integrity completely. The stench runs deep in The Evil Party.

Bushman of the Kohlrabi म्हणाले...

In they defense, no one working for ABC News knows anyone who isn’t voting Democrat.

Greg The Class Traitor म्हणाले...

An ABC spokesperson told the Free Beacon that the voters 'all identified to [the network] as uncommitted.' The spokesperson would not say whether the network took any time to verify those claims, nor did he answer questions about the selection process."

Yeah, and I "identify" as a 25 year old black female lawyer.

Think Joe will appoint me to the Supreme Court?

Yancey Ward म्हणाले...

Oh, for fuck's sake- ABC definitely screened the "uncommitted voters" thoroughly. I guarantee you that ABC knew of all the social media postings of these people well before they were allowed to ask questions- it is why they were the ones allowed to ask questions.

Really, does anyone really believe ABC didn't stack the deck there against Trump at that town hall? Even Trump knew the deck was going to be stacked, and I increasingly believe he seeks out these venues for exactly that reason- Trump understands something that the leftist media apparently still doesn't- the open unfairness works to Trump's advantage. Trump doesn't give a shit about what his enemies think of him- he is playing to his base that the truly undecided. All ABC did was please the Democratic base with their shenanigans.

Think about it- how would you feel watching a boxing match where the referee was openly supporting one fighter over the other- or any favoritism in any competition? This is what the mainstream media is blinkered on so heavily, they are in the process of damaging Biden's chances in the exact same way they undercut Clinton's chances. Open unfairness has a price to be paid.

Mike (MJB Wolf) म्हणाले...

Duh. A related thought intrudes. That is America has been laughing at Joe Biden’s feeble runs for the presidency since 1987. You can see the clips of Johnny Carson mocking Joe’s alleged intellect (1987) or Connie Chung eliciting a stammering admission of plagiarism and fudging his bio from Joe (1988) on his way out of the ‘88 primaries going around the Internet. So, as a country we’ve been laughing at Joe and those who pretend to take Joe seriously since before AIC was even born and someone should tip her off before she burns too much of her street cred.

Temujin म्हणाले...

ABC and George Stephanopoulos? This is my shocked face.

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

President Trump is not intimidated by hostile, obnoxious questions.

He seems to enjoy answering such questions.

And then, when his answers are spun unfairly, he enjoys mocking the spins.

Dude1394 म्हणाले...

ABC news, the news site that uses trump rally photos for biden "rallies".

Dude1394 म्हणाले...

Isn't it also amazing that the media would honestly go along with the teleprompter candidacy of Joe Biden? I mean how could you sleep at night being fed questions to ask a candidate and still call yourself a journalist.

TheOne Who Is Not Obeyed म्हणाले...

It's lying liars all the way down.

All they had to do was ask her profession and she would immediately be identifiable as an ati-Trump harpy.

Lance म्हणाले...

If this is what Democrats in the media do to support their politicians, what do Democrats in polling stations and electoral committees do?

Jaq म्हणाले...

Trump thrives on this shit. He won me over when he took on that heckler from Univision in Iowa in 2016.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

It is shown that Trump polled his audience if SC nominee should be man / woman.

Trump should poll his debate virtuaudience if debate Q is fake or real before responding to media critter. Tuning his TRUMPET as it were to produce correct notes .

Narayanan म्हणाले...

Woman? privilege? (+ others) >>> cant decide to RED or BLUE >>> perfectly understandable.

Captain BillieBob म्हणाले...

Shocking just shocking! The mainstream media would never try to deceive us. Right?

Amadeus 48 म्हणाले...

They were, like, SO uncommitted.

abc invited a bunch of jamokes in to hurl abuse at Trump. Yawn. Trump loves that crap.

This“fact check” by Free Beacon is hilarious. abc didn’t even try to find uncommitted voters. But that makes sense. Who is uncommitted at this point—except Althouse? She is the only intelligent uncommitted voter in the country. The rest of the uncommitted voters are too busy keeping the plates spinning in their lives to even think of showing up at a yack fest like this.

In other news, the Biden campaign put a lid on at 9:38 this morning. That first debate is going to be something. Will there be a second one?

Gusty Winds म्हणाले...

Is this a surprise or something?

I Have Misplaced My Pants म्हणाले...

Well, we knew the media is a bulging sack of mendacious and smug little thickheads. The question is, what do we do about it?

अनामित म्हणाले...

Silly "journalists", they still think they are fooling people. The irony is that once Trump is gone half of them will probably lose their jobs. He is the only thing keeping their "news" programs afloat.

Gusty Winds म्हणाले...

When the event on ABC is hosted by Bill Clinton’s former henchman, we’re supposed to believe it was fair and unbiased, or would be conducted in some honest way? Come on.

cornroaster म्हणाले...

I am 71. My eyes were opened in the first presidential debate in 1976. Frank Reynolds, who at the time was the ABC anchor, asked the following question of Gerald Ford. "In granting the pardon to former President Nixon, sir, part of your rationale was to put Watergate behind us to – if I may quote you again – truly end our long national nightmare. Why does not the same rationale apply now, today, in our Bicentennial year, to the young men who resisted in Vietnam, and many of them still in exile abroad?"
Seven years earlier, the night of the first Vietnam Draft Lottery, Mr. Reynolds' son sat down next to me and I asked him, "How did you make out in the lottery?" His response was, "I don't care, I'm going to Canada." I do not know whether he actually went or not, as I did not stay in touch with him after we graduated from college the next June, but if he did go to Canada, his father should have mentioned his personal interest in the issue, or at least prefaced his question with the line, "As the father of a son who considered going to Canada..." By the way, that son, Dean Reynolds, just retired from CBS News a couple of months ago.

madAsHell म्हणाले...

Ellesia Blaque??

Oh, my!! Her parents named her LaTisha Jones. She re-invented herself at age 22, and selected a new name. She now wears her political identity as a badge of honor, but is vetted as an "uncommitted" voter.

The Ellesia part tells me she's also a lesbian.

AmIright?

Ken B म्हणाले...

Let’s not just blame ABC. These “undecideds” were lying to the audience too. It was a collusion by these liars and ABC.

FWBuff म्हणाले...

I watched some of this Town Hall. It was obvious that most of the questioners weren't undecided and several of them were openly hostile toward Trump. To his credit, he listened and responded to everyone with respect and without apology. He defended his record and showed empathy toward veterans and those who had suffered because of Covid. He certainly got points for his willingness to be there and answer questions, unlike Biden.

Mike Sylwester म्हणाले...

Rick at 11:20 AM
even though they were caught how many people will even hear about this

Trump should inform the viewers about this during the show.

Rusty म्हणाले...

Blogger Skeptical Voter said...
"No kidding. ABC salted the mine? Color me shocked, I tell ya shocked that those weasels would do that. "
I'm just shocked that usual suspects and their families and friends believe this shit. Not really. As a group Biden voters aren't that bright.

cornroaster म्हणाले...
ही टिप्पणी लेखकाना हलविली आहे.
Unknown म्हणाले...

Wait. Do you mean ABC News was some combination of corrupt, partisan and incompetent?! Outrageous!

In other news, from the world of science: the Sun rises in the East.

lgv म्हणाले...

"LOOSER". She is a professor in the English department.

The ability of college professors to communicate both written and verbal has taken a nosedive. She says her GPAs for BA, MA, and Phd were 3.62, 3.96 and 3.98. How's that for grade inflation.

Jeff Brokaw म्हणाले...

I didn’t even know this was on and just flipped it on for 10 minutes in the middle somewhere and both questions were hostile and borderline irrational venting/bitching.

Okaaaaaayy ... enough of that crap. That the whole thing was an obvious setup came through loud and clear ... in case they thought they were fooling anyone ...

Gk1 म्हणाले...

This is why I don't think the Trump people are worried how rigged the debates will be with Biden, if they happen. He will take on all comers and is unafraid.

What is touching is the media thinking they are pulling one over on people any more. It's adorable, like a 6 year old trying to do magic tricks. It would break their hearts if we lead on.

hstad म्हणाले...

AA - it makes no difference. Everyone is on to the MSM's bias and no one is surprised about packing the audience with "...Trump Critics..." People expect this! The MSM has lost it's 'mojo' decades ago and the 'Internet's' entrance into the marketplace has essentially lowered the quality of the information we receive. Unless you get information from different sources, Left/Right, you're just 'mailing it in'. That [closed information systems] sure has worked out well for the 'Voters' in Seattle, Portland, NYC, etc. :)

Bilwick म्हणाले...

" . . . America has been laughing at Joe Biden’s feeble runs for the presidency since 1987. You can see the clips of Johnny Carson mocking Joe’s alleged intellect (1987) or Connie Chung eliciting a stammering admission of plagiarism and fudging his bio from Joe (1988) on his way out of the ‘88 primaries going around the Internet. "

There's also that Robin Williams bit about Joe Biden. At one point Williams said something like, "Even people with Tourette's look at Biden and go . . . 'No. . . .'"

Bilwick म्हणाले...

I'm also suspicious of all these "lifetime" Republican voters who are showing up in droves on YouTube to denounce Trump.

The Godfather म्हणाले...

1. Someone upthread said, "there's still a large segment of our older population, many of them very conservative, who simply believe whatever the television tells them." I think you mean "many of them Democrat voters". At least that's my obervation, as a member of that "older population".

2. Someone else upthread said that Althouse is the last "undecided voter". I disagree. I don't mean that Althouse knows now how she will vote -- she may or she may not. But her vote is PREDESTINED. Everything she has said, and not said, on this blog since 2016 leads to how she will vote. We may never know, you or I may read the signs incorrectely, even Althouse may have done so, but it is determined.

Francisco D म्हणाले...

Howard said... Trumpers play victim card

Howie, you are a pitiful little pussy.

Trump was the VICTOR not the victim.

Drago म्हणाले...

Howard: "Trumpers play victim card"

My favorite "uncommitted" voter was the self-admitted member of the Socialist Party.

It doesn't get any more "uncommitted" than that, eh?

jaydub म्हणाले...

Be still my beating heart! Althouse quoted an article from a "right wing" publication, "The Free Beacon." I believe this is the first time I've noticed an article from a right wing paper being used in an AA post in the last several years. What's going on professor? As I recall, you previously said you didn't blog about articles from such media because they weren't up to your standards. BTW, welcome to the Republican party.

Doug म्हणाले...

I'll betcha Trump enjoys matching wits with some of these lefty apparatchiks.

"I'm an (air quotes) uncommitted voter.
"Promise?"
"(air quotes)Sure!"
"Okay!"

Clyde म्हणाले...

This is my shocked face.

Fernandinande म्हणाले...

Free bacon!

DeepRunner म्हणाले...

Those "fact-checkers" at ABC, in a moment of alleged due diligence, said...
"An ABC spokesperson told the Free Beacon that the voters 'all identified to [the network] as uncommitted.' The spokesperson would not say whether the network took any time to verify those claims, nor did he answer questions about the selection process."

Greeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaat. Yeah, no bias here, I'm s-u-r-e, but plenty of inertia. Is there any wonder why conservatives believe, quite rightly, that not only is the media thumb on the scale, but that MSM are too intellectually lazy to apply the same level of skepticism to "the undecided" that they do Trump? But then again, I guess Blaque's life matters.

Narayanan म्हणाले...

cornroaster said...
I am 71. My eyes were opened in the first presidential debate in 1976.
...
Seven years earlier, the night of the first Vietnam Draft Lottery,
-------------
and so began The Hunger Games : fight and die for the amusement of ...???? District of C

Matt Sablan म्हणाले...

This has been happening for a decade or more. Why do we keep letting media companies get away with such incompetence?

Sam L. म्हणाले...

Is anyone surprised?