Statistikhengst
Diamond Member
- Banned
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So, it's time to bring some light into the many weird rumors about Harry Reid:
I warned that this stuff was based on lies and innuendo, and it is now proven that I was right.
Behold:
Las Vegas Man Epically Punks Conservative Media ThinkProgress
Which, of course, led to this:
(Of course, we now know it was bullshit and the Right fell for it. Why did the Right fall for it? Because it hates Obama, Reid and Pelosi so much, it would grasp at any possible straw to keep up the "throw as much shit as possible, 24/7, and see what sticks" method)
More from the link:
Here is how it was reported in the Las Vegas Sun:
The big lie Las Vegas man watches as his Harry Reid tale takes off - Las Vegas Sun News
And so, the moral of the story is two-fold:
When talking about "Alternative Media", then remember that they obviously have no journalistic standards at all.
The Right will write anything, say anything, spread any possible lie about the Left if there is even the slightest chance that it will get traction.
Welcome to the RW Unicorn-World of "fact".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discuss: do you rely on facts, or rumors, exaggerations and lies?
I warned that this stuff was based on lies and innuendo, and it is now proven that I was right.
Behold:
Las Vegas Man Epically Punks Conservative Media ThinkProgress
In January, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid was seriously injured while he was exercising with a resistance band. The band broke and Reid crashed into some cabinets. Reid broke a number of bones in his face and may lose sight in his right eye.
But the conservative media was certain that something more nefarious was afoot.
Enter Larry Pfeifer, a Las Vegas motivational speaker and life coach. In an interview with ThinkProgress, Pfeifer said he initially called John Hinderaker of the conservative Powerline Blog using the pseudonym “Easton Elliot” to “bitch the guy out” for printing an article suggesting Harry Reid was beaten up by the mafia without any evidence whatsoever.
At the last minute, Pfeifer decided to make a up a story about how Reid was actually beaten up by his brother Larry. “I made up the story off the cuff. It was so outrageous I thought there was no way” he would print it, Pfeifer said.
But Hinderaker took the bait and quickly arranged a phone call between Pfeifer and Rush Limbaugh. On the call Hinderaker and Limbaugh repeatedly asked Pfeifer for evidence to corroborate his story. Each time, Pfeifer refused. It’s hard to corroborate a fake story, after all.
Which, of course, led to this:
(Of course, we now know it was bullshit and the Right fell for it. Why did the Right fall for it? Because it hates Obama, Reid and Pelosi so much, it would grasp at any possible straw to keep up the "throw as much shit as possible, 24/7, and see what sticks" method)
More from the link:
Hinderaker ran with the story, deeming it credible. “Someone attacked Harry Reid on New Year’s Eve or New Year’s Day; that much seems clear from photographs and from the nature of his injuries.” Hinderaker admitted he had not bothered to independently verify the story but said “the inferences [Elliot] draws seem reasonable.” That articles was shared over 3,600 times on social media.
From there the story took off like wildfire. Hinderaker invited “Easton Elliott” as a guest a few days later when he was substitute host for Laura Ingraham’s radio show. A couple of weeks later, Rush Limbaugh repeated the rumor on air to millions of listeners. (Limbaugh did acknowledge that he hadn’t verified the story.)
Here is how it was reported in the Las Vegas Sun:
The big lie Las Vegas man watches as his Harry Reid tale takes off - Las Vegas Sun News
A Las Vegas man claims he started a false rumor that the injuries suffered by Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid several months ago were the result of an attack by Reid’s brother, not an exercise accident.
Larry Pfeifer, a 50-year-old former consultant in the nightclub and entertainment industry, said he fabricated the story after becoming appalled that right-wing political blogger John Hinderaker published a rumor that Reid’s injuries stemmed from an assault by a Mafia enforcer. Pfeifer said he pitched his fake story about the Reid brothers’ supposed fight to Hinderaker, author of the Power Line blog, to test whether the blogger would publish it, as well. When Hinderaker reported it and the rumor was subsequently spread by others in conservative media, Pfeifer says he began plotting to self-report it as a lie to show the lack of credibility and journalistic standards among partisan media figures.
“It was just so outrageous,” he said. “The fact that someone can say something completely false that can destroy somebody’s life, it’s just wrong. Where’s the moral compass?”
Pfeifer, who describes himself as a motivational speaker who is involved in addiction counseling, said he completely concocted the story that Reid’s brother, Larry, showed up intoxicated at an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on New Year’s Eve in Henderson and claimed to have beaten up a relative.
Pfeifer said the media figures who published and broadcast the rumor did so without corroboration and without knowing his true identity. He revealed to them that he was using a pseudonym, he said, yet none demanded proof of his true identity.
The rumor spread quickly after Hinderaker published it April 3, landing Pfeifer on conservative talk show host Laura Ingraham’s radio program six days later when Hinderaker was a guest host, and leading to a conversation between Pfeifer and Rush Limbaugh. Pfeifer said he tried to get on Limbaugh’s show, where he planned to admit he’d made up the story.
“I thought the whole thing would be over in a day and a half,” he said. “I wasn’t after 15 minutes of fame. I wanted a platform where I could present this as what it was and 2 million people would pick up on it.”
He said he decided to present the truth after Limbaugh rejected him as a guest but repeated the rumor April 15 on his talk-radio show......Pfeifer said it was still unconscionable for them to spread it, and now he’s looking to get as much exposure as possible.
“Can I set off a domino effect where people say, ‘We’re sick of this,’ and start turning away from this kind of media or maybe boycott their sponsors?” he said.
Pfeifer said he made up the rumor virtually on the fly, patching it together with bits of information he’d gleaned from going to AA meetings and reading a recent news story about Larry Reid being arrested for drunken driving and allegedly punching a Nevada Highway Patrol trooper. Pfeifer said he peppered it with false information that should have been seen as red flags, including that AA allows intoxicated individuals to attend meetings on New Year’s Eve and Christmas Eve.
He said he also made up details designed to create credence to his story, including that there was a potluck dinner at the AA meeting and that Larry Reid’s left hand was injured — a juicy tidbit considering that Harry Reid’s facial injuries were on the right side of his head and thus could have been inflicted by blows from a left hand in a face-to-face fight.
Pfeifer said he was appalled at how little vetting was done on him and his story.
“They had no problem using a story that had nothing but some guy’s word,” Pfeifer said. “Not one of them knew my real name. I didn’t even give them my phone number.”
And so, the moral of the story is two-fold:
When talking about "Alternative Media", then remember that they obviously have no journalistic standards at all.
The Right will write anything, say anything, spread any possible lie about the Left if there is even the slightest chance that it will get traction.
Welcome to the RW Unicorn-World of "fact".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Discuss: do you rely on facts, or rumors, exaggerations and lies?