Rambling Rhodes

At this point, I fully expect to be asked to write an editorial on the fiscal policy of the European Union and have it printed without being edited for content. Maybe that's why the Star Tribune has been calling my house every day!

Might find this interesting.

I was in the class that Gage wrote about...Hinderacker is a horses ass, there is no denying that. I could barely breath in there with his ego taking up so much space. However, Gage went after him pretty agressively. It was uncomfortable (at least for a non-confrontational person like me). Anyway, after reading what's being said on some conservative blogs, I'm a little taken aback. I think she's just trying to point out the imporance of fact checking. And I think she hates Hinderacker. But it's scary how hard people are coming after her for speaking her mind about Powerline. I can see the irony that you point out, Ryan, as far as the Strib, but geez. I really think that the conservatives making such a fricking ENORMOUS deal about this need to chill out. Geh.

It's not my intent to go after Gage, beyond questioning her qualifications to opine within the biggest newspaper in Minnesota. If that's what the Strib is allowing nowadays, I have some pretty strong opinions about low flow toilets that I'd like some exposure on.

But, no editorial oversight on the part of the Strib? That's a tad disconcerting. Checking over Crow's suggested site, I admit that it looks as though Gage did some admirable footwork, but where was the Strib when it came to vetting?

Look at the weird way in which Gage allowed her footwork to veer:

I began by calling Tom Farley, the news editor at the Racine Journal Times. Mr. Farley had no knowledge of the allegations. He pointed out that there is no city position with the title "Deputy Registrar of Voters" (what the post cited).

Gage makes it seem as if Power Line was doing their own reporting, when in fact they were "citing" from and article from Agape Press. If Gage is going to go after anyone, it should be Agape Press. From where I'm sitting, Hinderaker's (never met him, don't know him) actions were the equivalent of circling an article in a newspaper and passing it along.

She declined to name the individual, but said the group was Voces de la Frontera, a group that works with Hispanic immigrants. I asked her directly how she knew the individual in question was an illegal immigrant and asked if she had spoken to them. She quickly admitted that she did not actually know if the individual in question was an illegal alien. I asked her when the alleged voter fraud occurred. She informed me the incidents took place in August and September, 2004. I then asked her which law enforcement agency she contacted and she told me she had called the FBI.

So, Gage is getting pretty close to sniffing out that there may be some real truth to the claim, although she's only lacking a name at that point, which Tully wouldn't give her. But, isn't Tully basically admitting that there was SOMEBODY? Gage basically had a smoking gun at that point, so to say there's no evidence to back up the claim is misleading at best, bogus at worst. But Gage opts to do some sleight of hand by switching gears and doing some Internet sleuthing:

I then did an internet search on Voces de la Frontera. The first hit was a recent press release, released jointed by Wisconsin Citizen Action and Voces de la Frontera regarding their successful voter registration drive.

And, of course, Voces won't confirm anything, so Gage gets the answers she wants, forgetting, of course, that Tully gave her every bit of evidence except for a specific NAME.

There are some other peculiar things here:

I then called Ms. Moskonas at the City Clerks office. She was unaware of this matter.

Yet, in a JSOnline (subscription required) Sept. 28, 2004 article, we learn that:

Moskonas said that in each of the six potential fraud cases, the people named on the Project Vote applications told her office they had not signed the forms and had not been contacted by any voter registration drives.

So, either Moskonas simply didn't remember this when asked by Gage, or Moskonas was lying. And, Gage's research probably should have exposed that conflict, no?

I had to get back to you after you put all of that work in :). Why are you, my good man, not out there doing the media thing yourself? It does seem you have the skillz. Anyway, I just wanted you to know that I wasn't accusing you of coming after her, it was the other blogs' comments that seemed scary and lynch-mobeque to me. String er up! Yeah, she's no reporter. That much is clear. And probably if she was going to make the decision to take on a blog as powerful as Powerline she should have had pretty substantial info before she did. Plus, the Strib should have considered what she wrote before publishing it. I get the feeling that she has connections with the political establishment, rumors and such, and that would be my guess as to why she got published.

Hey, doesn't it kind of ring of Rathergate all over again? How ironic. Anyway...

Very useful comments - good to read

casino ruleta en linea