Update 8PM: After simply choosing a new username (kent brockman) and email, I was able to create a new account, then post for the rest of the day. My main point in all of this was to perhaps warn Mr. Sanchez of the fact that the GOP has already tossed him aside, and to be careful about going into this new phase with high expectations of what will come of it. His celebrity status is enough for Right Wing News to work hard at making him feel like a big shot, because…let’s face it, they haven’t got much else going on over there from the looks of it. In fact, if you scroll down the front page a little ways, you’ll come across a post that contains 4-5 links, which they urge you to click on. Cyber-panhandling…if that phrase hasn’t been made famous yet, then this is a perfect opportunity to introduce it into our language.
Oh – so after a number of hours, one of the storm troopers is still thinking that kent brockman is Hal Kimball, and I’ve already said my piece, so I help the poor guy out and explain the obvious, that deadissue and kent are the same person and have been all along. My IP address has now been blocked. Heh – not bad. ~~
Matt Sanchez is a blogger in Iraq, and he’s posted a rant about how the mainstream media is too chicken-shit to leave the Green Zone (he apparently is notified of the activities of the entire media apparatus in the country on a regular basis)…stop me if you’ve heard this one before from a right-winger…and so he is debunking news articles, one in particular about a suicide bombing that was reported by the Wall Street Journal, without facts or a follow-up to the news division or even a single word from the article itself. You’re just supposed to take his word for it, and that is precisely what 99/100 readers of Right Wing News are prepared to do. Here’s a link to the Sanchez post, ‘Embed Matt Sanchez Reports From Fallujah‘.
I was able to post comments up until I submitted this (went into moderation and so I posted a comment that showed up on the site – meaning that, I wasn’t banned until they read the following):
Right Wing News – Fair enough, I’ll disregard the particulars regarding such and such, and simply debate Mr. Sanchez on the points he makes. If “street cred” is necessary for everyone here to take what I have to say seriously, then let me say up front that I’m an Army veteran, currently doing all I can to assist fellow veterans and soldiers who are still in the system. This consists of letter writing on their behalf, advice on how to address grievances within the system (trying to prevent people who need help into just going AWOL, as unfortunately a number of soldiers end up doing before they reach me or one of my colleagues).
I LOVE these people! The individual stories are horrendous, and for the most part transcend politics entirely. I could go on, but to blog-whore this one time and point you to ‘deadissueMilitary‘, you’ll find many actual accounts from soldiers and marines who are there today, as well as others who aren’t. Up front let me say that on a philosophical level, I believe the side-plot of media-mania in politics is detrimental in a situation like we have in Iraq. To flatly accuse reporters from the WSJournal of not getting a story right is something that should be confirmed with a request to their news division. A few months back there was an AP story about worshipers being doused with kerosene and set on fire outside of a mosque, to which a blogger decided it was fake, and that post was copied throughout the blogsphere.
It had to do with a source that the blogger felt did not exist, but after AP confirmed that he certainly did exist, as was proven (to the detriment of that source btw, as policy in Iraq for the police is to not provide information to the press, and so, this man could be dead by now over this)…what then? Perhaps in the instance Matt is pointing out here, there was more than one suicide bomber attack, and he is confusing that one with the one he describes here. How can we know if that is the case? Sadly, we have to dig up those stories ourselves, as Mr. Sanchez hasn’t bothered to compare the WSJournal article with his own recollections…nor has he leveraged his fan base here to track down an authority in the WSJ newsroom that can provide more details on the article and how it originated.
My main point here being…that Mr. Sanchez expects us to take his reporting at face value, yet besides a “trust me because I’m in Iraq”…bottom line, disregard MSM reporting because it is false and biased, but don’t apply that skepticism to what I write.
Matt: The reporting is, indeed, atrocious. The Washington Post report about the Green Zone running out of food, or members of the military not being able to blog were flat out lies.
The item regarding soldiers not being able to blog was based on an Army policy, of which, a copy was disseminated to the public through the media. It pertained to all electronic communication (including email), with each having to be approved by the command prior to it being sent, or else it is considered “unauthorized”. This isn’t about a “liberal media bias”, it’s the policy. Here is that document – Army Regulation 530-1.
Matt:I’m currently one of FIVE embeds in all of the Al Anbar Province. A province roughly the size of South Carolina.
And what about regional media? Iraqi media? You point out the fact right here that you are but one individual in a land that is vast in size, yet in your piece, the way you take a large brush to the media’s role in Iraq makes it seem like a small place. If one person (you) can single-handedly prove that a news organization like the WSJournal is making up their stories, then Iraq must be a small place after all.
Matt:I’m surprised that the people who are most opposed to Iraq are the people who want to know the least about Iraq, and just don’t have the guts to come out here.
I take this with a grain of salt. There hasn’t been a day gone by where the right-wing passed up an opportunity to pretend that only their side was invested in Iraq and/or had the “guts” to even be there, and I honestly attribute this posturing to a Napoleon complex. With the amount of journalists killed in this war already, it is insulting to read, in 2007, that they are all cowards, fabricators, etc.
Hence the reason why this piece by Mr. Sanchez is propaganda, and should not be taken seriously by anyone. If this one man is more capable than entire media outlets operating within Iraq…well, how likely is that? Let’s be real. We can admire someone for their bravery, but if they have to gain their relevance by assaulting the bravery of others – ironically (or not) the people he is competing against – it presents ethical questions that cannot be overcome by simply saying “trust me, I’m in Iraq and you’re not”.
DEADISSUE READERS – you know the drill. Whoever can get this comment on the thread over there, I’d appreciate it. I don’t think they were counting on the likes of me today. Easier to burn the books than read ’em!
Excellent work once again! You work is up on the site!
Why do you even engage these guys? I read through about 2 dozen comments on that site and just had to bail. The standard-issue response to contrary argumentation is either “you’re making it up,” or, “you’re quoting someone who is making it up.”
If the underlying premise is that everything CBS, NYTimes, WSJ (shockingly), etc. and etc. report is either an outright lie or a simple selective report, there’s no basis for argument. That place is the ultimate echo-chamber.
At least the better left-wing places back up their crap with reportage. Honestly, the one unifying trait many “conservative” commentators have is the conviction that one contrary case invalidates all other evidence.
If you build one school, that’s worth 1000 civilian deaths because it proves you’re there for the “right” reasons.
If you send a container of drugs, that proves you’re not there for the oil, since you sent medicine.
If you run one successful patrol, the surge is working.
No body of evidence can stand in the face of one contrary example. And heaven forbid you base a general conclusion on a body of evidence that runs counter to the cited example-du-jour. Do that, and everything you’ve ever said or will say becomes a lie.
I don’t know what you hope to gain from such a conversation. But good for you: I get too tired out from spending the first 2 hours to establish a baseline reality every time I try to engage a “conservative.” You have to start with the basics: can we agree that the sky is blue? Can we agree that gravity operates in the middle east?
Can we agree that Bill Clinton has nothing to do with this conversation?
Don’t troll and you won’t get banned.
RWN actually has a very tolerant policy in place regarding opposing views. (especially when compared to the major leftist blogs) You have to acually violate rules to get posts deleted or banned. Apparently, your first posts of the thread were personal attacks against the author of the piece and thus you got deleted.
And Hal_kimball, you might think twice about trying to help another user get around a ban by acting as a proxy. That is probably also against the rules.
Jim, I know…it’s troubling. I don’t know why, but something about this situation right here has me feeling bad for this guy Sanchez. He doesn’t know any better. The guy’s being co-opted right now, and from what I see, doesn’t have a clue about what he’s doing.
Wouldn’t you agree with me that the window has closed on the “media is lying to us about Iraq” line at this point? Right Wing News is providing an outlet, but from the number of trackbacks I’ve seen today being next to nothing…
This dude from RWNews posting right above…I’ve been around this block once or twice. Been booted off of plenty of sites for less…the routine is the same every time.
There’s a well thought out Monday story that a blog is excited about, and I come around and piss on your Cheerios, which is alright, since flamewars are about all the right-wing blogs are about most days…but then I get too close to the heart of what’s going on, like with this comment right here. It wasn’t until THIS ONE that I suddenly became too dangerous to have around.
Insomnia last night is the only thing that led me to RWNews in the first place. And for the record…it’s not right what you guys are doing to Matt Sanchez. You all know full well that he’s never getting back on FoxNews, nor is he ever getting invited to any GOP event ever again. YOU KNOW THIS, yet choose to exploit him anyway.
I’ve been trying to warn this guy all day, but I’m not sure if he really gets what is happening.
Thanks Hal! Good looking out, I owe you one.
Hi Jim. Photos i received. Thanks
Bill:
?
I was wondering what that was also.
1. There is no local media. I asked. Members of the press have been categorically targeted. I was told of the last guy who tried to open up a small paper and decided he’d have a better chance of living if he drove a cab in Baghdad.
2. You were banned for getting off the topic and trying to smear me.
As for “being co-opted” Give me a break. The leftist, liberal “progressive” biased monopoly on distorted press is a bane on this country. I know liberals believe feeling sorry for others makes them feel superior but I don’t need your “care”.
http://mattsanchez.typepad.com/audio/MattSanchezInterviewedByMarthaZoller.mp3
…too many shots to the head.
This guy have ADHD or something? Sanchez, after being famous, then going all the way to Iraq to make it in punditry, to be posting exclusively on “Right Wing News” is a bad sign.
That was my main point in all of this. Tell me that Malkin, Coulter and all the other GOP heavies you rubbed elbows with a few months ago are quoting your reporting from Iraq…no? Not really?
Keep on living the conspiracy theory out Matt…fact is, you decided to land onto the Titanic 3/4 of the way down, and you’re wearing out the bullshit that was already old in 04-05. Guaranteed, the likes of Right Wing News will toss you a bone, but if you ask anyone in the know, I’d imagine they’d consider both you and the site equally fucked at this point, so why not combine forces and sink even faster…
Just be warned, that once you pile up a few more entries like the one today, you will be picked up by the people, only more of them will be on KOS than any of the right-wing sites.
And if you’re cool with all of that, you’ll still have to face up at some point with the fact that these people you’re hoping to inspire on the right, are the same ones who deem homosexuality immoral and use the community as a wedge issue whenever they can.
So you’re turning your back on the military and the gay community…all so you can become a product in right-wing world, which is a fantasy that died the second your past came to light.
Just like Tillman, they’d gotten what they needed out of you, and now they’re done. I fear that you started believing in the hype, but I did my good deed for the week. Good luck Matt!
These guys are in need of some serious help. I love how Sanchez portrays his work as gospel when we have some REAL military bloggers providing a much different perspectives…it’s a much different perspective to carry a M4 all Universal Soldiered out!
He’s a tool…but good work nonetheless!
Guys like this are a natural product of conservatism. Conservatives have no real successes to talk about so the entire movement has to count on people willing to purjure, generally when you are looking for people who are willing to lie you may not be getting the best of the best, like Jeff Gannon and now apparentely this Matt Sanchez.
BTW, I was banned too…
Ok, the emotional left is being dismissive of what they don’t want to understand.
Good luck in the prozac-bliss.
Matt Sanchez
“The emotional left”
…
Wasn’t it the pro-war GOP house minority leader Boehner who was crying two weeks ago on the floor?
Look, I’m not the one in Iraq sucking down kool-aid. That is where your emotions got you. Now you’ve got a wing-nut fanbase that still isn’t clued in on the fact that a civil war is taking place over there.
They send out the delusional self-hating gay guy, because no one else was so desperate for relevance that they’d actually put their fairy tales to the test over there…until they found you. A suitable mark.
Damn you Al, you beat me to it!
Matt;
Why are you so desperate to have the “cool kids”(by cool kids I mean people like Ann Coulter and Bill Oriely)like you? they hate everything you stand for and are using you. Yet you spend all your time trying to get approval from them. Why?
On the one hand Sanchez seems to be arguing that Iraq isn’t all that bad, and the media is exaggerating reports of violence. But on the other hand, when he’s trying to pump himself up, Sanchez says stuff like this on the RWN thread…
quote from Sanchez:
“I’ve been RPG’ed, shot at and saw the remnants of a suicide bomber after he(?) blew himself up. I’ve had an IED go off in front of me. Do you really think I’m afraid of the Pink Press, or people like you Kent-Brockman?”
Does Sanchez talk about the corruption and human rights issues in Iraq? Or does he just spin things in order to further the right wing rhetoric?
http://www.robertbryce.com/documents/1.pdf
Serious allegations in that memo!
Why are you so desperate to have the “cool kids”(by cool kids I mean people like Ann Coulter and Bill Oriely)like you? they hate everything you stand for and are using you.
Hate? You think conservatives are the ones consumed with hate? Have you ever read any of the emails Michelle Malkin gets from supposedly “tolerant” liberals? Did you miss the liberals who photoshopped Sambo makeup onto Micheal Steele’s face?
There’s a term psychologists use called “projection”. It’s when you attribute your own unacceptable or unwanted thoughts and emotions onto others because you’re afraid to face them. Mayhap liberals are projecting their own hate onto conservatives.