Boston Herald Touts Bulls–t Clinton/Trump Spy Story

February 18, 2022

This editorial cartoon yesterday in Boston’s faulty local tabloid went all in on the latest fever-swamp conspiracy mongering among right-wingnuts .

Not to get technical about it, but a) it wasn’t the Clinton campaign behind any monitoring, b) there was no spying on Trump, because c) whatever monitoring did (or did not) happen occurred when Barack Obama occupied the White House.

Some background from CNN’s Brian Stelter.

On Saturday night former President Donald Trump declared that he was the victim of a scandal “far greater” than Watergate. He called for criminal prosecutions and “reparations.” He said “in a stronger period of time in our country, this crime would have been punishable by death.”

Trump’s statement made no sense – except to the Fox audience base that badly wants it to be true.

Four days later, Trump-aligned media outlets are still amplifying his bogus message far and wide and ranting about the circumstances of his 2016 election win over Hillary Clinton. Tuesday’s cover of the New York Post portrayed “HILLARY THE SPY.” The Wall Street Journal editorial page said “Trump really was spied on.” Fox hosts have called it a “bombshell” dozens of times.

One of those Fox News hosts, Jesse Watters, got fact-checked by PolitiFact, which arrived at this conclusion: “Durham’s filing never alleged what Watters falsely claimed: that Clinton paid hackers to spy on Donald Trump before and during his presidency, break into his computers, and then fraudulently frame him for colluding with Russia.”

But, as the Heraldniks might say, never let facts get in the way of a good cartoon.


Boston Globe Rejects Anti-Impeachment Ad

December 16, 2019

A recent item in Politico’s Morning Score noted that “nearly $11.3 million has been spent on television ads in Democratic incumbents’ districts [between October 1 and December 6], according to data provided to Score by Advertising Analytics. A whopping $9.4 million of that has come from Republican groups, led by American Action Network’s $4.4 million.”

Representative anti-impeach ad from AAN, targeting Rep. Susie Lee in NV-03.

 

 

Of course, one group’s charade is another group’s sham – witness the theme of this full-page newspaper ad from America First Policies.

 

 

According to an AFP press release, $276,750 of the $2 million advertising campaign is going to a variety of newspapers.

But not the Boston Globe.

The stately local broadsheet rejected this version of the ad according to a Fox News  report last night. (It’s in two pieces due to technical difficulties.)

 

 

Nuts to you graf:

The Boston Globe told Fox News that the ad “does not meet our advertising acceptability standards” but that it was “open to reviewing a reworked version.” The paper also insisted that it accepted opinion advertisements “regardless of our editorial position on any given subject.”

However, according to America First Policies, the “modifications” the Globe suggested included removing the word “sham” and using a “better picture” of Pappas.

 

AFP, in turn, told Fox News that “more than two dozen papers approved its printing, including the Chicago Tribune, the Des Moines Register and the Minneapolis Star Tribune.

Kelly Sadler, the group’s communications director, added this: “We know the Boston Globe’s editorial board is pro-impeachment, but had no idea that bias extended to its sales department.”

The hardreading staff awaits the next shoe to drop.


Herald Has Healthy Edge in Obamacare Dustup

November 12, 2014

There’s a nifty little rumpus underway over a gaffe by a local healthcare guru who sort of told the truth by accident.

It all got started a few days ago when an outfit called American Commitment posted this video:

 

 

In yesterday’s edition, the Boston Herald was on it like Brown on Williamson.

Obamacare architect blasted for ‘deliberate deception’

An MIT professor considered one of the architects of Obamacare is being blasted by critics over a video they say shows him admitting the law’s “lack of transparency” was designed to dupe a gullible American public.

Jonathan Gruber, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, made the explosive comments that have now gone viral on the Internet as a panelist during a lecture on “The Role of Economics in Shaping the ACA” at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School on Oct. 17, 2013

 

Gruber then hied himself to the friendly confines of MSNBC for damage control.

 

 

But that did nothing to mollify the projectile pundits on the right.

 

 

Today the feisty local tabloid ran this follow-up:

Regrets over remarks on ‘stupidity’ of voters

George Gosner Jr, Spring Insurance Group     Jonathon Gruber, Massachusetts Institute of Technology     AndrŽs L—pez, AJL Consultants     Louis Malzone, Massachusetts Coalition of Taft-Hardly Funds     Nancy Turnbull, Harvard School of Public Health     Celia Wcislo, 1199 SEIU United Healthcare Workers East     Ian Duncan, Solucia Inc.

Obamacare architect Jonathan Gruber yesterday walked back his controversial remarks that a “lack of transparency” triggered by the “stupidity of the American voter” helped pass the embattled health care law, saying he “spoke inappropriately.”

“The comments in the video were made in an academic conference,” Gruber told MSNBC yesterday. “I was speaking off the cuff, and I basically spoke inappropriately. And I regret having made those comments.”

Gruber declined a Herald request for an interview.

 

Big surprise, yeah?

Also not surprising: The Boston Globe has ignored the whole donnybrook.

 

Screen Shot 2014-11-12 at 12.26.00 PM

 

So what else is news?


What Can the Globe Undo for Brown? (Fox News Buckraking Edition)

June 22, 2014

The Boston Globe’s Brown-beating of Downturn Scotty proceeded apace in yesterday’s edition, Page One.

Speeches paying off for Brown

In shift, he releases records; got $126k for Fox News job

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Massachusetts senator Scott Brown has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars since leaving office by collecting speech fees, a six-figure paycheck from Fox News, and a variety of other income, according to documents made public Friday.brown-big

Brown, who lost his 2012 bid for reelection and is now seeking a US Senate seat in New Hampshire, made 20 paid speeches for $186,000 between January 2013 and May 2014. They included a London address to the Royal Bank of Scotland for $20,000 last year, a $900 speech at the Billerica Community Alliance in October, and a $20,000 paycheck for speaking at a hedge fund conference in Las Vegas last month.

 

Billerica Community Alliance? $900? Seriously?

Kick-in-the-nuts graf:

As he did in Massachusetts, Brown has sought to present an image of himself as a regular guy with a pickup truck for his New Hampshire Senate bid. New Hampshire’s median household income, among the nation’s highest, is about $65,000.

 

Ouch.


The Quick Brown Fox Jumps All Over the Lazy Quote

February 20, 2014

Now that my friend Dan Kennedy has told his myriad readers that I’d be writing this, I am.

The Boston Globe, Scott Brown (R-Elsewhere) and Fox News are going ’round the Maypole over a story by Joshua Miller that appeared in the stately local broadsheet yesterday.

Scott Brown no longer under contract with Fox News

Ex-senator mum on whether he will run in N.H.Debate Pool3

Former US senator Scott Brown, a frequent presence on Fox News, is no longer under contract with the widely watched cable station, a development sure to fan flames of speculation about his potential US Senate bid in New Hampshire.

“He is currently out of contract with the network,” a Fox News spokeswoman told the Globe late Tuesday night following an inquiry.

 

Not so, Brown tells the Boston Herald’s Hillary Chabot in today’s edition.

Scott Brown rips Boston Globe over Fox report

Just inked deal, not going

 

STU_4427.JPG

 

A miffed Scott Brown yesterday shot down reports that he parted ways with Fox News — pointing to his freshly inked deal with the conservative network and tweaking the Boston Globe for failing to double-check its story.

“Globe should have checked with someone who had authority to speak for Fox and/or me. They did not,” wrote the former U.S. senator in a text to the Herald. He did not disclose any details of his Fox pact.

 

According to Miller, the Globe did try: “Brown did not respond to a voicemail seeking comment late Tuesday.” Yesyesyes – how late is key, but it’s disingenuous for Brown to imply that no attempt was made to get his side.

Then again, in his mulligan today Miller sliced it a bit fine himself:

The Globe, in a report published online Tuesday night and in Wednesday’s paper, said that Brown “is currently out of contract with the network,” based on a statement from a Fox News spokeswoman. When pressed whether this was due to a potential run for office or because his contract was up, the spokeswoman simply repeated that he is “out of contract with the network.”

The report did not say that Brown was leaving the network nor that he had been terminated.

 

Yeah, but you sure got that impression. And then there’s this: “Brown did not return the Globe’s multiple calls for comment Tuesday and Wednesday.”

Wednesday? The corn was off the cob by then. Wednesday doesn’t count.

Here’s what does count: As long as Brown keeps showing some leg, someone’s gonna be trying to cut them out from under him.

 


Brown Is the New Block(head)

August 19, 2013

Of all the nudnik 2016 presidential wannabes (Peter King! Martin O’Malley! Come on down!), Scott Brown (R-Fox News) ranks among the most delusional. But you’d never know that from reading the Boston Herald.

Today’s Page One:

 

Picture 1

 

Inside, the feisty local tabloid is plenty giddy itself, starting with a sunnyside up semi-news story.

081819brown01Nation may learn what Scott Brown can do for U.S.

National Republicans rushed to give former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown’s presidential trial balloon a thumbs up yesterday, saying the Bay State moderate’s impassioned plea for a big tent party could be the 2016 anecdote to debilitating GOP infighting.

“I’m thrilled he’s here. I see 2016 as wide open both nationally and in Iowa — especially if a candidate can come here and make a strong case,” said Iowa Republican committee chairman A.J. Striker. “I think having a diverse field actually strengthens and grows the party.”

 

Certainly grows the coffers of the Iowa Republican committee, yeah?

Then there’s this legit opinion piece by Kimberly Atkins:

 

Picture 2

 

Wait – more good news in the Scott Brown Gazette! His daughter Arianna just got engaged! To “a paralegal specialist at the Department of Justice and a former Brown Senate office intern”!

 

Picture 3

 

The only skunk at the Herald garden party was this letter writer:

Brown’s betrayal

Bona fide registered Republicans, who share conservative fiscal values and liberal social views, wish Scott Brown would just go back to his obscure role as a member of the corrupt Massachusetts House or Senate (“Brown: ‘Infighting’ aids Dems,” Aug. 16).

He has disappointed a majority of Republicans and moderates who elected him on a false belief he shared their views of less government intervention in their lives. Unfortunately, like every other RINO, he blindsided us with his decisive vote on the Consumer “Destruction” Act. Shame on him for scolding the members of his party who support Republican values.

— Todd Douglas, Weston

 

So Brown’s disappointed Republicans and moderates? That won’t put much giddy-up in a presidential campaign, will it?

Which is essentially what Adrian Walker writes crosstown in the Boston Globe today.

I don’t want to make light of Brown’s presidential prospects. It’s just hard to believe that he has any presidential prospects. For starters, he lost his last election by a substantial margin, something unusual for a sitting senator.

And his so-called brand of politics is far out of step with the leadership of his own party. There’s not much reason to believe the GOP wants a nominee whose main qualification is that he can draw support from Massachusetts moderates. Why would a party that got trounced with Mitt Romney in 2012 turn around and nominate Scott Brown?

 

Walker’s conclusion is that Brown can’t stand being out of the spotlight, so “[t]he quest for attention has become his never-ending campaign.”

At least he’s raised his sights, though. Here’s what the Herald reported yesterday about Brown’s fondest wishes:

Brown, who’s tapped into his musical side since his November defeat to Elizabeth Warren, said he’ll make his “debut” next month playing guitar with his daughter, Ayla, when she opens for the Charlie Daniels Band on Sept. 8 in Webster.

A beginner five months ago, Brown said he’s religiously practiced each night before bed to the point he can strum more than a half-dozen songs . . .

 

Great – he can always live off Ayla if this presidential thing doesn’t work out.

 


Scott Brown Not the Brightest Bulb in the Vanity Mirror

February 14, 2013

Subhead: He’s a bit of a stiff, too.

Former Sen. Scott Brown (R-$$$) made his Fox News debut on Sean Hannity’s show last night, and it has received decidedly mixed reviews in the local dailies.

Boston Globe:

Scott Brown_Fox NewsScott Brown makes his Fox debut

Former senator Scott Brown made a transition from potential comeback politician to pundit in just two weeks, making his debut as a contributor to Fox News on Wednesday night in an appearance also billed as an “exclusive” by host Sean Hannity.

Fans and skeptics alike saw the move as a plush landing pad for Brown, a telegenic former model who used his regular-guy appeal to great effect in his campaign for US Senate and whose upset win in 2010 was championed and chronicled on Fox . . .

Wearing a suit with an American flag on his lapel, Brown started off his appearance on the “Hannity” show smiling uncertainly, but he soon hit his stride with campaign- style talking points.

 

Translation for the Fox News-impaired: Bo-ring.

Crosstown at the Boston Herald, though, the atmosphere (by which we mean, of course, Margery Eagan) was electric:

Scott Brown at "The People's Library"Scott Brown can’t lose as top Fox hunk

Scott Brown isn’t running for governor next year. That’s my bet.

Fox News, where he debuted last night, is a terrific paycheck. Good for him.

But you just don’t help your political career in the bluest of blue states by working for Fox . . .

I for one expect that Brown will do for the men of America what he did for the boyos of Massachusetts: He’ll make them swoon.

 

He’s certainly had that effect on her: “Scott Brown is even better looking than the very pretty Sean Hannity — and in much better, triathlon-ready shape. Brown is almost as gorgeous as Megyn Kelly.”

But while the earth may have moved for Margery, others were less, well, breathless.

“I wonder what political analysis he’s done in the past that is noteworthy. Has he ever said anything that has great political insight?” said longtime GOP political analyst Todd Domke.

“Once elected, he was pretty mushy. He proved that moderation is not necessarily a virtue because it can mean boring. I don’t know what to expect,” Domke added. “Actually, I think I do know what to expect.”

 

Translation for the Domke-impaired: Double boring.

One last mash note (check lower right), this one regarding Ed Markey and Stephen Lynch agreeing to a “people’s pledge:”

Picture 2

 

In the end, only the Herald can make the Herald swoon.

 


Foxy Brown, Action Figure

February 7, 2013

Another crisscross in the local dailies as former Sen. Scott Brown (R-$$$) mulls over joining the madcap crew at Fox News. The Boston Globe front-pages it,; the Boston Herald relegates it to page 12.

From the feisty local tabloid:

AN3V5646.JPGJob may not be Foxy move for Scott Brown

While a talking head gig at Fox News could give former U.S. Sen. Scott Brown a running start, should he run for governor in 2014 — it could also prove to be a political albatross in the deep blue Bay State.

“It makes it tougher for him to run for governor, being a commentator on a conservative news network that’s not all that popular beyond Republicans in Massachusetts,” said Republican consultant Rob Gray.

A Fox News spokeswoman yesterday confirmed that Brown is in talks with the national network but would not detail what role the ex-senator would play. That announcement comes after Fox cut ties with former GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin and Clinton presidential adviser Dick Morris.

 

Scott Brown as Sarah Morris. We like that.

Crosstown, the stately local broadsheet liked it enough to plaster it Page One:

Picture 1

 

The Globe piece took the story beyond the Herald version and into an entirely new dimension:

Just days after he stunned the political world by announcing he was bowing out of contention for another Senate seat, Scott Brown made a return to the private sector, joining the board of a Massachusetts-based paper processing company and negotiating a possible deal to appear on Fox News.

A Fox spokesman confirmed Brown is in talks to appear on the network, which recently announced it is not renewing contracts with big-name political commentators Sarah Palin and Dick Morris. It was unclear, however, what role Brown might have on the network. Though Brown has told several Republicans that he will have a gig on Fox, the spokesman said the talks are not final.

Brown would not comment to the Globe. When reached Wednesday night, he said, “I am right in the middle of dinner,” and hung up the phone.

 

A hangup! The perfect frame of mind for working at Fox News.