Speaker McCarthy said he gave Tucker Carlson exclusive access to Jan. 6 security footage because he “promised.” But to whom did he make this “promise”? (via MaddowBlog) https://t.co/aAff3CoLaU
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) February 27, 2023
It took some time, but House Speaker Kevin McCarthy finally shed some light this week on his decision to give Fox News’ Tucker Carlson exclusive access to sensitive Jan. 6 security footage. In fact, the Republican leader’s explanation focused heavily on a single word.
“I promised I would give you the truth regarding January 6th, and now I am delivering,” the House speaker wrote in a fundraising appeal this week. He used similar rhetoric in comments to The New York Times, justifying his deal with the controversial television personality by saying, “I promised.”
There’s no shortage of problems with McCarthy’s tactics and defense, but his choice of words led to a related question: To whom did he make this “promise”?…
TL;DR — it was part of Matt Gaetz’s demands while McCarthy was selling off his integrity to secure his ‘Speakership’. Pretty fair to assume Gaetz, and the rest of the Tantrum Caucus, were catspaws for Murdoch media’s ongoing disinformation campaign against Democrats, and democracy.
ALERT: Media organizations demand Jan. 6 videos McCarthy shared with Fox News' Tucker Carlson. Just filed to @CBSNewshttps://t.co/NzyVefciWw
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) February 24, 2023
Attorney for media group: “Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks..,”
— Scott MacFarlane (@MacFarlaneNews) February 25, 2023
… In a letter to congressional leadership Friday, the media companies argue the footage McCarthy allowed Carlson and Fox News to access should be made available to other media groups.
The letter was sent on behalf of CBS News, CNN, Politico, ProPublica ABC, Axios, Advance, Scripps, the Los Angeles Times, and Gannett.
“Without full public access to the complete historical record, there is concern that an ideologically-based narrative of an already polarizing event will take hold in the public consciousness, with destabilizing risks to the legitimacy of Congress, the Capitol Police, and the various federal investigations and prosecutions of January 6 crimes,” wrote attorney Charles Tobin.
McCarthy’s office has not responded to multiple requests for comment from CBS News about the reported release of more than 41,000 hours of police footage to Fox News…
The release has unleashed a wave of controversy on Capitol Hill. In a letter to colleagues, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries described Carlson as a “FOX News personality who regularly peddles in conspiracy theories and Pro-Putin rhetoric.”
A House Democrat who was part of a Democratic Party caucus meeting about the video release told CBS News there is “deep, deep concern” about the security implications of McCarthy’s decision. The Democrat, who requested anonymity to discuss the Democratic caucus’ internal discussions, said House members are not certain if Carlson’s team was restricted from recording images of the videos or if they were supervised while viewing the video…
Fox and its chief on-air propagandist had already been exposed as liars. Carlson, in particular:
… When Fox truthfully reported Joe Biden’s victory, Carlson texted his producer: “Do the executives understand how much credibility and trust we’ve lost with our audience? We’re playing with fire, for real.” When another reporter fact-checked a Trump tweet spreading lies about stolen votes, Carlson demanded that the reporter be fired…
Charles P. Pierce, “We Can Stop Pretending Fox News is a Reputable Outlet Now“:
Some day, we will all finally tumble to the fact that the only way to survive here in the Age Of Morons is to laugh our way through whatever burlesque Armageddon comes next. And when that day comes, we are all going to look at Thursday, February 16, 2023 as a pivotal point in human—and humor’s—history. It was the day that the masquerade finally ended, that Fox News was finally exposed as the empty fraud it always has been, and that Dominion Voting Systems delivered its mightiest blow in defense of journalism and the American republic.
At the moment, DVS is suing Fox News for defamation to the tune of $1.6 billion, which is a lovely melody indeed. The basis for the suit is that FNC’s on-air hosts trafficked in wicked untruths about Dominion’s machines in the attempt to convince the country that the former president* was cheated out of his great victory in 2020. As part of this enterprise, Dominion obtained some internal Fox texts and emails and, on Thursday, these were shared with the waiting world and, well, wowser…
… Unless Fox has a helluva lot stronger defense than the one they’ve mustered so far, which depends (largely) on how hard it is for a high-profile operation to prove actual malice, Fox now stands exposed as a dispenser of untruths that even its own employees did not believe while they were dispensing them. This is Jayson Blair at corporate size, Stephen Glass with a Pym Particle…
This material destroys Fox News’ credentials as a legitimate news organization. Institutions of government and political organizations would be fully justified in revoking its media credentials. It has proven to be unworthy of support from any media outlet with any self-respect or devotion to its ultimate responsibility to help create an informed electorate capable of governing itself. It is a carrier of a dangerous democratic pathogen. Isolate it. Quarantine its lying ass. Cast it out of even the impolite society of a free and independent media.
A group of news organizations asked Speaker Kevin McCarthy to provide the security footage of the Jan 6 attack on the Capitol that has been shared with Tucker Carlson on Rupert Murdoch's propaganda channel Fox News. Tucker Carlson spread the BIG Lie and misled his viewers. pic.twitter.com/yPzCxXEoc7
— Tony – Resistance (@TonyHussein4) February 25, 2023
Bmaccnm
Aren’t these tapes public property?
Alison Rose
@Bmaccnm: socialist
piratedan
@Bmaccnm: I suspect the video recordings that monitor the security within the Capitol itself are not. What J6 Committee did was to extract the elements that allowed them to make their case from multiple sources…. What I suspect the GOP is going to do, is completely splice an alternative narrative to allow them to continue to sell the lie.
For once, Faux couldn’t control the narrative and attempt to both sides the issue, McCarthy doing this allows them the means to set up an alternative narrative. The fact that he’s sharing this with the ONE Fox News personality who’s been publicly attested to by his own employers as being someone no sane person could believe as being trustworthy, is just some ironic MAGA chef’s kiss, like passing off Hormel’s Chili With Beans in a Texas Chili Cook Off as legit.
Chetan Murthy
@Alison Rose: I bet he’s woke, too. A veritable cultural Marxist.
Alison Rose
@Chetan Murthy: He probably has like five electric stoves because he hates gas ones so much.
West of the Rockies
May we assume that if Schiff and company chose to, they could also release all footage to other/all news organizations? It’s certainly not solely McCarthy’s property to do with as he pleases.
Sebastian
There is beef brewing between Elon Musk and the Mandalorian Order of the Cross and Rose and it’s becoming hilarious. Mr. Musk might be slightly outmatched here.
Chetan Murthy
@Sebastian: uh, wut?
cain
@Sebastian:
Elon and who now ?
piratedan
@West of the Rockies: He may argue that it is, doesn’t mean that he’s correct in doing so, but these asshats have no problems lying their asses off and being inconsistent has no bearing because IOKIYAAR. Rules don’t apply unless they say that they do.
Ken_L
I’m at a loss to understand why Schumer doesn’t simply make them all available to anyone who asks.
Ken_L
I’m at a loss to understand why Schumer doesn’t simply make them all available to anyone who asks.
Ken_L
I’m at a loss to understand why Schumer doesn’t simply make them all available to anyone who asks.
Alison Rose
@Chetan Murthy:
@cain:
Trust me, y’all don’t want to go down this road
Sebastian
@Chetan Murthy:
@cain:
lgerard
@Sebastian:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5XcKBmdfpWs
Alison Rose
@Sebastian: Dude. This is not “beef”. Your account doesn’t meet the very simple requirements. This is one tweet from you whining about it. Please stop dragging everyone here into this weird shit.
Sebastian
@Alison Rose:
You are not seeing the picture, my friend. Have you checked out who they are?
The Alley of Titans was a masterful head fake. Got the rich and famous all excited, only to faceplant them into the endless vast of their sin. I wonder if there is a bigger story arc here because King’s Landing and Dubrovnik popped up somewhere.
Sebastian
@Alison Rose:
This is not my account, you dweep.
BQuimby
This is one for Cole: https://thecivilrightslawyer.com/2023/02/17/breaking-wv-state-police-implodes-top-guy-fired-whistleblower-tells-all/
Chetan Murthy
@Sebastian: I know you think you’re being clever, but …. none of this denotes. None of it. And that tweet …. well, it’s pretty weak tea too. I mean, typically a beef involves two parties, and all I see is one in that tweet.
Aussie Sheila
It’s too late for F and F’wits. The genie is out of the bottle. They might be able to make some bs narrative out of the released film. The fact is the real facts have been out there since last year. That will have marinated for six months. And this time, I don’t expect the mainstream press news will ‘both sides’ it.
This is weak tea. The already convinced will remain so, the coming indictments will not be able to shift the conversation much beyond the already convinced, but it will effect those that have not been paying much attention.
I hope to see the Biden administration run on the populist economic narrative they have already crafted, and that Dem social media mavens are pushing. It is a terrible thing McCarthy has done, but it won’t make much difference. The narrative is Trump is a crim, and the people that supported him in his coup attempt belong in prison. I hate it as much as anyone, but I am not worried by it.
HumboldtBlue
I am just now starting episode 2 of The Wire, the greatest TV series ever, and it’s still as shockingly fresh 20 years later.
The cigarettes were a thing, but there were no mandalorians, just mandolins, we presume, in the restaurants and kitchens of Baltimore where Ignatius Loyola once memorized the entire roster of the 1958 Baltimore Colts and then submitted to the will of the bloody cross, which, I guess, meant losing to the Steelers, Dolphins and Raiders in the playoffs and are why Nancy Pelosi became such an angry effective bad-ass bitch-in-charge.
Unitas Veritas Baltimorum!
Amir Khalid
@Sebastian:
The links you’ve put up in recent days haven’t managed to convince anyone, and in fact quite a few jackals are getting concerned about your mental health.
David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch
@HumboldtBlue: Of course the number one greatest tv series evah is The A-Team
Brachiator
Seems a desperate bid to try to depict Fox News as a truth teller.
The Republicans have practically renounced any belief in American democracy. Strange times we live in.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Chetan Murthy:
If it’s only one person, rather than beef maybe someone is having a cow.
/badum tish
Please do try the waitresses and be sure to tip the roast beef.
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
If you’re high.
I agree!
Amir Khalid
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
It should be obvious to everyone that the greatest TV show of all time is Mork & Mindy.
Aussie Sheila
@Brachiator: Yes. And contrary to conventional wisdom I don’t think anyone not already in the tank for maga will pay much attention. Indictments will play much wider and will have much more effect. Even in the US, indictments of elected and appointed officials still has the ability to shock and awe.
I don’t mean here that indictments are the answer to maga. They aren’t. Only decisive political defeat will do that. But indictments are useful for the majority of the people that don’t pay attention to politics. After that, it will be up to the capacity of Dem surrogates and supporters to push the narrative.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Amir Khalid:
Naah, though I am stoned. I remember Robin Williams first cable special (HBO maybe?) in the late 70’s. Four college students and myself (lowly worker bee) rented a house for almost year. We threw a party, ordered three large Pizza Haven pizzas, a keg of Bud (absolutely no taste to speak of) and more than a few joints. We thought we were going to die laughing, we had never seen him perform before and it was unlike anything else. I remember literally gasping for air, we were laughing so hard.
The next morning I woke, tasted that taste some of us have tasted, opened my second floor window and puked my guts out. When I was done and looked up I saw my old lady neighbor out in her back yard. I said “Good morning!” and ducked my head back inside while she stood there and stared.
I did go out and hose everything all down afterward. After all, I’m not some kind of animal… ;)
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Aussie Sheila:
OT:
Years ago I was looking for info on a Toyota engine and in my search I found an Aussie web site called Whirlpool. It seems to be centered around internet providers but has forums for all kinds of topics. It’s there that I learned of the awesome insanity of some of your drivers. The interpretations of Aussie road rules are something to behold. I don’t think there are two people who agree on an interpretation of certain laws. I read it daily.
It was there that I learned of the awesomeness of Aussie Dash Cams and Scott’s Aussie/NZ Dash Cams on Youtube. OMG, vegemite-fueled road rage! My wife and I love to watch them just about every other evening. My wife and I have a good friend from the IRC days of the early 90’s who lives in Victoria. She stayed with us for a week a few years ago so we could share our Thanksgiving dinner with her and show her the Christmas light show in our local park.
Either way, lovely country and if I ever visited I would hire a driver. :).
Aussie Sheila
@Odie Hugh Manatee: Well I wouldn’t let internet dashcam stuff frighten you too much. Actually, Aussie drivers are remarkably law abiding, but if you drive outside the cities a lot, you need to get with the ‘local’ rules. Rural car accidents are way above urban counterparts both in frequency and lethality. Rural roads here are not…the best. And rural drivers….well let’s say they have a cavalier attitude.
Irrespective of their Vegemite consumption. Which is high in the cities as well.
Yum Yum.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Far Out Space Nuts.
:)
NotMax
@Odie Hugh Manatee
Did someone say pizza?
;)
Baud
@David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch:
They should make an A-Team/Wire crossover.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@NotMax:
Datsa big mutha! With pineapple?
@Aussie Sheila:
I’m kidding about the Vegemite road rage but some of the knock down drag out fights are pretty wild. For absolutely insane driving the Chinese dash cams are just nuts. Their cars are not exactly the best built (lots of doors open on impact, no airbags) and the tires seem to have no traction in the rain.
The one move that I see in every country is the move from the fast lane on the highway to the exit, just missing impacting the divider. That and following too closely for the speed traveled.
Aussie Sheila
Sure. Drivers on freeways can always be found to be f knuckles. Everywhere. But I still maintain Aussie drivers on freeways are remarkably law abiding given the exasperation it always presents. Although China is a much more, far more authoritarian society than Oz, Australians are still remarkably more restrained and law abiding when shit hits the shovel. Maybe because they expect mutual respect from authority in a way more authoritarian regimes can’t and don’t. People here want and expect a quiet life. They get that by and large, First Nation Peoples excepted in many regions and rural areas.
MagdaInBlack
@Alison Rose: Buckle up, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.
NotMax
@Aussie Sheila
You mean The Cars That Ate Paris isn’t an Aussie documentary?
:)
JWR
@Aussie Sheila:
They’re expecting to see all the stuff the “woke” Capitol PD canceled, deleted or otherwise hid from the Republicans during the hearings.
Boy, these next two years are gonna be… something.
Splitting Image
It may also be remarked (by a certain kind of antiquarian) how appropriate it is that the unmasking came so close to Mardi Gras.
HumboldtBlue
@HumboldtBlue:
This is still cracking me up.
I love me.
JWR
From NPR, another attempt to “cancel” the VRA:
Textualism schmextualism. Gorsuch probably has a team of clerks scouring laws just looking for this sort of crap
ETA Fight For 15, dammit!
Aussie Sheila
@JWR: Christ I’ll never ‘get’ the unwillingness or inability of Dems to go to the mat over the franchise. There is nothing, nothing as fundamental to every right than the franchise. I understand what the USSC has done to the VRA. So go after it. This is the most basic civil right there is, bar none. F the Supreme Court and F the filibuster. Just.Do.It.
trucmat
Some are concerned about mental health. Others see a chance to belittle and bully.
p.a.
Just did an iPad update & my favorites list got completely scrambled. As if they were on individual scraps of paper that got vacuumed up & I have to reconstruct by picking them out of the dustbag.
First world problem I know but I assure you I have better things to do with my time. Even nose-picking would be a better use of time.😡
Sebastian
@Amir Khalid:
The One Ring to Rule Them All.
at one point, someone has to be the ultimate clearinghouse for a trust-based society, which oath commonwealths are.
the hypothetical challenge in the beginning was: how do you build the cathedral in the sky in the first place and then once built, how do you manifest and validate parts of the construct in reality through occurrences or treaties?
the challenge is finding the common denominator, which gives every oath member incentive to keep the oath. like the swiss for example. or the Japanese. or any other codex, book of books, which grants honor based status for merit.
knighthood as it were.
so what i did was pretty straightforward: i used all my RPG and FarmVille and other gained social knowledge and build a “perfect system” where those who are in the club (like you and me) have it awesome and are in charge.
once set up, all it needed was spotless execution from launch (do not sully the colors!) and nailing it a few times plus one or two external validators to summon the spirit of an organization.
the codex is in place. it’s stable, more than stable I’d say. this was executed perfectly without anyone knowing what’s going on.
people forgot one important thing when they pondered corporations and organisations: once alive, the mofo is immortal.
there are many successful commonwealths out there: the Sikh, the Kurds, the Croatians, the Ukrainians. But also all the Karate black belts, and those from Taekwan-do and Judo and Jiu-Jitsu and Aikido. I could go on.
what if there was an immutable, impeccable, trustable clearinghouse? like the swiss kind of.
nobody thought of starting the one ring to rule them all, so i did.
it’s chess’ sudden death because you ask the best in each realm to define the minimum standard which polices itself. no more riff raff.
to give you a simple example: you cannot be an anchorman if you lie. period. we have enough talented people to make this work.
once the participants in the game/oath realize that there is no hidden scam and adhering to the vow is in everyone’s best interest, all energy is directed outwards, and internally, resources are shared.
keep checking the two major nodes:
orderofthecrossandrose.org which is the society itself. the website updates hourly or quicker during sprints.
notsofastdavid.org and the accompanying #magick #doubledouble hashtags are the infowar side of the campaign.
NotMax
@Sebastian
Plato weeps.
//
lowtechcyclist
@Aussie Sheila:
Unfortunately, we have at least two Dem Senators who continue to regard the filibuster as more sacrosanct than anything else in this world, including voting rights. We don’t have a Senate majority without them.
And tbh, there may be a few more that are hiding behind Manchinema on this. (I’m thinking about Mark Warner in particular but there are probably others.) They don’t have to take a stand as long as those two won’t touch the filibuster, the issue’s moot for everyone else.
So unfortunately there’s no way for the Dems to just do it, because they are not sufficiently united in their willingness to do so.
Sebastian
@NotMax:
you are ignoring a few very important things:
the agency and interests of the other participants.
the absence of friction due to the absence of money.
the speed of events due to no restrictions and free maneuvering of trusting participants.
Sebastian
you guys are still not getting it.
we won.
Lacuna Synecdoche
Scott MacFarlane via Anne Laurie @ Top:
I’m pretty sure that’s their goal, Scott.
Jesse
I thought there was a lawsuit against Fox, or one of its high-profile commentators (possibly Carlson, can’t remember now) where Fox responded, as part of their defense, that they’re an entertainment company or something to that effect.
ETA years ago, not a current lawsuit
Lacuna Synecdoche
@Jesse:
More than once. Fox has been using that “defense” for decades.
MagdaInBlack
@trucmat: Some would just like a simple straightforward answer. Thus far, no such thing.
JWR
@Aussie Sheila:
I really wish the Dems could’ve done more legislatively to protect this right, of all rights. We did have the Freedom to Vote Act, but with the Filibuster F*ckheads Caucus driving the car, there wasn’t a snowball’s chance in Hell to get to 60 votes.
And I thought there would be a lot more noise about the possibility of enlarging the court post-Dobbs. There is the Women’s Health Protection Act, but that’s not getting through this House. I think it’s gonna take a few truly awful rulings from this court before Biden moves to act, which is a quality in him that I both love and hate.
SFAW
@Sebastian:
Do you ever write in a simple, straightforward fashion? Without allusions and inside-baseball refs that only you can decipher?
I after-the-fact read — OK, tried to read — your ridiculous stream-of-Time-Cube-ish-ness “request for help” from the other night. By the end of that night’s Open Thread, it was still not clear WTF you were asking for. Even though multiple intelligent commenters asked you to explain or be clear or give them/us the main “ask.”
Now, I’ll admit that, although I’m reasonably intelligent, I’m (apparently) not the sooper-jeenyus that you are, so my lack of understanding/clarity is probably because I am not be speaking the English langwidge goodly and not comprehendering your stunning wretorickle stuff. But JHC — oops, sorry to invoke Jesucristo Rey‘s name to such a pious whatever — will you go pollute some other site instead?
SFAW
@MagdaInBlack:
Please stop disrespecting the Mandalorian Order of the Light Saber and Cross and Ruse, you bully. Or belittler. Or low-down-dirty deceiver. [Sorry, too much Firefly on the “brain.”]
Princess
@Sebastian: dude, I hope you have some IRL people to talk to who can get you some help. If you have meds, take them. The world is a big complicated place. Fixing it isn’t all on you. Take care of yourself.
Dorothy A. Winsor
One of the things I like about Jeffries is that the doesn’t hold back
BellyCat
Expect from Fox to see a lot of slow motion footage of Ril Paytreeats ™ in action with heroic music blaring.
O. Felix Culpa
@Sebastian:
Friend, you once made sense. You don’t anymore.
Do you have any friends, family members, or a doctor you trust? Seriously, please talk to someone IRL who knows and cares about your well-being.
ETA: What Princess said at #58.
ArchTeryx
@Odie Hugh Manatee: John Blutarsky would approve.
Chris Johnson
@Sebastian: cudlip flashbacks…
VOR
@Aussie Sheila: They don’t need the mainstream press to both sides the footage. All they need is for Tucker and Fox to run carefully selected bits. Their audience didn’t watch the J6 Committee meetings. Their audience thinks everything which came out of the J6 Committee was pure partisanship, unlike the material coming from truth-teller Tucker.
They have a couple narratives they want to sell. First, most people entered the capitol peacefully and were even welcomed by the Capitol Police. Second, the insurrectionists weren’t those gentle, thoughtful MAGAts and nice Proud Boys, no, the bad people were ANTIFA (!!!) and FBI plants.
They are going to cherry-pick the footage to highlight the few cases where a police officer didn’t stop the crowd. Might even throw in footage from a different day of the public being escorted in. They are going to remove all the Trump flags and Q logos to try to make it look like the people attacking the police are all Antifa. They will find 1 or 2 people with misspelled slogans on their pre-made shirts and claim those were FBI plants.
We’re talking about an audience which doesn’t believe the Ukraine-Russia war is real. It won’t be hard to convince their audience of the alternative narrative.
Sebastian
@O. Felix Culpa:
you are ignoring facts on the ground.
Eolirin
@lowtechcyclist: We only have one Dem senator who’s against the filibuster now.
Paul in KY
@Alison Rose: Probably solar powered electric stoves…also, too.
Paul in KY
@SFAW: Maybe English is not his/her first language?
evodevo
@Lacuna Synecdoche: On top of that, I think Sidney Powell used that same excuse…” Kraken lawyer Sidney Powell admitted in a filing in federal court that “no reasonable person would conclude that [her] statements were truly statements of fact.” Powell made the filing in response to a defamation suit from Dominion Voting Systems in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.”
SFAW
@Paul in KY: Certainly a possibility. But the problem was not an inability to exercise proper grammatical construction etc etc. It was a problem of a rambling … something … about which commenters asked, time and again, what it was he was actually trying to do, and what specific help he was asking for — and his “responses” did not elucidate. And to add to that, he sometimes insulted commenters who had the temerity to ask — relatively nicely — “WTAF are you trying to accomplish with your ‘organization’? I/we can’t figure it out.”
ETA: I didn’t think that Seb’s responses necessarily indicated a break with reality (or however one wants to phrase it), but his response in #65 is, shall we say, puzzling.
WaterGirl
@Ken_L: That bears repeating!
WaterGirl
@Eolirin: Two questions. Which senator is that? And are you including the Independents in the equation? (Guessing you are, but I want to be sure.)