Posted on 07/08/2010 4:01:38 PM PDT by STARWISE
Keith Olbermann on Wednesday called for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas to resign.
His complaint?
Thomas's wife Virginia runs a political organization called Liberty Central which at this point has not revealed who its donors are.
"She is a living, breathing, appearance of a conflict of interest," whined Olbermann during Wednesday's "Countdown."
"Either she must reveal the names of her donors and everyone employed by, affiliated with or donating to or donated to by Liberty Central, or Justice Thomas must resign from the Supreme Court"
(video follows with transcript and commentary):
~ ~ ~
KEITH OLBERMANN, HOST: Then there is Washington, D.C. Tea Partier Virginia "Ginny" Thomas. She has the usual stuff, a blind hatred of the president, paranoid use of the word tyranny, endorsing knee jerk candidates, her own little group of Neanderthals called Liberty Central. It's more financially successful than most. "Politico" now reports she has only two donors, one for 50 grand and one for a whopping 500 grand. But otherwise, Mrs. Thomas' story is the usual reactionary tripe.
It is her right to be wrong and we must protect it. Virginia "Ginny" Thomas is the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. This probably is really, really obvious. The wife of a Supreme Court justice is soliciting donations to a political organization. The donors are anonymous and one paid her half a million bucks. Even if she tried not to, she cannot help but stand out from a crowd of yelping Tea Partiers because of her husband‘s name and position. She is a living, breathing, appearance of a conflict of interest.
The remedies are just as obvious. Either she must reveal the names of her donors and everyone employed by, affiliated with or donating to or donated to by Liberty Central, or Justice Thomas must resign from the Supreme Court. Otherwise, every verdict he renders will have to be assumed to be the result of influence peddling, and whatever effectiveness he has on the court will be reduced to a pathetic joke.
~ ~ ~
Before we get to the heart of the matter, isn't it marvelous how a cable news anchor shows such disrespect to the wife of a Supreme Court justice?
VIDEO and rest @ link
Between Thee And The Bedpost"
By Steve Hynd Monday Sep 29, 2008 10:15pm
###
On Friday's Hardball, Chris Matthews interviewed his daughter, Caroline, as one of the student members of the group Concerned Youth of America, and just didn't bother mentioning the familial relationship.
Apparently his daughter had asked not to be identified as such and, rather than interview another member of the group and thus preserve his journalistic integrity (heh), Matthews went right ahead anyways.
It's such a small-beer breach of what passes for journalistic ethics nowadays as to go almost un-noticed, although in the halcyon days of journalism it would probably have gotten him fired or at least earned the censure of his peers.
It simply doesn't compare, though, with the likes of Andrea Mitchell reporting on the bank bailout plan - and blaming Obama for its failure - while married to Alan Greenspan and not making full disclosure of that fact before every report.
Indeed, there are a great many more media/political marriages creating potential conflicts of interest that don't get enough attention or even disclosure.
Back in May of last year, Washington Monthly's T.A. Frank had a look at some of Washington’s power couples. Included in his list were such media figures as:
- Ron Brownstein, LA Times, married to Eileen McMenamin, John McCain's communications director.
- NBC’s David Gregory, married to Beth Wilkinson, general counsel for Fannie Mae.
- Time’s Matthew Cooper, married to Mandy Grunwald, ad guru for Hillary Clinton.
- Campbell Brown, anchor for the weekend edition of NBC’s Today Show, married to Dan Senor, GOP operative and former head of the Coalition Provisional Authority.
- Jim VandeHei, former Washington Post reporter and founder of The Politico, married to former Tom DeLay staffer Autumn Hanna VandeHei.
- National Review writer Kate O’Beirne, married to WH staffer Jim O’Beirne.
- Robert Kagan, op-ed writer, married to Victoria Nuland, current ambassador to NATO.
I'm sure there's at least some of those which come as a surprise to most readers, as they were to me. I find myself wishing I'd known all this before I read or watched these media figures.
Maybe their marriage doesn't effect their work, maybe they keep the two utterly separate and never discuss insider information with their spouses. if so, they're like no marriages I've ever seen in the real world.
You can add, to such egregious conflicts of interest, the mainstream media's natural tendency towards stenography of the Powers That Be in order to preserve it's precious access to them, and the unfortunate tendency of some to represent themselves as nonpartisan reporters of "just the facts" even while their not-often-acknowledged resume speaks otherwise.
No wonder the the notion that the establishment media comprises - on its own - a Fourth Estate, still able to impartially produce news which informs voters of the bare facts so that those voters can make decisions thereby, is as dead as the Dodo.
~~~~~~
###
Excerpt:
This also applies to the journalists that the White House wanted to entice with the Plame leak.
There was New York Times reporter Judith Miller, who'd once shared a home with the late Les Aspin, at various times a congressman, defense secretary, and Miller source.
There was Washington Post reporter Walter Pincus, spouse of Ann Terry Pincus, a onetime director of the Office of Research at the United States Information Agency, a position to which she was appointed by Bill Clinton.
There was John Dickerson of Time, married to Anne Dickerson, a onetime news producer who now specializes in media coaching for advocacy groups.
And NBC's David Gregory: he's the husband of Beth Wilkinson, general counsel for Fannie Mae; they met when she was prosecuting Timothy McVeigh and Gregory was reporting on the case. And there was Time's Matthew Cooper, married to Mandy Grunwald, onetime media specialist for Bill Clinton and current ad guru for Hillary Clinton. As for Bob Woodward, who'd learned about Plame several weeks earlier, he is married to New Yorker writer Elsa Walsh.
Beige, I think we should paint the ceiling beige.
Oh I’m sorry, dear, did you need me to do something?
Hey! If the left can use the "logic" that any attack on a person who isn't white is racist then Olbermann is guilty s charged.
Olbermann? Hmm... reminds me. I need to get that boil lanced.
I agree. Sounds like pure racism to me.
Get AG Holder on the case ASAP!
Olbermann is clearly attacking because he hates mixed race marriages.
Out of all of the communist scumbags on the left that I would like to see stood up against a wall and handed a cigarette and a blindfold, he would be at the top of the list.
Old news.
Has anyone told Olberwomann that Justice Thomas also attended Rush Limbaughs wedding?
Doberman still stuck on stupid??
Absolutely! Since Thomas is black, the only reason someone could be against him is racism.
There should be a hue and cry for MSNBC to fire Olbermann for his blatant racism.
RAAAACCCIIIISSSSSSTTTTTTT!
Verdict?
Hey! I’m calling for the resignation of Olberman for galactic incompetence!
oh wait...no one would notice...
When will blacks understand what pawns of the Dems they are? Is there some genetic gullibility at play?
I think olber”man” should resign because he is such a confused moron.
9th Circuit justice Stephen Reinhardt is married to the
Executive Director of the ACLU of Southern California. Olbermann got anything to say about that? Ramona Ripston’s outfit has cases before the 9th circuit all the time. Thomas’ wife doesn’t litigate anything.
I hope this destroys Oberman’s sorry life.
Please tell me he furious and that he feels helpless.
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