SF CHRON ON FR: FReep This -- How The Right Wing Is Making Itself Heard

San Francisco Chronicle ^ | January 30, 2003 | Joyce Slaton

[L.N. Smithee]

Something strange happened during the 2000 Gore-Bush election fiasco you may have missed.

CNN, which was running 24-hour special election coverage, hosted a program with conservative columnist Bob Novak shortly after the disputed election results were returned. Novak was adamant that Al Gore should quit trying to steal the election and concede. To bolster his point, he brought up the results of CNN.com's public-opinion poll "Should Al Gore concede?" Poll results showed that a full 89 percent of the thousands of people who had visited CNN.com and voted had agreed -- Gore should give up the ghost.

[TLBSHOW]

Beware. Grim. Scary.

Looks to me like they are talking about Hillary.

[tubebender]

Sorry I am late to this thread...Will crazy glue plug the 9MM holes in my flat panel screen??? The writer needs a brain transplant at the least.

[Flashman_at_the_charge]

But had the American people really spoken? Or was this poll FReeped?

So Freepers aren’t American people?

David Allen, founder and moderator of major liberal forum Democratic Underground, a popular site many think of as Free Republic's most direct ideologically opposite rival, agrees.

DU^H is minuscule compared to FreeRepublic and they know it yet it is given credibility here due to it’s ideological tilt.

As SF Gate News Director (and poll writer) Vlae Kershner put it, "People are finding a way of getting around our system that only allows one vote, and they're voting hundreds of times. It's not thousands of people voting one way; it's one or two people voting hundreds of times."

I’ll next expect any proof to be forthcoming from Kershner since we all know if a poll goes against commonly held left wing opinion it must have been compromised. That’s the only logical explanation.
</sarcasm>

[Political Junkie Too]

If she put her by-line on someone else's writing with that person's permission, no big deal.

I would *LOVE* to see the SF Chron try and defend such a postion...

Wouldn't that be like Tom Brokaw reading the exact same text at 7:00pm that Katie Couric reads at 7:00am? Maybe even reshoot the same investigative piece with different reporters and air them at different times, or one on NBC and the other on MSNBC?

-PJ

[wingnuts'nbolts]

I have to laugh, anybody who really lurked on Free Republic would know that there is much disagreement among Freepers and that we are not always pleased with our own conservatives in office. Polls are a source of competition as they mean nothing. 2002 told the story. This is just another hit piece on the VRWC, the same group who want to silence Rush, Hannity and all other conservative radio shows. They're on the run!

[ScholarWarrior]

all the people who believe what [FReepers] believe are now running the government.

Yes, we believe in the Constitution.

These guys are running scared. POUR IT ON.

[ScholarWarrior]

I defy anyone to say that ANSWER is NOT a commie front org.

[GOPJ]

Thanks for the post -- it's a liberal hit piece, but they did spell our name right...

[wizzler]

it's a liberal hit piece, but they did spell our name right...

Which is a nice segue to my question: How in the world did somebody ever get the words "Freep" and "Freeper" out of "Free Republic"?

For decades, "Freep" has been common shorthand for newspapers named "Free Press" (like Detroit). That's an understandable derivation -- Free-P. But how did Free-R turn into "Freep"?

[Rocky]

Hooray for FreeRepublic! You don't get an article like this unless you're hitting home.

[PJ-Comix]

I defy anyone to say that ANSWER is NOT a commie front org.

Ms Slayton would describe it as merely "left-leaning." Believe me, the SF Chronicle would NEVER call ANSWER a "left-wing" group but they have have no problem calling the FR a "right-wing" website.

[unspun]

Are we all sending her our email addresses and phone numbers, in case she wants to talk to us?

joyce@sfgate.com

We're here for you, Joyce. Thanks for the FR PR.

[thunderdome]

By the way, there haven't been any riots in my city since ... oh, ever. How's Oakland doing? Must be that right-wing lunatic fringe, eh?

Can't be right-wing...I moved out of that neighborhood when I was 18....

[thunderdome]

"Speech is tolerated there that wouldn't be elsewhere."

Good one....sounds like that applies to the SF Comical rag that she works for.

How come I had a bullhorn and ~700 people in front of the Chron back in 2000 and we could not get the reporters -nay- weasels (sorry PETA) to come out and talk to us on the spot about our views and their bias?

We were pretty overt about our intent to speak with the SF Chron and they declined....now she comes in and stealthily "monitors" our forum and claims that she could not contact any of us for comment....what a freaking loser she is. Incompetent and useless as an investigative reporter. She should get her education money refunded from whatever institution of liberal learning she attended.

[TLBSHOW]

Now they moved the story to the center front page and added it to their talk board. Here!


http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/went/msglist?forum=techlocal&msgPerPage=25&postnum=

[Budge]

"Unmentioned, even though I told her about it, is that my personal info was twice posted on DU in December"

I remember reading that thread there. They thought you were a "she" until someone finally told them you were a "he."

[sweetliberty]

"actually Pitt USED Slayton as his sock puppet to get his ravings publicized in the SF Chronicle"

BINGO!

[sweetliberty]

"Even when you're going head-to-head with a lefty poll-pinger simply keeping at it causes them to give up in disgust."

If only that were true in REAL elections. I fear that they are much more committed to their fraudulent practices than we are to to preventing them, and these are "polls" of far greater consequence than any silly, online poll whose numbers can be easily padded to reflect the results desired.

[Budge]

(BTW--is it really true that JimRob was a Democrat when he created FR?)

Yes, it is, just ask him. However, and most likely no one gives a hoot, so am I. It is also a well known fact that I won't vote for a Democrat in any election, be it local, state, or national, and haven't for years.

At one time the Democrat Party was almost honorable, but that changed dramatically when LBJ took office.