Dana Loesch

How's this for strange bedfellows? Robbyn Wahby, St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay's Deputy Chief of Staff and wife of City Democrats Chair Brian Wahby, was on a "School Choice" panel put on this week by the Koch Brothers-funded Americans For Prosperity. The event was moderated by Jim Hoft, the race baiting Gateway Pundit. Her fellow panelists included Dana "drop trou and urinate on dead Afghanis" Loesch and Dick Morris. Yes, that Dick Morris.

The event was a teachers union-bashing propaganda festival, with words of wisdom like this:

Rep. Paul Curtman (R-Pacific) isn't giving up on his misguided effort to ban Missouri courts from consulting Sharia law.  Last year, he, Sen. Brian Nieves, Birther Tim Jones and even Speaker Steve Tilley attached their names to an Islamaphobic proposal written by a hateful man from Arizona named David Yerushalmi.

At the time, TPM reported:

Dr. S.I. Strong, a law professor from the University of Missouri, called the bill a “dangerous exercise” that could potentially open the Missouri court system to complex litigation. She told TPM the bill has a number of inconsistencies and would be difficult to implement.

This year, Curtman lists the legislation as his top legislative priority. 

It seems Ed Martin is up to his old tricks. Except this time, he is doing it to a fellow Republican. He takes a tact similar to the Jersey Shore’s well known “Come at me bro!” method of inducing people into an argument or fight.

This time, he is criticizing Ann Wagner for not showing up to a candidate forum. However, newly-minted Ann Wagner-ite Dana Loesch is not happy with his characterization.

Funny thing is Loesch never had a problem when Martin would make up candidate forums and criticize Russ Carnahan for not showing up. I guess Ed Martin is only “disingenuous” when he is talking about fellow Republicans. 

h/t St. Louis Activist Hub

"Even our universities have become targets of partisan extremists and gotcha journalists...That is toxic to our lives.”

Gov. Jay Nixon at Missouri Southern State University, as quoted by PoliticMo

Democracy Now today covered the recent smear of UM instructors by Andrew Breitbart's BigGovernment.com website, Breitbart lackey and tea party personality Dana Loesch, and Lt. Governor Peter Kinder.  Watch it:

h/t St. Louis Activist Hub

Once you get past (a) the blanket indictment of "The Internet," (b) the refusal to name which Missouri "conservatives" helped spread the relevant junk (e.g., Peter Kinder, Ed Martin, Dana Loesch, Mark Parkinson) and (c) the glossing over of his own paper's role in advancing the smear, this is a great editorial from the Tribune's Hank Waters:

A recent example [of "provocative stuff on the Internet"] that made the news involved a video posted by right-wing critic Andrew Breitbart showing grossly manipulated excerpts of online presentations made by instructors at the University of Missouri-St. Louis and the University of Missouri-Kansas City who seemed to advocate labor union violence.

The Breitbart version was circulated by conservatives eager to believe the worst about unions, professors and other devils targeted on Breitbart’s Big Government website.

Certainly, in this column lovingly devoted to free speech principles, I am not saying Breitbart has no right to criticize the professors, but he should not misrepresent what they do or say. In reaction to his latest post, university officials in both cities had to correct the record by showing more fully the content and context of the collaborative online labor studies presentations.

Even though...

1. the University of Missouri-Kansas City reviewed the full videos sliced by Andrew Breitbart's team of activists and pushed by St. Louis' Dana Loesch, and then determined that the videos as released  "totally distorted" what actually happened in their class
2. the University of Missouri-St. Louis reviewed their video archive and found that the excerpts posted by Breitbart's lackeys were "definitely taken out of context, with their meaning highly distorted through splicing and editing from different times within a class period and across multiple class periods" 
3. Anyone with an internet connect, 10 minutes and the desire can see extended excerpts that clearly show that the professors' comments were sliced up to make it look like they were advocating ideas they weren't advocating

...Peter Kinder is still standing by Loesch and Breitbart, and is still helping to push the smear.  This is what Kinder's Twitter page looks like right now:

It's hard to wrap my head around how irresponsible these actions are, especially from a statewide public official who wants to be the governor of Missouri, including the oldest public university west of the Mississippi River, the University of Missouri system.

NOT BREAKING NEWS: "The University of Missouri-St. Louis, like its Kansas City counterpart, has found that videos from a labor studies course posted online last month were edited out of context. The excerpts first posted on Andrew Breitbart’s Big Government website that showed UM-St. Louis instructor Don Giljum apparently advocating violent tactics in the workplace were 'definitely taken out of context, with their meaning highly distorted through splicing and editing from different times within a class period and across multiple class periods,' a statement from UM-St. Louis Chancellor Tom George and Provost Glen Cope said."

So much for Peter Kinder's claim that at least one the instructors was engaging in "terrorism."   

Image credit: edeldoug on Flickr

Right-wing radio personality, Andrew Breitbart acolyte and St. Louis Tea Party leader Dana Loesch warns tonight that "that some elected officials are uncomfortable with #MO teaparty and are trying to do media hitjob."  By "hitjob," she means "journalism she doesn't like."

It's hard to imagine that anyone could be uncomfortable with the ridiculous behavior of the St. Louis Tea Party leaders. 

h/t St. Louis Activist Hub

Speaking Monday with right-wing radio personality Dana Loesch, Peter Kinder affirmatively answered a question about his 2012 campaign platform without any hedging about whether or not he's actually going to run.

LOESCH: So when you run for governor, sir, this is something I'm sure that is going to be at the forefront of your campaign and your mind? 

KINDER: It is indeed -- maintaining fiscal sanity in our state.  And that means standing up to the spenders....

Listen:

Still, let's all keeping pretending that Kinder hasn't actually decided on a campaign, even though he's stated openly in Missouri and in Washington, DC that he's running. Because if we stop writing about whether or not he's running, we might have to write about all the things he's actually doing and saying.  And that's not going to be very pleasant for Peter, now is it?  

Wednesday night, Andrew Breitbart lackey Mike Flynn threatened Peter Kinder and Carl Bearden that he would "go nuclear" if Speaker Steve Tilley refuse to "walk back" his statement that opponents of local control legislation had engaged in "race baiting at a level that I haven't seen since I've been here."  Tilley is understandably annoyed and upset with allegations from the St. Louis Tea Party, affiliated blogger Darin Morley and perhaps others who have tried to manufacture absurd arguments regarding the Speaker's alleged "association with the New Black Panther Party" in their fight to stop the local control bills.

Flynn demanded that Tilley "walk back" his comments before a scheduled interview with Dana Loesch, a leader in the St. Louis Tea Party who just happened to be an active participant in distributing the New Black Panther smear, and who just happens to "edit" a sister Breitbart propaganda site.   This might lead you to think that Loesch, who purports to be a tough-talking, straight-shooting independent conservative, would confront the Speaker about his "association" with racist, anti-Semitic radicals. 

You'd be wrong.  Here's the full interview, for your listening pleasure:

Note that Loesch states in the interview that "I don't think that anyone was specifically trying to tie, like, you to the New Black Panther Party,"  (6:25 mark).   This is absurd, and Loesch knows it.  She tweeted a blog link to her followers on Tuesday that was explicitly about "Tilley's recent association with the New Black Panther Party."

Said Reboot Congress blog post then linked readers to another post titled, "Why has Missouri House Leadership aligned with the New Black Panthers?"  Doesn't that sound like she was specifically trying to tie Tilley to the New Black Panther Party?

It gets worse. 

After Tilley hung up and after Loesch's patrons at KFTK paid a few bills with a commercial break, Loesch turned on Tilley and Bearden, unleashing criticisms and accusations she didn't think of bringing up when Tilley was actually in a position to defend himself.    She repeated the obviously false claim that "no one ever said that Speaker of the House Steve Tilley was associated with the New Black Panther Party," and then railed against "the Republican establishment here in Missouri."

A must-listen:

While right-thinking persons were watching Mizzou beat Baylor last night, right-right-right-thinking persons were threatening Speaker Steve Tilley and Rex Sinquefield lobbyist Carl Bearden on the twitternets. 

Late Wednesday afternoon, Mike Flynn, the "editor in chief" for Andrew Breitbart's Big Government, came to the defense of the St. Louis Tea Party and their bizarre New Black Panther party conspiracies.    Specifically, local leaders Bill Hennessy and Dana Loesch (who "edits" the sister Breitbart site Big Journalism) claim to be outraged with Tilley's complaint that St. Tea Partiers' activism against local control legislation had devolved into race baiting.  A message from Bearden makes it clear that Tilley's frustration was directed at downright bizarre content created and published by another tea party leader, Darin Morley, lamenting "Tilley's recent association with the New Black Panther Party" (i.e., Rep Jamilah Nasheed). 

Flynn is now demanding that Tilley "walk back his...smear" of the tea party on Loesch's radio program this afternoon, or "we'll go nuclear."  "We," in this context, is presumably the right-wing Breitbart echo chamber.

Here are Flynn's messages to Bearden and Peter Kinder (more on him below) in chronological order:

• Tilley on Dana's show tomorrow. He walks back attack on tea party or we go full throttle. Stupid fight you picked.
• As God is my witness, this will not end well for you. Every dollar ever to you will be public
• Peter, don't make the mistake Carl did. Stop trashing the tea party. Full pain coming tomorrow afternoon
• Spkr Tilley will be on Dana's show tomrw. If he doesn't walk back his and Carl's smear against TP, we'll go nuclear
• Carl, must feel good, I guess, that the left has your back. No doubt you are proud.

Unhinged stuff. 

Dana Loesch, pictured here threatening Roy Blunt in 2009, scaring no one

The Post-Dispatch reports this afternoon that Roy Blunt plans to vote against a ban on earmarks.  THIS IS A TOTALLY SHOCKING DEVELOPMENT.  This isn't shocking to anyone familiar with Blunt's record in the House or his lame damage control on the issue earlier this year, but it is noteworthy on a day when even Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-KY) flip-flopped to support the ban.

Meanwhile, St. Louis Tea Partiers like Dana Loesch and Bill Hennessy are either (a) executing their own post-election damage control strategy after supporting Blunt's Senate candidacy, or (b) really not up to snuff in the reading comprehension department.  Hennessy, for example, condemned Blunt (after the election) for "pretend[ing] the Tea Party never happened."  And today, Loesch tweeted all of the following:

• Are you kidding me? @clairecmc is opposing earmarks whereas @royblunt is not? http://bit.ly/d5sC4d
• I can't say what the heat is going to be like if @royblunt refuses to stand against earmarks. Grassroots are furious.
• I'm ready to start looking for a viable candidate who can run a GOOD campaign to primary Blunt unless he goes anti-earmark and ltd govt.
• All #MO eyes on @royblunt to see if he joins McConnell in endorsing earmarks ban...

All of these are very bold and courageous stands for a radio personality to take after passing on Senate candidates in the primary and general elections who opposed the current earmark process, and refusing to make any real stink at a time when it actually would have mattered.

Right-wing criminal/activists James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan and Stan Dai pleaded guilty to federal charges in New Orleans today.

According to the Times Picayune, O'Keefe "received three years of probation, a fine of $1,500 and 100 hours of community service," and his compadres received slightly smaller sentences.

No word yet on how Missouri Republicans are reacting to the news. But based on their loud defenses of O'Keefe et al., I'm sure we'll be hearing some strong denunciations.

Peter Kinder parroted and endorsed the words of right-wing radio personality Dana Loesch yesterday, accusing the U.S. Attorney's office in New Orleans of conducting a "a trumped-up witch hunt" against four misguided and unethical activists. 

Kinder and Loesch write that "New Orleans dropped felony charges" against James O'Keefe, Joseph Basel, Robert Flanagan and Stan Dai.  By "dropped," they mean the four are prepared to plead guilty to entering federal property under false pretenses in return for reduced charges. And, as far as I know, the city of New Orleans had nothing to do with investigating the criminal activity at Sen. Mary Landrieu's office.

A day after refusing to answer questions at his own press conference regarding his desire to join a lawsuit to block the federal health care reform law, Peter Kinder availed himself to local right-wing radio host and activist Dana Loesch today for a series of on-air questions. 

A few thoughts on today's Loesch interview and yesterday's conversation with Fox's Neil Cavuto:

• Kinder wanted to announce his desire to participate in the lawsuit on Dana Loesch's program. This was Kinder's very first statement in the interview, and is a pretty good indication of what his effort is all about: Tea party outreach, not constitutional law.
• Kinder acknowledges "the odds may be long," and opponents have "a tough sell" with their lawsuit. Yesterday, even cheerleader Cavuto had doubts about the argument behind the lawsuit. "I have talked to some legal scholars, sir, who say that, with the best of intentions, this is not going to go anywhere," Cavuto said. "Well, we know it`s a tough sell," Kinder replied.

Local FOX radio host and tea party leader Dana Loesch reaches new rhetorical depths in a BigGovernment.com blog post:

The Socialists Won A Battle; Now It is Our Turn

Yesterday was my son’s 9th birthday and for his present, the government jacked his future. As he sat in the floor and happily opened his gifts, Bart Stupak appeared on television and revealed that he’d sold his soul. The joy was sucked from the room, but my son didn’t notice – thank God for innocence. The faces of the adults in the room fell as Stupak held his presser, as Pelosi gained another YES vote for health control.

The scene was an eerie replay for me; eight-and-a-half years ago that same boy sat in his bouncy seat while cooing and kicking his legs as his father and I watched the twin towers crumble to dust on live television. The feeling was the same...

So said the St. Louis Tea Party leader and 97.1 FM radio host Dana Loesch after the RNC Chairman cancelled a scheduled interview with her.

You can watch video of a "fake interview" Loesch conducted with Steele after the cancellation (she plays both herself and Steele) -- it's actually pretty funny. 

h/t St. Louis Pushes Back

State Sen. Chuck Purgason was on the Dana Loesch radio program on 97.1 FM in St. Louis last week to deliver his now-familiar critique of the "the Republican Party pretty much paving the way for Congressman [Roy] Blunt."  In the interview, Loesch praised Purgason for his "Contract for Missouri" and his "commonsense approaches." Here's are a couple of excerpts:

I believe that you should run on your record.  And I think Republicans showed that they failed when they were in a party of leadership with the debt...

I think that you have to start getting an attitude change of people that -- not, not that love Washington and want to do whatever it takes to stay there, but people that want to do it as a responsibility.

I 'm a product of term limits in the Missouri Senate and Missouri House. I think that it keeps you grounded, it keeps you looking it at what is really the real world out there. And that's why I think if you're going to change Washington, you're going to have to change the people you send up there. And you're going to have to send people with the attitude that I'm going to go up and I'm going to do a job and I'm going to fight for the future of this country -- and then I'm going to go back home.

Listen to the full interview: