Jason Chaffetz Called Out by Salt Lake City Tribune For Refusing to Investigate Trump

[guillaumeb]

From the article:

In an editorial, the paper called on Chaffetz to “investigate, not emulate, the president” because of false claims Chaffetz made about “ringers” in his town hall audience, all too eerily similar to Trump’s cries of voter fraud for the editors:
“Chaffetz should realize soon, if he hasn’t already, that the president hasn’t just plowed this ground, he has already salted the fields for anyone who may come after. This crew — dubbed the Prevarication Administration by Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan — has helped to cure the national media of any hesitation it may have had and to start calling out untruths told by high government officials.”

The GOP is increasingly being put on the spot by actual voters. Rather than attempting to discredit the questioners, the GOP must choose between being a real political party or being a lobbying group.

http://www.politicususa.com/2017/02/15/jason-chaffetz-called-salt-lake-city-tribune-refusing-investigate-trump.html

[BeckyDem]

1. Good!

[guillaumeb]

2. Who will Chaffetz listen to:

Voters, or his contributors?

[BeckyDem]

4. He is the one who disavowed Trump after the sex video came out then walked it back.

He thinks he can remain relevant by checking the political winds, so I would say, he could be vulnerable to lose his seat if we get smart and go after him. He is trying to placate both.

[frankieallen]

6. what sex video?

[BeckyDem]

7. I call it the sex video, the one he admits to grabbing womens crotches and where he says, you can do

anything.

[guillaumeb]

10. Another Rubio type.

No real principles, just looking for money and power.

Welcome to DU.

[BeckyDem]

12. Yes, its why they're there in the first place.

Thanks for the welcome.

[sheshe2]

3. This is an awesome take down....

“investigate, not emulate, the president” because of false claims Chaffetz made about “ringers” in his town hall audience, all too eerily similar to Trump’s cries of voter fraud

Bravo, great post...thank you.

[guillaumeb]

8. Thank you.

The GOP has been framing the narrative for so long that it is good to see the Democrats taking a page from Occupy and channeling their anger.

[sheshe2]

11. I sure think they are getting angry.

After the women's march and the immigration marches. We are not just angry, we are getting even.

Rise Release Dance

Insist Persist Resist Exist

[guillaumeb]

13. Progressives are getting angry, no doubt.

And there are more of us then them. The reason that voter suppression is so important for the GOP.

[dixiegrrrrl]

26. Gonna tweet thanks to the newspaper...and found this

Link to tweet

[marybourg]

5. Well, and freshly, stated. Someone has been reading

George Orwell's essays.

[guillaumeb]

9. Orwell is certainly an appropriate model for Trump's Administration.

more so than the Bush Administration.

[marybourg]

14. Orwell wrote an excellent essay about

fresh expression in political writing.

[guillaumeb]

15. I do not know if I read it.

If you can provide a link I would appreciate it. And I will try looking also.

Orwellian to me is the way that totalitarians love to manipulate the language until it is meaningless. Just as Trump and Co. are attempting to erase the distinction between fact and opinion.

[marybourg]

16. Here:

http://www.orwell.ru/library/essays/politics/english/e_polit/

his fiction comes from his love of language. you'll see in his essay the relationship to the fiction. enjoy!

[ornotna]

18. Got anything besides a Russian link? n/t

[marybourg]

19. Huh. I noticed the ru but thought it came from a

university. That was the very first link that came up. interesting. I believe the Russians are great admirers of Orwell. Try this (NPR):

http://www.npr.org/blogs/ombudsman/Politics_and_the_English_Language-1.pdf

[lastlib]

20. This essay should be REQUIRED READING for every aspiring journalist!

One of my PoliSci profs in college required it in a course I took on political parties & interest groups. VERY GOOD, IMPORTANT reading!

[ornotna]

21. Thanks!

I try not to click on Russian sites if I can help it.

[guillaumeb]

22. Thank you. eom

[Amaryllis]

17. Love this:

This crew — dubbed the Prevarication Administration by Washington Post columnist Margaret Sullivan — has helped to cure the national media of any hesitation it may have had and to start calling out untruths told by high government officials.”
Only wish they'd started a whole lot earlier. But it is heartening they are doing it now.

[guillaumeb]

23. Agreed.

The media has confused being objective with being mere transcribers for too long. A lie is not simply another opinion to be presented in a debate format. A lie is a lie.

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

24. Salt Lake City is like Austin TX and Atlanta GA

An island of tolerance in a sea of bigotry.

[guillaumeb]

25. Even if that is true, as the pressure mounts from voters and the media,

the GOP politicians will be put in a spotlight. And with luck Trump's attacks on the media will encourage the media to also spotlight what the GOP plans to do.

We know that Trump serves as a distraction for corporate shills like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, but the distraction may serve to convince the corporate media to act like a real media.