Summary (posts follow):
ThinkProgress.org is a juvenile blog run by the Center for American Progress; think of a grade school version of Media Matters for America. Virtually every post at their site contains one or more misleading statements or logical fallacies. Sometimes they outright lie, other times they simply smear. Part of that appears to be unintentional; their writers are unable to figure out how they're wrong. Those writers include Amanda Terkel, Lee Fang, Ali Frick, Ryan Powers, and Matt Corley.
Related blogs include "Wonk Room" (featuring Andrea Nill) and the eponymous blog from Matt Yglesias.
Last modified Jun 24, 2009
... to immigration, Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress didn't follow that advice and took advantage of this situation to push her support for massive immigration and to smear those she opposes.
Nill's post is "Purported Eco-Terrorist Angered Over ‘Immigration Pollution And Anchor Baby Filth'" (thinkprogress.org/2010/09/01/discovery-terrorist-immigration) and a screengrab is below...
... bringing it up; it allows those like ThinkProgress to make videos like the one at thinkprogress.org/2010/07/14/tea-party-racism. Despite the fact that at least one of those shown on the video is probably a plant and despite the fact that the last frame (with the t-shirt) was a failed attempt at irony (the back says "I'm a racist because I support the Constitution" or similar), the ...
... misinterpretation.
* Amanda Terkel of ThinkProgress
thinkprogress.org/2010/06/02/brewer-nazis-father
She says:
While comparisons equating Brewer with Nazis are over the top and not constructive, Brewer’s anecdote doesn’t really stack up. The Arizona Guardian reports that in fact, “the death of Wilford Drinkwine came 10 years after World War II had ended. During the war, Drinkwine worked as ...
A week ago, GOP House Whip Eric Cantor launched "YouCut" (republicanwhip.house.gov/YouCut), an attempt to show that the GOP is serious about spending. Except, it's just another tea parties-style cheap stunt:
The Service Employees International Union and the National Council of La Raza have released a new immigration poll of likely voters in Arizona [1], specifically asking about that state's new law and about comprehensive immigration reform. Well, actually, they didn't use the word "comprehensive" in some of the questions, only asking about "immigration reform". Needless...
... response to the last, Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress says (thinkprogress.org/2010/04/16/steve-king-immigration-taxes):
King is wrong on both accounts. The truth is that an overwhelming majority of Americans recognize the need to do their part in contributing to the nation’s welfare in the form of taxes. Eighty percent of Americans support maintaining spending levels on domestic programs such as e...
... page.
UPDATE: Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress has the mimes' side of things at
thinkprogress.org/2010/03/22/roy-beck-numbersusa. One of the mimes who pressed charges is Lena Graber, who may be the same person who's a policy associate at the National Immigration Forum, a considered-mainstream group (http://www.immigrationforum.org/about/staff). While some of the things she says might cause ...
... might not expect Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress to write the following, unless you were familiar with that site and her work. In that case, you - like me - would realize just how truth-challenged both she and the others associated with that site are. Referring to a new report from the Southern Poverty Law Center (perhaps more on that later), she writes (thinkprogress.org/2010/03/03/dobbs-splc-hate-...
... issue]
The partial transcript from ThinkProgress follows; initially I thought they had omitted exculpatory details but as it turns out what they omitted was just as bad as the rest:
... Chertoff (video here, writeup thinkprogress.org/2009/12/17/solis-moratorium):
I think we’d have a big shortage of workers out there and I think as we move through this decade, we’re going to see people retiring from different types of jobs…so who is going to help fill those positions?
You would probably see towns shutting down, communities shutting down. You’d see second and third industr...
Per Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress (thinkprogress.org/2009/12/15/census-latinos-boycott):
In response [to a protest discouraging participation in the Census], the National Association of Latino Elected Officials (NALEO) has started using the Bible to target religious Latinos with a different message: What would Jesus do?
NALEO is handing out posters that illustrate the arrival of Mary and Joseph in ...
Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress offers "New right-wing Christmas carol: 'Illegals in my Yard'" (link) about a talk radio parody from Talk Radio Network's Matt Fox and AJ Rice that was posted at Human Events as a regular post (i.e., not just a user-generated blog post) under the byline "The Fox and Rice Experience" (http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=34788). A...
Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress offers "Report: CNBC Was Considering Hiring Dobbs Until Latino Groups Pushed Back" (thinkprogress.org/2009/12/05/dobbs-cnbc-nogales). Neither she nor those in her general sphere are that credible and would want to inflate their power as much as possible, so take this with a large grain of salt:
(National Hispanic Media Coalition) President Alex Nogales told T...
... for more dumb, Amanda Terkel of ThinkProgress links to video and the lyrics (thinkprogress.org/2009/12/01/arpaio-protest) but fails to note what the Dean says about the incident. And, considering that this is red meat for their visitors and she's not pointing out that interrupting such events is a dumb thing to do, it's not unfair to assume that she supports such interruptions at "...
Disclosure documents show that tea parties organizer, head of FreedomWorks, and former Rep. Dick Armey lobbied in regards to the stimulus plan. The documents don't indicate what the lobbying consisted of, but there's certainly a fair possibility that he wasn't lobbying to reduce the amount of the stimulus.
... incident include Amanda Terkel of ThinkProgress ("Interloper tricks Tea Party audience into an anti-European immigrant chant of 'Columbus go home!'", thinkprogress.org/2009/11/16/columbus-go-home), Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic (links to the preceding, saying only "An anti-immigration rally gets punk'd by an impostor", andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_...
... this passage from Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress [1]?
According to the Phoenix News Times, (Sheriff Joe Arpaio) appeared on KTAR 92.3 FM’s Jay Lawrence Show last night vowing to continue operating his "Hispanic-hunting dragnets," even if it means driving undocumented immigrants back across the border himself:
That's followed by a quote from Arpaio, and if you're like me you pr...
... re-transmitted by Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress (thinkprogress.org/2009/10/02/chicago-olympics-bush).
The Atlantic is conducting a corporate-sponsored series of interviews they call the "First Draft of History". Me, I call them EstablishmentHackapaooza. Earlier today, one segment featured Sen. Lindsay Graham being interviewed by Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic (firstdraftofhistory.theatlantic.com/analysis/graham_the_loyal_opposition.php). As could be expected, Graham wasn't exactly...
Lee Fang of ThinkProgress offers "Right-Wing Conference Tells Activists To Get Their Guns Ready For ‘Bloody Battle’ With Obama The Nazi" (link). Fang continues ThinkProgress' long habit of lying, and in this case it's especially despicable.
Austrian native Kitty Werthmann appeared at the How To Take Back America Conference and compared the various actions of the Obama admin...
On September 12, part-time Census Bureau worker Bill Sparkman was found hanged in rural Kentucky with the word "Fed" "scrawled" (per the AP) on his chest. The story was only released yesterday and the details aren't known, but that hasn't stopped several (listed below) from trying to blame right-wing media figures and politicians (such as Glenn Beck and Rep. Michelle ...
... source is Public Citizen via ThinkProgress [1], so there's the possibility that it was faked up. However, that appears to be slight. While some will no doubt laugh at them for being useful idiots (OK, I admit it), it's mostly just pathetic. If the oil companies (or FreedomWorks' funders, or the Koch family) want a crowd, at the least try to get some money out of it. That's wha...
... Counts For A Lot" (wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/08/10/immigration-census-bureau), a through-the-looking-glass post listing all the wonderful ways that states and localities can make out like bandits from counting illegal aliens in the Census and using their population in apportioning Congressional representation:
...the census serves many other purposes, namely the allocation of scarce fe...
Tom Tancredo writes:
The National Council of La Raza bills itself as "the largest national Hispanic civil rights and advocacy organization in the United States" who works through "its network of nearly 300 affiliated community-based organizations."
Among these affiliates are several chapters of the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan (Chicano Student Movement of Aztlan) w...
... response to the ad, Ian Millhiser of ThinkProgress offers "Right-wing group launches TV ad claiming Sotomayor led a terrorist organization" (thinkprogress.org/2009/07/14/sotomayor-cfj):
The claim that Sotomayor led a terrorist organization apparently refers to her service on the board of the Puerto Rican Legal Defense and Education Fund, a mainstream civil rights organization. It seems ...
... it easier for Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress to write the misleading blog post "Joe The Plumber Says Immigrants Should Get 'The Hell Out Of Our Damn Country'" [1]. Here are some of the ways she's misleading her readers:
... against judges, Amanda Terkel of ThinkProgress (run by the Center for American Progress) says (thinkprogress.org/2009/06/24/hal-turner-arrest/):
As the Nation has pointed out, Turner has ties to Fox News’ Sean Hannity. In fact, Hannity has “offered his top-rated radio show as a regular forum for Turner’s occasionally racist, always over-the-top rants.” Hannity would also reportedly offer ...
... they're eligible, Lee Fang of ThinkProgress offers a volley of misleading statements at thinkprogress.org/2009/06/23/gop-birther-bill:
Andrea Nill of ThinkProgress offers a discussion of Michael Savage using hyperbole and, rather than admitting that he's correct to a good extent she makes several misleading statements (wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2009/06/23/california-immigration-michael-savage).
From a FAIR press release (link):
The Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) has launched its most irresponsible attack to date against the Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR). The SPLC claims that Shawna Forde, the alleged killer of a little girl and her father during an Arizona home invasion, had ties to FAIR. Although no association exists -- or ever has -- between Ms. Forde and FAIR,...
... Center for American Progress' ThinkProgress site offers "Days After Steele’s Racist Attack On Obama, C-SPAN Airs Video Of Steele Denouncing Racism" (thinkprogress.org/2009/05/27/steele-racism-malcolmx) about two recent sets of comments made by RNC chairman Michael Steele. The first set is discussed here; the second here. See both links for the context. Of the first, Fang says:
.....
... that's what Ali Frick of ThinkProgress wants us to think (link). Except, as could be expected from that source, all he can do is engage in a logical fallacy by saying it's "striking" that Steele would say such a thing after some sources said that same thing about him. Frick fails to address Steele's argument by, for instance, providing examples of the mainstream media vet...
... the same time, Ryan Powers of ThinkProgress offers "Conservative talker suspended after blaming swine flu on the ‘millions of leeches’ from Mexico" about Jay Severin making stupid comments that aren't absolved by containing a grain of truth (thinkprogress.org/2009/04/30/severin-immigrants-racist).
And, Fernanda Santos of the New York Times offers "Mayor’s Appointee Draws...
... he bashes them, Ryan Powers of ThinkProgress quotes Collins and Spectors - both more friends of the Democrats than not - as in favor of spending money on preparedness. [1]
Compare their comments to this February 8 quote from Charles Schumer (link):
"All those little porky things that the House put in, the money for the [National] Mall or the sexually transmitted diseases or the flu pandemic,...
ThinkProgress - the very low-wattage blog run by the Obama-linked Center for American Progress - has, of course, been strongly pro-Obama since he won the election. However, the post "Obama: Stimulus transportation projects ‘under budget,’ ‘ahead of schedule’" [1] by Faiz Shakir is more like a press release or something you might find on Page D-8 of an 70s-era copy of Pravda or in...
Patrick O'Conner of the Politico offers "Cantor's strategy: Ambush Democrats" (link) about a plan from House Minority Whip Rep. Eric Cantor in which more experienced legislators take to the House floor to berate less-experienced Democratic House members over various issues:
... Center for American Progress blog ThinkProgress offers "Republican Members Of Congress Embrace Radical Anti-Obama Tea Party Protests" (thinkprogress.org/2009/04/08/gopestablishment-joins-teaparties). It's typical childish tripe, but the fact that it's appeared there may in fact indicate that the Obama administration is at least a little bit worried about the parties.
[1] pajam...
... that out.
UPDATE: Matt Corley of ThinkProgress offers "Report: ‘Angry’ McCain Referred To Hispanics As ‘You People’ During Outreach Meeting" (thinkprogress.org/2009/04/03/mccain-hispanics-you-people). He only concentrates on the low-hanging fruit: the contention that McCain was angry and his supposed use of "you people", which Corley implies is a racial insult despite ...
... (link). To which Matt Corley of ThinkProgress offers "Jonah Goldberg Sticks Up For Marty Peretz’s Racism" [2]:
Though Goldberg slightly acknowledges the offensive nature of Peretz’ line about "near-tropical work habits" by calling it "unfortunate," he never addresses the fact that Peretz also asserted that "Latin society" is plagued with "congenita...
... born in the United States
The ThinkProgress blog - run by the Barack Obama-linked Center for American Progress then lied about what he said, uploading a video with that quote under the false title "Cliff Kincaid Says President Obama Not Born in US" (link).
Obviously, saying we don't know where Obama was really born and saying that he wasn't born in the U.S. are too very differ...