Drudge Retort: The Other Side of the News
Thursday, February 21, 2013

Ben Shapiro, the editor of the right-wing news site Breitbart.Com, spread a false rumor about Defense Secretary nominee Chuck Hagel giving a speech for the organization Friends of Hamas -- which does not exist. New York Daily News reported Dan Friedman said he was the unwitting source of the false rumor because of a hypothetical question he asked a Republican Congressional staffer. Friedman said he asked a staffer, "Had Hagel given a speech to, say, the 'Junior League of Hezbollah, in France?' And: What about 'Friends of Hamas?' The names were so over-the-top, so linked to terrorism in the Middle East, that it was clear I was talking hypothetically and hyperbolically."

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In the since-discredited story, Shapiro reported, "On Thursday, Senate sources told Breitbart News exclusively that they have been informed one of the reasons that President Barack Obama's nominee for Secretary of Defense, Chuck Hagel, has not turned over requested documents on his sources of foreign funding is that one of the names listed is a group purportedly called ‘Friends of Hamas.'"

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Whether Hagel spoke to Friends of Hamas, or whether a group called Friends of Hamas actually exists at all, is not as important as the general suspicion among the right wing that deep down, when you examine all the facts, Hagel was nominated by Obama, whose middle name is, in fact, Hussein.

#1 | Posted by cbob at 2013-02-20 01:28 PM | Reply | Flag:

Just another day in the media business.

#2 | Posted by gloomwire at 2013-02-20 01:28 PM | Reply | Flag:

Republicans are inventing Middle East propaganda through purposeful misinterpretation to be used against an Obama nominee?!

Lindsey Graham really should be investigated by several intelligence apparatus if he is using obvious false grounds to combat the Hagel nomination and to "personally" expand the Israeli influence. But.. it them becomes a case of fox guarding the hen house. In fact, it's quite probable that a "quiet" revolution against the American government was lost a couple decades ago - somehow Israel won, but not without the aid of traitors to America.

#3 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2013-02-20 02:21 PM | Reply | Flag:

Documents: Hagel staffers met with ‘front group' for Iranian regime

Documents obtained by The Daily Caller show that staffers for then-Sen. Chuck Hagel met repeatedly with a controversial pro-Iran lobby group, and some met with the organization's president.

Iranian state-run media have referred to the National Iranian-American Council (NIAC) since at least 2006 as "Iran's lobby" in the U.S.

The civil discovery documents also include a letter written by NIAC legislative assistant Babak Talebi describing Sen. Hagel as "generally on our side" regarding issues concerning the Islamic Republic.

Read more: dailycaller.com

#4 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-20 02:36 PM | Reply | Flag:

Yes, lets refute this with another discredited source from the right-wing media bubble.

#5 | Posted by DRJIMMIES at 2013-02-20 02:49 PM | Reply | Flag:

Founded in 2010 by Tucker Carlson, a 20-year veteran journalist, and Neil Patel, former chief policy advisor to Vice President Cheney, The Daily Caller is a 24-hour news publication

Read more: dailycaller.com

Bwahahahahahaha!

More "evidence" from the echo chamber.

#6 | Posted by 726 at 2013-02-20 02:51 PM | Reply | Flag:

#4 | Posted by paneocon

Another Jeep-Jeep, Jeep-Jeep from the great "Cherry Picker"!

#7 | Posted by UGM27Polaris at 2013-02-20 02:54 PM | Reply | Flag:

Read more: dailycaller.com
#4 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-20 02:36 PM

There is some kind of interaction, but I'm not certain it has anything to do with Israel policy other than a relationship that does not arm either side:

IAPAC is the Iranian American Political Action Committee. Its website includes a thank-you note from Hagel, written after the 2006 election. "Please know," Hagel wrote, "that I will always do my best and work hard to continue to earn your confidence and support."

Describing a March 31, 2006 meeting with Ryu, which took place in Hagel's office, an NIAC member wrote in a memo that "Hagel is concerned about the current path we are on. Rexon preferred not to see the imposition of punitive measures but rather a call for negotiations between both governments."

Ryu, Hagel's deputy, "noted that the military is stretched thin already," the memo concluded, "and was open to pursuing constructive measures."

Hagel, however, supports policies that are "aimed at strengthening civil society without aiding the Islamic Republic," that memo said.

Ryu later went on to work on Iran issues at the National Security Council. According to his LinkedIn profile, he is now deputy to the U.S. Permanent Representative to the United Nations at the State Department.

Ryu met with NIAC president Trita Parsi on Jan. 10, 2008. And other Hagel staff met with NIAC, according to the group's calendar.

#8 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2013-02-20 03:00 PM | Reply | Flag:

Did you guys see the skit that SNL decided not to air regarding the Hagel nomination? Pretty funny.
www.rawstory.com

#9 | Posted by cbob at 2013-02-20 03:01 PM | Reply | Flag:

#6 | POSTED BY 726

So you can dispute the facts so you go after the source. You are getting so predictable it almost a boring as reading any thing UGM27POLARIS has to say.

Why is it UGM27POLARIS that the only three contributions you have ever made on the DR are smug attacks on me? Maybe you would do better on match.com I'm spoken for.

#10 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-20 03:02 PM | Reply | Flag:

#10 I am sure that I could link to any number of ill informed websites about any number of a variety of topics. It don't make their babbling true.

The fact that you rely on a former policy advisor of Dick Cheney for your "nooze" is much more telling than anything anyone could ever say.

You tighties love to cry and whine about the "librul" media yet when your echo chamber is challenged love to bitch about "attacking the messenger". Hell yeah the messenger is important because they filter the message. Your defense of them is about as boring as anything any number of the trained monkeys from your side post.

#11 | Posted by 726 at 2013-02-20 03:07 PM | Reply | Flag:

I'm spoken for.

I'm flattered, but I like intelligent people.

#12 | Posted by 726 at 2013-02-20 03:09 PM | Reply | Flag:

www.rawstory.com
#9 | Posted by cbob at 2013-02-20 03:01 PM

Far more truth than satire, and perhaps out-risque' Schmegal's TV Funhouse, this is an amazingly uncomfortable skit. And how did Hulu of all places end up with the rights?

#13 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2013-02-20 03:18 PM | Reply | Flag:

Breitbart.com's credibilty is as dead as the scumbag it's named after.

#14 | Posted by reinheitsgebot at 2013-02-20 03:27 PM | Reply | Flag:

#10 | Posted by paneocon

Crashing through Panic Station Zebra, off the edge of the Big Lie Highway, down into the Valley of Irrelevance - is there no story so wildly improbable, so obviously idiotic, so pathetically risible that the riiight won't fall for it if they can see their way to it somehow rebounding to Obama's detriment?

Evidently not.

"Jeep-jeep!

#15 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2013-02-20 03:46 PM | Reply | Flag:

It does not sound to me as if Breitbart manufactured the story. They just made the same mistake millions of people do: they trusted a mainstream media outlet's story!
Shouldn't the author of this rumor be the one blamed?

#16 | Posted by Diablo at 2013-02-20 10:27 PM | Reply | Flag:

Come on, it's "rawstory".

#17 | Posted by KBM at 2013-02-20 10:34 PM | Reply | Flag:

This is the same rwing Echo Chamber that invented the Menendez under age prostitution story and spread it around.... until the FBI said they were full of it.

#18 | Posted by Corky at 2013-02-20 11:22 PM | Reply | Flag:

The FBI has not definitively said so yet, Corky, but I have posted I doubt that prostitute angle.
Menendez did, however, try to get in kind rewards without declaring them and he is a crook for that. He needs to go.

#19 | Posted by Diablo at 2013-02-21 12:16 AM | Reply | Flag:

DAILY NEWS REPORTER ADMITS: BREITBART 'FRIENDS OF HAMAS' STORY 'ACCURATE'

The mainstream media have ignored the fact that at least one prominent supporter of Hamas has donated money to an organization associated with former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-NE)--namely, the Atlantic Council, which receives support from the Hariri family of Lebanon, whose most prominent member, former Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri, publicly backs Hamas.

Dan Friedman, the New York Daily News reporter who claimed today to be the original source for the accusation, has now admitted that the Feb. 7 story by Breitbart News' Ben Shapiro, which merely reported the allegation, was accurate as written.

www.breitbart.com

#20 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-21 09:35 AM | Reply | Flag:

#20 | Posted by paneocon

More to the point:

"How Breitbart.com turned ‘Friends of Hamas' joke into a right-wing firestorm" (www.rawstory.com)

Chuck Hagel, Friend of Hamas? How the Right-Wing Press Got It Way Wrong" (www.thedailybeast.com).

That said, like other posters, I'm fully aware of your penchant for embracing that which is untrue, peddling it as true, and then claiming you've not erred because all you were doing was shopping around something someone else said was true.

(And who said the spirit of Joe McCarthy's dead? Certainly not the loony riiight; certainly not Ted Cruz (but, then, I'm repeating myself.)

#21 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2013-02-21 09:42 AM | Reply | Flag:

Dan Friedman, the New York Daily News reporter who claimed today to be the original source for the accusation, has now admitted that the Feb. 7 story by Breitbart News' Ben Shapiro, which merely reported the allegation, was accurate as written.

www.breitbart.com

#20 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-

But nowhere near in the way you imply. Pretty shameful lie here, PANEOCON.

I'd like the actual name of the "prominent supporter of Hamas" who donated money to Hagel. It would be nice to see how much money that was, too.

#22 | Posted by Zed at 2013-02-21 09:43 AM | Reply | Flag:

Breitbart News' Ben Shapiro, which merely reported the allegation,

#20 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-

And took little, or no, responsibility for determining if the allegation were true.

But even this is not correct. Shapiro never needed to investigate the facts of this story because he essentially created all of them.

#23 | Posted by Zed at 2013-02-21 09:46 AM | Reply | Flag:

Reminds me of the lies spread by Cheney during the run up to the ill-considered invasion of Iraq.

Cheney leaked false info to the disgraced Judith Miller of the N.Y.Times, then went on the Sunday morning political news interview shows and pronounced "Hey, it's not just the Administration saying this, read the N.Y.Times article that confirms...bla,bla,bla.

#24 | Posted by oldwhiskeysour at 2013-02-21 11:04 AM | Reply | Flag:

Shame on Friedman for making this [...] up and shame on Breitbart for falling for "unnamed sources". I hope they pay the same price as the liberal MSM media and blogs.

#25 | Posted by KBM at 2013-02-21 11:38 AM | Reply | Flag:

Shame on Friedman for making this [...] up and shame on Breitbart for falling for "unnamed sources". I hope they pay the same price as the liberal MSM media and blogs.

#25 | Posted by KBM

Don't hold your breathe.

#26 | Posted by MURPHY at 2013-02-21 12:15 PM | Reply | Flag:

#26 MURPHY
If he wants to hold his breath, let him.

#27 | Posted by squinch at 2013-02-21 12:18 PM | Reply | Flag:

"Shame on Friedman for making this [...] up..."

Friedman didn't make anything up [...] he simply posed a glaringly sarcastic question.

.

#28 | Posted by Dave at 2013-02-21 12:36 PM | Reply | Flag:

shame on Breitbart for falling for "unnamed sources".

That's why the source of any news story is important. News or Nooze? They distort, you deride.

#29 | Posted by 726 at 2013-02-21 01:59 PM | Reply | Flag:

Hey now! Passing on a lie as truth is not the same as lying!

-Paleocon

#30 | Posted by donnerboy at 2013-02-21 02:24 PM | Reply | Flag:

Breitbart.Com is circling the drain. The junior Breitbarts don't have the late founder's talent for getting his face on television, so all they have left is poorly written and researched right-wing attack journalism.

The Corner at National Review is a much better right wing site to read than Breitbart.

#31 | Posted by rcade at 2013-02-21 02:30 PM | Reply | Flag:

I hear is going to make a come-back....

i973.photobucket.com

#32 | Posted by Corky at 2013-02-21 02:33 PM | Reply | Flag:

Shame on Friedman for making this [...] up

Friedman didn't make anything up.

#33 | Posted by rcade at 2013-02-21 04:10 PM | Reply | Flag:

So interesting the dichotomy of what is considered "proper sources" by the left. How you people deal with you own inconsistencies is an amazing think to me.

#34 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-21 04:20 PM | Reply | Flag:

-an amazing think to me.

This is your brain on donuts.

cdn.healthhabits.ca

#35 | Posted by Corky at 2013-02-21 04:22 PM | Reply | Flag:

think = thing opps my bad

#36 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-21 04:29 PM | Reply | Flag:

So interesting the dichotomy of what is considered "proper sources" by the left. How you people deal with you own inconsistencies is an amazing think to me.
#34 | Posted by paneocon at 2013-02-21 04:20 PM

It's topic-selective, imo. For instance, the reality that Palestine is entirely overrun with illegal colonies is covered-up with a militarized religious blame campaign intended to specifically de-humanize and racially oppress anyone in the region who fights back, labeling them as aiding "Muslim terrorists".

Everyone in the MSM who continues to cover this atrocity up are guilty of aiding the Israeli genocide campaign against the Palestinians. This is a major reason I despise cretins like Anderson Cooper, Sean Hannity, Brian Williams, and even Randi Rhodes - who know the truth and consistently betray it. Breitbart is a corpse - the perfect voicebox of the radical detractors. What can't they say in mining his namesake?

#37 | Posted by redlightrobot at 2013-02-22 01:09 PM | Reply | Flag:

Hah this is great Harry Reid spread LIES about Mitt Romney and the left proudly trumpeted said in every paper in the country!!!!

And the dr left LOVED it. Can you say disingenuous hypocrites????

#38 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 06:51 PM | Reply | Flag:

Obama tell some lie just about every speech he makes, and you all love it?

#39 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 06:55 PM | Reply | Flag:

Obama tell some lie just about every speech he makes, and you all love it?

#39 | Posted by DavetheWave

He just gave a big one on 02/12/2013. Can you tell us what the lie in that speech was?

#40 | Posted by donnerboy at 2013-02-22 08:40 PM | Reply | Flag:

The finger-pointing began during the third presidential debate last fall, on Oct. 22, when President Obama blamed Congress. "The sequester is not something that I've proposed," Obama said. "It is something that Congress has proposed."

The White House chief of staff at the time, Jack Lew, who had been budget director during the negotiations that set up the sequester in 2011, backed up the president two days later.

"There was an insistence on the part of Republicans in Congress for there to be some automatic trigger," Lew said while campaigning in Florida. It "was very much rooted in the Republican congressional insistence that there be an automatic measure."

The president and Lew had this wrong. My extensive reporting for my book "The Price of Politics" shows that the automatic spending cuts were initiated by the White House and were the brainchild of Lew and White House congressional relations chief Rob Nabors -- probably the foremost experts on budget issues in the senior ranks of the federal government.

www.washingtonpost.com

#41 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 08:42 PM | Reply | Flag:

See the President LIES and the left eats it up!

As I said disingenuous hypocrites!

#42 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 08:44 PM | Reply | Flag:

here's one!

Already, the Affordable Care Act is helping to slow the growth of health care costs.

#43 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 08:46 PM | Reply | Flag:

Here's another!

www.youtube.com

#44 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 08:47 PM | Reply | Flag:

"Over the last few years, both parties have worked together to reduce the deficit by more than $2.5 trillion."

"Today, the organization [Al Qaeda] that attacked us on 9/11 is a shadow of its former self."

#45 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 08:52 PM | Reply | Flag:

Yet the left is outraged by a story by brietbart. Where were you on the Romney is a Felon line by Dingy Reid?

If he is why hasn't Holder brought charges?

Where are you on the Executive Privilige claim for Fast and Furious?

#46 | Posted by DavetheWave at 2013-02-22 08:54 PM | Reply | Flag:

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