PILOT SPIN
Spin Zone => Spin Zone => Topic started by: LevelWing on March 13, 2016, 09:58:10 PM
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For those not following the story, Breitbart News' Michelle Fields claims she was grabbed and thrown to the ground as she was attempting to ask Trump questions as he was leaving a rally. The incident is on audio and video tape (admittedly the video tape is a little hard to see) and Michelle Fields filed a police report over the incident. She's alleging that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is the one that threw her to the ground. The Trump campaign has denied it. Breitbart News not only wouldn't stand by her but instructed their reporters to stop tweeting about it. Now, not only has Michelle Fields resigned, but so has editor-at-large Ben Shapiro.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/michelle-fields-ben-shapiro-resign-from-breitbart#.fedOrMYrG
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Wow. I had no idea.
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For those not following the story, Breitbart News' Michelle Fields claims she was grabbed and thrown to the ground as she was attempting to ask Trump questions as he was leaving a rally. The incident is on audio and video tape (admittedly the video tape is a little hard to see) and Michelle Fields filed a police report over the incident. She's alleging that Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski is the one that threw her to the ground. The Trump campaign has denied it. Breitbart News not only wouldn't stand by her but instructed their reporters to stop tweeting about it. Now, not only has Michelle Fields resigned, but so has editor-at-large Ben Shapiro.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/michelle-fields-ben-shapiro-resign-from-breitbart#.fedOrMYrG (http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/michelle-fields-ben-shapiro-resign-from-breitbart#.fedOrMYrG)
Audio and video, but no links? Hmmmm.
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This is such a weird story.
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The latest Reliable Sources podcast is promising "full coverage" of this story.
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This whole thing is troubling on a number of levels. There are varying accounts of what happened, and while people do occasionally fall in the press scrum (they get pretty bumpy) this is a specific accusation.
As I said before, if the guy did actually do what has he has been accused of (deliberately pushing her to the ground) he should resign and if he doesn't resign he should be fired - but - in America we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty meaning it should be adjudicated in something more rational than the court of public opinion.
Shapiro's resignation is a big deal, but so is the Breitbart management decision to ask their employees to stop tweeting about something that is an ongoing story that involves their own people.
Could be that Breitbart Mgmt thinks this story will not end well for Fields (turns out to be an exaggeration vs an actual assault for example) - truth is we don't know yet.
The only thing for sure is that Trump Derangement Syndrome is widespread on our side amongst the scions of the media and the powerbrokers and would be kingmakers.
'Gimp
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The latest Reliable Sources podcast is promising "full coverage" of this story.
Just listened to it, and I don't think that coverage was there.
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Just listened to it, and I don't think that coverage was there.
Thanks for the feedback
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This whole thing is troubling on a number of levels. There are varying accounts of what happened, and while people do occasionally fall in the press scrum (they get pretty bumpy) this is a specific accusation.
As I said before, if the guy did actually do what has he has been accused of (deliberately pushing her to the ground) he should resign and if he doesn't resign he should be fired - but - in America we are supposed to be innocent until proven guilty meaning it should be adjudicated in something more rational than the court of public opinion.
Shapiro's resignation is a big deal, but so is the Breitbart management decision to ask their employees to stop tweeting about something that is an ongoing story that involves their own people.
Could be that Breitbart Mgmt thinks this story will not end well for Fields (turns out to be an exaggeration vs an actual assault for example) - truth is we don't know yet.
The only thing for sure is that Trump Derangement Syndrome is widespread on our side amongst the scions of the media and the powerbrokers and would be kingmakers.
'Gimp
Ted Cruz's campaign manager was fired for a tweet. When you speak of innocent until proven guilty, you are speaking of a criminal trial, which there has not been one yet (however the reporter did file a police report). The accusation alone, along with the fact that there is video and audio evidence, should be enough to have the campaign manager fired. It's an imaging problem; you don't want to be the campaign that is known for physical abuse of reporters. After all, if you can assault a reporter when you're just a candidate, what are you going to do once you're president?
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Ted Cruz's campaign manager was fired for a tweet. When you speak of innocent until proven guilty, you are speaking of a criminal trial, which there has not been one yet (however the reporter did file a police report). The accusation alone, along with the fact that there is video and audio evidence, should be enough to have the campaign manager fired. It's an imaging problem; you don't want to be the campaign that is known for physical abuse of reporters. After all, if you can assault a reporter when you're just a candidate, what are you going to do once you're president?
First off, Campaign Manager is not the same as the candidate so I dismiss your last sentence.
Second, Cruz's Campaign Manager wasn't fired for a tweet, he was fired for knowingly promoting a video that falsely suggested Marco Rubio had mocked the bible, which was absurd on its face, not to mention the official looking but bogus Voting Violation mailers and knowingly promoting the Ben Carson is quitting meme during the Iowa caucuses - totally different situation.
Third, the video 'evidence' itself is inconclusive at best IMO, at least the three different viewpoints I have seen (WPTV 5, MSNBC, and C-SPAN) certainly don't show anything that rises to assault in my opinion. There is a theory that it was in fact another reporter who may have pulled on her arm to get better position (Ben Terris) since Terris is seen closer to Trump after the 'incident'.
Gateway Pundit goes a lot farther and suggests that Ms. Fields may have essentially made the whole thing up. http://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2016/03/wow-new-video-proves-michelle-fields-not-even-bumped-vy-trump-campaign-manager-lewendowski/
The Daily Beast 'story' that Lewandowski admitted to manhandling Ms. Fields was itself outed as a fabrication, made by a Daily Beast contributor (Lloyd Grove) who has previously written false articles about Breitbart. Of course, the false meme did it's job, to create an impression in folks who fail to circle back or catch the eventual correction.
I agree that in terms of pure optics the 'typical' thing to do would be for a candidate to condemn the action and fire/ask for a resignation, but Trump is clearly not a typical candidate, in many ways.
What I have seen does not rise to the level of assault, in my opinion, and we all know that anyone can file charges - see the bullshit brought by Gloria Allred against Herman Cain or Meg Whitman in recent cycles, outrageous charges that were eventually and quietly dropped after having done the political damage desired. In this case, Ms. Fields waited from Tuesday night to Friday to file the charges which itself seems a little odd to me but I can accept any rational explanation if one is forthcoming.
I actually find the wait and see, more fact-based approach with respect to 'condemnation' or 'demanding resignation's to be somewhat refreshing - I know others will not.
'Gimp
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After all, if you can assault a reporter when you're just a candidate, what are you going to do once you're president?
"Scandal" and "House of Cards" both have their own takes on this!
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But, of course, Trump only hires the BEST people:
But a POLITICO investigation reveals that the incident was far from the first time in Lewandowski’s political career ― or even during the 2016 campaign ― that the intense, Red Bull-chugging operative has been accused of bullying and other inappropriate behavior.
In interviews with more than 20 sources who have dealt with Lewandowski during his nearly year-long tenure with the Trump campaign and in his previous job with the Koch brothers-backed advocacy group Americans for Prosperity, complaints emerged about Lewandowski being rough with reporters and sexually suggestive with female journalists, while profanely berating conservative officials and co-workers he deemed to be challenging his authority.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-220742#ixzz42zI9Td34 (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-220742#ixzz42zI9Td34)
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First off, Campaign Manager is not the same as the candidate so I dismiss your last sentence.
Fair point. I'll clarify by saying that any campaign who allows a reporter to get away with assaulting a reporter while it's just a campaign concerns me as to what the administration's actions will be towards reporters once they're in office. That being said, it's an allegation, not a fact as of right now.
Second, Cruz's Campaign Manager wasn't fired for a tweet, he was fired for knowingly promoting a video that falsely suggested Marco Rubio had mocked the bible, which was absurd on its face - totally different situation.
The situation was different, yes, but there's an allegation of battery, an actual criminal complaint. My point was that a tweet that promoted a false message caused a campaign manager to get fired and now we have a criminal complaint filed against a campaign manager and that's somehow acceptable. I'm not talking about the burden of proof for a criminal conviction, I'm referring to the imaging. This article (http://www.politico.com/story/2016/03/donald-trump-corey-lewandowski-220742) shows that his campaign manager has a history with reporters and other issues.
Third, the video 'evidence' itself is inconclusive at best IMO, at least the three different viewpoints I have seen (WPTV 5, MSNBC, and C-SPAN) certainly don't show anything that rises to assault in my opinion. There is a theory that it was in fact another reporter who may have pulled on her arm to get better position (Ben Terris) since Terris is seen closer to Trump after the 'incident'.
Again, it's about perception. I agree that the video doesn't conclusively prove that his campaign manager assaulted the reporter. On the other hand it doesn't conclusively rule it out, either.
I actually find the wait and see, more fact-based approach with respect to 'condemnation' or 'demanding resignation's to be somewhat refreshing - I know others will not.
That's not the standard applied to any other candidate. Marco Rubio was correct when he said that had that been his campaign manager he would've had to fire the guy.