Media Matters, Melanie Morgan, Bill O'Reilly, George Soros

NOT AFRAID

Who Will Take On Soros-Funded Smear Machine?







In the escalating ideological war for Internet dominance, do conservatives stand a chance?

The problem is mainly one of resources: with millions of dollars supporting a network of "progressive" smear sites, versus an unfunded, loose- knit collection of grass roots- based conservative blogs, it's amazing the race is even this close.

On the left, that mega- money is building a force of "progressive" cyberthugs, bent on bullying Internet conservatives and wiping out right- leaning talk radio. By now, you know the names: Media Matters, the Huffington Post, DailyKos and others.

Learning from past mistakes, billionaire leftist George Soros and his friends have shifted their resources away from Air America Radio's money pit and into websites like those mentioned above. Apparently, it's easier to tear down enemies through the web than to sell one's ideas via talk radio.


While "progressive" activists receive full- time salaries to monitor and report on conservative talk radio and blogs, on the other side, most are essentially volunteers. On the right, there are no counterparts to Soros, Peter Lewis and the Democracy Alliance backers.

On the O'Reilly Factor this week, Bill has been connecting the dots between Soros, his fellow- travellers and the organizations they have founded in order to conduct ideological warfare. Michelle Malkin, never one to fear the battle, has been working with him on key background research.

In addition, your Radio Equalizer has done previous research into these fat cat donors. Here's a good starting point.

The impact is clear: conservatives are at a 'net disadvantage when it comes to search engine results, fighting back when firestorms are generated against talk show hosts and bringing forward an issues- based agenda. It can even hurt fundraising efforts for GOP candidates.

Money isn't the only issue: by our very nature, we tend to be individualistic, while "progressives" usually take a group approach. Usually, that's not a problem for the right.

Here, however, conservatives sometimes don't provide enough support for one another. When the smear sites have selected their latest conservative target, that can be damaging, as the person is left to fight them nearly alone. With that kind of environment, who stands a chance?

In addition, there's another key difference: while lefty sites overwhelmingly support the Democrats, their counterparts on the right want little to do with the GOP these days.


While your Radio Equalizer strongly advocated for the removal of Don Imus long before nearly anyone else on the Internet, the manner in which he was whacked was disturbing. Though clearly a leftist, this site believes he was targeted by these sites anyway, as a trial run for going after the big guns: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Bill O'Reilly and others.

For the right, the situation is alarming, according to The Examiner's Robert Cox:

Web 2.0 worse for the right than it thinks

Robert Cox, The Examiner
Apr 24, 2007 10:48 AM

WASHINGTON - For several years now, a common refrain among left-wing online political activists has been “We need to own the Internet the way the right owns talk radio.” Based on recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, it looks like the left has succeeded — with Democratic presidential candidates as the primary beneficiaries.

Last fall in this space, I asked, “When will the right recognize the cost of conceding Web 2.0?” With that cost now readily apparent in the form of online campaign contributions for the 2008 presidential campaign cycle, the only remaining question is whether conservatives can do anything about it in time for the elections next fall. It appears likely the answer will be a resounding no.

In the first quarter of this year, Democratic candidates raised almost $80 million, far ahead of the Republican candidates, who combined raised just over $50 million. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., raised $6.9 million over the Internet from 50,000 individuals, most of whom gave in small amounts. That means they can be tapped again during the campaign. More than 8,000 individuals signed up as volunteers through the Obama Web site.

Sen. Hillary Clinton, D-N.Y., raised $4.2 million over the Internet. The Republican candidates did not break out online contributions separately but all of this suggests the gap will only grow wider over the course of the 2008 election cycle.

Joe Trippi, who has since signed on to work for former North Carolina Sen. John Edwards’ presidential campaign said, “We built it and they didn’t. Now it’s paying big dividends.”

The first step in recovery for the right is to admit they have a problem. But admitting you have a problem requires you come to terms with just how bad a problem you really have. When conservatives get around to taking a hard look, they are not going to like what they see. The left has constructed a complex web of intersecting points of information and propaganda, which the right may never fully undo.

To better appreciate the dilemma now facing the right in a Web 2.0 world, it may be instructive to look at one example of how the right is losing in the online arms race — the nexus between Google, Wikipedia and far-left blogs and online forums.

Because it reveals real financial damage to the GOP's presidential contenders due to this Internet disadvantage, Cox's piece is particularly on the mark.


But what about the impact of lefty smear pieces on conservative commentators? When the words of talk hosts and television pundits are twisted and distorted, who is there to fight back?

It's no secret that their next target is Rush Limbaugh. When a coordinated attack is mounted against him, will conservatives be ready for the mainstream media's onslaught?

One host who is not taking their bullying lying down is KSFO / San Francisco host Melanie Morgan. A frequent target of Media Matters (there's a whole section on their site devoted to her), Morgan earlier this week had this to say about them:

When the Los Angeles Times noted that the loss of Imus' radio program (and accompanying MSNBC simulcast) would hurt liberal causes and Democrat candidates for office, Media Matters launched an attack on the Times story because it showcased the non-conservative leanings of Imus.

This is standard practice for Media Matters and its incessant war against conservatism and the movement's most prominent media figures.

The list of conservative figures targeted by Media Matters is endless: Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Glenn Beck, Fred Barnes, Michelle Malkin, Oliver North, Ann Coulter, Debbie Schlussel and many others.

Media Matters was founded with the support and funding from key Democrat operatives, including John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton. The group has documented ties to far-left organizations such as MoveOn.org and the Center for American Progress – both of which have been funded by far-left billionaire George Soros.

I have lived on the other side of the gun barrel pointed by Media Matters for America for the better part of three years, and I know what it feels like when a bunch of crackpots with keyboards pull the trigger, backed by millions upon millions of dollars in funding from George Soros.

I co-host "The Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Show," a conservative news/talk program on KSFO 560 AM in San Francisco, every weekday morning for four hours. Liberals are disgusted that our conservative program is one of the most-listened to radio programs in the notoriously liberal San Francisco Bay Area. We've endured several vicious campaigns waged against us by liberal activists with the backing of Media Matters for America, as they worked ruthlessly to have us silenced.

Several times these left-wing free speech Nazi's have almost succeeded.

The transcripts and audio files of my comments have been excerpted, misrepresented and reconfigured to take statements out of context, reprinted with lies and distortions, and then disseminated to other liberal media outlets with fierce resolve.

The Democratic Party wants to silence us, and they use Media Matters for America to wage a war against us replete with character assassination, personal threats, lawsuits and efforts to have us fired or suspended.

I can live with being targeted by these "vile, despicable ankle-biters," as Bill O'Reilly calls Media Matters. In an odd way, the attacks against me have energized me to fight even harder for the conservative causes I believe in. One of those causes includes the right to bear arms, a right that had been denied to the students and professors at Virginia Tech University who were unable to defend themselves from a deranged murderer who took no notice of the school's status as a "Gun Free Zone."

Here's their response, complete with a claim that Soros money doesn't fund their operation (perhaps not directly!):

KSFO's Morgan: Media Matters like Virginia Tech gunman


In an April 20 column for WorldNetDaily.com, Melanie Morgan, co-host of San Francisco radio station KSFO's Lee Rodgers & Melanie Morgan Program, compared Media Matters for America to the Virginia Tech gunman who killed 32 people before shooting himself to death. Morgan wrote: "Like that mentally unbalanced and angry gunman at Virginia Tech, they'll methodically march through the domiciles of the conservative movement, targeting the movement's leaders for career elimination -- until and unless we stand up and fight back against their campaign of mayhem against conservative leaders and causes." Morgan also attacked Media Matters as "left-wing free speech Nazis."

Morgan wrote: "I have lived on the other side of the gun barrel pointed by Media Matters for America for the better part of three years, and I know what it feels like when a bunch of crackpots with keyboards pull the trigger, backed by millions upon millions of dollars in funding from George Soros." She added: "The transcripts and audio files of my comments have been excerpted, misrepresented and reconfigured to take statements out of context, reprinted with lies and distortions, and then disseminated to other liberal media outlets with fierce resolve." Morgan offered no evidence to support these accusations. Moreover, Media Matters has never received money from progressive philanthropist George Soros.

Morgan has smeared Soros in the past, agreeing with co-host Lee Rodgers' assertion that Soros "apparently very cheerfully and willingly went to work for the Nazis" as a young boy, and adding that Soros did so to "further his own career." KSFO's program director announced in a subsequent show that Rodgers' and Morgan's comments about Soros "are not accurate, and KSFO regrets that they were broadcast." Morgan also has announced that "[w]e've got a bull's-eye painted on [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's] big, wide laughing eyes."

From this point forward, it's going to take a team approach, as well as fresh ideas about funding and financial viability in order to have any chance at countering this very real threat. Let's not wait until they succeed in yanking Limbaugh, Hannity, O'Reilly off the air, or wiping out prominent conservative bloggers.

Is the right paying attention? Failure to grasp the severity of the situation could be deadly.


Following this post, your Radio Equalizer will be spelling out just where this site stands in the scheme of things. While some will find it self- serving, it should make more sense to others who have followed this work from the beginning.


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Some images: AP