Andy Martin, Slayer of "Jew Power," Revealer of Muslims, on Fox News
Michael C. Moynihan | October 7, 2008, 1:47pm
I do not live in, not do I have any desire to visit, "Sean Hannity's America." So I missed his Sunday broadcast, "Obama & Friends: The History of Radicalism," in which it was determined that Barack Obama is a secret radical who once had a Pakistani roommate. The New York Times' Jim Rutenberg notes that the Fox News program features an interview with Andy Martin, the man behind those "Obama is a secret Muslim" emails, who argues that the senator's community organizing days served as "training for the radical overthrow of the government." (As opposed to the moderate overthrow of the government, I suppose.) It was once true that if you desired to plot a radical left-wing coup, you trained in with Wadid Haddad in the PFLP camps of South Yemen, not in the leafy suburbs of Chicago. But I suppose times have changed.
When Rutenberg questioned Martin, who once ran a political committee with the stated purpose of "exterminat[ing] Jew power in America and...impeach[ing] the judges of the U.S. Court of Appeals in New York City," he furnished this brilliantly boneheaded quote: "That is my opinion - expert opinion - if you will. I don't pretend to be an exclusively fact-based reporter, though I try as hard as I can to get the facts."
So is Hannity's scurrilous little "documentary" the Clinton Chronicles of the 2008 election?
Related: Tim Noah's August 2001 review of Bill Ayer's autobiography, Fugitive Days, a book that he calls both "self-indulgent and morally clueless."
Neu Mejican | October 7, 2008, 6:13pm | #
Coordination with the White House:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25885493/.html
Blockquote
MATTHEWS: Did you see FOX television as a tool when you were in the White House, as a useful avenue for getting your message out?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I make a distinction between the journalists and between the commentators. Certainly, there were commentators and others, pundits, at FOX News that were helpful to the White House.
(CROSSTALK)
MCCLELLAN: Certainly, we got talking points...
(CROSSTALK)
MCCLELLAN: ... those people.
MATTHEWS: Did people say, call Sean, call Bill, call whoever? Did you do that as a regular thing?
(CROSSTALK)
MCCLELLAN: Certainly. Certainly. It wasn‘t necessarily something I was doing, but it was something that we at the White House, yes, were doing and getting them talking points and making sure they knew where we were coming from.
MATTHEWS: So, you were giving them talking points...
(CROSSTALK)
MCCLELLAN: But I would separate the journalists.
(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: No, no, this is important.
MCCLELLAN: Yes.
MATTHEWS: You were using these commentators as your spokespeople?
MCCLELLAN: Well, certainly. I mean, certainly. I think that happens to both ways, when people go on other networks, as well, that are—that are favorable towards Democrats and so forth.
MATTHEWS: Well, nobody has ever fed me any crap like that, so I don‘t know what you‘re talking about.
(CROSSTALK)
MCCLELLAN: Well, you‘re an independent-minded guy.
MATTHEWS: I—I—thank you.
But aren‘t you a little embarrassed by the fact that your White House used a television network which is purportedly fair and balanced as your mouthpiece?
MCCLELLAN: Well, I think everybody in this town uses people that are going to be helpful to their cause to try to shape the narrative to their advantage.
MATTHEWS: But a whole network?
MCCLELLAN: Again, I would separate the journalists, because the journalists that I worked with were people, just like the rest of the White House press corps, who would try to report the news.
MATTHEWS: So, you wouldn‘t use Brit Hume as somebody to sell stuff for, but you would use the nighttime guys?
MCCLELLAN: Yes, I would separate that out. And, certainly, and they will say that that‘s because they agree with those views in the White House.
MATTHEWS: Well, they didn‘t need a script, though, did they?
MCCLELLAN: Well, probably not.
THE DEMOCRATS said,in October 8th, 2008 at 2:29 am We watch FOX so you don’t have to. | October 8, 2008, 4:07am | #
THE DEMOCRATS said,in October 8th, 2008 at 2:29 am We watch FOX so you don’t have to.
Obama Spokesman Confronts Hannity On HIS Radical Association
Reported by Ellen - October 8, 2008 - 12 comments
On the post-debate Hannity & Colmes program last night (10/7/08), Barack Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs pushed back on Sean Hannity’s fixation with William Ayers and nabbed Hannity for using a major anti-Semite as a source for smearing Obama at the same time. With video.
Hannity started the segment with Gibbs by complaining that the debate was a “rehash” of topics already discussed. Hannity was obviously disappointed that William Ayers had not come up. So Hannity figured he’d do it with Obama’s spokesman.
“Let me ask you a question,” Hannity said to Gibbs. “How can you fight terrorism when you give speeches with, you sit on a board with (Hannity began counting on those fingers), Axelrod says you’re friendly with, and you never speak out against, William Ayers?”
Gibbs answered, “So you think he’s guilty by association?” Gibbs went on to point out that Obama has said that Ayers’ radical acts were deplorable but that the board they sat on together was funded by the Annenberg Foundation, named after a conservative Republican and friend of Ronald Reagan.
Then Gibbs said “Let me ask you one question… Are you anti-Semitic?”
“Not at all,” Hannity said.
Gibbs continued, “OK, on your show on Sunday, the show that’s named after you, the centerpiece of that show was a guy named Andy Martin.” Gibbs was referring to Sunday’s (10/5/08) Hannity’s America program in which, as Media Matters has reported,
Hannity hosted Andy Martin — identified by Hannity as an “Internet journalist” — to make “the explosive claim that [Sen. Barack] Obama’s role as a community organizer was a political staging ground perpetuated by the unrepentant terrorist William Ayers.” At no point during the segment did Hannity note Martin’s history of smears against Obama or Martin’s history of anti-Semitic and racially charged comments.
Hannity immediately became defensive, accused Gibbs of “reading your talking points” (as if Hannity doesn’t!) and then interrupted to say that he interviews “people of all points of view, whether we agree or disagree.”
Gibbs went on to quote some of Martin’s anti-Semitic statements and asked why one should not think that Hannity is an anti-Semite.
Agitated, Hannity said, “I’m a journalist that interviews people all the time.” Not according to FOX News he isn’t.
Gibbs’ point was that it was as ridiculous to accuse Obama of supporting Ayers because they worked together on a board as it would be to accuse Hannity of being an anti-Semite just because he interviewed Martin. But it would have been sweet if Gibbs had gone all the way and pointed out that Hannity had not just interviewed Martin but presented him as a credible guest, one who offered Hannity’s own viewpoint. Martin’s treatment was quite a contrast to the way Hannity treats people he disagrees with, such as economist Robert Kuttner or even Gibbs, himself. Unfortunately, Alan Colmes missed Gibbs’ point and leapt to Hannity’s defense by defending him against an imaginary charge of anti-Semitism.
Interestingly, an increasingly agitated Hannity tried to change the subject to attacking Barack Obama over Louis Farrakhan, Hannity’s black uber-boogeyman. “Did Barack Obama ever sit and meet with Louis Farrakhan?” Hannity asked. It was a question out of left field.
Gibbs said he had no idea.
But you have to wonder why Hannity would ask such a question. To my mind, it was because, having failed to make the “radical terrorist” connection, Hannity wanted to accuse Obama of being a black militant/racist.
Though I have repeatedly written about Hannity’s bigotry, I don’t have any grounds to think that he is an actual anti-Semite. But he certainly has a record of friendliness toward anti-Semites.
Hannity was so rattled that he returned to the subject at the end of the show, long after Gibbs had gone, and insisted he has stood up to anti-Semitism and racism. Unfortunately, my recorder did not record that bit.
But I invite Hannity to provide one instance where he has stood up to anti-black racism. On the other hand, I can provide dozens of instances where he has promoted it.
Robert Gibbs takes on Sean Hannity said,in October 8th, 2008 at 2:49 am Robert Gibbs takes on Sean Hannity
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zgn6rjGbp0c
Robert Gibbs takes on Sean Hannity said,in October 8th, 2008 at 2:58 am Anthony Robert Martin-Trigona, usually known as Andy Martin (born 1945 in Middletown, Connecticut) is an American journalist, perennial candidate and self-proclaimed consumer advocate. He has filed numerous legal actions which have led several federal and state courts in the United States to label him a vexatious litigant. The Nation[1] and The Washington Post[2] have identified him as the primary source of rumors that presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama is a closet Muslim.
Contents [hide]
1 Life and career
1.1 Vexatious litigant
2 Role in rumors about Obama
3 References
4 External links
[edit] Life and career
Martin was born in 1945 in Middletown, Connecticut.[3] He graduated from the University of Illinois in 1966, earning a law degree from that institution in 1969.
However, in 1973 the Illinois Supreme Court refused to grant him a license to practice law in the state. It cited several instances of troubling conduct on Martin’s part, including an attempt to have a parking violation thrown out because it had been “entered by an insane judge” and his description of an attorney as “shaking and tottering and drooling like an idiot.”[4]
Martin then turned his attention to consumer advocacy. Styling himself “the people’s attorney general,” he takes credit for being the first to file suit under the civil component of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO), as well as the first to file antitrust actions against the Big Three television networks for anticompetitive practices in network affiliation agreements.[5] He also claims to have launched Operation Greylord, an investigation which revealed serious corruption in Chicago’s criminal-justice system.
Martin grew up as a Democrat, and served as an intern to Senator Paul Douglas in the summer of 1966. In 1977, he ran in a special election for mayor of Chicago, losing to acting mayor Michael Bilandic.
Over the years, he has run for various offices in Connecticut, Florida and Illinois as a Democrat, a Republican and an independent. Among them:
U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1978 (Democratic primary)
U.S. Senator from Illinois, 1980 (Democratic primary)
U.S. House from Connecticut, 1986 (Republican primary)
President of the United States, 1988 (Democratic primary)
Governor of Florida, 1990 (Republican primary)
U.S. House from Florida, 1992 (Republican primary)
Florida State Senate, 1996 (unsuccessful Republican nominee)
U.S. Senator from Florida, 1998 (Republican primary)
President of the United States, 2000] (Republican primary)
U.S. Senator from Florida, 2000 (unsuccessful independent candidate)
U.S. Senator from Florida, 2004 (Republican primary)
Governor of Illinois, 2006 (Republican primary)
U.S. Senator from Illinois, 2008 (Republican primary)
His 1996 run for the Florida State Senate came unraveled when it was revealed that he’d named his campaign committee for his 1986 congressional run “The Anthony R. Martin-Trigona Congressional Campaign to Exterminate Jew Power in America.” The revelation led the state Republican Party to renounce him. Just before the election, he assaulted two cameramen from WPTV, the NBC affiliate in West Palm Beach. He was convicted of criminal mischief and sentenced to a year in jail. He was freed pending appeal, but made personal attacks on the judge while on the way out of the courtroom. The judge held Martin in criminal contempt of court and sentenced him to seven months in jail. However, he was mistakenly let out of jail after only a month. Martin never returned, and a warrant was issued for his arrest. If he is ever arrested, he will have to serve 16 months in jail.[3] The warrant was still outstanding at least as of the time of Martin’s 2008 Senate run, but he said the issue is being “resolved.”[6]
During his 2000 run for president, he accused George W. Bush of using cocaine. In 2003, several months before Saddam Hussein was captured, he claimed to have found the former Iraqi dictator’s hideout.[3]
[edit] Vexatious litigant
Martin has been labeled a vexatious litigant by numerous federal and state courts. As early as 1982, Edward Weinfeld, a federal judge for the Southern District of New York, observed that he had a tendency to file “a substantial number of lawsuits of a vexatious, frivolous and scandalous nature.”[4]
In 1983, Jose Cabranes, a federal judge for the United States District Court for the District of Connecticut, issued a sweeping injunction barring Martin or anyone acting “at his behest, at his direction or instigation, or in concert with him” from filing any new action or proceeding in any federal or state court without first seeking permission from the court in which he wished to file that action or proceeding.[7] In his ruling, Cabranes noted that Martin had a tendency to file legal actions with “persistence, viciousness, and general disregard for decency and logic.” According to Cabranes, Martin’s practice was to file “an incessant stream of frivolous or meritless motions, demands, letters to the court and other documents,” as well as “vexatious lawsuits” against anyone who dared cross him. Many of these filings were anti-Semitic in nature. On appeal by Martin, the 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals limited the scope of the injunction to federal courts, but stated that the federal courts were constitutionally obligated to protect themselves and the administration of justice from vexatious litigants.[8]
Since then, Martin has continued his pattern of filing legal action almost unabated. It is estimated that he has filed thousands of proceedings over the years. For example, in 1993 the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals determined that his mother was acting in concert with him by filing a federal civil rights action against several Florida state officials. The court noted similar wording in the suit filed by Martin’s mother and a petition filed by Martin itself. In throwing out the suit, the 11th Circuit called Martin “a notoriously vexatious and vindictive litigator who has long abused the American legal system.”[7] Most recently, a libel and invasion of privacy suit against Media Matters and its founder, David Brock, was dismissed with prejudice because Martin had violated the terms of the injunction.[9]
Martin has also been sanctioned at the state level as well. For example, he is banned from seeking indigent status in Florida courts due to his history of filing abusive petitions.[10]
[edit] Role in rumors about Obama
According to a report by journalist Chris Hayes for The Nation, Martin issued a press release shortly after Obama’s keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention that he had evidence Obama “lied to the American people” and “misrepresent[ed] his own heritage.” Martin claimed that Obama was really a Muslim, and was possibly hiding this fact “to endanger Israel.”[1]
Within a few days, the conservative site Free Republic picked up Martin’s press release, triggering a long discussion. However, according to Hayes, the issue went dormant after Obama’s election to the Senate, only to pick up again in 2006 as rumors spread that Obama was considering a presidential run.[1] In October, a conservative blog, Infidel Bloggers Alliance, reposted Martin’s press release in response to a question about Obama’s heritage.[11] Then, on December 26, conservative activist Ted Sampley, co-founder of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, posted a column suggesting Obama was a secret Muslim, heavily quoting Martin’s original press release.[12] According to Hayes, the first of many emails suggesting Obama was a Muslim was forwarded to Snopes within hours of Sampley’s story. Hayes believes that the email was likely a slightly altered version of the Sampley article, which was in turn heavily based on Martin’s 2004 press release. Martin told Hayes that he got numerous calls once the emails began circulating. When the callers asked him if he wrote the release, Martin replied, “They are all my children.”[1]
According to the June 28, 2008 edition of The Washington Post, political theorist Danielle Allen traced the origin of the rumors about Obama’s background back to Martin’s 2004 press release. In contrast to his attitude during his interview with The Nation, Martin told the Post that he wasn’t “trying to smear anybody,” but that it was “just an underreported story.”[2]
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