Wednesday morning, Media Matters for America (MMFA) openly sided against the media in favor of the Obama Administration. In what might be a major tipping point against them, the hard-left, Soros-funded, 501 (c)(3) welfare queens released a set of pro-Obama talking points that take the Department of Justice’s side in the case in which they seized the phone records of upwards of 20 Associated Press reporters:
KEY ISSUES TO RAISE
•If the press compromised active counter-terror operations for a story that only tipped off the terrorists, that sounds like it should be investigated.
•It was not acceptable when the Bush Administration exposed Valerie Plame working undercover to stop terrorists from attacking us. It is not acceptable when anonymous sources do it either.
•Is this story about a government source blowing the whistle on government misbehavior, or about a source gratuitously exposing ongoing counter-terrorism operations?
•Did Republicans in Congress who are now exploiting the situation to score political points oppose the media shield law that likely would have protected the Associated Press in this situation?
•How should the Justice Department strike the balance between respecting our free press and investigating damaging leaks that jeopardize counter-terrorism operations?
The Daily Beast’s Eli Lake sums up why Media Matters might have over-stepped this time:
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Lake is a good reporter, but he is no right-winger and is a member-in-good-standing among the mainstream media.
Since their inception almost ten-years ago, the worst-hidden, dirty little secret in America is that MMFA is nothing more than an arm of the Democratic Party and by extension the Obama Administration. Their job is — by hook, crook, lie, or smear — to annihilate stories damaging to Obama, or at the very least, to give the mainstream media an excuse to ignore or downplay them.
The AP spying story, though, is a horse of a different color. It is a direct confrontation between The Obama White House and The Media. So for Media Matters to come out so openly against the media, in favor of protecting Obama against something the media increasingly sees as indefensible, is a huge tactical mistake on their part and a misreading of the situation.
Tuesday, 52 media organizations signed a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder protesting the spying.
If Media Matters discredits itself to a point where they lose their influence with the mainstream media, Media Matters might as well close shop.
ADDED: My colleague Matt Boyle points out that there is a history of collaboration between the Department of Justice and Media Matters.
Follow John Nolte on Twitter @NolteNC
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