A number of media outlets around the nation have picked up the story of NH State Rep. JR Hoell's ill advised remarks about armed insurrection if his party chooses Scott Brown as a US Senate candidate in NH.
Think Progress, Opposing Views, Huffington Post, Talking Points Memo, and Right Wing Watch have all documented the story, which was first brought to our attention by Tuck at Miscellany Blue.
It is interesting to note is that the NH media isn't uttering a peep about this. A couple of weeks ago when State Rep. Peter Sullivan made an unflattering remark about GOP congressional candidate Marilinda Garcia, the media was in a huge, huge huff. The NH Patch network was OUTRAGED. All of the GOP faux media (like Pat Hynes vanity project, NH Journal) were screaming so shrilly the Queen's corgis could hear them across the ocean. The Union Leader, the Concord Monitor, NHPR, WMUR - all were in high dudgeon. Political reporters Pindell, DiStaso, and Cline were aghast!
Peter Sullivan, it should be pointed out, didn't threaten to kill Marilinda Garcia. He compared her to Bill O'Brien and Kim Kardashian. For this, he's received an inordinate amount of abuse, including phone calls, emails, and death threats.
The NH media, secure in their role as GOP lapdogs, were all over that story. When Free Stater/TeaParty/JohnBircher ally and State Representative JR Hoell threatens to start shootin' if he doesn't get his way - he gets a pass from the very same easily outraged media.
I'm betting that if Hoell threatened to shoot Kim Kardashian he'd still get a free pass from the sycophants and toadies that take dictation from the NH GOP and call themselves journalists.
7 comments:
Hear, hear. Excellent post, Susan. I'm glad someone else find the NH Media lacking.
If a Democratic candidate managed to Walk on Water, the
NH Media would call it a "Failure" because the bottom of their Feet got Wet.
We quit watching WMUR a long time ago. They're pathetic and this is being kind. NHPR is equally horrendous and we quit sending in contributions a long time ago. I don't know what it is with this state's so called press but they suck. When I lived in IL and TX their own public radio stations were incredibly superior compared to ours. Lap dog press - yes, this describes them well.
Hi Susan,
In case you missed it, and it seems as if you did, Concord NH Patch had a story up about Hoell's comments. I posted it about 12 hours after I first saw the transcription on Misc Blue.
I would have gotten to it earlier but I was bombed the day before and unable to get to it until the next morning.
The post was shared with all 12 Patch sites; some editors chose to publish it; some did not, which is their right, based on their own decisions to choose what to put on their sites.
You're incorrect in your insinuation that "The NH Patch network was OUTRAGED" (your emphasis) over Sullivan's remarks ... the story produced was quite evenhanded. The story also wasn't offered to all sites, only the CD 2 sites (six, not all 12), since it was a CD 2 Republican candidate who was targeted with the comment.
I can't speak to why no other media orgs in the state other than Patch published anything about Hoell's remarks but I would encourage you to ask them directly, especially those outlets like the Concord Monitor which cover Hoell's district.
I personally have no problem with people taking cheap shots at me or Patch for things they like or don't like. It happens, it's a part of the job of being a journalist. But insinuating unequal coverage when we did publish a story about what Hoell said and calling us "GOP lapdogs" for doing what you said we didn't do, is not only wrong, it's uncalled for.
I hope you have a great holiday week!
Best, Tony
As it happens, Tony - I wrote this blog piece on the 16th. Your piece in the Patch came out the following day.
I did see it - in fact - I tweeted about it:
susanthe @susanthe 17 Dec
Wow! 48 hours after the story breaks, a voice from the NH media finally acknowledges Rep. JR Hoell's threats! http://bit.ly/1jeVObT
I don't consider the Patch network part of the NH mainstream media, therefore the label of GOP lapdog doesn't apply, unless you choose to adopt it. I hope you don't.
Happy all that stuff to you, too!
Thanks for the date clarification Susan. I clearly missed that; I also missed your RT since you didn't tag us in it but thank you for acknowledging the post on Twitter and sharing it. I appreciate that you don't consider the Patch network part of "the mainstream media" in NH even though you seemed to target us as such in the "OUTRAGE" comment, lumping us in with the others but at this point, how does Scott Brown term it ... bqwh#tevah? :-) Take care.
Tony - there was all kinds of outrage about Peter Sullivan, and no outrage about Hoell. That's the point, and (I would hope) that would be a point that is undeniable.
There was no follow up to the story. No one covered the threats that Peter and his wife received, or the sheer nastiness of the commentary. No one ever seems to point out the kind of violence that lurks just below the surface of the so-called liberty movement.
I saw it first hand at the vigil turned gun nut melee in front of the State House last may. Violent thugs took over a peaceful vigil being held by unarmed middle aged people. They threatened people, they assaulted people, and they took out their bullhorns and shouted down ministers and nuns. That was regarded as a triumph by the Freedumb and Libertea Crowd, and JR Hoell was one of the organizers of the event - even though he slunk away when things started to get ugly.
Now we have Al Baldasaro bleating about revolution - all of this because they're pissed off that their own party wants access to Scott Brown's money and name. That this isn't being discussed or analyzed at all by the NH media would be surprising to me if I hadn't lived here for the last 30 years.
It's also worth pointing out that I am NOT a journalist, I'm just a small time, unpaid schmuck with a blog and a small audience. I'm not worth this much attention from actual paid journalists.
xoxo
Miss Small Potato
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