Friday, March 1, 2019

Maciver Faces Reality

By Jeff Simpson 
(Matt "not a journalist" Kittle crying with Robin "bitter far right partisan" Vos that an adult introduced a budget in WI for the first time in 8 years).   

One thing that never fails to amaze me in modern day politics, is when someone does something stupid, their best defense is to pretend it never happened.  We saw Scott Walker master that with his perpetually sticking his foot in his mouth(wall off Canada, comparing peaceful protesters to ISIS, etc..) then pretend it never happened.    Luckily for them, the Wisconsin Press Corps is toothless and pandering and they never get called on it. 

Unlucky for them, Capper started a blog a few years ago and invited me to join him. 

The latest situation of faux outrage and terrible memories comes from our friends on the right - Maciver Institute.  Tony Evers refused access to their bloggers at a press briefing, and their feels got hurt. 

 Gov. Tony Evers likes to talk a lot about transparency and accountability.
Those two noble words, after all, were in the first paragraph of the Democrat’s campaign agenda.
“For the past eight years, Wisconsin’s state government has been used to … undermine our state’s rich tradition of transparency and accountability,” the opening lines of the political document state.
But it appears the governor is suffering from selective transparency and accountability. He certainly doesn’t seem to have much time for conservative journalists and critics.
Evers administration made that clear — again — on Thursday afternoon, when his handlers barred MacIver News Service from attending a Capitol Press Corps budget preview powwow behind closed East Wing doors.
This, despite the fact that MacIver has long been a credentialed Capitol news organization in good standing. 
They are credentialed in "good standing" because Scott Fitzgerald and Robin Vos issue the credentials. Does anyone think that a dark money propaganda org, that will write whatever they are told to help the Dems look bad and the GOP look good would not be in good standing with the WISGOP? 

Even Robin Vos apparently felt the need to weigh in (Edit note: i just saw this on Macivers page, could not see it on my own as Robin Vos is currently illegally blocking me on twitter.  Hey Robo - my handle is JeffSimpson7, please follow the law and unblock me):

Robin Vos@repvos
Amazing that @wisgop allow liberals to attend but @GovEvers is afraid to let @MacIverWisc attend?MacIver Institute@MacIverWisc
And thus ends the Open Government Era of the Walker years ... @MacIverWisc not allowed to attend @GovEvers capitol press corps budget briefing this hour despite MacIver's multiple requests and its capitol credentials. MacIver turned away at the East Wing door #wiright #wipolitics 311:38 PM - Feb 28, 2019
Umm Robin, I know that no one ever accused you of being brilliant or even remotely non partisan, but you do not "allow" liberals to attend.  Let me refresh your memory:

It doesn’t appear Walker is interested in improving his own image among certain members of the press, however. In an effort to block access to independent journalists, the entire media group, which was already set up in a first floor conference room, was asked to move to a more secure room on the sixth floor of the building.
The move caused congestion with about twenty members of the press and all their equipment jammed up in the hall outside the elevator. State officials checked the press credentials for a second time before allowing people onto the elevators. Once on the sixth floor, several independent journalists, including Jenna Pope and Arthur Kohl-Riggs, were denied access to the room by four Capitol Police officers.
These enhanced security measures delayed the press conference by 45 minutes.
Once in the room, Scott Walker’s Communications Director and former Karl Rove associate Jocelyn Webster ejected a WCCA-credentialed photojournalist for not displaying her press credentials (even though she is well-known photographer in the Capitol), and scanned the room in hopes of targeting more non-preapproved reporters.  Members of the public who pay for the state-owned building and to whom the governor is accountable as a public servant, were also blocked from attending the press conference.
Almost word for word the other way.   I personally feel that both sides need to let in people with press passes of either persuasion.  I also feel that the politicians should not be deciding who gets a press pass and who does not.   The one thing though that I am certain of, is that no one at Maciver is a journalist, nor are they reporters, they especially are not investigative reporters.    They are in our category of political bloggers, they are in a subset though of the Political Propagandist Bloggers, since they have a nice budget from the Bradley Foundation, so really stand for nothing but a paycheck.   

I also applaud Tony Evers for keeping them out of his presser.   Unless, both sides want to get together and come up with a fair and impartial way to issue press passes, then the WISDEMS need to be playing the same game as the WISGOP.   

For too long they haven't been. 

As a blogger, I say let the bloggers in (I have occasionally had press passes), but I have never once called my self a reporter or a journalist, and if Matt Kittle and his cohorts, continue to do so, maybe they should talk to a therapist about delusions of grandeur, before they get their blogger press pass and are allowed out in public! 


  1. Hey Li'l Jeffy; did yer Blogger's Pass get youse into Blaska's VICTORY PARTY on 02/19/2019, or were youse too busy abasing yerself in some dark, dank Lefty if there's any other kind of Lefty corner, am I right?

    Anywho, with Cheat'em claiming MMSD is awash in RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACISM, why isn't anyone asking why no one's made the Inconvenient Truth connection that:

    Since MMSD teachers (nearly to a one) are Lefties and vote democrat, how do we purge the district of RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACISM without $#!t-canning all the Lefty teachers?

    It gets worse.

    With the Weakly (sic) Insert Crap Times claiming RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACISM lurks in ever corner (even, one may assume...YERS), mercifully it has incuriously exempted itself from that dastardly, all-encompassing group.

    Next up?

    Eradicating RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACISM from the MGSD. Guess where we start...?

    The Gotch

    1. Gootch, I wasnt invited to Blaskas slightly second place party...if he has a nice try better luck next year party in April, invite me and I will come down and let you buy me a beer ---if you are a real person.

      The Simp

    2. I'd have to.

      Teachers, and I would have to believe by extension school board members, are notoriously cheap and NEVER buy.

      Must be in the Lefty DNA: they don't pay taxes, they just raise them, and they ONLY spend
      Other People's Money.

      The Gotch

  2. Jeff wrote, "Matt "not a journalist" Kittle"

    Journalist: A person who writes for newspapers, magazines, or news websites or prepares news to be broadcast.


    Whether you like it or not, by definition Matt Kittle is a journalist doing the job of journalism. Now having said that, that doesn't mean that Matt Kittle is a journalist in the ethical sense of the honorable nonpartisan unbiased form of journalist that presents the news without the opinions and lets the readers decide which makes him just as much of an equivalent journalist as any one of the pompous asses at the Capital Times, CNN, MSNBC, FOX News, ABC, CBS, NBC, USA Today, or daily bloggers that present their opinions about current events. Personally I don't think any Mayor, Governor or President should bother to hold press conferences with any of the modern day media because it's all partisan biased bull shit journalism and it doesn't change if they are being transparent or not, these top of the heap elected politicians are not required to pander to the media.

    If you choose to base who you refuse to call a journalist on whether you disagree with them or don't like who they choose to write for then you're openly being a bigot.

    Bigot: a person who is intolerant toward those holding different opinions.

    If you choose to call those you disagree with not journalist because you disagree with their unethical partisan slants and you choose to call those you agree with journalists and they engage in the same unethical partisan slants then you're hypocritically applying a standard to those that you oppose and ignoring the same unethical behavior for those you agree with which would make you a hypocritical partisan bigot.

    Hypocritical: Behaving in a way that suggests one has higher standards or more noble beliefs than is the case

    Where do you fit in this Jeff?

    1. I know...I KNOW.

      #1 Li'l Jeffy? In his wet dreams, perhaps.

      #2 Yep!

      #3 Please refer to #2.

      The Gotch

  3. Jeff wrote, "We saw Scott Walker master that with his perpetually sticking his foot in his mouth(wall off Canada, comparing peaceful protesters to ISIS, etc..) then pretend it never happened."

    Only stupid partisans believe that false accusation Jeff.

    They didn't have to pretend because it actually never happened. What did happen was unethical people, like yourself, extrapolated Walker's words to absurdity to attack him. It's a unethical tactic to spread blatantly false propaganda like that and it's also immoral to continue to make the same false accusations well after the accusations have been proven false with real facts.

    If you think you can prove that Walker actually said he wanted to wall off Canada or Walker directly compared peaceful protesters to ISIS then please submit your proof using Walkers quotes. Bet you can't.

  4. It’s quite telling to see the right wing wannabe journalist crying in popcorn man’s office. Such thin skin we have fellas. It’s like the toddler that runs to mommy when he can’t play with the big boys.
    So cry me a river Six String - you don’t believe Walker said a wall in Canada was something to look at? After all he did talk to some law enforcement people up there hey and well you know then it must be a problem.

    1. Golden Eagles wrote, "So cry me a river Six String - you don’t believe Walker said a wall in Canada was something to look at?"


      Jeff didn't write that it was a legitimate issue for us to look at, he wrote "wall off Canada". If you really can't see that Jeff, and others in the media, were extrapolating Walkers words to absurdity to attack him then I can't fix your kind of stupid.

    2. Legitimate : make legitimate; justify or make lawful.
      "the regime was not legitimated by popular support"

      When he says it is a legitimate issue, then that means he feels its a legitimate issue. It is not.

  5. Walker: If I Can Handle Union Protests, I Can Handle ISIS - Time

    Governor's Islamist terror comparison shocks Wisconsin protesters - The Guardian

    Scott Walker Says He Can Take On ISIS-ABC News

    CPAC: Scott Walker compares US union protesters to IS - BBC News

    Gov. Walker's comments on Union protesters, ISIS draws criticism - WISN

    Scott Walker says taking on Wisconsin protesters prepares him for ISIS - Milwaukee J/S

    Walker: I took on unions, I can take on ISIS - The Hill

    Did Scott Walker really compare liberal protesters to terrorists? - Christian Science Monitor

    Walker comments on ISIS, state Capitol protesters prompt strong reactions - Wis Politics

    And the Google list of journalistic enterprises who apparently misinterpreted Scott Walker's foot-in-mouth remarks goes on.

    Kudos to Mr. Ethical Purity for setting the record straight!

    1. Jack,
      It's unclear how to take your comment, please explain your opinion further.

  6. "others in the media, were extrapolating Walkers words to absurdity to attack him" - Six

    Yes, it was a conspiracy within the evil mainstream media to make Walker look like an idiot ... and it worked!! Heck, even Chris Wallace from FoxNews was in on the downright devious scheme!:

    Wallace asked Walker:
    "Isn't there a big difference between protesters and terrorists?"