Posts Tagged ‘Republican’

Check out the entertaining email exchange I had with Kristoffer Engebretson, who had the unmitigated gall to lecture me on journalism and what constitutes a story. Evidently, his idea of what constitutes the story has changed dramatically since he decided that an ex-Republican housewife expressing her thoughts at a “listening session” was the makings of a big expose on Republican plants.

Last night I received this email invitation from President Obama’s “Organizing for America” (a mailing list that I stunningly have not been removed from since I was recently outed as a Republican town hall plant):

Heather –

I wanted to send you an urgent invitation to an important health care event with Rep. Steve Kagen tomorrow, Wednesday, August 26th.

He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.

I hope you can join us. Here are the details:

What: Health Care Event with
Rep. Steve Kagen

Where: UW Green Bay – Phoenix Room
2420 Nicolet Drive
Green Bay, WI 54311

When: Wednesday, August 26th
Arrival Time: 5:00 p.m.
Start Time: 6:00 p.m.

RSVP

Please arrive as early as possible to the event, and make sure that the most powerful voices in this debate are those calling for real reform, not angrily clamoring for the status quo.

RSVP here:

http://wi.barackobama.com/GreenBayTH

Thanks,

Dan

Dan Grandone
Wisconsin State Director
Organizing for America

P.S. — Before the event, please print off a flyer to display and make sure that your support is visible.

Assuming Kristoffer Engebretson would find evidence of people being influenced to attend these events (the only question he had for me, and one he repeated 6 times in hopes that my answer in the negative would change), I forwarded him the email, adding “Here you go, Kristoffer. You’ve got your story; I’ll look forward to seeing how you expose all the plants at this event tomorrow…”

My sarcasm is obvious, which is why I was so surprised that he responded. His response, however, is even more surprising:

Heather,
It’s a rally for pro health care reform and pro public option. This is not a listening session. There will be no question and answer format. There will only be speakers.
The people who will be there (from both sides) will be voicing how they feel loud and clear. And I know people from both sides will be going, check out our story from today.

By the way, an email asking people to show their support is not a story. Emails like this on both sides of this issue have been going out since the begining of the debate. It’s a way of letting people know what’s going on.

But if you have any concrete evidence showing the liberals are paying people to come or are trying to sabotage the event, please let me know. That would be a story.

Kristoffer Engebretson
NBC 26 Reporter

I couldn’t resist straightening him out on the facts. Again. (Why do I keep finding myself in the position of having to teach this journalist the basics of journalism?):

Kristoffer,

Nowhere in the “Organizing for America” invitation does it say anything about a “rally”. What it does clearly state: “He’ll be talking to constituents and gathering feedback on the need for reform. Whether you ask a question or show your support with a sign, attending this event is a powerful way to show where you stand and thank those in Congress who are fighting for reform.” Sound like a listening session to me. What’s interesting to me is how you know that it is a rally, and that there will be no question and answer format. I’d also love to have you explain how the Congressman plans to gather feedback when “there will only be speakers.”

And don’t you dare lecture me on journalism and what qualifies as a story. You’re right, emails like this are not a story; they’re nothing more than American Democracy at work. An ex-Republican housewife designing websites out of her home and networking online with potential clients wasn’t a story either, but you used spit and duct tape to patch together one Google search performed by another news crew, one screen shot, a portion of a private conversation between myself and a member of that other news crew, and my response to a question that was never aired, and made it a story anyway.

Now I’m actually handing you proof of a situation where people are being “influenced” to go (you remember that question? After all, you asked me that 6 times), and now all of the sudden you’re telling me it’s not a story.

Stunning. But then, you’re not one to allow the facts to get in the way, are you?

Heather Blish
Just a Mom From Down the Street

I’ll let you know if he responds.

Update: he did, and it’s a hoot! Read the second installment here.

NBC 26 WGBA, the station that ran the original hatchet-piece accusing me of being a Republican plant and a liar (and subsequently launching me into the national spotlight, igniting a barrage of hate mail, threats, and calls to my employer demanding that I be fired) has posted my account of that first week ON THEIR WEBSITE!!!

It’s been posted under the title “Heather Blish Letter”

As far as we can see, it has been posted in its entirety, although they have removed all links to the coverage and messed up the formatting of paragraphs etc.

What they’ve left intact is what really has us flabbergasted: complete paragraphs outlining detailed information that demonstrates the predatory interviewing style of their own reporter:

Shoving the mic and camera into my face, the reporter [Kristoffer Engebretson] began to badger me, asking if anyone had influence me to be there. Annoyed, I said no, and explained that I had only just learned about it this morning on Facebook. He looked cynical, and repeated the question, suggesting that because I was so well-informed, I must have been influenced by somebody to be there. I quickly took offense to that, and when he asked me again, I angrily responded that average people were educating themselves about this bill and getting involved. Again, he asked the same question, and finally I looked straight at him and said flat out: “No, I was not influenced to be here. I am not a member of the Republican Party.” I walked away, disgusted with what I perceived to be complete density on his part, gathered my children, and walked home.

…his complete refusal to follow-up and check his facts:

I wrote back, offering to produce the email of resignation with which I had ended my relationship with the party, as well as multiple witness inside and outside the party that would prove my statement, but I also asked him why I was “having to defend my independence? Even if I was associated with a larger organization, like ACORN for example, does that make my opinion somehow less valuable?” He didn’t respond (I can only assume he already had the story he wanted, and was not interested in allowing the facts to get in the way.)

…the devastating affects his irresponsible reporting had on an innocent private citizen:

By this time the hate mail had started. Multiple liberal blogs were linking to the Huffington Post article, and strangers who disagreed with me and had no other way to express it than to insult me personally began to find me in Facebook and send me messages. My employer was beginning to receive phone calls and emails from people demanding that I be fired for being a liar.

…his own lies as exposed during a his live interview on the Jerry Bader Show:

He [Bader] followed up the essay by interviewing the NBC reporter [Engebretson] live in Bader’s studio, during which time the reporter refused to answer the yes or no question: “Knowing what you now know, do you still believe that Heather Blish lied?” The reporter was caught in several lies of his own; Williams called in to the show and confronted the reporter about calling me a liar; the reporter denied it. Williams challenged him to release the footage from their conversation and exonerate himself; he dodged the challenge.

…and the left-leaning agenda-driven reporting of the station as a whole:

Stunningly, the reporter [Engebretson] admitted that he had gone to that event with instructions from his director not to report on the event, but to find Republican plants and expose them. He admitted on live radio that he had gone there with an agenda!

This mystery really has us drooling on our keyboards, so forthwith I am offering a free “Just a mom” t-shirt (or “Just a dad”/Just a [insert descriptor here]) to the first person who can offer an explanation that makes sense. We’re betting there won’t be any t-shirt giveaways on this one.

btw, if you’re interested in seeing the version of my account with all the coverage links intact, you’ll find it here.

At last! A journalist with integrity who is willing to do a little homework! Amanda Carpenter writes in today’s Washington Times…

“Heather Blish was shocked when big-name television personalities labeled her as a Republican operative after she made an impassioned plea to her congressman to quit letting Washington intervene in the free market during a town-hall meeting.

Mrs. Blish, a graphic designer, quit volunteering for the Republican Party last year because she was so disillusioned with Republican politics.

“The Republican Party wants nothing to do with me any more than I want anything to do with them,” she told The Washington Times.

But that didn’t matter to the local NBC reporter who aired the television piece about Mrs. Blish that was picked up by left-leaning outlets far and wide as evidence of dirty politics. ” Source: Hot Button – Washington Times

Ms. Carpenter goes on to say…

“It all began with a segment by Kristoffer Engebretson, a television reporter for the local NBC affiliate, who covered Democratic Rep. Steve Kagen’s meeting in Kewaunee, Wis. The TV spot was teased by a desk anchor who warned, “There were allegations of opponents being planted in the crowd” at the town hall.

Mrs. Blish was presented as a top example of such nefarious activities. Mr. Engebretson said Mrs. Blish “introduced herself as just a mom from a few blocks away not affiliated with any political party” but that information about her on social networking sites, such as Facebook, “showed something different.”

Mr. Engebretson strongly suggested she wasn’t truthful, citing information he found on LinkedIn.com, a business networking Web site, showing she had worked as vice chairman of her county’s Republican Party and volunteered for a Republican candidate in the past.

“Again, Blish introduced herself as just a mom with no affiliation with any party,” he emphasized again in the report.

“The Rachel Maddow Show” on MSNBC embraced the story during a show dedicated to exposing Republican operatives’ intent on disrupting town-hall meetings for political effect. “Ta-da! Journalism!” the host declared, smiling broadly, after showing the local news package. “Congratulations to Kristoffer Engebretson of that local station in Green Bay for going the extra step to find out what was behind the incivility in his town rather than just covering it like a ping-pong match.” Read the rest of this entry »

What’s stunning to me is the way that conservative bloggers have completely ignored this story [and I'll have more on that topic later]. Here, for the first time in print, is Heather Blish’s perspective on the media whirlwind around her confrontation last week with Congressman Kagen…

“In many ways, this has been the worst week of my life.

It all began last Thursday. I logged in to Facebook and saw that a friend of mine planned to attend a listening session held by my congressman just a few blocks from my home. Although I’d been aware that Congressman Kagen had been holding sessions across the district all week, I’d had no idea that he was going to be holding one in my home town. I struggled with the decision to attend the meeting and lose several hours of valuable time, but there was never really a choice. I’ve always been politically active, I had many legitimate concerns about the healthcare proposal being debated, and I knew that if I didn’t attend this meeting, I would have no right to complain if the bill passed into law. Read the rest of this entry »

Rocker Ted Nugent says it better than I could ever hope to…

“In an effort to deflect criticism of their ongoing program to bankrupt the entire nation, the Democratic leadership has labeled Congressional Republicans as the “party of no.” The Democrats would have been correct had they checked their spelling. It is not “no” that defines the Congressional Republicans but rather “know.”

Let the guitar boy help the spelling-challenged Democrats understand what the bedrock of the Republican Party — conservatives — instinctively know.” Source: The Party of ‘Know,’ Not ‘No’ – HUMAN EVENTS

Read on at the source…

Alice from Oconto County reports…

Right now, at about 9:40 p.m. [on June 9], it’s been about 4 hours since I got the phone call telling me I was a winner in the Obama ticket lottery.  I’ve calmed down considerably, but am still quite excited that I’m going to be able to get into the town hall event at GB Southwest High School.  This excitement isn’t so much because I will be allowed to bask in the presence of the Lord Messiah Obama, but that little ol’ me, a staunch conservative and lifelong Republican has kind of flown under the radar.  I feel like an undercover operative and that my presence will be like that of an embedded reporter.

I hope that I can keep my excitement under control so that I don’t inadvertently let slip that I am not exactly Obama’s most ardent supporter.  I feel like I need to put lead weights in my shoes so that I don’t float away from all of the excitement.  I want to take a notebook and pen into the event so that I can jot down my impressions of the whole event, but wonder if I’ll be allowed to do that since I won’t have pre-approved press credentials.

I have prepared a question to ask, for each of the three topics I’ve heard will discussed as part of the town hall event.  At first I heard that this was to be a healthcare forum, but have since heard that the economy and the environment will also be discussed.  I guess I’ll find out what happens when I get there.  In any case, I’ll be prepared.

Hmmm. Our very own embedded journalist!

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