Is there really such a thing as a right-wing 'reporter'? (Huge David Corn Scoop Inside)

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tweeted by, Jon Terbush ?@JonTerbush 35m
Huge @DavidCornDC scoop: right wing reporters, activists, aides secretly colluding to frame political debate http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/groundswell-rightwing-group-ginni-thomas?slide=4 …


Inside Groundswell: Read the Memos of the New Right-Wing Strategy Group Planning a "30 Front War"
Ginni Thomas, Allen West, and a crew of conservative activists and journalists have formed a hush-hush coalition to battle progressives—and Karl Rove.

Believing they are losing the messaging war with progressives, a group of prominent conservatives in Washington—including the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and journalists from Breitbart News and the Washington Examiner—has been meeting privately since early this year to concoct talking points, coordinate messaging, and hatch plans for "a 30 front war seeking to fundamentally transform the nation," according to documents obtained by Mother Jones.

Dubbed Groundswell, this coalition convenes weekly in the offices of Judicial Watch, the conservative legal watchdog group. During these hush-hush sessions and through a Google group, the members of Groundswell—including aides to congressional Republicans—cook up battle plans for their ongoing fights against the Obama administration, congressional Democrats, progressive outfits, and the Republican establishment and "clueless" GOP congressional leaders. They devise strategies for killing immigration reform, hyping the Benghazi controversy, and countering the impression that the GOP exploits racism. And the Groundswell gang is mounting a behind-the-scenes organized effort to eradicate the outsize influence of GOP über-strategist/pundit Karl Rove within Republican and conservative ranks.

One of the influential conservatives guiding the group is Virginia "Ginni" Thomas, a columnist for the Daily Caller and a tea party consultant and lobbyist. Other Groundswell members include John Bolton, the former UN ambassador; Frank Gaffney, the president of the Center for Security Policy; Ken Blackwell and Jerry Boykin of the Family Research Council; Tom Fitton, the president of Judicial Watch; Gayle Trotter, a fellow at the Independent Women's Forum; Catherine Engelbrecht and Anita MonCrief of True the Vote; Allen West, the former GOP House member; Sue Myrick, also a former House GOPer; Diana Banister of the influential Shirley and Banister PR firm; and Max Pappas, a top aide to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).

Among the conveners listed in an invitation to a May 8 meeting of Groundswell were Stephen Bannon, executive chairman of Breitbart News Network; Dan Bongino, a former Secret Service agent who resoundingly lost a Maryland Senate race last year (and is now running for a House seat); Leonard Leo, executive vice president of the Federalist Society; Sandy Rios, a Fox News contributor; Lori Roman, a former executive director of the American Legislative Exchange Council; and Austin Ruse, the head of the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. Conservative journalists and commentators participating in Groundswell have included Breitbart News reporters Matthew Boyle and Mike Flynn, Washington Examiner executive editor Mark Tapscott, and National Review contributor Michael James Barton . . .


read more: http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2013/07/groundswell-rightwing-group-ginni-thomas?slide=4

daveweigel ?@daveweigel 47m
@DavidCornDC is like kryptonite to secret meetings ...

[Scurrilous]

1. K & R

[geek tragedy]

2. The latest incarnation of the beast Hillary described as the VRWC. nt

[Brigid]

7. Hilary was right.

Many on the left-- and most certainly those on the right -- laughed it off; but I wasn't so sure. These days, I wonder if she was more right than she knew.

[msanthrope]

3. And you can read their ratfucking attempts right here on DU!!! nt

[JHB]

4. They're reaching late-stage McCarthyism...

Boyle said he was hoping to prompt congressional Republicans to launch an investigation. He contended he had only revealed the "tip of the iceberg" and shared his suspicion that many government agencies (State, the CIA, the Pentagon, the EPA, and more) were conspiring with "far left wing groups" to undermine conservatives in the media: "I think we can get at the heart of the Obama admin's weaknesses here." He explained: "Any evidence obtained would be more proof of collusion between the administration and the media and far left groups, while at the same time serving as evidence of whatever ridiculously moronic big government policies they're pushing are."

Please do read the whole article. They're loons, but they may be able to do real damage before they reach their "at long last" moment. Let's let them chew on insufficiently-conservative Republicans.

Any word on who's funding this confab and it's projects?

[Cha]

5. Sneaky snakes in viper's den "concocting

talking points." Charming.

[Recursion]

6. Unfortunately you can find most of their talking points here

Presumably five minutes after the memo goes out.