Texas Journalists Urge National Press To Take Perry Case More Seriously

[w4rma]

Source: Media Matters for America

While many national outlets are dismissing the indictment of Texas Gov. Rick Perry as political payback, Texas journalists warn that such claims are misguided, incomplete, and the product of a "rush to judgment."
…
"The national pundits -- and some of them are very thoughtful people -- tend to focus first and most easily on the politics," said Wayne Slater, a columnist at the Dallas Morning News. "How does this particular event help or hurt that candidate in the potential horse race? Many reporters in Texas know Perry and are much more familiar with the details in this case, the fact that these are Republicans investigating this and that Perry has a history of hardball politics in forcing people out. This is a much more nuanced story than some in the Beltway understand."

Slater adds, "Rick Perry is getting good press because he has been masterful in the way he has framed this as a matter of partisan politics. Instinctively political journalists and reporters and outlets at some distance understand that Perry is winning the politics at the moment and that his narrative of events really comports with their general sense of how things work, that politicians threaten people and coerce people."
…
"There is nothing about this indictment process that suggests partisan bias," said Wilder. "You had a Republican judge who appointed a special prosecutor who has largely a Republican pedigree who presented testimony from 40 individuals. There were hundreds of documents reviewed and the grand jury decided to indict."

Read more: http://mediamatters.org/blog/2014/08/21/texas-journalists-urge-national-press-to-take-p/200500

[L0oniX]

1. He'll only be kept in the pit of hell for a thousand years...

...then he will be loosed and make war on the world and everyone will compelled to wear the mark.

[whereisjustice]

2. "national press"? you mean the wholly owned whores of corporate CEOs? good luck with that.

[rurallib]

5. exactly!

[SoapBox]

9. Exactly to your exactly!

[PoutrageFatigue]

13. Exactly to your exactly x 2

... they'll write whatever they're told to write....

[raven mad]

34. Exactly to your exactly x 3

Even if they are an "objective" reporting writer, the story will be changed to suit the corporate elite.

[valerief]

3. All 6 of the media owners? Will it make them and their masters richer?

If not, then good luck with that. Pravda lives.

[Erich Bloodaxe BSN]

4. I've been saddened to see even multiple MSNBC hosts

minimize the blatant corruption on display in Perry's case and dismiss it as partisan and 'an attempt to criminalize politics', when the reality is that in this case, the 'politics' being done by Perry very clearly broke existing state laws. Sure, if those laws didn't exist, it could be considered 'politics as usual'. But they DO exist, and probably for the exact reason of preventing the sort of 'politics' in which Perry engaged.

[TexasTowelie]

6. Add this to the mix: Judge warns against Perry grand jury threats

http://www.democraticunderground.com/107820305

A state district judge in Austin said Thursday that she intends to protect members of the grand jury that indicted Gov. Rick Perry from any threats — veiled or direct — from the governor or anyone else.

Judge Julie Kocurek of the 390th District Court, a Democrat, said Perry’s Saturday statement, issued a day after the indictment, could be construed as a threat and possible violation of the law. Kocurek, as the administrative presiding judge of all criminal courts in the county, said that “no one is above the law,” and the public needs to know that grand jurors are legally protected from any threat.

“I have a duty to make sure that our members of the grand jury are protected,” Kocurek said. “I am defending the integrity of our grand jury system.”

The judge said that Perry might have made a veiled threat when he said: “I am confident we will ultimately prevail, that this farce of a prosecution will be revealed for what it is, and that those responsible will be held to account.”

Read more: http://www.statesman.com/news/news/judge-warns-against-perry-grand-jury-threats/ng6zb/

[Fred Sanders]

7. Bullying politics is all he knows, Texans are just so used to it they know nothing different.

[Enthusiast]

23. +1

[marked50]

8. Perry Claims it's politics

Rick Perry and his supporters have been claiming that this indictment is politically motivated. People have been focusing on the Democratic DA side and many have said that it isn't political because the actual prosecutor was a Republican appointee, etc.

Well, could Perry be right in an oblique way? The Republican Prosecutor, appointed by Republican judge, are individuals associated with the Bush family, either Jr or Sr. I propose that they may be motivated by some connection with the Bushes and a desire to see Jeb become the 2016 nominee, hence the need to tarnish those that may be in the way of that event. So maybe it is political, not just in the way most think of it.

Note: this is not to say that Perry isn't guilty of the crime tho.

[Psephos]

10. Thought experiment...

...what would be your reaction if the same action were brought by baggers against a Dem governor, say Jerry Brown?

The blow-back potential is astronomical here. Lehmberg's arrest video is cringe-inducing, and after watching it the idea she should remain in office is laughable.

[w4rma]

17. You get back to me if you find a Democrat willing to use a cancer agency as a piggy bank for donors.

And who then threatens to shut down the investigation in any way, shape or form. If you do find one, I promise that the Democrat isn't a Democrat I want in office. If you do find one, I promise that the Democrat is a DINO or a ThirdWay type, neither of whom I want in office.

[Psephos]

18. My guess is that it would run 15 or 20 to 1 in favor here.

That's the way human nature works at both ends of the spectrum.

My larger point was that the blow-back potential is big, and the political spoils are small. That's not the kind of fight I'm interested in.

It's hard to see that when you're firmly on one or the other side of a political issue. But most people aren't...and the potential for Perry to look like a martyr is inversely proportional to the sympathy those people have for Lehmberg after seeing what she's like on tape.

To repeat my earlier point, Perry is a big fish, and there are a lot of better ways to fry him.

[w4rma]

20. I think you are completely wrong, Psephos. (nt)

[Psephos]

22. That's what makes a discussion. ;-)

We'll see soon enough how this all plays out. Either way will be an education.

[LanternWaste]

30. I think you're correct. Prophecies based off little more than thumbnail knowledge of the case...

I think you're correct. Prophecies based off little more than thumbnail knowledge of the case is worse than no knowledge at all.

This case runs deep, illustrates corruption, cronyism and political slush funds, and defunding institutions based off of little more than personal likes and dislikes... but because it may be "branded" inaccurately in the media, the sub-literate researcher's first reaction is to bury not merely their own head, but the story's head in the sand.

[Psephos]

32. subliterate?

You realize you misspelled that?

Subliterate actually has a different meaning than "someone whose opinion is different from mine." Ignorance of the true definition is, however, subliterate.

I don't mind if your opinion on this issue is different from mine. That's the difference between a discussion and a recitation.

[librechik]

26. get back to me when a democrat is that corrupt

and we'll hustle them off to jail, like we do.

[Psephos]

31. remind me how many days Corzine has spent in jail

I'm not going to google a list for you, but simply observe that corruption is a trait of politicians across the spectrum. We do the Democratic party harm by pretending otherwise. Quality control is just as important for a party as it is for a car maker. I am proud of the Democratic party's commitment to being the better brand.

Perry is easy pickings using low-risk, high provability incidents, so why not use better stuff? This attempt is not one of those. From a political pov, it's embarrassingly amateur. The douchebag has already proven his talent for self destruction if you don't get in his way.

[librechik]

33. sure, corruption is everywhere, we're all trapped in it

but only Republicans make an unashamed religion out of it. Including packing the courts with corrupt RW judges. Let's see, what is the composition of judges across the country? I believe about 75% of judges have been appointed by conservatives, and many many nominations by liberals are being blocked by conservatives. It should be a national scandal but who cares? Justice is controlled by Republicans who tend to be corrupt.

Look, it's not even a contest. Republicans have been in power for all but a handful of the last 50 years, and Republicans are more corrupt.

All that's happening in Texas is a unique and perfect storm, not just of Dems improving demographics, but of rare bipartisan accord about this loathsome Republican governor of theirs. And it hasn't been easy. Perry had to fuck up royally==another trait of these Republican fat cats.

We're lucky to trap this one, a united front of Republican intransigence has kept us away from indicting most of these criminals who ought to be in jail. Including Bush and gang.

[Brother Buzz]

11. Everything one needs to know about the Perry case can be gleened from Juanita Jean

http://www.juanitajean.com/

[Gothmog]

12. Great article

[nikto]

14. Spread this chart around the net, PLEASE!

[C Moon]

15. Thanks! +1

[Gothmog]

25. Great poster

[littlemissmartypants]

16. Indeed.

Women are coming.
#FJL

[StevePaulson]

19. Perry's Death Toll?

At least we are not talking about all them innocent Texans who died because they couldn't afford to see a doctor. You know, the ones that would still be alive if Governor Perry expanded Medicaid. I hope some day Rick Perry, and all the other Republican MURDERER Governors pay for the lives lost in their insane non stop attacks on our president.

If there is anyone in Texas who reads this, who lost a family member because they were too poor to get proper medical treatment, please hunt that pile of feces Perry down.

Perry is vermin.

[Enthusiast]

24. "Perry is vermin." Plus one!

[raven mad]

35. +1 -

and the governor of my state, Parnell, is his crony.

[rainbow4321]

21. Texas repukes were embarrassed by Perry in 2012

They were just as upset with Perry as TX Dems were...he embarrassed the State with his election trail nonsense. No way in hell do they want him back out there in 2016. What better way to take him out of the picture than to have him be a felon? If he thnks TX repuke system will save his ass, he is wrong. But the national news won't focus on that and TX repukes won't fess up to it publically on news outlets...they will sigh a very private sigh of relief when he is found guilty.

[Babel_17]

27. Scooter Libby advocates then, sounded like Perry advocates do today

High level prosecutions tend to go slowly but they are often thorough. Imo, Perry's lawyers are going to be looking for loopholes, and searching arcane sections of Texas law.

Bluster isn't going to win this.

[surf181]

28. the story

The ruination of Texas coincided with the arrival of Karl Rove. He was rick perry's campaign manager when he ran a smear campaign against Jim Hightower of Populist fame some years ago. Texas has always been kind hearted, friendly, integrated, very laid back, a champion of personal privacy. Rove and the Bushes reconstructed the basis of power to reflect the interest and profits of friends' corporations and began the eradication of laws that protect our safety, health, and personal freedoms.

Perry was not rich he is now a multimillionaire. His entire governorship has to do with redistributing grant money, overtly creating organizations to collect money e.g. CPRIT and redistribute to already rich friends. The people who administrate these organizations again redistribute the money including huge donations to the Fascist Right Wing, Perry's friends, our enemies.

So about 6 months ago it began falling apart, the administrator for the Cancer Fund was about to be indicted and since has been, and will most likely be an easy conviction as the case is so clear. The line then goes straight to Perry.

The reason, I suspect, that Wendy Davis has not yet spent much of her limited dollars on her campaign to take back a friendly laid back state up to now, is that we all have known this is coming down, and the Fascist Right Wing are hanging themselves with no assistance except for the old style Republican prosecutor who also sees with clarity, reality.

surf

[Mr. Sparkle]

29. This is the latest case of the main stream media covering up "Corrupt Republicans"

It's like a national pass time for them, they only cover corrupt republicans when they are forced too.
The Democrats have much more to fear about the national media than the tea baggers do.

Removing the fairness doctrine has done astronomical damage to government, the media and civil society.

[nikto]

36. The "Power to veto" defense is irrelevant and does not apply

The common defense of Perry (i.e."But he's the Gov, and the Gov has the power of Veto, blah blah blah&quot
is irrelevant.

It is like saying to someone after a deliberate hit-and-run in an automobile,
"But geez, you have a license to drive, so it's OK".

This absolutely does-not-apply.

Driving with a license is OK, and legal.
Using a car to HIT someone is NOT OK. Or legal.

Using the Veto to COERCE, bribe or blackmail another official is NOT LEGAL.

Any questions?
Didn't think so.