Get Ready For All The Lies!

A group calling itself "Historians Against Trump" penned "An Open Letter to the American People." Claiming to be unaligned with any group, their main complaints about Trump were as follows: Trump "bullies and suppresses the press," Trump "seeks to weaken First Amendment protections as President," Trump "singles out journalists for attack," and Trump "mocks physical disabilities."

Let's start with the last item. While Trump denied mocking the reporter with a muscular disorder, the video of it did seem to show that he was mocking the reporter. If he intended to, it was totally inappropriate. I wonder what this group had to say about Obama saying his bowling skills mirrored the Special Olympics. He had to apologize. Let's not forget the times Obama mocked religious people, starting with his "clinging to their guns and religion" comments. Although my favorite was his telling Christians not to get on their high horses about Islamic terror, because look what Christians did during the crusades.

The most serious charge concerns Trump and the press. Here is James Goodale, former general counsel to the New York Times, in discussing Obama's possible criminalizing of reporting on national security information: "President Obama will surely pass President Richard Nixon as the worst President ever on issues of national security and press freedom." New York Times reporter David Sanger: "This is the most closed, control freak administration I've ever covered," referring to the President who promised the most transparent administration ever.

Or how about the Public Editor of the New York Times, Margaret Sullivan: "...it's turning out to be the administration of unprecedented secrecy and unprecedented attacks on a free press." (The above quotes are from a piece on Alternet on 10/11/13 by Glenn Greenwald, who wrote his article for the Guardian.)

Last (I'm sure I could find others if time permitted), is a quote from CNN's Jake Tapper, after noting that government sources are afraid to speak with the media during the Obama administration: "...the Obama administration has used the Espionage Act to go after whistleblowers who leaked to journalists...more than all previous administrations combined." (From a piece by Jon Greenberg, 1/10/14, on PunditFact.)

So, what do Goodale, Sanger, Sullivan and Tapper have in common? Notwithstanding that they are all affiliated with liberal media organizations, they all said Obama was the worst President for a free press. What did/do these "Historians Against Trump" have to say about Obama and the press?

Anyone who has read articles in the LA Times or NY Times about the Republican convention these last couple of days would struggle to find a positive word about the convention. I can barely wait to see all the gushing articles next week about the Democrat's convention; and Chris Matthews having more thrills running down his leg. Just don't look for honest reporting.