Comments on: How many facts could FactCheck check if FactCheck could check facts?

By: SteveM

SteveM — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 16:35:05 +0000

It seems that both the Annenberg Foundation and the Brady Center have, to borrow the jargon-jive, a “win-win going”: If Obama wins, they may have a friend for their gun policies; if Obama loses, well hell, we still have a Republican, more or less like us (McCain does favor closing the “gun show loop hole).

By: Xrlq

Xrlq — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 13:28:47 +0000

Manish’s argument, such as it is, appears to be that if one nominally Republican individual got in bed with William Ayers, that must mean it’s OK for Democrats seeking the Presidency to do so, as well. If you ask me, that’s a pretty weak argument, but it’s all the Obamabots got.

By: Math_Mage

Math_Mage — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:26:32 +0000

Oops, my bad, Manish, I see you quote from the same article. Which leaves me curious as to why you think Mr. Annenberg is so significant.

By: Math_Mage

Math_Mage — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 05:10:00 +0000

Manish, regardless of who started the Chicago Annenberg Challenge and what the supposed aims were, William Ayers twisted them out of all recognition. See Stanley Kurtz’s article in the WSJ if you haven’t already:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122212856075765367.html

You can’t deflect all criticism of the CAC by saying, “Well, this conservative dude was involved in starting it!”

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 16:42:22 +0000

Manny – it’s Annenb_e_rg. Do you really think Jim Brady is running the day-to-day operations of the Campaign??? Paul Helmke does that. My opinion on the direction of Wally’s philanthropic leanings is irrelevant: they fund the main anti-gun campaign (maybe because they’re old friends? who cares) and use a proxy of their own making to cover for Obama – whether they’re conservative or not doesn’t matter.
You’re winning your own game it seems, whatever it is.

By: Manish

Manish — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 03:52:36 +0000

DC..do you having any reading comprehension abilities whatsoever? The WSJ article clearly states:

The Chicago Annenberg Challenge was created ostensibly to improve Chicago’s public schools. The funding came from a national education initiative by Ambassador Walter Annenberg

Yes..the Ambassador himself was involved with this. An Ambassador appointed by Nixon, who also introduced Ronald Reagan to Margaret Thatcher. Does this guy sound like a liberal to you? Do you really think that he would start an education initiative with Bill Ayers if he didn’t think it would have merit?

And your proof that the Annenburg Foundation is liberal is their donation to the Brady Campaign? Can you please remind me who this Brady guy is who’s running this campaign? Can you answer the following multiple choice test…Mr. Brady was the press secretary of a _______ icon.

Is the answer:
a)conservative
b)liberal

Thank you for playing, better luck next time.

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:00:57 +0000

Manny - HAave you ever worked in fund-raising with major donors? Are you saying the Annenberg family is a bunch of pro-gun Republicans - like lovely SoCal Wallis? Once things get away from an individual Donor's personal sphere of interest, the function of the Foundation is to simply keep operating and funding grants that fulfill their mission - which very often have a fairly liberal tilt - but the most notable thing is the setup that awards Society Points to the Great Benefactor - not the operational details. FactCheck.org is a project of the Annenberg Public Policy Center, a subgroup of the Annenberg Foundation. The Annenberg foundation gave $50,000 to the Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence, they are a big foundation devoted to liberal causes, and have lots of money to spend on them, maybe they need to issue some proof. In early 1995, Mr. Barak Obama was appointed the first chairman of the board of the Chicago Annenberg Challenge, which handled fiscal matters. Former Wewatherman Bill Ayers co-chaired the foundation's other key body, the "Collaborative," which shaped education policy. Mr. Ayers was one of a working group of five who assembled the initial board in 1994. Mr. Ayers founded CAC and was its guiding spirit. No one would have been appointed the CAC chairman without his approval. Instead of funding schools directly, CAC required schools to affiliate with "external partners," which actually got the money. Proposals from groups focused on math/science achievement were turned down. Instead CAC disbursed money through various far-left community organizers, such as the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (or Acorn).

By: Manish

Manish — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 23:09:08 +0000

DirtCrashr..do you have any proof of what you are writing or are you just pulling stuff out of your ass? Use the google and find out who is on the Board of the Annenburg Foundation and you will find that it is Walt Annenburg’s family still running the thing. Further the WSJ article specifically notes Ambassador Annenburg’s involvement in setting up the Chicago Annenburg Challenge.

By: DirtCrashr

DirtCrashr — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:51:26 +0000

WIN: Blog Post Title Ultra.
Foundations often get subverted just about as soon as a Board of Directors is named and some pointy-headed grant proposals roll in.

By: Joe Huffman

Joe Huffman — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 21:44:41 +0000

Just to be clear, the section Uncle quoted from my blog post was actually written by and in my post credited to the NRA.

By: Manish

Manish — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 20:13:21 +0000

paratrooper…do some math. Annenberg died in 2002 and the Chicago Annenburg Challenge was in 1996 when he was still alive.

By: ParatrooperJJ

ParatrooperJJ — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 19:12:48 +0000

Mannish – Annenburg is dead and his foundation has been taken over by liberals. This happens often to big foundations. Any organization that gives a leadership to a domestic terrorist like Ayers, is extremely left wing. IMHO YMMV

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:48:08 +0000

that assertion would pass factchecks standards of review!

By: Manish

Manish — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:45:59 +0000

Hey SU: well, I guess its now a true statement that commenters on a right wing blog are equating Annenberg with communism.

By: #9

#9 — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:12:10 +0000

Fact checking appears to be quite subjective.

By: SayUncle

SayUncle — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:05:31 +0000

I love it how the Annenberg name is suddenly synonymous with communism these days.

It is? No one brought it up but you

By: Manish

Manish — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 17:02:55 +0000

Also, didn?t Obama actually, you know, head up Annenberg? I love it how the Annenberg name is suddenly synonymous with communism these days. Here is Walter Annenberg's wikipedia entry. Not the bit about being appointed Ambassador by NIXON and his friendship with REAGAN. Does this guy sound like a leftist loon to you guys? For the record, Obama was the chairman of the board of one of Annenberg's many charitable projects focused on education. Read the guy's bio and ask yourself if Walter Annenberg would fund what the WSJ claims the Chicago Annenberg Challenge was. Annenberg also created the Annenberg school of communication at the University of Pennsylvania which is where factcheck.org is based out of.

By: Guav

Guav — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 16:58:04 +0000

That post title rules

By: Bruce

Bruce — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:38:35 +0000

That mirrors nicely Obama's "fact-checking" strategy of "Nuh uh, because I said so." The Circlejerk of Hopenchange.

By: Linoge

Linoge — Wed, 24 Sep 2008 14:30:07 +0000

Unfortunately, it is time to widen the aim – PolitiFact (http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter) is proclaiming the same nonsense.