The reason for the animus is clear enough. ThinkProgress is the blogging arm for the Center For American Progress, which is about as diametrically opposed to the conservative Americans For Prosperity, and everything it stands for, as it gets. :owever, this seems like a particularly weak basis on which to fight a proxy war. From AFP:

Lee Fang, a blogger with “Think Progress,” lied to event organizers about his residency and status in an attempt to gain media access to the Defending the American Dream Summit, held this past weekend at the Washington Convention Center.  Fang told Americans for Prosperity Foundation that he is a student “visiting from California,” who “had to fly home tomorrow” and had really hoped to cover the event.

However, Fang is listed as a “resident of Prince George’s County, Maryland” on his ThinkProgress author page. His wikipedia page says that he “attended college at the University of Maryland, College Park.” Another blogger from ThinkProgress who requested credentials and was honest about his background was given a media pass.

On its face, this is a pretty minor complaint. Show me a reporter who’s never tried to brazen his way past the gates to get a story, and I’ll show you a reporter who isn’t earning his paycheck. I once used a bottle cap (in lieu of a blue sticker) in my press credential to slip past the field-level security at Invesco Field during the 2008 Democratic Convention.

In this case, though, the central complaint isn’t even true. Fang contacted Russell to ask for a correction, explaining that his author page was out of date, and reminding Russell that he had, in fact, identified himself as a ThinkProgress reporter. Russell refused.

According to Fang, in an email to Mediaite, “I called Levi Russell well before my post went up, and asked for a correction. I told him I incidentally have the audio, and tried to explain that he either had his facts wrong or didn’t remember the event accurately.”

Fang continued, “He told me outright: ‘No, I’m not going to correct it’ and said he has a ‘clear memory’ of what happened. He said twice that he wouldnt change anything in his post. I kind of had to post the audio at that point.”

According to Fang, the audio was captured by a recorder he’d left running in his pocket after interviewing people outside the event, and Mr. Russell knew he was speaking to a journalist, so his comments were “on the record.”

Even so, my first choice in a case like this would be not to use such “found audio,” and my second choice would have been to secure Russell’s permission to use it. However, as Fang points out, by refusing to issue a correction when confronted with the tape, AFP didn’t really leave him any choice.

It’s also worth noting that credentialing organizations normally don’t release information about applicants, and since Fang didn’t even get in, AFP‘s attack on him seems doubly gratuitous. I cover a lot of conservative events, but after this episode, I would think twice before applying for an AFP credential.

I spoke with Russell Wednesday morning, and asked if he would be making a correction based on the audio. He said, “We will be addressing this later today,” and promised to email me when they did. As of this morning, neither of those things has happened.

Here’s the audio that Lee Fang captured, from Think Progress: (transcript available here)

Yes, barely enough to let themselves eat cake.

Jansing quickly points out that $400,000 is not exactly a modest amount. “Do you understand, Congressman, that the average person out there who is only making forty, fifty, sixty thousand dollars a year,” she chides, “when they hear that you only have $400,000 left over, it’s not exactly a sympathetic position.”

Without making any effort to demonstrate a tether to the reality of what he has, or what most Americans don’t have, he attempts to recover by suggesting — as Republicans are wont to do thesedays — that the president’s proposed tax increase for millionaires is class warfare. “This is all about creating jobs, Chris, this is not about attacking people who make certain incomes. You know in this country, most people feel that being successful in their businesses is a virtue, not a vice,” he argues fairly, but without addressing Jansing’s point that his experience is perhaps not representative of “the people’s,” and without any sense of responsibility to the system that allows people like him to prosper.

$400,000 a year can buy a lot of things, but in Jansing’s case, only the tiniest of violins.

Watch the clip from MSNBC below:

h/t ThinkProgress

Here’s the clip, including what Perry said:

Perry was asked to comment on the 50th anniversary of the Friendship Nine sit-in, which took place in Rock Hill, SC, where Perry was speaking. Here’s Perry’s answer:

Listen, America’s gone a long way from the standpoint of civil rights and thank God we have. I mean we’ve gone from a country that made great strides in issues of civil rights. I think we all can be proud of that. And as we go forward, America needs to be about freedom. It needs to be about freedom from overtaxation, freedom from over-litigation, freedom from over-regulation. And Americans regardless of what their cultural or ethnic background is they need to know that they can come to America and you got a chance to have any dream come true because the economic climate is gonna be improved.

That’s right, folks, the natural extension of the civil rights movement is the continued struggle for the right of the average American to be trickled down on, and if they’re really lucky, maybe get to do the trickling one day. This perversion of the struggles of black Americans is nothing new in this year’s GOP race. Rep. Michele Bachmann made a similar comparison in July, saying through a spokesman that “that slavery was horrible and economic enslavement is also horrible.”

O’Connor’s criticism of Jansing hinged on the fact that Perry didn’t specifically say the words “corporate tax rates” in his response, which, while true, doesn’t make Chris Jansing a liar. Perry’s ham-fisted comparison was clearly in reference to corporations and wealthy so-called “job creators.” Issues like tort reform and “over-regulation” are pet causes of wealthy special interests, and Republicans have repeatedly demonstrated their willingness to oppose any tax increases on the wealthy, while displaying an eager willingness to raise taxes on everybody else. Jansing’s intro might have been a tad narrow, but given that she played Perry’s complete answer, she’s owed some latitude for interpretation, and her interpretation was correct.

While I was arguing with Larry about this, though, I noticed that liberal website ThinkProgress posted an item about this clip on Monday with the headline “Rick Perry Compares Civil Rights Movement To GOP Fight For Lower Corporate Taxes,” which is awfully close to what Jansing said while introducing the clip, and in a pre-commercial teaser in which she said “Republican presidential candidate Rick Perry — get this — comparing African-American`s struggle for civil rights with the GOP`s fight for lower taxes.”

When I saw the ThinkProgress piece, I literally laughed out loud at the thought of an apoplectic Newsbusters newsroom (do they have a newsroom?) revving up their liberal bias engines. Based on the circumstantial evidence, there’s a good chance that Jansing, or someone at Hardball, first got wind of Perry’s remarks from the ThinkProgress post. What’s so wrong with that? Absolutely nothing, but the modern media watchdogging game has devolved into an effort to delegitimize news sources, rather than to assess the substance of what’s actually being reported.

From ThinkProgress:

This greenwashing campaign, first uncovered by DeSmogBlog.com’s Brendan Demelle, subtly includes mentions of “safe domestic energy” and oil industry factoids, while implying that American taxpayers, not the unmentioned oil industry, should pay for restoring the region BP has poisoned

ThinkProgress spoke with Bullock’s publicist who said that Bullock was originally contacted by her attorney to be a part of the campaign and that no one had ever made her aware of the campaign’s big oil ties. Bullock’s representatives have demanded that “her participation in the PSA be removed until the facts can be determined.”

Given that the PSA is already a cut and polished video, the likelihood of simply snipping Bullock’s shots out of the PSA is unlikely. It seems that in the BP age, background checks on even supposedly well-meaning organizations wouldn’t be remiss. That or don’t trust your attorney’s suggestions.

Watch the PSA below:

That was how DailyKos founder Markos Moulitsas described the nearly 2000 activists gathered in Pittsburgh for the 2009 Netroots Nation convention. Billed on its website as “the most concentrated gathering of progressive bloggers to date,”  this year’s Netroots Nation is the fourth conference of its kind. It began in 2006 as the YearlyKos convention, and adopted a new name in 2008 to reflect its expanding membership and influence beyond the pages of DailyKos. The 2009 conference is the first without a cadre of primary contenders to invite and the first to deal with reality of being a movement billed as the political establishment.

The event regularly attracts progressive power players and up-and-comers alike, with former Vice President Al Gore making a surprise visit last year, while 2007 drew eight major Democratic Presidential candidates for a blogger-moderated debate. This year brought former President Bill Clinton, Governor Howard Dean and Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett as featured speakers – but while the tradition of high-profile politicos in attendance continues, the focus of the conference has definitely taken a turn from its election-driven roots.

Adam Bonin, chairman of the Netroots Nation board of directors, pinpoints the conference’s mission as the biggest change. “I think the key difference between this year’s conference and those in the past is that prior conferences centered around amassing our power to help win elections,” said Bonin, who also regularly contributes to DailyKos’ front page. “This year, there was a conscious shift in focus across our agenda — and certainly among our attendees — towards the steps we need to take to make policy change happen.”

The slate of panels available certainly reflects the change – pundits from the strategy and blogger wings of the movement appeared to instruct attendees on how best to get out the message for a progressive agenda, including a two-hour “Pundit Project” media training session hosted by ThinkProgress.

As aspiring politicos took turns taping practice interviews, Firedoglake founder Jane Hamsher warned about becoming trapped in media narratives unflattering to liberal activists. Nico Pitney – particularly well-known for his work on liveblogging the Iranian elections, and perhaps for a verbal scuffle with Dana Milbank on CNN’s Reliable Sources – instructed attendees on the importance of building a niche of expertise. ThinkProgress managing editor Amanda Terkel warned attendees about the rise of ambush journalism.  (Amanda’s hints: there’s no right strategy, but if you can’t squeak out an Olbermann-inspired ANDREA MAKRIS! then be quick with a camera, or just keep your wits about you and let cooler heads prevail.)

Later in the weekend, New York media trainer Joel Silberman offered some helpful advice as well – when talking into a camera, pretend it’s someone you want to sleep with. Media experts helped activists learn how to make the most of their fifteen minutes and notable bloggers helped hammer out the message, giving their take on the biggest policy battles of the day – Firedoglake blogger and occasional MSNBC guest Marcy Wheeler (emptywheel) gave her take on Wall Street domination, Pam’s House Blend founder Pam Spaulding talked LGBTQI rights, and on the technical side DailyKos’ Greg Dworkin (DemfromCT) moderated a panel featuring Nate Silver and Charlie Cook, among others, on getting the most out of polling data.

But while attendees learned how best to take advantage of their political punch from the best and the brightest of the blogosphere, some notable speakers faced pressing criticism from the left. Former President Bill Clinton faced tough questions from blogger Lane Hudson on Don’t Ask Don’t Tell and the Defense of Marriage Act, raising the spectre of an Administration moving too slowly on gay rights for some activists’ tastes. Governor Howard Dean took questions on advancing progressive goals in the health care debate just days before President Obama and HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stumbled over whether or not the public option was necessary. And in her conversation with pundit comedian Baratunde Thurston, Valerie Jarrett faced occasionally boisterous criticism of President Obama’s continuation of some policies of President Bush.

One attendee shouted a question about photographs of detainee abuse President Obama has declined to make public, another yelled to ask why Blackwater (now Xe) was still being paid by the State Department for overseas work, and a table near the stage hissed in frustration at her response. The incident took only a few moments of an hour long talk, but became the focus of a piece by Huffington Post article assigned the headline “Valarie [sic] Jarrett Heckled And Hissed At Netroots Nation.”

The headline raises an interesting issue: when, and how, does a scrappy, rabble-rousing political underdog turn into a gathering of heckling critics?  Moderator Baratunde Thurston of Jack and Jill Politics took issue with the headline assigned to the piece, though he called Sam Stein’s writing a “fair representation of what happened.” Beyond the misspelling of Jarrett’s first name, Thurston said “the headline implies that the only thing that happened was that Jarrett faced tremendous negative responses to being there.”

The headline was later changed to the more accurate “Valarie [sic] Jarrett Heckled By Some At Netroots Nation,” but the question remains – how critical is too critical of a Democratic President, especially for a conference full of Democratic activists?

>>>Next: “From day one, our movement has been built on the notion that we’re outside the gates, and that we have to force our way in.”