TX-10: LJD, KUT, and NAIS

MeanRachel — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 07:38:59 GMT

Right here at BOR we have a great case study in "drive by blogging," where a small myth gets spun as truth, before being perpetuated into something uglier through irresponsible blogging.

Mark Duncan's attack today on Larry Joe Doherty is a great example. Instead of a responsible examination of the facts, the use of evidence, and a fair presentation of two opposing sides, a bunch of unfounded and unsupported claims are put forward as truth. While it may be fun to try take a whack at someone you don't like, it does readers no good to not practice a little due diligence before attacking someone.

As an avid Larry Joe Doherty supporter & volunteer, I feel compelled to try to set the record straight. Let's take a look at facts, and then go from there:

This whole squabble traces back to a simple little online bio of LJD over at KUT. In the middle of it was a claim that LJD supports an NAIS system, and that Dan Grant opposes it. At the time, there was no source to back this up. However, McBlogger picked up on this and ran with it.

Larry Joe's campaign contacted KUT, and asked them to back up on that, since he's against NAIS and there aren't any credible sources proving otherwise. So KUT corrected the bio and issued a retraction:

A spokesman for Mr. Doherty said the candidate is not in favor of the National Animal Identification System. An earlier version of his biography posted on this site reported that he supported the program. KUT regrets the error.

Dan Grant, however, still used the original report to launch an attack on Larry Joe, the first real negative shot of the campaign. Here's what Dan claimed:

Brenham resident and ex-TV personality Larry Joe Doherty this week told KUT-FM radio that he agrees with Republican incumbent Mike McCaul that the federal government should be allowed to impose a controversial new animal identification system on Central Texas farmers and ranchers.

Talk about running with the ball. Where did he get that from? No wonder Larry Joe's campaign quickly issued a scathing statement:

"This is a fight against Michael McCaul and the failed policies of George Bush," stated Doherty. "That my primary opponent would attempt to claim that I've expressed any type of agreement with Michael McCaul about a program I oppose shows a total lack of seriousness when it comes to representing people."

Well that seemed simple: KUT got something wrong, they corrected it. Dan Grant took the original KUT piece and turned it into something it wasn't, attributed statements to Larry Joe that he never made, doing so with no good evidence to back himself up. Libelous if you ask me, but I'm no lawyer.

Once KUT corrected their error, Dan Grant had to edit his press release to link to a blog post as his source instead of KUT. That's the equivalent of citing the White House but linking to a Wikipedia article about the West Wing TV show. This is a Congressional race, right?

But here's where things get weird. In an transparent effort to further slander the LJD campaign, Capitol Annex started trying to fit the square peg into a round hole:

KUT got the statement off Doherty's website, although it is no longer there, either. Sources from KUT have confirmed to Capitol Annex that the station found the material about his support of NAIS on Doherty's website, but that his campaign called and requested they pull it. The station complied.

Does that make any sense? Why would KUT pull something they themselves call an error, all the while complaining to Vince that it was true all along? I give the KUT editors a little more credit, even if Vince doesn't. Wouldn't Dan Grant or McBlogger or somebody have been pointing this out long ago if it had supposedly been on Larry Joe's website, instead of waiting for KUT to put it up? Common sense says it's that something went wrong on KUT's end, it was corrected, and life goes on. If you Google this, you'll find bloggers obsessing about Larry Joe and NAIS, but no substance behind any of it. If there was anything to it, they would have been attacking Larry Joe long before yesterday. Instead, KUT is was the only source for this, and they ended up retracting it because it's not true. Dan Grant assumed it was based on an interview between Larry Joe and KUT. A candidate fit for office would have gotten his facts straight before launching an untrue attack on another Democrat (maybe he needs a bracelet that says "WWBOD?" - What would Barack Obama do?).

Is it any wonder Vince's big piece of "evidence" is an online comment left at the Statesman last year. You can cite an online comment made by one random person, who offers no source backing up his comment, as a source? There are so many unsources here, my head is spinning. Maybe there's no better evidence because . . . there never was any.

KUT messed up. They fixed it. Dan Grant smelled an opportunity, but didn't get his ducks in a row before going negative on Larry Joe. It blew up in his face, and now his campaign is looking like amateur hour.

I'm disappointed in the Dan Grant campaign for continuing to promote libelous statements on his website about Larry Joe. It's also shameful that a couple of bloggers then use nasty attacks to try and perpetuate a smear and a lie, and the best "evidence" they can give is an unattributable online comment. That's bad for bloggers' credibility, and it doesn't do our audience any good. It's immature and it's amateurish and frankly, it's just wrong.

Bloggers, don't abuse your sway. I suspect that the general readership here has already made up their minds one way or another as to whom they will support in the TX-10 race on March 4th. However, bloggers still have the opportunity to reach undecided and swing voters and those voters deserve respect. Readers want something productive and concrete, not something unfounded and incorrect. Bloggers: respect the readers and the candidates enough to perpetuate truth -- not lies.

NAIS in the TX-10 Democratic Primary

Mark Duncan — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 23:18:48 GMT

In case you've missed the back and forth involving KUT, Larry Joe Doherty, and Vince over at Capitol Annex in the last 24 hours, here is a quick recap.

Earlier this month, KUT published profiles on Dan Grant and Larry Joe Doherty. In Doherty's profile, KUT highlighted his support of the NAIS (National Animal Identification System) program. In response to Doherty's support of NAIS, Grant released a press release covering the fact that Doherty and McCaul agree on this "Big Brother Program."

McBlogger then ran a great piece on why NAIS is bad for the constituents in District 10:

Doherty supports the National Animal Identification System. Opponents of the program claim it is designed to benefit major agricultural software campaign donors. His opponent, Mr. Grant, is fighting against it.

This is interesting because CD10 is composed of a lot of rural area and a large number of farmers and ranchers, none of whom support NAIS. Not to mention that one of the main reasons people in the rural areas are interested in supporting a Democrat in the general is that McCaul (R - Clear Channel Communications) loves him some NAIS. The fact that it will cause small farmers and ranchers to go out of business and drive up the cost of food at the store is irrelevant to a millionaire like McCaul. Apparently, it is to Mr. Doherty as well.

Doherty's camp then called KUT, demanding they remove this, stating that Doherty had not stated in an interview that he supports NAIS.

When Vince noticed that KUT's story changed, he called in to investigate. KUT confirmed that when they were researching the story, Doherty's website stated that he supports NAIS. Here is Vince's story, and some highlights:

It appears as though Larry Joe Doherty (D-Brenham) is running away from a statements which were formerly on his website that enunciated his unequivocal support for NAIS-the National Animal Identification System.
Via McBlogger, Austin station KUT-FM reported on Doherty's thoughts, which the station culled from his website:
Doherty supports the National Animal Identification System. Opponents of the program claim it is designed to benefit major agricultural software campaign donors. His opponent, Mr. Grant, is fighting against it.
Dan Grant (D-Austin), Doherty's opponent in the March 4 Democratic Primary, even released a statement in response to his opponent's position.

Later yesterday, Vince wrote another piece:

Late this afternoon, Doherty's camp issued a press release calling on fellow Democrat Dan Grant (D-Austin) to "apologize" for misrepresenting Doherty's position on the National Animal Identification System in the TX CD 10 race:
This morning, KUT retracted an erroneous description of Doherty's position on a National Animal Identification System (NAIS).
This is a lie and Doherty knows it. Capitol Annex called KUT and was advised that Doherty did in fact make the statement attributed to him. However, it was on his website and not in an interview, which he evidently never returned calls about conducting. The description not erroneous. It was on Doherty's website! While Doherty is correct in saying it wasn't in an interview, everything else is 100 percent false. Doherty is just trying to run from his support from NAIS.
The only person who should be apologizing is Doherty.

My only commentary on this is - why is an Attorney that prides himself on high ethical standards apparently lying? You be the Judge.

Burnt Orange Report: - NAIS

TX-10: LJD, KUT, and NAIS

NAIS in the TX-10 Democratic Primary