Jane Hamsher

Top Obama Aides Meet Secretly in Hotel With Liberals
By Tim Graham | December 20, 2010 | 8:19 AM EST

As much as Barack Obama promised a new era of transparency in Washington, there are still plenty of activities reporters can't attend. In a Monday story on Obama trying to keep his liberal base happy, Washington Post reporter Peter Wallsten explained:

Much of the White House's interaction with liberal groups has taken place at a weekly Tuesday meeting at a downtown Washington hotel. The "common purpose" gatherings are closed-door sessions between top Obama aides and officials from dozens of left-leaning interest groups such as unions, youth voting groups, women's organizations, gay rights advocates and civil rights activists. Attendees are required to keep all proceedings secret and off the record.

Lawrence O'Donnell Exposes Liberal Ignorance of Tax Code
By Noel Sheppard | December 8, 2010 | 1:08 AM EST

Lawrence O'Donnell on Tuesday surprisingly exposed how ignorant liberals are of the tax code.

In a sometimes heated discussion with prominent progressives about President Obama's new compromise tax plan, "The Last Word" host aggressively challenged the knowledge of two of his guests (video follows with transcript and commentary):

Our Surprising Journalistic Power
By Jill Stanek | July 22, 2010 | 11:53 AM EDT

Even though I as a pro-life blogger know I battle on the right side of history, on a day-to-day basis I sometimes don't feel like a victor. The fight seems so uphill, with money, political power, and MSM all against us.

shirley sherrod.jpgSo the following July 21 Politico story about what bloggers on the Left think of us was enlightening. Every time I get a peek into the other side's view of us I realize once again that they're paper tigers.

Also of note is the Left's view that Obama has clipped his agenda thanks to us, when we think his actions thus far demonstrate he is the most liberally radical president ever.

The piece's impetus is the Shirley Sherrod debacle....

But this week's forced resignation of a previously obscure Agriculture Dept. employee is just the latest example of Obama officials reacting to a cable news-driven obsession of the right.

It not only infuriates Obama's liberal base, which feels like the episodes just reinforce the power of the right to push a damaging story into the mainstream press....

MSNBC's Ratigan Happy GOP 'Renounced' Liz Cheney, Unlike 'Nazi and Racist' Tea Partiers
By Kyle Drennen | March 9, 2010 | 10:35 AM EST
On Monday's The Dylan Ratigan Show on MSNBC, host Dylan Ratigan dragged out his standard attack against the tea party movement as he also bashed Liz Cheney for criticizing Justice Department attorneys: "Liz Cheney goes so far off the right-wing deep end, that now even some right-wingers are saying she has gone too far. If only the tea party would do the same with its Nazis and racist members."

In the segment that followed, Ratigan attacked Cheney for an ad put out by her organization KeepAmericaSafe.com, referring to Justice Department lawyers who once defended accused terrorists as the "Al Qaeda Seven." While he condemned Cheney for going "off the right-wing deep end," one of his guests in the segment was Jane Hamsher, founder of the left-wing radical blog FireDogLake.com, which on Monday featured a post on Cheney entitled: "A Blowjob for Liz 'BabyDick' Cheney."

In reaction to the KeepAmericaSafe.com ad, Hamsher declared: "I mean, what she's doing is genuinely McCarthy-esque and un-American." She went so far as to call for Congress to "censure" Cheney. Those proclamations were prompted by Ratigan asking: "Jane, would...are you encouraged by the emergence of other Republican leaders to at least renounce Liz Cheney, which is more than you can say for the tea party when it comes to some of their Nazi and racist members, which they refuse to renounce?"
In Desperate Attempts to Discredit Lieberman, Libs Attack His Wife
By Lachlan Markay | December 14, 2009 | 5:48 PM EST
Liberals are so incensed at Connecticut Senator Joe Liberman's refusal to vote for ObamaCare, that they have taken to attacking his wife, who works for a prominent breast cancer organization. Their ad hominem assaults and wild speculation about the Senator's supposedly evil motives reveal their hypocrisy when it comes to political centrists, and their desperation concerning health care legislation.

At Huffington Post, FireDogLake founder and breast cancer survivor Jane Hamsher revealed that her request to the Susan G. Komen foundation that money raised to find a cure not be used to pay Mrs. Lieberman's salary went unheeded. Hamsher went on to accuse the Lieberman couple of conspiring to sink health care reform in order to line their own pockets.

Hamsher accuses Mrs. Lieberman using "her association with her husband the Senator ... in order to secure these lucrative positions and advance the interests of her clients" at a lobbying firm for which she is a consultant. This contention, Hamsher claims, is "unquestionable," though she offers no evidence to support the accusation, other than speculation about the couple's income.
Maddow Guest Jane Hamsher: Democrats Could Close Groton Sub Base to Punish Lieberman
By Jack Coleman | October 31, 2009 | 2:28 PM EDT
Yet another example of the folly of assigning liberals to guard duty.

Joining Rachel Maddow on her MSNBC show Thursday to vent about that pesky wabbit Joe Lieberman was Fire Dog Lake firedoglake blogger Jane Hamsher.

Democrats wield considerable leverage over Lieberman, Hamsher opined, to keep him from joining a GOP filibuster of ObamaCare or punish him if he does --

MADDOW: ... I think you're right to point out that other senators sort of gently expressing their disapproval of his proverbial toplessness at this point is a bigger deal than it would be in the real world, that their words do actually sort of calibrate differently. But what leverage can they really bring to bear on him in order to get him to get in line?
Netrooter: Lamont Supporters to Gitmo If Lieberman Tapped as VP
By Noel Sheppard | August 20, 2008 | 2:13 PM EDT

Is it essential for an extreme liberal to be a paranoid conspiracy theorist?

Whether it's American involvement in taking down the World Trade Center, or war for oil, these folks can't swing a dead cat without hitting some nefarious cabal involving Republicans.

The newest one, floated by Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake fame, is that if Joe Lieberman is John McCain's running mate, and they win only to have the aged McCain die in office, President Lieberman would round up all the bloggers that supported Ned Lamont's senatorial campaign in 2006 and send them to Gitmo.

I kid you not:

NYT: 'Obama Voters Protest His Switch on Telecom Immunity'
By Noel Sheppard | July 2, 2008 | 2:52 PM EDT

On Wednesday, NewsBusters reported the continued angst the Netroots are feeling about presumptive Democrat presidential nominee Barack Obama's recent flip-flops while pointing out how few media outlets seem interested.

Surprisingly, the New York Times Wednesday not only addressed Markos Moulitsas's decision to withhold a campaign contribution to the junior senator from Illinois, but also reported the growing concern of many Obama supporters.

The piece, entitled "Obama Voters Protest His Switch on Telecom Immunity," was written by none other than James Risen, who readers should remember as the co-author of the controversial December 2005 article "Bush Lets U.S. Spy on Callers Without Courts" (emphasis added throughout):

O’Reilly Slams Netrooter Who Threatened Elizabeth Edwards
By Noel Sheppard | September 18, 2007 | 2:01 PM EDT

NewsBusters reported Sunday that infamous netrooter Jane Hamsher lambasted Elizabeth Edwards, the wife of Democrat presidential candidate John Edwards, for having the nerve to come down on MoveOn's disgraceful "General Betray Us" ad.

On Monday, Fox News's Bill O'Reilly took issue with Hamsher's "threat," as did his guests Kirsten Powers and Tammy Bruce.

After reading portions of Hamsher's letter to Edwards, which was posted at Firedoglake Saturday, O'Reilly said (video available at Gateway Pundit, h/t Glenn Reynolds):

Netrooter Berates Elizabeth Edwards for Criticizing MoveOn Ad
By Noel Sheppard | September 16, 2007 | 1:50 AM EDT

MoveOn's "General Betray Us" advertisement in Monday's New York Times could end up being the gift that keeps on giving.

Though most of the Democrat presidential candidates have distanced themselves from this disgrace, John Edwards' wife Elizabeth made some remarks in Iowa Friday that have drawn the ire of leading netroots member Jane Hamsher of Firedoglake (h/t Protein Wisdom).

For those that have forgotten, Hamsher rose in infamy to national prominence last August when she posted a picture of Sen. Joe Lieberman in blackface.

This time, Hamsher was irked by the following remarks made by Edwards as reported by the Des Moines Register (emphasis added):