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'''Power Line''' is |
'''Power Line''' is an [[Conservatism in the United States|American conservative]] [[politics of the United States|political]] [[blog]], founded in May 2002. Its posts were originally written by three lawyers who attended [[Dartmouth College]] together, namely John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. The site is published by Publir LLC, founded by [[Joseph Malchow]], also a Dartmouth graduate. |
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The site gained recognition among the American right for its role in covering the [[Killian documents controversy|Killian documents]] story that aired during the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 Presidential campaign]] about |
The site gained recognition among the American right for its role in covering the [[Killian documents controversy|Killian documents]] story that aired during the [[2004 United States presidential election|2004 Presidential campaign]] about forged documents relating to President George W. Bush's [[George W. Bush military service controversy|term of service in the Texas Air National Guard]], which kept him out of the [[Vietnam War]]. |
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In 2004, Power Line was named ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's first-ever "Blog of the Year."<ref>{{Cite magazine |
In 2004, Power Line was named ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'' magazine's first-ever "Blog of the Year."<ref>{{Cite magazine |
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| publisher=[[Politico]]}}</ref> |
| publisher=[[Politico]]}}</ref> |
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In 2015, Hinderaker, a zealous Republican with a documented history of publishing false scurrilous rumors about Democrats, while, along with Johnson, calling himself a journalist, became the object of national derision for publishing a hoax account of then Nevada Senator Harry Reid's serious injuries, which he suffered on New Year's Day 2015 when a piece of equipment he was using malfunctioned. A man calling himself Easton Elliott promoted the false story that Reid's brother showed up at a Las Vegas Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on New Year's Eve 2014 agitated, and with blood on his clothing, and claimed he had been in a fight with a family member that was clearly implied to be Harry Reid. Hinderaker, who had previously falsely insinuated that Reid had ties to organized crime in Nevada, eagerly published the story on Powerline. "Elliott," whose real name was Larry Pfeifer, later admitted that he had concocted the false story and conveyed it to Hinderaker, knowing Hinderaker would repeat it without even a cursory attempt at corroboration. |
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In the years following this disgrace, Powerline's authors have increasingly become total apologists ans smear merchants for the Republican Party and since 2016, Donald Trump. No matter what egregious conduct Trump engages in or how compelling the eivdence of criminal and/or impeachable acts by Trump, his close advisors such as convicted felons Michael Flynn and Paul Manafort, Powerline's authors can be counted on to give voice tot he most ludicrous, idiotic, and pernicious alt-right conspiracy theories in defense of Trump's circle and family, or deflecting to false and defamatory attacks on Robert Mueller, members of the Special Counsel's team, and Democratic Congresspeople. Invariably, such Powerline blog entries are followed by dozens of supportive comments by racists, white supremacists, and crypto-fascists using pseudonyms, who are identified as "Top Commenters." |
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Since early 2018, Democratic representative Ilhan Omar, a Somali-American Muslim, has been the target of harassment and even death threats engendered and encouraged by posts authored by purported journalist Johnson (who has never held a position with any media organization, newspaper, or magazine) repeating unproven allegations that Omar married her brother illegally to obtain U.S. citizenship. |
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The main contributors to Power Line are Steven F. Hayward, John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. Susan Vass, writing under the name "Ammo Grrrll," contributes a humor column to the site each Friday. |
The main contributors to Power Line are Steven F. Hayward, John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. Susan Vass, writing under the name "Ammo Grrrll," contributes a humor column to the site each Friday. |
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From 1990 to 2001, Hayward was a contributing editor at ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]''. He served on the Departmental Transportation Advisory Committee of the [[Government of California]] from 1996 to 2001. He served as well as a Public Interest Member in the California Citizens Compensation Commission from 1990 to 1995. He has worked as a Senior Fellow of the [[Pacific Research Institute|Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy]] since 1992. He has also held various fellowships with the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (AEI). As of April 2009, he serves as the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI.<ref name=AEI>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/scholar/28|title=AEI - Scholars - Steven F. Hayward|access-date=January 5, 2010|publisher=[[American Enterprise Institute]]}}</ref> He is also a former President of the [[Philadelphia Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://phillysoc.org/presiden.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-08-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223102538/http://phillysoc.org/presiden.htm |archivedate=2010-02-23 }}</ref> |
From 1990 to 2001, Hayward was a contributing editor at ''[[Reason (magazine)|Reason]]''. He served on the Departmental Transportation Advisory Committee of the [[Government of California]] from 1996 to 2001. He served as well as a Public Interest Member in the California Citizens Compensation Commission from 1990 to 1995. He has worked as a Senior Fellow of the [[Pacific Research Institute|Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy]] since 1992. He has also held various fellowships with the [[American Enterprise Institute]] (AEI). As of April 2009, he serves as the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI.<ref name=AEI>{{Cite web|url=http://www.aei.org/scholar/28|title=AEI - Scholars - Steven F. Hayward|access-date=January 5, 2010|publisher=[[American Enterprise Institute]]}}</ref> He is also a former President of the [[Philadelphia Society]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://phillysoc.org/presiden.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=2012-08-15 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20100223102538/http://phillysoc.org/presiden.htm |archivedate=2010-02-23 }}</ref> |
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In 2016, Hayward announced on Powerline that he would be teaching a course at the University of California, Berkeley Law School (formerly Boalt Hall) along with far right professor and former George W. Bush Justice Department official John Yoo. This led to a protest spearheaded by California attorney and Berkeley Law School graduate John Birke, who asked Berkeley Law's acting dean Melissa Murray, to look at the history of Hayward's salacious, misogynist posts attacking Democratic women such as Hillary Clinton as being physically unattractive, engaging in puerile attacks on college students and faculty, as well as environmentalists, and regularly posting photograph of bikini clad women some 50 years his junior firing assault rifles. Hayward responded in September 2016 with a diary on Powerline personally attacking Birke and repeating allegations made against Birke in a civil landlord-tenant lawsuit in which Birke was a defendant.. |
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John H. Hinderaker (born September 1950) is a conservative [[United States|American]] [[lawyer]], as well as a fellow at the [[Claremont Institute]]. He is a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth College in [[Hanover, New Hampshire]], and received a [[Juris Doctor]] degree from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1974. |
John H. Hinderaker (born September 1950) is a conservative [[United States|American]] [[lawyer]], as well as a fellow at the [[Claremont Institute]]. He is a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth College in [[Hanover, New Hampshire]], and received a [[Juris Doctor]] degree from [[Harvard Law School]] in 1974. |
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=== Scott Johnson === |
=== Scott W. Johnson === |
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Scott W. Johnson (born 1951) is an [[United States|American]] [[lawyer]] and executive. |
Scott W. Johnson (born 1951) is an [[United States|American]] [[lawyer]] and executive. |
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Johnson was born in [[Fargo, North Dakota]]. He received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1973 and subsequently undertook a degree at the [[University of Minnesota Law School]]. At one stage, he was a partner of John Hinderaker at Faegre and Benson. |
Johnson was born in [[Fargo, North Dakota]]. He received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1973 and subsequently undertook a degree at the [[University of Minnesota Law School]]. At one stage, he was a partner of John Hinderaker at Faegre and Benson. |
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Johnson started working with Hinderaker on opinion pieces on tax, welfare reform, and other public policy issues. The articles were run in conservative publications such as ''[[National Review]]'' and a wide range of newspapers. Both Johnson and Hinderaker became involved with the [[Claremont Institute]], along with Paul Mirengoff, who was Hinderaker's roommate at Dartmouth. |
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=== Paul Mirengoff === |
=== Paul Mirengoff === |
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=== Susan Vass === |
=== Susan Vass === |
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A [[Stand-up comedy|stand-up comedienne]] for more than 30 years, the now-retired Susan Vass, writing under the name "Ammo Grrrll", contributes a humor column to the site each Friday. The column takes a comedic view of "politics, guns, marriage, popular culture, and American life." Three collected editions of the columns have been published.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.amazon.com/Susan-Vass/e/B07K7S641J%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share|title=Susan Vass |publisher=[[Amazon (company)|Amazon.com]]|access-date=2019-02-01}}</ref> |
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== Political positions == |
== Political positions == |
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Power Line's authors typically support nominally conservative causes, for example, the [[Iraq War]] and the [[War on Terror]], criticizing former president [[George W. Bush]] for being "insufficiently conservative" on issues such as immigration and [[affirmative action]]. The blog advocated the confirmation of judicially conservative judges during the Bush administration and regularly featured analysis of court decisions. Power Line often vigorously criticized [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]] and liberals, alleging dishonesty, immorality, bad judgment, and disloyalty to the United States. They occasionally attacked Republicans for similar imputed shortcomings, such as late Sen. [[John McCain]], for opposing United States [[torture]] of suspected [[terrorism|terrorist]]s or [[enemy combatant]]s.<ref>[http://powerlineblog.com/archives/015358.php#015358]</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014292.php |title=Archived copy |access-date=2006-10-05 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060614023802/http://powerlineblog.com/archives/014292.php |archivedate=2006-06-14 }}</ref> |
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.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} |
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The Power Line authors believe the media suffer from systemic [[bias]], claiming that many reporters and editors are partisan liberals. They frequently question the integrity of organizations such as [[Associated Press]], the [[BBC]], [[Reuters]], ''[[The New York Times]]'', and ''[[The Washington Post]]''. Power Line authors have repeatedly advocated prosecution of alleged CIA leakers and media outlets that publish national security information. They also frequently criticize the ''[[Star Tribune]]'' of Minneapolis, home to two of the Power Line authors.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} |
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=== Rathergate === |
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=== The Bush Texas Air National Guard Documents === |
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{{See also|Killian documents authenticity issues}} |
{{See also|Killian documents authenticity issues}} |
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Power Line gained recognition |
Power Line gained widespread recognition during the 2004 [[Killian documents controversy]] relating to a CBS report on George W. Bush's service in the [[Texas Air National Guard]], starting with a post entitled "The Sixty-First Minute".<ref>{{Cite web |
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| url=http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2004/09/007699.php |
| url=http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2004/09/007699.php |
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| title=The sixty-first minute |
| title=The sixty-first minute |
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| first=Scott |last=Scott Johnson |date=September 9, 2004 |
| first=Scott |last=Scott Johnson |date=September 9, 2004 |
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| publisher=Power Line}}</ref> |
| publisher=Power Line}}</ref> |
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Conservatives (including Power Line, [[National Review#National Review Online|National Review Online]] and [[Little Green Footballs]]) referred to the controversy as "Rathergate". The blogs and their readers questioned the authenticity of the documents, presenting hints of supposed forgery. After noting that the alleged documents used a [[Typeface#Proportional font|proportional font]], Power Line helped advance the story, triggering coverage by mainstream media outlets. Dan Rather apologized and resigned from the [[CBS]] [[News presenter|anchor]] chair. |
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=== Schiavo memo === |
=== Schiavo memo === |
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== Other coverage == |
== Other coverage == |
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Coverage and commentary by Hinderaker, Johnson, and Mirengoff, all alumni of [[Dartmouth College]], was instrumental in the 2005 election of "insurgent" candidates [[Peter Robinson (speechwriter)|Peter Robinson]] and [[Todd Zywicki]] to the Board of Trustees.{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} |
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C{{Citation needed|date=April 2014}} |
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The blog also covers some lighter material. Johnson regularly posts historical articles about jazz and other musicians, Mirengoff reported on European soccer teams and Hinderaker covers beauty pageants.<ref>{{Cite web |
The blog also covers some lighter material. Johnson regularly posts historical articles about jazz and other musicians, Mirengoff reported on European soccer teams and Hinderaker covers beauty pageants.<ref>{{Cite web |
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Revision as of 11:12, 27 October 2019
Type of site | Blog |
|---|---|
| Created by | John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff |
| URL | www |
Power Line is an American conservative political blog, founded in May 2002. Its posts were originally written by three lawyers who attended Dartmouth College together, namely John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. The site is published by Publir LLC, founded by Joseph Malchow, also a Dartmouth graduate.
The site gained recognition among the American right for its role in covering the Killian documents story that aired during the 2004 Presidential campaign about forged documents relating to President George W. Bush's term of service in the Texas Air National Guard, which kept him out of the Vietnam War.
In 2004, Power Line was named Time magazine's first-ever "Blog of the Year."[1] When AOL added blogs to their news Web site in 2007, Power Line was one of the five blogs included.[2] A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Power Line as one of the five best-read national conservative blogs.[3]
Contributors
The main contributors to Power Line are Steven F. Hayward, John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff. Susan Vass, writing under the name "Ammo Grrrll," contributes a humor column to the site each Friday.
Steven F. Hayward
Steven F. Hayward is an American author, political commentator, and policy scholar. He argues for libertarian and conservative viewpoints in his writings. He writes frequently on the topics of environmentalism, law, economics, and public policy. Hayward earned a Bachelor of Science in business and administrative studies from Lewis & Clark College. He then earned a Ph.D. in American History and a Masters of Arts in government from the Claremont Graduate School. He worked as the Director of Journalism of the group Public Research Syndicated at the Claremont Institute from 1984 to 1987. He was the Richard M. Weaver Fellow at the Intercollegiate Studies Institute from 1985 to 1986. He was the director of the Golden State Center for Policy Studies from 1987 to 1991. He also worked as the Executive Director for Inland Business Magazine from 1985 to 1990.[4] In 1987, he received the Felix Morley Memorial Prize for distinguished commentary on business and economic affairs.[5]
From 1990 to 2001, Hayward was a contributing editor at Reason. He served on the Departmental Transportation Advisory Committee of the Government of California from 1996 to 2001. He served as well as a Public Interest Member in the California Citizens Compensation Commission from 1990 to 1995. He has worked as a Senior Fellow of the Pacific Research Institute for Public Policy since 1992. He has also held various fellowships with the American Enterprise Institute (AEI). As of April 2009, he serves as the F. K. Weyerhaeuser Fellow at AEI.[4] He is also a former President of the Philadelphia Society.[6]
John H. Hinderaker
John H. Hinderaker (born September 1950) is a conservative American lawyer, as well as a fellow at the Claremont Institute. He is a 1971 graduate of Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire, and received a Juris Doctor degree from Harvard Law School in 1974.
Scott W. Johnson
Scott W. Johnson (born 1951) is an American lawyer and executive.
Johnson was born in Fargo, North Dakota. He received a bachelor's degree from Dartmouth College in 1973 and subsequently undertook a degree at the University of Minnesota Law School. At one stage, he was a partner of John Hinderaker at Faegre and Benson.
Johnson started working with Hinderaker on opinion pieces on tax, welfare reform, and other public policy issues. The articles were run in conservative publications such as National Review and a wide range of newspapers. Both Johnson and Hinderaker became involved with the Claremont Institute, along with Paul Mirengoff, who was Hinderaker's roommate at Dartmouth.
Paul Mirengoff
Paul Mirengoff (born April 17, 1949) is a retired attorney.
Mirengoff graduated from Dartmouth College in 1971, and from Stanford Law School in 1974. He formerly practiced law in Washington, D.C. as a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld. For several years, he worked for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. He started writing articles for publications, including The Washington Post, The Weekly Standard and FrontPage Magazine.
He became a fellow of the Claremont Institute, a conservative institute. Mirengoff formed Power Line in May 2002 with John Hinderaker and Scott W. Johnson, also fellows of the Claremont Institute. He originally used his nickname "Deacon" in posting to the blog. The blog gradually built a strong following among conservative Americans, winning praise from such notable conservatives as Rich Lowry, the editor of National Review, Mark Steyn and Michelle Malkin.
Susan Vass
A stand-up comedienne for more than 30 years, the now-retired Susan Vass, writing under the name "Ammo Grrrll", contributes a humor column to the site each Friday. The column takes a comedic view of "politics, guns, marriage, popular culture, and American life." Three collected editions of the columns have been published.[7]
Political positions
Power Line's authors typically support nominally conservative causes, for example, the Iraq War and the War on Terror, criticizing former president George W. Bush for being "insufficiently conservative" on issues such as immigration and affirmative action. The blog advocated the confirmation of judicially conservative judges during the Bush administration and regularly featured analysis of court decisions. Power Line often vigorously criticized Democrats and liberals, alleging dishonesty, immorality, bad judgment, and disloyalty to the United States. They occasionally attacked Republicans for similar imputed shortcomings, such as late Sen. John McCain, for opposing United States torture of suspected terrorists or enemy combatants.[8][9]
The Power Line authors believe the media suffer from systemic bias, claiming that many reporters and editors are partisan liberals. They frequently question the integrity of organizations such as Associated Press, the BBC, Reuters, The New York Times, and The Washington Post. Power Line authors have repeatedly advocated prosecution of alleged CIA leakers and media outlets that publish national security information. They also frequently criticize the Star Tribune of Minneapolis, home to two of the Power Line authors.[citation needed]
Rathergate
Power Line gained widespread recognition during the 2004 Killian documents controversy relating to a CBS report on George W. Bush's service in the Texas Air National Guard, starting with a post entitled "The Sixty-First Minute".[10] Conservatives (including Power Line, National Review Online and Little Green Footballs) referred to the controversy as "Rathergate". The blogs and their readers questioned the authenticity of the documents, presenting hints of supposed forgery. After noting that the alleged documents used a proportional font, Power Line helped advance the story, triggering coverage by mainstream media outlets. Dan Rather apologized and resigned from the CBS anchor chair.
Schiavo memo
Power Line speculated that the Schiavo memo was most likely forged by Democrats as a political dirty trick. When the memo turned out to be written by a Republican aide, Brian Darling, Power Line acknowledged the revelation, but continued to criticize mainstream media for stating that the memo was "a product of the party's leadership or had an official status."[11]
President Carter
Power Line frequently criticizes former United States President Jimmy Carter. They have called him a "nut"[12] and said in a post about his actions regarding the January 2005 Iraqi parliamentary election that he is "on the other side".[13]
Hinderaker later wrote that Carter "started aligning himself with America's enemies", alleging that Carter asked the Soviet Union to expand Jewish emigration to help him in the 1980 presidential election, and added: "Carter has never met an anti-American dictator he didn't like ... [H]e used the occasion of being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize to attack the current American government ... Jimmy Carter is a disgrace. We've said so before, and we'll continue saying so as long as he merits the criticism."[14]
Judicial nominations
The bloggers often commented on nominations of federal judges, especially to the Supreme Court. Mirengoff suggested that Republican Senators should vote against Sonia Sotomayor, writing: "Half of the Senate Democrats voted against [John] Roberts, and a strong majority voted against [Samuel] Alito ... for no other reason than their desire not to have another 'conservative' on the Supreme Court ... Thus, non-liberal Senators have every right to vote against her for that reason."[15]
Other coverage
Coverage and commentary by Hinderaker, Johnson, and Mirengoff, all alumni of Dartmouth College, was instrumental in the 2005 election of "insurgent" candidates Peter Robinson and Todd Zywicki to the Board of Trustees.[citation needed]
The blog also covers some lighter material. Johnson regularly posts historical articles about jazz and other musicians, Mirengoff reported on European soccer teams and Hinderaker covers beauty pageants.[16] Hinderaker also hosts a weekly radio show as part of the Northern Alliance Radio Network in Minnesota (Johnson left the show in February 2005, but is an occasional guest).
Tucson shooting
Mirengoff left the blog shortly after writing a January, 2011 post on a Tucson memorial service honoring those who died as the result of shootings at a Gabby Giffords rally; in his post he criticized the inclusion of Native American rituals. The post was later removed, but days later Mirengoff left the blog, and in announcing his exit thanked Hinderaker, Johnson, and the readers for the opportunity to participate in the blog.[17] When Mirengoff left the site, Hinderaker and Johnson recruited Steven F. Hayward to replace him. On Apr 20, 2012, Mirengoff rejoined the site, saying "My return to blogging coincides with my retirement from the practice of law. With all that extra time on my hands, I hope to be a better, more productive blogger this time around."[18]
See also
References
- ^ Kher, Unmesh (December 19, 2004). "Blogs Have Their Day". Time.
- ^ Hinderaker, John (February 22, 2007). "Introducing Power Line AOL". Power Line.
- ^ Budoff Brown, Carrie (13 June 2007). "GOP issues rules to avoid Macaca moments". Politico.
- ^ a b "AEI - Scholars - Steven F. Hayward". American Enterprise Institute. Retrieved January 5, 2010.
- ^ "Ashbrook Staff: Steven Hayward". Ashbrook Center for Public Affairs. Archived from the original on May 28, 2010. Retrieved January 7, 2010.
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2010-02-23. Retrieved 2012-08-15.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "Susan Vass". Amazon.com. Retrieved 2019-02-01.
- ^ [1]
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2006-06-14. Retrieved 2006-10-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Scott Johnson, Scott (September 9, 2004). "The sixty-first minute". Power Line.
- ^ Hinderaker, John (April 8, 2005). "Real Memo, Fake Story". Power Line.
- ^ Johnson, Scott (March 3, 2006). "Jimmy Carter: Nut". Power Line.
- ^ Hinderaker, John (February 2, 2005). "Administration Critics Keeping Mum". Power Line.
- ^ Hinderaker, John (February 16, 2005). "Jimmy Carter Revisited". Power Line.
- ^ Mirengoff, Paul (May 26, 2009). "How will the Sotomayor nomination play out?". Power Line.
- ^ Hinderaker, John (August 20, 2010). "Once Again, Pageant Queen Outsmarts President". Power Line.
- ^ Farewell and thank you, Powerline http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2011/01/028232.php
- ^ One happy Deacon, Powerline http://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2012/04/one-happy-deacon.php