Power Line
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Type of site | Conservative blog and news aggregator |
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| Available in | English |
| Founded | May 27, 2002 |
| Created by | John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff |
| URL | www |
| Launched | 2002 |
| Current status | Active |
| This article is part of a series on |
| Conservatism in the United States |
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Power Line is an American far right, white supremacist, armed insurrectionist and seditionist-supporting political blog,[1] founded in May 2002. Its posts were originally written by three lawyers who attended Dartmouth College together (John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, and Paul Mirengoff). Initially they wrote under pen names; Hinderaker, for example, wrote under the name "Hind Rocket." None of the contributors has any professional journalistic training or experience.
The site has become a clearinghouse for extreme right conspiracy theories, especially those concerning President Biden and his soon Hunter's oft-alleged but never proved corruption, as well as the illegitimacy of the 2020 election in which President Biden defeated Donald Trump by more than 7,000,000 votes.
This turn toward exclusively fringe right subject matter led to the ouster of Mirengoff by Hinderaker, Johnson and Hayward in 2021. A rabidly anti-democratic core readership of white supremacists and misogynists, who are featured in the blog's comments section as "Top Commenters" began demanding Mirengoff's resignation in late 2020 because he occasionally expressed skepticism over the efforts of Tarump, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, John Eastman and other Republicans to overturn the election and terrorize election officials and workers in states such as Arizona, Michigan, Georgia, and Pennsylvania.
Additionally, as the COVID-19 pandemic developed in 2020, Power Line's authors took to parroting COVID denialism, misinformation, and lies. Hinderaker and Johnson frequently touted treatments that health and disease experts emphatically denounced as ineffective and hazardous, such as hydroxychloroquine. Hinderaker also ardently supported domestic terrorists engaged in anti-masking protests, and threats of bodily harm against Democratic governors, including Minnesota governor Tim Walz, for implementing what the American Right inaccurately called "lockdowns" in an effort to stem the spread of COVID.
Power Line's insurrectionist bent came to the forefront after January 6, 2021, when seditious terrorists stormed the U.S. Capitol seeking to murder Vice President Mike pence and members of Congress in order to prevent the transfer of power to President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
Johnson gained notoriety in 2021 for becoming a leading Internet advocate for Minneapolis police sergeant Derek Chauvin, who in May 2020 murdered George Floyd in a Minneapolis street. Hinderaker and Johnson had long defended white police officers who killed Black males under questionable circumstances.
Johnson, who styles himself a journalist despite never having worked for a newspaper or news service, infiltrated the press pool for the Chauvin trial and contributed attacks on the jury and judge assigned to the case, while offering advice to Chauvin's attorneys and soliciting attorneys to provide pro bono services to the defense team for Chauvin and hte other officers charged in Floyd's homicide.
Hayward is an ultra right wing libertarian think tank funded contributor whose posts consist mocking attacks on Democrats, particularly Democratic women, environmentalists, students, Blacks, and women, as well as bogus, pseudo-scientific or statistical charts from unqualified sources purporting to disprove climate change. Hayward is also known to Power Line readers for posting photographs of bikini or scantily clad young women posing with assault rifles.
Power Line is published by Joseph Malchow, also a Dartmouth graduate.
The site gained recognition 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.[2]
In 2004, Power Line was named Time magazine's first-ever "Blog of the Year".[3] When AOL added blogs to their news website in 2007, Power Line was one of the five blogs included.[4][5] A 2007 memo from the National Republican Senatorial Committee described Power Line as one of the five best-read national conservative blogs.[6] CBS News described Powerline as "a prominent conservative blog."[7]
Hinderaker particularly has been central to originating and promoting false news reports that further a right wing agenda.
In April 2015, Hinderaker, claimed to "break" the story that Nevada Senator Harry Reid, who had suffered severe injuries on New Year's Day 2015 while using exercise equipment in his home, was actually the victim of a New Year's Eve beating at the hands of his brother Larry, resulting in Reid's suffering broken ribs and a fractured eye socket. Hinderaker claimed his source was a man named Easton Elliott, who had been at a Las Vegas Alcoholics Anonymous meeting on New Year's Eve when Reid's brother entered wearing bloody clothes and saying he had been involved in a fight with a family member.
The story was a complete hoax. "Elliott" was actually a former nightclub consultant named Larry Pfeifer, who contacted Hinderaker specifically because he was certain Hinderaker would republish the false account. In fact, Hinderaker also attempted to have Pfeifer appear on the Rush Limbaugh radio program and put Pfeifer in contact with other right wing media. Hinderaker never apologized or admitted to making any mistakes in making Power Line the only outlet to report the hoax.
In June 2022, Hinderaker posted articles questioning the truth of a story reported in the New York Times and other media of a 10 year old rape victim in Ohio who had to travel to a clinic in Indiana to obtain an abortion because she did not discover her rapist had impregnated her until after 6 weeks had passed. As a result, Ohio law prohibited her receiving an abortion. Hinderaker, along with other anti-abortion rights Republican extremists in the media and elected officials, accused "the left" of fabricating the story to underscore the dire consequences flowing from the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Dobbs decision, which reversed the 1973 precedent the Court established with Roe v. Wade finding that the Constitution guaranteed the right to an abortion up to approximately 24 weeks of a pregnancy, after which period it could be subject to certain limitations. The story was confirmed about two weeks later when the girl's rapist was arrested and arraigned. As with the bogus Harry Reid story, Hinderaker never admitted a mistake or apologized for purveying the false attacks on the Indiana doctor that treated the girl.
Contributors[edit]
The main contributors to Power Line are John H. Hinderaker, Scott W. Johnson, Paul Mirengoff, Steven F. Hayward, and Joe Malchow.[8] Susan Vass, writing under the name "Ammo Grrrll", contributes a humor column to the site every Friday.[citation needed]
In 2007, Forbes recognised Hinderaker as the #19th "biggest and brightest star on the web" on the strength of Powerline's work on Rathergate.[9]
Rathergate[edit]
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][11] Powerline is credited with helping break the story.[12][13] Conservatives (including Power Line, National Review Online and Little Green Footballs) referred to the controversy as "Rathergate".[14][15] 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.[16] Dan Rather apologized and resigned from the CBS anchor chair.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ ARI SHAPIRO (October 4, 2005). "Bloggers Fire Away on Miers Nomination". National Public Radio. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
ARI SHAPIRO reporting: John Hinderaker spent yesterday criticizing President Bush on the political Web site powerlineblog.com
- ^ Hugh Hewitt (2005). "1". Blog. Thomas Nelson. p. 6. ISBN 0-7852-1187-X. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Then Powerline, with a prompt from Free Republic and assists from Little Green Footballs and others in the blogosphere brought down Dan Rather
- ^ Kher, Unmesh (December 19, 2004). "Blogs Have Their Day". Time. Archived from the original on March 4, 2012.
- ^ "Introducing Power Line AOL | Power Line".
- ^ "Power Line Blog | News Bloggers". newsbloggers.aol.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2007. Retrieved January 11, 2022.
- ^ Budoff Brown, Carrie (June 13, 2007). "GOP issues rules to avoid Macaca moments". Politico.
- ^ "How Not To Discredit A Poll". CBS News. June 23, 2009. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
John Hinderaker at Power Line, a prominent conservative blog, pushed back
- ^ "About Us". Powerline. Powerline. Retrieved June 19, 2021.
- ^ Ewalt, David M. (January 24, 2007). "In Pictures: The Web Celeb 25". Forbes. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
John Hinderaker is a lawyer and fellow at the conservative Claremont Institute--but his claim to fame is as one of the editors of PowerLine, a right-wing blog best known for its 2004 reporting on "Rathergate."
- ^ "Rathergate". Frontline (American TV program). Public Broadcasting Service. 2007. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Of course your most famous bump-up in recognition came during the 2004 election. Can you just lay out the story for us? [...] I called that post "The 61st Minute,"
- ^ Scott Johnson, Scott (September 9, 2004). "The sixty-first minute". Power Line.
- ^ Jenny Attiyeh (February 3, 2005). "Who's got the power?". The Harvard Gazette. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Powerline, a conservative blog, was one of the first to raise questions about the authenticity of memos on President Bush's National Guard service, broadcast by CBS on "60 Minutes."
- ^ John Podhoretz (November 9, 2015). "A Critic's Confession". Washington Examiner. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Scott Johnson of Powerline, the blog that first surfaced the Rathergate fraud, took on the task of debunking Truth
- ^ DAVID WEIGEL (September 28, 2012). "We'll Always Have Dan Rather". Slate. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Dan Rather going on air with his 2004 story about George W. Bush's service in the Air National Guard, then retracting the story because the key document was forged, then, years later, refusing to apologize. New conservative media—talk radio, blogs, message boards, Drudge—claimed his scalp. One of the key blogs, Powerline, was profiled by Time magazine. "Rathergate" changed the audience's relationship with the media.
- ^ "Need to Know: Rather Not". National Review. November 4, 2015. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
Mona and Jay welcome Powerline blogger Scott Johnson to discuss the "Rathergate" scandal
- ^ "Courthouse Shooting in Seattle; Bolton Nomination Before the Senate ... Again; The Hunt of Osama bin Laden Continues; Saddam and the Downing Street Memo in the Blogs". CNN. June 20, 2005. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
over now to Powerlineblog.com. This is the three conservative lawyers who blog over here and maintain this site. They were the ones who were widely credited, along with their readers, with really blowing what is called in the blogosphere as Rathergate, those CBS documents last year about Bush's National Guard service.