Salon’s Neo-nazi rush job

The other night I mentioned Salon’s Matt Kennard and his hastily assembled Neo-Nazis are in the Army now in relation to Geof Millard, IVAW’s self-styled racism expert. Oh, did I say hastily assembled? Actually it was merely an edited version of the same article Kennard wrote last summer. It didn’t get much attention then, but I remember reading it.

I guess Kennard and Salon and the entire Leftosphere thought it was a good time to resurrect the POS article in reaction to the shooting last week at the Holocaust Museum to stir up the moonbats.

All Kennard did was retype the introduction – he used the same interviews, the same stale facts that didn’t impress anyone last year, but with James von Brunn still fresh on everyone’s mind, the stale story found new life.

Here’s the opening paragraph of the “new” article;

On a muggy Florida evening in 2008, I meet Iraq War veteran Forrest Fogarty in the Winghouse, a little bar-restaurant on the outskirts of Tampa, his favorite hangout. He told me on the phone I would recognize him by his skinhead.

And, a screen cap of the old article he wrote last September;

New beginning paragraph and the news is new again – if you throw in a dash of a shooting at the Holocaust Museum.

In both articles Kennard drew on last year’s FBI report. He takes the FBI report a step further than the FBI intended, though;

Following an investigation of white supremacist groups, a 2008 FBI report declared: “Military experience — ranging from failure at basic training to success in special operations forces — is found throughout the white supremacist extremist movement.” In white supremacist incidents from 2001 to 2008, the FBI identified 203 veterans. Most of them were associated with the National Alliance and the National Socialist Movement, which promote anti-Semitism and the overthrow of the U.S. government, and assorted skinhead groups.

See – 203 veterans in seven years. But Kennard goes a bit further and beclowns himself;

Because the FBI focused only on reported cases, its numbers don’t include the many extremist soldiers who have managed to stay off the radar.

But what the report actually says is;

A review of FBI white supremacist extremist cases from October 2001 to May 2008 identified 203 individuals with confirmed or claimed military service active in the extremist movement at some time during the reporting period.

Nothing about “reported cases” – confirmed or claimed military service. We know what “claimed military service” is here at This Ain’t Hell, don’t we? The FBI report continues;

Although the count of 203 includes persons with unverified military backgrounds—some of whom may have inflated their resumes with fictional military experience to impress others within the movement….

The FBI actually says there were probably fewer veterans, but Kennard says there were probably more veterans in racist organizations. Nice try, though, Kennard. Learn to read, buddy.

The only thing remotely new in the latest article was the thoroughly discredited and withdrawn DHS report. He quotes the most egregious line from the report;

“The willingness of a small percentage of military personnel to join extremist groups during the 1990s because they were disgruntled, disillusioned, or suffering from the psychological effects of war is being replicated today.”

The “small percentage of military personnel” had only one example in the DHS report – Timothy McVeigh who used none of the skills he learned as a Bradley gunner with the 1st Infantry Division when he bombed the building in Oklahoma City. But that line sounded good to Kennard, so he included it.

So basically all Kennard did was recycle the article he wrote last year, slapped in some newer, discredited report and put it up on Salon to whip the Leftists into a frenzy in the wake of the von Brunn murder. Never miss an opportunity to take advantage of a tragedy.

Category: Bloggers, Media, Phony soldiers, Usual Suspects