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| via Bradblog Cuban’s speech at Blog World |
He wanted so badly to call Bill O’Reilly a moron, but he knows whatever is
written in a blog post lives on and on. So said Mark Cuban, who closed out Blog
World on Friday. In case you didn’t know, he’s the owner of the Dallas Mavericks,
and his production company is behind Brian DePalma’s new film “Redacted,”
which is causing Bill
O’Reilly indigestion.
And then there is the film industry, which is now actually putting American
service people at risk. A vile movie called “Redacted” shows U.S.
soldiers committing murder and rape in Iraq. Directed by Brian de Palma, the
film is being distributed by billionaire Mark Cuban, the Dallas Internet guy.It is Cuban who is the primary villain here. Most American movie theaters
won’t show the film, knowing it will inflame passions against our military
in a time of war. But Cuban doesn’t care. He financed the movie and will show
it in theaters he owns. If even one American is killed because of this film,
that is on Mark Cuban.
O’Reilly has been wagging his finger at Cuban during his show constantly lately, warning the
billionaire of what will happen if he releases “Redacted.” Unfortunately
for Bill-O, Cuban doesn’t care what he says, is also an avid blogger
with a large following, so he doesn’t take any crap from the Big Giant Head
(insert “ego” for head if you prefer).
Cuban’s
speech from Blog World is up in a podcast, which I recorded at the event, for anyone interested in what he had to say.
After the speech, Brad Friedman
asked Cuban about O’Reilly. I had to leave before the question and answer period
finished, so check out Brad’s post
to get the full scoop, but here’s part of what Cuban said:
“When it comes to a specific project like Redacted, which is a small
movie, it’s grown bigger and bigger by the day. So I’m very grateful to him.
… Bill O’Reilly is my new best friend.” – Mark
Cuban
Blog World was fun and I appreciate being invited, which came about very last minute. Thanks to Rick Calvert, whom I’m so sorry I didn’t get a chance to meet.
Here’s the
audio of the first panel, which was on “The Power of the Political Blogosphere,” moderated by Professor David Perlmutter, with Dave Barnett of the Weekly Standard calling
out Markos for his contractor comment, and Hugh Hewitt saying Joseph Wilson
is a “serial liar” as an example of what he thinks qualifies as “civility.”
It was wall to wall conservatives for the political part of the event, but in
the two panels I was on we gave as good or better than we got. One question
I particularly enjoyed at the second panel, “Political Blogs and the Political
Press: From Antagonists to Co-Players?,” was conservative reaction when
we said if there’s a “liberal media” it’s news to us. The wingnuts didn’t seem to know what to say when I asked why, if there
is a liberal media, aren’t any of the big three news anchors asking Rudy about
his no bid Motorola radio contract, or any of his mistakes before 9/11 that
led to firefighters and policemen not being able to talk to one another? No
one had an answer for that one. I wasn’t surprised when Mary Katharine Hamm
tried to suggest that wingnut radio came about because there was simply a market
for it. It’s like Reagan’s deregulation never occurs to conservatives. As for
John Hinderaker, I’ve never met a more clueless conservative with only one view
out of his single-paned window. He actually stated, and I’m paraphrasing here,
that his readers prefer not to have comments clutter up posts, and prefer going
off thread to the forum section instead. He doesn’t get it. The argument about
who is more organized, conservatives or liberals was equally educational. One
question was about Pelosi, Reid and MoveOn.org, that implied because we do infrequent and contentious
conference calls we’re organized, with MoveOn.org proving we all work in a network together. I reminded the guy that the calls I’ve been involved in are
rarely fun and seldom produce results and certainly don’t amount to money, with
MoveOn.org getting smacked by Democrats in the House and beyond on a regular
basis. Conservatives will not be moved from their wingnut talking points, which
include the denial that conservatives have a much more coordinated machine than
liberals. But the big meme from all the wingnuts was that the traditional media
is all lefties. Judith Miller being a tool for Chalabi in the Times,
which Brad Friedman brought up, didn’t happen, according to their history. Rudy
getting a pass on his pre-9/11 failures just doesn’t register, as they completely ignored where he put the command center even after the ’93 bombing. The conservatives also
don’t seem to understand that having the network of right-wing radio to Drudge
to Fox “News” is the engine that helps drive their power. I should
have also brought up all the institutions like Heritage Foundation, Richard
Melon Scaife who single handedly funded the hunting of Bill Clinton, Bob Perry
who gave the swiftboaters their seed money and took down Kerry, but by then
it was the very end of the day on a Friday and the panel had gone way off topic.
This is a classic from Hinderaker at Powerline, which characterizes the wingnut obsession
that there is a “liberal media,” along with a doozy about George Soros:
The second panel, on the relationship between mainstream reporters and bloggers,
was stranger. It was devoted largely to the off-topic claim that the conservative
blogosphere has an “infrastructure,” while the liberal side does
not. We must have heard the word “infrastructure” fifty times; it
apparently refers to Matt Drudge, Rush Limbaugh and perhaps Fox News. The
same lefties argued vociferously that newspapers like the New York Times and
the Washington Post are organs of the right, notwithstanding the fact that
nearly all of their editors and reporters are liberal Democrats. The disconnect
from reality was complete.What makes this theory doubly weird is that several of the more popular liberal
blogs are, I believe, directly financed by leftists like George Soros. So,
this is the logic: if the Drudge Report links to your site every few months,
you are the beneficiary of an unfair “infrastructure,” but if you
live off a left-wing sugar daddy, you’re not.
Directly financed by leftists like George Soros? I doubt if Hinderaker
has ever had a discussion with Soros, because if he had he wouldn’t sound so
ignorant. I was on one conference call to talk about his book and I can assure
you Mr. Soros is no “leftist.” He openly stated he wants both political
parties vibrant and strong in America. “I believe” Soros
funds the “more popular liberal blogs” is high school writing
at its worst. Wonder where Hinderaker gets his information? Likely from Bill-O’s
“Factor Fiction.”
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