A friend forwards an email he received this morning from the Washington Times. It is prefaced with this disclaimer:
Below, please find a message from one of our advertisers, John Boehner. Periodically, we receive opportunities we believe you may want to learn about. Please note that the following message does not necessarily reflect the positions of The Washington Times.
Full email and screenshots below.
Here is the full email:
Dear Fellow American,
Last Friday, I stood on the House floor and went line-by-line through 300 pages of Speaker Pelosi's national energy tax (also known as "cap and trade"). For more than an hour I highlighted dozens of provisions that will destroy American jobs, raise prices for gasoline and electricity, and devastate middle-class families and small businesses.
Democrats didn't like their plans being exposed like that and tried to shut me down.
Now I need your help to shut them down.
The national energy tax Speaker Pelosi forced her party to support is "likely to be the biggest tax in American history," according to The Wall Street Journal. President Obama himself said energy costs will "skyrocket" for families and small businesses under a "cap and trade" plan.
We have to stop it.
Please make an immediate contribution of $10, $25, or $50 to help me fight the national energy tax and deliver a common sense "all of the above" energy plan that lowers gas prices and creates new jobs. Every dollar you can spare will help me wage a sustained, public campaign against the national energy tax and in support of my "all of the above" energy plan.
Remember, this isn't just about energy - it's about American jobs.
Speaker Pelosi's national energy tax will ship millions of jobs overseas to countries like China and India. It will devastate American manufacturing and raise prices for anyone who drives to work or dares to flip on a light switch.
And make no mistake: Democrats will use this massive tax hike for more of the same wasteful Washington spending that's burying our children and grandchildren in debt.
American families can't afford a new jobs-killing tax. So please make a generous contribution of $10, $25, or $50 today and help me make sure Democrats come to regret this vote.
We can create new jobs, keep energy costs low, and promote a healthy environment without raising taxes. I hope I can count on your help today!
Sincerely,
John Boehner (R-OH)
P.S. A national energy tax is a big part of President Obama and Speaker Pelosi's jobs-killing agenda and it needs to be stopped. So please make an immediate contribution to help me alert Americans to the dangers of "cap and trade" and promote our better "all of the above" solution. Thank you in advance!
And here are screenshots of the email:
It should come as no surprise that the Washington Times is a mouthpiece for the GOP propaganda machine. Media Matters has been documenting this for years:
Washington Times says Supreme Court's Ricci ruling means "Martin Luther King can rest easy" from threat of Sotomayor
Wash. Times reverses meaning of Obama's comments, falsely claiming he "admitted" doctors will bear brunt of spending cuts
Wash. Times Gaffney: "There is mounting evidence that the president ... actually may still be [a Muslim] himself"
Wash. Times fails to disclose op-ed author's ties to defense industry
Under pressure, Washington Times removes image of Obama's daughters from youth homicides story
But this takes the Times' conservative activism to dizzying new heights. They are no longer just parroting GOP talking points. They are now directly raising money for Republican politicians. They can call it advertising, or an "opportunity you might want to know about", or whatever they like, but I'll still call it what it is: pathetic.
Sadly, the Washington Times is not alone in their willingness to compromise journalistic integrity for a quick buck. Politico broke an equally distressing story (diary here) this morning about the Washington Post:
For $25,000 to $250,000, The Washington Post is offering lobbyists and association executives off-the-record, nonconfrontational access to "those powerful few" — Obama administration officials, members of Congress, and the paper’s own reporters and editors.
The astonishing offer is detailed in a flier circulated Wednesday to a health care lobbyist, who provided it to a reporter because the lobbyist said he feels it’s a conflict for the paper to charge for access to, as the flier says, its "health care reporting and editorial staff."
These two instances really highlight the absurdity of recent attacks on the Huffington Post. Seems to me that those with zero journalistic integrity shouldn't throw stones.