This diary is a continuation of DonBinTN's diary yesterday, concerning the origins of a scripted smear of Al Gore by the Nashville Tennessean, one picked up by CNN, Fox, Drudge and Rush.
The story, written by Anne Paine, claimed a Drew Johnson of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research was calling out Gore for high electric bills as Gore's Nashville residence.
In his diary, DonBinTN relayed an email he received from the local NPR affiliate, containing a statement by Nashville Electric Service (NES) claiming only the Tennessean had requested Gore's electric bills, in January. Subsequent wire-service stories (see this) substantiate the NPR claim.
Laurie Parker of NES says Johnson's group made no requests and received no data.
So, let's put the pieces together and name names:
Here are the facts, as we know them, and the inference we can draw by rejecting all other possibilities when refuted by the facts:
Anne Paine of the Tennessean obtained Al Gore's electric bills in January. Since Drew Johnson could have obtained them just as easily himself, we know he had not yet considered this attack.
Paine contacted Johnson at some point before the Academy Awards show last Sunday night, and showed him the bills.
It's important to note who Johnson is. He's a well-known right-wing sociopath/gadfly. From this:
"Please let your staff know this is not a legitimate group and therefore, we’re not responding to them. Let me know if anyone in your group is contacted by them. (By the way, this is Drew Johnson’s org.) Thanks," a Jan. 3 e-mail from Director of Communications Emily Richard to the revenue department’s general counsel and its audit director.
So, Paine sought out a right-wing sociopath who she knkew would make outlandish anti-Gore statements withouth concern for the facts. Johnson was a Fellow of the American Enterprise Institute and an affiliate of the Compeitive Enterprise Institute, two of the leading deniers of manmade global warming. Johnson worked at Kenneth Starr's Pepperdine think tank.
Paine, having fed Johnson the story, proceeded to "interview" him in the context of her, Paine, merely reporing claims being made by Johnson. Paine timed her story for the day after the Academy Awards, to maximize it's hit power. Keep in mind, Gore was a cinch to win the Oscar, and Paine knew this in January when she sought out bills.
Not only did Paine did not identify Johnson's anti-enviromentalism, Paine and Johnson scripted the following unbelievable lie, one repeated in the wire service stories yesterday:
Johnson, whose group usually focuses on government spending issues, said he "doesn't differ much from Al Gore on his environmental concerns."
Please re-read this.
Paine gave Johnson a bona fide of Johnson being an environmentalist opposed to global warming. Paine knowingly perpetrated a lie.
The punch line: a newspaper reporter scripted a hit piece on Al Gore, the anti-global warming movement and the Democratic Party. She enlisted the services of a hack, Drew Johnson, to serve as her Charlie McCarthy here.
Will the Tennessean get away with this?