Erick Erickson, far right pundit and purveyor of email, has allied with some group called The First, who is also now sending me emails. While I was intending to mark them as spam, it actually turns out they’re useful for getting the latest misleading stories from the right, such as this:
What’s Up: Possibly the biggest story of the last two weeks in the 2020 campaign swirls around Joe Biden, his son Hunter, and claims that the former VP’s son was peddling access to his father and charging millions of dollars to entities in foreign countries. Democrats have floated the theory the entire thing is a Russian disinformation campaign. Today, the Director of National Intelligence debunked that theory.
Quote: “‘Let me be clear, the intelligence community doesn’t believe that because there is no intelligence that supports and we shared no intelligence with chairman Schiff or any other member of Congress that Hunter Biden’s laptop is part of some Russian disinformation campaign,’ he continued. ‘It’s simply not true.'” — DailyWire.com
The First take: Monday’s “October Surprise” is one we believe Rep. Adam Schiff and the Democrats will not appreciate. DNI John Ratcliffe’s shooting down of the Dem’s latest attempt to push the Hunter Biden story off the front pages is not just big news, we believe it to be one of he most consequential stories of the 2020 election. We suggest you follow the timeline in the bonus story below.
Notice the adroit separation of the man from his title, and in reverse order:
Director of National Intelligence in the first paragraph.
John Ratcliffe in the third paragraph.
The responsibility of the sober citizen in the Internet Age of Disinformation is to check one’s source. That evaluative phase not only includes facts, but how they weave together.
Let’s begin with what I’ve pulled out. Start with the fact that the selection of words is an integral part of communications – and emotional response control. When it comes to Director of National Intelligence, or DNI for short, that’s really an impressive title, isn’t it? Even if you don’t know that the intelligence community is supposed to be non-partisan, it should be apparent that the intelligence community provides facts and analysis to our leaders, who then take actions based on them.
Yeah?
Well, ideally, yeah.
But, uh (you say), who’s the DNI? Oh, yeah. John Ratcliffe. OK, now that I’ve connected those dots, who’s he?
Former Rep John Ratcliffe (R-TX).
Former rejected nominee for DNI John Ratcliffe.
Partisan John Ratcliffe, with a TrumpScore of 92.5%.
So much for the trustworthiness of the DNI, and thus do we explode the assertions that are supposedly foolproof.
All of a sudden, The First’s pushing of the story seems less dignified, even frantic. You gotta remember, the GOP, with names such as Trump, Pruitt, McConnell, Ernst, Sasse, and many others of like dismal reputation in the leadership, is burdened with people who have proven themselves mendacious and dishonorable.
“Declining conservative membership“
Gallup
Therefore, it’s necessary to paint the Democrats as being the same. If the Republicans find themselves as the only party with a bad rep, they may continue experiencing membership loss, they might even have a schism and find a second, more credible conservative party, devoted to real conservative principles, such as honesty and competency, taking them out of the limelight.
But if they can paint the Democrats as being just as corrupt, then maybe they can survive as a credible national force.
And doing this in an honest manner isn’t even a factor. The mud need only be applied, and if it requires a corrupt DNI, so be it. I’ll bet it doesn’t even sting their conscience any longer.
So, when evaluating this bit of mud, it’s best to ask:
Do you trust a highly suspect DNI, or the honesty and stated policies of Joe Biden?
