PEWGATE
It Seems We Have Invented a Word
Despite indifference from major media, the blogosphere is buzzing over the fraudulent tactics employed by lobbyists such as George Soros' Open Society Institute and the Pew Charitable Trusts to foist the McCain-Feingold Act on the American people. "Some have now dubbed the scandal `Pewgate,'" notes New York Post reporter Ryan Sager on his blog.
Sager is the 25-year-old reporter who broke the Pewgate story on March 17 (see "Buying `Reform'," New York Post, March 17, 2005). However, Sager never gave a name to the scandal he uncovered. It was left to us here at Moonbat Central to undertake that task.
What is Pewgate? Regular readers of Moonbat Central need no reminder. For the newbies among us, Pewgate is the name your faithful correspondent gave to a fast-breaking scandal that the mainstream media have been trying very hard for the last three weeks to make sure we hear nothing about.
Pewgate refers to a ten-year, $140-million plot by the Pew Charitable Trusts, George Soros' Open Society Institute and various other radical foundations to bamboozle Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court into approving the McCain-Feingold Act — a law which empowers federal judges and Federal Election Commissioners to impose restrictions on political speech, including the speech of bloggers.
Now the word "Pewgate" seems to be acquiring cachet on the blogosphere. It's popping up everywhere (see Technorati). We at Moonbat Central are proud to say, "You read it here first." For the convenience and edification of future Web historians and blog etymologists, we provide here a guide to the genealogy of the word "Pewgate," from its March 23 inception here on our humble weblog to its rapid entry into the blogospheric lexicon:
March 17, 2005
Ryan Sager Breaks Pewgate Story…
…but doesn't give a name to the scandal. His story in the New York Post is headlined: "Buying `Reform"
March 21, 2005
NY Post Editorial Reiterates Sager Story…
…but still doesn't name the scandal. The editorial is called, "The Stench from Pew."
March 21, 2005 5:56:05 AM ET
Lucianne.com Links to New York Post Editorial "The Stench from Pew"
L-dot staffer Oblio posts the link. At 8:35 AM ET, my lovely wife Marie sends me the Lucianne link via e-mail.
March 23, 2005
Your Faithful Correspondent Coins the Term "Pewgate" Here at Moonbat Central
…using it in four consecutive posts as follows: "Pewgate: McCain-Feingold Lobbyists Bankrolled Fake Grassroots Movement" (7:54 PM ET); "Pewgate: Leftwing Journalists on the Take (7:57 PM ET); Pewgate Conspirators Buy Supreme Court (8:01 PM ET); and early the next morning, "Pewgate Mastermind Spearheads Anti-Blogger Campaign (March 24, 2004 6:49 AM ET)
March 24, 2004
Your Faithful Correspondent Posts a Column Called "Pewgate" at RichardPoe.com
I summarize the aforementioned blog entries in a 750-word column headlined "Pewgate," and post it to my personal Web site RichardPoe.com.
March 24, 2005
Someone E-mails DailyPundit.com
An unknown e-activist sends a copy of my original March 23 Pewgate post "Pewgate: McCain-Feingold Lobbyists Bankrolled Fake Grassroots Movement" to dailypundit.com — but sadly neglects to include my byline. Consequently, DailyPundit does not know who wrote the piece, and posts it with no link or byline.
March 24, 2005 10:08 PM
DailyPundit.com Utters the Word "Pewgate"
Bill Quick at DailyPundit posts a blog entry headlined "From the Mailbag," in which he becomes the first non-Moonbat blogger to utter the word "Pewgate." He says: "Got an excellent analysis of the `PewGate' scandal via email today. Read the whole thing."
March 25, 2004
FrontPage Posts My "Pewgate" Column
March 25, 2005 8:42 AM
Instapundit Links to My "Pewgate" Column
Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit links to my column "Pewgate: Battle of the Blogosphere" posted at FrontPage, but declines to utter the word "Pewgate."
March 25, 2005 (posting time unknown)
Classical Values Utters the Word "Pewgate"
Eric at Classical Values writes: "Via InstaPundit, who also links to this tale of (gulp! dare I say it?) `Pewgate.' Cold, dead, fingers unite!" Later that same day, at 10:38 AM, Eric adds: "Googling the new word `Pewgate' yields eleven web hits, but zero in the `News' category. Well, unlike the blogosphere, the realm of official `News' is a gated community. Can't blame 'em for wanting to bar the gates."
March 25, 2005 11:04 AM
Democracy Project Links To My "Pewgate" Column — But Does Not Utter the Word
Winfield Myers at Democracy Project writes: "Another excellent summary of the FEC/Pew/Blogging story appears at FrontPage today. Richard Poe ties the two elements of the story together with numerous links (including one to this post on DP)."
March 25, 2005 11:09 AM (time zone unknown)
Aussiegirl Utters the Word
In a post titled, "Blogger Alert — McCain-Feingold is Coming for You," Aussiegirl writes: "Call it Pewgate -- call it blog-gate -- it all boils down to restricting our rights to be the pamphleteers of the 21st Century."
March 25, 2005 at 11:07 (time zone unknown)
Air Force Voices Utters the Word
The anonymous proprietor of the Air Force Voices blog states in his bio that he is an active duty major in the Air Force, currently earning a masters degree at the Air Command and Staff College. Regarding Pewgate, he writes: "For a complete roundup of what is becoming known as Pewgate and how far its tentacles extend, see Richard Poe's article on FrontPageMag.Com. (HT: Democracy Project)."
March 25, 2005 13:07 (time zone unknown)
Hooda Thunk Utters the Word
In a post headlined, "Pewgate? Appropos on so many levels...," Ric James of the blog Hooda Thunk? writes the following: "For a fine report on the matter, I direct you to this post over on FrontPage. (I urge even those of you who hail from the Left side of the political spectrum to click and read. This issue affects us all.)"
March 27, 2005 02:22 AM ET
Ryan Sager Himself Utters the Word
Ryan Sager of the The New York Post — the brave and resourceful young man who originally broke the Pewgate story, writes on his blog: "Some have now dubbed the scandal `Pewgate.' Works for me."
And the rest, as they say, is history.
Congratulations, Mr. Sager, from all the folks here at Moonbat Central. You have served your country with honor and distinction. Now brace yourself for the coming storm. The mainstream media tried to ignore you. Failing that, they will next attempt to discredit you. And they have many more tricks up their sleeve beyond that. Your real fight has just begun.
Mr. Sager, I gather from some of the posts at your blog Miscellaneous Objections that you do not believe in God. Even so, I pray that you will walk under his protection.
8 Comments:
I e-mailed Bill O'reilly, the complete "PEWGATE" post.
Subject: Why not get Mr. Poe back on the show, concerning "PEWGATE"
Message: Why not do your job, and bloviate on the following!
YOU NEVER KNOW!
I'm very glad you guys are keeping this story out there. But this post could give Joseph Farah at WND a run for the money in sheer self-congratulation.
How's about using all that bandwidth to tell us something new? ; )
J
Do you really think O'reilly's going to read an email like that? ; )
Might be a while before we find out, though. His in-box is probably packed to the gills with falafel fantasies : D
Maybe.
J
J.E.T. says,
"Do you really think O'reilly's going to read an email like that? ; )"
You never know!
However, one thing I know for certain. The odds are increased significantly by simply sending it.
You know J.E.T., I am going to have to start charging for all this wisdom.
Well, by my accounting, the wisdom vs. nonsense ratio is still heavily bent over in favor of nonsense.
If you're wanting to charge for wisdom, I'm going to have to insist on a refund for the nonsense ; )
J
Rightminded writes: "e-mailed Bill O'reilly, the complete "PEWGATE" post.
Subject: Why not get Mr. Poe back on the show, concerning `PEWGATE'"
Thanks for the boost, Rightminded — though if Mr. O'Reilly does take an interest in Pewgate, I hope he will get Ryan Sager of the New York Post to talk about it, not me. After all, Sager broke the story.
Mr. Tremlett writes: "I'm very glad you guys are keeping this story out there."
You are most welcome, Mr. Tremlett.
Mr. Tremlett also writes: "But this post could give Joseph Farah at WND a run for the money in sheer self-congratulation."
Self-congratulation? Well, maybe some of that. I see it more as a bit of fun — though fun with a useful purpose.
If you want to promote a concept, you must give it a catchy name. And then you have to promote the name, to get people to use it.
Three years ago, David Carr at Samizdata.net coined the term "Tranzi" to describe a species of totalitarian globalist which Hudson Institute researcher John Fonte had dubbed "Transnational Progressive."
I did my part in trying to promote the word "Tranzi," devoting a whole column to it, titled, "Nazis and Commies and Tranzis… Oh My!" But it just didn't catch on. Tranzi turned out to be a passing fad — no more than a flash in the pan.
I hope Pewgate does better.
I see it more as a bit of fun — though fun with a useful purpose ... If you want to promote a concept, you must give it a catchy name. And then you have to promote the name, to get people to use it.
That's true. And I guess it isn't going to grow legs and walk around the net on its own, either.
I hope Pewgate does better.
Likewise!
J
Post a Comment
<< Home