The Other McCain

"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

LGF’s Charles Johnson Blames Bashir Resignation on ‘Right Wing Lynch Mob’

Posted on | December 4, 2013 | 81 Comments

Yeah, a lot of readers are asking, “Charles Who?” But the dude actually used to be somebody, and now he’s reduced to playing silly Media Matters/Crooks & Liars “gotcha” games with blog commenters:

“Meanwhile, at Breitbart.com, where they’ve been on a non-stop campaign to get Bashir fired, they’re in a celebratory mood. And you know what that means: lots of gloating (nobody gloats like a wingnut), mixed with thousands of openly racist, xenophobic comments: MSNBC’S BASHIR RESIGNS!!!“

Johnson links to an article by Ben Shapiro. Is he accusing Shapiro of leading this “right wing lynch mob”? Is he saying that Shapiro or anyone else at Breitbart endorses and/or encourages “openly racist, xenophobic comments”? What exactly is he saying?

Better question: Does anyone believe that Martin Bashir resigned from MSNBC because of the “non-stop campaign to get Bashir fired” by Breitbart.com? Or do you suppose, rather, that Bashir’s comments were simply indefensible and that MSNBC — taking a look at Bashir’s anemic ratings — is probably just seizing on this controversy as a pretext to give that time slot to someone more likeable?

 


Category: Charles Johnson

Comments

81 Responses to “LGF’s Charles Johnson Blames Bashir Resignation on ‘Right Wing Lynch Mob’”

  1. Quartermaster
    December 4th, 2013 @ 9:20 pm

    For the newbies here, this is not the real Charlie Chuckles. But it’s fun to pick back anywayz.

  2. SPQR9
    December 4th, 2013 @ 9:26 pm

    And think how far you have to go to be the kind of “quality” that Bashir is …

    Or not.

  3. Matthew W
    December 4th, 2013 @ 9:45 pm

    Really ?!?
    It would suck to be Charles in real life, it must really suck being a fake Chuckie !!

  4. nohype1
    December 4th, 2013 @ 9:48 pm

    It is very strange that Bashir got the boot. I wonder if it is battlefield preparation for 2016 in anticipation of a female presidential candidate on the D ticket. Defusing all criticism of her by screaming sexism will be less effective if people can point to the the way the Left has treated Sarah Palin. But by forcing Bashir to resign, the Left can claim that its side does not tolerate sexist attacks on its opponents.

  5. mike4libertyCA
    December 4th, 2013 @ 9:53 pm

    RT @rsmccain: LGF’s Charles Johnson Blames Bashir Resignation on ‘Right Wing Lynch Mob’ http://t.co/1mI7i6WJok cc @benshapiro @AceofSpadesH…

  6. mike4libertyCA
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:09 pm

    .@Green_Footballs Blames Bashir Resignation on ‘Right Wing Lynch Mob’ http://t.co/RnuTFU3vck Has any website fallen faster than that one?

  7. Noted douchebag and anti Southern bigot, who used to be somebody whines about Martin Bashir’s being shit canned | The Daley Gator
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:20 pm

    […] That noted “used to be” that “never really was” is Charles Johnson, an intellectual coward who writes some of the most inane things, as Robert Stacy McCain notes […]

  8. Steve Skubinna
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:31 pm

    There’s a big difference between wishing to crap in Obama’s moth and letting him crap in yours.

  9. Steve Skubinna
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:33 pm

    Great strategy. Inside the barely measurably space of only six years they pounced on this intolerable display of misogyny and demonstrated that, unlike Republicans, they hold women in respect.

  10. CarolinaGirl3
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:50 pm

    More people read about Johnson’s petulant junior high drivel here than did at that pathetic blog of his. Pretty much like the statistics for Bashir’s show – more people read about his vile and moronic comments (Palin wasn’t the first target he’s slandered) on conservative blogs than ever watched him in person.
    Well, the time slot at aMessNBC is open. Perhaps they’ll be calling on Charlie Three Chins and his sidekicks Grifter Gus and KKKilgore Trout to fill in the blanks.

  11. Randy_Rager
    December 4th, 2013 @ 10:58 pm

    I’m pretty sure that one of these days Charles Johnson will come out of the closet where he’s been hiding while he sniffs Bill Schmalfeldt’s bicycle seat.

  12. CarolinaGirl3
    December 4th, 2013 @ 11:09 pm

    I’d hate to be one of his Twitter followers. Same crap tweeted five times (you know, ICYMI) and everything else is directed to one of his inane blog posts. That is when he isn’t jumping up and down on Twitter like a Jack Russell Terrier on Ritalin trying to get people with an actual reputation to notice him.

  13. CarolinaGirl3
    December 4th, 2013 @ 11:14 pm

    Fatass is a legend in his own mind. Note his Twitter avatar is the Chuck from 13 years ago, not the multi-chinned Blubberbutt that stalks real journalists.

  14. CarolinaGirl3
    December 4th, 2013 @ 11:16 pm

    Rush Limbaugh said “slut” about a phony witness at a phony hearing wanting us to pay for $3000 of birth control a year and launched that whole “War on Women” hysteria.

  15. CarolinaGirl3
    December 4th, 2013 @ 11:19 pm

    Of course it is. They’re setting the stage for their big Hildebeest victory in 2016 so that they can couch all criticism of Thunderthigh’s further Marxism Comes to America policies as sexism.

  16. Julie Pascal
    December 4th, 2013 @ 11:55 pm

    The idea that Breitbart.com has any ability to *make* MSNBC do *anything* is delusional.

  17. richard mcenroe
    December 5th, 2013 @ 12:23 am

    We WISH we could have that kind of effect.

  18. Adjoran
    December 5th, 2013 @ 1:24 am

    Right, I know many of the readers today were just small children not allowed on the interwebs back when Charles Johnson was relevant.

    Gather ’round, boys and girls, and I’ll fill you in. There once was a man named Charles Johnson who had a blog called “Little Green Footballs.” He was a part-time jazz musician with a pony tail and used to take long bike rides on coastal highways and post multiple pictures of the scenery, long before there were decent camera phones and people sent pix of their breakfasts.

    Now, maybe this sounds like a regular, garden-variety West Coast Hipster Dufus to you. And you would be right, but somehow he was against terrorism so that made it all right, and lots of people wanted to read his blog. Then one day, he decided it was all wrong. The terrorists weren’t bad, the islamists weren’t bad, it was the Christians and Americans who caused all the problems. And he went berserk in repeated paranoid frenzies, so nobody cares what he writes anymore (except of course forensic psychaitrists researching psychosis).

    What lessons can be learned from this? Well, mainly, if you must ride a bike everywhere wearing too-tight shorts, don’t make a practice of sniffing the seat. No matter how good you think it smells. A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

  19. MrPaulRevere
    December 5th, 2013 @ 2:27 am

    Your epitaph *wink* : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNzBgR0UoYo

  20. G Joubert
    December 5th, 2013 @ 2:56 am

    And, when he was at the top of his game LGF was one of the most popular and most visited sites in the “conservative” blogosphere. Then, when he did his about-face he banned hundreds if not thousands of his long-time readers and commenters simply for being who they are.

    I used to think CJ went nuts, and that explained it. Maybe it does to a point, but I’ve come around to a little different take on him over time. First, he lives in LA. Second, he fancies himself as and pursues a career as a jazz musician. In LA. I’m thinking being one of the most noted “conservative” bloggers in the world was hindering his LA musical career. Enter cognitive dissonance. One or the other had to give. That’s how deep he is.

    Another thing for those unfamiliar with CJ and LGF: It was CJ and LGF, more than anyone else, who exposed the fraudulent claims by Dan Rather on 60 Minutes about George Bush’s Texas Air Guard service, and ultimately got Dan Rather fired by CBS. I’m betting CJ hates being reminded of that now.

  21. TC_LeatherPenguin
    December 5th, 2013 @ 6:28 am

    Chazz never got over Powerline getting named “Blog of the Year” or whatever the hell way back then. Ever since, his Lycra-clad ass has been chapped.

  22. Matthew W
    December 5th, 2013 @ 7:10 am

    Back in the day, LGF was my first stop of the day.
    Then Charles got “weird” and it changed over there pretty fast.

  23. TC_LeatherPenguin
    December 5th, 2013 @ 9:01 am

    “Another thing for those unfamiliar with CJ and LGF: It was CJ and LGF, more than anyone else, who exposed the fraudulent claims by Dan Rather on 60 Minutes about George Bush’s Texas Air Guard service, and ultimately got Dan Rather fired by CBS.”
    Umm, no… not even close. Go relearn your history. Chuckles was in the mix, but he didn’t drive GungaDan off his perch.

  24. CarolinaGirl3
    December 5th, 2013 @ 9:30 am

    Bingo. Doing some research on “Revisiting Rathergate” for the Diary of Daedalus blog, I discovered that a website run by Jeremy Chrysler had the “throbbing memo” days before Johnson had it. And Johnson knew about Chrysler’s website from day one of Le Scandal.

  25. Wombat_socho
    December 5th, 2013 @ 9:36 am

    *nods* I remember when he used to be somebody.

  26. Charles Johnson
    December 5th, 2013 @ 11:41 am

    Hey, do not question my reality! Or I might ban you from the interwebs! Or at least LGF and my wonderful photographs of beach sand.

  27. Anon Y. Mous
    December 5th, 2013 @ 2:53 pm

    It’s a bit late to comment on this post, but here I go anyway.

    I think there were two events that had more effect on MSNBC’s decision making than all the “right-wing” commentary combined. One, Alec Baldwin complained that he was fired for off air comments, while Bashir was being kept on after making his comments on the air. Two, Palin cancelled an interview with NBC proper, citing the Bashir comments. Both of these events were reported in the MSM. Complaints by right wingers on right wing blogs and in other right wing media don’t matter much to the likes of (MS)NBC, but once it starts getting too much prominence in other MSM outlets, they have to be seen as taking the issue seriously.

  28. Adjoran
    December 5th, 2013 @ 5:22 pm

    CJ’s only real contribution to the 60 Minutes fraud case was the famous animated GIF superimposing the copy of the alleged order posted on CBS’ website (which had obviously been copied on a Xerox multiple times) and a clear current typing out of the same words in MS Word with the Times New Roman font, not used on the type of typewriters available to Col Killian (who didn’t type anyway).
    Other than that, he kept focus on the story, but so did every other conservative on the internet.

  29. Michael T
    December 5th, 2013 @ 6:47 pm

    As far as ratings go, Bashir was actually holding his own against Tapper.

    Many on both the left and the right called for (and presumably expected) a suspension only — not a dismissal.

    It does make me wonder about the influence of MSNBC’s corporate master Comcast and what their role was in the departures of these three hosts.

    Martin Bashir
    Cenk Uygur
    Dylan Ratigan (unless you believe he left voluntarily)

    All of them, at various times, were the most outspoken MSNBC critics of political power, corporate media power and even presidential power. They also seemed less reluctant to take on the power brokers on K Street and also Wall Street — something that you don’t hear that often on any of the three cable news channels.

    Perhaps a lesson to be learned here is that your status as an MSNBC host is much more secure if you limit most (if not all) of your criticism to the conservative media and Republican politicians. Otherwise, your future at MSNBC may be in jeopardy if you should ever cross the line with a controversial (and regrettable) comment.

    I’ve never seen his show — not even once. I thought he was creepy (as far back as the Michael Jackson interview) but I don’t think he should have been fired.

  30. cmdr358
    December 5th, 2013 @ 7:55 pm

    That was nice of Alec wasn’t it?

    Like an 8 year-old saying “but he did it too, why isn’t he being punished?”

  31. TC_LeatherPenguin
    December 6th, 2013 @ 12:02 pm

    Too many people don’t remember (or know about) the Michael Jackson insanity in launching Bashir’s career arc. Without that, he never makes it across the pond.