February 19, 2009
MEDIA RELEASE
WILL HUTTNER APOLOGIZE FOR COMMENTS AT PROGRESS NOW COLORADO CALLING CONSERVATIVES FASCISTS OR NAZIS?
On February 17, Michelle Malkin attended a “Pork Roast Rally” in Denver organized by Jon Caldara to protest the so-called “stimulus” package. Republican State Senator Josh Penry also spoke at the rally. A rallier unknown to Malkin and the event’s organizers carried a sign calling Obama a Nazi by putting a swastika with Obama’s name. This person, along with many others, approached Malkin and had his photograph taken with her.
Michael Huttner, Executive Director of Progress Now Action, also attended the rally.
On February 18, Huttner issues a media release stating, “Does Penry support the misuse of the Nazi swastika for political self-gain? We do not need Penry and Malkin to return Colorado to the hate state.”
http://tinyurl.com/b7yfnj
Penry indeed condemned the sign, the Rocky Mountain News reports:
http://tinyurl.com/bbo94h
The Rocky Mountain News also reports: “One of the groups criticizing Malkin over the photo is Progress Now Colorado. Michael Huttner, who heads the group, said the organizers of Tuesday’s rally should condemn the sign and offer an apology.”
Yet Huttner’s own web page features numerous comments calling George W. Bush and other conservatives fascists or Nazis:
“So what are the issues the right wingers decry? Overland High School instructor Jay Bennish sees some similarities between President Bush and Adolf Hitler. My response: who doesn’t?”
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/richardmyers/CLTP
“Is The BushAdmin The Fourth Reich?”
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/michaelcollins/CHSj
“the fascist NeoCon, Owens”
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/waterflaws/CLyJ
“arch-fascist Peter Boyles”
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/waterflaws/CqSN
“the republicans have become an inchoate fascist enemy.”
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/post/jencaltrideraction/C2VD
“What do you get when you put lipstick on a fascist?” (a Palin reference)
http://www.progressnowcolorado.org/page/community/group/FrontPage/www.thebell.org/pdf/OpNOTE06-1327?page=13
“is our school a microcosm of conservative fascism?”
http://media.progressnowaction.org/img/benson021808.pdf
Ari Armstrong, editor of FreeColorado.com, said, “Huttner has brought ‘gotcha’ politics to a new low. The organizers of public rallies, whether on the right or the left, cannot possibly keep out strangers. Indeed, Huttner himself complained that his free-speech rights were threatened when someone suggested that he leave the rally.
“I personally witnessed Michelle Malkin being approached by numerous individuals seeking photos with her, as is common with well-known personalities. Would Huttner appreciate it if a random stranger worked a photo op with a well-known leftist using inappropriate imagery or language?
“For Huttner to drag Penry into the debate is absurd. He had nothing to do with it. But, as Jason Salzman, who attended the rally with Huttner, acknowledged to me, he anticipates that Penry will run for higher office. So Huttner is starting in early with the character assassination.
“Obviously, people from the left call George W. Bush and other Republicans fascists or Nazis practically on a daily basis. Why is it news when the right does it, but not when the left does it?
“As Huttner’s own web page demonstrates, the left commonly attacks Republicans and conservatives by likening them to fascists. Has Michael Huttner condemned each of those comments and apologized for them?”
Armstrong critically reviewed the rally in two articles at FreeColorado.com:
http://tinyurl.com/dx58jv
http://tinyurl.com/bmcehw
This is not the first time that Huttner’s own web page has featured the same comments for which he has condemned others. In 2008, Huttner condemned Caldara for using the term “bitch slap” on the radio, despite the fact that Huttner’s web page also featured the phrase:
http://tinyurl.com/bpds6p
Armstrong said, “Obama is obviously not a Nazi, so tagging him with a swastika is wrong. But we shouldn’t blame people for the actions of complete strangers, and that goes for the right and the left. Huttner’s hypocrisy is getting more than a little old.”
Oh, Ari.
You’re seriously trying to equate anonymous blog comments with a guy who STOOD ON STAGE with your boss Jon Caldara, Michelle Malkin, and GOP leadership for an extended period with nobody having any problems? After your fellow rightie bloggers posted photos of the sign with positive comments? That takes some serious chutzpah. Your boss makes you take some pretty nutty longshots, of course, like blaming Colorado’s budget crisis on “dildo art.” So you’re just staying classy, I get it.
I love how Malkin has switched from “so what?” to “he was a plant!” in less than 48 hours, too. She’s going to need to pick one.
I’m curious as to why Anonymous doesn’t have the guts to leave a name. Nevertheless, I’m happy to reply.
* Jon Caldara is not my boss, nor has he ever been my boss. Years ago I completed a project for him on an independent contractor basis. Now I occasionally contribute an op-ed to the Independence Institute as a guest writer — for no pay.
* How much do the likes of Huttner get paid for character assassination of Republicans and conservatives?
* Again, people at a public rally don’t have the right to forcibly remove anybody, as Huttner himself was quick to point out.
* There was no “stage;” there were the steps of the state capitol during a public rally.
* You don’t know whether any of the event’s organizers had a problem with the sign. I was there, and the guy was standing off to one side, so I doubt that most of the speakers even saw the sign. It was a hectic rally with hundreds of participants and many scores of signs.
* Again, how many leftist rallies have featured signs likening Bush to a Nazi?
* I am not right wing, but if you want to criticize my “fellow rightie bloggers,” please provide the links and the context, and then we’ll talk.
* Nobody blamed “Colorado’s budget crisis on ‘dildo art.'” If anybody cares to read what the relevant paper actually says, have at it.
* To my knowledge, nobody has provided any evidence that the rallier with the sign was a plant, and, absent such evidence, such claims should be ignored.
* I didn’t expect anything other than for the likes of the cowardly, dishonest, anonymous poster to suggest that there are two sets of rules, one for left-wingers and a different set for everybody else.
* So is Huttner going to apologize for the remarks on his own web page doing the exact same thing that the guy with the sign was doing — i.e., calling his opponents fascists or Nazis?