Thursday, February 24, 2011

Ian Murphy: Prank Call to Scott Walker

Liberal blogger Ian Murphy should not be considered a hero by anyone.

He's an unethical liar.

He labels his positions as "extreme left wing." No surprise there.

It's also no surprise that Dems and the liberal propagandists at MSNBC are embracing Murphy.

Making a prank call isn't a good thing.

Why elevate Murphy to hero status?

Good grief, how twisted!

From the Washington Post:

Meet Ian Murphy, 33, of Buffalo, who writes for a site called BuffaloBeast.com and on Tuesday purported to be conservative activist David Koch in an effort to provoke Walker into making embarrassing remarks.

Murphy, who describes his politics as "extreme left wing," said in an interview that he was stunned at how easily he was patched through to Walker. Initially, he said he was connected to an administrative assistant, who then connected him with another senior aide, who arranged a time Tuesday afternoon for the conversation.

"I joked with [the aide] that my maid Maria threw my phone in the washing machine, and that I'd have her deported but she works for almost nothing," Murphy said. "So I told them it wasn't really possible for them to call me back and I better call him."

"I thought it was so ridiculous, and there was no way I would get through," he said. But when he called back at the appointed time, "I got right through to Governor Walker."

Murphy said he conducted the interview from his house that he said he shares with his girlfriend and a roommate, using Skype to record it.

Murphy said he was acting alone in plotting the prank. He said he initially thought about calling in as former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, to wish Walker well, but after reviewing YouTube videos, he decided he could not master the accent.

Wisconsin Dems are trying to exploit Murphy's stunt to attack Walker, but Walker said nothing embarrassing.

Did Murphy master David Koch's speaking voice?

I doubt it.

I guess Scott Walker isn't too familar with Koch's voice or style of speaking. If Walker is as personally chummy with Koch as Dems make him out to be, I don't think Murphy would have been able to fool Walker.

The call reveals two things:

1. Ian Murphy is an unethical jerk.

2. Scott Walker's public statements are the same as his private ones.

______________

Statement from the Society of Professional Journalists (aka not MSNBC employees):
The Society of Professional Journalists, through its Ethics Committee, strongly condemns the actions of an alternative online outlet this week when an editor lied and posed as a financial backer in a recorded phone call with Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.

...“This tactic and the deception used to gain this information violate the highest levels of journalism ethics,” said SPJ Ethics Committee Chairman Kevin Z. Smith. “To lie to a source about your identity and then to bait that source into making comments that are inflammatory is inexcusable and has no place in journalism.”

2 comments:

Susan M. Castro said...

I am sure that if a Republican had pulled a prank like Ian Murhpy, the Dems would be outraged, calling it undermining and a ploy of trickery! Of course, non of the unethical behavior by the teachers or protesters is even being mentioned! Scott Walker is doing what the people elected him to do. Please also remember, this protest was not organized as a grass roots effort built in Wisconsin, it came from the DNC in Washington, supported by Obama and many of the protestors are not even from Wisconsin. This protest is not reflective of Wisconsin residents! It is not reflective of the majority that voted for Walker. And he will stand strong and he will support this budget repair bill to the end! Let's stay on the topic and avoid the smoke and mirrors the democrats use to mmislead the public!

Mary said...

Definitely. If a Republican did what liar Ian Murphy did, the mainstream media would be focusing on the ethics. There would probably be lengthy, serious discussions about the tone and tactics of politics in the nation.

That, of course, is assuming that the media would even report the story.

My guess is if a Dem were in Walker's position, the story would be ignored, just like all the others the lib media pretend not to see.