Gore Response to Masseuse Story: Enquirer Did Not Pay Massage Therapist

The Washington Post is now reporting the Al Gore-Redheaded Masseuse story.  Amazingly, they track how the National Enquirer report relied "heavily" on the documents behind the accusation, and point out the care taken before letting the story go to press. Added: Audio of Red-headed masseuse telling her story below. Update 7-1-10: See new charges and new evidence, along with Portland Police re-opening the case.  Update: August 1, 2010: Whatever acts of sexual harassment Al Gore committed, they are not "appropriate for criminal prosecution," according to ABC News. See more below.

Al Gore

The most powerful part of the story, if true - and this is coming from the Washington Post, not the Enquirer, is:

According to a source friendly with the Gores, Al Gore confirmed that he received a therapeutic massage in his hotel room that night, and likely from the therapist making the accusation. But, the source said, Gore remembers getting a massage without incident and the therapist leaving on good terms.

When an accused person indicates they remember the incident differently, they're lying. He obviously remembers this particular massage therapist, this particular night in this particular hotel.

Yes, Gore remembers it well, and not in hindsight. His attorneys have been trying to keep it under the rug since 2007, once again in 2008 - and used not-so-subtle threats when talking to the Portland Tribune:

Gore's lawyers wrote: "You. . . . are aware that everyone who knows Al and Tipper Gore well can and does attest to the integrity of their 37 year marriage and to his honorable character. [The Gore's recently separated]

Leaving the room on "good terms" that night- apparently worked for him, but not for the woman sent to the room of Mr. Stone.

The article makes it clear that the National Enquirer did not pay for any portion of the story. The Portland, Oregon masseuse's attorney asked for money, but got none. For background on this story, read this. Thanks to The Lonely Conservative for the audio below. Don't listen to it with your children nearby.

The "Red-headed Masseuse Talking About Al Gore - The Crazed Sex Poodle (video)

Update August 1, 2010:
More from ABC News:

 Rees noted that Hagerty sold her story to the National Enquirer, failed a polygraph test, thanked the hotel management two days after the alleged incident for sending business her way and "has not provided as repeatedly requested medical records she claims are related to the case."

Rees concludes, "This case is not appropriate for criminal prosecution. The matter is closed and the investigative materials will be returned to PPB [the Portland Police Bureau]."

Ruth Marcus Doesn't Get Republicans: O'Reilly Clears Up the Pelosi Jail Sentence

I have sent three emails to Bill O'Reilly, one to Fox and Friends, two to Rush, one to Megyn Kelly, one to Neal Cavuto and two to Tom Coburn. I think I caught O'Reilly's attention. The issue: Oklahoma Senator Tom Coburn's treatment of a constituent who asked about a jail sentence for noncompliance with the health care mandates. Then, Ruth Marcus, writing at the Washington Post just had to point out that something "weird" is going on in the Republican party. I think I can explain it to her. Readers, I know this is my fourth post on Coburn's townhall. I can't help myself.

 Bill O'Reilly

Coburn told the woman it was not the intention to put anyone in jail. And he indicated that she got her erroneous information from watching Fox News. He went on to call Nancy Pelosi a "nice lady," and when the townhall crowd groaned, he lectured them again, and again blamed it on watching Fox. He also had the audacity to ask the crowd - after the groans - if they knew her, or had met her? Well, of course they did not, or most did not. We don't live and hang on Capitol Hill. We are not quite in the Senator's league. The question was disingenuous.

What he didn't say, but should have said, is this:

The House of Representatives put a prison penalty in their bill. The Senate took it out. Nancy Pelosi tried to impose a prison penalty, but the Senate denied it.

Now that's the truth. Instead, he left everyone thinking the Oklahoma woman was just a sucker for Fox News and didn't know what she was talking about.

So, tonight on O'Reilly's Talking Points, he reported when and where the jail sentence was a part of proposed legislation. Now, both O'Reilly and Coburn know the truth. And now we can safely say that Nancy Pelosi is not such "a nice lady."

I hope Coburn is feeling a bit of shame for demeaning one of his voters. If you want to see the identifying parts of Pelosi's legislation with the prison sentence, you'll find it here.

Ruth Marcus

In the meantime, Ruth Marcus writing for The Washington Post believes "something weird" is going on in the Republican Party because Republican Senator Tom Coburn is getting some blowback about his remarks. I assure you, Ms. Marcus there is nothing weird about Republican's criticism of Coburn's rare, but not completely unusual, moment of arrogance.

Yes, Senator Coburn is very conservative. But what does that have to do with anything? Afterall, we are not Democrats. We do not march in lockstep. We are Republicans and we don't shy away from pointing out when one of our own, living in the rarified air of Washington, D.C., takes a moment to lift his chin and be obnoxious.

You, Ms. Marcus, point to Coburn's "moment of civility," but no...when you don't have the details, and your response is inadequate, and you intimate that your own consitutent just believes everything she hears, that's rude. It's not civil.

But when you say Coburn's answer was "accurate," a Democrat would see it that way. It's "accurate," but there's a backstory...an important backstory...that Senator Coburn should have known about. Afterall, his constituent knew it.

About Senator Jim Inhofe and Tom Coburn being "twins," you should know, Ruth, that Coburn and Inhofe are unlikely ideological twins. Inhofe is always conservative, Coburn is generally conservative. I often praise, applaud and honor Senator Coburn. I am a fan. I vote for him. I have every right to criticize him - and remember, I am not a Democrat blindly following rubes who think they are so totally incredible - like Al Gore, Charlie Rangel, Nancy Pelosi, and Maxine Waters.

Coburn and his wife are very friendly with Democrats, including the former Senator from Illinois, Barack and his wife Michelle. They have a "friendship." So maybe he has a similar "friendship" with Nancy and hubby, and perhaps spends some quality time at the vineyards. I don't know. I don't much care (I care a little, but...).

So the story isn't that there is something weird going on in the Republican party. The story is that Coburn was not well-informed and he was patronizing of his constituent, and he needn't judge Oklahomans for watching Fox. It's just not a good idea.

The first video below is O'Reilly's interview with Tom Coburn a couple of days ago, and at this time, neither of them knew there was a jail sentence at one time. Coburn is so lame in this video. The second video is of tonight's Talking Points, with O'Reilly explaining Pelosi's "jail sentence."

Bill O'Reilly and Tom Coburn (video)    O'Reilly Discusses Pelosi's Jail Sentence

WaPo Skews Joe Stack's Manifesto?

Clifton at Another Black Conservative catches WaPo's Jonathan Capehart doing some heavy-handed editing to Joseph Andrew Stack's suicide/rant/manifesto. Surprise, surprise, an omission here, an omission there, and a mad man's words just might make him appear to be a Tea Party enthusiast. And a  an unsuspecting reader might think Stack's politics were in line with Janet Napolitano's "far right wing extremists," like maybe, returning warriors and retired vets.

If you missed the big story of Joseph Andrew Stack flying his small plan into a 7-story office building in Austin, Texas this week, killing himself and one other, wounding many, while attempting to take down the IRS offices there, you can read that story here.

Here's what Jonathan Capehart said:

There's no information yet on whether he was involved in any anti-government groups or whether he was a lone wolf. But after reading his 34-paragraph screed, I am struck by how his alienation is similar to that we're hearing from the extreme elements of the Tea Party movement.

When you sit a a big important news desk, at an elite newspaper like the Washington Post, and you can't make the latest sensational story what you want it to be, what do you do? Well, maybe you leave out the inconvenient parts. That's what JonathanCapehart appears to have done in his reporting on the suicide pilot's last words.

Capehart kind/sorta covers himself by saying "here are excepts I was able to snag before the FBI took Stack's site down," but of course, the complete manifesto is all over the Internet. You can read it here. The text in green text below are quotes from Stack that Capehart omitted.

Stack seemed to be suicidal mainly because of the IRS. Everything led back to taxes. He was distressed that religious organizations get tax breaks not available to the individual taxpayer, and he called the Catholic Church "vulgar" and "corrupt," and he referred to "the monsters of organized religion," making a "mockery of people who earn an honest living." "The inquisition is still alive and well today in this country."

Stack railed about GM receiving government assistance, and Capehart printed that, but Stack's diatribe against health care was curiously omitted...because this is no Tea Party position:

Yet at the same time, the joke we call the American medical system, including the drug and insurance companies, are murdering tens of thousands of people a year and stealing from the corpses and victims they cripple, and this country’s leaders don’t see this as important as bailing out a few of their vile, rich cronies.  Yet, the political “representatives” (thieves, liars, and self-serving scumbags is far more accurate) have endless time to sit around for year after year and debate the state of the “terrible health care problem”.  It’s clear they see no crisis as long as the dead people don’t get in the way of their corporate profits rolling in.

Tea Partiers like their health insurance. They want government to stay the heck away from it until the critical issues can be fixed - like tort reform and buying private insurance in the open marketplace, or across state lines. Tea Partiers want to retain their choices and promote competition among private insurers - never government-directed insurers, and they want the lawsuit scams to stop for the good of physicians, hospitals and patients.

Capehart omits Stack's remarks on patriotism -  the "incredible stupidity of the American public; ...you know, all that "crap about their "freedom...." When was the last time you heard Tea Partiers characterize freedom as "crap?"

Capehart ignores that as an 18-year-old college student, Stack was broke...was living on peanut butter and bread (or Ritz crackers when I could afford to splurge). But most college students are broke, and by the time a student reaches his 50's, chances are it will be a fond memory, not a battlecry. At the time he was living off peanut butter and bread, Stack met an elderly widow, who's husband's pension was raided by management and unions. The widow ate "cat food" to survive! Stack decided at the tender age of 18 he would never trust "big business."

Tea Party afficianados don't hate big business, because they know from big business comes small business, the lifeblood of America, and they would likely wear their "broke" stories as a badge of honor.

Capehart skips over Stack's comments about having a new wife and "a boatload of undocumented income," which led to a newly hired, but dishonest accountant. Over and over, Stack talks about the government stealing from the middle class - but that is not a Tea Party position. Tea Partiers want everyone to pay their fair share and not one penny more - no matter how much you have, or do not have. Everyone should be vested in our country, and no one should be penalized because of what they have, or do not have.

Then Capehart skips over Stack's stark disdain of G.W. Bush:

The recent presidential puppet GW Bush and his cronies in their eight years certainly reinforced for all of us that this criticism rings equally true for all of the government.

And somewhere in this, Stack says "violence not only is the answer, it is the only answer." Again, not a Tea Party position, but it would be a position of CNN and the Huffington Post.

At the end of Stack's rant, he closed with these two quotes, both of which Capehart omitted.

The communist creed: From each according to his ability, to each according to his need.

The capitalist creed: From each according to his gullibility, to each according to his greed.

How can we ignore that the communist creed quoted by Stark sounds noble,  is intended to be a noble statement - but was left out of Capehart's analysis. Why? Because it is decidedly unAmerican, and decidedly unTeaParty-ish.

The capitalist "creed," however, accuses every American of gullibly serving up taxes to the tax masters, without knowing we are doing so, while others greedily feed out of our trough. Among those actually paying taxes, there is no gullibility, and that's why Tea Partiers want smaller government. But one thing you won't find among the general Tea Party population, is the mindset that violence is the only answer, including racking up a body count, his and those around him, or those who loved him, as the only way to make America set up and take notice. Both are a part of Stack's manifesto.

So what do you think? Could Capehart have actually not been able to "snag" enough of Stack's manifesto to point out the obvious, or did he just choose not to?  Visit Another Black Conservative and read his comments on Joseph Capehart's agenda.

Others talking about Jonathan Capehart:
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