Adam Shriver of STL Activist Hub reports that KMOV's Mark Schnyder was falsely peddling Dana Loesch's talking points about the Carnahan's firebombing.
Mark Schnyder at KMOV is extremely confused. He can't seem to figure out how Congressman Carnahan feels about having his office firebombed. Schnyder wrote that he shockingly got "weird vibes" from Carnahan's staff the day after someone tried to burn their office down: When I went by the building this morning I got a weird vibe. I saw a campaign worker coming out of the back of the office with big Bread Company to-go bags. I jokingly said, "Are you with Bread Company or the Carnahan campaign?" He said, "Bread Company," then tossed the bags in the dumpster and went to the front of the building, presumably back in the office. Weird.
(I talked to a reporter at another station who worked on this story who told me when she was there, she met a campaign worker outside the building who also denied being associated with the campaign. When she went inside to talk to a spokesperson, she saw that person who denied being with the campaign IN Carnahan's office.)
OK, so someone acted "weird," the day after arson was attempted. Big deal. And as for his story from "a reporter at another station," I sincerely hope he's not basing his claim that she was speaking to "a campaign worker" only on the fact that they saw the person inside the building later. There are millions of possible explanations for why someone who doesn't work for the campaign could be in the office.
This story is already fueling conspiracies by the usual wingnuts. Jim Durbin wrote that Carnahan's staff, "did take out a bunch of documents hidden in St Louis Bread Company bags to the dumpster. " Durbin also curiously sent someone over to take photos of the office to take photos. Hmmm, wonder if they were planning on doing any dumpster diving while they were there? Keep in mind that Durbin is the conspiracy theorist who claimed that ACORN is housed in Carnahan's office, a theory still believed by the tea party's other "expert" on this case, Jim Hoft. Yesterday, Hoft said that "inside sources" told him that it was a burglary. Later, his "inside sources" completely changed their story to arson, naturally without any explanation or correction from Hoft. Nice that Schynder is so willingly adding fuel to the conspiracy theorists' fire.
But Schnyder's later comments were even more strange: Meantime, opponent Ed Martin wasted no time condemning the action on his campaign website. He agreed to an interview outside his headquarters, too...He says there are lots of things to disagree on as far as the campaigns are concerned, but he says there's no place for violence.
Weird how the Carnahan campaign couldn't or wouldn't put similar words together.
Huh? As one commenter put it: What kind of "comment" were you looking for, anyway? "Well, it sucks that someone tried to burn our office down, and violence is wrong"? Duh!
Yup, it's pretty obvious to thinking humans that Carnahan and his staff are not happy about having someone try to burn down their campaign office. They did issue a statement after the event happened, and it's not clear what else Schynder expects from them. Does he want them to rush to judgment, like the tea party no doubt would, and start publicly blaming people even though the police investigation has thus far not been conclusive? Does he want them to cry on camera and say how scared they are for their lives, thus giving the arsonist satisfaction? Their office was firebombed. They feel like crap. Give them a break, dude.
http://stlactivisthub.blogspot.com/2010/08/kmov-is-confused.htmlThen there is Dana Loesch making up her phony claims out of thin air about the prosecutor lets the firebombing suspect go.
Um, dude?
Police have released a man taken into custody Tuesday in connection with a firebombing at the campaign office of U.S. Rep. Russ Carnahan.
The man, whose name was not made public, was let go after the prosecutor’s office declined to immediately issue charges. The case was “taken under advisement” by the prosecutor, a step that can mean more evidence is needed before a case can be made.
Does reporter Jake Wagman know what a “firebomb” is? From what I’ve seen of the carefully controlled photos in circulation, this looks nothing like the damage caused by such incendiary devices.
Jim Hoft has more.
Then there’s this report from KMOV Channel 4 reporter Mark Schnyder:
Russ Carnahan may be a bad congressman, but he’s our bad congressman and if someone is bombing offices of elected officials in St. Louis then I want to see a federal investigation and that person shipped off to jail. No joke. In fact, I think an investigation is warranted considering it’s a FEDERAL OFFENSE to do such a thing to the office of an elected official.
http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/2010/08/19/prosecutor-lets-carnahan-firebomb-suspect-go/
Then,
Daily RFT's Chad Garrison, a truthful man, has this:
Man Arrested for Firebombing Russ Carnahan's Campaign Office
 |
| Source: Carnahan Campaign |
| The firebombing left some papers charred but created no major damage. |
St. Louis police have arrested a 50-year-old white man in connection to the bizarre firebombing early yesterday of Congressman Russ Carnahan's campaign headquarters.
The incident occurred around 2:20 a.m. Tuesday. St. Louis police received a call moments later from someone who heard glass break and smelled smoke emanating from the building at 7000 S. Chippewa.
Police aren't releasing the man's name until charges are officially filed. No motive was given for the attack, though one could suspect that the perpetrator is not a fan of the congressman. Given what we know of him -- 50, white, angry -- he certainly fits the demographics of a Tea Party member.
Perhaps, he joined his fellow "patriots" earlier this year when they burned Carnahan's photo in effigy or placed a coffin on the sidewalk outside his home. On second thought, maybe he's not a Tea Party member. Firebombing your opponent's office seems a little too, um, sane for that group.
Angela Guyadeen, communications director for Carnahan's re-election campaign, issued a statement confirming yesterday's incident. "There is minor damage to the office and the campaign headquarters
remains open," said Guyadeen. "The St. Louis police and fire departments are
investigating."
http://blogs.riverfronttimes.com/dailyrft/2010/08/man_arrested_for_firebombing_russ_carnahans_campaign_office.php
Then here is KMOV's Mark Schnyder's take on this:
Campaigns react to Carnahan fire
by Mark Schnyder
KMOV.com
Posted on August 18, 2010 at 12:34 PM
Updated yesterday at 12:34 PM
I went to talk to people from both Congressional campaigns about Tuesday morning's fire in Russ Carnahan's office. Someone broke a window and tossed a burning object inside catching some of the office on fire but doing minimal damage to the building.
Hours later a company installed security cameras in the front and back of that building.
When I went by the building this morning I got a weird vibe. I saw a campaign worker coming out of the back of the office with big Bread Company to-go bags. I jokingly said, "Are you with Bread Company or the Carnahan campaign?" He said, "Bread Company," then tossed the bags in the dumpster and went to the front of the building, presumably back in the office. Weird.
(I talked to a reporter at another station who worked on this story who told me when she was there, she met a campaign worker outside the building who also denied being associated with the campaign. When she went inside to talk to a spokesperson, she saw that person who denied being with the campaign IN Carnahan's office.)
Then when I talked to a campaign spokesperson she refused to comment on anything beyond what police already told us. I tried to ask "What do you make of this?"... "How are workers and volunteers inside dealing with the fact their office was attacked?"... but Angela Guyadeen would have none of it. She wouldn't even tell me why she wouldn't answer these simple questions.
Meantime, opponent Ed Martin wasted no time condemning the action on his campaign website. He agreed to an interview outside his headquarters, too. He told me his campaign workers are careful. They're off busy Hampton Avenue where he says people drive by yelling nice things and not so nice things sometimes. He's had his big sign hit by a Dairy Queen Blizzard, but other than that nothing headline-grabbing like a burning object being tossed inside.
He says there are lots of things to disagree on as far as the campaigns are concerned, but he says there's no place for violence.
Weird how the Carnahan campaign couldn't or wouldn't put similar words together.
Mark Schnyder is a reporter at KMOV-TV. He can be reached at mschnyder@kmov.com.
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Campaigns-react-to-Carnahan-fire-100994029.html
It looks like KMOV's pandering to the teabaggers more and more.
