Free Republic Rocks Nancy Pelosi's World With Scoop on Threat to 9/11 Mosque Opponents

Wednesday, August 18, 2010 | Kristinn

Posted on Thursday, August 19, 2010 10:44:12 AM by kristinn

Free Republic rocked Speaker Nancy Pelosi's (D-CA) world by breaking the story about her menacing comments calling for the investigation of critics of the location of the Cordoba House mosque planned for the neighborhood of the World Trade Center site of the September 11, 2001, terror attacks on New York City.

Two San Francisco media outlets reported on Pelosi's press conference where she made the remarks, but neither one saw fit to report them. Fortunately one of those outlets, KCBS, posted an audio recording. The other, the San Francisco Chronicle, posted a video that had bad audio rendering the menacing comments inaudible.

I had posted the Chronicle article which highlighted Pelosi appearing to dodge the issue by saying it was a local zoning issue for New Yorkers to decide. Afterward I found the audio file at KCBS and listened to it. When I heard Pelosi say the things that weren't being reported I knew this was something that was potentially explosive. So I transcribed the relevant parts, wrote up an article and posted it to Free Republic at 10:21 p.m. EDT.

Soon after the Washington Times picked up the story and from there it went to Twitter and then to other sites like Atlas Shrugged and Breitbart.

The story percolated over night in the blogosphere and on Twitter until the Washington Times report hit the Drudge Report--first as a headline and then as the lead story with a banner headline and a photo of Pelosi that stayed up most of the day.

Pelosi's threat was reported by the major political sites like The Hill, The Washington Examiner and Politico, as well as NRO, Hot Air and Powerline. The story also dominated talk radio shows including Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck.

By early afternoon when Pelosi issued a clarifying statement that reiterated her call to investigate the mosque critics, it was too late to soften the blowblack.

That didn't stop the mainstream media from trying. The AP, AFP, the Washington Post and other mainstream media wrote their first articles about Pelosi's comments after she released her clarification. What was missing from most of the articles though was reactions from 9/11 families and others to Pelosi's threats.

An exception was WCBS in New York which posted a story with the scathing headline: 9/11 Families: Pelosi Has Lost Her Mind.

The Hill was nearly alone in reporting on Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) response calling Pelosi's comments a threat to 9/11 families.

The Hill was also virtually alone in reporting Rep. Dan Lundgren's (R-CA) rebuke of Pelosi.

Thanks to Free Republic, millions of Americans became aware today of Pelosi's totalitarian threat to investigate them and put her on the defensive.

I've posted this not to pat myself on the back or to get attaboys, but to show how valuable is Free Republic. Without a Freeper taking the time to dig a little deeper in the story, Pelosi most likely would have gotten away with her threat.

Other Freepers, like Buckhead and icwhatudo to name two, have profoundly affected the national political landscape with their posts on Free Republic.

As we approach the critical November elections, vigilant resourceful Freepers will be needed now more than ever to root out what the politicians and the mainstream media don't want us to know.