Max Blumenthal's deceitful blogging

An intentionally misleading comment by Max Blumenthal in a piece from HuffingtonPost has spawned a new carnival game: Find the Denunciation. It's a guessing game with a twist: the questions are all trick questions! ( I found the story on Yahoo!News) Let's look in on a carnival barker on the midway now:


Carnie: Step right up, folks! Try your luck at Find the Denunciation! C'mon, folks! Three tries for a buck!
Hey there, sir- take a shot at winning a prize for the little lady! Step right up! Three tries for a buck!

Ahh, we have contestant! Here you go, sir- see if you can spot the "Muslim community's fiercest denunciations of the (London) attacks":

“Some people will try to instigate anger against
Muslims and try to blame us for what happened,” Mohamed Sawalha,
who gave the sermon at Friday prayers at London’s Finsbury Park mosque,
told hundreds of worshippers. "These acts were aimed at destroying the
work of Muslims and Muslim groups in Britain. We want to integrate with the (British) community, and not to live like foreigners.”

Man: Ummm, let's see... Is it "these acts were aimed at destroying the work of Muslims"?

Carnie: No sir! That is not the denunciation! You have two more tries, sir; take another shot!

Faith leaders who met British Home Secretary Charles Clarke on Friday called for a calm response to Thursday’s attacks...

Man: Umm-Oh, oh! I see it! Is it the Muslim leader's call for a calm response by Great Britain ?

Carnie: Oh, I'm sorry sir- that's not it either. One more chance to win your gal a giant stuffed gorrilla! Now look carefully, sir. Take your time...see if you can Find the Denunciation! Here you go:

The Islamic Human Rights Commission warned London Muslims to stay at
home because of fears of retaliation. “The whole world now will point at me and say I am an Arab and Muslim terrorist,” said Zakaria Koubissi,
a 29-year-old manager of a Lebanese restaurant. “We expect to be harassed. It is a natural reaction.”

Man: Ummmm, let me think... No, that's not it...

Despite the appeal for solidarity from moderate Muslims, Hizb ut-Tahrir Britain,
a radical Muslim group dedicated to building an Islamic caliphate worldwide,
said it would continue to speak out against the West. “Speaking the truth about the colonization of the Muslim world and the killing, murder and rape of our Ummah (nation) by Western governments is (one) of the highest obligations,” the group said in a leaflet distributed among worshippers.

Man: Oooh, that might be it! Oh, wait a minute, it's supposed to be denunciation of the attacks...let's see...

“This was the last Western country that had great respect for Arabs and Muslims,” said Ehab Maged, a 30-year-old Egyptian travel agent. “Now no one knows what will happen.”
But Laith al-Taei, an Iraqi who owns a coffee shop near Edgware Road’s underground station disagreed. “You kill a snake by chopping its head off, not by hitting the tail,” he said. “The head of terrorism is not (al-Qaida chief) Osama bin Laden, but it is America and Britain’s policies against Arabs and Muslims. Change them: Terrorism will end.”


Man: Umm...it's..ah.. Well, it could be...um...it's.... Oh- I give up! I can't spot any denuncation. At least not any fierce denunciation. I give up.

Carnie: Well, how about you, little lady? Would you like to use your man's last chance for a prize?

Wife: Sure! Why not- he already paid. Now, let me look at that MSNBC news article that Blumenthal linked to... Ah hah! I got it! This is Max Blumenthal, right? The leftist lad who writes for The Nation and other liberal outlets, right?

Carnie (with sheepish smirk): That's right, madam...

Wife: I've got it! Blumenthal's claim about the "fiercest denunciations of the attacks" is a trick! It's either a fierce justification of the attacks, or it's a fierce denunciation of America and Britain, right?!

Carnie: We have a winner here! Go ahead, young lady, and pick a prize; any doll on the top row! Very perceptive, ma'am. Who's next? Step right up!

(Husband slaps his forehead, says to wife: "Of course! Great job, honey. I shoulda thought: Max Blumenthal is such a liberal Blame-America-First jackass that I should've guessed he'd be incapable of reading the story accurately. In fact, he got it exactly backwards! My bad!" And they wander down the midway to see the latest freak show, Howard Dean: half-man/half-wild donkey.)

Brad