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GOP Shock Jock Goes Wild
My meeting with the infamous right-wing radio host John Ziegler.
During an otherwise ordinary day at the 2009 Conservative Political Action Convention, I had a run in with conservative radio talk show host John Ziegler. For the uninitiated, Ziegler is a talker memorably profiled by David Foster Wallace who, while not enjoying Limbaugh or Hannity levels of devotion, is a reasonably famous figure in the conservative media. Our confrontation is already infamous. Huffington Post’s Jason Linkins, Wonkette, and other bloggers seized on it for posts. Robert Stacy McCain, a former Washington Times writer drummed out of the Moonie paper partly because of my reporting on his white supremacist leanings, posted a barely comprehensible Youtube video.
Click below to watch the video.
Why the rage? Well, the roots of Ziegler’s fury lay in a series of reports I produced in 2006 about the factually challenged TV movie The Path To 9-11, in which I laid out the film’s ulterior right-wing agenda. (See here, here, here, and here for the full story). In early 2008, I received a series of emails from someone calling themselves “Konrad Ziegler.” “I am producing a documentary on how "The Path to 9/11" got essentially killed in 2006 and I am wondering if you would be willing to do an interview with me and take a victory lap for your role in helping to create that reality,” the mysterious filmmaker, “Konrad,” wrote me in an email. Given the unusually cryptic nature of his request, I declined to respond.
When the film Blocking The Path To 9-11 appeared, my suspicions were confirmed—“Konrad” was actually John Ziegler. Variety panned Ziegler’s documentary, calling it “tedious.”
Which leads us to the encounter with Ziegler in the lobby of the Omni Shoreham. When I brought up our shared history, Ziegler exploded, inexplicably accusing me of “hurt[ing] poor children, most of whom were black.” See his histrionics for yourself.
Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast and writing fellow at The Nation Institute, whose book, Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books), is forthcoming in Spring 2009. Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
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Max Blumenthal is a senior writer for The Daily Beast, writing fellow at The Nation Institute and author of Republican Gomorrah (Basic/Nation Books). Contact him at maxblumenthal3000@yahoo.com.
xbainx
No really. Tell me more about the balls.
breh03
Interesting interview...just stopping bobbin' your head when interviewing fake, wannabe GOP rappers....I needed a shower after watching that one!
gandolf
As usual, Max's "reporting" is pathetic. He is a living satire on top of a parody of closed-minded bias.
YogiBarrister
Come on Max! If we wanted to see angry rightwing douchebags becoming unglued on camera we'd watch Fox News.
pricklypear
MAX, FETCH THE AX. FERGIT THE FAX. AN' GRAND. ..THAT ....AX!
thenanyu
You have no balls Max. No. Balls. None. Zilch. Nothin' there. Just an empty sack. With no balls. That was sphereless reporting.
happy1ga
Oh my! Why would anyone post that? I can't believe a man would post a video clip making himself look so sissy. Yikes, but that was painful to watch! "You used another name when you e-mailed meeeee!" Whine, bitch, and moan. Not really sure why that would matter, anyway. I don't know the story, (or care!), but it looked like that Konrad, or John dude, whatever his name is, was pretty patient. He kept standing there and talking. I would have decked the crap out of someone doing that in a hotel, to me, after about the third whine.
pewddd
Is this Konrad Zeigler guy one of those "teabaggers" that I keep hearing about?
This comment has been removed by The Daily Beast's editors.
martintoconnell
Name calling is the hallmark of the right wing. It is politics at a schoolyard level, where the greatest triumph is to yell We Won!, regardless of reality. Substance to insult ratio is vanishingly small. Max, you did an excellent job of maintaining your composure. You are a calmer person than I am. And I think it took tremendous guts to go behind the lines. Keep up the good work.
Joanne38
"WE WON" will be over soon. You can only use that title for three years and three months more and then, you liberal scumbags can either find an honest job, or get the hell out of dodge. You are nauseating at this point. Max couldn't hold a candle to John. It actually looked like Max the sissy was pi$$ing in his pants.
XTXNXOX
Rodzilla, or should I say Hicaliber?
I don't get the sense that Mr. Blumenthal is making a big deal out of Mr. Ziegler using a transparent ploy to get an interview. I think he just finds it funny. And, so do I.
Regarding your music... your rhymes have some flow to them but I find the style to be somewhat derivative.
XTXNXOX
gregm91436
The children, the children! Won't somebody *PLEASE* think of the children?
Oh God. Who are these delusional freaks who think Ziegler won that exchange? He's a LOON. Man, Max, you must have a strong stomach to wade into these people.
And Max, your comic timing is superb.
Ziegler: "The CHILDREN!!--
Max: "--are dead."
chuckmccoydotcom
Such right wing anger. Way to Max. Ziegler needs to be on his meds. Being a Ann Coulter wannabee is no way to go through life. Yelling and screaming at anyone you don't like - Stephanie Miller's right - 5th grade mentality.
daddyd
Ha ha ha, how funny is this?? This Zeigler moron created a bunch of fake accounts and left all of these comments!!! Ha ha ha ha what a loser!! Ever see him on that dating show he was on??? Pathetic.
ocinemod
That was splendid. To let whateverhisname blow out his piehole as long and patiently as you did is remarkable. Hilarious.
(btw, 'Konrad' is way wrong about your shortcomings in the sack department. More, more.)
Thank you.
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