Progressive New Media's Yellow Journalism on Prosser

By now you’ve probably heard about the curious case of Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley. If you haven’t, here’s the quick version (from WisconsinWatch.org):

Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice David Prosser allegedly grabbed fellow Justice Ann Walsh Bradley around the neck in an argument in her chambers last week, according to at least three knowledgeable sources. But other sources have offered a conflicting account, and Prosser on Saturday declared that the claims, once investigated, will be “proven false.”

It’s been asked whether the reporting of the incident, which happened on June 13th but didn’t get widely reported until a week later, was a hit job. Right now we don’t know what happened and the matter is being investigated by police (via ChicagoTribune.com):

Dane County Sheriff David Mahoney said his office has opened an investigation into the incident at the request of Capitol Police Chief Charles Tubbs, whose agency had original jurisdiction because the argument allegedly took place in the Capitol building.

The same article reports that there’s an investigation being conducted by Wisconsin’s judicial commission. So we’re going to get to the bottom of this eventually.

This hasn’t stopped the professional smear merchants from pushing their version of events, though. The Left’s propaganda factories are in full swing. ThinkProgress was already providing guidance on how Prosser could be removed from the bench and Media Matters Senior Fellow Eric Boehlert is attacking media figures who aren’t buying Bradley’s version of events.

Naturally, this prompts the lesser-known propagandists to start their speculative articles. The consistently wrong Karoli from CrooksandLiars.com felt the need to weigh in. Using the same “investigative skills” which led her to conclude that there could only be one Scott Baker in the US, she offers up some ironclad analysis as to how Prosser couldn’t possibly be telling the truth:

In the very best case, they appear to be of similar height. I have tried to imagine a scenario where his hands simply “made contact with her neck” and can’t quite get there. If he was defending himself from a charge, wouldn’t he just block her, or step out of the way?

Oh, well then. No need to have an investigation, folks! Karoli has spoken. There’s no way Prosser’s hands could have wound up on Bradley’s neck. Karoli can’t imagine it therefore it couldn’t have happened. And to bolster her case – that Prosser must have really choked Bradley – she offers up some damning evidence:

Anyone who has had any experience with a physically abusive person knows these kinds of stories well. They’re the stories that go like this: “I wouldn’t have had to beat you to a pulp if you had just done [fill in the blank].” Or, “I wouldn’t have had to rape you if you’d just dressed more modestly.” These are the excuses of one who blames everyone for their own destructive acts. I might have been more willing to give Prosser the benefit of the doubt if he hadn’t, in two separate statements dealing with two separate issues, spoken the language of a serial abuser and bully.

There’s a record with this guy. A long one, evidently. Not only isn’t this the first time he’s “overreacted”, but it happens to be with these two justices — Abrahamson and Bradley. In February, Bradley sent an email to the entire court, concerning his ‘bursts of anger’ and abusive attitude toward women on the court. And let’s look more carefully at what he said after confirming that he did have a temper fit and call Justice Abrahamson a bitch.

You see? Prosser must have grabbed a fellow judge because – gasp! – he once called another judge the b-word! Not only that, calling the other judge a bitch is proof that Prosser is a “serial abuser.” It’s all so typical – again, according to the woman who thought there was only one Scott Baker in the United States and who has yet to retract her insane article alleging Andrew Breitbart planted those sick-note-writing doctors in Madison during the teacher’s union protests.

When the police and the judicial commission come out with their findings, we’ll see who is right. Judging from their track record, the folks at ThinkProgress, Media Matters, and Crooks and Liars will probably owe some corrections. Which means, judging from their track records, they’ll simply move on to a new smear and pretend they didn’t write anything about this current situation.

Stay tuned.