Peter Schorsch
“SMEAR JOB,” the tweet blares in all caps.
“Journalism is dead,” it adds, blasting former Florida Politics correspondent Ana Ceballos, now the Tallahassee-based reporter for the Naples Daily News.
The David Horowitz Freedom Center went on the attack this week over her “partisan hit piece” on Congressman and Republican candidate for Governor Ron DeSantis.
That article noted DeSantis “accepted a paid trip to attend a conference featuring speakers who have defended a candidate accused of child molestation, suggested killing Muslims and argued that women are less likely to be in leadership roles because of ‘biological causes.’ ”
The event was organized by — you guessed it — the David Horowitz Freedom Center, “established by right-wing provocateur David Horowitz.”
He “picked up the $1,218 tab for the three-term congressman’s two-night stay at a luxury beachfront hotel in Palm Beach last November, according to financial disclosure forms. DeSantis, a Palm Coast Republican, was invited to speak on national security issues,” the story said.
Horowitz is a refugee of the leftist 1960s, taking to the far-right in the 1980s, when he founded the Center for the Study of Popular Culture in Los Angeles, later rebranded as the David Horowitz Freedom Center.
It “sees its role as that of a battle tank, geared to fight a war that many still don’t recognize,” its website says. “Since its founding in 1988, the Center has been warning that the political left has declared war on America and its constitutional system, and is willing to collaborate with America’s enemies abroad and criminals at home to bring America down.”
Ceballos declined to comment. Here’s the news release the center tweeted out on the “vile and shoddy” story, oh my, misspelling her first name:
We’ll just note, among other things, the news release says she wrote that DeSantis himself “suggested killing Muslims,” when the story doesn’t say that.
Otherwise, we’ll let Mr. Horowitz and/or his minions hoist themselves on their own petard.
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Our statement on the SMEAR JOB by @anaceballos_ and @ndn on Congressman DeSantis and the Horowitz Freedom Center.
Journalism is dead and Ana is one of the most prominent examples of that.#FAKENEWS pic.twitter.com/ODBgX0UTX4
— Horowitz Center (@HorowitzCenter) June 27, 2018
