Last week, I detailed how WorldNetDaily has provided nothing but fawning coverage of the National Tea Party Covention, ignoring or whitewashing the numerous controversies surrounding it. WND's coverage of the convention itself followed that template.
Reporter Chelsea Schilling performed the service that was expected of her by writing near-stenographic accounts of speeches by WND editor Joseph Farah, ousted judge Roy Moore (a former WND columnist) and global warming denier Steve Milloy. A similarly fawning, stenographic account of Palin's speech carried no byline.
Schilling was silent, however, on one bit of actual news from the convention -- Tom Tancredo's insult of Obama voters as so stupid they "could not spell the word 'vote' or say it in English." WND offered a link to a Fox News blog post for that (which buried the statement), but even Fox News didn't mention Tancredo's subsequent call for a "civics literacy test" before being allowed to vote, which smacks of the now-outlawed literacy tests used in the Jim Crow South to keep blacks from voting. But then, Tancredo is a WND columnist, and the elitist belief that Obama voters are stupid and immature is accepted wisdom at WND.
Schilling also couldn't be bothered to write (or was prohibited from writing) about another controversy, even though she witnessed it. The Washington Independent's Dave Weigel detailed how Schilling asked Andrew Breitbart about his criticism of birtherism, and how Farah joined the argument to defend his birther activism.
Schilling did not write about the confrontation; instead, WND offered a link to a CBS News blog's partial summary of Weigel's post. Why didn't WND link directly to Weigel's account, even though it's the most complete version available? Perhaps because Farah hates Weigel and the Independent for reporting on the birther stuff -- i.e. Orly Taitz's shoddy lawyering -- that WND won't. Indeed, during his rant, Farah denounced the Independent as a "socialist newspaper" (even though it has no print version).
It may also be because the CBS summary leaves out the fact that Schilling was present for the entire incident, and Farah and WND are likely hoping that its readers won't click through to Weigel's account to read about the fullness of Farah's pettiness -- or wonder why Schilling isn't writing her own version of events.
One more note: Despite taking the anti-birther side in his argument with Farah, Breitbart has previously used his websites to promote birtherism.
Meanwhile, WND's readership reflects its skewed coverage -- as well as its long history of serving as Obama Hate Central. An opt-in poll asked, "Now that it has held its 1st national convention, what do you think of tea party movement?" The overwhelming response, with 58 percent as of this writing, is: "It's the best representation, now evident, of real America, in contrast to Team Obama's ruthless socialist takeover."