Reporter Fired Over Voicemail For GOP MI Senate Candidate: ‘F**king John James!’
“Man, if he beats her [incumbent Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow]… Jesus! F***ing John James. That would suck!
The Huron Daily Tribune fired reporter Brenda Battel after she accidentally left an insulting voicemail for Michigan Republican Senate candidate John James. From The Daily Caller:
“Man, if he beats her [incumbent Democrat Sen. Debbie Stabenow]… Jesus! F***ing John James. That would suck! Whew, I don’t think it’s going to happen though,” Battel continued.
This is the professional voicemail she left before her rant:
In the audio of Battel’s voicemail, first obtained by The Daily Caller News Foundation, Battel could be heard saying: “Hi, my name is Brenda Battel, I’m a reporter with the Huron Daily Tribune in Bad Axe, Michigan.”
“I’m looking to set up an appointment with Mr. James for some time on Wednesday for a phone interview regarding the election results,” Battel continued. “I’m probably going to send an email over to the [email protected] with some details. Um, if you’d like to call me back, my number is … extension … Thank you.”
She tried to hang up, but the phone did not disconnect.
The Huron Daily Tribune fired Battel and left this statement:
“I have listened to the voicemail left by Brenda Battel to Mr. James’ campaign, and find no reason to defend this behavior,” said Kate Hessling, editor of the Huron Daily Tribune. “Brenda Battel’s employment has been immediately terminated.
“The Huron Daily Tribune sincerely apologizes to Mr. James and to the public. These statements do not represent the views of the Tribune as a whole, nor do they reflect the actions of a responsible journalist.”
This is what James’s campaign manager said about the incident:
“It shows you that some media will do anything to keep the status quo and career politicians in power,” campaign manager Tori Sachs said Monday. “The liberal media can’t stand the idea of a job creator and combat veteran coming to Washington to shake up the system. This happened as we closed in within the margin of error.”
Stabenow has served as senator since 2001. James’s chances of unseating her have been low, but he has gained on her these past few weeks. Fox News reported that Stabenow led James by 23 points in September in an EPIC-MRA POLL.
In October, that lead shrunk to only 7 points.
RealClearPolitics has Stabenow with an 8.3% lead. A Mitchell Research Communications poll from Monday showed 49% of the respondents preferred Stabenow while 46% chose James.
Sachs is confident in James and other polls back up that confidence:
“John James is giving 43-year politician Debbie Stabenow the fight of her political life, and there’s zero question she’ll be running scared these final days,” Tori Sachs, James’ campaign manager, told Fox News in a statement. Battel did not immediately respond to Fox News for comment.
The latest Change Research poll claims Stabenow is leading the race by mere 2 points and is losing support among Independents.
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Comments
I’ll bet this phone message was not the only reason this reporter was fired.
Battel’s obviously a racist of the worst kind.
She is very likely a card carrying racist Democrat. That part of Michigan is very Liberal and very, shall we say, homogeneous. Mr. James has refused to run as a black man. On the stump he says that he’s red, white and blue.
John James. What’s not to like about a guy who says,
“I’m a West Point grad & Iraq vet w/ 2 masters
My dad: Vietnam vet & entrepreneur
His dad: mason
His dad: sharecropper
His dad: slave.
Mooching? My family never asked for free stuff, just a fair shot. We
can’t allow the American Dream to be crushed by you, @Stabenow & Socialism”
Only in her dreams could Battel have the depth of character as that of John James.
I can’t imagine better conservative candidates than John James and Martha McSally. Two decorated military officers with distinguished service to our country. We need to back them up and support them regardless of whatever kind of crap the Democrats throw at them. I hope both of them blow their opponents out of the water.
I could trot out a similar pedigree, sinde once my great great grandfather landed on this continent he started as a janitor.
My great great grandfather wasn’t Columbus or Amerigo Vespucci or Vespasian.
The phone doesn’t disconnect. I wonder if Battel made the call from her desk at work, and if she did, she was obviously talking to one of her colleagues.
Birds of a feather …..
Good. Its one thing to be an obvious opinion writer, to have an opinion. Its entirely wrong for someone claiming to be a reporter (job requires active objectivity and neutrality) to express an opinion such as this. Being neutral means understanding your own biases and actively subduing them to be a fair and equal reporter.
Man, what a night if both Stabenow and McCaskill bite the dust.
Voted today for John James (and all the other republicans) and got my son out to vote for the first time. Now time will tell if he can pull it out.
I want a John James yard sign for my barn wall.
Ooh!! Wife just ordered one for me. Probabley would have helped if she did it last week.
Brenda was stupid. She got caught. Her “apology” showed remorse for getting caught, not for thinking what she thought and saying what she said.
TYPICAL!