The embattled Media Matters for America has not responded to a series of reports documenting the organization’s purported unusual tactics, including compiling a de facto enemies list; announcing an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel; and reportedly seeking to investigate the personal lives of targeted reporters and news personalities.

That information came amid reports White House staffers held regular meetings and even a weekly conference call with Media Matters.

The progressive media organization is usually rife with attack pieces on WND, Fox News and the Daily Caller. However, it hasn’t made a peep in response to the ongoing controversy being pursued by those news organizations.

A section at Media Matters’ main website entitled “Fox Attacks Media Matters” has not been updated since February 9, before the Daily Caller began releasing a series of investigative reports on Media Matters.

The Fox News Channel has since aired numerous segments on Media Matters, yet none of those segments were posted on Media Matters website, which has until now been regular practice.

Media Matters has also not responded to a series of investigative pieces produced by KleinOnline in recent days, including these revelations:

· One of the single largest donors to the embattled Media Matters for America is a controversial far-left clearinghouse that funds groups such as MoveOn.org, ACORN and a litany of anti-war organizations. The organization in question, the Tides Foundation, is funded in part by billionaire George Soros, himself a prominent Media Matters donor.

·        President Obama served eight years on the board of the Joyce Foundation, a charity that is a top donor to Media Matters.

·        Obama is also tied to numerous other top Media Matters donors and fundraisers, including a foundation run by the finance chairman of his 2008 presidential campaign, Penny Pritzker. The Pritzker Family Foundation donated a total of $400,000 to the progressive attack group in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

·        Another key funding tie for Media Matters is the Center for American Progress, led by John Podesta, who directed Obama’s White House transition team. Media Matters reportedly entered into a fundraising-sharing agreement with the Center for American Progress, an organization whopse extensive reports and research reportedly help to inform Obama administration policy.

·        A marketing outfit called the Herndon Alliance reportedly received a grant from the lobbying arm of Media Matters for America. Herndon reportedly helped the White House to craft and market Obamacare.

·        The Media Matters-funded Herndon Alliance recently recommended that  Obama make contraception a re-election issue after conducting polling with a George Soros-funded progressive group.

The end of Media Matters?  Obama reelection issue?

The controversy is prompting some to predict the demise of Media Matters, while others are speculating the matter could become a major reelection issue for Obama, whose aids reportedly met regularly with the anti-Fox News group.

After the Daily Caller revealed Media Matters took money to attack religious broadcasters,  Frank Wright , the president of the National Religious Broadcasters, said the progressive media attack group may be damaged beyond repair.

“I think you are seeing the beginning of the end of Media Matters,” Wright told The Christian Post.

Jeffrey Lord,, a former Reagan White House political director, speculated the Media Matters controversy could become Obama’s “Watergate.”

Writing at the American Spectator, Lord compared Watergate to the Media Matters controversy in specific ways:

* The use of private investigators to investigate the private lives of opponents.

• The involvement of White House aides, in this case the Media Matters meetings with Obama officials, including Valerie Jarrett and then-White House Communications Director Anita Dunn.

*The money trail from the White House supporters to Media Matters.

Liberal Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz took particular issue with Media Matters coverage of Israel, including rhetoric from Media Matters Action Network senior fellow M.J. Rosenberg, who is known for his extreme anti-Israel views.

Rosenberg has been pushing the phrase “Israel Firster,” implying those who support the Jewish state put Israel’s needs before those of the U.S.

Dershowitz predicted Media Matters could become the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of 2012 for the Obama campaign if the White House and the Democratic Party don’t distance themselves from the organization.  He also compared Rosenberg’s writings to rhetoric  found on neo-Nazi websites.

A consortium of progressive groups working with a marketing outfit that helped to sell Obamacare to the public recently recommended that President Obama’s make contraception into a reelection issue, KleinOnline has learned.

Billionaire George Soros is a primary funder to the groups in question.

The marketing outfit that coordinated the contraception campaign, the Herndon Alliance, received funds from the embattled Media Matters for America, which is also tied to the other progressive groups behind the contraception drive.

A national debate on contraception has been raging on Obama’s announced mandate to including birth control in healthcare coverage.

GOP candidate Rick Santorum responded by saying states should to have the right to outlaw the sale of contraception.

House Republicans drew fire when they invited a panel all men to debate the issue.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops also fueled the debate by going up against Obama on the contraception mandate.

In a Politico article yesterday entitled “2012: The year of ‘birth control moms’?” progressive strategist Celinda Lake was quoted as saying Obama’s stance on contraception is enough to “really irritate” independent suburban moms and “re-engage” young, single women who haven’t tuned into the campaign so far.

Lake said that she and other Democrats see the strong Republican opposition to contraception as a way to win women back after they swung right in 2010 even though they backed Obama in big numbers in 2008.

Politico also quoted Jennifer Lawless, director of the Women and Politics Institute at American University, as warning of a major female backlash if the Republicans overreach on contraception.

“If women feel they are being targeted again, that women’s health is on the line — that’s not an argument you want to make in an election year,” she said.

Dick Polman, a columnist for the Philadelphia Inquirer, wrote yesterday, “It’s hard to fathom why the Republicans would want to launch a sustained assault on birth control, align themselves with the most conservative voices in the Catholic Church, and thereby risk alienating women voters in November. But, hey, if that’s how they want to play it, Barack Obama is only too happy to reap the benefits.”

Unmasked: Progressives behind Obama’s contraception drive.

Lake, quoted by Politico, is no bystander on the contraception debate.

KleinOnline has found that she is one of the driving forces behind the progressive strategy to use contraception as an election issue as a way to turn women against the GOP.

Lake heads Lake Research, which ran extensive polling in an effort to gauge voters’ reactions to including birth control or contraception in insurance coverage this past November.

According to Lake’s website, the polling was done in conjunction with an organization called the Communications Consortium Media Center, or CCMC, and the Herndon Alliance marketing firm.

KleinOnline previously reported how the Herndon Alliance helped to market Obamacare, even providing suggestions on which words supporters should use to promote the bill.

As part of an in-depth investigative series on Media Matters for America, the Daily Caller revealed that the progressive media organization gave away $125,000 of its donors’ money to the Herndon Alliance.

That information came amid reports that White House staffers held regular meetings with Media Matters, which is under fire for unusual tactics, including compiling a de facto enemies list; announcing an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel; and reportedly seeking to investigate the personal lives of targeted reporters and news personalities.

Meanwhile, Lake’s research on voters attitudes on contraception found Catholic voters tend to mirror voters overall when it comes to reproductive healthcare services that the Affordable Care Act will cover.

Related Lake’s website: “Not only are Catholics favorable to including birth control or contraception in insurance coverage, these inclusions also make them more favorable toward the Affordable Care Act.”

“Moreover, a majority of Catholics say that the US Conference of Catholic Bishops’ criticism of the requirement to cover contraception and birth control with no co-pay or deductible makes no difference in how they view the Affordable Care Act.”

Lake also found affirmative reaction on the following issues, according to the Women Donors Network.

*Can communicating these new preventive health services to women boost public support for the Obama Administration’s premiere domestic policy initiative?

*What are communication strategies to shift the discussion on health care to a winning one for progressives?

The Women Donor Network noted the polling was funded by Lake and conducted by the CCMC and the Herndon Alliance.

CCMC says its work focuses on a cluster of issues, including “children and families, early education and child welfare reform, health care, women’s equality, reproductive rights, global population, the environment, voting, civil rights, and immigration.”

Soros is a primary donor to the CCMC via his Open Society Institute, according to documentation reviewed by KleinOnline.

The Open Society gave a $475,000 grant to fund the CCMC’s so-called Global Population Initiative, a 1998-2003 initiative which had the stated goal of increasing “media and public interest in world population, reproductive health, and women’s empowerment.”

Soros granted another $625,000 to the CCMC as part of the group’s Justice at Stake campaign.

Another $150,000 was provided to support the CCMC’s Coalition for a Fair and Independent Judiciary.

CCMS is also funded by the Fulfilling the Dream Fund, which is a project of the Public Interest Projects.

The Fulfilling the Dream Fund is itself funded by Soros’ Open Society Institute as well as by the Woods Funds.

From 1998 to 2002, Obama served as a paid director of the Woods Fund, where he served on the board alongside Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers, as KleinOnline was the first to report.

In 2010, the CCMC received a $25,00 grant from the Tides Foundation, which is the single biggest donor to Media Matters for America.

With research by Brenda J. Elliott

President Obama served for eight years on the board of a charity that is a top donor to the embattled Media Matters for America progressive activist organization.

Obama is also tied to numerous other top Media Matters donors and fundraisers, including a foundation run by the finance chair of his 2008 presidential campaign, KleinOnline has learned.

Last week, the Daily Caller released a list of grants to Media Matters. A KleinOnline review of the donor list found multiple deep ties to Obama.

The information comes amid reports that White House staffers held regular meetings with Media Matters, which is under fire for unusual tactics, including compiling a de facto enemies list; announcing an all-out campaign of “guerrilla warfare and sabotage” aimed at the Fox News Channel; and reportedly seeking to investigate the personal lives of targeted reporters and news personalities.

The Media Matters donor list included the Pritzker Family Foundation, which donated a total of $400,000 to the progressive attack group in 2007, 2008 and 2009.

The Pritzker family is most famous for owning the Hyatt hotel chain and is considered to be one of America’s wealthiest families.

The family foundation is directed by Penny Pritzker, who served as the national finance chair of Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign.

Penny Pritzker is currently a member of the Obama’s Economic Recovery Advisory Board which formulates and evaluates economic policy for the Obama Administration.

Another top donor to Media Matters, according to the released donor list, is the Joyce Foundation.  Obama served on the Joyce Foundation board from 1994-2002.

Joyce gave a $400,000 grant to Media Matters in 2010, purportedly “support a gun and public safety issue initiative.”

While Obama was on the Joyce Foundation board, the organization granted tens of millions of dollars to gun control organizations. Also numerous large grants were provided to a group called Leadership for Quality Education, which was run by John Ayers, the brother of Weatherman terrorist Bill Ayers.

Also while Obama was at Joyce, the foundation gave numerous grants to the Small Schools workshop at the University of Chicago which was founded by Bill Ayers and is run by avowed communist activist Mike Klonsky, who served with Ayers in the Students for a Democratic Society group.

Another key funding tie for Media Matters is the Center for American Progress led by John Podesta, who directed Obama’s transition team into the White House.

Media Matters reportedly entered into a fundraising-sharing agreement with the Center for American Progress, or CAP.

The CAP’s extensive reports and research reportedly help to inform Obama administration policy.

A Time magazine article profiles the influence of Podesta’s Center for American Progress in the formation of the Obama administration, stating that “not since the Heritage Foundation helped guide Ronald Reagan’s transition in 1981 has a single outside group held so much sway.”

The CAP has received large grants from the Tides Foundation, which, according to the published donor list, is the single largest donor to Media Matters, with over $4 million in donations to the progressive media attack group.

WND was first to report last week on the Tides’ donations to Media Matters

Media Matters tied to MoveOn.org, ACORN

Tides is a controversial far-left clearinghouse that funds groups such as MoveOn.org, ACORN and a litany of anti-war organizations.

The Tides Foundation is funded in part by billionaire George Soros, himself a prominent Media Matters donor via his Open Society Institute.

Tides functions as a money tunnel in which major leftist donors provide large sums that are channeled to hundreds of radical groups.

Tides documentation reviewed by WND shows the group provided a total of $4.1 million to Media Matters during the fiscal years of 2004-2009.

During that same time period, Tides provided an additional $110,000 to the Media Matters Action Network, the group’s affiliated progressive lobby.

The Tides Foundation funding to Media Matters was most significant during the progressive news organization’s startup year in 2004, when Tides granted it $2.2 million.

In 2005, Tides sent another $1.1 million to Media Matters.

The years 2006 and 2007 saw smaller Tides donations of $56,223 and $38,225 respectively.

In 2008, a significant Tides donation of $659,500 came in to Media Matters, with another $106,038 in 2009.

In 2010, the Tides Center expressed public support for Media Matters when the media group stepped up its activism against Fox News by posting a Web page dedicated to anti-Fox material along with an online petition that pressed Fox’s advertisers to “Drop Fox.” At the time, Tides chief executive and founder, Drummond Pike, endorsed Media Matters’ campaign.

Media Matters already admitted to taking $1 million directly from Soros. The billionaire has donated more than $7 million to Tides over the years.

Now the revelation of Tides donations to Media Matters may raise more questions about the partiality of media group. Tides is one of the biggest financial backers of progressive and radical left groups in the U.S.

For example, ides is a primary funder to the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now,or ACORN, and is closely tied to the group implicated in voter fraud. The Tides Center’s Board Chairman is Wade Rathke, ACORN’s founder and chief organizer.

Tides also is a primary funder to MoveOn.org, the American Civil Liberties Union, Campaign for America’s Future; the Center for American Progress; the Center for Community Change; the socialist-leaning Democracy Now!; the Marxist-founded Free Press; and Marxist-oriented Institute for Policy Studies.

Tides recently has been closely linked to Occupy since the anti-Wall Street movement’s inception. The Tides-funded Adbusters magazine is reported to have come up with the Occupy Wall Street idea after Arab Spring protests toppled governments in Egypt, Libya and Tunisia. The Adbusters website serves as a central hub for Occupy’s planning.

The Tides-funded Ruckus Society has been providing direct-action training to Occupy protesters as well as official training resources, including manuals, to Occupy training groups. Ruckus, which helped spark the 1999 World Trade Organization riots in Seattle, was also listed as a “friend and partner” of the Occupy Days of Action in October.

Another grantee of Tides, MoveOn.org, has joined Occupy.

Former Director of the Central Intelligence Agency R. James Woolsey told a radio host today that Americans “have to get ready” for Iran to retaliate against international pressure over its nuclear program with terrorist attacks, including, possibly, a strike on the Statue of Liberty.

Woolsey, who currently serves as chairman of the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, was speaking on Aaron Klein Investigative Radio on New York’s WABC Radio.

Klein pointed out that Iran supports the militant Islamist group Hezbollah, which has been designated by the U.S. and several other nations as a terrorist organization, and asked Woolsey if he foresees the group plotting attacks on Jewish targets in the near future.

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