In the most recent election for state attorney general, the voters of Newtown overwhelmingly chose Martha Dean to be Connecticut’s top law enforcer, but it remains to be seen if the town will still show her the love now that she has fed a controversy that has angered and hurt many Newtownians.
Dean certainly stepped into it when she posted a video on her Facebook page that purports that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax, and that there may be a cover up. Dean instantly became a pariah in her own party as Republican after Republican denounced her post and subsequent comments. The video, featuring sloppy editing and misspellings, has been debunked by many of those close to the case.
Dean came in for a taping of Face the State a day after she was grilled by former Governor John Rowland on his afternoon radio show on WTIC AM 1080. Read coverage of that from the Courant’s Daniela Altimari: http://courantblogs.com/capitol-watch/john-rowland-takes-down-martha-dean-on-sandy-hook-hoax-video/
During our Face the State interview, Dean stood by her decision to post the video, while condemning and defending elements of it, but tried to distance herself from the controversy. She also called the media hypocritical for posting the hoax video themselves. I asked Dean how she would be dealing with Newtown had she been elected Attorney General, and whether she understands why many people view what she did as reprehensible. Dean pointed out that she beat George Jepsen in the 5th congressional district, but saoid she won’t run for CT-5 against Elizabeth Esty in 2014.
You can watch the entire interview that aired Sunday morning at 11 on Face the State on WFSB Channel 3, right here: http://www.wfsb.com/video?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8237005
About the author: http://dennishouse.wordpress.com/2012/05/22/marking-20-years-at-wfsb/
Categories: Uncategorized
Dennis House blog 
If nothing else is wrong with the Newtown shooting, the fact that the State police said themselves on the air that the only guns used inside were two hand guns and the rifle was in the car only to be changed later to suit the anti gun interests is enough of a conspiracy to make me leery of other parts of the whole thing. We watched you on the air Lt Paul Vance. We saw what you said even if the powers that be made the video disappear.
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Frank, there is not a one single point in the two weeks after the shooting that Connecticut State Police ever (EVER) said that the handguns were the only weapons used inside the school. Not once. The only person to say that was NBC’s Pete Williams (a reporter), who had bad information. Lt. Vance, and the rest of the investigators have never wavered from what they originally said. To say that they did is absurd. You have no idea what you are talking about . I feel sorry for this country when 20 children die in a horrible massacre and people like you are more interested in creating ghost stories rather than dealing with reality.
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I watched it live all day. The police made the statement “Only two hand guns were in the school,That is all they found”The next day is when the story changed.You have no clue as to what you are talking about.
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Ray S. You wouldn’t have to “watch it live all day”. You would only have to watch it at the time that Paul Vance held a press conference. Those press conferences are the ONLY statements that the police have made. All other statements that you think you may have heard that day were from reporters/media, none of which have been verified or, if inaccurate, corrected.
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just because you say it is a hoax, does not make it a hoax.
And just because the government says it, doesn’t make it true.
If you were true journalists, you would be digging out the truth and PROVING the video a hoax.
Not just with an ad hoc claim that it is so.
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I agree. I’ve watched the video’s and have made my own mind up concerning the event and there are ALOT of unanswered questions. The silence only proves something is not right. Each day another piece of evidence makes it more suspicious than the day before.
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What official evidence from the official investigation has come to light to make this more suspicious than the day before?
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The video is not a hoax, the video is stating that the Sandy Hook shooting is a hoax or a conspiracy. But I think that what you mean to say is that you want journalists to prove that the Sandy Hook Shooting is actually not a hoax but a real conspiracy.
Every aspect of the video has been debunked in numerous places on-line. All you have to do is change your thinking from “I believe the people who made this video” to “Let me see if there is a logical explanation for this”
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Nutcase
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and I’m sure you’ve checked all of the evidence concerning these claims. Why is the media not even trying to put the hoax’s to rest? Because they can’t.
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Tons of sites on-line debunking the video. All you have to do is look for them.
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john Rowland grilling someone? ha ha ha.John you shouldn’t even have the right to be grilling a hotdog!
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Of course it’s a republican
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Of all people to talk about liars, John Rowland !! Isnt that the pot calling the kettle black ? Nice how he goes to prison and comes out to a $100,000 a year job. And the media started all this hype to begin with, either their sources were all wrong, they made up facts or people were indeed lying about some things. I also saw the initial reporting and by the next day or that evening many of the facts had changed. Not of course that the media or John Rowland would ever lie or never report the truth and put some nonsensical thing on instead of reporting the truth. Does anyone really care about whether or not beyonce was lip syncing more so than Hillary with her Benghazi comments ? When will the media really wake up or start to care about the truth in reporting anymore? And no one will answer you honestly why it is that with this president not a bad word or the truth can be reported. We are getting sick of it main stream media, we want the truth.
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You guys need to listen to yourselves now and again. If you do, you’ll see how fearful you seem.
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We’ve reached the sad point in American history where sharing information and opinion is a crime.
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Something is off, I saw it and felt it from day one. and when I saw that little girls father laughing and smileing bfore the press interview, well, somethiong is off!
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Not everybody mourns exactly how you want them to mourn.
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I think the comments about this shooting being a hoax is as stupid as saying 9/11 never happened.
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1. I would like to see a report on Channel 3 regarding the validity of the claims in the video regarding the dates the facebook pages or web sites were created. This shouldn’t be that hard for someone to investigate and report on.
2. When will the official report be available that tells us what types of guns were used in this crime?
3. What types of medication was the shooter on?
4. Is it true that Adam’s mother was attempted to get him committed to a mental health facility?
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1. Not that hard to do: Some of the facebook pages were set up by non-family based out of Colorado or Utah. What time zone is shown for the creation and posts of the page? Other Facebook pages were created (for a different purpose) and then changed into memorial pages. So the creation date remains previous to the shooting. If this was a grand conspiracy going all the way to the top levels of government I think they would have the sense and ability to at least make sure their facebook pages were set up properly.
2. Whenever Paul Vance is done with the report. It won’t matter anyway, if one believes there is a conspiracy and the official report doesn’t jive with what THEY THINK it should say, then the official report will just become part of the conspiracy as well.
3. No idea. That will probably be in the official report.
4. That will probably be in the official report also.
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It was clear immediately after the event, there was conflicting information reported but isn’t that to be expected? It was never meant as as fact. They were and are after all, conducting an investigation. Lt. Vance CAN be trusted, is objective, and a real professional and I don’t think that lightlyl!
On the other hand, I have listened closely to Martha Dean and wonder what is HER motivation in all of this. Is she simply a poor loser after running for Attorney General’s office? Is she trying to get more GOP support from the NRA? Does she need attention in her life? What is it with her? To me she doesn’t make sense at times and I give her the benefit of the doubt a lot. How sick and sad to suggest this is a hoax. These families are victims of a serious crime.
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Every time Martha Deans puts herself in the public spotlight she proves to everyone what a complete whack job she is.
Martha, stay off FaceSpace, stop appearing on television, stop going to Tea Bag rallies and try keeping your big mouth shut for once, will you?
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ARE YOU PEOPLE KIDDING ME… 20 LITTLE KIDS DIED. WHO CARES WHAT THE NEWS SAYS ABOUT HOW MANY GUNS AND WHAT KIND. LITTLE KIDS WERE KILLED. PEOPLE GET A LIFE..
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I think all of the Connecticut residents who are buying into the hoax theory should go sit down face to face with the parents who lost their children. Explain the hoax theories to them in person. Tell them that their pain isn’t real, it’s all fake. If you have the courage to say it on the internet, you should have the courage to say it to their face. Perhaps you can talk with the first responders too and ask them what they saw and have to live with for the rest of their lives. You are cowards and don’t want to acknowledge that this could actually happen.
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This.
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CNN is not helping by failing to explain the St. Rose of Lima footage aired as Sandy Hook footage. Honest mistake. Fine, but a correction (and at this point, detailed explanation) is called for. With media professionals shying away from accepting their part in the confusion, I don’t think we should rush to call other citizens cowards.
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I meant to have a question mark after “honest mistake?”
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The unfortunate thing about conspiracy theories is that if someone wants them to be true, there is nothing that can be done to convince them otherwise. Facts and explanations are never enough. They are always viewed as suspect, and part of the conspiracy. There really is no way to disprove the theory, because someone always adds a question mark at the end.
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This is what happens when reporters rush to make the big story without checking their facts.They are so concerned about beating their competition that they don’t make sure of their stories,i.e….the mother was a teacher at the school…the brother was the killer…the weapons used.To say this was a hoax is an abomination! I pray to GOD that nothing like this happens to any of these conspiracy nut’s families. To even consider some of these theories is a slap in the face of the familes of those killed! To do nothing about this situation is the ultimate insult to those killed and to their grieving families.When people put their own self-interests before our children we are losing our humanity! God bless those lost in these killings,God bless those grieving,God bless those that are trying to make changes so nothing like this happens again and most of all God bless the USA!
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Kurt you contradict yourself. First you list several inaccurate “facts” such as: reporters printed inaccurate stories because they’re trying to beat their competition, the mother was a teacher at the school, the brother was the killer, the reported weapons used were incorrect; then you bemoan that alternate theories appeared. The inaccurate reporting by the media coupled by the lack of factual information from the state police is exactly why theories grow legs and gain traction. Lastly, Martha Dean did NOT promote the hoax, nor did she say she believed it. She simply put it out for discussion. It is expected that the left wing loons would attempt to twist her motives to disparage her. Less expected was the CT GOP leadership being so critical of her. To mean, that shows the GOP establishment is afraid of her because she doesn’t fit neatly into their mold, so they’re too using this non-issue to attack her.
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Last sentence should have started – To me…
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Getting the accused’s name wrong, getting the guns wrong – I can understand that. And changes to those initial errors were acknowledged. I have a much harder time understanding a live shot, on-air for quite a while, coming from a completely different school (where apparently something else dramatic was happening), being 1) aired as Sandy Hook and 2) never corrected, either during or after the fact.
To my knowledge CNN has never addressed these important questions:
1. Why was the footage mislabeled as Sandy Hook in the first place?
2. Why was it not corrected during or after airing?
3. Why did a SWAT team storm St. Rose of Lima school?
4. Why did CNN not cover the apparently major St. Rose incident?
5. Why did Cooper lambast citizen researchers for making “mistakes” while refusing to take responsibility for his and his network’s glaring errors?
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