Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?
By SilentPatriot Friday Jun 20, 2008 5:00pm
And why do "Democratic strategists" -- who are supposedly on to balance them out -- let them do it? While discussing Barack Obama's decision to air his first national campaign ad in traditionally unfriendly states, Republican strategist Joe Watkins advises McCain just to be his McMavericky self, because people appreciate someone who won't go back on their word, obviously alluding to Obama's "broken promise" on accepting public financing. What Joe neglects to mention, and what David Shuster and Morris Reid forget to remind him of, is that John McCain is breaking his own campaign finance laws as we speak.
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To his credit, Reid mentioned McCain's flip flop on the Bush tax cuts, but calling out his blatant and perpetually ongoing hypocrisy and lawbreaking on his signature issue would be far, far more effective. Josh Marshall sums up the case against McCain quite nicely:
[...] McCain himself is at this moment breaking the law in continuing to spend over the spending limits he promised to abide by through the primary season in exchange for public financing. (By the FEC's rules, we're still in the primary phase of the election and will be until the conventions.)
I want to return to this subject though because this is not hyperbole or some throw away line. He's really doing it. McCain opting into public financing, accepted the spending limits and then profited from that opt-in by securing a campaign saving loan. And then he used some clever, but not clever enough lawyering, to opt back out. And the person charged with saying what flies and what doesn't -- the Republican head of the FEC -- said he's not allowed to do that. He can't opt out unilaterally unless the FEC says he can.
I understand that it's difficult to stay on top of every nuance of every issue, but this is undeniably McCain's biggest vulnerability right now. It's simply astounding that McCain is allowed to hold others up to standards (aka laws) that he himself is violating. Even worse, it's Democrats on TV who are letting him do it.
In other words, the media narrative is now that Barack Obama is a "flip-flopper" for opting out, and John McCain is a "straight-shooter" for opting in, then out, then in again, all the while breaking the law by spending more than he's allowed to. Damned liberal media.
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It does our side no good to ignore the reality that Barack went back on his word.
Diversionary tactics (such as this post and Barack's own video released to us this week) undermine the cause. He has sounded and behaved this week like a typical "suit", a run-of-the-mill politician, not a new alternative.
Change course, Barack!!! Don't get into the mud any further.
Thanks for the lies...
Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?
Because the mass media is controlled by the American-Jewish Nazi Party.
Any more questions?
Where is Cliff Schecter when you need him?
All that Josh says is true. None of it excuses Barack.
First poster is right. TWO WRONGS DON'T MAKE A RIGHT!
Sure, the right wing gets a free pass on calling out the Dems for things that they too are blatantly guilty of... However, that doesn't absolve the left from taking responsibility for its own shortcomings. It does not vindicate us! McCain is despicable, yes! McCain is breaking campaign finance rules and playing loose with the facts, yes! Did any of us not expect that? Did any of us not see such tactics coming? And we're using THE ENEMY'S bad example to justify and apologize away our candidate's mistakes why exactly?????
Pathetic. There is no progressivism left in the USA when we chastise the repugs for no accountability, then embrace their twisted logic just the same when it suits our cause or makes our guy look better.
The Netherlands are out of the Euro 2008
[Yeah, those of us who follow football are aware, me. The game was carried live on ABC television. Bummer! The Orange didn't look too good in their own end from the beginning, did they? Better luck next time. Site Monitor.]
I sick of "balanced news." It isn't news it's entertainment. Jim Lehr does news. The others line up two people to sit and snipe at each other. It's not informative, it's not even pleasant to watch. Nothing is learned and nothing new is shared. The "experts" are predictable and unoriginal. The "experts" are all the same day after day, week after week.
Be the Media:
http://freewayblogger.blogspot.com/2008/06/kate-in-san-diego.html
How one woman became the media for san diego all by her lonesome...
Pete @ 1:
why do you hate smart
Because it is so easy to spot a lie when any Republican is talking, thier lips move
Many on some left-leaning sites believe: Dem, OK.
That's why San Francisco votes for Nancy Pelosi.
Dem is not automatically OK.
Pete @ 1:
You got it right.
What about McCain’s stance on Privatizing Social Security?”
“Reverend Wright! Reverend Wright!”
“How about his stated desire to stay in Iraq for 100 years!”
“Michelle Obama is not proud of America!”
How about his “Bomb Bomb Iran Speech?”
“Reverend Wright! Reverend Wright!”
Pete @ 1:
He did not go back on his word. He said he would take public financing IF his Republican opponent agreed to do the same. McCain refused to agree and then filed for public financing right before the deadline and turned around and called Obama a liar.
Doesn't anybody know this?
Why? Because they own the network, and because of the myth of a two party system.
CW @ 6:
"There is no progressivism left in the USA.."
I'm not at all convinced that true Liberalism even exists in mainstream American politics.
Progressives are constantly shut out of the "debate" and instead we are fed a steady diet of right-wing/moderate dialog.How often does one see a Howard Zinn or Chomsky on the tee vee?
Therefore its not hard to see why the wingers are rarely challenged:there's no significant opposition.
CW @ 6:
ww @ 5:
Pete @ 1:
You are so wrong on this. If Obama were to lose because of McShame’s lying and illegal campaign financing would that be ok? This is the politics that the Republicans play by. We lost the last two elections by playing nice. IT DOES NOT WORK! I say RIGHT ON Obama for not taking the public financing. It would have been stupid.
There is a massive boycott of the mainstream news programs who prop up liars and frauds. Fox News, CNN and MSNBC (with the exception of Olberman and Jack Cafferty) are all "on the take" and trying to spin things in every direction but in the area of truth.
DO NOT BELIEVE ONE WORD YOU HEAR ON ANY OF THESE REPUBLICAN PROPAGANDA MEGAPHONES. They're not legitimate news agencies but paid to propagandize and skew the truth.
"He who controls the message controls the masses". This is precisely what's transpiring in our mainstream media today. Mind Control.
Isn't working. Most people I know never turn any of their programming on unless they intend to be angered by obvious lies and deceit.
Clean up your mind and life today - boycott the 24 hour news channels AND ALL OF THEIR ADVERTISERS.
Don’t forget that Obama said he would take public money with some provisions that McDumbass was not ready to concede. Namely to reign in the 521s. In fact McLiar said he could not do that. So McGrandpa made the decision for Obama.
Newsflash: Up on front page of Huffington Post right now "Obama Says No to Immunity". Thank god that he regained his presence of mind. Otherwise, he'd lose the presidency over what may turn out to be THE issue which violates every last one of us - spying on us illegally and against the constitution of this country. Hoorah for Obama! He's saved himself on this one.
“So many suckers, so little time.”
- - - Barack Obama, June 20, 2008.
Pete @ 1:
You obviously don't know what his word was.
John McCain has officially broken the limits imposed by the presidential public financing system, according to spending reports filed last week by the campaign.
The senator from Arizona has spent $58.4 million on his Republican primary effort. Those who have committed to public financing can spend no more than $54 million on their primary bid.
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2008/03/24/mccain_breaks_spen...
Because we don't scream loud enough or long enough about it and don't call them liars over and over and over and over and over.
pinkobait @ 17:
Just check out and see who owns these propaganda megaphones called the mainstream news media and you will find that they are GOP monopolies. 'nuf said in terms of being honest. 'nuf said about presenting the facts and reality. 'nuf said about EVER getting a kernal of truth from these lying frauds and charlatans.
I really do think more people who read C&L know more about the details behind the issues than many of the democratic strategists selected for TV.
Attila the Appeaser, Trollop Despot @ 24:
Looks like it's "cryin' time" for the Grandpappy! He violated the rules - now what? Does he become disqualified immediately? He should. That or being brought up on charges for violation of the law and that needs to take place immediately. I'd say that both things should occur - elimination as a candidate AND some form of penalty.
"This is precisely what's transpiring in our mainstream media today. Mind Control."
I hear tinfoil cone shaped hats are just the ticket for this kind of thing.
Seriously though,the name of the game is definitely distraction.They'd rather have you thinking about buying a new "Thigh Master" than the fact they can now legally disappear your ass for good.
DC @ 27:
Since the stations are Republican owned and operated, the Dems who go there have preconceived rules about what they can say and not say. In that sense, they're selling their souls to the devil for the notoriety and for a paycheck. I call that being a public "prostitute", don't you?
Indeed, many people who blog know far more than some of the Dem Dimwits and the RepRepturds who posit themselves as pundits or experts. Hah! What a farce they are! This is precisely why I never turn them on and my life is much saner and happier because of it.
... because it serves the monster corporate fat cats that they do. Duh.
You jokers who are on Obama for not taking public financing are dense. How can Obama believe McShithead that he would not turn around and finance his campaign with private money JUST LIKE HE IS DOING right now after committing to public financing? Why would Obama put himself in that position? McShame has shown that HE is a liar and a cheat. Obama said he would take public financing with some provisions before McDelirious lied and cheated his way through the primaries which is right now.
pinkobait @ 29:
Perhaps a tinfoil hat for you, "my friend" if you find your head so far up your dark place that you do not see how easily you are being tricked each time you waste your time watching their inane drivel. In fact, thigh masters went out in the 80's in case you may be that out of touch with reality.
This is not a case of mere "distraction". It's a game of lies and deceit - propaganda and corruption of our truth in reporting laws.
A close examination of Obama's position on campaign financing is necessary and a close look at Mac Cain's changing position on it!!!While Mac Cain tries to subvert the law , Obama wisely says forget it!!! This is what they all focus on, not Mc Same's double talk. The hosts ALWAYS permit right wing surrogates to lie while challenging the progressive guest at every opportunity. Joe Watkins is a political hack and liar. It is sometimes very embarassing to see democrats on these shows they rarely engage untruths. Last nite on Dan Abrams at the very end of a segemnt a republican said and when Dean did that scream it showed he was crazy, they went to commercial. Totally unchallenged by the panel. Dana Milbanks said the other day on Olberman that Ned Lamont "created" Joe Lieberman. Keith didn't say a word to rebut that nonsense.
ps watkins also is a paid pundit on msnbc, they are all smiles and giggles with him!!!
let's all be absolutely clear on this.......
THERE IS ONLY ONE POLITICAL PARTY IN THIS COUNTRY.
osiris @ 33:
Guess you haven't heard of MK ULTRA either and the continuing of mind control experiments by our government on prisoners and our own military?
Ever hear of Depleted Uranium (DU) and what that life sentence is all about? Guess not.
A permanent conehead may be de rigeur and quite apropos and I hear they're on sale at Walmart this weekend.
Pete @ 1:
lets see....so obama should put himself into a corner and accept public financing, while mcswindler continues to skirt the rules and the law?
why do you want the dems to lose in november
osiris @ 28:
No, don't let him be replaced. We could not hope for anybody better.
After the election throw his sorry ass in jail for breaking the law he helped to write.
btw, what is more public than the way obama has been raising funds?
the vast majority of his contributors are regular people, who have gone to his website and give 25 bux
this is a great grassroots campaign
osiris @ 28:
Remember, laws are only for small people...
Uncle Joe Mccarthy @ 39:
I am not so sure about that, with that many contributors some of them are just bound to be constipated people.
osiris @ 33:
Um...kidding?
Try to relax pal.
It's not just Republicans. It's more than that. It's called Historical Revisionism. Every nations on earth does it, every party or interest group does it. Sometimes it falls under the broader label of propaganda.
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 23:
Well, how about the promise, both implicitly and explicitly made, that he would bring us new politics, politics that transcends bitter partisanship and mudslinging and takes the high road. How are some of you forgetting that part of his major appeal to *many* of his core supporters is that he has characterized himself as a different kind of politician.
I feel like he presented himself as being about the "eye for an eye," tit-for-tat stupidity of "well, my opponent is *THIS* bad, so I'm not really *that* bad" BULLSHIT that we've been fed for decades.
HELLO! The left blogs are in a meltdown about this and "supporters" are trying to spin this off as those of us who are dissenting are just a bunch of idiots who aren't looking at the bigger picture. We are, trust me. The primaries are done and lo and behold, he's not just creeping to the the center, he's racing there and setting record time in the process... even going way beyond what is needed, probably making McSame's head spin a little.
I want WAY MORE than a calculating suit who boils down his choice to do something as "well, my opponent is a monster so I have to act like a monster too... that's just the cost of doing business."
HELLO~! I'm sorry, this is a recipe for failure and inspires nobody. In fact, this and FISA *J*U*S*T*L*Y* enrages many of us, and I am tired of reading "supporters" advance this BS about how it's fair play and dirty politics is needed because we lost the last two elections.
Obama can mop the floor with McCain, and he can do it with style and integrity. All of you are selling us way short if you're giving him a free pass already to aspire to the mediocre. If he had said "millions of Americans are willing to directly fund the change they want, so I don't need public money" and didn't even breath a world about neocon hacks and character assassins, I could respect that. This tit-for-tat stupidity is truly "old" politics.. dating well back into the old testament.
RETRIBUTION AND DIRTY FIGHTING, justified or not!, HAS NO PLACE IN THE PROGRESSIVE MOVEMENT!
Americans are faced with this choice:
A smart, talented black guy who is a politician.
A somewhat challenged white guy who is a politician.
Whom do the power holders, the corporations, favor?
Either of the above.
Sorry to prick the bubble.
Corporate Amerika wants McSame for Prez. Corporate Amerika owns the media. Nothing astounding about it. Just Fascist business as usual.
I will now repeat mysewlf. Please forgive me.
CW @ 44:
xoites defends Constitution @ 15:
xoites defends Constitution @ 47:
WHO CARES!? It's not that McCain did this, or Obama did that. It's that he's stooping to McCain's level. That's the broken promise! That's the betrayal! He is behaving like a two-faced Washington toad.
I don't care about he campaign financing details, except the ridiculous video and arrogant assumption that he is justified in fighting the republicans with whatever means necessary because they are so unfair and vicious. That's what this is about. I don't care that he isn't taking public financing. I care that his reasons for doing so are far from noble/inspiring.
"the other guy is a jerk and I need to kick his ass first" is hardly the new politics and change that we were promised. THAT IS THE BROKEN WORD!
I do!!!
McFlipfloppingliarwithnomroals and his traveling circus are playing games here. Let's get back on the ball.
Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?
It be awful quiet if they did.
Afterall the Democrats are already too afraid to say anything that may appear too unpatriotic or too un-p.c.
CW @ 48:
He agreed to do A if B occured.
B did not occur.
Did you miss that?
At this point in the election process, the simple fact that we still have questions about Barack Obama and what it is that he stands for, points to the complete failure of the American media to vet this candidate. One can only surmise as to why the mainstream media would be in the can for Barack Obama, but that certainly appears to be the case. I find this whole DNC campaign to be quite disturbing.
When will the citizens of the United States be made privy to the critical information necessary to make an informed decision in November? And, when will the American public know that they have the full, unfettered story of each candidate?
It would be a travesty if we had to decide the Presidency based on pretty little talking points taken from some candidate "make-over" party.
What is the DNC hiding? Why are they not stepping forward to provide pointed answers to the many questions surrounding their candidate? Why are they not running to show us a reputable record with a stable history in both his private and professional life? Could it be that no such record exists?
Perhaps there is something ugly stirring just beneath the surface. Something so disturbing that should the DNC completely reveal this monster to us without its Madison Avenue make-over, we would turn and run in horror! Perhaps, we would find it too disgusting to represent our country, as President.
The DNC should have given voters a real candidate with a solid reputation and a background they could be proud of. Instead, they applied lipstick to a pig and tried to sell it as hope and change.
We do not need a candidate with some "Madison Avenue" style makeover. So, DNC....take the lipstick off your pig, and put him back in the pen...where he belongs!
But hey, that's just my opinion
McCain is not the enemy.
The D.C. power structure is the enemy.
The people can elect Obama and still be left with a fucked country.
CW @ 48:
You simply have it wrong. What Obama said he was willing to do , Mc19th Century was not willing to do. Obama never said he would take public financing unilaterally.
This is hardball politics. If Obama plays like he is running for class president he will lose because the Republicans will eat him up.
No doubt though he is a politician and will not do things the way you would hope. look at what Clinton did.
xoites defends Constitution @ 51:
LOL!
xoites defends Constitution @ 51:
Nope, I get that. My problem is that when B didn't occur, Obama felt justified in explaining that the reason he wasn't going to take public financing was because republicans are heartless assholes.
I have a real problem with that. [Deleted. Abusive. Site Monitor]
xoites defends Constitution @ 51:
At this point if someone can find me on, just one supporter of John McCain who is honest i just might be willing to vote for him. I have little doubt that i will be voting for Obama.
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 54:
I DON'T CLAIM HE SAID HE WOULD TAKE PUBLIC FINANCING UNILATERALLY!
I think it's tragic that he, along with all of you, it seems... feels that it's quite alright to do *anything* to win, and will even say it to our faces, because "this is hardball politics. If Obama plays like he is running for class president he will lose because the Republicans will eat him up."
I'm sorry, but if you didn't notice, he did pretty well in the primaries when he stuck to his principles (mostly) and took impassioned stands on things he believed in. I'll admit, there were a few points he gave in on stuff that I didn't agree with, but I felt he (generally) gave the situation a fair shake.
His choice to characterize the decision to allow us to finance his campaign as "fair because the republicans are unfair" sucks. If you don't want to accept that reality, keep living in fantasyland... but IT SUCKS!
The way things are going, Obama can kiss his second term goodbye. Unless of course he somehow manages to lower gas prices, at which point the American public will go back to their long stupor and elect him again for a second term.
By the way, Obama still thinks Iran is a great threat to Israel. Somehow, he is getting his information from Tel Aviv instead of from Langley. Go figure, eh?
CW @ 56:
Nobody will be everything YOU want them to be. Join the real world.
CW @ 59:
Ok, it sucks. Go vote for McStandbyhisconvictions.
again, B did not occur but that does not mean he had to play off his decision as a calculated political necessity. He could have inspired us and said he wanted the people to truly bankroll change so special interests were entirely cut out of the process. A group of you are sniping on my lack of concision, but the point I am making is still valid whether you want to see it or not.
I don't care that he takes public money or doesn't take public money. I think it is sad that when he told us his choice, he cited the poor behavior of his opponent as a reason he was opting out of public financing. *That* is not leadership.
Your A or B distractions from the point notwithstanding....
xoites defends Constitution @ 51:
The trolls on this board didn't miss it, they are deliberately trying to pretend it never occurred. Remember, some of them are actually PAID to tell lies and confused the issues.
The badly formed lies and half truths are just a sign of their desperation. They can scream all they want, but fewer and fewer people people are falling for it.
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 61:
Obama felt justified in doing exactly what he said he would do? You mean not agree to take public financing unless his Republican opponent agreed to?
Yeah would feel justified as well. I use logic when dealing with the world. I don't twist shit into pretzel shape, bake them in the oven and expect people to say, "MMM. MMM. GOOD!"
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 61:
I see... change I can't believe in.... :(
CW @ 65:
You don't believe in it, you never did, you are not fooling anyone. Stop crying. McCain is going to get his ass kicked. You know it and there is nothing you can do about it.
Just like Scotty as White Hose press Sec..
Its a job and it pays well. A job that is funded by taxpayers money to lie to taxpayers for their boss.
Not quite the simplistic idea of espousing support, explaining position and convincing others of policy or ideas.
The pundits are just crack heads that will say what their told to get more crack. It doesn't matter who they hurt to get that high. Others like Brit Hume will say anything that will continue to provide his me society world. Its not America they praise. It is their desire to lift themselves up by stepping on the backs of others. Their is NO America for them, only gated communities. May they stay in them.
CW, how many points did you earn for todays posts? Did you earn enough for a "Support the troops" magnet made in China?
Kerry lost because he wasn't tough enough to call them on their lies and dirty politics. You want Obama to do the same? Obama is stumping them time and time again and they are floundering.
xoites defends Constitution @ 67:
Nor is there nothing I would do about it. I hate McCain and everything he stands for, but to me... that doesn't justify going to the darkside. My shaky understanding of the details of this issue and all, I think FISA and this are showing us some alarming flaws that we should speak up about. Instead, you are all calling me a troll and that's outlandish. I know I am going to give Harry Mitchell an earful for voting for it, and I've already sent several emails to Obama and will be making plenty of phone calls to his office. I would call my state senators, but if you haven't figured out by now, I live in AZ so that leaves me Jon Kyl and McSame... so, unfortunately, I was pinning a lot of my vicarious hopes and dreams on Obama.
Now that I see how rudely and expertly many of you put down dissent, congratulations. You're every bit as ruthless and soulless as the repugs. You'll have power soon. Rejoice... you've become your enemy in your quest to destroy them.
CW @ 66:
Playing the way you would like and I would
likewill leave us with "Oh, what could have been".CW @ 70:
Dissent based on reason and facts i respect. Yours is not reasonable. You ignore the facts. What you are doing is not dissent, it is called "Muddying the Waters" an old right wing trick.
You can't win this argument, you are unarmed.
It's impossible to prepare for a random lie.
I was watching Dan Abrams show the other day, and this Limbaugh-lite(Limbaugh is no brainiac) rightwinger was going at Obama, with one lie after another. Katrina Vanenhuevel and another leftwing pundit(whose name escapes me) lit his ass up. I was so thrilled, cause usually they just sit back and quietly listen, and even when their turn comes to speak, they let the rightwingers talk over them. This was a breath of fresh air.
Joe Watkins has got to be the biggest black gay fool in the Republican Party! Can't you just visulize Ole Joe slurping away on Bush or Cheney with Ari Fleischer bringing up the rear!
republicanSScareme @ 3:
Um, a small question: how can a movement dedicated to the absolute obliteration of the Jews create a Jewish Nazi Party? Nazism's belief on Jews was a simple bullet to the back of the head. So, a Jewish Nazi is equivalent to a Catholic Muslim. Impossible.
CW @ 70:
I don't know that you are a troll but you have to join the real world. The Republicans would eat up anybody who would play the way they would like. The Republicans would look at what youare saying and chuckle at how naive you are being.
Another reason we have to play as hard as we do is because we also have to overcome the shenanigans they are going to pull at the polling stations.
xoites defends Constitution @ 15:
The man is correct. McPapen and Obama were going to do this if both agreed to it. McPapen waited right up until the deadline while Obama simply decided that if McPapen hadn't agreed by then, he wasn't going to and opted out.
"It's not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken and we face opponents who've become masters at gaming this broken system."
How that cannot seem like an equivocation or justification to you is beyond me. My point is that, whatever his decision, using the "my opponents are really awful" argument is old politics, not new!
Shag @ 74:
Jonathon Alter
Shaq,
You must be talking about Lars Larson, who is a possible Red Chinese plant, was born in Taiwain in '61.
He talks a mean talk, like the rest of the Chickenhawk Brigade in the Republican Party, but when push came to shove, he was no where to be found to fight in the 1st Gulf War! He and Hannity were probably hiding out on Hannity's grandaddys pig farm! Both were just 28/29 at the time, but no where to be found!
Klem @ 81:
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 80:
Here it is.
The media is so far out of touch I can't even watch anymore.
They all sit in their ivory towers in NY and DC and then go on TV every night and tell us what "Hard Working Americans, White Americans" think. As if they've even spoken to an "Average American" in the last 20+ years. Why are politicians so out of touch? Because they believe what the media tells them - because the media is the closest thing to an "Average American" they ever see.
Washington doesn't corrupt solely because it's filled with evildoers, it corrupts because once you get there and everyone you see or talk to is some wealthy congressman or senator or lobbyist your perception of what things are like back in the real world just gets warped. The regular citizens you represent become distant and unreal just like you and I feel about the poor and struggling in other countries - we know about it, we see the statistics and a few pictures, but without personal exposure it's distant and less-than-real to us. So we are to our elected officials and the media.
There really are "Two Americas" as Edwards said, and the disconnect between the two grows every day.
Those in the media - the reporters, the pundits, the news anchors, as well as politicians who weren't born into wealth and power (Like Barack) - have become celebrities. And they live like it too. They're connection with reality is the same as some actor who hits the big time in Hollywood - they lose touch with the world from which them came.
Captain Obama’s Bitter Half Husein Kangaroo @ 77:
Do you want to keep citing neocon evil as reasons that we are justified in playing dirty? At least to me, it doesn't paint you or your cause in a very positive light.
In the case of FISA, how would the republicans stand a chance of "eating up Obama" if he came out, LEAD his party and shouted: "The F-ING terrorists win if we sacrifice our constitution for a token sense of personal safety. Therefore, I will not stand by this WAR CRIMINAL president and his Republican AND Democratic collaborators in Congress! Instead, I stand with the American people and the CONSTITUTION OF THE MOTHERF*CKING UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! and if you don't like it, you can kiss my black ass!!!!"
Well, maybe not in that exact language... but, still... the question remains. How is standing by the constitution weak? How is refusing to sling mud playing into the neocons' hands? I thought people in general were tired of this crap? If Obama stands up and refuses to back down, just on the goddamn principle of the thing, people will flock to him like never before.
This country is so THIRSTY for real leadership. If Obama just had an ounce of moral courage and took a stand on issues like these instead of doing what is politically expedient, our society could realize a huge improvement.
How sad that you Machiavellian strategists would kill a movement that could have really achieved something wonderful in the name of power. One ring to bind them, indeed...
Commentator @ 83:
Shut up and go eat your Applebee's salad bar, peon!
CW @ 79:
The fundamental difference between conservatives and liberals.
Conservatives see a broken system and ask "How can I game this to MY advantage?"
Liberals see a broken system and ask "How can WE fix this to EVERYONE'S advantage?"
CW @ 85:
Another volley fired in the culture war.
Us peed ons are votring for Obama. Have a nice day. :)
The audio levels on that clip stink bud.
That clip is below publishable quality.
CW @ 85:
I hate David Broder with ever fiber of my being. I wonder when the last time he went to - or even descended from Manhattan to a neighborhood where you can actually find - an Applebees.
Because the average American doesn't really pay attention to details. If they spew lies on TV, they can silently agree, soothing their own misguided egos with a quick fix, and then get off to the mall, shopping. No guilt. They just agreed, they didn't say it themselves. It satisfies their religious zealotry (sanctimony even), and racist inner self, re-inforces America is great, and they feel "informed".
You'll know who they are, cuz they sound like Hannity when they attend a cocktail party.
Why do all of these guys look TOO clean, like their mommies just scrubbed them and sent them out. These are the guys that everyone used to pick on at recess.
its the talk radio, stupids. the GOP pundits are like ticks on limbaugh's ass. the uncontested repetition of GOP talk radio creates a red velvet bandwagon for them. by pounding the same lies into the earholes of tens of millions of radio listeners these guys know they can repeat them later in the day of week on TV and it doesn't matter how absurd or false they are- they are established in the mainstream. the talking points have have certainty.
Edwin Hussein @ 90:
The best part? They're all wannabes. Their wet dream is to live like Hannity and Britney and Paris - but they never will. The closest the can ever come is to try to dress and act like their heros on the TeeVee, usually with hilarious results.
America has to be the greatest, bestest, superest, most fabulousest country in the world that ever was - because then they can feel superior to other people and not get so depressed about how sad their lives really are. It's why trailer trash watches Springer - to feel better about their own pathetic existence. "At least I only slept with my COUSIN, not my BROTHER!" - Same mentality, Gotta feel superior to SOMEBODY!
When you point out any problems in America you're not just being a realist, you're attacking the one and only thing they have to cling to in order to feel good about themselves - and THAT'S why the hate that comes from the Right Wing is so strong.
How about a concerted effort to get on the TV Dems? I used to think they were being civil, but now they seem to be passive, ill-informed, and/or stupid. Who sanctions them to represent the Party?
To be fair to the dems, the repugnants tell so many lies that it would be hard to be prepareed for all of them they tell. Plus they don't seem to have enough time to respond without being interupted 20 times on each subject.
General_Rennenkampf @ 76:
If Jewish Nazis are impossible, how do you explain black Republicans?
lj @ 94:
The TV Republicans are the same, just aggressive. Ill-Informed and/or Stupid though - Yes.
I think it's because once you hit the top - National Syndication, US Congress, DC Firm, whatever, you turn into one of those Executives that come in at 10 and leave after lunch to go play golf. Your job just isn't real anymore - it doesn't require the same kind of commitment or attention to detail, at best you're riding off work you did years ago. The Pundits on both sides that play night after night are from the same class of people.
If someone who's actually informed ever goes on a show it's a 1-Stop trip because of a book they've written or something else they've done to make the news. Witness Lou Dobbs or Bill O' or Hannity or whoever totally melt down when they come up against an activist or an author or one of the few remaining real reporters, anyone who's done their homework - all these guys can do is scream and shout them down. Afterwards though, it's right back to the hacks like the fools in this video.
I don't think anyone's sanctioning these guys - their "experience" at the top levels of government and media (where the disconnect is the greatest) that is their resume. They don't rock the boat and they don't make the hosts look stupid so the TV people love them.
CartoonCoyote the Stalinist Fuck @ 96:
Suckered in by the fact that the GOP emancipated them and being terminally unable to see that that GOP doesn't exist anymore? The original GOP of Lincoln and Reconstruction was much friendlier to blacks than the one today is.
So, a black Republican is marginally more plausible than a Jewish Nazi. Republicans haven't made a platform out of "Kill all the blacks," the way Hitler was doing from when he joined the NSDAP when it was still Drexler's party.
Black Republicans are stupid as all Hell, but a Jewish Nazi is suicidal.
Ron @ 95:
Fair enough, but how about an occasional "Joe I just don't think that's correct. Are you willing to stand by what you just said and have someone check the facts?" or "Joe I think you just throw this stuff out there and hope it will stick. You need to back this up with facts---can you do that?"
Then maybe the MSNBC's CNN's etc will challenge them---sorry probably not, I lost my mind.
The "Liberal Media" so decried and cursed by Hannity and Rush IS A LIE. Accusations of Obama's Flip-Flop on this campaign promise
CartoonCoyote the Stalinist Fuck @ 96:
One need only look to Israel to find an example of Jewish Nazism where a group of white Russian Jewish immigrants to Israel started a neo-Nazi group and beat anyone who looked darker than mocha.
An isolated incident? Perhaps, but only if you like playing semantics. There were after all, groups of Jewish "elites" who cooperated with the Nazis while the whole holocaust thing was going down.
Read The Seventh Million, by Tom Segev
CartoonCoyote the Stalinist Fuck @ 96:
According to the Republicans, Obama is a Muslim with a Radical Christian Preacher - makes just as much sense.
I think the original poster has made a half joking comment, but is referencing the AIPAC Fundamentalist Christian/Likud Orthodox Jewish Fascist (by definition, in terms of Corporate Controlled Government and Never Ending War) Alliance.
Perhaps a bit Tinfoil Hat-like, but a valid theory given that the Military/Industrial Complex and the Media and the Wingnuts all having the same strange blind support of and bizarre obsession with Israel.
Ajar @ 101:
Which makes even less since, first that it's a Russian group, and second that it wasn't merely a bunch of dumbass Israelis, but Russian Israelis? (shakes head.)
Hitler would have killed both Russians and Palestinian Jews without giving a shit about either, and now...
Faith in humanity drops by 12,000,000 points. I knew those were Israeli Neo-Nazis, but I didn't realize that they were that dumb.
What's even sadder is that Israel was founded to make up for things like the Holocaust and the 2,000 years of persecution.
Is Homo Sapiens that stupid?
DC @ 27:
We have a winner!
OOPS... let me finish:
Accusations of Obama's "flip-flop" on this campaign promise... IS A LIE.
Half of what we hear lately about Michelle Obama ARE LIES.
Accusations regarding Obama's "associations" with radicals are held tantamount to TREASON!
Did you know that W associated with Conservative CHRISTIANs and NEOCONS and Nazi APPEASERS before he was appointed by the Supremes! Democrats didn't scream bloody murder about that!
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 104:
Of course. At the top, it's a closed system. They get their information and analysis from the other News Networks and the biggest Newspapers in the country - everything they know is filtered though people just like them (because they'd never trust the lowly blogger to actually be right about something) so it's all got the same skewed slant. That's REAL Elitism.
Even better, since all their intel comes from these "reliable" sources no fact-checking is required. Everyone assumes someone else has already done the legwork to ensure that the "Conventional Wisdom" has been verified already. More time for Golf!
Those "Radical Liberal Bloggers" not only have direct links to the real people on the ground but they are prone to fact-check everything that comes their way - because of this C&L, DKos, TP and others are naturally going to know far more than the talking heads. Fewer Filters + Personal Responsibility for Fact-Checking = Closer to the Truth.
Right Wing Bloggers don't apply here - they don't fact check a thing. Ever read their drivel? No links, then when you hunt down their source it either has no credibility or says something completely different from what the blog post claims. It's what happens when you have no reputation to protect - or even the need to do so, since the Righty's will lap up anything that they agree with without question.
General_Rennenkampf @ 98:
Yeah, you're right. My question was a bit rhetorical, but I don't make that readily apparent because I hate using emoticons!
Is there anyone dumber than Joe Watkins?
President PNACcio @ 4:
Cliff is the real voice of Democrats and calls the right wing lying criminals just as he sees them.
That makes him a threat to this socalled "liberal media"(MSM). Thus they had to shut him off of the television spotlight.
pinkobait @ 17:
Exactly!!
NoGWBpolicyleftinplace @ 104:
AMEN!!!
lj @ 94:
Who sanctions them to represent the Party?
Thats the problem right there.
Its the Democratic leadership and so-called strategists(gotta laugh) that is the problem.
I finally stopped watching broadcast, cable, and satellite TeeVee completely in June 2001... just couldn't stomach the lies, manipulation, general pollution level any longer.
Have I missed anything worth seeing rather than reading or avoiding altogether over the past seven years?
Is that Joe Watkins' face or did his neck threw up?
Yeah, that asshat is Joe Watkins. I can't even stand to look at him anymore. He's proven himself to be a partisan hack.
Ever since media consolidation in the late 90's it's just gotten worse and worse. The liberal media canard was just an excuse to move the media to the right in sync with growing corporate/military industrial complex fascist control of the media by the true elites, the Corporatocracy. This country in it's idealized form is gone, it's been dying a slow death since the dawn of yellow journalism.
Wow...has this always been the Re-pube-licans' game plan: Make things up as they go along? Are they that desperate to get McNugget into the White House?
"Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?"
More importantly, why is a Republican president and Vice President allowed to lie with impunity? That's the much bigger crime here.
I don't have any problem with the candidates not using tax payers money.
The Republicans have shown in the past two elections how UGLY they can get, especially with the 527 groups. Nobody controls what they say and what they spend. This is the party that bumped McCain out on 2000 when he was running for the nomination with the rumor that he had a black baby.
Barack Obama knows how to play politics and thank God he does. We need someone that can beat the republicans at their own game and sometimes it's not going to be pretty. Barack knows that and that is why he backed out of the public finance pledge.
Besides, I trust he'll do the right thing for the american people.
Don't forget McCain got away from the Savings and Loans scandal with a slap on the wrist. He was one of the 5 senators found to be helping Charles Keating. It cost taxpayers billions of dollars that little fiasco.
"Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?"
A: because the hacks interviewing them are clueless shitheads who wouldn't know how to prepare if their lives depended on it -- and that's why the cascist, corporate masters hire the bastards.
"fascist"
"Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?"
and that other naive liberal question:
"Even worse, it’s Democrats on TV who are letting him [enabling him to?] do it."
ummm... possible answers to these naive questions:
...because we US citizens live at the heart of a global imperial power and the leaders of empires and their outer party hirelings must lie to their people?
...because the US has been an empire since before it spun itself off from the British Empire? ...because nothing fundamentally changed after the 1776 "revolution" except the ruling elite?
...because the Republicans and Democrats are two wings of the same empire/war party (Yes, I'd rather have Dems in power 'cause they tend during some portions of some centuries [Reconstruction to 1960? Dems not so good] to sometimes protect some constitutional rights/bribes better than Repubs-- but the two parties basically agree on empire and war)?
...because you will not find the truth broadcast on TeeVee??? Politics is NOT a spectator sport like football or auto racing or golf?
,,,because the DNC has been GWB's enabler since 2000??? Witness John Kerry's truly pitiful 2004 campaign and cowardly capitulation. I rest my case.
Just some thoughts.
Pete @ 1:
It does your side no good to continue lying through your teeth. There was no promise. There was a questionnaire that asked: "Question I-B: If you are nominated for President in 2008 and your major opponents agree to forgo private funding in the general election campaign, will you participate in the presidential public financing system?"
You can view that questionnaire here: Washington Post
McCain didn't agree to forgo private funding. McCain is also broke the very law he wrote to control campaign financing when he used a promised to use public financing as collateral for loans he took out during his party's primary because he couldn't get enough money from Republican donors and now that he has been called on it, McCain and Feingold want to shut down and replace the FEC with a 'Federal Election Administration' which is appointed by the President with a 10 year term. So if anything McCain and Bush want to control the election and are using dirty underhanded political tricks to do it.
So take your "Obama is going back on his promise" crap and cram it. McCain is trying to re-write the entire election system so that he and his party of Republicans can steal ANOTHER election.
Commentator @ 93:
Good stuff Commentator. I particularly liked the Jerry Springer part. America is the land of the lowest common denominator, so stay just inches above it and you're good to go.
It is so arrogant to claim one side lies and the other doesn't... I hope it doesn't shatter your world to find out THEY ALL LIE! Any person who thinks one side is more ethical than the other is such a fool that it is plain scary they intend on spreading such a fantastic pile of crap to those who are too gullible to think for themselves.
You know who you are and all you ever do is allow your emotions to control your uneducated outbursts that pollute the ears of solid Americans... please stop and recognize that they are all rich, they are all liars and their political label shouldn't define their integrity... rather their actions and words should do so...
It is so frustrating to listen to the same people who defended an IMPEACHED CLINTON get all huffy about an IDIOTIC BUSH... wake up America... it's time to learn that these lifetime politicians are not the answer... WE ARE!
Is that a rhetorical question? Lying is like breathing for a republican, without it, they would die!
E in MD @ 123:
::sighs:: . . . what about his promise to bring us new politics? A promise he is breaking when, in his rationale for why he won't take public financing, he cites neocon transgressions as justification for getting his hands on as much money as possible.
I know Barack's supporters want to split hairs, and detractors are wrong if they play this off as he promised to take public financing no matter what.... But, I seem to recall the rhetoric that America is tired of the old kind of politics.... that Barack represents change we can believe in.
“It’s not an easy decision, and especially because I support a robust system of public financing of elections. But the public financing of presidential elections as it exists today is broken and we face opponents who’ve become masters at gaming this broken system.”
How is following an "eye for an eye" logic *change*? Seems like the same ol' shit to me.
I'm inclined to agree with others who have put these lyrics in other places: "Meet the new boss / Same as the old boss."
To answer the OP's question.... the Dem's never call them on it because Dem's aren't used to uttering the truth to power. Be it calling republicans on their bullshit, or actually standing up and calling foul on something THEIR OWN candidate does... Dems are such sad, neutered shadows of humans who shrink back from the light of any truth that you might speak in front of them.
Mention Barack capitulated on FISA, they scatter like roaches. Point out Barack is behaving like your typical run of the mill Washington insider as far as justifying his actions by the low standards of his opponent, and people call you a troll.
There's your answer. Dems are afraid of the truth, regardless its form.
xoites defends Constitution @ 14:
Yeah, and THAT'S why obamalamadingdong's gonna go down for the biggest electoral college defeat of ANY President bar NONE! Him and his America hating minions and "mentors" have convinced themselves in the echo chamber of the present day DNC that their brand of anti-Americanism, or as Rev Wright puts it AmeriKKKanism is a widely held view. McCain has raised just about the same as obamalamadingdong has this time. The DNC is BROKE! This is SO gonna be a fun election to watch!
Why are right-wing propagandists allowed to lie?
Because the FCC stopped working for the American People during the Clinton Administration, and ever since the Bush Junta was installed in power by the Coup of 2000 it has become a shameless cathouse dedicated to exclsively
cervixingservicing the "needs" of high-priced corporate johns?Yeah I think that's it.
“Why are Republican pundits allowed to lie with impunity on television?”
and that other naive liberal question:
“Even worse, it’s Democrats on TV who are letting him [enabling him to?] do it.”
ummmm......
Because US TeeVee is technology dedicated to lying? Does anyone EXPECT to see or hear the truth on television???
opting in to secure a conditional loan, then opting out is fraud, will we have a convicted fraudster for our next Chimpy !!?
I bet McFraudster thinks the FEC are c*nts for falling for that trick, and the MSM are trollops for covering up so nicely for McGimpy.
Its amazing how Republicans spend their whole careers lying stealing and cheating yet consider themselves the party of family values,
only if its the Charles Manson family.
secularhumanizinevoluter @ 128:
This probably sounded better in the original German.
Look, we have a default two party political system. To maintain that system the Republicans have to lie. If the truth about them was well know they would be hunted down by enraged citizens wielding flaming torches and pitch forks. That would end the two party system used to empower the masters of the universe madness of our own Dr. Frankensteins.
There are two things that trouble me here.
1. At some point, those who question Obama's decision on campaign finance are called trolls or, worse, operatives for the other side.
It's as if we must all think alike in mindless acceptance of everything Obama does in order to be "true believers". I don't like party fundamentalism.
2. There are many reasons why Obama's decision on funding is problematic.
First, it undercuts his claim to be a different kind of politician.
Saying one thing, then doing another, and then asking us to parse his earlier statements is....well....Clintonian. His earlier distance from such "old politics" is why I supported him in the primary.
Second, whatever one thinks of McCain, he -- unlike Obama -- has an established, well-known track record of working "across the aisle", with members of the other party.
This is why conservatives don't particularly like him. He work with Feingold. He worked with Lieberman. He worked with the lion himself, Ted Kennedy.
If Obama becomes a shrill "Republicans are evil and they fight dirty" kind of politician, McCain will be able to claim the mantle of "reformer" and position himself more as one who can heal divisions in Washington by working in a bi-partisan way.
That may be an unpopular truth on this message board, but it is still true all the same.
McCain has actually worked with members of the other party in order to craft legislation. Obama has not, in the general public's view, done any such thing.
If Obama continues down this path of "the ends justifies the means", of "total war", and of apparent flip-flopping, he will lose some of his appeal.
McCain is HYPOCRITE and LIAR!
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