Shorter Bonnie Erbe
By SilentPatriot Friday Jun 27, 2008 12:15pm
Barack Obama, Serial Flip-Flopper
- Barack Obama is a far worse flip-flopper than John McCain, provided you ignore all of John McCain's egregious flip-flops.
In perhaps one of the most shameful displays of John McCain Media Worship, Bonnie Erbe takes to the pages of US News & World Report today to decry that Barack Obama, not John McCain, has been more flexible on the issues. That's a pretty easy thing to do when you claim John McCain has only flip-flopped on offshore drilling.
Seeing that the entire US News research team must have called out sick today, here is a freebie from your friends at C&L, Bonnie:
1. Bush tax cuts.
2. Jerry Falwell and the religious right
4. Public financing - Opting in, then out, then in again
5. Windfall profits tax on oil companies
6. Bush's concept of inherent authority
7. Privatizing social security
8. Estate tax
What a sloppy and shoddy piece of "journalism" from someone who claims to have been covering politics since "God was a baby" -- or since John McCain was a teenager.
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Looks like somebody is looking to become one of McCain's em"bed"ded reporters. Slap some sauce on those ribs and tickle them to the bone.
I think voting against your own bill puts McCain in the flip-flopper hall of infamy.
THis will be ignored ...
A republican (Hungarian immigrant - who is returning to Europe as they claim the US is now worse than Hungary was under the Soviets) is receiving 'material'. The following is one example.
While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old Texas rancher, whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama and his bid to be our President.
The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'post turtle'.'
Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was. The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'.'
The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, he doesn't know what to do while he is up there, and you just wonder what kind of a dumb ass put him up there to begin with.'
... his contention is that (based upon his experiences) the US is far to racist to elect O'Bama and McCain is insane.
Two things are VERY CLEAR so far in this Presidential Contest:
1. The media will underestimate Obama and this nation's support for Change at all costs this election.
2. They will go out of their way to give McCain the benefit of the doubt even if he no longer deserves it.
Contrary to the memory of David Gregory and Gibson, I remember when this nation went anti-war starting in 2004 even though Bush won, but the media kept reporting that as a minority position until the 2006 mid-term elections. Now everyone is trying to perform their best KO / Helen Thomas act. Now it appears they will keep reporting that Obama has a problem with EVERY GROUP on EVERY POSITION regardless of the state-by-state polls (they are a million times more important than national because Obama could win the popular BIG and lose the electoral college if he runs up the score in certain states), size of his crowds, and correct position on the issues.
ALL of the coverage of these networks are about Obama, good and bad, but mostly bad. Remember when they were saying he couldn't win Hispanics? That issue died as fast as the issue of once upon a time they said he can't win Blacks. Now they're talking about Jews, Muslims, and disaffected Hillary voters. McCain is still getting a FREE RIDE even though the contest has started!!!
What is this? A picture of royalty?
No. It is a picture of the fourth estate saying. "I have it made. I no longer have to mix with the plebes. My shit no longer stinks."
And torture! Don't forget torture.
A few more McGrampa flip-flops:
http://www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com/archives/15924.html
* McCain supported the drilling moratorium; now he’s against it.
* McCain strongly opposes a windfall-tax on oil company profits. Three weeks earlier, he was perfectly comfortable with the idea.
* McCain thought Bush’s warrantless-wiretap program circumvented the law; now he believes the opposite.
* McCain defended “privatizing” Social Security. Now he says he’s against privatization (though he actually still supports it.)
Wait, I’m not done with the last two weeks yet….
* McCain wanted to change the Republican Party platform to protect abortion rights in cases of rape and incest. Now he doesn’t.
* McCain thought the estate tax was perfectly fair. Now he believes the opposite.
* He opposed indefinite detention of terrorist suspects. When the Supreme Court reached the same conclusion, he called it “one of the worst decisions in the history of this country.”
* McCain said he would “not impose a litmus test on any nominee.” He used to promise the opposite.
And these come after these other reversals from April and May:
* McCain believes the telecoms should be forced to explain their role in the administration’s warrantless surveillance program as a condition for retroactive immunity. He used to believe the opposite.
* McCain supported storing spent nuclear fuel at Yucca Mountain in Nevada. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain supported moving “towards normalization of relations” with Cuba. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Hamas. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain believed the U.S. should engage in diplomacy with Syria. Now he believes the opposite.
* He argued the NRA should not have a role in the Republican Party’s policy making. Now he believes the opposite.
* McCain supported his own lobbying-reform legislation from 1997. Now he doesn’t.
* He wanted political support from radical televangelists like John Hagee and Rod Parsley. Now he doesn’t.
* McCain supported the Lieberman/Warner legislation to combat global warming. Now he doesn’t.
And these are the flip-flops I’ve noticed earlier:
* McCain pledged in February 2008 that he would not, under any circumstances, raise taxes. Specifically, McCain was asked if he is a “‘read my lips’ candidate, no new taxes, no matter what?” referring to George H.W. Bush’s 1988 pledge. “No new taxes,” McCain responded. Two weeks later, McCain said, “I’m not making a ‘read my lips’ statement, in that I will not raise taxes.”
* McCain is both for and against a “rogue state rollback” as a focus of his foreign policy vision.
* McCain says he considered and did not consider joining John Kerry’s Democratic ticket in 2004.
* In 1998, he championed raising cigarette taxes to fund programs to cut underage smoking, insisting that it would prevent illnesses and provide resources for public health programs. Now, McCain opposes a $0.61-per-pack tax increase, won’t commit to supporting a regulation bill he’s co-sponsoring, and has hired Philip Morris’ former lobbyist as his senior campaign adviser.
* McCain has changed his economic worldview on multiple occasions.
* McCain has changed his mind about a long-term U.S. military presence in Iraq on multiple occasions.
* McCain is both for and against attacking Barack Obama over his former pastor at his former church.
* McCain believes Americans are both better and worse off than they were before Bush took office.
* McCain is both for and against earmarks for Arizona.
* McCain believes his endorsement from radical televangelist John Hagee was both a good and bad idea.
* McCain’s first mortgage plan was premised on the notion that homeowners facing foreclosure shouldn’t be “rewarded” for acting “irresponsibly.” His second mortgage plan took largely the opposite position.
* McCain vowed, if elected, to balance the federal budget by the end of his first term. Soon after, he decided he would no longer even try to reach that goal.
* In February 2008, McCain reversed course on prohibiting waterboarding.
[...]
chris robinson @ 6:
Ninja'd. That's the biggest one IMHO. And this article comes a how many hours after he tried to take credit for the wonderful new GI bill that pays for the soldiers' post-secondary education? Pffft, pttooooo, facts! Yucky!
Jo @ 5:
I thought it was a recent picture of Katherine Harris until I realised that Erbe's orbs are as flat as a board.
Breaking news from the British Journal of Nutsology.
It is now a proven scientific fact that being republican is proof positive of insanity says Dr Elmwood Futherthom.
All republicans should be treated, and some can recover.
However die hard bush supporters are beyond help and should be quarantined as soon as possible for the greater good of humanity; these people have lost all signs of being human and have become a danger to themselves and others. If republicans are spotted in your area they should be pointed out to local mental health professionals. The sooner the better. That is all.
A friend of the family bought me a subscription to US News and World Report back in 1970 "so that I would be well-informed." I remember reading the first issue and thinking,"Who the hell writes this crap - Richard Nixon?" I see that they have not changed over the last thirty-eight years. Fascist rag...
Now I remember why I stopped subscribing to them.
Just another McC*nt Suck Meatyus repeater...nuthin new hear....
Isn't this the same thing that accidentally wished for Obama's assassination?
Another of the Evil Axis of Conservative Stepford Sisterhood.
Mickxotic @ 11:
Brainwashing the young is always a popular passtime in any country, I guess.
Thank the Flying Spaghetti Monster for the "Georgia Straight" here in B.C. Canada while I was coming of age in the 70's. And it was free.
Such a regal pose. Maybe she can borrow one of Mrs. Ghouliani's tiaras to complete the outfit.
Another that will be ignored ...
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/28/washington/28privacy.html?_r=1&th=&adx...
http://mediamatters.org/items/200806060008
he consistently supported designating the Iranian Rev. Guard a terrorist org. having co-sponsored a bill in 2007 to do that.
his criticism of hillary's vote was to knit the iraq war vote with iran possible war vote. she claimed diplomacy which could be true.....but obama was trying to offset all the criticism he was getting for diplomacy with terrorists without pre-conditions.
this is not a flip flop.......this is a lie
"There's no reason why we would necessarily meet with Ahmadinejad. He's not the most powerful person in Iran."
that doesn't meet the flip flop definition the mullah(sp) is the most powerful person(s) in the republic of iran.
the right wants to put obama in a situation with
Ahmadinejad who is portrayed as a radical which he may be. no reason why we would necessarily..........
this is weak
I am guessing that, by the appearance of the photo, Ms Bonnie believes herself to be a celebrity...I wouldn't know about that. She sure as hell isn't a journalist.
Bonnie Erbe?
Never heard of her.
Who is she, and why is she standing like that?
The corporate media won't under any circumstances hold McCain accountable for his near-legendary flip-flops. That being said, there's no excuse for Obama campaign and his surrogates not to draw attention to how monumentally full of shit he is. That's their job, not McCain's base. They should be hammering at every opportunity.
Also, it's not like the Obama and the DNC are short of cash. Where's the attack ads defining McCain?
7 Dr. (Fast Eddie) Matt Says: A few more McGrampa flip-flops:
Hey, Dr. Matt... THANKS for the McCain Flip-Flop list. You came up with almost THIRTY recent examples... and the staff of a national "news" mag could only come up with ONE?
Right-Wing ME-dia really sucks in this country. I love this web site.
So this is what we're stuck with this election? Someone who flip-flops less than the other guy. And that's cause for celebration? Wonderful.
Yesterday, after signaling opposition to nuclear power, he told Democratic governors he's open to expanding it."
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDmyToTYBE
after signaling opposition.............listen to the video 1.5min. into it barack we should consider nuclear he never opposed that i know of.....he wants caution........obviously it's a concern no plants have been constructed.........maybe they can't be insured
i feel this is not a flip flop it's a lie.......this is a continuation of let's make obama defend himself because our candidate is flip flopping like a fish out of water
I would consider mccain to be the worst flip-flopper.
However, obama's flip-flopping on Constitutional issues like the death penalty and Amendments IV and V has me more concerned.
The only Constitutional issue I've seen mccain flip-flop on was on Article II and the president's inherentent authority, which presumably includes torture.
But obama can't claim ignorance as an excuse since it's on his resume about his being a constitutional expert.
And mccain's people can claim his open attitude to torture is part of his "common-man, comman-sense or maverick attitude." And taken in conjunction with his own claimed experience with torture can be presented as being more knowledgeable about the issue, and indeed heroic.
CowBoy Bob in Austin @ 25:
they do the flip flop then they explain it before being attacked on it.........
Bonnie Erbe is not a sloppy reporter and this was not a sloppy piece of journalism.
THIS IS PART OF WHAT JOURNALISM IS AND HAS ALWAYS BEEN.
Bonnie Erbe did her job and her job is to lie, no big deal, it's done all the time.
This is the reality of being an employee. You do what you're told until you don't have to be told anymore.
I remember seeing on CSPAN Chris Mathews giving a commencement speech on reporting and journalism
to young graduates while wearing his plaster board cap on crooked while drunk. I know he's a diabetic but,
IMO, he was also drunk. I don't blame him considering what he has to do five days a week.
Gloria Allred without the embedded smile?
Bonnie, get those hands off of that bony ass of yours and knock off the serial uppity shit.
Great comment.
Is she trying to show off her rack?
I hope she didn't breastfeed any children she may've had
They'd starve to death.
And what's with these reichbots and their red or pink suits?
jitter @ 22:
She is the (supposedly) "liberal" host of PBS's "To The Contrary" on Saturday morning. I used to watch the show occasionally and she was usually pretty reasonable. I wonder how much her sellout price was.
• In October, he supported NAFTA expansion. In March, campaigning in the Ohio primary, he called for a "reopening" of the trade pact's terms. This week, he called his own primary rhetoric "overheated" and said NAFTA has had a positive effect on the US economy.
i need some help with this one........i believe obama may have been a little over zealous...put the "hammer" down regarding NAFTA negotiations...the gop painted him as wanting to do this unilaterally......obama knows that labor and environmental issues need to be addressed...(b.clinton got talked out of these important issues initial NAFTA agreement)obama was courting union people at the time.........the bottom line is this guy wants to negotitate somewhat like his diplomacy strategy.........corporations don't want him to change NAFTA......they don't want employee's empowered......she is pushing it here they are creating their own interpretation of a flip flop
CowBoy Bob in Austin @ 25:
Click on the link. There are over 42 McGrampa flip-flops....and counting....
Obama's a "post turtle"? What a bunch of crap.
Especially when that post is just spam. Check it out:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=obama+%22post+turtle%22&btnG=Google...
Peggy Noonan would never let this happen. At NPR she would make sure
the message was disguised in such a way as to make you feel like a well
informed person and a cheerful well informed person, at that.
The flip flop message on Obama has gone out overtly and covertly from every available source.
If they don't get in the front door they try the window. This is the nature of media
as an arm of PR, lobbyists, corporations, politicians, blackmailers, whitemailers,
liers, psychopaths, sex crazy reporters, stupid reporters, editors, mortgages, children, money
for college, ambition, all converge on MSM and non-MSM to form a colostomy bag
filled with_______(you decide).
Gee, US News and World Report is a right-wing mouthpiece. Like I haven't known that for 20 years! My dad, a conservative, loves this rag and calls it "balanced."
jwf @ 34:
Does everyone have to have a price though??
I mean, I never went to university and can understand how exorbitant the tuition fees really are, but -- do people really have to become whores to pay those fees off?
Message (via pony express) from McCain to Bonnie Erbe:
"Thanks for the good PR.......... you c*nt."
hello @ 40:
If you want to live like a whore... then you have to hang out your shingle... and do what whores do.
I worked in TV broadcasting for 17 years, and watched a lot of media sales guys and girls sell their souls to the devil to close contracts and put together promotion packages that did NOTHING for the advertisers. I watched a lot of smart young on-air talent go the same path... just for a little additional on-camera time... like the news director who made the late-night weather guy WEAR MOOSE ANTLERS DURING THE LOCAL WEATHER SEGMENT. It was pretty sad.
I wonder if Erbe is delusional or a compulsive liar. Either way she's not responsible for the drivel coming out of her head. I believe both conditions are treatable
Is that an old picture of Bianca Jagger from her Studio 54 days?
With a head full of snow?
hello @ 40:
I don't know if EVERYONE has a price, but it seems so many media types are easily bribed to whore for such low prices.
And don't forget his growing proclivity for flip-flopping in the very same sentence. Here are a couple examples I’ve noticed:
http://talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/200044.php
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jonathanmartin/0608/McCain_muffs_description_capandtrade.html
The man has become an out-and-out bullshit artist.
The bonny Herb is much better for the brain than the Bonnie Erbe.
don't forget his "this war is not for oil"..... "under my policy we won't have to send men and women in harms to get oil"
Why don't some obama supporters want to admit that obama is no different than any other politician? I don't get it. He's a flip-flopper . .. that the truth, pure and simple. Is it just us real progressives that can see it? Please explain.
The right word for the CORPORATE MEDIA IS NOT MEDIA .. IT SHOULD BE CORPORATE MAFIA ...
"Osama bin Laden had been saying for years, 'America wants to invade an Arab country and occupy it, an oil-rich Arab country. He had been saying this. This is part of his propaganda," adds Clarke.
"So what did we do after 9/11? We invade an oil-rich and occupy an oil-rich Arab country which was doing nothing to threaten us. In other words, we stepped right into bin Laden's propaganda. And the result of that is that al Qaeda and organizations like it, offshoots of it, second-generation al Qaeda have been greatly strengthened."
richard clarke
it's amazing how many of these journalists will
just lay down and let mccain dry hump their
faces thru a donut.
dadams @ 51:
it's all for the romance of Darwinian Capitalism
if people aren't careful this race will be too close at least for my comfort
U.S. News has always been a lying sack of shit.Now they have women with their balls in a briefcase who bad mouth "libruls" without knowing jack shit.Years ago it was men with their balls in the briefcase that did it.
Isn`t equality grand?
Um, why don't we look at Obama's flip flops? I would rather bathe in Cheney's scrotal sweat than vote for McJackmeoff, but that's no excuse to look at what we were promised and what we are now being sold.
Need I remind you all of the spineless shit-o-crats of '06? Put this mans feet to the fire. We don't need another Bush lite instead of a Bushite.
2008 will go down as one of the worst years for either party. Nominating two of the lamest candidates for president when this country is aching for leadership on day one when the choices we have boil down to these two is mystifying.
Douche-bag, pseudo-pundit, pseudo-journalist, pseudo-intellectual. Republican courtesan who hasn't looked at her birth certificate for a long time.
Bonnie's just jealous of the two because she has no flip, she's simply a flop.
Remember the mortal words of the solid senator from S C, Lindsay Graham: "That all changed when the gas went to $4.00." ie. the Republican license to flip and flop.
Nice lists on McSame flip flop plops. Is there a list of right wing pundits, apologists, supporters in the media? Sometimes they are sneaky and it would be nice to know who the subtile ones are.
OT but Laura Dern's "Katherine Harris" was hilarious in Recount.\
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...
Priceless
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&add...
Wow, what parsing did that?
Okay then , never mind!
Gee Bonnie, did you forget to notice McCain's flip flop on a woman's right to choose? That's right, he is now conveniently anti choice.
“As governor of California, I will do everything in my power to fight the federal government on this issue and prevent any new offshore drilling,” Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, a McCain supporter, said Wednesday.
Another McCain ally, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist, reversed his opposition to oil exploration off the state’s beaches after the presidential candidate said he supported lifting the moratorium. Crist said the issue is about local control.
don't try to make obama a mirror image of mcBlame
you gave poor examples out of context...for people who want to believe mcBlame isn't doing anything different than anyone else
She looks like she just smelled her own fart.
I usually don't minimize someone like that, but didn't she just do the same to Obama?
.
The McMedia loves them some Bar-B-Q'd McRibs...
.
I much prefer Bonnie Annie Laurie.
"Flip-Flops" cost John Kerry the election back in '04, didn't it?
They both are flipping their positions to suit who ever is in front of them when they open their mouth. At this point, it's more prudent to say who's flipping less than the other.
It appears that Bonnie represents neo-journalism in which actual reporting needs not apply.
However I do hope she is smoking copious amounts of marijuana to deal with that blindness problem she has.
karl @ 50:
Erbe loves McCain's barbecued aged tenderloins.
mackiddo5 @ 69:
Crap! I screwed up with the cursor. Sorry.
My statement was:
It’s not propaganda if it’s real. Sooner or later we will encounter someone who will make OBL seem quite sane and reserved. By then we will have another scapegoat prepared for that eventuality.
I actually worked with Bonnie Erbe in TV news a lifetime ago -- Idiot then, idiot now.
Is that Camille Paglia? sorta looks like her. sorry to Camille if it isnt. but she would be great to have at a dinner party.
Journalism is probably like any other profession. Sometimes you've been there too long and need to move on.
The right-wing pundits are getting in lock-step on this issue this week. Check out Charles Karuthammer's piece on the 'flip-flopping' of the 'media favorite' Obama. I especially enjoyed his commentary on Obama's 'preposterous claim' that he would need private financing to battle McCain 527 attacks, and that there would be no serious anti-Obama 527 activity. Right.
this is to be expected. we have all forecast that once the Dem-of-choice was determined, the media would go all out against him/her. it's come to fruition, that's all, but it is certainly expected.
let's just keep exposing the lies and the lying liars who tell them.
i believe that when any of the crapolaheads calls Obama a media darling or media favorite, they are telling the media not to have anything positive to say about him. it's a coded signal.
A few facal nips and tucks and
she will never be able to smile again!
where is the rift between bizarro land and the real world First thing obama should do is close that rift, oh that's right we'd lost 90% of all rethugs I could live with that
There once was a sunday roundtable show on pbs that featured only women I think erbe was the commentor she and her irk are why I got a TV with a mute button
Bonnie Erbe looking ready for her Katherine Harris closeup.
If McT-Rex is so great and would be a great prez, how come he couldn't beat Bush?
Dr. (Fast Eddie) Matt @ 7:
Wow! Thats a shitload of flip-floppin'.
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