Wanker of the Day: Mark Halperin on Morning Joe
By Nicole Belle Tuesday Jul 29, 2008 4:00pm
Let the transcript speak for itself:
SCARBOROUGH: Is the media turning against him? Is the media going to start seizing on things like this to prove that they're not in the tank for Barack Obama?
HALPERIN: There's been a little bit of the paradigm shift. I think that McCain web video might have had the same effect as the Saturday Night Live parody that...on the Clinton/Obama race. I think some reporters recognize going forward if we replicate the way the coverage has been, the imbalance, the unfair pro-Obama coverage going forward, it would do a disservice in the general election. This...whenever I go on TV and say, ‘this election is about a referendum on Obama, that's the whole thing,' those guys with the Cheetos on the end of their fingers...
BRZEZINSKI: [laughs] Exactly...
HALPERIN: ...attack me and say, ‘that's just some dodge, it's about McCain too'. McCain deserves scrutiny and he'll get some. But I think Barack Obama has to find the right balance between this seeming presidential, getting people comfortable with him, and this kind of stuff, the presidential seal, the faux seal, the kind of quote that The Washington Post has. I think that's stuff is dangerous. I think that's the one way he can lose the election.
SCARBOROUGH: People don't understand the dynamics of this race, the landscape, the battlefield, the political battlefield. And it is this: Republicans have had power for 8 years. We've gotten in trouble in Iraq. We've gotten in trouble in Afghanistan. We're going to have a $500 billion deficit. The President's approval rating below 30. He's in Jimmy Carter territory. Right Track/Wrong Track-81% of Americans think we're on the wrong track. There is...so when we say it's not about John McCain, we're saying you could put a Pet Rock, you know, in the position John McCain is, if it were a Republican Pet Rock, it would have all of these problems. It is about Obama, because like Jimmy Carter in '76, a Democrat should win.
First of all, Halperin, bite me with the dismissive Cheetos snark. I'll match not only my diet but my bona fides against yours any day and we'll see just who has the Cheetos stains. You get attacked because you literally can not recognize your posterior from your elbow. You really want us to believe this ridiculous "librul media" bias meme you've been pushing for years? Um, hello...reality to Halperin. Maybe if you weren't so busy eating the doughnuts and BBQ with which McCain is only too happy to keep you supplicated, you'd see that.
As much as I'd hate to agree with the Scar -- and believe me, it's killing me -- the Democrats winning this election should be a foregone conclusion considering just how badly the GOP has screwed up in their 25 years of either Legislative or Executive control. The fact that Obama doesn't have a 25-30 point margin has more to do with hacks like Halperin who will never report honestly on McCain's dizzying number of flip flops, his bad temper, his constant factual errors but will focus endlessly on hard hitting items like unproven, unchallenged and fact-free slurs.
This election is not a referendum on Barack Obama, you hack. It's to the detriment of the entire country that we can't have an referendum on the damage done to democracy by the likes of Mark Halperin. Put that on a Cheetos and eat it.
UPDATE: MoveOn has sent out a political action to its members asking them to contact Halperin and ask him to stop repeating right wing talking points. You may email him at mark_halperin@timemagazine.com and then let MoveOn know your response.
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Good on ya, Nicole!
How can these people be so stupid and still keep their jobs?
That L.A. Times story that shows that the media has been harder on Obama is not the first.
A study published last August showed that, while there was more coverage of Dems, more of that coverage was negative. It's not just being on the air - It's what they are saying. Limbaugh, Hannity, etc. talk much more about Dems than Repubs, and they aren't saying nice things.
aka, "bite me."
Brava, Nicole.
This election is not a referendum on Barack Obama, you hack.
Unfortunately, I'm sorry to say, that is what it will become. Because that is the best GOP tactic, and the SCUM will cooperate. As you'd expect, in the Corporate State, where the corporate media are State Media...
Well said, Nicole!
The media will insure that McCain is crowned ruler of America. They will not cover the Republicans efforts at voter suppression. They will always portray McCain in the most favorable light. He's the "trusted" one. Obama is uppity and risky. When this house of cards comes tumbling down I hope there are enough blindfolds for all the Quislings in the corporate media.
Halperin is up there no doubt. But I truly think Dana Milibank has it hands down with his effort to outdo Maureen Dowd. It is obvious from posting times that he was first out of the gate with the misleading quote of Obama being "the symbol" of America, and that his friend Mr. Weisman followed like a good wanna be Milbankian.
Both attribute the quote to "a witness" to Obama's words at a meeting of Congressional Democrats. I'm sorry. If you are a competent journalist, and someone hands you a dynamite quote like that from a meeting involving dozens of elected Democratic Congressmembers, and you cannot confirm it from one other "witness" you are wither a) mailicious or b) dumber than Judith Miller and just as easily played.
Isn't a single piece out of a bag of Cheetos called a Cheeto?
BRZEZINSKI: [laughs] Exactly….......EXACTLY! Mika has nothing to offer. Joe belittles her and basically laughs in her face (of course, he does it in a cutesy, flirty kind of way, that makes you want to take a shower) It is like watching a puppy dog get slapped around.
Does anybody else think the polls are being manipulated to show such a close lead so that when the Republicans steal the White House again they can point to them and say, "Well, the polls were always showing this as a tight race."?
Joe: "The GOP has screwed up everything in this country... which is why this election is a referendum on Obama." WTF is this kind of logic? It's a bit like saying "people from Saudia Arabia attacked us on 9/11, so we are going after Iraq."
Ah yes, screwy republican mindset. By the way, Joe, Bush is in Nixon territory, not Carter. But if you say Nixon, you'd drag Bush, McCain and the whole GOP further into that hole (if that is even possible) so they have to go after Carter, a Nobel Prize winner respected worldwide. Like I said, doesn't make any sense at all.
Nicole Belle has a brain worth kissing.
NBC ought'a bring back Imus. At least he played some good music. Mika is such a disappointment.
When propagandists get together, the mendacity is astonishing. Mind blowing. It takes on cosmic proportions.
Yeah, I've been waiting for the long-promised scrutiny of John McCain. Any day now, I'm sure. It's too bad Halperin is too much of a coward to have comments enabled on his site at Time.com, or I'd ask him myself. I'd also ask him about his deicion to "award" the week before Obama's trip overseas to McCain - you know, right around the time events were conspiring to make McCain look like an idiot. Oddly enough, I didn't see Mark "award" the week to anybody while Obama was racking up accolades overseas. Quite a curious omission on Mark's part, don't you think?
Anita Break @ 10:
I've been saying that for a few weeks now.
Obama goes to Europe, gets huge audiences, 'looks' Presidential. That's a problem? Didn't TIME magazine run a cover story about how 'presidential' Mitt Romney looked? I always thought Romney looked presidential in a B-movie sort of way. Obama looks like and acts like the real thing...or at least like I would like my President to be. You know, smart, respectful, thoughtful. Nothing the current President knows about or apparently John McCain, either.
Way to go Nicolle.
Excellent post.
Anita Break @ 10:
There is no need to manipulate the polls. They just have to manipulate the reporting of the polls.
Just as, if "they" can control what you are talking about--and they can, they've been working on it ceaselessly and relentlessly since about 1917, and they've gotten damn good at it--they don't have to worry about controlling you are actually saying, because there are only a limited number of possible things to say...
The maninstream mediots, led by the likes of Halperin and Howard Kurtz are gonna keep saying this shit until Election Day. Anyone could've predicted that McCain ad would have an effec, and judging by this clip, they're warming up for Rev Wright Part II.
Why doesn't MoveOn or the Obama campaign make their own ad showing McCain Media bias? It's not like there isn't a shitload of footage out there featuring news anchors and pundits fawning over him. You could easily make a 3 minute compilation internet ad.
Seems a complete no-brainer to me.
This election is no referendum.
It is the defining moment in our history as a nation.
Do we ignore or misplace the blame for the damage done by Republican idealogues in the last 8 years plus(the Clinton persecution and impeachment have to count), or do we turn away from this path to detruction?
I'm sorry to find that so many Americans are ready to continue watching our economy, our freedoms and our moral standing drain away.
Every time I hear or read of those Hilary Clinton supporters who are willing to vote for a continuation of Republican control I want to vomit.
Every time I find someone who believes that McCain will stand up against his fellow Republicans, despite the fact that he has yet to do so once during his flip-flopping campaign, I want to hurl heavy objects.
We , as a nation, have failed to rein in the excesses(read as crimes) of the Bush administration primarily because the Corporate Media has either downplayed or abetted them.
We, as a nation, are now ready to let that media, again, choose our president for us.
This is a defining moment. And we are going to blow it.
Anita Break @ 10:
Yes.
There is something going on here. McCain is running negative ads like crazy.
McCain is also outright lying. It seems like McCain’s camp is very desperate. It is only August and McCain is throwing the kitchen sink at Obama already. What is the real story here? It seems the political reporters are missing something here that the McCain camp sees in the numbers. What is going on? Why is McCain acting so crazy and desperate? Why did McCain go so negative so early? Why is McCain lying to the point it is embarrassing or crazy?
The teevee shows me all the pictures I want of Paris Hilton and Brittney Spears, why can't I have more pictures of Barack? That's what I want to watch, why won't they show it to me. I don't want to watch John McCain, I want to watch Barack give a speech to 200K Germans. Why do they always follow my Barack pictures with ugly pictures of old McCain? It ruins my teevee enjoyment.
SCARBOROUGH: Is the media turning against him? Is the media going to start seizing on things like this to prove that they’re not in the tank for Barack Obama?
I would like the media to seize on anything that proves they are not stupid lazy hacks who follow a narrative better than sheep follow my Aussie Shepherd.
Excellent post Nicole!
(:+:)
PorridgeGun @ 22:
Of course they are! From the beginning Obama said he would rely HEAVILY on the youth vote, first-time voters, moderate Republicans, and minorities. All of those groups are not properly represented in the polling for various reasons. They also don't factor in the 13% or more Democratic registration gap. The polls are based on "With All Things Being Equal" when all things are not equal.
I think with ALL of Obama's numbers, they need to automatically add 7 to 10 points for those groups I highlighted, then subtract 5 for the bigots and votes that Republicans throw away, and you'll get closer to his real number.
And I do believe that 20% of the nation is waiting until after the debates to make their final decision because he is still going through a introduction process.
Ask these guys (Halperin) to stop repeating right wing talking points? You might just as well tell them to STFU because it's all they've got.
CNN INTERNATIONAL: "Overconfidence?"
"Who is Barack Obama's biggest opponent in the US Election? Senator McCain....or Himself?"
Looks like that's the narrative the media, especially in US, are going with in the run-up to the GOP convention and debates, where they're hoping to spin McMagoo as the underdog/comeback kid.
Mr. Anderson et al,
Also these polls are typically framed as McLame vs Obama. Barr is going to further disintegrate the repub base and weaken McLames numbers.
You better stock up on popcorn!
You might want to hold on to that wanker award until you hear what Tucker Carlson said on Hardball tonight. Fortunately Congressman Barney Frank was on to eat Tucker's lunch and even throw the chicken bones in Tucker's face. Why Tucker Carlson is ever on tv is just beyond me.
My tv was on this morning but somehow I mentally tuned out while Halperin was on. His voice and Joe's just turned to noise. These people seem to feel they know what we should be thinking. Like they are our mental guides or something. Earlier in the show an email came in calling Joe and scum and telling him he didn't know what he was talking about. Joe went into a rant about emailers and Cheetos and at one point he made a blanket statement about people on the left like the emailer being stupid.
woody, tokin librul @ 4:
I think this election is fairly a referendum on Obama. Everyone knows McCain and knows that he won't be any better than Bush. They want change and they want to vote for Obama, but no one really know who he is and what he represents yet. The last time we took a risk on a unknown, we elected Bush Jr. twice. The problem with the media is that unlike Bush, Obama has excelled in everything that he's done so the comparisons are not fair. Instead of presenting the American public for what he is, a insanely organized and pragmatic person who wants to always make the right decision, they try to create question marks where question marks should not be. They're taking out their under-coverage and lack of scrutiny they gave Bush unfairly out on Obama.
You got to love it when the pundit class defend the MSM like they are objective and insightful, and anyone who isn't big MSM eats cheetos in their pajamas and has a DSM-IV diagnois of Asperger's.
It's like the commissioner of the NFL throwing out the spygate video and saying he's an impartial judge or Mrs. Alan Greenspan commentating on the role of the fed as a "journalist".
This is what happens to media in an unregulated, lack of fairness doctrine, capitalism run amok world where the guys telling us what to think are company owned, operated and controlled.
Like I said before, I would not take anything Joe Schmo says as remotely worth listening to, just another failed politician acting like a journalist on a cable news network. As far as his cheeto fetish, seems to me most of the chunky, pasty Neocons are going through the cheetos, if anyone is.
The networks are hoping it is close, or it's boring television. Joe Schmo is boring television close race or not.
PorridgeGun @ 22:
Wouldn't surprise me one bit and it makes me sad to say that.
Blue Lensman @ 30:
Exactly. That's what I was talking about when they said everything being equal. Everything will not be equal as there are more than two candidates on the ballot. Blacks and youths will turn out at a all-time high with a 20% increase from 2004 or more. Independents will break at least 60-40 for Obama. At least 20% of the Christian Conservatives will stay at home. Democrats outnumber Republicans in just about every key battleground state. The enthusiasm gap is at least 2-to-1. None of that is factored into the polls.
I've read C&L a long time and I've never seen any bona fides from anyone. I gather Nicole and John are a music industry type and a musician, respectively. Then again, what bona fides does Halperin have, besides having a MSM day job?
Shannon @ 21
Where are you hearing and reading that Hillary Clinton supporters want a continuation of republican control that is making you want to vomit? That's just crazy! It sounds to me like you want a continuation of Hating all things Hillary. It is possible to support Obama without hating Hillary so maybe you should try that.
I am impressed and appalled by the Republican/Corporate media's many euphemisms for uppity.
How many ways can you imply that Obama is an uppity N-Word without once being called racist?
And how often can you cite Obama's international inexperience without noting that McCain's is primarily that of a POW. This gives one precious little insight into international relations.
Mark @ News Corpse @ 2:
If you are talking about FNC, you know that their audience is stupider than they are.
poerba @ 37:
I'm not in the music industry at all. I'm a freelance editor and writer. I left a full time career as a marketing executive to be able to stay home with my family. And I never eat Cheetos, I rarely blog in my pajamas and if you line up my assertions side by side with Halperin's, you'll see that my examples of media bias are generally better sourced and more grounded in reality than his.
And I do it without the luxury of an administrative or editing staff to check my work.
This goes right to the heart of my theory. Dems are more objective and willing to see both sides of an issue. Hell, in some cases, Dems will even vote for the other side (Reagan Democrats, anyone?). You just don't see the reverse of that. Conservatives throughout the South and Midwest will NEVER vote for a Democratic candidate. NO MATTER WHAT.
That's why you have such a tight race now. You're right, Obama should be out in front by at least 30 points. But the very fact that GOPers fall right in line with their party EVERYTIME gives McC*nt an excellent shot. Hard to believe, but welcome to America.
Mister Anderson @ 32:
I believe you give them too much credit. They do the bidding of their masters. They wear ties, an internationally known symbol of corporate submission. They ALL do.
Bluesage @38,
I last heard it from a caller on the Diane Rehm radio show on WAMU this morning.
The caller said that unless Obama offered the VP spot to Hillary, she would vote for McCain.
gempei @ 40:
Disregard. Wasn't noticing it was MSNBC. You're right, I don't know. I need coffee.
Bluesage @ 38:
If so, I don't want to hear any of those Hillary backs moan about future Supreme Court decisions. Destroy environmental protections? Overturn Roe v. Wade?
That's what this country can look forward to with McC*nt in the White House.
Bluesage @38,
PS I was a Hilarry supporter myself.
Mister Anderson @ 36:
Neither are rigged vote-counts, ballot/machine shortages, police lines, impounded ballots, secret counts, and bogus machine tallies...
What DO you think the 90 or so US Attys who weren't fired for refusing to perform the political monkeyshines of their patrons/betters DOING all this time?
Thanks for printing the contact info for Halperin. This is what i wrote to him:
If you want to publicly perform oral sex upon John McCain, you would probably be able to make yourself a little money if you signed up with Falcon Video, the gay porn production company. Hey, maybe you could have a three-way with your other pal, Joe (Dead Intern) Scarborough. How did you ever get a job with a news organization? I've seen better journalistic responsibility in a Bazooka Joe comic.
If people who have only cell phones were polled the difference would be BIG. That would include every young voter and a whole lot of people in their 40s and 50s too. Right now they are reaching older people who have land lines and that's the same generation who might fear Sen. Obama's skin color or might identify with someone McCain's age.
Shannnon @ 44
Well, that is just very sad. I don't know any Hillary supporters that are considering voting for McCrazy. Maybe this caller needs to just be ignored and her ignorance not spread around. It's also quite possible that she was never a Hillary supporter. I don't see it or hear it at all.
First thing out of Joe's mouth:
People don’t understand the dynamics of this race, the landscape, the battlefield, the political battlefield
So we are all stupid and they will help us understand, if they so desire.
What an arrogant prick.
Bluesage @ 51:
there's also a pretty good chance that the caller was lying, innit?
Is it just me, or did Scarborough just compare McCain to a pet rock?
Che's Lounge @ 52:
Oh yes, if we don't listen to joe we won't know anything. He is wise in all ways. We don't understand the political battlefield like he does because we have never fought the hard fight there that joe has.
At least his ego doesn't get in the way of his stupid.
HALPERIN: There’s been a little bit of the paradigm shift. I think that McCain web video might have had the same effect as the Saturday Night Live parody that…on the Clinton/Obama race. I think some reporters recognize going forward if we replicate the way the coverage has been, the imbalance, the unfair pro-Obama coverage going forward, it would do a disservice in the general election. This…whenever I go on TV and say, ‘this election is about a referendum on Obama, that’s the whole thing,’ those guys with the Cheetos on the end of their fingers…
Any sentence that starts with "some reporters" is ALWAYS followed with hackery.
Halperin and Scarborough - which one's supposed to be the "Wanker of the Day" again?
They're both oozing with Wankery.
This site is just like the main stream media. You act like the only thing going on in the world is this stupid election between 2 people who represent the same goals, big government, big corporation and world control.
You have very few articles about stopping the war, impeach the current administration or stopping the federal reserve and central bankers from turning the US into a third world dictatorship. WAKE UP!
Yes, and it's a good thing Scarborough is around to explain the dynamics of the race, because otherwise we wouldn't know what to THINK.
I hate all the negativity surrounding Cheetos. They're so cheesy...
Yes knifewrench. Like it's all the Cheetos fault. And I'm still trying to work out the pet rock thing. So was Scarborough saying that a pet rock is like McCain or that McCain is like a pet rock?
I wouldn't worry about the Cheetos remark Nicole, coming as it does in guys slathered in McRib sauce.
knifewrench @ 60:
But the stains in my genitals area.....never mind
Charles @ 59:
I don't even begin to think each morning until I hear what Joe wants me to think about.
He assumes that he is wiser than his audience. I'm not so sure about that. As if anyone cares what this one man thinks or wants us to think. Same goes for Halperin, why should I care? I don't know the guy or much of anything about him, so his opinion should matter to me why?
Shannon @ 47
Hillary was not my 1st or 2nd choice but I did become a Hillary defender when the MSM became blatantly biased and ridiculously hateful to her every minute of every day. CNN & MSNBC became FAUX News right before our eyes. You could actually watch and listen to Olberman become O'Reilly, the person he said he most despised. Cafferty acted like a rabid dog every time he got a microphone and I finally just turned off the TV. I still have a problem with the Hillary bashing so I am sorry if I've said anything that offended you. I think Hillary supporters want what is best for this country and that is to be rid of as many republicans as we can.
John, you should have an internet broadcast studio and rant like Henry Rollins. In the same manner. Just as angry as he is.
Here he is on evolution. Quite entertaining!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LN5hoYgEIvo
Here's another classic:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHhNd6sadds
Charles @ 61:
I think he says they're the same thing.
sm @ 58:
Well, sm, you are correct, but once you've stocked up on survival supplies, you can come in here and make fun of the whole fake process.
There's not much you can do about it. You can't tell people to wake up. They'll either wake up by themselves or not.
So a pet rock should lose running against Obama but McCain might be doing better than a pet rock? Now there's a hell of a campaign slogan. "McCain, a better candidate than a pet rock"
A murderer's bookshelf: Hannity, O'Reilly, and Savage on killer's reading list 7/30
pissed off patricia @ 64:
Joe is just a "lite" version of O'Reilly. He's a little more mainstream. All of these shows are distractions. Just a bunch of ass clowns speaking a bunch of words that ultimately have no meaning. There are no real opinions expressed on them. There are just versions and shades of bull shit. The race is a joke. It's all a facade. Last time we had a choice between two Bonesmen from Yale. This time we get to pick between two CFR members. It's totally repulsive.
Charles @ 54:
And Pet Rocks EVERYWHERE were furious. Through themsleves through windows and plasma tv screens all across the country...
of course joe jsut had to say "jimmy carter territory"...will the subtle brainwashing never cease.
carefulwiththatAXEeugene @ 73:
if you call that subtle, nuance is dead. Of course, as a puke, he couldn't say "nixon," whose numbers actually the Chimps do more closely compare.
This is why I cancelled any magazine subscriptions that employ these stupid Reslug assholes and continue to let them spew lies with their biased views.
woody, tokin librul @ 72:
Maybe they should hurl themselves at McGaffe.
I'm guessing joe scarborough had his brain washed a long time ago and it shrunk, a lot.
unfair pro-Obama coverage
with that statement halperin proves, once again, why he has absolutely ZERO credibility, and why he's viewed by anyone with more than 2 brain cells as a reichwing whore.
we have heard every petty complaint against obama, repeated ad nauseum: pastor wright, middle name hussein, "most liberal" senator, etc.
all of which is complete fluff, and laughable
meanwhile... the msm barely even mentions mccain's involvement in the keating 5 scandal, his complete lack of understanding of foreign policy, the economy, phil 'let them eat cake' gramm as his econ adviser, and how to treat a woman... and on and on and on
and, i f i may, here is a quote from the 5 cent whore of the right, mark halperin:
HALPERIN: And as an economic model, if you want to thrive like Fox News Channel, you want to have a future, you better make sure conservatives find your product appealing. well, good job halperin, you have succeeded
and the cheetos comment... holy fuck me, did halperin just suck up to joe scarborough? who the fuck is lame enough to kiss up to joe 'that intern was dead when i got here' scarborough???/
So maybe we should elect the pet rock. At least we'll know that we can expect nothing from the pet rock. Kind of like congress. But, in this case, if we elect a pet rock, we will not have any additional rights stripped away.
Actually, I think a fair amount of the blame can be laid on theinaction of Congressional Democrats over the past year-and-a-half (or seven years). They've let the Republicans get away with so much, they've gone along for the ride, they haven't really made the case for their own ability to recognize what is right and proper as compared to partisan carping.
I have Cheetos at the end of my fingers because unlike these country club Republicans who have bilked the American taxpayer for the past decade I can't afford to have caviar between my fingers like they do.
pissed off patricia @ 77:
This guy is just another (one of many) corporate paid off bitch. He goes on television and radio and tells morons what to think. He's just a salesman. Selling one corporate lie after another corporate fairy tale.
Commentator @ 57:
Wankery?! You're soaking in it!
Great post, Nicole.
Halperin, just because you are firmly affixed to the corporate tit, please stop dissing those who are not.
GO GET 'EM NICOLE!!! AND GIVE 'EM HELL!!! LOL
Well stated. Way to go!
Charles @ 82:
Agreed. There's nothing genuine about him. He reminds me of the guy from Thank You For Smoking.
Ruthless People @ 81:
But they're "strong dollar" Amurikans. They're for small government and protecting the homeland and supporting the troops.
So what if, under their rule, we have a worthless dollar, the biggest government this universe has ever seen, homeless people everywhere, and the troops are treated like cat shit (scooped up, bagged, and tossed in the trash)?
Widespread @ 86:
Just a cookie cutter moron. Joe Scarborough....because average is moderate. And moderate is respectable. And respectable is what you want. Welcome to mainstream bull shit.
Actually I have to make a correction about the homeless people. There are fewer homeless people because they're being rounded up and put into jail. So, technically, they're not homeless.
Bluesage @ 65,
I LOVE KO!!! But he is so irritating that my wife won't let me watch him. He did become very one-sided. I lost a lot of respect for him.
But he and Dan Abrams are the only Corporate Media sources pushing back against the Republican/McCain/Bush/Rove Framing Machine. He gets my support for that.
Mr. Halperin,
Re: "those guys with the Cheetos on the end of their fingers…"
By all means, keep up the "Cheetos" meme against the pretentious little people who just aren't as wonderful as you. Who do not have your kind of coveted elitist media job. Please, continue to sneer at them as you bloviate on the TeeVee with your real peers.
After all, who the hell are bloggers, lowly bottom dwellers that they are, to impudently question the pearls of wisdom you deign to share with the Great Unwashed?
Yes, keep treating the one part of your audience that really is paying attention to what you say with absolute disdain. Because when you do, you are making the case for your own metastasizing irrelevance far better than the basement-dwelling, Cheeto-munching, acne-scarred irritants you imagine bloggers to be.
Ya know what? I'm a blogger. A 57 year old, white, college educated, military veteran, mother of an active duty Marine, self-employed business woman, grandmother blogger. You'd pass me by on the street without a second glance, because I don't fit your prejudices. But I read, I research, I listen, I pay attention. And I remember. I am your worst nightmare because I don't forget all the bull writiers like you have been shoveling for the last eight years. And I write. I write a lot.
When you use one logical fallacy after another to make a non-existent point to support erroneous conclusions based on manipulated or engineered "facts", I am not buying it. And, while there are more like me every day, you and your self-satisfied buddies are becoming a rapidly dwindling endangered species.
You're right to feel offended by us. We will never regard you with the unquestioning awe you seem to think your journalistic status entitles you to. And we will never give unquestioning acceptance of your biases as Truth. You haven't earned it and you don't deserve it.
It's too bad for you. I'm sure you expected a career with growing prestige, fat speaking fees, some good book contracts and an aura of publicly venerated gravitas, and instead, the proles are getting uppity.
Damn shame, isn't it?
What Should We Expect From MSNBC
It was a given Fox News was the creme of bias news. They manipulated photos, took Democratic comments out of context and assumed to be the conservative Head Quarters for Bush and the Republican Party. However, MSNBC has been making new inroads into areas once considered an area only Fox took.
Upon first glance, MSNBC appears to be a very balanced news agency. There is Dan Abrams and Kieth Olbermann who seem to cover the point of view of the Democrat. And then there is the conservative commentators: Chris Matthews, Tom Brokaw, Tucker Carlson. Each side has special commentators who are guest to the various host. Yet, the truth is MSNBC in nothing short of bias, manipulating and overly conservative.
Its been said once and it deserves to be said again: The conservative media is not only controlling what gets debated; they are controlling how strong each side debates. The end result is conservatives get to win every argument because the liberal representative is at best shallow. Have you ever noticed that on the Dan Abrams show there is often a forced even brake on their "win or lose" segment? Dan Abrams flat out came to CBS's rescue when it was debated they edited in favor of John McCain. Abrams tried to frame this as a mistake. I have worked in a editing environment; it is anything but a mistake to cut and slice what CBS came up with, and Dan Abrams knows it.
And there is Kieth Olbermann. The same Olbermann who trashed Hillary Clinton so badly, it can be argued he halved what could of been a total united ticket in November. Until this day, many of Clinton supporters will not vote for Obama because Obama never once declared their attacks too extreme. Obama did some things to mend this situation but there still seems to be lasting damage. By the way, Olbermann has not stopped trashing Clinton and does so whenever the opportunity presents itself. It is almost like he does not want a united ticket.
They control the argument, they control how the argument is defended by both sides. MSNBC has become a crafty partisan network who lacks the guts to come right out and say: "we have become a conservative network."
Joseph
Joe Scarborough was a REPUBLICAN Congress-critter with a 95% Conservative rating!!!
Of course he is a partisan hack!
Liberal media only exists to inspire the conservative base and suppress the truth.
Shannon @ 90
Sounds like you have a very smart wife.
I used to like KO but his ego got the best of him thru the primary which is actually a pattern for him. Abrams not so much. In my opinion they are all corporate puppets.
MSNBC is heavily weighted toward the conservative, certainly, but so is CNN.
That makes them seem "Centrist" next to the extremists(Terrorist fist jab) at Fox Propoganda. But they are not.
They carry just as much anti-Democratic, anti-Obama, anti-impeachment noise as Fox. They just do it with more subtlety than the rabid ones.
Bluesage @ 94,
Yeah, my wife is the best. The only stupid thing she ever did was to marry me. But a contract is binding so I'm holding her to it.
I hated KO when he did ESPN. He thought that Cal Ripken Jr. should have ended his streak!!
Okay, I still don't actually like him. And he uses the Fox tactics of loading his pundits in his own favor.
But he uses who;e video clips and documents events faithfully.
Progressives need someone to say the things he does on the stage he commands.
it's a referendum on obama because otherwise it would be a referendum on bush, and mccain, and we can't have that!
they keep shouting, loudly enough to drown out any other thought, that "it's all about obama."
they are aghast that coverage of obama is sucking all the air out of the room and declare that it's obama's fault that mccain is getting skimpy coverage, it's obama's fault that the club members are more than happy to ignore the malice of the past eight years and the malice of a potential mccain administration, because, damn, obama's just so unfairly popular.
a big eff you to all of them.
olbermann does something rarely done on any other news program: when he has people on, he let's them say their piece.
i find his breathless and hurried speaking manner annoyingly distracting but i by the end of a show usually feel that i learned something or understood something better, or know where to start looking for the body elsewhere.
the rest of them -- a big eff you.
Beautifully done. MoveOn copied.
Just emailed Mark Halperin, thanks for the address.
His sort of journalism risks complicity in war crimes. And you could hear Mika B. in the background accusing Obama of "loftiness" -- how tacky of her!
kablooie @ 100 Says: Just emailed Mark Halperin, thanks for the address.
His sort of journalism risks complicity in war crimes. And you could hear Mika B. in the background accusing Obama of “loftiness” — how tacky of her!
"Loftiness"? Is that another racist neocon euphemism for Uppity?
I wish KO would shine some light on this.
poerba @ 37:
How can you type, with a mouthful of John McCain's cock, and Bill O'Reilly's in your ass?
But how do you really feel, Nicole? :)
Shanon, “Loftiness”? Is that another racist neocon euphemism for Uppity?
I thought the same thing today watching Hardball. What a bunch of freaking racists.
Is Obama Arrogant? He'd better watch it! The implied racism and threats were astonsihing to me.
No matter how cocky and arrogant Bush was, he was juts such a 'great guy".
Whatever.
Once again US TV making people dumber by the minute ......
Nichole:
That's certainly part of it, but another part is people are confused about what Obama stands for, particularly since he has pandered to the far-right, when he should have come out against EVERYTHING the Bush admin stands for and tries to pass into law.
I love when the MSM complain about the Cheetos crowd; it's a scream of pure terror. They finally have competition in the news business, and that competition is kicking their asses and posting their names. Halperin can feel the current drawing him closer to the drain and all he can do is whine, because he just doesn't know how to do real journalism.
Remember, every time they say bloggers are irrelevant, they're spending precious air time talking about bloggers. That's all the confirmation you need; blog on, it's working like a charm!
Me thinks that cheeto stained bloggers will be around much longer than media whores like halperin. Just a feeling I get. As old school media, he doesn't "get" what is going on in the new media. Ask any of the political advisers about how effective the Internet is, especially when it comes to raising money, and see how many would dismiss the medium as irrelevant which is what Scarbrough desperately wants. He doesn't like the idea that people are peering over his shoulder, so to speak, and holds him accountable for what he says (or doesn't say).
"the Democrats winning this election should be a foregone conclusion considering just how badly the GOP has screwed up in their 25 years of either Legislative or Executive control. The fact that Obama doesn’t have a 25-30 point margin has more to do with hacks like Halperin who will never report honestly on McCain’s dizzying number of flip flops, his bad temper, his constant factual errors but will focus endlessly on hard hitting items like unproven, unchallenged and fact-free slurs."
I didn't read the 100 comments above so forgive me if I'm repeating, but, I'm sorry, Nicole, you're wrong,... the reason Obama doesn't have a huge margin is the same reason Kerry lost in 04,... Dems have come across as incompetent, weak, & useless. Pelosi & Reid, a joke, at the very least those two should be called up for aiding & abetting the war mongers. I lived in NYC when Clinton was senator, & couldn't tell you ONE single policy she was solid on.
This very site posted a link to a site tracking contributions,... from what i saw, McSame & Obama are receiving roughly the same amounts from the same corporate assholes. So, really, what is the difference,...? Everyone wants "change", & their idea of change is do participate in a 230 year old system that sponsors multi-millionaires?
UGH.
Otay @ 106
"People are confused ", my ass. Nicole has made the best call of the year here.
The "people " are getting poked in the eye with cheetos and any other crap the warmongering media owners and advertisers can throw to drown out Obama's policies.
Look to the divisions within the Democratic party itself for answers to what Obama has to overcome . Hope you noticed the breakdown of who supported Clinton - one quarter saw no problem with switching to McCain, 10-15% voted by race, and the balance was divided between the pro war pro business crowd -the hard liners of the party or the real fence-sitting pandering DLC types like Bayh and and Hoyer and Reid.
Obama is as close to a true Democrat as we've seen -with the blood of a great leader of the opposition, a solely needed component absent in the party thanks to Schumer, Emanuel and McAulife's selective campaign tactics.
Are there going to be a few issues he agrees with the right on - you bet!
The same can be said of every one of us.
The sad thing is this stuff works. Keep saying it's a "liberal" media and people believe it, despite the fact that the majority of US media is owned by 5 corporations.
Joseph Goebbels
It has been proven time and time again, from the Gulf of Tonkin to WMDs in Iraq ...
Can you believe these airheads like Halperin with their delusions of media bias in favor of Obama, despite facts? Do people like Halperin have any connection from the beltway bunghole to reality? Do they know how to read? Keep up with the facts? Follow studies which prove otherwise?
Seriously, there's a reason that people like Halperin are either blogging from their mother's basement, McCain's barbecue pit, or the cloistered cocktail parties among the beltway bobbleheads.
JohnnyThief @ 109:
Although I think Nichole was in part right, I think this is comment is absolutely correct.
in a functioning democracy, these clowns would be out of work. wrong at every turn--the blood of war is on their hands, too. i do love hearing their antics though. if it wern't for the mocking and derision their insites provoke, i'd have no use for then at tall. does anyone other than the 28%ers(or has it come down again 26%ers) even care about their opinions?
the thought of voting dem makes joe's hands sweat. truly a bush crime family dead ender.
hazmaq @ 110:
FISA, Telecom Immunity (and going back on his word to filibuster), abortion, death penalty for non-murder crimes, anti-MoveOn comments, anti-Clark comments, Faith-based initiatives.
Want me to go on?
I know Libertarians who would have voted for Obama until FISA, atheists who would have voted for Obama until his faith-based initiatives comments, women who would have voted for Obama until his comments on abortion. Some are now voting for Barr, some are totally disgusted and probably won't even vote, and yes some are voting for McCain because they are now starting to think he is more likely to be a "maverick" than Obama is to be a Democrat.
Say what you will. It doesn't change these facts. How much this applies universally is debatable.
Halperin is just another out of touch Harvard asshole who thinks he is smart.
FUCK THE IVY LEAGUE, FUCK EM!
I would take the life advice of a 65 year old black alcoholic, before I took the life advice of a starched shirt douche like Mark Halperin.
I have $500 for the first person to force feed Cheetoes to Joe Scarbrougham until he turns orange and has liver failure.
I'm not confused about what Obama stands for.
There isn't any confusion on the set of "Morning Jo(k)e" either.
They KNOW that Obama in the White House will mean Democratic majority control in both the House AND the Senate... and it will also mean that the Supreme Court will be pulled back off the NEO-Con BRINK over the course of the next eight years... and that RICH PEOPLE WILL GET TAXED MORE... and that tax money will start to pay for social services instead of ARMS MERCHANTS AND MERCENARIES.
That's why a self-centered bombastic inflated PRICK like The Scar has his own show. HIS ARROGANCE AND SMUGGINESS turns my stomach. I can't watch him any more.
The beautiful thing about that clip is that he essentially just admitted that he reads every word the Cheeto Brigade writes about him. I wonder which name he uses to post at Crooks and Liars? Any guesses?
Pericles @ 119:
Dennis. Or Chris. Chris isn't as bright as Dennis, so I'll go with Chris.
Productconsumer @ 117:
I'm afraid your 'Foundation' will have to get in line with all the others. *checks list.*
Alright, you're number 156, right below the Endowment Fund to Paint Joe Scarborough's Spherical Nose Red, and Use it as an Enema Bulb.
I think I will email Halperin and ask him to continue repeating the right-wing talking points, as it may end his cred and career all the sooner.
why mix good coffee with bad company - morning joe has nothin' to offer but mud
I took a does of my pepto bismo this morning and tuned into this freak, Joe Scarboro, and I just came to the conclusion, this man is simply jealous of Obama.
Poor fella, he never thought he would have to be subservient to a brother and it is simply killing him.
Minka, tried hard to shut his stupid ass up, but he is simply besides himself with anger about what he simply knows is going to happen. Yes Joe, Obama is going to be your new President, like it or not.
If I did not dislike his ass so much, I could almost feel sorry for him because I know he is very concerned about his future, as he should be, because he has to know that American people are fed up with the likes of people like him, soiling up our air waves, and making a complete spectacle of this country with his disgusting show.
Turn it over to Minka, Joe, she can and has done a much better job then you can ever do. You must believe that you were not missed at all, while you were on suspension or what ever they did with your stupid ass.
He just kept on inviting guest to his show, until he got the right freak, that speaks, acts and talks like he does and on this little ugly fella, he hit the jack pot.
this is not the media's election. this is the PEOPLE'S election. halperin and his colleagues may have the luxury and time to screw around with these stupid scenarios, but WE DON"T! maybe things aren't as desperate and unnerving for them, because maybe they don't have a child going to 'war' for the second, third or fourth time. or maybe they aren't desperately fighting to keep the home that made them so happy. or maybe they aren't scraping enough money together to pay some bills or buy enough food or gas. i don't know-maybe they don't drive over enough bridges to feel leery about our infrastructure. maybe they just float to 'work' on all that hot air they expose the rest of us to. anyway, we have way more at stake than the mark halperins and the rest of them. life is sweet for them, but eight years of bush and more of mccain leaves me juggling more rotten lemons, so if there is something i can do to help change this indescribable mess, i will.
Well here goes Joe sounding like a reasonable, rational thinker again. Seems like he gets one of these moments at least once a month. But Halperin, boy does this guy hate the bloggers and online fact checkers as much as Joe. They hate the fact they don't get away with their outright lies and don't get to kiss Republican ass and get away with it any longer. So, this election is a referendum on Obama huh! Guess McCain should just stop running attack ads and trying like hell to get some press. These blowhearts just can't get enough of themselves. Thank God we have our bloggers and fact checkers lest we have them promoting McCain as the "maverick and straight talker" the media tries with no success to portray him as. Why don't these people actually try doing some real honest, fair analysis, maybe then they won't have to corrected again, and again, and again, and again, well you get the picture. Why is it when the media actually portray the candidates as they really are and not create some characture of Obama and treat McCain as the "straight talker", why is it right wingers scream and hollar like little kids having a temper tantrum. Why is it fair play is such an anathema to right wingers. Could it be they actually look like the radical, destructive, out of touch, nazi like party they really are.
Halperin gives himself away when he says, "McCain deserves scrutiny and he'll get some": he WILL get some -- future tense -- at some hypothetical time yet to come.
I hope that's true, but he hasn't gotten much yet, except on the Internet.
Halperin has been one of the most tireless proponents of a style of journalism that equates "balance" with making sure that two sides are always presented in a way such that nobody will ever have to think more deeply about the issue or consider changing their minds.
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