Is The Media Falling Out Of Love With McCain?
Eric Boehlert thinks the bloom is off the rose...
Did you hear the media are mad? According to Howard Kurtz at The Washington Post, the press is angry at McCain for his patently untrue lipstick attack ("It's false. It's ridiculous"), and they're seething over how Sarah Palin keeps telling her demonstrably false Bridge to Nowhere tale even after members of the media pointed out her stump-speech applause line was a lie. (A "whopper.")
During the past week, virtually every major news outlet has produced welcomed, hard-edged fact-checking pieces about how the Republican ticket goes far beyond bending the truth and just plain snaps it out on the campaign trail.
In the past, that kind of truth-telling would have embarrassed campaigns and likely caused a dramatic change in the rhetoric. But what do McCain and Palin do in response? They pretty much ignore the press and its critiques.
Writing on The New Republic's website, Eve Fairbanks spelled out the conundrum, capturing the dumbfounded realization that spread through the press corps. It's like that scene in a movie when the superhero realizes his unique power (for the press, it's collective indignation) has suddenly been rendered useless:
Reporters demolished the claim that the Palin opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, and yet the McCain campaign insolently still uses it. Writers dismantled the McCain campaign's untrue assertion that Barack Obama compared Sarah Palin to a pig yesterday, and yet the campaign put out an audacious ad featuring the ridiculous allegation, presumably on the assumption that Real Americans don't care what the elite press says anyway.Instead of recoiling, the Republican ticket seems to have adopted a post-press approach to campaigning in which the candidates simply don't care what the press does or says about their honesty. More to the point, the candidates don't think it will matter on Election Day.
They may be right. And that's the media's fault. They've reported their way right into the margins. Submerged in trivia and tactics for the past 18 months, the press, I think, has damaged its ability -- its authority -- to referee the campaign.
Now if they would stop trying to draw false equivalencies between McCain's repeated lies and Obama's rhetoric...Or if they reported honestly the critiques coming from Democratic Party spokespeople instead of bringing on McCain proxy after proxy. Or worse, just admitting that giving viewers fact is beyond their pay scale:
John Amato: I wonder how much this really helps us. It's nice that they are calling it
John McCain should never have been a serious candidate. That he is, is a sign of societal illness.
We need no Konstantin Chernenko as President of the United States!
Even Turd Blossom Says McCain is ‘Full of Shit’
A struggling minority are in denial, but the public and the bulk of the MSM are laughing at the Republicans.
Its cool to be liberal now.
The one true Chimpy legacy.
Want to know how to get their attention press corps of the world/USA?
Take a leaf out of the gossip magazine's book. Start making stuff up that can't readily be disproven. That'll get their attention.
When you're shameless, having your claims debunked with fact means nothing. They are preaching to the choir. Hopefully this no longer includes a mainstream media who no longer feel cowed by Repukes
ferrofluid ( they'll be sorry ) @ 3:
We seem to be moving back to the Left in US society at long last. The last 30 years since the 1979 backlash were too long for that stupidity.
P.S The more they rage against it, the more people will think it is true.
Took a long time for a bunch of well-educated -- one assumes -- journalists -- one assumes -- to finally address reality. It will continue to test their frontal lobes and their ethics so don't be surprised if they turn to status quo quips/clips and MTV-like drivel and distractions. After all, they have no comprehension of the role of the 4th estate in a democracy as they've shown since the Camelot bullshit in the early '60s.
We'll know the answer to the question when the media lets the American people hear directly from the candidates rather than play 30 second bites, and then feed us 50 minutes of analysis and spin from pundits.
A small light at the end of the tunnel appeared today when I heard Biden say: "I'm sick and tired of this Republican garbage!" Truer words have never been spoken this week.
David Gergen said the same thing on CNN yesterday, and Anderson Cooper actually ASKED (*ghasp*) if the spin being told by each side is symmetrical, or lopsided in favor of the Republicans.
Wow, it may be about eight years too late, but I think our little media kids are finally growing up and doing their jobs. The truly sad thing about it is that they wouldn't be doing their job if the McCain camp hadn't abused them so badly by using them as an excuse to keep Palin and McCain from being asked questions. That little exchange with Campbell Brown being used as an excuse for McCain to cancel his appearence on Larry King, and then as a further excuse to hide Palin from questioning reporters has got the media feeling a little used
So, if I can put it bluntly, the media have always allowed themselves to be used for one sided booty calls by the Republican party in general, and McCain specifically. But they only fell out of love with him when he decided he was in to BDSM.
Funny you should bring that up:
"The Power of Political Misinformation" September 15, 2008 -- WaPo.com http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/14/AR200809...
...experiments conducted by political scientist John Bullock at Yale University show that "misinformation can exercise a ghostly influence on people's minds after it has been debunked..." and that "...In some cases, correcting misinformation serves to increase the power of bad information".
Just curious. . . Does it really matter?
They "boycott" us 24/7 - They do not come to our
blogs, outside of sycophantic trolls, and they do not
read/watch "our" news media -
The MSM’s Boards of Directors are all shared by the
same people, and are also shared with the boards of
the extractive, pharmaceutical, and ag-chem, et al
corporations. (proof link)
Have you seen “We’re Gonna Frickin’ Lose This Thing” yet?
(If not - please - do so now.)
Mike - - The Old Hippie at. . .
The Old Hippie's Groovy Site
The Old Hippie's Groovy Blog
“Frivolous Names - Serious Content”
Shan @ 4:
Get that Tucker McSucker guy to spread rumors about McCain's illegi...What? Oh. Never mind.
When a gun backfires it’s surprising, unexpected, and a little scary. In the old days, you ended up with black soot on your face, and a vary loud ringing in your ears.
It’s the ringing in the ears that’s causing the McCain campaign not to listen to everyone calling out their distortions (yeah, I know….lies).
This one has backfired.
"Is The Media Falling Out Of Love With McCain?"
The 12 steps are rough.
"You can't have honor without honesty." Wow....MCCaskill is my new hero. I think the media is finally catching on that they've been totally had.
and yet they can't stop talking about him. McCain this, McCain that. That's all the voters hear these days.
"Obama who?"
It's not that the bloom is off the rose, it's that the media senses McCain/Palin running away from this once sure-thing for Obama, and they can't have any of that.
They're just doing their job.
Nothing more, nothing less.
McCain is quite likable by liberals and their counterparts in the media when they are certain he can't win. But he pulls a fast one on the media, the race turns on a dime, and then there's hell to pay.
"We wanted you to keep it close, John. Not win. And win big? Fuhhgedaboutit."
McSongbird and McMilf. she's probably going to induce the heart attack that will kill him.
McBlackberry was an honorless, worthless lover who lied and cheated repeatedly and even the whore MSM has finally had enough. General Pavel Rennenkamkf Xocoyotzin@1 is so correct....Grandpa should had never been a candidate in the first place.
Facts? What part of amoral don't you understand. These people are serial liars--especially Palin, who I think is pathological. I knew a woman like her in college. You don't deal with them rationally. They are creatures who will screw their grandmothers to gain an inch. It's all about Sarah.
Candy, McCain would not jump your bones, heh, if he could even find one, no matter how much you stick up for him. Quit being nice to him because now is the time for them to start calling all of the media, "The LIberal Media" again.
Fuck them! Too little, too late. These corporate honks keep trying to define the elections or force some shitty overly simplistic narrative down our throats. They helped engineer the impending collapse. Ths smartest thing we can do is "just say no" to corporate media. (Say yes to drugs, of course!)
While the msm is still in love with Sparkle Plenty, their adoration is sounding more like "Sarah Palin! Apply directly to the forehead!"
dennis @ 18:
dennis, the guy you'd have us vote for can't even turn on a computer. stop and think about how embarrassing that really is, in 2008.
dennis @ 18:
Nice try dennis. But that ain't gonna wash. Even the blind can see that McCain is nothing more than a panderer .
McCain WAS likable, before he signed on with the neocon agenda. Now, he looks like a fish out of water. Just flippin and floppin around all over the place.
Ya know? I'll bet he's pissed off to no end right now. Because he sold out his beliefs.
[Deleted. Worst spamming concern troll ever. BTW, Aco!, you're banned. Site Monitor]
dennis@18
Mr. selective outrage, conditional scrutiny, has returned. Be our guest to ignore Grandpa's daily fuck ups and the evil church bitches glaring un qualifications to only focus your pathetic wrath for Obama only. The other day a site monitor called you a "devils advocate"....total bullshit. You're just another dumb ass who voted for Dumbya(twice) and has the gall to come here expecting your judgment to be respected again. LOL.
How can any republican be anything but humitiated by the demise of the GOP.
mudshark @ 26:
yep, just like that little fish at the end of the faith no more "epic" video...
A concerned observer! @ 27:
Uhhh, how do you know how much time I spend on the computer unless you're spending a lot of time on the computer monitoring how much time I spend on the computer?
I believe it was Adlai Stevenson who made an offer along the lines of: "If Republicans stop telling lies about Democrats, Democrats will stop telling the truth about Republicans."
Repeating lies has been working for years - why change what works?
The media don't want to be hauled off to camps and exterminated. McCain-Palin is the Road to Serfdom.
Two possibilities here:
The first scenario goes something like this. The right-wing pundits have now all received the memo. McCain is going down in November. The strategy is based on the depth and scope of America’s problems and the simple fact that neither one of the two candidates has even a ghost of a chance of fixing any of them.
Losing in November does two things for the Republicans. It gets them out of the burning building that they themselves set ablaze, and it sets up Obama to fail as the first African American president, thereby putting that little pipe dream to rest for a good long time. (New Yorkers won’t be seeing another David Dinkins any time soon, for example.)
They also believe that in the wake of a failed Obama term, they will be enthusiastically embraced yet again. It’s only a mere four years during which the corporate media can effectively marginalize and destroy Obama and his presidency forever.
The second possibility is a bit darker. It has McCain dumping Palin fairly soon. McCain’s handlers will replace her with Lieberman just as Israel begins dropping US made Bunker Buster bombs on Iran, with our complete approval and complicity. The probable loss of US military personnel might even reignite the populous to that 9/11 fervor the Republicans so long for.
This affords Bush the opportunity, should this insane Iranian invasion go bad, (and it bloody-well will) to pull out the last stop and declare Martial Law throughout the “Homeland”…or “Fatherland” as some might prefer to say by that point.
The mechanism is firmly in place and Bush is poised and ready for this move, thanks in no small part to all of the support that he received from the other right wing of our one party system…the Democrats.
Mike @ 12:
That's an awsome link. U.S. elections are like BlackJack. The House Rules state that the House wins all draws. The Republican "house advantage" is the press.
If the Democrats win this election, and they're interested in getting rid of the Republican house advantage the only thing they can do is bring back the Fairness Doctrine. That should be the FIRST thing they do. Once done, everything else will fall in to place. I can't see anybody standing against The "Fairness" Doctrine any more than standing against The "Patriot" Act, with the obvious contrast that the Fairness Doctrine was designed to preserve democracy while the Patriot Act was designed to destroy it. But if Orwellian language is a blade that slashes both ways, we may as well use it to PROTECT democracy for a change, instead of allowing it to be used to destroy it all the time.
As far as I know, the Fairness Doctrine is simply an FCC policy which can be reinstated by the FCC at any time. Obama would only have to appoint a chief executive who's in favor of reinstating it. The Fairness Doctrine has already been held to be constitutional by the Supreme Court. So, with one appointment, Obama could bring back GENUINE 'fair and balanced' reporting.
I'd love to see how red-faced the founders of the conservative movement would be to find out they've spent literally BILLIONS of dollars to corner the market on public information, only to have it removed with the stroke of a pen. I have a feeling Rupert Murdoch would sell all of his newspapers and television stations overnight, since there is no point in holding on to them if you can't use them for propaganda purposes.
I think the media (and McCain) are finally figuring it out about credibility and integrity. Integrity is not like a garment you can take from the shelf and wear it when it's convenient and put it back on the shelf when it's not. You either have it with you at all times, or you never have it at all.
Left&Left @ 28:
Left²,
When you've made your first post with something substantive, and name-calling doesn't count for me like it does with your buddies, please let me know. I'd honestly like to give you some credit.
You need to relax, Left². It's not over yet and you've got the MSM solidly and now unabashedly in your camp. Ya just never know. Even the Cubbies could win it this year.
A concerned observer! @ 27:
Democracy requires the active participation of its citizenry to be effective. The participation can take many forms and many of them are messy, fractured and cludgy. If you want squeaky clean discussion or presentation of issues, surround yourself with any of the propaganda from the ideologues of any political stripe. So join or shut the fuck up.
What I think Boehlert really hits the head on is that McCain and Palin are openly mocking the press by continuing to lie, and-truth be told-the press really isn't going to do anything about it.
This is not solely because they are already heavily invested in McCain's meme(though arguably, they and the companies they work for most certainly are). It's because they're as guilty for the fix they're in as anybody else. The media doesn't report the news anymore so much as sell it, and it's hard to take them seriously if they treats political stories like Hollywood celebrity news. They've made themselves into such a laughingstock over the past few campaigns that no one's going to take their indignation seriously now, even if it is righteous indignation.
And yet the terrible truth is, we need a press and the media: the soundness of our Democracy depends heavily on reliable communication being distributed to its citizens. It doesn't take much imagination to perceive what will happen to the country when information devolves into infotainment. It's already happening.
dennis @ 38:
The MSM hasn't been in our camp for years. It may be that they can't justify backing so many lies that the McCain has put out. One thing they are not covering is issues because they are covering the lies. Which takes up more air time? Right now, the lies.
A concerned observer! @ 27:
Then get off the line, get off the line, GET OFF THE LINE!!
I am tremendously impressed that McCain managed to choose a running mate absolutely, completely devoid of any taint of: Honor, integrity (doubt she can spell that) morality, or intelligence. A being of unadulterated pride and ambition. A she-cheney beast.
Pericles @ 36:
This needs to be said over and over!!
Palin's Favorability Ratings Begin to Falter
The media fell out of love with John McCain, the minute he announced his candidacy for the republican nomination.
"Submerged in trivia and tactics for the past 18 months, the press..."
this is a good point but it really gives the msm a big break. i'm thinking they have been lapdogs for a wee bit longer than the last 1.5 years. case-in-point: if they had been doing there jobs everyone and their mother would KNOW it's a fundamental republican principle to deregulate, a concept i'm not really seeing the masses grasp. the press would have also pointed out, regarding fiorina's "not capable to be CEO comment," that this is more republican mantra. george bush was supposed to save the government because of his ability to run the country like a fortune 500 company instead of a government thanks to the MBA he bought. by the way, did he maybe just buy the paper from those criminals in spokane?
Jo @ 42:
Jesus. My tubes just blew.
I personaly don't mind when reporters are biased, either left or right. Because then I can chose who I want to listen to. It is the ones that claim to be "Fair and Unbiased". that I can't stand because then they can try to sneak their views in undercover. Everybody leans one way or the other, no thinking person doesn't have opinions, and to pretend otherwise is to insult everybodies elses intelligences. So let the MSM have their own bias but but make them announce them right out front.
dennis@38
The MSM is in no camp, Dennis. Even they are finally sick of the absolute LIES that Grandpa says every fucking day! If McBlackberry lies endlessly now, what the fuck do you think he will do when he has Presidential power? If you have ANY sense of true righteousness in your apparent bankrupt soul, you would be fighting as hard as we are to keep the Presidency from this scary old man.
Also, I've been a Cub fan all my life, THIS IS OUR YEAR!!!
one more brief comment about mccain's inability to use a computer...
his operators insist it's due to injuries sustained as a POW.
that's ridiculous.
stephen hawking can use a computer. heck, even helen keller would be online if she was alive today.
John McCain invented the wheel.
xoites defends Constitution @ 52:
Impossible, he can't make a circle because of the injuries he received as a POW.
bullfrog @ 51:
OK...
tell me in complete sentences how someone blind and deaf is going to use the intarwebs.
It's not the "elite" press it's the "liberal" press. We know that to be false but so what. For years now the right wing has so labeled anyone who challenges their dogmas and mistakes. They should have defended themselves en masse but only a few did. Many spun right to escape the stigma of being labeled liberal and the net result is this: the idea of a liberal bias in the media is so firmly ensconced in the average brain that anything they now say is dismissed. They should have cried wolf when it was chewing on their collective asses. Now truth is Kryptonite to them.
Ron @ 53:
I never said it was the round one.
Maybe the media is beginning to realize that their credibility is at stake if they say nothing, or if they appear to be enabling McCain.
Just like they want to be first with a scoop, they don't want to be last to jump off the ship that's acknowledged to be sinking under the weight of it's lies.
Anyone else notice Candy Crowley was at a state fair? Who let her out of the pen? And where's my lipstick?!
xoites defends Constitution @ 56:
LOL! How ya doin?
General Pavel Rennenkampf Xocoyotzin @ 54:
They have tactile devices, in fact if you can create a vibration with a speaker on a desk top you can create a hearing aid for a deaf person.
I will go look this up for you just for the hell of it but i know the technology is out there.
I am doing ok Ron, how are you? :)
McPale's Navy @ 58:
Thanks for the best laugh I've had all day.
Well, you can start here if you want to find out how blind people can interact with a computer.
The Palin/McCain campaign is going for broke. They're on the run. They're mavericks. Bonnie and Clyde. They've shot it out with the press and they've got a running gun battle going with the Republican Party. The Democrats are (somehow) the Establishment they're rebelling against. They've ditched honesty, integrity, honor, maturity, intelligence and whatever they said last week to lighten the load. They're on a Bridge to (hopefully) Nowhere and they're burning it behind them. It's exciting. It's adventure. It's theater. And in two months a tidal wave of enthralled American stupidity will sweep them into office. Maybe.
"OK…
tell me in complete sentences how someone blind and deaf is going to use the intarwebs."
Tactile sensory software and keyboards already exist which help decode things on computer screens for people in that exact same situation.
Given that Helen Keller was deaf and blind and yet learned how to speak understandably, I'm sure they worked out something for people in a similar situation where computers were concerned.
Left&Left @ 50:
Lefty, I could see you seeking out that poor bastard who interfered with the foul ball in the NLCS a few years ago and totally beating the crap out of him. I bet he votes for McCain too.
I'd ask you what one or two lies, (or what you call lies) that you felt were the most egregious and I'd deconstruct them just to soothe your tormented soul, but if I get started I'll be up till 2 in the morning again and I just can't do that.
xoites defends Constitution @ 60:
Cochlears are the only thing that works for the deaf. You presume first that a cochlear would work, and second that blindness can be overcome. I know someone who is nearly blind and hard-of-hearing, not deaf. The combination of the two severely restricts her Internet use. I'm also hard-of-hearing but I can actually see. Hard-of-hearing =/= to deaf.
Regardless, it's not such a stretch to imagine torturing and breaking someone's arms and fingers restricting the ability to type.
Even so, John McCain, regardless of computer proficiency or lack thereof, is completely unqualified for the Oval Office.
Shan @ 65:
Not only did she learn how to speak, but she became a peace activist which is the part of her story that always gets intentionally ignored.
General Pavel Rennenkampf Xocoyotzin @ 67
Please read 63.
Shan @ 65:
The accent makes other hearing-impaired people difficult for me to understand. I'm not sure that understandable is in the higher range of that category. It took 3 or so years of speech therapy for me to speak fluently, and that was when I actually had hearing aids.
Technology is marvelous, but like everything else, it has its limits. Unless you genuinely think that hearing aids and cochlears give you perfect hearing.
Palin bubble starting to burst.
THIS time, the better candidate WILL win.
Peace.
xoites defends Constitution @ 61:
Fine but I have to leave for awhile. Talk to ya later.
xoites defends Constitution @ 68:
xoites defends Constitution @ 69:
Thank you, you satisfied my curiosity on how the blind use computers. Deaf people using it is not unbelievable, as I'm hard-of-hearing myself.
Back to John McCain bashing, the hijacking hath ended.
Bye. :)
Well we all know what happened to Bonnie and Clyde at the end.
A concerned observer! @ 27:
I'm in New York and all my grown sons are in L.A. and the truth is that I do spend quite a bit of time online and especially at C&L. I do feel a certain comradery on this site with various posters such as Pissed off Patricia and L.A. Confidential etc.
I wish I could snap my fingers and we'd all be in a big restaurant somewhere chatting it up! But this turns out to be the next best thing. And I do thank John Amato for this excellent website (blog!) and all the site monitors who try to keep things civil and on the up and up. Job well done.
I just saw a McCain commercial where Palin not only opposed the Bridge to Nowhere, she actually stopped it. OMG, are they on another planet? At the end of the spot, the announcer says they "will make history". He was right about that!
There are people with no arms who can use computers, so I'm sure Senator McCain could find a way to do so.
Boo Fuckin' Hoo, MSM. Go ahead and tet your panties in a twist.
Won't change a frickin' thing in the good old US of A
dennis@66
Bartman made a mistake, just like you did voting for Dumbya(only he owned up to his monumental fuck up). Thanks, but no thanks for your offer to spin Granda's land fill of bullshit( A Herculean task indeed). The truth is Dennis, your candidate HAS TO LIE TO WIN and you know it.
Abbybwood @ 76:
With a total media blackout on how many people in this country are unhappy and specifically why they are unhappy and with no evidence of them on television or on the radio unless they are pissed off about things that only piss off Republicans the rest of us would feel isolated and alone without some place to commiserate.
(I promise i will try to write in longer sentences in the future. ) :)
Well said abbybwood. ;o)
Not that anyone is listening, but McCain's greatest weakness is the current weakness of the republican brand, and the apathy and demoralization of his base that goes along with it. McCain and Palin, being denigrated or treated negatively by the press, EVEN THOUGH IN ALL MEASURES OF FAIRNESS IT IS DESERVED will nonetheless do nothing except help McCain overcome this weakness by driving more of his base to the polls, who might have stayed home.
In this election ANY press McCain gets is good for McCain. His greatest potential weakness is irrelevance.
Cubs will choke in the first round this year... ;)
the media is bringing mcCain people to filibuster their responses to being asked about the mcCain lies. there is a total blackout on Biden. no Obama to be found. even rachel maddow repeats an Obama statement and doesn't show much footage, if any. I'll check again, but I'm struggling to keep some optimism even though I know that the media was pretty much sworn against the dems since 1996.
nothing new here! Just short-term fluffery.
I drink gatorade, not koolaid.
Shan @ 77:
Well, they have yet to figure out a way for people with no brains to use them.
Guitar Man @ 71:
Oh no! Looks like this calls for another Us magazine cover or summon one of Palin's pregnant kids or Levi to Fox and Friends to energize the base.
Filthy Harry @ 81:
Republicans always vote Republican.
dennis @ 18:
dense as a neutron star.
david lewis @ 46:
Chimpy has demonstrated his inability to run anything competently over and over again.
He can run things into the ground, thats his magic ability, on a par with the asset stripper type hostile take over merchants.
Abbybwood @ 75:
You are a gem Abbybwood.
{Abbybwood, Please post something. I curious as to why you come up in moderation. I'll look into it. Have you done anything lately to tick off the Site Monitors? SiteMonitor}
[Ahem....Everyone that took the troll's bait got stuck in moderation for a few minutes, SiteMonitor. And there were an awful lot of fish on that line. Shame on those fish. First rule of troll fighting: ignore the troll. Second rule: e-mail reports of a troll sighting to the site monitors at sitemonitor1@gmail.com . Thank you. Site Monitor]
xoites defends Constitution @ 82:
they figured out a way for mcPalin to have developed the Blackberry!
Anything is possible! Anyone can be preznitwit, correct?
I saw Candy Crowley last night on AC 360 when she made the statement in the video above I should not have been astounded that she said it since the MSM has been led around by the nose by the Bushies and Maverick for the past 8 years but I couldn't believe she said it. I guess she has learned nothing since the run up to the war in Iraq. I thought the job of the press was to inform the public but Ms. Crowley seems to think she bears no responsibility in providing information. I tried to find out if CNN has an ombudsman but couldn't locate one on their site. I wanted to write and complain about her. My head is about to spin around.
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 85:
He meant the wheel. :)
StirFry @ 80:
I think the 'rape kit' story going mainstream, energized a lot of bases.
No matter how they attempt to spin that one, it comes out bad for Palin.
Maybe a few Repugs can twist it into something they can ignore, but it was a wicked decision by a petty xtian freakshow mayor.
david lewis @ 43:
since raygun, the press has been owned by the repugs. the DLC are simpley democ(R)ats, so they got decent press once.
xoites defends Constitution @ 87:
Fire? :<[)
CoIntelPro for Pronktastic Victory Over SCLM, DIEBOLD, ESS and SEQUOIA! @ 91:
I think Homo erectus actually qualifies as liberal by Reaganite standards.
xoites defends Constitution @ 58:
Didn't John McWIFI invent that technology?
Uh, Candy, how can voters determine the facts if the media doesn't sort out the facts from the lies and distortions?
FG @ 98:
In Soviet Russia the people knew the press lied to them so they did not rely on it for information. When America figures this out they will begin to get it.
I would be curious to know if FAUX News is also reporting the lies as well? Likely not. How about Bill O, or Limpy?
The McCain group will just blow it off as "liberal media bias" anyway and the fundies will eat it up. Just like "Troopergate" is now a bi-partisan witch hunt(sound familiar). The fundies will all march around the campfire and chant some shit and not believe any of it.
Now, on the subject of the press. I feel that the American media has lost all credibilty on the subject of politics in this country. After 35 years of bullshit journalism, never asking the tough questions, and when they did, not demanding more accountability from our Government on our behalf(since we the People can't truly speak with top Officials). They are more concerned with blowjobs and gay sex and women who can feild dress a Moose. And they have been since Watergate broke some years ago. I think it will take as long for the press to regain our trust as it will to crawl out from under the Bush legacy. Let's hope they both begin soon.
Obama 08'
So NOW the press is upset?
...
...
...
I wonder how they would feel if someone lied to them, damaging their credibility, and got them to serve as stenographers and enablers to start a war with a nation that never attacked us?
What a ridiculous joke.
Screw the Press. They've been misinforming us for decades. Who CARES what they think?
Nuffsaid @ 49:
http://www.spj.org/ethicscode.asp
Seek Truth and Report It
Journalists should be honest, fair and courageous in gathering, reporting and interpreting information.
"Members of the Society of Professional Journalists believe that public enlightenment is the forerunner of justice and the foundation of democracy. The duty of the journalist is to further those ends by seeking truth and providing a fair and comprehensive account of events and issues. Conscientious journalists from all media and specialties strive to serve the public with thoroughness and honesty. Professional integrity is the cornerstone of a journalist's credibility. Members of the Society share a dedication to ethical behavior and adopt this code to declare the Society's principles and standards of practice."
-------------------------------------------------
Although "true objectivity" is (in absolute terms) an impossibility (because everyone is biased - and one cannot escape their biases unless they've been confronted by them); to divide the news media into propagandist camps does nothing to further the cause of truth.
You do not learn anything if you only access media that "paints pictures with your favorite colors"... that is NOT journalism... journalism, regardless of any particular journalist's personal bias is an attempt to view both sides of an argument... and the process of exploring both sides of an argument is how truth is exposed, and how views change over time. To do otherwise is a disservice to democracy itself.
Dividing the MSM into propagandist camps only increases the polarity that currently stunts political progress and conflates issues beyond reason into entrenched "idiotologies".
Case in point: Faux media bills itself as a news outlet and their viewers are consistently the most misinformed of all citizens on the issues and the result is now a horse-race of an election campaign which should be a landslide victory for the Democrats. This is a failing of the MSM, no one else's.
Personally, I don't care if faux wants to be a propaganda machine... as long as they drop "news" from all their branding materials... while they continue to forward that pathetic p.o.s. insult to thinking human beings; they are no different at all from joseph goebbels. If they want to simply admit that they are rethuglican party supporters and continue to broadcast their lies, then at least the public is not subjected to such false advertising.
As it stands, faux is nothing more than a putrid stain of disrespect which spits in the face of a long history of journalism and the many journalists who have sacrificed their lives just like the soldiers whom have died on the front lines for freedom.
The rest of the MSM have also betrayed this history of reaching toward integrity and truth by catering to a bottom-line focused and populist approach toward wrapping the medicine of social conscience with a tooth-rotting coating of sugar for zombie idiots whom are looking to be entertained, rather than informed.
As a viewer, I should be incensed by the news that I am exposed to, NOT the presenters who fail to do their jobs.
The corporate Masters have loosened the muzzles on their bloviator-commentator-pundits.
Its been so long since they acted as watchdogs all they can manage so far is a few feeble "yaps", with tales still wagging anxiously.
Will their Masters allow them to actually bark and howl? Maybe, if the economy continues to self-destruct so far ahead of schedule.
The International Corporations who really "manage" things, if you can call unrestrained looting managing, didn't expect the meltdown to happen till the Dems were in charge.
That way, they could simultaneously BLAME the Dems while having the Democrat's superior skills save them. All BushCo can do is throw (borrowed) money at the problem. Governance is impossible for them.
Not to be snarky, but what percentage of the reporters covering McCain right now were covering him in the 2000 primaries? What worked for McCain with one set of reporters eight years ago simply might not work with a second set.
Andrew @ 107:
Is McCain the same? If anything has actually changed much in the last 7 or 8 years it would be him.
How come it took the media this long?
McCain has always been overrated and all this hero worship doesn't wash anymore.
There are lots of Heros for much more worthy causes than McCain and what about the almost 5,000 that died in Iraq and never had the chance to be a live Hero?
Gen Pavel "...tell me in complete sentences how someone blind and deaf is going to use the intarwebs.
I've worked with blind people who use the internet, thanks to several technical innovations, including the amazing invention called braille.
The added handicap of deafness would make it more difficult, but not impossible.
Like other American 6th graders the "journalists" will fall right back in love if McCain will just bat his eyelashes at them.
Wow...when I see tweety say something anti-republican as I have for 2 days now, I know Obama is winning. How's thoes ratings tweety?????????....soon it will be 'Morning Tweety'...then byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee byeeeeeeeeeeeee.
to borrow a page from crowley's book, i believe it is up to the viewer to decide which one of those talking heads doesnt take care of his/herself.....
BUT DAMN...CANDY CRAWLEY IS A BIG FAT HOG....WITH NO FUCKIN LIPSTICK
Andrew @ 106:
i now know what happened to the 2000 mccain
crawley ate him...and put in his place one of her morning shits
god, i love being a sexist bastard
xoites defends Constitution @ 101:
and we have the internets.
95 ferrofluid ( they’ll be sorry ) says "I think the ‘rape kit’ story going mainstream, energized a lot of bases.
No matter how they attempt to spin that one, it comes out bad for Palin.
Maybe a few Repugs can twist it into something they can ignore, but it was a wicked decision by a petty xtian freakshow mayor."
When you add the fact that she brought up her "special needs" baby the last 2 days on the stump being followed by the fact that she cut funds for the Special Olympics in Alaska, it shows that she is just another republican liar.
Kathy @ 105:
THINK AGAIN!
THEY ARE PLANNING EVEN MORE CONSOLIDATION!
xoites defends Constitution @ 88:
Yes but the point is many republicans as evidenced by Bush's 20's approval rating and the overall performance of the republicans WON'T be voting this election. UNLESS they feel their 'values' are under attack. Two of their insanely hypocritical (and hypothetical) values is respect for the military and women. The more the 'pointy-headed northeast liberal MSM' attacks POW McCain (did you know he was a POW?) and their darlin' lil' lady Palin (she's just like us!) the more of these troglodytes will drag their knuckles to the polls to teach us a lesson.
xoites defends Constitution @ 56:
Thanks--I needed that!
For those wondering earlier about whether Obama would get on the foreclosure purge by the republicans......Obama Files Suit Over GOP Foreclosure Vote Scheme
The Obama campaign and the Democratic National Committee have filed a lawsuit in federal court in Michigan over the Michigan GOP's plan to use foreclosure lists to challenge voters at the polls, as first reported by the Michigan Messenger.
Bob Bauer, general counsel for the Obama campaign, and Mark Brewer, chairman of the Michigan Democratic Party, announced the lawsuit in a conference call with reporters this afternoon. It was filed on behalf of the campaign, the party and three Michigan residents who have had their houses foreclosed upon in recent months.
Bauer called the GOP plan to use foreclosure lists "a new and especially repellent version of caging." Caging is a technique of challenging voters where they take lists of addresses, mail to them with a "do not forward" marking and if for whatever reason those mailings are returned, they use this as a basis for claiming that the voter no longer lives at the address at which they are registered.
Dennis @ 18
Favorability rating way down for Palin. The world is coming to its senses. Only the pitiful will survive to be squashed like flies. Dennis, are you a direct descendent of the citizens of Capernaum, oh Jedi warrior? By the way, you were in OODA Loop. Did you have fun?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P.....al_thyself
Ruthless People @ 15:
You know what WcCain called the media tour bus that followed his 'straight talk' bus in 2000 !?
'BS1' which was short for 'Bullshit one'
thats what WcCain really thinks of the journalists and the MSM, they are useful but...
-
If the media calls them on their lies, why do they still take the money and air the ads?
-
Looks like the media supermen and women have figured out that their Repub media darlings are really made of kryptonite.
Good luck, dupes. Looks like you got what you paid for.
Could go either way.
The Republican certainly *have* been happy to lie during campaigns before. They've generally gotten the "Republicans say moon is green cheese, however some Democrats disagree" treatment because if they don't, they say the press is controlled by liberals, despite being owned by wall to wall conservatives.
It has typically worked for them - so they're liable to just keep pushing it until the press gets tired of bringing it up.
If the press quits mentioning it, they win. If the MSM keeps holding them to being honest, they lose.
JW
Peggy Noonan called the GOP narrative "bullshit" & said outright: "it's over" when she thought she was off the air ... then went right back to rimming the GOP without batting an eyelash the next day. Does that tell you anything about how trustworthy these people (& I use the term loosely) really are?
They deleted his blatant fuck-ups, repeatedly ... ate the BBQ, enjoyed the free hotel-rooms & massages & pedicures ... yet now they're suddenly seeing the light & calling bullshit by its real name.
Pardon me if I don't applaud this sudden magical shift of perspective.
The GOP is laughing at the pundits just like Bush & Cheney laughed at the Fundamentalists, knowing they'll come back for more ... because they know better than anyone: when you strap on those knee-pads often enough, your knees start to feel weak & naked without them. As soon as McCain begins to tank again, which will probably be in a week or two, they'll rediscover the joys of tossing his salad, because they need the horse-race to be close to sell that lucrative airtime.
Finding their conscience, my ass - this is all about market-share, period.
jim@125
You are right on, my brother! But Dennis will say the liberal media has come home.
A clueless soul that gives meaning to the adjective and noun of the subject. If his thought controllers suggested to him to eat shit, his only question would be "How much, sir?"
Isn't Rachel Maddow great" A true progressive mind. Republicans or Democrats that are not true to the Constitution, and by definition the people, better watch out!
jim@25
By the way, like the knee pad metaphor!
Oh, and by the way, Palin spent how much of her own money on a tanning bed because she wants to be........BROWN!
Ron @ 53:
McCain's square wheel doesn't work but I'm going to leave it mounted because he says it works.
One of the only institutions I hold in lower esteem than say the Bush presidency is the Press.
They should be ashamed of themselves. That they just woke up after 8 years of lies, doesn't exactly make them look good. If nobody seems to care, Press, it's because you truly and deeply suck.
We hate you.
Dennis@18
And finally, turdblossomjunior4thstring,
I can't stand McCain the fraud, liar, cheat, and pseudo-maverick. But you may be slightly right becauser I ain't liberal!
this is all about money. because of the economic catastrophe going on in this country, even the wealthy are feeling the pinch. their losing their ass in the stock market and other investments, and the media are part of this group. i think they've decided that they rather pay more taxes under obama and have sound investments, then pay less taxes under mccain and see their investments go into the toilet. the msm only cares about money.
Evidently the intimidation of the press isn't working anymore now . In any case finally we're getting some truth and facts out of these people , the Republicans are looking like complete fools . The outrageous lies , the slander and Sarah the Moose hunter ... I think it's all backfiring on them , but then again I still have faith in the ignorance , stupidity and bigotry of the American voter .
You can't blame the Cons for trying to lie their asses off. It worked for the last eight years. My guess is that they're trying to figure out why the MSM is all of a sudden concerned about the truth.
It has for some time been a point of pride and glee for Republicans to repeat thoroughly debunked lies to their audiences "because it makes liberals so mad." It's become a kind of cult bonding ritual to reject any pretense of attempting to tell the truth.
Perhaps it is left to us liberals to keep repeating to our Republican brothers and sisters, "Lying is a sin." Assuming they take their own religion seriously, maybe they'll start noticing that their own leaders are full of crap.
.
It seems the McMedia have consumed too many burnt McBBQ ribs.
.
I think the media doesn't like McCain/Palin anymore because their corporate owners are starting to realize that electing them into the White House is going to be bad for (international) business. Badtempered old men, triggerhappy, biblethumping and inexperienced smalltown moms and the sensitive global economy don't mix, just like shit and strawberry shortcake.
I think this whole media falling out of love thing is childish jealousy. The media used to fawn all over him because he let them ask questions to their hearts content. Now he is hiding away behind Rick Davis. And his new magical VP pick has been withheld from the media beasties that threaten to ask her questions. Now they even demonize the media. I think the media is finally figuring out that they have been used and thrown out like the cheap wh0res they are.
You mean Americans are starting to realize a crappy pilot who cooperated with the Vietnamese would make a lousy president. Maybe they tired of his flip flops or his never-ending lies. Maybe he is the Manchurian candidate.
The Real Media (anything not considered MSM) has never been in love with McCain.
The Korporate Media is still praising McCain and smearing Obama. (see Faux news)
Too bad the majority of Americans get their info from Korporate Media
Now that the Republicans have corrupted the press and rendered them ineffectual in the eyes of the public, they can say anything they want, knowing most of the public has already discounted whatever the press reports.
It seems to me that Neocon Propaganda Radio is still infatuated with McCain, or is at least still totally dedicated to campaigning for the GOPers. It's nauseating to listen to those shills.
I don't think they are mad that he is lying. I think that McCain and Palin actually scare them and so they are finally willing to point out the truth about them.
As long as they say what the religious loons want to hear, it doesn't need to be true. To be a Republican requires you to disregard fact and just 'believe'. It's nothing more than a cult of personality. They could say dog shit tastes like chicken and the 'faithfull' would say it is so....
BTW, I have no sympathy for the rest of the press/media which has sold its soul in order to prostitute itself to the Goper fascists. The only thing they deserve is to be put out of business and onto the streets.
You know, while it is absolutely the case that these "journalists" have been missing in action for eight years and must carry a lot of the blame for the success of the Rovian spin machine and a woefully uneducated public it might behoove us to give them some positive feedback for at least popping one eye open. Maybe if they woke up to the fact that there are a lot of us who pay attention and will stroke their fragile egos they might decide they can rejoin the rational element of society, stand their ground, and actually report the facts.
And yes, I can say "wishful thinking."
YOU KNOW.... HIP HIP HOOEY FOR THE 4TH ESTATE
The majority of reporters are Republican...their bias is obvious to a 6yo. The only reason they're "out of sorts" is because they were FORCED to report the "Bridge To Know Where Lie" beacuse a few honest journalist exposed it...thus them too. They're GOP to the core and are pissed that Papa John McBush has offended their egos. They're like squabling siblings. In the end they're GOP to the core and will do anything to protect Bush 44.
Sadly, if your Republican, Southern Baptist, Evangelical anything you say or do will ULTIMATELY be justified, twsited to be fact. This will not last...expecailly with David Gregory, Andrea Mitchell, Katie Couric, John Roberts, Medieth Viaria, and Hoda - GOD, Hoda could fill in for Limbaugh or O'Reilly and their audiences never miss their daily doss of Chrisitan lies, disceit, democrat-demonizing, gay and abortionist hating mongering.
Of course the media are falling out of love with McCain. Sooner or later they were bound to get tired of being lied to. I only hope the rest of the country catches on.
Comments are closed on this entry