To the media: It's President Gingrich
Duncan Black nails this one and it's so frustrating on so many levels.
Hey, Someone Noticed: EJ Dionne discovers the power of President Gingrich and Chief of Staff Limbaugh.
A media environment that tilts to the right is obscuring what President Obama stands for and closing off political options that should be part of the public discussion.
Yes, you read that correctly: If you doubt that there is a conservative inclination in the media, consider which arguments you hear regularly and which you don't. When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media. It is remarkable how successful they are in setting what passes for the news agenda.
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Her point has broader application. For all the talk of a media love affair with Obama, there is a deep and largely unconscious conservative bias in the media's discussion of policy. The range of acceptable opinion runs from the moderate left to the far right and cuts off more vigorous progressive perspectives.
We witnessed a complete bias towards the losing party in the last election by the media when studies showed that cable news was putting on more than two Republicans for every Democrat during the stimulus debate.
To fill out Newt's cabinet, I'd say Dick Cheney is the Secretary of Defense and Liz Cheney is the Vice President with Pat Buchanan as the head of the Dept. of Homeland Security and Tom Tancredo is his Deputy.
And when do you ever see good progressive or liberal Reps on TV?
While the right wing's rants get wall-to-wall airtime, you almost never hear from the sort of progressive members of Congress who were on an America's Future panel on Tuesday. Reps. Jared Polis of Colorado, Donna Edwards of Maryland and Raul Grijalva of Arizona all said warm things about the president -- they are Democrats, after all -- but also took issue with some of his policies.
Please list all the liberal/progressive Reps and leaders you'd like to see on TV and know you never will. I was talking to Howie Klein about this and we came up with a few names we'd like to see much more of on the networks.
Alan Grayson (FL), Jan Schakwsky (IL), Linda Sanchez, who's a CA congresswomen, Tammy Baldwin (WI) and Jerry Nadler are also quite good.
Sherrod Brown (OH), Jeff Merkley (OR) Bernie Sanders (VT) and Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) are very good from the Senate side. The only time you ever see Alan Grayson on TV is when FOX is trying to destroy one of his good positions that help the American workers. Things like paid vacations, you know, stuff like that.
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Just yesterday Chris Matthews had on Rep. Aaron Schock, R-Illinois, and Chris tried to turn him into Abe Lincoln -- that is, until he started to open his mouth. (And President Obama was not the most liberal member of Congress. That's another lie told repeatedly by conservatives.)
SCHOCK: And, Chris, let‘s look at who the Democrats used to—to come back to the majority. They nominated the most liberal guy in the United States Senate, not Hillary Clinton, but Barack Obama. And he‘s ultimately the one that led them to victory.
MATTHEWS: Yes, OK. I guess that was a shot at him, right?
SCHOCK: Well, no, it's just the point that, just because you—you elect someone or nominate someone who is ideologically to the right or the left doesn't mean that they can't carry the day in the general election. A lot of it comes down to personality and ability to carry the message forward. Obviously, George W. Bush did a better job than Al Gore did in the 2000 elections. And, obviously, John...(CROSSTALK)
MATTHEWS: Why do you say that? He got fewer votes.
KING: But he won the election. (LAUGHTER)
MATTHEWS: But he got fewer votes.
SCHOCK: OK.
I've been writing since Obama was elected that the Democratic Party has terrible spokesmen to go on and represent. Maybe one of the reason it appears this way is because we are only allowed to view the same tired old Beltway pols like Chuck Schumer. Will the media treat America to our new young guns? Please let us know who you'd like to hear more of...
Two Words ....... Alan Grayson
you know, Gingrich took back what he said about Sotomayor being a racist. but its too late, the seed was planted. every republican automaton thinks obama appointed a racist. come election time they are going to have a big list of "failures" and have "racist judge" as one of them.
the media never holds politicians responsible. after someone "takes back" what they say so many times how can you keep giving the mic to them? the next time Gingrich says something stupid is the media going to say well you have a track record of saying things that you don't mean, saying things that aren't true? no because the media loves shit disturbers.
to no one here.
Mario and Andrew
Debbie Wasserman-Schulz!!
The head of the DCCC that said electing democrats wasn't her responsibility? Correct me if I'm wrong, but that is how I remember it going down.
Remember when anything happened which related to blacks the media always ran to Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for comment? Maybe, like magnets, there was a mutual attraction.
It would seem to me that Rush and Newt are somewhat like Jesse and Al. They love the attention and the media is too lazy to find anyone else.
Who were the young gun Republican spokespersons featured in the media during the Bush administration? Michelle Bachmann seems to have filled a void now that the Republicans are on the out and Palin is hiding in Alaska.
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
The producers would not have a clue what to do without the republican pro wrestling team they have talored for maximim conflict.
It may be entertainment but it is low quality entertainment and it is very harmful in the long run.
The MSM must change, but i'm not sure more talking heads is the answer - perhaps in the short term it can help.
Every day people have to stop feeding on MSM conflict too, for it to go away.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
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"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
too old? Too Texan?
“Why would anyone with a functioning brain believe this guy?”
Some guy with an eating disorder
... is that broadcast journalism went from the frank approach of Edward R. Murrow to expert-driven media like Tweety Matthews.
Instead of understanding, as Murrow did, that there are not two, equally valid and reasonable sides to every argument, the media has been browbeaten by asscakes like Limbaugh into behaving like a bunch of hostages with a serious case of Stockholm Syndrome.
Sure, freedom of speech means you can say pretty much anything.
It doesn't mean it's automatically newsworthy or needs to be part of a national dialogue. A name in politics, or a syndicated show doesn't necessarily mean someone knows anything about a given subject. (Case in point: McCain's 'overhead projector' gaffe, which he repeated several times. Did the media cover the director of the Adler Planetarium showing an overhead projector in contrast to the star projector at the planetarium? No. But McCain's line kept making air, and he continued to be treated like he had the chops to discuss economics.)
The American public, in general, has a bad case of ADOS (Attention Defic... OOOOOH! SHINY!). Limbaugh's not even the gorram tail, but he does a good job of wagging the dog. Idiots like that used to be a joke, and now they run the GOP.
I would like to see Murray and Cantwell. I think the media shuns many of the democrats becuse they would be called on some of the media bs.
Where?
Let's see, Joelieber is considered a "centrist" or moderate, so is Specter, Bayh etc. These are people I would consider hard right not moderates or centrists. And Obama is somehow a socialist pinko because he's slightly to the left of these hard right douches, right.
First, we need to fix this bs of hard right == moderate.
I HATE having Bayh as my representative. I thought I was voting for a Democrat but he is Republican through and through. Now that he is in, about the only way to dump him is elect a Repug. What a choice!
Once he is sworn in Sen. Al Franken who is fearless in calling out the repug bullshit.
Yesh. I imagine he will torment them with facts and reasoning.
DAMN HIM!
Dennis Kucinich is the one I most like to hear. He was the lone voice calling out Bush for his crimes and calling for impeachment. He is the one that has long touted single payer health care. He campaigned to get us out of Iraq since the election before last. He tells it like it is, and therefore is the most muzzled representative of them all.
John Amato, Nichole Belle, Susie Madrak, et al.
Digby, Glenn Greenwald, Marcy Wheeler, David Sirota, Anna Marie Cox...
Russ Feingold, Dennis Kucinich...
Oh heck, why not Chris Floyd? If the far, far Right gets to have plenty of MSM air time, why not an actual member of the far Left?
Corruption favors the wealthy.
Those are some fine folks but seriously you'd need some kind of new fairness doctrine for the corporate media to become fair again. At the very least our president can use his power to break up the corporate media conglomerates which unfairly dominate today.
Politics is for the present, but an equation is for eternity. Albert Einstein
play the sensational soundbite game better. The republican game plan is this: 1) Say something racist, sexist, homophobic. 2) Sit back as the high schoolized media discuss your racist, sexist, homophobic remark. 3) Get invited on every media outlet to be asked "Did you really mean that?" 4) Say that your words were taken out of context and spend the interview spinning or furthering the right wing talking point of the week. 5) Bash Obama
I want to hear a democratic senator go on a show and call Limbaugh a drug addict, or call Newt Gingrich a philanderer, or say that Republicans hate blacks, mexicans, etc. Or call Cheney a war criminal, then get airtime to discuss whether or not he/she meant what he said.
In W.W.F. the bad guys get the most attention. The MSM is the WWF of politics. FOX news just took the WWF format and ran with it for news coverage.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
The World Wildlife Federation allows apes into the club now?
"When are we going to stop trying to tell elected officials what to do. Our job is to spend the taxpayers' money the best way we can." -- Tommy Watkins, Justice of the Peace, Crawford County, Arkansas
the media are the ones that invite these guests on. Many are paid as are Pat Buchanan and Dick Morris. We don't have a choice, but the media does. We should keep up the pressure on them to get other opinions.
Yes. The MSM are happy as clams. They are square inside their comfort zone. They pay big money to people who are willing to be republican trouble makers. If we want the MSM to serve the political process something has to change on the outside.
"Government by organized money is just as dangerous as Government by organized mob"
-= Franklin Delano Roosevelt =-
and get down to the republican level. Throw some mud back instead of pretending to be above that kind of behavior. At least the dems have some facts on their side.
Please let us know who you'd like to hear more of...
Anyone except Harry "Cryptkeeper" Reid, Nancy "I shill for the GOP" Pelosi, Chuck "I'm the moderate Lieberman" Schumer, Joe "I am the extreme Schumer" Lieberman, and any Blue Dog Democrats.
Oh...and if Harold Ford Jr. would go away too, that would be helpful.
Vote GOP and move forward to the 18th Century.
Ownership has appropriate people in place - directors, producers, etc. - to make sure that the "conservative view" gets plenty of air time. Should a journalist actually make the effort to get a lesser known progressive voice on the air, it would be grounds for dismissal.
Now back to your regularly scheduled program.
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"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
so how can we put the heat on their sponsors???
e-mail them every time you don't buy them.
If he's up to it I'd like to see more Teddy Kennedy. He's one of the few grand old men of the party left and a true librul.
Kucinich of course, but since he's seen a "UFO" the offers haven't exactly been pouring in. Funny that.
Howard Dean would also be good to see more often.
--no, not him: Senator Amy Klobuchar. I have only seen her on Rachel Maddow's program, and then only rarely. High School valedictorian; bachelor degree magna cum laude in Poli. Sci. Yale University; juris doctor from the University of Chicago Law School. Listed among the New York Times' seventeen most likely women to become the first female POTUS.
I mentioned this yesterday and I will mention it a few more times because I think it is a great reference. It has a lot of facts about how the right wing nutterie have taken over the media s far as driving the story. There is more in it thatn that and really is a must read.
"Big Lies" by Joe Conason
It is amazing the things he said in 2003 that came true and how the right wing are still able to do the things that they do.
READ IT!!
Don't lose sight of the fact that Gingrich was in on the outing of Valarie Plame. He was part of the cabal that met to see what they could do to get back at Joe Wilson. Gingrich is a slime no matter how many times his mug is plastered across Fox News and the right wing Sunday news show Meet the Press with the asshole David Gregory.
Isn't it amazing how Neut thinks that no one remembers what a dirty bastard he is? Or does he think that all is forgiven? Why would that ever happen?
With few exceptions every time I see democrat speaking s/he's doing one of the following three things:
1- Apologizing for something that pissed off a Republican
2- Repeating GOP Talking points
3- Back stabbing/under cutting another Democrat
And even though the GOP live in an alternate reality they:
1- They always say what's on their mind
2- They almost always back each other up
3- They rarely apologize for what they believe in
4- And they never ever care if they piss off a Dem
I've seen Congressman Brad Sherman from CA's 27th district kick some serious butt a couple of times. Russ Feingold and Henry Waxman are always good. Barney Frank may well be the smartest and wittiest, but it would sure help if he would work on his delivery just a little: slow his speech just a bit, enunciate just a little more carefully and do things like pause for emphasis occasionally. He has a tendency to sound impatient sometimes. Of course when he's up against idiots like Michele Bachmann, that's understandable.
Kicked some serious ass during the bankster (or was it the Big 3?) hearings.
"Parachutes are allowed in checked or carry-on baggage, but may not be worn in flight."
---Southwest Airlines
Bruce Braley, Iowa 1st District is very articulate and comes across well on TV.
Schock is our House Representative and the media here just goes gaga over their newly elected boy wunderkind, who is supposed to be the "new" face of the GOP. In reality, he is an opportunistic, selfish hack that is much more of a hard core Neocon that his predecessor, Ray La Hood who by comparison was reasonable and moderate.
Last week, Schock stood up with a local car dealership owner whose Chrysler dealership was targeted for closure and used the opportunity to blame the Obama Administration for the problem, intentionally overlooking the fact that Obama had nothing to do with the matter. But here's the real problem---this hidebound toady voted against the rescue package for Chrysler which would have sank the whole company, claiming that the "free market" should prevail. There was not one piece in any media outlet calling him on this flagrant grandstanding and hypocrisy, lest they tarnish the "image" of their innocent little boy.
I have sent letter after letter to this phony asking him why he voted against SCHIP, the stimulus package, etc and the answer is the same robo answer that the GOP chants in unison---something needs to be done---but not that! Darned if we have any useful ideas but we sure have to blame someone! We're not about ideas---we're just political opportunists! You know---the party of NO?
What a flaming hypocrite---he's perfect for the GOP. I know somebody here that wants to run against him next year and expose this fraud for what he really is--a hard core right wing crackpot that is utterly devoid of leadership ability. I will gladly help him so we can rid our government of these selfish jerks and get those in who think politics is a other centered service business designed to promote the larger public interests.
"We will find fulfillment not in the goods that we have, but in the good we can do for each other."
Robert F. Kennedy
"When Rush Limbaugh sneezes or Newt Gingrich tweets, their views ricochet from the Internet to cable television and into the traditional media."
So, does that mean that we're feeding the trolls when crooksandliars.com gets a news blurb about their latest bit of wingnuttery?
or the talk radio monopoly he's point man for, even though it's been dominating politics for nearly 20 years.
guys like dion have been analyzing the EFFECTS of talk radio's coordinated uncontested repetition after the fact, thinking the GOP has legitimate public support instead of 20%, a well oiled propaganda machine, and 1000 radio stations- the country's biggest soapbox- prechewing the tradmedia's daily agenda.
and gingrich would be nothing without limbaugh and sons.
That is how Newt should be introduced at every appearance. Or, Rejected Former Speaker of the House.
Let the fat MFer squeal all he wants. It is the truth.
Why the MSM treat this douchebag with respect is simply astounding.
It's because nobody can or will ever beieve the lying Reslugs anymore.
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