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Physician, heal thyself.
When host David Gregory brings up Jack Welch's completely unsubstantiated assertion that "Chicago politicians" had finagled the job numbers somehow to drop the unemployment rate to below 8% just a month before the election, he immediately goes to Republican Newt Gingrich for validation. And of course, the Newtster is happy to oblige, acknowledging that it is "plausible" that the numbers have been fudged, evidence be damned. For good measure, he throws another conspiracy snausage (h/t SMS) out there, reminding that Congress voted against Obama's last budget (untrue, but also irrelevant to the jobs report) and it just sets off Chuck Todd:
Stop for a minute. This is really making me crazy. The Federal Reserve gets questioned for politics these days. We have corroded—what we’re doing, we are corroding trust in our government in our way. And one-time responsible people are doing to control it. And the idea that Donald Trump, Jack Welch, rich people with crazy conspiracies, can get traction on this is a bad trend.
Chuckie bubbeleh, you want to know why people like Donald Trump and Jack Welch get traction? Look in the damn mirror.
Being a successful CEO does not give you special insight into the greater economy, or how to govern around it. They're different beasts entirely. But you and your mainstream media colleagues continue to disinform your viewership by playing these "both sides do it" false equivalencies and never, ever coming down on lies told by your interviewees. There's no consequence to Jack Welch throwing that wildly bizarre statement out; you'll interview him again when the next jobs report comes out.
By all rights, people like Donald Trump, Jack Welch, Newt Gingrich, Ann Coulter and Sarah Palin have forfeited their rights of being taken credibly as a talking head for being so monstrously and crazily wrong. Repeatedly. But they never lose their seats at the table. And people who have spoken forcefully and with facts on their side rarely, if ever, get a chance to voice them.
That's on you. There's a reason why we no longer trust our pillar institutions--including the news media--because you've decided to be buddies inside the Beltway. Your cocktail parties and barbeques are more important than holding people in power accountable. So if these "once responsible" people are making you crazy, all I can tell you is "Heal thyself" and stop giving them credibility.
