NOW with Alex Wagner, August 30, 2012 Welcome to Post-truth America. It has never been more clear than after the Republican National Convention that honesty is no longer a value or ethic we demand of our elected representatives. In truth,
September 2, 2012

[oldembed width="420" height="245" src="https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640" flashvars="launch=48844708^409335^617541&width=420&height=245" fid="2"]
NOW with Alex Wagner, August 30, 2012

Welcome to Post-truth America.

It has never been more clear than after the Republican National Convention that honesty is no longer a value or ethic we demand of our elected representatives. In truth, it has always been thus. Politicians have always lied, have always exaggerated for their own benefit. But we Americans have--up until recently--been able to trust somewhat in our media to act as our advocates and challenge authority and report the truth. But Ezra Klein perfectly exemplifies his personal anguish that the media now schizophrenically reports on speeches like Paul Ryan's last week strictly on a political and emotional basis and set aside the factual content (or lack thereof).

When did this happen? Why does it continue to happen? We see moments of actual journalism (Chris Matthews challenging Reince Preibus--something Howard Kurtz posits is going too far or Soledad O'Brien shutting down Rep. Jason Chaffetz) but they're rare little needles in haystacks of regurgitated talking points, disregarding abject ignorance on decided issues (evolution, climate change, women's reproductive systems and birth certificates) and the continued invitations to pundits who trade in these discredited notions (which should rightly marginalize them off the air).

I think the answer is us. I think we have to stop letting the media get away with this. We need to flood their offices and inboxes with demands for accuracy and more importantly, consequences for those politicians who think they can lie with impunity. Until such time that we do, no one can honestly say that we have a functioning democracy.

ABC's "This Week" -- White House adviser David Plouffe. Round table: ABC News' George Will; Priorities USA co-founder Bill Burton; Romney campaign senior adviser and former Massachusetts Lt. Governor Kerry Healey; Democratic strategist and ABC News contributor Donna Brazile; and political strategist and ABC News political analyst Matthew Dowd.

NBC's "Meet the Press" -- Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel; Round table: former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; former CEO of Hewlett-Packard and Vice Chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee Carly Fiorina; presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin; NY Times columnist Tom Friedman; and NBC’s Tom Brokaw

CBS' "Face the Nation" -- Stephanie Cutter, deputy campaign manager for President Barack Obama's re-election campaign; Gov. Martin O'Malley, D-Md.; former Gov. Bill Richardson, D-N.M. Round table: Washington Post's Dan Balz, Bloomberg Television's Trish Regan, Georgetown University's Michael Eric Dyson and CBS News political director John Dickerson.

MSNBC's "Up with Chris Hayes" -- Co-founder of Rebuild the Dream Van Jones; Wisconsin Democratic candidate Rob Zerban; Maine Senate Democratic candidate Cynthia Dill; New York State Assemblyman Hakeem Jeffries; Arizona State Senator Kyrsten Sinema; Democratic congressional candidate Nate Shinagawa; Robert Wolf, former president of UBS Bank, member of President Obama's Council on Jobs and Competitiveness; John Nichols, Washington correspondent for The Nation; Neera Tanden, president of the Center for American Progress; Rose Aguilar, radio host of "Your Call" on KALW radio.

MSNBC's "Melissa Harris-Perry" -- Guest list not made available.

CNN's "State of the Union" -- O'Malley; Gov. Beverly Perdue, D-N.C.; Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa; Robert Gibbs, adviser to the Obama campaign; Eric Fehrnstrom, adviser to Republican Mitt Romney's campaign. Round table: CNN’s Chief White House Correspondent Jessica Yellin and The Washington Post’s Dan Balz.

CNN's "Fareed Zakaria GPS" -- Grover Norquist, founder and president of Americans for Tax Reform; venture capitalist Nick Hanauer and former Bain Capital partner Ed Conard; astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson.

CNN's "Reliable Sources" -- David Drucker, of Roll Call Magazine, Christina Bellatoni, of PBS NewsHour, and Lauren Ashburn, of Daily-Download.com; Jennifer Rubin, of The Washington Post and John Aravosis, of AmericaBlog.com; Adam Sharp, an executive for Twitter.

"Fox News Sunday" _ Villaraigosa; David Axelrod, adviser to the Obama campaign. Panel: Brit Hume, Fox News; Kirsten Powers, The Daily Beast; Bill Kristol, The Weekly Standard and Jeff Zeleny, The New York Times.

So what's catching your eye this morning?

Can you help us out?

For nearly 20 years we have been exposing Washington lies and untangling media deceit, but now Facebook is drowning us in an ocean of right wing lies. Please give a one-time or recurring donation, or buy a year's subscription for an ad-free experience. Thank you.

Discussion

We welcome relevant, respectful comments. Any comments that are sexist or in any other way deemed hateful by our staff will be deleted and constitute grounds for a ban from posting on the site. Please refer to our Terms of Service for information on our posting policy.
Mastodon