.
Oh, my, Howie Kurtz is on a tear this morning. Ripping into Carville and Begala for tainting his precious CNN with their presence as guest pundits because they may have been too cozy with their ol' buddy Rahm about the matter of Drug-Rush Limbaugh.
And minutes later, reading with sarcasm dripping from his tongue, clips from newspapers that may imply that the media themselves are too cozy with the new O-crowd in DC.
I admit I was in and out a bit, so I may have missed his takedown of Roger Ailes, the head of an entire network that a whole lot of people actually think is a news channel, for saying they were going to battle against Obama until the last shot is fired.... Anybody see that? Did it happen?
That takes what one Kurtz guest called "narrowcasting"--instead of broadcasting--to a whole new level...of muck. And probably also explains the recent metamorphosis of CNBC from an obscure business network into the Santellized conservative network of GE-NBC.
Maybe Kurtz should look to his own political biases and cozy relationships and make them transparent. As Joan Walsh constructively noted at one point in the Begala Carville blather, she has no problem with them being on
Showing posts with label CNN. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CNN. Show all posts
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
A Radical Idea
.
The ratings are in and CNN's Campbell Brown aka Mrs. Dan Senor is not doing so well in her time slot. Hardly justified dumping Paula Zaun, now did it....
Here's a radical thought for the original cable news network:
How about giving us some news for an hour? No pundits. No "opinions." No "experts" at the desk. No glammed-up anchor babes or buffed boys in suits. No gizmos. No three-Dee. And absolutely no politicians spewing spin.
Just news.
Fact-checked.
Who knows, we could get to know the rest of the planet better.
And it might catch on.
.
The ratings are in and CNN's Campbell Brown aka Mrs. Dan Senor is not doing so well in her time slot. Hardly justified dumping Paula Zaun, now did it....
Here's a radical thought for the original cable news network:
How about giving us some news for an hour? No pundits. No "opinions." No "experts" at the desk. No glammed-up anchor babes or buffed boys in suits. No gizmos. No three-Dee. And absolutely no politicians spewing spin.
Just news.
Fact-checked.
Who knows, we could get to know the rest of the planet better.
And it might catch on.
.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Watch Parties
.
Where will you be watching the Inauguration? For some, it'll be the local Starbucks. MSNBC and Starbucks are announcing a viewing partnership, and that's just one of many ways you can watch the events.
Savvy cross-marketing for a network that suffers from far fewer media outlets than CNN and Foney News and the resultant crippling of its ratings potential.
Meanwhile, schools are asking--and getting--permission from CNN to carry their coverage. There's talk of big-screen theatre events, also by MSNBC.
Oh, a few scolds remain, but they sound so whiny 20th Century with their partisan talking points right now. Coulter, Ingraham, Beck, Hannity... I'm sick of your schtick....
And schtick it is. Maybe Mickey Rourke can play the movie version.
.
Where will you be watching the Inauguration? For some, it'll be the local Starbucks. MSNBC and Starbucks are announcing a viewing partnership, and that's just one of many ways you can watch the events.
Savvy cross-marketing for a network that suffers from far fewer media outlets than CNN and Foney News and the resultant crippling of its ratings potential.
Meanwhile, schools are asking--and getting--permission from CNN to carry their coverage. There's talk of big-screen theatre events, also by MSNBC.
Oh, a few scolds remain, but they sound so whiny 20th Century with their partisan talking points right now. Coulter, Ingraham, Beck, Hannity... I'm sick of your schtick....
And schtick it is. Maybe Mickey Rourke can play the movie version.
.
Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Blair House Which Project—Tuesday, January 6
.
By now you probably wonder whether I'll waver. Whether I've the stamina to stay the course and just keep asking the question. Time will tell.
In the meantime, I've been pondering epiphanies—today's the day for it, after all—and wondering whether the press would ever get it...why it matters.
For a moment there, last night, watching John King announcing on the Colbert Report his new Sunday morning gasbag-primetime talk show, I had hopes. After all, he said the most valuable part of the campaign season for him was getting out beyond the beltway to the little towns, talking to the little people about the state of the country. And how he wants to keep that perspective when he launches his new show.
King also reflected on how they [the Very Important Village Media] didn't ask the tough questions of Bush lo' these many years.
And ya know, he's right, and instead of waiting to pile on Obama as Colbert snarked they would, here's a thought.
Because King's replacement over on the White House beat, Kate Bolduan, mentioned something interesting, just in passing yesterday, when talking about the Obama girls leaving the Hay to head to school with the big security convoy.
Did you know the Hay may be a stone's throw away, across Lafayette Park, from the White House? But it's outside the security barrier.
And Blair House is inside the security barrier. Security's the issue, not proximity, seems to me.
So I'm wondering, just what's more important than the security of the incoming president and his family? D'ya think Kate or John or Dancin' Dave or ol' Bob Schieffer or the soon to be only Little George in town or Ruth Marcus or, you know, anybody who moves and shakes in the Village press corps might be persuaded to ask:
Which bunch o’BushCo's “eventing” in Blair House today?.
Any contrary coverage yet that puts a lie to my countdown? All ya gotta do is let me know.
.
crossposted at firedoglake's Oxdown Gazette
Saturday, October 4, 2008
"No bias, no bull."
.
Wow, imagine if this catches on. Campbell Brown proposes a no-idiots zone:
Wow, imagine if this catches on. Campbell Brown proposes a no-idiots zone:
“As journalists, and certainly for me over the last few years, we’ve gotten overly obsessed with parity, especially when we’re covering politics,” Ms. Brown said. “We kept making sure each candidate got equal time — to the point that it got ridiculous in a way.”
“So when you have Candidate A saying the sky is blue, and Candidate B saying it’s a cloudy day, I look outside and I see, well, it’s a cloudy day,” she said. “I should be able to tell my viewers, ‘Candidate A is wrong, Candidate B is right.’ And not have to say, ‘Well, you decide.’ Then it would be like I’m an idiot. And I’d be treating the audience like idiots.”
Saturday, August 23, 2008
Veepstakes
.
And the winner in the all-important veepstakes is.......John King, CNN.
Turned on the teevee this morning and CNN was bouncing, making the most of their reporter breaking the story that Barack Obama had selected Joe Biden as his running mate.
A quick turn to the email inbox--sorry guys, I don't text--and there amid the emails offering autumn garden goodies were MSNBC Alerts: Associated Press confirms..., then later, NBC confirms.... And about four hours later, THE message from Barack.
Ya can't duck it, NBC. There's only one King of the media this morning.
Now, can we get on with the election and enough of the horseraces?
.
UPDATE: Who leaked? 2 Dem sources...
And the winner in the all-important veepstakes is.......John King, CNN.
Turned on the teevee this morning and CNN was bouncing, making the most of their reporter breaking the story that Barack Obama had selected Joe Biden as his running mate.
A quick turn to the email inbox--sorry guys, I don't text--and there amid the emails offering autumn garden goodies were MSNBC Alerts: Associated Press confirms..., then later, NBC confirms.... And about four hours later, THE message from Barack.
Ya can't duck it, NBC. There's only one King of the media this morning.
Now, can we get on with the election and enough of the horseraces?
.
UPDATE: Who leaked? 2 Dem sources...
Monday, August 18, 2008
A Real Solution...or More Hot Air?
.
T. Boone Pickens is making the rounds these days—he met separately over the weekend with Senator Obama and Senator McCain—talking up The Pickens Plan, a Manhattan Project-style push to reduce dependence on foreign oil by harvesting wind energy in the great corridor of America from Texas to the Dakotas.
Hard to argue about something that would bring fresh economic propulsion and jobs to the heartland. Yet we reserve judgement, take a farmer's wait-and-see attitude, because we remember T. Boone. We recall him four years ago, the skunk at the picnic, using his wealth and power to enable the Swiftboating of a true American hero, mocking his service, bein' part of the good ol' Purple-bandaid folks who played by their own rules. Call it "cheat to win and bluff if they catch us."
That's been workin' pretty well for some time now. Not much honor in it though.
Maybe that's why Pickens this time around is saying he's not going to choose sides. Maybe even for the ol' football fanatic the cheatin' just got too much. Or maybe he sees a way to keep makin' a big buck for himself.
Whatever his motivation, whatever feelings you and I may have about him, though, we'd do well to take a page out of Obama's book and be willing to listen. Unlike McCain who jumps through the hoops of Big Oil...a little chorus of "drill, drill, drill..." anyone? And damn the reality.
T. Boone is stirrin' the pot, no doubt about it. On CNN this morning, Kiran Chetry's first question was: what about those Democrats and environmentalists who oppose your plan? Pickens response was, essentially, who? Audubon Society and Sierra Club are both on board...
But when you're lookin' for alliances and oppositions these days, it would do well to keep in mind the cozy advertiser-media alliances...like ExxonMobile and CNN...and keep a healthy supply of skepticism in mind when you contemplate not only the players on the field but the referees and the color commentary from the sidelines. Who are the reporters...and who are the cheerleaders?
We've seen the mockery of "Inconvenient Truth" by the predicable naysayers before...will it ratchet up as Pickens drives the conversation? After all, who has the most to lose from a re-prioritizing of energy policy [and tax breaks and subsidies and...] than Pickens' good buddies in the oil industry?
And who has the most to win?
I'll be mindful of that this week, because T. Boone is coming to Fargo to discuss his plan, and even though he was a skunk four years ago, the current energy-economic-security mess we have on our hands is no picnic. And everyone's going to have to pitch in with new ideas and fresh personal energy.
Just as long as they bring clean hands.
T. Boone Pickens is making the rounds these days—he met separately over the weekend with Senator Obama and Senator McCain—talking up The Pickens Plan, a Manhattan Project-style push to reduce dependence on foreign oil by harvesting wind energy in the great corridor of America from Texas to the Dakotas.
Hard to argue about something that would bring fresh economic propulsion and jobs to the heartland. Yet we reserve judgement, take a farmer's wait-and-see attitude, because we remember T. Boone. We recall him four years ago, the skunk at the picnic, using his wealth and power to enable the Swiftboating of a true American hero, mocking his service, bein' part of the good ol' Purple-bandaid folks who played by their own rules. Call it "cheat to win and bluff if they catch us."
That's been workin' pretty well for some time now. Not much honor in it though.
Maybe that's why Pickens this time around is saying he's not going to choose sides. Maybe even for the ol' football fanatic the cheatin' just got too much. Or maybe he sees a way to keep makin' a big buck for himself.
Whatever his motivation, whatever feelings you and I may have about him, though, we'd do well to take a page out of Obama's book and be willing to listen. Unlike McCain who jumps through the hoops of Big Oil...a little chorus of "drill, drill, drill..." anyone? And damn the reality.
T. Boone is stirrin' the pot, no doubt about it. On CNN this morning, Kiran Chetry's first question was: what about those Democrats and environmentalists who oppose your plan? Pickens response was, essentially, who? Audubon Society and Sierra Club are both on board...
But when you're lookin' for alliances and oppositions these days, it would do well to keep in mind the cozy advertiser-media alliances...like ExxonMobile and CNN...and keep a healthy supply of skepticism in mind when you contemplate not only the players on the field but the referees and the color commentary from the sidelines. Who are the reporters...and who are the cheerleaders?
We've seen the mockery of "Inconvenient Truth" by the predicable naysayers before...will it ratchet up as Pickens drives the conversation? After all, who has the most to lose from a re-prioritizing of energy policy [and tax breaks and subsidies and...] than Pickens' good buddies in the oil industry?
And who has the most to win?
I'll be mindful of that this week, because T. Boone is coming to Fargo to discuss his plan, and even though he was a skunk four years ago, the current energy-economic-security mess we have on our hands is no picnic. And everyone's going to have to pitch in with new ideas and fresh personal energy.
Just as long as they bring clean hands.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Sunday Gas
.
There's a whole lot to be said about kickin' back for a weekend and NOT listening to the Sunday Morning gasbag shows. If you didn't and you must know what time-wasted concern trolling took place, well then, crooks and liars deconstructs the lot of 'em.
Okay, I confess, I did catch a bit o'Reliable Sources, with fearmongering Howie Kurtz warning his colleagues in the media that they are being bad, bad, by giving so much attention to Barack and so little to his buddy McCain that there could be teh backlash.
Not to worry, though, Howie. If C&L's description of Tom Brokaw's cave-into-concern-trollism is even halfway on the mark, the "librul" media can once again be counted on by the RNC blast-fax-folks to be cowed out of reporting on facts and instead wring their hands over "polls" and "process."
It's going to be a long rest of the summer.
Meanwhile, you have Republicans including known Bush adorer Michelle Bachmann, still best known for channeling her inner Baron "The Claw" von Raschke, heading up to Anwar. Along with such energy experts as CNN's Ari Velchi, who's energy expertise seems most suited to picking out a tie to go with that pin-striped suit.
They'll be tellin' us all about the drillin' in the Anwar. Or the not-drillin' in the Anwar. And like too much that supposedly passes for reporting these days, you won't even hear a mention of the real issue of Anwar.
It's not the drillin'. It's the heating.
And I don't mean global warming...except in this way. A convenient little fact the Vapid Vapors Media glosses right over [see also, sin of omission] is that extracting the oil in the northern Arctic regions requires heating that oil. Which in turn heats the permafrost. Which in turn changes the climate...there...and ultimately everywhere.
So I didn't listen to the gasbags this morning. Instead, I got a little bit of truth and information from National Geographic Explorer's "Alaska's Last Oil" Saturday night [set to re-air Tues. July 22 at 5 pm ET].
Oil wars, whether they're violent [see also, The Kingdom, now airing on HBO] or wars of words [see also the on-message Republispinners screamin' for drillin'], well, those oil wars win nothing.
See also, Al Gore....
.
There's a whole lot to be said about kickin' back for a weekend and NOT listening to the Sunday Morning gasbag shows. If you didn't and you must know what time-wasted concern trolling took place, well then, crooks and liars deconstructs the lot of 'em.
Okay, I confess, I did catch a bit o'Reliable Sources, with fearmongering Howie Kurtz warning his colleagues in the media that they are being bad, bad, by giving so much attention to Barack and so little to his buddy McCain that there could be teh backlash.
Not to worry, though, Howie. If C&L's description of Tom Brokaw's cave-into-concern-trollism is even halfway on the mark, the "librul" media can once again be counted on by the RNC blast-fax-folks to be cowed out of reporting on facts and instead wring their hands over "polls" and "process."
It's going to be a long rest of the summer.
Meanwhile, you have Republicans including known Bush adorer Michelle Bachmann, still best known for channeling her inner Baron "The Claw" von Raschke, heading up to Anwar. Along with such energy experts as CNN's Ari Velchi, who's energy expertise seems most suited to picking out a tie to go with that pin-striped suit.
They'll be tellin' us all about the drillin' in the Anwar. Or the not-drillin' in the Anwar. And like too much that supposedly passes for reporting these days, you won't even hear a mention of the real issue of Anwar.
It's not the drillin'. It's the heating.
And I don't mean global warming...except in this way. A convenient little fact the Vapid Vapors Media glosses right over [see also, sin of omission] is that extracting the oil in the northern Arctic regions requires heating that oil. Which in turn heats the permafrost. Which in turn changes the climate...there...and ultimately everywhere.
So I didn't listen to the gasbags this morning. Instead, I got a little bit of truth and information from National Geographic Explorer's "Alaska's Last Oil" Saturday night [set to re-air Tues. July 22 at 5 pm ET].
Oil wars, whether they're violent [see also, The Kingdom, now airing on HBO] or wars of words [see also the on-message Republispinners screamin' for drillin'], well, those oil wars win nothing.
See also, Al Gore....
.
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Summer Broke Out
.
In all its bright, sunshine-y glory, summer burst through this weekend. Birds are breeding, marigolds are bloomin' in the marshes, and despite occasional thunderstorms with a little added hail, the big, wide, wonderful world beckons.
So I've got a couple suggestions for you for summer weekends to come.
Jason Linkins over at Huffington Post liveblogs among the Sunday morning gasbag shows so you don't have to watch and does it with a sublime touch. Mandatory reading. Exactly the critique the shows' denizens deserve. And I bow to anyone who can actually, at this stage of the Democratic nomination marathon, still muster the intestinal fortitude to watch any show featuring either McAuliffe or Icky Harold.
And speaking of the overexposed...Wolf Blitzer, he of the interminable five breaths questions, has finally maxed out his airtime, one hopes. He is not the host of CNN's new foreign affairs show on Sunday.
Fareed Zakaria, GPS launched Sunday with an in-depth conversation with Tony Blair. Tony has not worn the Bush years well. But then who among us have? A roundtable conversation notably showed that yes, Dougie Feith truly is as awful as we believe. Thank you, Christiane, for educating him that one uses both carrots and sticks.
Dougie is like that schlub on the grade school playground whom neither team wanted to choose for kickball so he contented himself going over by the fence and plucking the wings off butterflies.
Oh, and, China? Owns us all.
What I learned this morning (yes, Manhattan, it's still morning in the rest of America when GPS airs, there is a world west of the Hudson....):
that intelligent journalism and commentary can actually happen when one moves one's own ego, spin, and "balance" out of the way. (And if you happen to be a Sunday morning gasbag denizen, and don't think I'm talkin' to you, go read Linkins)
Putting GPS on my auto-tune. Thanks, CNN.
In all its bright, sunshine-y glory, summer burst through this weekend. Birds are breeding, marigolds are bloomin' in the marshes, and despite occasional thunderstorms with a little added hail, the big, wide, wonderful world beckons.
So I've got a couple suggestions for you for summer weekends to come.
Jason Linkins over at Huffington Post liveblogs among the Sunday morning gasbag shows so you don't have to watch and does it with a sublime touch. Mandatory reading. Exactly the critique the shows' denizens deserve. And I bow to anyone who can actually, at this stage of the Democratic nomination marathon, still muster the intestinal fortitude to watch any show featuring either McAuliffe or Icky Harold.
And speaking of the overexposed...Wolf Blitzer, he of the interminable five breaths questions, has finally maxed out his airtime, one hopes. He is not the host of CNN's new foreign affairs show on Sunday.
Fareed Zakaria, GPS launched Sunday with an in-depth conversation with Tony Blair. Tony has not worn the Bush years well. But then who among us have? A roundtable conversation notably showed that yes, Dougie Feith truly is as awful as we believe. Thank you, Christiane, for educating him that one uses both carrots and sticks.
Dougie is like that schlub on the grade school playground whom neither team wanted to choose for kickball so he contented himself going over by the fence and plucking the wings off butterflies.
Oh, and, China? Owns us all.
What I learned this morning (yes, Manhattan, it's still morning in the rest of America when GPS airs, there is a world west of the Hudson....):
that intelligent journalism and commentary can actually happen when one moves one's own ego, spin, and "balance" out of the way. (And if you happen to be a Sunday morning gasbag denizen, and don't think I'm talkin' to you, go read Linkins)
Putting GPS on my auto-tune. Thanks, CNN.
Tuesday, May 27, 2008
Back in the U.S.S.R?
.
While the aging media are pursuing their long-overrun horserace on the Democratic side of the ticket, with occasional asides to note that they loves them some John McCain, the world is spinning on without us.
I won't say that for the past seven-plus years, thanks to Team BushCo and the corp media backup dancers, we have been as isolated from reality as North Korea, but... Well, let's just say I won't say it.
Meanwhile, perhaps there are signs that said media are actually looking out at the world again. The first is interesting. Fareed Zakaria has been signed by CNN to host a show on international affairs. May we say: long overdue!!!! [CNN's International Hour is far too small a slice of their broadcast pie] with a side of: please get rid of the Screeds: Dobbs and Beck.
The second is alarming.
Now, coming from the world of fiction, I'm a believer in foreshadowing, especially in real life. Yes, I tirelessly, even tiresomely, repeat that bite of Bush's: I don't care about dictatorships as long as I get to be dictator....
So the Breaking News this morning that the president of Belarus has named Vladimir Putin as his prime minister gives me pause.
Something tells me Minsk is not a place Rochelle, Rochelle is going to want to visit anytime soon.
While the aging media are pursuing their long-overrun horserace on the Democratic side of the ticket, with occasional asides to note that they loves them some John McCain, the world is spinning on without us.
I won't say that for the past seven-plus years, thanks to Team BushCo and the corp media backup dancers, we have been as isolated from reality as North Korea, but... Well, let's just say I won't say it.
Meanwhile, perhaps there are signs that said media are actually looking out at the world again. The first is interesting. Fareed Zakaria has been signed by CNN to host a show on international affairs. May we say: long overdue!!!! [CNN's International Hour is far too small a slice of their broadcast pie] with a side of: please get rid of the Screeds: Dobbs and Beck.
The second is alarming.
Now, coming from the world of fiction, I'm a believer in foreshadowing, especially in real life. Yes, I tirelessly, even tiresomely, repeat that bite of Bush's: I don't care about dictatorships as long as I get to be dictator....
So the Breaking News this morning that the president of Belarus has named Vladimir Putin as his prime minister gives me pause.
Something tells me Minsk is not a place Rochelle, Rochelle is going to want to visit anytime soon.
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Contempt
.
In yet another example of George W. Bush's total contempt for this nation and other nations, today he used the moment of an assembly in Israel in honor of that country's 60th anniversary to lash out with a partisan political attack on Barack Obama, calling the Senator's advocacy of diplomacy over guns "appeasement."
According to CNN, the White House has confirmed that even though he didn't name Obama, his "some" is indeed a direct reference to the Senator and likely Democratic presidential nominee.
We've long since learned that this president thinks with something somewhere south of his brain—I believe he took pains to emphasize it on the Mission Accomplished carrier.
We've long since learned that this president is quick to taunt and bluster and bravado with the lives, limbs and spirits of other Americans' sons and daughters...while he "gives up" golf.
We've long since learned that in the furtherance of Big Oil and the neocons' warmongering agenda this president is willing to wreck the rest of the American economy, our infrastructure, our homes, the food on our table, our healthcare, our "educational" system....
We've long since learned that this president is incapable of truth and feels neither remorse nor shame.
We've long since learned his return to the David Koresh wellspring of rural Waco is a fitting place that he cannot return to soon enough.
Just in case you don't already have it bookmarked: Barack Obama dot com
UPDATE: What about John McCain? At the same time as media are broadcasting Bush's intemperate attack on Barack Obama and diplomacy while outside the country in Israel, McCain is speechifying, decrying the "hyperpartisanship" of Washington.
We know that McCain's campaign staff consults daily with the Bush White House. That McCain had to get pre-approved his harsh words about BushCo's handling post-Katrina. So, did McCain know Bush was going to make these bombastic comments from Israel? Did McCain approve? Will he stop using Karl Rove as a campaign advisor?
Will McCain reject and denounce these remarks by Bush?
And if he does, will it all be part of a carefully orchestrated phony separation from Bush?
After all, "polls say" Bush is even more of an albatross around McCain's neck than you-know-who around Obama's.
UPDATE 2: Don't miss further thoughts from emptywheel, via firedoglake, on the grandson of the Nazi enabler and his intemperate remarks in Israel.
UPDATE 3: And there's this from Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars.
UPDATE 4: And Atrios links to this article from the Guardian UK: How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power
UPDATE 5: And ThinkProgress gives further info on Bush's historic reference to a Senator who would have talked to Hitler...a Republican senator from Idaho.
So watch your media in the hours to come. There's plenty of information out there. Will the press report? Or steno?
In yet another example of George W. Bush's total contempt for this nation and other nations, today he used the moment of an assembly in Israel in honor of that country's 60th anniversary to lash out with a partisan political attack on Barack Obama, calling the Senator's advocacy of diplomacy over guns "appeasement."
According to CNN, the White House has confirmed that even though he didn't name Obama, his "some" is indeed a direct reference to the Senator and likely Democratic presidential nominee.
We've long since learned that this president thinks with something somewhere south of his brain—I believe he took pains to emphasize it on the Mission Accomplished carrier.
We've long since learned that this president is quick to taunt and bluster and bravado with the lives, limbs and spirits of other Americans' sons and daughters...while he "gives up" golf.
We've long since learned that in the furtherance of Big Oil and the neocons' warmongering agenda this president is willing to wreck the rest of the American economy, our infrastructure, our homes, the food on our table, our healthcare, our "educational" system....
We've long since learned that this president is incapable of truth and feels neither remorse nor shame.
We've long since learned his return to the David Koresh wellspring of rural Waco is a fitting place that he cannot return to soon enough.
Just in case you don't already have it bookmarked: Barack Obama dot com
UPDATE: What about John McCain? At the same time as media are broadcasting Bush's intemperate attack on Barack Obama and diplomacy while outside the country in Israel, McCain is speechifying, decrying the "hyperpartisanship" of Washington.
We know that McCain's campaign staff consults daily with the Bush White House. That McCain had to get pre-approved his harsh words about BushCo's handling post-Katrina. So, did McCain know Bush was going to make these bombastic comments from Israel? Did McCain approve? Will he stop using Karl Rove as a campaign advisor?
Will McCain reject and denounce these remarks by Bush?
And if he does, will it all be part of a carefully orchestrated phony separation from Bush?
After all, "polls say" Bush is even more of an albatross around McCain's neck than you-know-who around Obama's.
UPDATE 2: Don't miss further thoughts from emptywheel, via firedoglake, on the grandson of the Nazi enabler and his intemperate remarks in Israel.
UPDATE 3: And there's this from Logan Murphy at Crooks and Liars.
UPDATE 4: And Atrios links to this article from the Guardian UK: How Bush's Grandfather Helped Hitler's Rise to Power
UPDATE 5: And ThinkProgress gives further info on Bush's historic reference to a Senator who would have talked to Hitler...a Republican senator from Idaho.
So watch your media in the hours to come. There's plenty of information out there. Will the press report? Or steno?
Thursday, March 27, 2008
Rights of Spring
.
Chuck Hagel telling Blitzed that Iraq is a fiasco, the framing is wrong...cannot call it win or lose or we'll be there forever...Bush is Alice in Wonderland.
Just in case you hadn't heard that elsewhere.
Blitzed: but, but, but, but...who you gonna endorse, when you gonna endorse, don't you know it's all about "us" and the horse race??????????????
This is a right of spring I have a right to expect from the media if they expect me to take them seriously: Knock off the phony horse race/slugfest memes. Get real.
UPDATE: Some people are...getting real. Matt Taibbi this morning on Imus [interpret the pigeon crap however you will, stay for the conversation about media role....]
Chuck Hagel telling Blitzed that Iraq is a fiasco, the framing is wrong...cannot call it win or lose or we'll be there forever...Bush is Alice in Wonderland.
Just in case you hadn't heard that elsewhere.
Blitzed: but, but, but, but...who you gonna endorse, when you gonna endorse, don't you know it's all about "us" and the horse race??????????????
This is a right of spring I have a right to expect from the media if they expect me to take them seriously: Knock off the phony horse race/slugfest memes. Get real.
UPDATE: Some people are...getting real. Matt Taibbi this morning on Imus [interpret the pigeon crap however you will, stay for the conversation about media role....]
Monday, March 17, 2008
Fire and Brimstone
.
We saw a lot of fire and brimstone and tut-tutting among the media talkers this weekend about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary comments. The former pastor of Barack Obama's church and former advisor or whatever the honorary title is that candidates affix to people so that they can try to draw on their names for promoting their campaign has turned out to be toxic to the campaign these days.
Kinda like John Hagee to the McCain campaign. Oh, wait a minute. The media took a look, bought into the slippery dodge of the man they would most like to eat barbeque with, and moved on. As they should with the story of Obama's former pastor. Question's been asked and answered. Last time I looked neither of these preachers is on the ballot.
Media didn't have a whole lot to say about McCain's politically opportunistic trip to Iraq. Wonder if they'll bother to ask who comes to his fundraiser in London?
Selective fire and brimstone and faux [or is it Fox?] media outrage have worn thin among the voters who are actually paying attention this season. Which is to say most all of 'em. So we have high hopes that Issue #1 moves up to the front burner instead of more driven by the competition drivel designed to drive up somebody's negatives.
Don't know about you, but I'm fed up with media who let politicians' oppo research teams drive their reporting. Grow up, fellas.
We're seeing glimmers of change, like the series CNN is launching this week on the economy. How's that for timing?
Bear Stearns, J.P. Morgan and the Fed will provide plenty to talk about, on top of the subprime mortgage story. Because, contrary to what the Current Occupant believes, no financial meltdown is an island, and the ripple effect will be felt by us all. As the global markets are showing even as I type.
So just as Obama says his pastor's rhetorical style is old school to be condemned for its over-reaching hyperbole, the ways of the media have been over-reaching as well. Too much 4-T and G. Tabloid Tramps, Taunts, Titillation, and Gotcha is old school. It's childish when we are in serious times and need responsible reporting instead of infotainment. Information instead of spin and Rush-ian hyperbole.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11
The people are way ahead of the pols and the pundits. The political partisans and old-school media can perpetuate the hypocrisy of lambasting fire and brimstone with their own inflammatory gas-baggery. Or they join the rest of us grown-ups in a new generation. Not defined by age, but by ideas. And hope.
And for those who shrug and say so what, I recommend HBO's series on John Adams. A worthy lesson in just what it is we're trying to preserve and protect here. Democracy, if we can keep it, has been on shaky ground for a while now.
So enough hyperbole about hyperbole and let's get about the business of restoration...and reality.
We saw a lot of fire and brimstone and tut-tutting among the media talkers this weekend about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and his incendiary comments. The former pastor of Barack Obama's church and former advisor or whatever the honorary title is that candidates affix to people so that they can try to draw on their names for promoting their campaign has turned out to be toxic to the campaign these days.
Kinda like John Hagee to the McCain campaign. Oh, wait a minute. The media took a look, bought into the slippery dodge of the man they would most like to eat barbeque with, and moved on. As they should with the story of Obama's former pastor. Question's been asked and answered. Last time I looked neither of these preachers is on the ballot.
Media didn't have a whole lot to say about McCain's politically opportunistic trip to Iraq. Wonder if they'll bother to ask who comes to his fundraiser in London?
Selective fire and brimstone and faux [or is it Fox?] media outrage have worn thin among the voters who are actually paying attention this season. Which is to say most all of 'em. So we have high hopes that Issue #1 moves up to the front burner instead of more driven by the competition drivel designed to drive up somebody's negatives.
Don't know about you, but I'm fed up with media who let politicians' oppo research teams drive their reporting. Grow up, fellas.
We're seeing glimmers of change, like the series CNN is launching this week on the economy. How's that for timing?
Bear Stearns, J.P. Morgan and the Fed will provide plenty to talk about, on top of the subprime mortgage story. Because, contrary to what the Current Occupant believes, no financial meltdown is an island, and the ripple effect will be felt by us all. As the global markets are showing even as I type.
So just as Obama says his pastor's rhetorical style is old school to be condemned for its over-reaching hyperbole, the ways of the media have been over-reaching as well. Too much 4-T and G. Tabloid Tramps, Taunts, Titillation, and Gotcha is old school. It's childish when we are in serious times and need responsible reporting instead of infotainment. Information instead of spin and Rush-ian hyperbole.
When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things. I Corinthians 13:11
The people are way ahead of the pols and the pundits. The political partisans and old-school media can perpetuate the hypocrisy of lambasting fire and brimstone with their own inflammatory gas-baggery. Or they join the rest of us grown-ups in a new generation. Not defined by age, but by ideas. And hope.
And for those who shrug and say so what, I recommend HBO's series on John Adams. A worthy lesson in just what it is we're trying to preserve and protect here. Democracy, if we can keep it, has been on shaky ground for a while now.
So enough hyperbole about hyperbole and let's get about the business of restoration...and reality.
Sunday, February 17, 2008
Preacherman
Listening to Charles Barkley talk to Wolf Blitzer on CNN this Sunday morning was a powerful lesson in positioning and framing. Barkley said forthrightly that he is pro-choice, he supports gay —“it's none of my business”—marriage, and he moved to Alabama in 2007 and will be running for governor in 2014.
Barkley's a strong Obama supporter and sees him as both friend and role model for the black community. But whoever the nominee is this year, Barkley, who says he's an independent, will be votin' Democratic.
And he took on the Christian conservative meme that the rightwing and the co-opted lazy media have been pushing for years. "Fake Christians," says Barkley, who've annointed themselves the judges, hypocrites who totally ignore the imprecation to judge not and be forgiving.
Does it take a sports icon to gain traction in the media against the judgmentalists who've held sway over the conventional wisdom far too long?
UPDATE: HuffPo's got the video.
Saturday, February 16, 2008
Lessons in Framing: The Big Picture
Have you ever tried to build a frame? Not one of the ornate, heavy wood ones, just a simple metal frame? The kind you can buy in two packets at the local hobby store. They’re easy. Just measure your picture and buy one packet for the long side, one for the shorter side. Then a few twists of a screwdriver, slip in a piece of glass, your picture, and some sturdy backing, and fasten together the last side, add the hanger, and you’re ready to go.
See… framing’s easy. Anybody can do it.
And these days, as the political season stays at near-fever pitch, it seems any and everybody is trying to do it. Framing’s coming at us from all sides.
Call it whatever you want…fancy jargon from communications specialists, spin from pundits and consultants, it all comes down to “I’m gonna tell you something, and you’re going to think about it the way I want.” Also known as catapulting the propaganda. Truth is optional.
And these days, as No Child Left Behind—a true bit of false framing if ever there was one—continues to dumb-down the thinking process to rote rather than motes of critical thinking, framing can lead people and whole communities down false paths.
There are a legion of examples this weekend, so it’s worth stepping back a bit and taking a look at the whole business of framing, and the monkey business that too often manipulates it.
The Republican Congresspeople who walked out in protest on Thursday are a nice example of framing gone awry. There they were, staging their departure, dissing the memory of Tom Lantos in the process, walking out to the set-up cameras and podium so they could try to slam the Democratic leadership about “political theatre.” Ooops.
Then last night, on HBO’s Bill Maher Show, one of the high priests of framing, Frank Luntz, tested out a few Republican talking points about Barack Obama while framing himself as oh, not that Republican anymore—I’m wearing a blue collar, open shirt, not one of those “haves” that are Bush’s base. Beware of false prophets…and wolves in sheep’s clothing.
And earlier today, CNN reported by Soledad O’Brien on the black-Hispanic divide between Obama and Clinton supporters [hint: hers are Hispanic, his are African-American…except when they’re not….]
This is a frame in early stages, and there’s considerable potential to build this frame the right way, or the false way. The media will play an important role in how it’s done. Some critical thinking needed here. Not just posturing by “Sharks” vs “Jets.” So far, I give CNN and O’Brien props on their measured reporting [and I'll link to it when CNN gets around to updating its website].
One thought I keep in mind is, who benefits by making adversaries instead of allies of two different groups? Not either one of the groups, that’s for sure. In a political season past, there was advertising showing a black hand reaching for a white hand’s paycheck. Making the paycheck a scarce resource makes enemies. The real enemy is the guy writing the check who’s at the same time pocketing all the ka-ching.
Framing isn’t inherently bad. On Animal Planet Channel this morning, a show presented rottweilers as an intelligent, hardworking, family-oriented dog, playing an important role as therapy animal for acute care patients. Caring people trying to restore the image of a dog breed that was tainted by bad breeders and bad owners and over-breeding. Good framing.
Framing is nothing new, of course, as wobblybits reminded over at Firedoglake this morning, recounting study of how cultures meet and how one culture frames the other. An interesting conversation well worth visiting.
Thing is, framing is everywhere. I could link you to a bazillion examples today. But instead, I’m going to ask you to do a little homework. Listen, really listen, to what someone is telling you. Then look closely at what he or she is showing you, by their actions, by their history, by their context or slice of life.
Then do some thinking. What does that person have to gain by persuading me? And what do I have to lose?
If you can say, I have nothing to lose, and everything to gain, great!
And if you go forward and remember that framing’s just a package, no matter how fancy or finely polished, and the important thing is to focus on the picture within, so much the better.
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