Rose Nolen Nails It-

[asdjrocky]

Keep having fun out there MSM, for some of us, this is real.

Serious issues face an entertainment-driven nation

One of the privileges of independent wealth, I suppose, is that you don’t really have to care about the country you live in. If your lifestyle starts to deteriorate, you can just pick up and move somewhere else.

This is the only way I can make sense of the attitudes of the television political broadcasters who seem to think the upcoming presidential election is a barrel of laughs. Obviously, they don’t feel personally involved in the outcome. That has to mean that their families don’t have to care whether the country lives or dies. Many of them act as if it’s just another Super Bowl.

On the other hand, anyone who has to care about health care for their friends or family, for example, couldn’t possibly have so much fun joking about the exploits of the candidates. Folks who have to take these issues seriously would want to pin these candidates down and find out what kind of plans they have to offer. But for the rich and successful, I guess it’s all just another happy-go-lucky event. To me, this points out the necessity of getting serious people in responsible positions if we are ever going to get the country on a better path.

For More-
http://www.columbiamissourian.com/stories/2008/02/11/serious-issues-face-entertainment-driven-nation/

[chimpymustgo]

1. Why did Norah O'Donnell's smiling face come immediately to mind?

These court jesters are so far removed from reality - this truly is a game, a spectacle. Lions vs. Christians.

[asdjrocky]

4. Matt Taibbi said it best on Bill Maher-

When he was talking about how the press reacts to a Progressive-Populace message. They are all staying in nice rooms, with nice expense accounts, and they don't want to hear about poor people.

[Nia Zuri]

10. First thinkg I thought of too!!!!

This is just great fun for them...

[calmblueocean]

2. Great article. Politics is just another form of celebrity gossip now.

I remember when I was a kid, politics were boring. They were boring because people actually discussed policy. Journalists were less concerned about playing gotcha than actually talking through what the candidates wanted to do and where each would take our country. This often took specialized knowledge and turned off lots of people who found these kind of discussions dry and academic.

I wish our politics could be dry and academic again.

[asdjrocky]

5. Very good point. If only it would be boring again. n/t

[Arkansas Granny]

3. One of our local stations is now running a spot to push their

evening newscast. The "bubble-headed-bleach-blonde" looks into the camera and states that this is and edgy generation and that they need an edgy newscast. I take that to mean that factual reporting isn't the criteria but entertainment is.

[asdjrocky]

6. I wonder how many times they tested the word "edgy." n/t

[Riverman]

7. Abosultely! THEY - the Corporate Bribed Pundocracy - NBC, CBS

ABC, MSNBC, CNN, FOX, Bloomberg, etc - the so called news anchors, the reporters, the panelists, and all their buddies on the other side of the revolving doors of the political and corporate lobbyists offices ALL ARE MEMBERS OF THE SAME CLUB! Of course they do not have the interests as the vast majority of the citizenry! As members of the leisure and comfort class, everyday is like hangin' out at the 19th hole bar at the club, or non-stop cocktail parties - laughing, joking, belittling, fault-finders, focused on attire, and hairstyles and never the actual impacts of the policies these people ut forth. They won't ask obvious challenging questions because they don't want to be left off the party invite A lists and "access" for career-building self-centered interviews.

Dare any of them to simple ask Obama and Clinto at this next "debate" why they think American citizens will be healthier and have their real medical needs treated by the system they both propose - by forcing (Clinton) or making it "more affordable" for some (Obama) to buy insurance and thus place corporate insurance bureaucrats between people and their doctors? Neither Clinton nor Obama are proposing "Universal Health Care." To be "Universal" the insurance industry must not be allowed to stay between a patient and their doctor - as is the current system. Neither of their insurance system would have saved that poor 14 yr old girl in LA who recently died for lack of a liver transplant that the insurance company refused to cover. Only after public outrage and picketing their corporate offices and letters from the hospital and doctors, did they finally agree to pay for the surgery, only hours befoe the child died. It was not the illness that killed that child, it was the lack of appropriate medical treatment - that the insurance co failed to cover.

Medical treatment is one of the many major issues that the rest of us face everyday! I have a child with a rare kidney disorder who may someday need a transplant and I fear that we will go thru the same horror that the child and her family in LA went thru. I am so outraged and disgusted by both the political candidates and the media whores!

I will vote the democratic nominee to get rid of the republican crimminals, but do not have "hope" that Obama or Clinton will be different enough to make the so very critical changes that must be made. I felt Edwards as least would have fought for many of the needed changes. I hope he will continue to use his wealth and status to continue to do so - I think he will.

[asdjrocky]

8. Hey Riverman, good to see you.

Thought we might need a reality check today.

[asdjrocky]

9. Kicking myself.

[Armstead]

17. Did it hurt?

:)

[asdjrocky]

22. To add here-

Once we sign our good names on the dotted line for the D, then it is our job to hold their feet to the fire, for people like you and your daughter. For all of us.

[eridani]

40. If we have a real economic shitstorm, either might step up to the occasion

However, a lot of pressure from below will be necessary.

[iris5426]

11. Great article!

K&R!
:kick:

[asdjrocky]

13. Thanks Iris, you're a good egg.

[Mark Twain Girl]

12. This is a good point. I don't know how I'm supposed to be concerned about candidates

It really is treated like a sporting event, while the lives of the candidates (or many of the pundits) are not hanging in the balance. They're all just fine and on their way to getting even more power. I can't get into the "horse race." It's too real to me, especially health care and education.

[asdjrocky]

15. I hear ya, just watching the promos on CNN and MSNBC is bad enough.

It's all a big game to them.

[CitizenRob]

14. Wow, great piece.

[asdjrocky]

18. Thanks Rob!

[balantz]

16. K&R Rocky.

For some of us the world isn't a TV show.

[asdjrocky]

19. Thanks balantz, and for the rest, it's the politics of American Idol.

[asdjrocky]

20. And now we return you to American Idol Politics.

[Lilith Velkor]

28. Singing candidates will be next. n/t

[asdjrocky]

31. That's funny.

[saracat]

21. K and R .And to think, they have created our candidates ! Does anyone really doubt MSM will choose

the President? I don't but watch the usual suspects call me "delusional"

[asdjrocky]

23. The truth is the truth saracat-

All we can do is work just that much harder to hold their feet to the fire.

[chimpymustgo]

24. How many election cycles do we have to see them in action before we believe?

WHY THE MEDIA LIES

By David Podvin

First Paragraph
The obscure but decisive factor of the 2000 presidential election was the issue of concentration of power in broadcasting. The huge conglomerates that own the networks and the big city newspapers desperately wanted to eliminate the federal regulation prohibiting one corporation from owning both the broadcast stations and the newspapers in a city. Al Gore and the Democratic Party supported the existing regulation, which was enacted to prevent a corporation from gaining a monopoly on a city’s media. George W. Bush and the Republican Party supported repealing the regulation, which would mean HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars in profits to the big media companies.

The mystery is solved. For the past several years, many Democrats have been wondering why the mainstream media, the “liberal media”, has been so consistently pro-Republican. There is no conspiracy involved, just shared financial interests. This has led to a consistent media bias that has promoted the double standard which holds that what’s acceptable when done by Republicans is intolerable when done by Democrats. The impeachment charade was a classic example. While polls consistently showed that two thirds of Americans wanted the vendetta to be stopped, the corporate press marched in lockstep with Tom DeLay, Henry Hyde, and the various other perjurers and adulterers who were obsessively pursuing the President for perjury and adultery. Not coincidentally, these same Republican Congressional leaders were advocates for the changes in the federal regulation that would greatly benefit the media elite.

The extreme pro-GOP bias of the broadcast networks and influential metropolitan newspapers was most evident during the 2000 presidential campaign. Leading up to the political conventions, a survey revealed that Bush had received almost twice as much favorable coverage as Gore.

After George W. Bush’s acceptance speech, the mainstream media was virtually universal in its praise that Bush had helped himself with a strong performance. After Al Gore’s acceptance speech, the same media analysts declared that he had marginalized himself with a presentation that they described as being “awkward” and “extreme”. Yet public opinion polls revealed that the net result of the two speeches was exactly the opposite of what the corporate pundits were claiming; the double-digit lead that Bush had held for months evaporated completely.

Why were the mainstream media perceptions of the candidates so at variance with reality? Please refer to the First Paragraph.

During the first debate, Al Gore told three vignettes. He said that he had visited the site of a Texas fire with the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. It turned out that the fire was in Florida. He also spoke about an elderly woman who collected cans in order to pay for her medicine, and a high school girl who stood in class due to a lack of chairs. The woman and the student both confirmed that his stories were true.

During the first debate, George W. Bush said that his prescription drug plan covered all senior citizens. He said that his tax cut would not disproportionately benefit the rich. He said that his Social Security proposal would include sufficient funding to maintain all current benefits. He said that his proposed economic plan would achieve a balanced budget. He said that he had signed hate crime legislation in Texas. He said that the Clinton administration had not enacted a middle class tax cut. All of these statements were untrue.

The mainstream media spent the next week focusing on Al Gore’s anecdotes and falsely accusing him of being a liar. If you were one of millions of Americans who watched this surrealistic farce in stunned amazement, and you still can’t figure out what the hell was going on, then please refer to the First Paragraph.

<edit>

http://makethemaccountable.com/podvin/media/010518_MediaLies.htm

[asdjrocky]

26. Thanks for this, I'd never read it before.

[waiting for hope]

25. Kicking ya sweetie -

and a rec too! :)

[asdjrocky]

27. I could always use a good kick, thanks Hope!

[chimpymustgo]

29. Kicking for the afterwork crowd.

[asdjrocky]

30. Thanks man, you guys are great.

[chimpymustgo]

33. Ahem. I'm a chick.

But happy to contribute to and kick a good thread by a fellow Edwards supporter!

:hi:

[asdjrocky]

36. I'm from California, everyone is "man" or "dude" to me.

I'm going to have to fix that, if I go to Missouri...

And let's face it, with a handle like chimpymustgo, I mean, it could go either way. :hi:

[chimpymustgo]

39. Get it ALL the time.

[smokey nj]

32. K&R

[asdjrocky]

37. Hey Smokey!

:hi:

[catchnrelease]

34. Kick n/t

:kick:

[asdjrocky]

38. Thank you!

[sueragingroz]

35. Bingo.

Speaking as someone who has had the luxury of moving around...

[NastyRiffraff]

41. All too true

Remember the media War Against Gore? It was relentless: the "earthtones," the sighs during a debate (which the media proclaimed Bush "won" because he didn't actually shit in his pants), the characterization of Gore as "stiff" and "boring." They said he "didn't know who he was," that he was a liar, that it was "sport" to knock him (Margaret Carlson).

Then, of course, there was Kerry. Besides the swiftboating which is now a part of our lexicon, the media trashed his windsurfing and hunting, even his choice of cheese on a sandwich.

And now we're in Iraq.

[asdjrocky]

42. Hey Nasty, and thanks for the kick.

Yeah, it seems many of us see this, now what can we do?

[TexasBushwhacker]

47. Very good article in Vanity Fair on the media war ....

against Al Gore:

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/10/gore200710

There's also this one, which pretty much explains why he didn't run this time around (at least it does to me).

http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2007/11/clinton200711

[AndyA]

43. There is no accountability in news. No responsibility to be accurate.

No obligation to be fair.

It's all just propaganda now, produced and distributed for the masses to the benefit of the corporate owners. It's a self-serving industry with far too much influence over the population, with almost no balance.

[asdjrocky]

44. Thanks Andy-

I think we need to have score cards for these idiot pundits. Three wrong, and you're out. Like all of the pinheads that told us Iraq would be a cake walk.

[Plucketeer]

45. I have to wonder...

... what it would be like if the television had never been invented. Would radio have the same impact - would it be the great hypnotizer that TV is???

[asdjrocky]

46. Good question.