The media is complicit: Republicans block and Obama gets the blame

[Tennessee Gal]

Great summary of evidence from Media Matters:

Though Experts Agree Spending Cuts Hurt The Economy, Media Amplify GOP Attacks On Obama's Policies

Economic experts agree that spending cuts in a weak economy hurt the creation of jobs and economic growth. Though Republicans in Congress spent much of 2011 demanding spending cuts, the media are amplifying their attacks on President Obama's economic record.
Experts: Spending Cuts In A Weak Economy Damage Growth ...

IMF: "Fiscal Consolidation Typically Reduces Output And Raises Unemployment In The Short Term." From the IMF's 2010 World Economic Outlook:

Based on a historical analysis of fiscal consolidation in advanced economies, and on simulations of the IMF's Global Integrated Monetary and Fiscal Model (GIMF), it finds that fiscal consolidation typically reduces output and raises unemployment in the short term. [IMF, World Economic Outlook, 10/10]

Economist Menzie Chinn: "A Front Loaded Fiscal Contraction, Heavy On Spending Cuts" Would Make The "Current US Recovery Worse Than That Of The Great Depression." Comparing the U.S. economy to that of the United Kingdom, University of Wisconsin economist Menzie Chinn writes on the blog Econbrowser:

We too can make the current US recovery worse than that of the Great Depression; just implement a front loaded fiscal contraction, heavy on spending cuts. Furthermore, in order to maximize the contractionary impact, harass the monetary authorities to tighten policy by inciting fears of high inflation (à la Rep. Paul Ryan), when year-on-year inflation as measured by the personal consumption expenditure deflator is 2.1%. [Econbrowser, 5/3/12]


Much more: http://mediamatters.org/research/201206010011

[madokie]

1. Thats been the pukes plan all along

has been pretty much with every democratic president since the nixonian years. The pukies don't play fair nor do they care about the welfare of the country. All they care about is the all mighty dollar they get when they are in the leadership

[Suji to Seoul]

2. you forgot their own power. these people are addicted to power. it's their heroin.

[Tennessee Gal]

3. Yes, but the media puts the blame where it doesn't belong.

When interviewing them, they never point out how the right wing refuses to even consider Obama's proposals or the fact that they do not have any proposals of their own for job creation.

Last night Rachel pointed out that Boehner said that everything was about jobs, jobs, jobs. Yet their Congressional discussion was about abortion.

[madokie]

9. I agree wholeheartedly

Our M$M is pretty much all owned by big republicon leaning corporations. In many cases the same corps that also make the neocons war toys. Thats where we need to concentrate our energies in putting an end to corporate owned media. IMHO that is.
American people as good as they are for the most part are like sheep though so they're easily led to believe the opposite of what really is. If we don't get the press right we have no chance of turning this around, again IMHO

[Cosmocat]

4. It is a neat little trick

and the know FULL well what they are doing.

And, it is not only in DC.

You have republicans controlling most of the states now, and that is where they are REALLY making hay on cutting public sector jobs.

Pa., Corbett and the Rs cut education funding by nearly a billion dollars. There are school districts that had to cut hundreds of jobs, and the universities had to pair down a lot, too.

And, sadly, a good number of the people who lost their jobs for no good reason other than the craven republican power play, will vote ... republican ... while somehow finding a way to blame the evil liberal and democrats.

And, absolutely, the media plays dumb on this .. AT BEST.

[madokie]

10. No doubt, our own repuke governor tried her best to cut our income taxes

in the face of every facet of our government sponsored programs in dire straits as it is now. Luckily our repub congress critters didn't buy what she was selling so we slipped by for the time being. I'm totally shocked that our puke congress didn't go along with her. I'm sure it had something to do with the people of Ok calling and writing voicing our opposition to them.

[kentuck]

5. The Republicans started attacking the media after Nixon and Watergate...

....as biased and liberal. The "liberal media" became an epithet. The media were scared to death. They turned against fair and honest reporting in favor of simply accepting the Republican side of issues and questioning all "liberal" opposition.

Over time, the media was totally corrupted. They became part of the Republican establishment. Liberalism was on the outside.

Once we accept that they are our political enemy, the better off we will be.

[Botany]

6. Egg zach lee

Cause the problems, stop the President from fixing the problems,
and then blame the President for those very same problems. Karl
Rove's American Crossroads is running commercials blaming the
federal deficit on President Obama right now.

This whole "thing" is based on a cold calculation that if they can get
people hurting enough they can win back the Senate, keep the House,
and get the White House too. And yes the media is in on it too yesterday's
jobs #s although not great showed that we gained jobs last month and
that was part of 27 straight months of private sector job growth but the
"story" put out was "Poor Job Numbers Hurt the President."

[dotymed]

7. Often, people have to "hit bottom" before they change.

It happened during the Depression and luckily we elected a President who understood that the big problem was that big business was destroying the average citizen. So he regulated against the banksters and corporations and for the people. He had to fight TPTB and the same right-wing mindset that is prevalent today. He was able to get some great common sense legislation passed but he fought hard, including a coup attempt.
My worry about America "hitting bottom" again is that in these corporate controlled times, we would probably end up with a President that would auction off everything not corporate owned. We have been going down for decades. Bailing out the wealthy at the expense of the majority may have been the "straw that broke the camels back." What ever happens, I think America has seen it's best days. I hope that I am wrong. As for the MSM, what do you expect from corporate owned, deregulated spokespeople.
We have allowed this country to reach this stage, until we are ready to re-take it, America will remain a corptocracy. What a sad foot-note in history.

[spanone]

8. the media never uses the word 'obstructionists' when referring to republicons....NEVER

[madokie]

11. So true

Not once have I heard nor read that word used when describing why it is we're where we are. We have to get a handle on the used to be so called free press. Until we do things will continue to go down hill for the 99% of us.

[kentuck]

12. The media should be speaking for the 99% - not the 1%

That should be the general rule they should follow.

[madokie]

14. And it pretty much was up until the nixon fail

shortly afterward the pukes started making a concerted effort of buying up our media and well the rest is history. The results is what we're seeing and living today

[kentuck]

15. I think you are correct...

After Watergate, the media became very timid and obedient.

[madokie]

18. I wish I could remember the right wing think tank's name that decided

that if they wanted to get their message out in the future they'd have to do exactly as I've been saying since day one here. Which was that they were going to have to start buying our media, print and airwaves. Today the majority of our press is owned by the pukes.
I wish I could remember the name of the foundation who made this decision but for the life of me I can't. I remember the incident like it was yesterday but I can't find a link supporting what I'm saying. I came into my being as a student of govenment watching the watergate hearings and it was shortly after August 9, 1974 when I read what I'm saying here. I was fresh home from what I came to see as the illegal war on the Vietnamese people and I was disillusioned by what I witness there. I went over as a kid and came home a whole different man.

[Tennessee Gal]

21. They were cowered by the likes of

Spiro Agnew and Roger Ailes.

Agnew: "In the United States today, we have more than our share of the nattering nabobs of negativism."

Richard Nixon and Roger Ailes 1970s plan to put the GOP on TV
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/blogpost/post/richard-nixon-and-roger-ailes-1970s-plan-to-put-the-gop-on-tv/2011/07/01/AG1W7XtH_blog.html

[annabanana]

20. No kidding.. It's ALWAYS "Dems fail" to do this....or "In a blow to Obama" that. . n/t

[JoePhilly]

13. The only jobs the media cares about are their own.

And that means they will do everything they can to make sure the election is close.

If the election is not close, you don't need 100s of 24/7 pundits talking about it.

[rhett o rick]

16. We need to figure out a way to fight this. Big media is definitely

on the side of the corporate-overlords. We need a strategy to get the word out in spite of them.

[dmosh42]

17. What I don't understand is when will Obama go on the attack....

The congress has made attempts to pass legislation put forth by the Dems in the Senate, and were blocked by the Repukes. Now he has a record in black and white of their votes, plus he can ask where are their job plans that were promised in 2010? Maybe they're waiting for later in the summer, but meantime the wackos are piling the points up.

[Tennessee Gal]

22. I keep waiting.

[1000 Words]

19. 5

[toddwv]

23. The "media" is a corporate-owned hegemony.

Another thing that you can thank our right-wing friends as they actively pursued allowing media to be consolidated in the hands of the few.

Now they realize that most people are moving away from traditional media outlets and getting information from increasingly diverse sites on the web and so they are going after the "internet".

Case in point:
http://www.addictinginfo.org/2012/05/24/ny-state-republicans-seek-to-end-online-anonymous-comments/