We're letting THEM define the race again

[senseandsensibility]

The corporate media and repugs are now in charge, and I'm afraid it will be that way until the election. We will hear NOTHING but wailing about race and gender politics and "bickering" (I think I've heard that word twenty times this morning) in regards to the Democrats. There will be NO discussion about the issues.

Since the public agrees with us on the issues, the corporate media does not want to cover them Why are we making it easier for them?

Even on DU, every other thread is about bickering, race, or gender. WHY DO WE ENCOURAGE THIS? Yes, I am screaming because our democracy is on the line. We are not going down fighting, either.:-(

[kitty44]

1. Thank you for your post

I agree - everything about this election cycle is made irrelevant when the media is picking who they want to cover.

[usregimechange]

2. I agree, MSM is disgusting.

[Tellurian]

24. Bill Clinton is shouting it from the roof tops and the Obama campaign tells him STOP Lying!

why is that?

[Barack_America]

3. I'm not talking about it and I'm not watching the MSM.

As far as I'm concerned, I refuse to allow the election to become about race or the fear of it.

[senseandsensibility]

8. I boycotted the corporate media for three years

and have recently started watching again. I want to see what they are saying because the vast majority of voters watch this stuff. We may not like it, but they influence the electorate. How can we fight it if we don't know what they're doing? I decided to give up my peace of mind to become informed about their tactics.

[OHdem10]

4. The"Wussies" would rather fight among themselves over race

than win.

[robbedvoter]

5. some love THEM right now - as they are propped. But you're absolutely right

GOP-ers are race biting with the immigration BS - yet we are being tarred with the BS media is throwing around.

[Metric System]

6. I think it's also interesting how the media..

is so eager to take on the Clinton "machine" when MSM did so little to counter the Rethug attack machine back in 2004 when John Kerry was being swiftboated.

[annabanana]

7. I felt a great deal of sympathy for Bill when he was chastising the

media for insisting on focusing on "race" as THE issue in this fight. (no I'm not a big Clinton fan). I saw that exchange discussed on, I think, Abrams later in the day... and they were ALL "tut-tutting" his response as that good old "bash the media" thing.

I think he was RIGHT!

Remember near the beginning of the SC Democratic debate there was a brief "heckling".. An audience member had gotten sick of the "race" questions and had shouted out...
"Enough with the race-based questions!!"

I noticed that NONE of the media examining that debate mentioned that incident.

[senseandsensibility]

10. Oh, no

That's the last thing they would mention. Their concentration on bickering and race is not consumer driven in the least.

[annabanana]

17. Exactly. the vast majority of Americans are more grown-up than that.

But then, a big part of the media's job is keeping people infantalized.

[ellacott]

9. Great post

It's so discouraging to see people get distracted by those issues. We run the risk of being so preoccupied over those issues that we lose our chance of the Presidency. Not only the Presidency but the rest of the candidates on our party's ticket.

The right is laughing at us and we are busy fighting amongst ourselves.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

11. What we should be encouraging

is every candidate stay in the race until June. The MSM has made their choice, and is working at getting rid of all the other candidates. We can't let this happen. If there are only 1 or 2 people in the race, it is much easier for the GOP to attack them long before they are nominated. This is what happened in 2004, I think. Kerry was obviously the nominee after Iowa, and so Rove and his evil minions had plenty of time to swiftboat and attack him. Notice, please, how the GOP nomination is still up in the air, how all those candidates are still in debates, etc, and will continue to get press coverage until they choose to drop out.

What we also need to do here on DU is work on what we can do to get out information - positive information - about all the candidates, and how to best insure we get the maximum number of Democrats elected to Congress. The latter point is one folks often miss, and one we must concentrate upon, especially before the primaries. We want to make sure PROGRESSIVES are elected, FIGHTERS who will not be cowed by the MSM and corporate blackmail.

[senseandsensibility]

13. Great constructive post

I wish we could activate the DU activist corps, or whatever it is that my profile still says I'm a member of. If not during the primaries, when?

[kitty44]

15. Nothing will change until the media changes

The media has a monopoly on information. This election cycle has made this even clearer. I would venture that only 10% or less of the population can completely filter out the media's message.

Even my supervisor at work (whom I respect and believe to be highly intelligent) said this to me: The Iraq War is not an issue in this election. It is irrelevant because all the candidates want out.

Well... that's not completely true, is it? The Iraq war is irrelevant because the media has decided to concentrate on other things - like bickering between Obama and Clinton. McCain, for instance, has no message about "withdrawal."

Face it: What the media decides to focus on is what the American population considers relevant.

[robbedvoter]

29. And until that monopoly is broken and ownership diversifies, nothing will change

We get news about war from the war profiteers. news about elections from the election fixers. Etc.

[patrice]

12. We need a solid netroots campaign that intervenes and mitigates the Media effect.

I'm not talking about picking certain posters and "turning them around" but calling them out, in a polite way, on what they are doing and creating focus on issues, so that others can see what's going on and that there's an alternative.

[Steely_Dan]

14. Completely Agree n/t

[SammyWinstonJack]

16. K&R!

[senseandsensibility]

18. Thanks!

:hi:

[UALRBSofL]

19. I agree with you

Watching CNN all morning you would think this would be a non-issue for them thinking they are a moderate network. Do they not understand this is like feeding the trolls,(republicans) metaphorically speaking.

[senseandsensibility]

20. Welcome to DU!

I do thing they realize it, actually. I think their reputation as moderate is not deserved.

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

21. And, the vast majority of MSM types who are pushing this are white men.

A few women and even fewer ethnic minorities are part of the mix but its the Russerts and Lauers and Blitzers and Buchanans and Matthewses and Stephanophalouses and Williames and Begalas (oops, not anymore) and Scarboroughs and so forth who are blathering, blathering, blathering about race and gender as if they have even a CLUE.

:mad: MKJ

[senseandsensibility]

22. I'm confused about Bagala

Right before the New Hampshire primary, I heard him on the Stephanie Miller show saying that Obama not only would win NH, but the nomination. Is he no longer in the Clinton camp?

[BleedingHeartPatriot]

23. Well, he's no longer a "political analyst" on CNN at least for the duration of the primaries because

apparently, he's working for Clinton's campaign at the moment. I missed him saying Obama would win NH/GE nomination.

Was this to raise expectations so it appeared Sen Obama did worse than anticipated? :shrug:

MKJ

[senseandsensibility]

25. Maybe he was trying to raise expectations

but he stated very adamantly that the Obama movement was a tidal wave, it couldn't be stopped, and he was going to win everything. He made a blanket statement. I thought it was weird.

[robbedvoter]

28. Great point! Adding to the list of many topics they are clueless about.

[BlueStateGirl]

26. I think some of us have forgotten who the real enemy is.

Seriously.

The MSM and the Republicans are salivating.

[robbedvoter]

27. Yup. Most posters in here don't remember who is in the White House right now.

I remember a lot of shock when I was glad Hillary attacked Bush. "Who? But he isn't running" Apparently, we're done with BFEE...The Clenis is the enemy.

[senseandsensibility]

30. Exactly

What happened to tying the repug candidate to *? Especially since most of them haven't really distanced themselves. That should really be politics 101.