Last night in Tampa, Florida was another horrible debate. Brian Williams asked a series of pointless questions about sugar subsides, manned missions to Mars, and the candidate’s “path to the nomination.” I’m not going to go into it any further detail because we’ve written about these dumb leftist moderators ad nauseum. Who can be shocked that Brian Williams turned in another Gossip Girl performance?
The most obvious change in last night’s debate was the audience. There was no cheering or jeering. I prefer the hushed tones instead of the near gladiator style debates that were held in South Carolina. These are supposed to be debates and not an angry mob scene. Newt Gingrich is threatening to pull out of the remaining debates if the crowd continues to be silenced. It’s understandable that Gingrich prefers the red meat style debate audiences since he’s basically carved a path to the nomination by seizing the heart of the mob.
In 2008, I thought that the Democrats brainless adulation of Barack Obama could never be topped, but the rise of Newt Gingrich is at least a close 2nd. Americans are increasingly skipping the details and settling for the narrative. You see this in almost every avenue of American culture. We are prisoners of the moment.
The left has been consumed in recent days with the phone hacking scandal in England that ended The News of the World. The only reason this is even a story in the United States is because Rupert Murdoch owned News of the World. Liberals didn’t bat an eye when CBS ran with a story that came from manufactured evidence during Rathergate. What about the ABC’s hit piece of Food Lion or NBC ‘s faked crash-test footage? Really, the list goes on and on, not to mention the continuous stream of shenanigans in the public sector.
The tabloid press in Britain and in Europe generally is terrible. My experience following European press has come from following soccer transfer speculation every Summer. It’s gotten to the point that I just ignore it. The number of fake stories is maddening. The fact that Murdoch owns News of the World is meaningless. Charlie Cooke has a good take on the mindset of liberals who are fascinated by this story. Here’s a video from the publicity stunt outside of Murdoch’s home in New York:
Other than wishful thinking, this story has nothing to do with the American press or FOX News. Also, just a few months ago some liberals were praising Julian Assange and WikiLeaks. Whatever happended to hacking to “speak truth to power.” Apparently illegal activity is okay under the right circumstances and directed at the proper targets. Liberals are also comfortable with illegal leaks as long as they’re damaging to republicans and if they’re published by the New York Times.
Leave it to the left to become obsessed over a non-story.
The Jimmy Carter administration was a disaster for the United States. Many of his policies are still causing problems, and he’s been a foreign policy headache for subsequent Republican and Democratic presidents.
Ever since Carter was kicked out of the White House he’s had a chip on his shoulder. It’s a common statement about Carter that “he’s done a lot of good since he left office.” Without a doubt, who can forget about Habitat for Humanity? It’s almost impossible to forget because Carter loves to remind everyone how great he is. Which begs the question… is President Carter doing these things out of charity or to enhance his public image?
Obviously, I can’t know the heart of a man and if ambition drives a man to do good things, so be it. However, Carter was still a bad President and his policy idea are still dumb. Carter wants Americans to accept his good deeds as justification for his bad, irrational ideas. The more Carter speaks the more idiotic he appears. In a recent interview NBC’s Brian Williams asked Carter if he’s recieve “his due” for his post-presidency activities. Carter’s answer is telling:
No. I– I feel that my role as a former president is probably superior to that of other presidents. Primarily because of the activism and the– and the injection of working at the Carter Center and in international affairs, and to some degree, domestic affairs, on energy conservation, on– on environment, and things of that kind. We’re right in the midst of the– of the constant daily debate.
So many times intelligence is mistaken for wisdom. The same could be said of President Obama and his speech about the Middle East earlier this week. These ideologues are bad leaders because they lack the wisdom to lead. Carter was a poor president and he’s been the most partisan anti-American post president in the history of the United States. He’s not looking out for the United States’ interest. Carter’s only priority is to rehabilitation his own image. Please Mr. President, go back to Atlanta and stick to watching Braves games. You’ve damaged the country enough for ten lifetimes.
Tasty at the ballpark, but downright disgusting when packaged as news.
There are various ways to describe the traditional media in America. By traditional, I mean the media that dominated American newsgathering and dissemination for most of its history, first with the metropolitan daily papers, then radio and finally weekly newsmagazines and the big three television networks: ABC, NBC and CBS.
To some degree, the first all-news cable network, CNN, was and is part of this traditional media mix. But it was the forerunner of the New Media, which has successfully fragmented the monopolistic hold traditional media had on reporting news.
The most common term used to describe traditional media is Mainstream. This misses the mark, however, because it is increasingly irrelevant and no longer in the mainstream of American life. Conservatives derisively refer to it as the Lamestream Media, the Dinosaur Media and the Drive-By Media, among others. Liberals, on the other hand, tend to hang onto Mainstream. I suppose it’s comforting to hearken back to a day when news was controlled by the elite few whose opinions were developed in the vacuum of academia, Manhattan, Chicago and Los Angeles.
The left pulled together every ounce of its faux outrage when it learned that Rupert Murdoch’s News Corp. contributed $1 million to the Republican Governors Association. I wonder how they feel about the fact that 88 percent of 2008 contributions by TV network execs, writers and reporters went to Obama and Democrats?
The Democratic total of $1,020,816 was given by 1,160 employees of the three major broadcast television networks, with an average contribution of $880.
By contrast, only 193 of the employees contributed to Republican candidates and campaign committees, for a total of $142,863. The average Republican contribution was $744.
This is hardly a shocking revelation to anyone who pays attention to the news on any network beside FOX. Most journalists lean left and despite their best efforts to remain objective their coverage tilts left. That’s why the Washington Post is so desperate for a race riot or anything they can cover that’s damaging to conservatives. I wonder how much these agents of change give to charity in comparison? Hmmm…
There’s a huge election in Massachusetts, a terrible earthquake fallout in Haiti, and what’s really bothering me are a couple of millionaires on NBC. I have never really cared for Jay Leno’s version of the Tonight Show. Leno was an excellent stand up comic. His stuff from the 80s is great, but his Tonight Show was terrible. Anyway, he made a comment about Conan O’Brien last night that supposed to be a complement.
“Through all of this, Conan O’Brien has been a gentleman. He’s a good guy, I have no animosity toward him. This is all business,” Leno said. “You know, folks, if you don’t get the ratings, they take you off the air.”
That’s so true. Leno’s show didn’t get ratings and NBC is taking it off the air. Instead of fading off into the distance he’s decide to screw O’Brien. A portion of Leno’s audience is never coming back to the Tonight Show after this and I guess in some ways that’s justice. Leno never should have been on the Tonight Show.
I love Ricky Gervais and I love Conan O’Brien. Conan is all over the news thanks to the idiots at NBC and Jay Leno’s enormous ego. I’ve never liked Leno, but this whole scenario has turned my mild indifference to an intense dislike. Anyway, the video below Ricky tries to figure out what Conan can do once he’s forced off the air
A few weeks ago I wrote about Glenn Beck. I’m not too fond of the guy. That aside, it’s a sad indictment of mainstream journalism when a guy like Beck keeps beating them to the punch on issues like ACORN and Van Jones. The White House has become obsessed with FOX news. Who can blame them? Every other major network is bowing at the altar of Obama. Notice the vitriol that has been heaped upon Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Andrew Breitbart, and even Sarah Palin. These people are guilty of having a different opinion. Over the past year who has contributed more to news, Glenn Beck or Keith Olbermann?
I’m not going to waste time calling for an advertising boycott of Olbermann. His show seems popular and there’s a demand for his take on politics. More power to him. Is Olbermann less divisive than Rush Limbaugh? It’s a difficult argument to make from the man who has a “world’s worst person” segment on his show. NBC uses Olbermann for sports coverage and liberals don’t seem to mind, but if Rush Limbaugh wants to partially own a team there’s outrage, fake quotes, and lies. No one apologizes because it’s fake but accurate.
It seems as though the left is doing a good job of dismissing all conservatives as stupid, racists, bigots and homophobes. These character assassinations are freezing the debate. If you truly believe, as Janeane Garofalo does, that conservatives have something wrong with their brains there’s a problem. When Garofalo made those asinine remarks Olbermann nodded right along.
The Boy Who Cried Wolf is a fable that teaches us that even when liars tell the truth they’re not believed. Today it seems that simply “crying wolf” is enough to believed. If you call Rush Limbaugh a racist long enough it’s just accepted as truth. If you call Sarah Palin stupid long enough it’s simply the truth. If you say President Obama is a woefully inexperienced, naïve, and liberal you must be a racist. The reason people like Glenn Beck and Andrew Breitbart keep breaking stories is because the mainstream press is too busy crying wolf to cover the news.
Club Soda and I were having our normal Daily Plunge debriefing (“normal” being used here as a relative term), and we came to a startling realization. In a few short months, Obama’s turn in the White House has significantly lowered the stature of the office itself. The man is all over TV, mostly in a less-than-official capacity. He had his own segment on ESPN and I’m sure his wife will soon become a member of The View. Yes, I jest to a certain degree, but what must other presidents be thinking? President Clinton must be regretting that he didn’t get his own show on Showtime or at least become a judge for the Miss America pageant.
This is the dream job Clinton always wanted
I bring all of this up because of the president’s work for NBC this week. NBC news has become the Mouth of Obama. It’s difficult to decipher where the administration ends and the leg tingle begins. Over two nights the White House let NBC news anchor (and self-tanning expert/connoisseur/aficionado/enthusiast) Brian Williams spend time with the President. In turn, Obama talked about Conan O’Brien and SNL. It has to be awesome when the sitting president plugs NBC shows at the behest of NBC. Let’s not forget that the president was just on the Tonight Show just a few weeks ago. Does Obama secretly own stock in GE?
This got me thinking… why not bring back The West Wing as a reality show? The show was a hit with sophisticated audiences, and now that NBC is part of the Obama administration it’s a match made in Heaven, or at least in the joint policy meetings Obama’s team holds with NBC and GE. NBC is currently the last-placed network. They’re totally desperate and Obama is desperate for good press, but simply turning the West Wing into a reality show isn’t going to be good for ratings. I have an idea for the first season that will ensure the show’s success…
The main story arc would be the appointment of Martin Sheen as a special advisor. Sheen would officially change his name to Jed Bartlet. I can’t imagine Sheen would have much of a problem with this; he’s already changed his name before. Bartlet’s appointment would cause immediate tension with the cast, since everyone’s favorite everyman, Joe Biden, is a loose cannon. In order for this show to be perceived as reality it has to have some basis in truth. The fact that Biden is a loudmouth moron is already established. Obama would soon be forced to ask for Biden’s resignation and would then appoint Bartlet as Vice President. This would cause a Constitutional crisis because Bartlet has been twice elected president on TV and may be Constitutionally ineligible. Other plot points would include Obama’s appointment of Tom Brokaw to the Supreme Court and NBC’s peacock replacing the Bald Eagle as the national symbol.
I can see it already. It’s coming this fall; The Real West Wing. See what happens when politicians stop being polite and start getting real!
The level of press the mainstream media has devoted to Obama is unprecedented. The lovefest began on day one and it’s never stopped.
The nonpartisan research group Center for Media and Public Affairs along with California’s Chapman University released a study that found the nightly newscasts devoted 27 hours, 44 minutes to Pres. Obama’s presidency in his first 50 days. That compares to 7 hours, 42 minutes for Pres. George W. Bush and 15 hours, 2 minutes for Pres. Bill Clinton during the first 50 days of their first terms.
Not only has Obama gotten more coverage, but that coverage has been more positive than his predecessors.
On the ABC, CBS, and NBC evening newscasts, 58% of all evaluations of the president and his policies have been favorable, while 42% were unfavorable. That compares with 33% positive in the comparable period of Bush’s tenure and 44% positive for Pres. Clinton.
Wow, the press loves Obama even more than Clinton. The first 50 days of the Bush administration occurred in rather peaceful times. The economy was entering a small economic recession, but nothing close to what we’re facing today. That being said it would make logical sense that Obama would face harsher criticism during these perilous times than Bush received. Well, the press is basically an arm of the White House, except for Fox.
The first half hour of Fox News’ “Special Report with Bret Baier,” which the study says most closely resembles the network evening newscasts, devoted 10 hours 24 minutes to the Obama administration, nearly as much airtime as CBS gave him.
But Fox News stands apart from its competitors here – only 13% of comments* were considered favorable. On ABC, 57% of the comments were favorable, compared to 58% for CBS and 61% for NBC.
Fox is definitely less friendly to Obama. Basically the idea of “objective journalism” is over. Each network is slowly but surely moving towards a niche audience. Fox was the answer to market dominated by liberal news coverage. Now that Fox has exploited this market MSNBC has tailored their news to liberals. That leaves CNN, ABC, and CBS in the lurch. They were already tilted to the left. What do they do now?
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