MEDIA

Eric Alterman points out that Rupert Murdoch (see Fox News) has now gotten hold of the news pages of the Wall Street Journal (WSJ). He already had the editorial pages of the great old paper under his wing. Now he’s appointed a “right-wing curmudgeon” by the name of Gerald Baker in charge of the paper’s news pages. Baker thinks Obama is a “dangerous left winger” as he explains here. Here’s a sample:

There is a caste of left-wing Americans who wish essentially and in all honesty that their country was much more like France. They wish it had much higher levels of taxation and government intervention, that it had much higher levels of welfare, that it did not have such a “militaristic” approach to foreign policy. Above all, that its national goals were dictated, not by the dreadful halfwits who inhabit godforsaken places like Kansas and Mississippi, but by the counsels of the United Nations.

Though Mr Obama has done a good job, as all recent serious Democrats have done, of emphasising his belief in American virtues, his record and his programme suggest he is firmly in line with this wing of his party.

HEY! See my previous post! ha ha

Well, seriously, I’d say that that wing of the party is a pretty good wing! It’s just what we need to bring the USofA screaming into the 21rst century and get our economy moving again, and morality brought back into the world! GO BARACK GO!

Here it all is, that great night of November 4, 2008, Barack Obama Elected 44th US President, a Daily Kos video by Jed Lewison:

Here’s something I never caught on the MSM this August during the Democratic National Convention: it’s Dan Rather blasting the MSM, caught by that great little alternative media, Link TV. Juan Cole included this today on his blog. Note the first three comments on Juan’s link. The first attacks Dan from the right, a fairly common MSM type attack. The third attacks him from the left: Chomsky has it all! The second comment I’d agree with. For almost 200 more comments, see the YouTube here. Juan says “If media consolidation is the problem then Anti-Trust actions would make more sense as a response”, rather than simply courage which Dan is advocating.

Mudflats nails it again, let us hope. Check her yesterday’s post Palin Throws Alaska Under the Bus. She leads in with the lead in paragraph from the Anchorage Daily News for yesterday morning:

GOP vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin is effectively turning over questions about her record as Alaska’s governor to John McCain’s political campaign, part of an ambitious Republican strategy to limit embarrassing disclosures and carefully shape her image for voters in the rest of the country.

Here’s what I think is her key paragraph epitomizing the mood — backlash against Palin — in Alaska today.

This is not going over well in Alaska. I’ll use my usual caveat that there are lots of Alaskans who happily subscribe to the “Sarah right or wrong” mentality, and will continue to do so. However, the progressive take on this whole latest mess is only slightly short of taking torches and pitchforks and surrounding the Attorney General’s office, demanding an end to the stonewalling. I’ve watched Alaskan progressives that I personally know go from saying, “Wow! I can’t believe I voted for a Republican!” to, “She’s doing OK. I don’t agree with everything, but I don’t regret my vote” to being so furiously seething angry they just can’t say anything.

Let’s hope she’s right. But it’s likely she does have her finger on the pulse of what’s going on in Alsaka.

How about some non-US spin on General Petraeus leaving Iraq? Ajazeera is a good place to start. Here’s a video discussed by Juan Cole this morning. Instead of the happy talk of victory that the US media would spin, Juan Cole quotes a more realistic statement by Gen. Petraeus himself:

‘ In a telephone interview with The Associated Press on Sunday, Petraeus said experience in Iraq shows it will take political and economic progress as well as military action to tackle increased violence in Afghanistan. “You don’t kill or capture your way out of an industrial strength insurgency,” he said.’

Click on the YouTube and watch the heavies! There’s quite a bunch there. Also, what sounds to Juan Cole (and me) like realistic reporting. Worth a three minute watch.

Bob Herbert has nailed it again. Yes, it does look like dimwittedness is on the march in America. “For those who haven’t noticed, we’re electing a president and vice president, not selecting a winner on “American Idol.””. And here’s Herbert’s last sentence: “The likes of John McCain and George W. Bush can do the craziest, most irresponsible things imaginable, and it only seems to help them politically.”

Does this show that more than half the American people are basically racist simpletons ready to follow demagogues at the drop of a hat? I’m afraid the answer is Yes.

The so-called liberal media is never ending in its pushing of right wing propaganda. Take the case of off-shore drilling for oil. In Eric Alterman’s article, Think Again: Shallow Reporting on Deep Drilling, the evidence showing the downsides of drilling is given:

The U.S. Department of Energy’s Energy Information Agency projects that drilling would only yield merely 200,000 barrels of oil over a period of 20 years. This comes to roughly 0.2 percent of world oil production, which the EIA says is too small to have any significant effect on prices. These figures contradict the entire “drill here, drill now, pay less” mantra.

Here’s how our so-called liberal mainstream media reports this information:

Yet the Center for Economic and Policy Research has conducted a stunning survey of just how infrequently this information appears in the mainstream media’s narrative on drilling. From June 16 to August 9, there were 267 broadcasts that mentioned proposed drilling, including “The Today Show,” “Good Morning America,” “Meet the Press,” CNN, and “Fox News.” Of these 267 broadcasts, only one saw fit to include the EIA data.

As Eric Alterman says, “Is it any surprise, therefore, that 74 percent of the public now favors drilling offshore—a demonstrably useless policy?” And this is just one of the things that really make me wonder whether America is going to survive as a democracy much longer into this 21rst century!

For more on how the so-called liberal media continues to pass on right-wing propaganda without critical analysis of any kind see here.

I hate to think this person is right, but sadly she may very well be right. This country sucks. I hate America! But still, I’m not leaving.
Posted by Kathleen Sep 09, 8:47AM - Link

Dan Kervick,
You’re correct, people who read blogs, and most liberal/progressives, think everyone takes the time to be well inforned., so they assume that no voter will choose based on gender, race, or ethnic and religious factors…most Americans don’t vote at all, and many who do, don’t do so on more than the sound bytes.

Democraps are good at stopping momentum…they always hedge their bets and lose the lead…can’t generate excitement being long-winded, highbrow sissys..As usual, it’s painful to watch…for me at least.

At last! Liberals are getting the praise they should be getting! Thanks to the Op-Ed, Hold Your Heads Up, in the NYT this morning by Bob Herbert! Let me say right out front: Anything good that’s happened in America has been the result of the actions of liberals!

Do I exaggerate? Not at all. I am sick and tired of the lousy media we have in this country supporting the claims of the right wing loonies, the poisonous mythologies they’ve been spreading, especially since that phony actor, Ronald Reagan got into power, but even before.

Well, Bob Herbert gives the many reasons why liberals are the ones that have been responsible for any greatness this country has achieved. He expresses it better than I. Give him a gander!

Oh, and here’s the link to the comments on his Op-Ed.

Also, Eric Alterman has a great book out, Why We’re Liberals: A Political Handbook for Post-Bush America. Eric’s another person proud to be a liberal. So, liberal friends, let’s not hide our heads under bushels of right wing propaganda! Let’s emerge into the daylight!!
YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

OK, OK, too many posts on Sarah Palin! I promise this will be my last one. (I hope…) The NYT Op-Ed by that old neocon, Bill Kristol has already garnered over 200 overwhelmingly negative comments, this morning. The main thrust of his article is that Sarah Palin will win all the “Wal-Mart Mom” votes and that she herself is a “Wal-Mart Mom”!