... (0 comments)Somebody seriously just shoot me in the face. Right now. And then burn my body in a shallow pit and send my ashes to Andrea Mitchell with a note saying “Your contribution to the poisoning of American journalism caused this man to combust.”
We are right royally doomed.
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Fast Food
Unhinged vagina-shackler on Komen’s volte face:Cancer is Cancer! Aboration is Aboration!
(0 comments)Since it’s Mitt Romney week everywhere, I figured I’d post this op-ed by an ex-Mormon, which is a pretty interesting take at the institutional culture of the LDS church. Not much to say about it, but it’s definitely worth 5 or so minutes of your time. (0 comments)Why Bipartisanship Is Impossible, In One Sentence
When one party climbs back to power by promising action on the economy, does nothing on it, and instead spends literally all its time trying to hurt the other party. (0 comments)New From The Gingrich-Cain Front
Newt rants about cable movies he doesn’t like, and flips out when Herman tries to seize control. Catch all the fun here. And the main site is here, as always. (0 comments)Headline of the Week: Making Rapeanade
Leave it to TBogg:
(0 comments)Rick Santorum Suggests That When Life Gives You Rape, You Should Make Rapeanade Back when I was in junior high and the Clinton Impeachment was going on, I could hardly have imagined that Clinton would be used as an excuse for wrongdoing by Republican leaders. But that’s where we are. Interesting, isn’t it? (0 comments)Catch up with the official Gingrich-Cain “Great Statesmen” series over at @GingrichCain12. (0 comments)Only 65% of White Americans Have a Favorable Opinion of MLK Jr
…with a whimper. Drum is worth reading on this. I think he’s just got to be the most overhyped and overcovered guy who never managed better than third place since…Joe Lieberman? (0 comments)Mitt Romney's Overwhelming Inauthenticity
It’s amazing to me that Mitt Romney brings up France as a scary comparison point to himself so often when he spent years there and speaks the language. It’s such a minor point, but telling. Of all the people running for president, Mitt Romney has to be the most aware that the rightwing caricature of ... (0 comments)Mother Teresa Doesn't Deserve Sainthood
Case in point. It’s amazing how all the famous/respected Catholic figures from the 1990s have turned out to be incredibly corrupt, isn’t it? I’m sure they’re somehow connected. Of course, as I’m a Protestant I know little about such things. (1 comments)I Fixed It! Ban Sitting Politicians From Running For Another Office
Wonkette reminded me of one of the provisions that I want to write into my fantasy Constitution:No person who holds any elected office shall be permitted to seek election to any other office until he shall have permanently vacated his current post.
(2 comments)The Kardashians want their own magazine?
Unintentionally hilarious: “Bachmann, 55, told a small group of supporters Tuesday night that she was staying in the presidential race…”What other kind of group of Bachmann supporters could there be?(0 comments)Santorum Finishes #2, Sliding Down In The Final Minutes To Lose To Romney
I was really hoping that Santorum would win the Iowa caucuses. The disgustingly puerile humor would have lasted for WEEKS! (0 comments)Good stuff: The National Labor Relations Board announced on Wednesday that it had adopted new rules that would speed up unionization elections, its last major policy decision before it drops to two members and can no longer make new decisions. It approved the rules in a 2-to-1 vote. The labor board said the new rules, which have ... (0 comments)A Dinosaur Infringed On A Patent For Rocks...
Reading this lead-in to an article today made me think of cavemen and dinosaurs:“The long-running antitrust suit Novell filed regarding Microsoft’s alleged tactics to prevent WordPerfect from running properly in Windows 95 seemed to be on the verge of conclusion…”
... (0 comments)
(DOWN THE VINE
Syndication
Wait a minute. Much as I don't care for Palin's clueless denialism and Gore's dismissiveness, why are we blaming the media?
Despising the politics here is fine, but where's the journalistic problem?
oh dear gherald. i won't resort to the favorite wife line "If you can't realize why I'm angry then I can't tell you!". instead just think about it for a second. who the fuck is sarah palin now? she is an unemployed failed governor who has proven herself to be a media-hungry machine and the media has just played along like a domineered sex slave. doing up a piece on al gore — who, like him or hate him, has spent decades immersing himself in climate science — and pitting him against sarah palin's facebook nonsense and twitter bullshit is just another example of media sensationalism run amuck. even a piece with al gore v. jim fucking inhofe would be 12,000 times less bullshit than this. or, here's an idea that the horse-race, win-the-daily-news-cycle news media might consider… have on some some actual scientists to discuss the implications of the hacked emails, rather than a never-ending stream of politicos, paid lobbyists and spokespeople.
THIS is why the american people are credulous and uninformed. Because the media looks to failed rightwing hacks and political "strategists" to populate its news programs and loves to paint everything in terms of Manichean, good v. evil, right v. left, horse's-ass-race conflict-mongering. you can't simply decry the fact that americans are, on the main, ignorant idiots without also decrying the institutional tools that serve to keep them that way.
Name someone more representative of the GOP than Palin who the political media should be covering instead.
Last I checked the left was busy complaining about McCain's continued presence as well. <small>[And then going on about how Kerry didn't get the same coverage, but Kerry is a very dull politician!] </small>
So is the opposition not allowed to have voices in the media? I'm confused.
I'm sure leading Democrats could get themselves quoted and on television more if they wished to. But presumably they're busier doing something else like…oh I don't know, running the country?
So the victorious party and its candidates are governing, while members of the losing party frequent the media and wax indignant about how much better a job they would be doing and, gee whiz, doncha know you really should vote for us next time?
I'd thought this was how representative democracy is supposed to work.
Yeah, this is exactly what people think: "Is the opposition not allowed to have voices in the media?"
To which I suppose I am supposed to say "WHY NO! Of course they should have voices in the media!", as if it actually needed saying.
Anyway, I'm actually pretty surprised that you don't taste the nuance in this. Elevating flaming opportunistic retards like Palin, Malkin, Beck, etc. as the loudest megaphones in the room that get cushy primetime interviews and Newsweek magazine covers fundamentally debases what should be a robust media environment filled with lots of different voices. But no, sensationalism sells and every bit that the Snowbilly Grifter shits out onto her facebook page, or every snarling accusation of treason to escape from the dark viscous liquid that sustains Darth Cheney's lifeforce, is amplified to 10,000 decibels while otherwise relevatively rational and sane people like david frum and conor friedersdorf lie contentedly on a bed of blog posts and an occasional spot on Bill Maher.
you are such a lil' devil's advocate, you know that? :)
p.s. I really enjoyed writing this: "every snarling accusation of treason to escape from the dark viscous liquid that sustains Darth Cheney's lifeforce"
It was rhetorical question, I don't think you've addressed my substantive points…
And now MSNBC quoting a prominent figure in the GOP is on the level of Malkin, Beck, and associated talk radio nonsense?
Okay…
I would love it if Frum and Friedersdorf got more exposure, but they're commentators/journalists themselves, nowhere near Palin's prominence, and aren't exactly mainstream GOP voices. You can't seriously expect the media to be quoting them instead of the most controversial national candidate in recent history?
and tell me why exactly Palin has such "prominence"? Time was, the media lost interest in the failed contenders (see, e.g., Gore, Kerry and before) and moved on to different things. THE MEDIA FANS AND BOLSTERS HER PROMINENCE. If the nooze crooze didn't anxiously wait with bated breath for a new tweet or facebook plop…. less prominence!
Losing interest in Gore is a curious argument to be making under this video. And I already mentioned above that Kerry is an extremely dull politician--almost no one is interested in hearing what he has to say about anything.
You've got your causality backwards. The media covers Palin because she's controversial and people are interested, not the other way around.
Yes people would lose interest if the media suddenly stopped covering her. But journalists aren't in the business of refusing to cover controversial people.
The poison is Palin and her supporters. Not the media for doing its damn job.
Its a self reinforcing feeding cycle. And its a large part of whatmakes our populace as stupid as it is.
Democracy is the theory that the common people know what they want, and deserve to get it good and hard.
H. L. Mencken
Pretty much. But that doesn't make it any more comforting
If I wished to be comforting, I wouldn't be highlighting how credulous and uninformed so many are.
Bemoaning the general public's stupidity is all well and good.
Bemoaning the stupidity of our politics is fine too.
But lampooning the MSM for catering to the former with coverage of the later doesn't seem fair. It's not their job to filter out stupidity--in fact, their job is to expose it. We wanted them to do more interviews of Palin during the campaign, remember?
It's also their job to fact check and investigate the powers that be instead of being stenographers in search of scoops. Now there's something to be critical about.
The media is the main channel by which ignorant fucks get theirinformation. If the media is corrupt and beholden to horse racebullshit more and more every year, its only natural that the publicwill become dumber and dumber
I just can't wrap my head around how their airing Palin's response to Gore on climate change is being "corrupt and beholden to horse race bullshit".
then there's not much more i can say :)
well, one other thing i can say… why not air Joe the Plumber's response? Or Michael Savage's? Or G. Gordon Liddy?
Because they're not Republican politicians with a huge base of support?
If I let lazy journalist's who submit corporate spin for new drive me as crazy as you seem to be I would not be 59 years old. Most people I talk to get their relevant news from multiple sources, from TV, the internet, and newspaper.
Unfortunately the most polluting countries and ones with highest carbon emissions are big rich countries and the ones that suffer the consequences the most are poor countries. I cant believe there are still people in this world that say climate change is a hoax or human activities have played no role in it. These are just closed minded people who live in the comfort of their houses in their rich countries and have no clue about the world around them. They'd know what's happening if if they were a poor farmer of an underdeveloped or developing country whose crops have been ruined due to drought, or one whose house made of mud was destroyed due to floods or a fisherman who cannot provide for his family because there are no fish in the sea anymore or because the river has dried up or someone who had to flee their homeland because their entire island is now under water due to rising sea levels. Sarah Plain is ignorant and proud of it or maybe she's just too busy seeing russia from her backyard
Unfortunately the climate problem is a huge complex problem with lots of gray area and lots of Wrigley room and the Republican party members are experts at using this wiggle room to make their profits and the heck with anyone else, including their decadents.