Somebody Alert Bill O’Reilly And Fox Security

Posted by on December 13, 2007 at 1:33 pm. NO Comments :

From The White House:

MRS. BUSH: Barney and Beazley, I’m so proud that you all wanted to become National Park Junior Rangers. Our national parks are so important. And in fact, the lawn where you play is part of our national parks.

President Bush and I wish everyone a very happy holiday.

What? No Merry Christmas? Is this evidence that The First Lady is offering aid and comfort to the Secular-Progressive enemies in the War on Christmas? Has the President cut and run? Have the terrorists won?

No need to fear – T-Warrior is here. Have no doubt that before you can slide down the MoonBat-pole, Bill O’Reilly will step forward and denounce this insult to America’s favorite religion: Christmasism. Never mind that only a couple of days ago O’Reilly declared victory in the War on Christmas, crediting himself with the glory he feels he so richly deserves. We have already seen those “Mission Accomplished” banners that didn’t really mean that any mission had been accomplished. So now, as always, the goal is to stay the course. Because surrender to the far-left, gay, flag-burning, pot smokers who murdered our savior, is not an option.

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AMPTP Gets Punked

Posted by on December 11, 2007 at 8:36 pm. NO Comments :

A website satirizing the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has been launched – no doubt by some enterprising and idle writers. They commandeered the domain AMPTP.com and produced a near copy of the producers site. It is absolutely hilarious. Some excerpts:

“While we’re not going to point fingers or assign blame, we do feel justified in saying that they [the writers] are entirely at fault.”

“It is now absolutely clear that the WGA’s organazis are determined to advance their own personal ideologies, political agendas, sexual preferences, barbaric tribal customs, canine wardrobe choices, religious beliefs and blood rituals upon working writers…”

“…we’ve got enough reality shows to choke a horse. Literally – one of the shows is “Can You Choke This Horse?” And for the fall, we’re already working on “Can You Choke This Horse With the Stars?”

I hope I never have to fight these guys. They are brutal.


Chris Wallace Is A Damn Fool

Posted by on December 11, 2007 at 1:52 pm. 2 Comments :

Chris Wallace, host of Fox News Sunday, is still smarting from the Democrats’ refusal to submit themselves to the abuse that passes for debate on the Fox News Channel. Back in February, the Democratic Party pulled out of a debate that was scheduled to be broadcast by Fox News. It was a rare show of courage to deny the Republican network another opportunity to disparage the Democrats running for president. They should expand on that example and refuse all appearances on Fox. (see Starve The Beast). Rupert Murdoch and his media megaphone is openly hostile to their agenda and representatives. Fox will only use such appearances to distort their message and derail their mission. But Wallace is holding a grudge and recently told Politico:

“I think the Democrats are damn fools [for] not coming on Fox News. And my guess is that once you get a nominee, they probably will come on, because they know that we get a lot of voters they are going to need if they are going to win the election.”

And why wouldn’t they come on? Why wouldn’t they be consumed with giddy anticipation at the mere thought of appearing on a network whose hosts refer to them as “damn fools?” You’ll probably have to hire extra security to keep them from rushing the doors.

Certainly they are aware of how desperately they need you and how truly concerned you are about their prospects for winning the election. They know full well how many Democratic voters are devoted viewers of Fox News. Never mind the fact that…

“…research revealed that Fox viewers supported George Bush over John Kerry by 88% to 7%. Only Republicans were more united in supporting Bush. Conservatives, white evangelical Christians, gun owners, and supporters of the Iraq war all gave Bush fewer votes than did regular Fox News viewers.”

If there is anything that Wallace cares about it’s fairness. Well, that and balance, but let’s leave his mental state out of this. In further remarks to Politico, Wallace wonders…

“Just imagine if the Republicans, under pressure from right-to-life groups, refused to appear on CNN or MSNBC. I think there would be holy unshirted hell. I think there would be such talk about these people being captives of the extreme right wing and why are they afraid to answer questions. And I think the absence of that is very telling. At this point, it has become kind of a loyalty test inside the Democratic Party, … pandering to the far-left-wing. And we live with it.”

It turns out that we don’t have to use our imagination. Anyone who has watched any of the Republican debates can see that they are captives of the extreme right wing. Plus (keep your shirts on, hell or otherwise), Republicans have already implemented a boycott of MSNBC:

“We don’t mind skipping MSNBC. No one watches that channel anyway,” says a high-placed Republican consultant […] Word is, a growing number of GOP lawmakers have become mysteriously “unavailable” when asked to appear on MSNBC.

Wallace’s comments are proof of a threat issued earlier this year by the AP’s David Bauder when he warned that…

“A feud against Fox might not be the best long-term plan, either. People there have been known to hold a grudge.”

Holding grudges against news subjects is not exactly the sort of behavior engaged in by reputable journalists. Neither is calling them “damn fools” because they won’t help you increase your advertising revenue by sharing the stage with known enemies pretending to be reporters. Therefore, I suppose we can forgive Fox because they have never aspired to being reputable journalists in the first place. And Wallace might want to think twice about how he sweet talks politicians and other newsmakers to appear on his 4th ranked Sunday blatherfest. For the entire four years that Wallace has hosted Fox News Sunday, it has consistently lost the ratings battle to ABC’s “This Week,” CBS’s “Face the Nation” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” Who needs who, Chris?

In the end, Wallace is just trying to keep his sense of humor:

“I used to laugh and dismiss this talk about how we were – that there was a liberal bias in the mainstream media. But I have to say in the four years I’ve been at Fox, I’ve come to believe that there is a bias.“

In that case, the four years he’s spent at Fox have taught him something – Fox is biased. Sure, it’s something everybody else has known all along, but Chris Wallace is a damn fool. We’re lucky he’s learned anything.


Bush League Justice Under Investigation At MSNBC

Posted by on December 10, 2007 at 6:02 pm. NO Comments :

Dan Abrams will be hosting a series of programs this week focusing on the abuses of the Bush Administration, particularly with regard to the Department of Justice. This is an important subject that gets far too little play in the press, but impacts everything from civil rights to political corruption to First Amendment freedoms of speech and religion, and so much more. The article announcing the program, penned by Abrams, covers all of these issues with the indignation of someone who loves the law and the fair administration of justice. Here are some selected excerpts:

“‘Bush League Justice’ is a series (airing Monday-Thursday at 9 pm on MSNBC) that stems from my increasing frustration and outrage over how the Bush Administration has politicized the usually apolitical Justice Department.”

“…this President has flipped the goals and mission of the [Civil Rights] Division and allowed it to become a tool of the radical right […] almost half of the new hires in that department who had ‘civil rights experience’ had ‘experience’ only in defending employers or -fighting- affirmative action.”

“The President has effectively declared the right to disobey more than 750 laws. From the interrogation of prisoners to torture to investigations by U.S. officials in Iraq, President Bush has added a caveat that says, ‘I will only enforce this if.’ So he is effectively telling Congress thanks for your advice on this law, but I reserve the right to ignore this law.”

“Maybe the most obvious betrayal of the public trust has been politically motivated prosecutions. A University of Minnesota study conducted this year shows that for every elected Republican investigated during this President’s tenure, there were seven elected Democrats investigated.”

“This series is long overdue. The scandal with the firings of the U.S. Attorneys under Attorney General Alberto Gonzales exposed the underbelly of this administration’s penchant for putting politics over objectivity and qualifications.”

The tone set by Abrams is both surprising and promising. He does not have the reputation of a firebrand activist, but he is clearly expressing something heartfelt in these comments. He was trained as a lawyer and his father, Floyd Abrams, is one of the most respected First Amendment attorneys of the 20th century. So perhaps Dan’s genetics are kicking in.

These issues are desperately in need of a champion, someone who can do for justice what Lou Dobbs does for immigration. And the protection and preservation of our Constitutional liberties is far more important than the racist scapegoating that demagogues like Dobbs engage in.

We’ll see, as the series unfolds, if Abrams’ passion for the law results in a broadcast that forthrightly exposes Bush’s contempt for fairness and equality in the administration of justice. There is a cornucopia of criminal misconduct to explore produced by both intent and incompetence. The scandals of the Alberto Gonzales era at DoJ have fallen from the media radar, but they are just as toxic to our nation’s future as ever. The political firings of department attorneys, the distortion of the mission of civil and voting rights prosecutions, the hiring of more than 150 lawyers from Pat Robertsons Regent University, the justification for torture, the disrespect for Congress and the doctrine of equal powers, the debasement of the Supreme Court – all of these matters need to be remembered and acted upon if our democracy is to endure.

An honest presentation of the record is indeed long overdue. An honest presentation should put to rest the question of whether impeachment ought to be on the table. I hope that these programs will finally provide what has been sorely lacking from a somnolent media for the past seven years: an honest presentation.


Rachel Maddow Poised To Replace Tucker?

Posted by on December 10, 2007 at 12:27 am. 7 Comments :

TVNewser is passing on reports (that are not much more than rumors at this time) that MSNBC has taped a pilot for a new program featuring Rachel Maddow and Bill Wolff.

Maddow currently has a talk radio program on Air America and she guests frequently with Keith Olbermann on Countdown. She is an attractive, articulate, razor-sharp political observer and analyst. Her courageous progressivism, honesty and insight would propel her instantly to the top of the pundit pack on cable news.

Wolff is presently VP of Prime-Time Programming for MSNBC. He also appears on Tucker as a fill-in for Willie Geist where he mostly cracks jokes about entertainers and pop culture. He is married to another MSNBC personality, Alison Stewart.

As a programming exec, Wolff has good reason to be testing new talent. His schedule is currently being dragged down by Tucker Carlson, on whose show Wolff was once the executive producer. While it is long past time to cut their losses on Tucker, there is no evidence that this pilot, if it exists, is intended as a replacement for him. If it is, Maddow would be an inspired choice who would bring intelligence and charm to the line-up – in other words, exactly the opposite of what Tucker brings.

Wolff himself seems to have a pretty good sense of humor, but I’m not really sure what he would add to a show with the substance for which Maddow is well known. Also, I can’t say that I particularly like this trend at MSNBC where their management casts themselves in roles on the network. Previously General Manager Dan Abrams gave himself a show following Olbermann’s Countdown. But if this is what it takes to get Maddow on the air, and Tucker off, I’m all for it.


Hypocritical Standards Practiced At NBC

Posted by on December 9, 2007 at 1:34 pm. NO Comments :

A few days ago NBC rejected an ad from Freedom’s Watch, a pro-war conservative front group for Republican interests. This was the second time that FW submitted an ad that exceeded the standards for broadcast due to its overt political content. In the previous ad they asked viewers to call their representatives and voice their support for the President and the war, but the phone number went to an operator who asks if you agree with the ad. If you do, your call is patched through. If you do not, they hang up on you.

Now NBC has reversed itself and approved the new ad for broadcast. I don’t particularly have a problem with that since I have long been troubled by the way networks make judgments regarding political content. But I do wonder why NBC caved in to the former White House operatives at FW when they never did so with ads from progressive groups. For instance, in November of 2004, NBC rejected an ad from the United Church of Christ simply because they expressed an inclusive philosophy that welcomed all people, including gays. In October of 2006, they refused to air an ad for the Dixie Chicks documentary, “Shut Up & Sing,” because it was disparaging to the President.

Hypocrisy in the media is rampant, and this is just more evidence of it.

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FCC Bends Over Backwards For Big Media

Posted by on December 7, 2007 at 2:22 am. NO Comments :

The Federal Communications Commission has granted the Tribune Company the waiver it sought to continue operating the newspapers and television stations it owns in the same market. The waiver is required due to a regulation that forbids such cross-ownership. But the decision that produced the waiver was Machiavellian in the extreme.

Rather than grant the waiver outright, FCC chair Kevin Martin and his Republican colleagues actually denied Tribune’s request for an indefinite waiver, while granting a permanent waiver for Tribune’s properties in Chicago. This scheme allows Tribune to move forward with its acquisition by Chicago real estate mogul Sam Zell without jeopardizing its present newspaper and TV operations. It also allows Tribune to challenge the indefinite waiver denial in court, which itself triggers a two year waiver for all of Tribune’s properties in five markets nationwide. Democratic Commissioner Michael Copps dissented from this opinion saying:

“If this order were a newspaper, the banner headline would read ‘FCC majority uses legal subterfuge to push for total elimination of cross-ownership ban.’ I have to admit, part of me admires the clever legal maneuvering […] Tribune gets at least a two-year waiver, plus the ability to go to court immediately and see if they can get the entire rule thrown out.”

Tribune filed court papers objecting to the FCC decision within days of its issuance, almost as if they were prepared in advance of the decision. What a surprise. And all of this is occurring as Martin is being scrutinized by Congress for alleged abuse of power. Energy and Commerce Committee chairman John Dingell expressed concern that the FCC had not made drafts of proposed rules available to the public before they were voted on, and that Martin routinely withheld details of proposals from other commissioners until it was too late for them to be fully analyzed. In addition, Martin has favored data from outside firms that support his biases even when that data was contradicted by the agency’s own statistics.

Martin is as corrupt in his role as his predecessor, Michael Powell. In case after case he has advocated for the interests of Big Media over the public interest. And he now shows that he is unconcerned with maintaining even the perception of propriety.


Dems Sign On For AMPTP Image Makeover

Posted by on December 7, 2007 at 1:02 am. NO Comments :

Just when you think the cynicism meter is off the scale, you read an article like this in the Los Angeles Times:

“Seeking to shore up its flagging public image, the Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers has turned to veteran political advisors from both sides of the aisle to guide its public relations battle with Hollywood’s striking writers.”

It’s not particularly surprising that greedy producers want to mount a campaign to make themselves look more sympathetic to the public, but the guns they’ve hired should raise an eyebrow or two. Mark Fabiani and Chris Lehane are veterans of Democratic political campaigns. Lehane has been seen recently slinging for Hillary Clinton.

What I want to know is why have Democratic consultants signed on to serve as strike breakers? This seems a bit inconsistent with the mission of a party that represents itself as worker friendly. I can’t help but wonder what Clinton and their other clients would think of this new association. But if I were a Democrat running for office, I would look elsewhere for PR advisers. And I hope the writer’s kick their butts.

Update: Lehane and Co. will pay for their betrayal. Their contracts with unions SEIU and ChangeToWin have been canceled. I don’t know what the producers are paying them, but it will have be a small fortune to make up for what they will lose on these contracts and those in the future from Democratic enterprises who will no longer do business with these strike breakers.


1-888-995-HOPELESS

Posted by on December 6, 2007 at 3:59 pm. NO Comments :

This morning George Bush announced his new program to help homeowners get out from under the burden of adjustable mortgages that have spurred an unprecedented wave of bankruptcies and foreclosures. Unfortunately, he gave millions of Americans the wrong phone number, once again proving that he is adept only at misleading.

The number he announced in his news conference was 1-800-995-HOPE. The actual number is 1-888-995-HOPE.

Anyone who managed to get through to the wrong number would have found themselves at the Freedom Christian Academy. From their website:

Freedom Christian Academy provides top notch Homeschool Curriculum and support for Home Schooling parents and students.
[…]
Bible believing Christians today must recognize that God has commanded parents to take responsibility for teaching their own children.

I’m not sure why Bush decided to use the HOPE name for his phone number when HOME might have been more intuitive. But the number he chose also spells GORE, if anyone is looking for some extra irony.


The Media Will Win In 2008

Posted by on December 6, 2007 at 1:38 pm. NO Comments :

A little over a year ago I wrote this article wrapping up the 2006 campaign season and showing how, no matter who wins electoral campaigns, the media is the ultimate winner:

“When all is said and done, The Media will have banked over $2 Billion […] If a campaign can be analogized to a war, then the media are the war profiteers. Fox is the Halliburton of the press corps – GE (owner of NBC/Universal) is the…well, the GE. They benefit no matter who wins or loses. In fact, it is in their interest to incite division and to escalate the conflict.”

At the time, the money raked in by media was a new record, but one that was destined to be short-lived. A new study by PQ Media is predicting that spending for 2008 will dwarf the record set in 2006:

“Political campaign spending on advertising media and marketing services is expected to rocket to an all-time high of $4.50 billion in the 2008 election cycle, as an acrimonious political environment, record fundraising and the high number of presidential candidates are driving an unprecedented media spending splurge…”

There doesn’t seem to be an end in sight for the profligate spending on political ads and events. These expenditures are sponsored, for the most part, by mega-corporations with interests in the outcome of the elections. The Center for Responsive Politics just completed a detailed study of lobbyist contributions in the current campaign cycle. It’s an eye opening expose of the incestuous relationships between candidates and contributors. For instance, Hillary Clinton claimed in a recent debate that she accepts lobbyist funds because they represent “real Americans” like nurses and social workers. But her financial disclosures reveal a different story:

“Lobbyists who represent health professionals, including the nurses Clinton singled out, account for $82,805 in contributions to her, while those representing the pharmaceutical industry paid out $562,900.”

Barack Obama looks a little better having received only $34,500 from 29 registered lobbyists. And John Edwards does even better than that with just $4,500 from seven lobbyists that he has promised to return.

The irony is that many of the large corporate givers are the media companies themselves. Unlike other donors, they will get much of that money back from candidates buying air time. In effect, the candidates are subsidizing the media companies’ budget for campaign contributions. Then, after the election, the media lobbyists still get to call on the officeholders to collect their reward in the form of favorable legislation and regulations.

As I said last year, the media is the only guaranteed winner and the people (and democracy) suffer for it:

“So long as we have corporate media monopolies married to political powerbrokers in government and on K Street, we will never have truly free elections. They just feed off of each other and enrich each other at the expense of democracy. The media needs to be corralled into a role wherein it educates and informs citizens. And public financing of campaigns is imperative if we want to remove the influence of corporations from politics.”

And it’s more true now than ever.