Limbaugh, O’Reilly, And Beck. Oh My

Posted by on September 27, 2010 at 5:45 pm. 2 Comments :

A new poll by Politico and George Washington University has some interesting data regarding the Three Stooges of the American Right.

It will certainly boost the giant, economy-sized egos of these already self-absorbed narcissists to learn that they ranked highest in terms of favorability in the survey. And if they stop reading there they will be fine. However, upon closer examination they will find that they are also ranked as the three most unfavorably viewed in the poll.

I guess you either love ’em or hate ’em. But don’t ever accuse them of being divisive.

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What You Missed At The Beverly Hills Tea Party

Posted by on September 27, 2010 at 10:37 am. 24 Comments :

In lieu of the next 1,000 words…


The much ballyhooed Beverly Hills Tea Party took place yesterday and exceeded all expectations – for lameness. It was the epitome of a Beverly Hills Flop. The turnout was a paltry couple of hundred in a city of four million. And, not surprisingly, it was almost exclusively white.

Just to underscore the significance of that, the population of Los Angeles, which surrounds the tiny patch of real estate that makes up Beverly Hills, is only 49% Caucasian. It would be nearly impossible to snap a photo at random anywhere in L.A. County without capturing a fair representation of people of color. Only at a Tea Party could this homogeneity be accomplished. [Note to Tea Partiers: Relax, that’s not a gay reference. Look it up]

What they hope to achieve by staging an anti-tax rally in the heart of one of the most affluent communities in the country is difficult to surmise. The denizens of Beverly Hills are the prime benefactors of Republican policies that favor the rich and well-connected. And since those are the same people who bankroll the Tea Party you can’t help but notice a certain conflict of interest. The sad part is that the Tea Partiers have fallen for this crusade on behalf of the enfranchised insiders and truly believe that these elitist millionaires are fighting for the interests of working and middle class citizens.

The festivities were led by ancient pop crooner Pat Boone. And it just got better from there. The speakers roster included the terminally choleric Andrew Breitbart, the neo-fascist David Horowitz, and internationally renowned political analyst Victoria Jackson, who sang her big Tea Party hit “There’s a Communist Living in the White House.” That’s just a representative sample of the reality-based insight emanating from the 90291 stage.

And what Tea Party would be complete without Fox News pumping up the propaganda volume? William La Jeunesse covered the event for Fox like a giddy high school newspaper correspondent at a Justin Bieber concert. After a perfunctory acknowledgment that L.A. is predominately liberal, as are many actors, directors, etc., he says that behind every one of those celebrities are numerous grips, electricians, and production people, who he implies would sympathize with the Tea Baggers. Had he spent more time in Hollywood he would know that those people are mostly union workers who support health care reform, Wall Street regulation, taxing the rich, and other Democratic initiatives that form the basis of the Tea Party’s grievances.

To be sure, there are celebrity types who embrace conservative causes, including those held by the Tea Party. They include inspiring contemporary artists like Chuck Norris, Jon Voight, and Ted Nugent. But if they think that their little soiree in the park adjacent to Rodeo Drive is an indication of their widespread acceptance, they are even more delusional than was previously believed.


NewsBusters: The Most Powerful Name In Stupid

Posted by on September 26, 2010 at 8:29 pm. 6 Comments :

You know that you’ve reached new lows in stupidity when you make it necessary to defend CNN/Washington Post media columnist Howard Kurtz. But Noel Sheppard, NewsBusters’ Associate Editor, can hang his head in pride at having achieved just that feat.

In an article “analyzing” a segment of Kurtz’s Reliable Sources, Sheppard manages to demonstrate an astonishingly deficient ability to comprehend simple English. In this segment Kurtz correctly criticized Fox News in general, and Glenn Beck and Sean Hannity in particular, for falsely asserting that Democratic Delaware senatorial candidate Chris Coons had “admitted” to being a Marxist. The basis for the assertion was this excerpt from an article Coons wrote 25 years ago in college:

“I spent the spring of my junior year in Africa on the St. Lawrence Kenya Study Program. Going to Kenya was one of the few real decisions I have made; my friends, family, and professors all advised against it, but I went anyway, My friends now joke that something about Kenya, maybe a strange diet, or the tropical sun, changed my personality; Africa to them seems a catalytic converter that takes in clean-shaven, clear thinking Americans and sends back Bearded Marxists.”

It’s plain from reading this that it was Coons’ friends who raised the subject of his being a Marxist, and even that was clearly stated to be a joke. There is nothing there resembling an admission of Marxism, and there is no way a person with a functioning cerebrum could arrive at that interpretation. Which neatly explains how Beck and Hannity managed to do so. Kurtz, for whom I rarely find anything worthy of commendation, deserves credit for calling out the pair of Fox News hacks for their blatant and deliberate deceit.

Here’s where NewsBusters steps in to lather themselves in shame. Sheppard begins with an inquiry as to why Kurtz didn’t mention a previous article that appeared in Politico and referenced the Coons article. Sheppard asks…

“Why didn’t Kurtz scold Politico? After all, [Politico author Alex] Isenstadt appears to be the first national reporter to bring this article to light.”

The answer, of course, is that Isenstadt never alleged that Coons confessed to being a Marxist. There is nothing wrong with drawing attention to prior writings by political candidates. The problem comes when someone dishonestly portrays the contents of it, as Beck and Hannity did. Isenstadt didn’t do that so there was no reason for Kurtz to scold him.

Next Sheppard quotes a line from Isenstadt’s article that cites Coons’ campaign spokesman calling the “bearded Marxist” reference a joke. Sheppard then asks…

“Is this where Kurtz got the idea that the whole article was a joke? From Coons’s campaign spokesman? That doesn’t seem like good journalism, does it?”

Sheppard wouldn’t know good journalism if it reached out of his monitor and slapped him. The first idiotic hokum in this question is the premise that Kurtz held that “the whole article” was a joke. Kurtz never said that, nor did Coons or his spokesman. But where Sheppard goes off the rails is by suggesting that Kurtz got the idea that it was a joke from the campaign spokesman’s comment rather than from the actual text of Coons’ article that said explicitly, “My friends now joke that…” It was right there in black and white, in the original article, that Kurtz, and everyone else who can read, got the idea that it was a joke. It couldn’t be more clear if you pasted a picture of Henny Youngman above it. I guess it’s that clarity that accompanies reality that confused Sheppard.

And yet Sheppard persists in making a fool of himself. He concludes his analysis by complaining that Kurtz has a double standard because he criticized the coverage of Coons but not that of his GOP opponent, Christine O’Donnell. However, Kurtz was criticizing the Coons coverage because it was wrong. The coverage of O’Donnell was merely replaying video of her own performance on television. Nobody mischaracterized what she said, they just broadcast it as it was. If there was something wrong with it, even Sheppard didn’t bother to point it out. But he did take one more swing at the debunked smear that Coons was a self-avowed Marxist:

“As such, an autobiographical article by Coons in which he referred to himself as a bearded Marxist is all a joke while comments O’Donnell made concerning her religious faith are somehow relevant to this campaign.”

Once again, Coons did not refer to himself as a “bearded Marxist,” and his friends who did so were joking. And both candidates’ histories are relevant to the campaign, but they must be presented accurately. Unfortunately, Sheppard prefers the lying gasbag approach.

~~~

On a separate matter from the same program, Kurtz earned himself another commendation by calling out his own network, CNN. They declined to broadcast a story of war atrocities by Michael Ware due to graphic imagery. Kurtz observed that a story of this importance should still have been aired, and if the images were deemed too disturbing they could have simply left them out of the broadcast. He also took the network to task for refusing to make anyone available to discuss the matter. Kurtz deserves credit for that position. I hope we see more of this sort of media criticism going forward, but I’m just a cockeyed optimist.


Fox Nation: The Week The Democrat Media Industrial Complex Died

Posted by on September 26, 2010 at 12:08 pm. 11 Comments :


Classy as always, Fox Nation has posted a headline graphic of an ass with its head up its ass (and, no, it isn’t Bill O’Reilly, which would have made more sense). Remember, this is the online face of Fox News, an enterprise that wants to be viewed as a legitimate purveyor of journalism. I guess that this is the visualization of what journalism means to Fox News.

The accompanying text reads: The Week The Democrat Media Industrial Complex Died. OK then, that settles it. Since this is the week it died it is safe to assume that there will be no more assertions of Democratic control of the media; no more accusations of the press being dominated by liberals; no more whining about bias against conservatives. All of that died this week, so SHUT UP!

Of course, the illusion of the liberal media has always been a false claim by conservatives who can’t take honest criticism. The notion that a few multinational media corporations, run by billionaires, whose self-interests are squarely aligned with the right, are somehow advancing liberal ideas could only be believed by a mental patient with a fresh lobotomy.

The article that the Fox Nationalists linked to from their juvenile image was posted on a site (jedeckart.com) named for a character in the movie Red Dawn, a favorite of rightist revolutionaries and Tea Baggers everywhere. Eckart was a militia-style dissident fighting a guerrilla war against Russian invaders. It is a mythology that appeals to right-wingers who pine for a new civil war.

The content of the article is just a short list of cliche conservative complaints. Only one even relates to the media. Obviously the Fox Nationalists just wanted to exploit the link for its headline which they must have found amusing.

Now that the fictional Democrat Media Industrial Complex has been declared dead, let’s get to work on the real Corporate/Media Complex that is perverting our press. Let’s break up the Big Media conglomerates that monopolize the industry. And let’s reveal the distortions and dishonesty of propagandists like Rupert Murdoch, Phillip Anschutz, and the Koch brothers. Addressing these real problems with a media that seeks to further its own power and profits will do far more to move us forward than the childish posturing we see on Fox Nation.


Uh Oh. CNN Takes A Sharp Turn Toward Hell

Posted by on September 25, 2010 at 1:50 pm. 4 Comments :

Remember the old days when CNN was the dominant cable news network? Or the even older days when it was the only cable news network? I didn’t think so. It was a long time ago. Viewers today don’t appreciate how remarkable an achievement it was to launch a 24 hour news channel when nothing like it existed at the time.

Whether or not you like Ted Turner, you have to give him credit for being a pioneer, although given the state of cable news today, I’m not sure he’d want the credit/blame. However, he recognized the unique environment in which his experiment was born, and he further recognized the changes that took place in subsequent years that preclude anyone from ever doing the same (see My Beef With Big Media).

Now CNN is mired in third place, overtaken by a bombastic, right-wing, agenda-driven, Fox News, and a lukewarm, marginally liberal, MSNBC. So it should come as no surprise that the brass at CNN would be looking to shake things up in hopes of recovering their glory days. To that end, yesterday CNN announced that its president, Jon Klein, would be leaving the network. That, in and of itself, would appear to be a routine response to poor performance in the marketplace. The problem here is not that Klein is leaving. It’s who they are elevating to his post that is worrisome.

Ken Jautz, presently the head of CNN’s HLN (formerly known as Headline News Network) has been tapped to replace Klein. He is a brash, iconoclastic, executive who is more interested in ratings than journalism. But perhaps the most disturbing item on Jautz’s resume is that he is the man who brought Glenn Beck to HLN, and to television. Looking back at that millstone in broadcast media is one of the best ways of getting a handle on what may be in store for a Juatz-run CNN. Here is what he had to say upon hiring Beck back in January of 2006:

“Glenn Beck is the next piece of the puzzle,” said HLN prexy Ken Jautz. “Glenn’s style is self-deprecating, cordial; he says he’d like to be able to disagree with guests and part as friends. It’s conversational, not confrontational.”

If Beck is Jautz’s idea of cordial, I hope never to meet anyone he considers to be rude. What’s more, Beck is not known for having guests with whom he disagrees, friendly or otherwise. And the notion that he is not confrontational is absurd on its face. Calling the President a racist; charging that progressives are a cancer; tagging anyone with whom he disagrees a Marxist; declaring his hatred for Woodrow Wilson as well as 9/11 families; these are not behaviors generally associated with being non-confrontational. Jautz went on to say…

“As part of the continued evolution of the network, we wanted another primetime show,” Jautz said. “We didn’t look for a conservative, a liberal or anyone of a particular ideology. It was about getting the best talent that would resonate with the most viewers.”

Well then, it’s a good thing he wasn’t actually looking for a conservative. He would have ended up with a modern version of Attila the Hun (or did he anyway?). It should also be noted that his desire to find the “best talent” who would “resonate” with viewers, was unfulfilled. Beck’s show was a dismal ratings failure on HLN. He would not be a success until he moved to Fox News with its built-in audience of pre-cooked FoxBots.

Given the remarks Jautz made when taking over HLN and bringing Beck into the fold, it is fair to say that he was somewhat disingenuous with regard to his public appraisals. And he was similarly disingenuous in private. In the book “Common Nonsense: Glenn Beck And The Triumph Of Ignorance,” author Alexander Zaitchik noted that Jautz mislead his employers at the time as to his intentions in reforming the channel:

“Facing a staff weary of rumored changes, Jautz gently presented Blue Sky [his programming initiative] as a trial balloon. He promised that CNN standards would not be diluted in the makeover and that soon-to-be-hired Headline News personalities would not appear on traditional CNN news programming. He broke both promises.”

Indeed he did. Glenn Beck not only appeared on CNN, he was permitted to fill in as a guest host on Larry King Live. Taking into consideration the duplicity of Jautz’s comments when he assumed command of HLN, it might be prudent to take note of what he is saying now with regard to his promotion at CNN. Jautz was interviewed by The Wrap and said…

Q: Can we expect a tone change, or any sort of ideological shift?
A: I think that CNN needs to be as lively and engaging and as informative as it is known for its reporting.

Whatever that means.

Q: For a long time, Jon Klein resisted any sort of partisan programming — especially as expressed by the hosts. Can we expect to see more opinions — or at least opinionated hosts — under your watch?
A: CNN has always been about adhering to non-partisan programming in general. And it will continue to be.

However, I do not believe that “facts-only” programming … it will not work. Viewers, if they’re looking for just the news, they can get that anywhere now. The news that happened that day, they probably know already. They want context, perspective and opinion. And we’re going to give that to them. As long as it’s non-partisan, in the aggregate, from all ends of the spectrum.

In other words, we will continue to be non-partisan except when we’re being opinionated. And none of those pesky “facts” that clutter up the news.

Jautz did improve the standing of HLN. But he did it by ramping up the volume with shouters like Beck and Nancy Grace, and by diving head-first into the tabloid world of pop culture and celebrity gossip. Could that approach help to restore CNN’s prior leadership? Who cares? It isn’t what anyone who truly cares about responsible journalism would want.

And that’s the problem with contemporary corporate media: It is more interested in serving the shareholders than in serving the public. Unless Jautz has recently had a revelatory transformation, CNN has taken a giant step backwards by giving him the reins to the network. The prospect of the man who launched Glenn Beck’s television career running a cable news network is troubling, to say the least.

In related news, NBC/Universal has announced that it’s chief executive, Jeff Zucker, will also be leaving his post. This is an entirely different situation than the one at CNN. NBC is presently the number one network in evening news, morning news, and Sunday news. CNBC is still the top business channel. Plus, under Zucker’s reign, MSNBC moved up from third place to second. The staffing change at NBC is due to its imminent acquisition by Comcast. It remains to be seen who will be replacing Zucker.

Sometimes these sort of changes are merely shifts designed to put a new management’s imprint on the merged entity. But Comcast has baggage that makes it important to keep an eye on them. And they will have an unprecedented range of influence as a result of the merger. Stay tuned.


Sarah Palin Pimps Glenn Beck’s Phony News Site

Posted by on September 24, 2010 at 1:37 pm. 5 Comments :

The Tracy and Hepburn of 2010’s right-wing elitist set, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin, just can’t get enough of one another.

Sarah Palin was the first guest on the first show Glenn Beck aired on Fox News. He interviewed her again last January when he revealed what he wrote in his diary about her:

“Tomorrow, I meet Sarah Palin and family for the first time. I’m actually a little nervous — as she is one of the only people that I can see that can possibly lead us out of where we are.”

He continued…“OMG, I hope she likes me back.”

Palin reciprocated by attending his Acute Paranoia Revival Show in DC. Then he re-reciprocated by trodding up to Alaska for a for-profit 9/11 memorial with tickets ranging up to $225.00.

Now Palin continues the love affair with a double Twitter shout out for Beck’s phony “news” site The Blaze:

#1: Log on 2 “theblaze.com” & change the course of information gathering in America! Site helps truth be told;we’ve had to put up w/LSM too long

#2: Rock your news-gathering world! Take a look at this new website recently launched called The Blaze. Let’s change…

What a joke. Palin has called herself a journalist despite never having had a real job as one. The best she can claim is that she read sports scores for a weekend broadcast on a local station in Alaska. Now she thinks Beck’s online circle-jerk qualifies as news.

Beck has also called himself a journalist. But he’s also said that he isn’t one (typical Beckian doubletalk). The Blaze is his attempt to cash in on the sort of revenue generated by Drudge, Huffington, Breitbart, etc. When he announced the site he said that he had hired the best journalists he could find. But if you click on the headlines, most of them lead to articles posted elsewhere on the Internet. There is virtually no original reporting on the site.

The right-wing noise machine is well known for its insulated PR practice. Stories spin through Drudge, National Review, Fox Nation, Rush Limbaugh, Fox News, and back around through them all a few times. The Blaze is just a new destination on the map.

The fact that Palin committed two precious tweets to fluffing this waste of bandwidth just affirms the circular nature of their media. They just keep inventing new ways to tie up their disciples in a maze of conservative propaganda.

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Stephen Colbert Speaks Truthiness To Power

Posted by on September 24, 2010 at 11:30 am. 2 Comments :

This morning the House Sub-committee on Immigration, Refugees, and Border Security, received testimony from Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert (video below). Colbert was invited to relate his experience as a corn-packer (irony noted) for all of one day on behalf of the United Farm Workers.

This spectacle was reminiscent of Colbert’s legendary performance before the White House Correspondent’s Association. He remained in character throughout his testimony and questioning from committee members. He even corrected Lamar Smith (R-TX), who asked if the work he did on the farm was harder than being a comedian/entertainer, by answering that “It’s absolutely harder than punditry.” And while he actually addressed serious subjects and made profound points regarding immigration and labor policy, his most biting comments were directed at congress itself:

“I participated in the UFW’s ‘Take Our Jobs’ campaign. One of only 16 people in America to take up the challenge. Though that number may increase in the near future as I understand many Democrats may be looking for work come November.”

…and…

“Now, I’m not a fan of the government doing anything. But I’ve got to ask, why isn’t the government doing anything? Maybe this ag jobs bill will help. I don’t know. Like most members of Congress, I haven’t read it.”

…and…

“I trust that following my testimony, both sides will work together on this issue in the best interest of the American people. As you always do.”

It’s telling that the last quote may have been the biggest laugh line of the day. Apparently the notion that congress has the public interest at heart is hysterical. However. like the Washington press corps, the residents of congress expressed mostly nervous laughter and exhaled broadly when it was all over. Steve King (R-IA) was one of those who was not particularly amused. He objected to Colbert’s appearance before, during and after the hearing. Said King…

“Maybe amnesty supporters should spend less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there that require hard labor and don’t involve sitting behind a desk. If they did, they would realize that every day American workers perform the dirtiest, most difficult, most dangerous jobs that can be thrown at them.”

What a testament to the Republican agenda for American workers. King is proud of the fact that some Americans are forced to “perform the dirtiest, most difficult, most dangerous jobs that can be thrown at them” That’s exactly what King and his colleagues want, and what their policies would ensure. It’s a statement that defines the GOP plan for American labor. And it’s precisely why Colbert was brought before the congress to raise the profile of an issue that has been all but forgotten by congress and the media.


The GOP Pledge To America Is An Allegiance To The Past

Posted by on September 23, 2010 at 4:39 pm. 19 Comments :

The Republican Pledge to America is just another lousy product from GOP, Inc. It is nothing more than a rehash of their failed programs from the past.

Already the reception the Pledge has received is decidedly negative – from both sides of the aisle. While Democrats correctly point out that the Pledge is old news and leftovers, Republicans like Erick Erickson and Neil Boortz are criticizing it because it doesn’t go far enough (into Delusionland). This Pledge has managed to disappoint everyone, and it did so by design. John Boehner, the Pledge’s Godfather, introduced the Pledge by saying…

Boehner: “We are not going to be any different than what we’ve been.”

That’s comforting. And to prove it, the Pledge’s development was overseen by a former lobbyist for some of the nation’s most powerful oil, pharmaceutical, and insurance companies. Same old same old GOP.


Fighting Back Against Fox News: A Righteous Example

Posted by on September 23, 2010 at 12:28 pm. 1 Comments :

Robin Carnahan, the Democratic candidate for senate in Missouri, is being sued by Fox News for airing an ad that includes a few seconds from a Fox broadcast. As I previously reported, Fox has no case. The doctrine of Fair Use permits the reproduction of segments of copyrighted material, particularly in works of commentary and political expression. What’s more, Fox’s complaint is selective in that they have failed to assert protection for similar property when it is being used by Republicans. Now Carnahan has responded to Fox’s suit by launching the Fight Fox Fund:

Fox News has filed a lawsuit against Robin’s senate campaign.

They demanded we stop playing our new ad above because it features a clip from one of their shows…where they challenged Congressman Roy Blunt on his Washington record and ties to convicted felon lobbyist Jack Abramoff – and now they’re suing us to make us back down.

Well, we’re not backing down; and we’re not giving up. Not against Fox News, and certainly not against Congressman Blunt. We’re staying on TV and fighting back.

Nicely played. This is the sort of response that should be standard practice when confronted by bullying from Fox News and other right-wing media. Fox has more than confirmed their reputation as the public relations arm of the Republican Party. Their corporate parent gave a million dollars to the Republican Governor’s Association. They give hours of free airtime to GOP candidates who use it as a campaign platform and for fundraising.

Media Matters estimates that Fox recently provided Delaware GOP senate hopeful, Christine O’Donnell, with over a million dollars worth of airtime. Nevada’s GOP senate candidate, Sharron Angle, has admitted that she only appears on networks that allow her to raise money. Sarah Palin’s advice to Republican candidates is to “speak through Fox News.”

Fox News has no credibility as a news network. It is openly advocating for Republican candidates and far-right policies. Carnahan’s Fight Fox initiative should be adopted by her Democratic colleagues as well as the rest of the progressive community. Because no matter how hard they fight against their political opponents, if they don’t take the fight to Fox they are letting their biggest threat get off scot free.


Christine O’Donnell – Witch Senator For Delaware

Posted by on September 22, 2010 at 3:03 pm. 5 Comments :


By now most of you have heard of the Republican candidate for senate in Delaware, Christine O’Donnell. You have probably also heard that she has confessed that she “dabbled in witchcraft” when she was younger.

Now you have the opportunity to show your support for this Shrewish-American and help to expand the diversity of the United States Congress. O’Donnell would become the first Witch in Congress (that we know of) and bring representation to a disenfranchised minority that has been the victim of discrimination since the first Pilgrims put match to pyre.

The bumper stickers (shown above) are now available for purchase. You can even get the economical 10-Pack so that all of your vehicles display your pride in Occult worship and its contribution to American culture. And you’ll probably still have some leftover for your friends and neighbors. There are also fashionable T-Shirts available if you want to express yourself in style.

Don’t let this opportunity pass you by. When will there be another chance to send a qualified Witch to Washington? This will be an historic election.

O’Donnell is already working her magic. She will actually make herself disappear for the remainder of the campaign. She announced on the Hannity show on Fox News that she will not be doing any more national media. That suggests that she will be doing more local media in Delaware, but somehow, I doubt that will come to pass. She has a cauldron of questions to answer about her flighty past and qualifications to serve in the senate. The locals have the same questions for her as the national press does. And the national press will undoubtedly cover any appearances she makes at the local level. So what’s the difference? Therefore, poof — she disappears — just like Sarah Palin, Rand Paul, Joe Miller, and Sharron Angle.

So join the Broom Brigades today before it’s too late. There hasn’t been a candidate so bewitching since Mary Carey ran for governor of California. And remember to vote on November 2nd. Because if you don’t, she may turn you into a Newt.

She’s done it before.
Newt Gingrich