THE TRIANGLE: Matthews, Moore, Murtha, and the Media: What's the common thread running through the past half-decade of Bush's presidency? What's the nexus between the Swift-boating of Kerry, the Swift-boating of Murtha, and the guilt-by-association between Democrats and terrorists? Why has a seemingly endless string of administration scandals faded into oblivion? Why do Democrats keep losing elections? It's this: the traditional media, the trusted media, the "neutral" media, have become the chief delivery mechanism of potent anti-Democratic and pro-Bush storylines. And the Democratic establishment appears to be either ig norant of this political quandary or unwilling to fight it.
CHRIS MATTHEWS UPDATE - Rep. Slaughter: "Over the last few days, I have watched with concern as prominent media personalities and political pundits like Chris Matthews have engaged in reckless rhetoric comparing critics of the Bush Administration to the world's most wanted terrorist, Osama Bin Laden. This isn't just offensive, it's absurd-- and harmful to our nation." MORE
TIM RUSSERT UPDATE - Atrios: "When Barack Obama hires Belafonte to be his consultant, endorses him for president, gives a speech at his house, or if he does robo-calls in multiple states for him, then there would be a legitimate reason for Russert to have him comment on his remarks." MORE
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/24/2006 #
COMMENT (3)
TIM RUSSERT UPDATE - Atrios: "When Barack Obama hires Belafonte to be his consultant, endorses him for president, gives a speech at his house, or if he does robo-calls in multiple states for him, then there would be a legitimate reason for Russert to have him comment on his remarks." MORE
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/24/2006 #
COMMENT (3)
Kos: "Let's not forget that ultimately, Osama's vision for the Arab world is far more akin to the Right's vision of America. Remember these old posts? On homosexuality, on militarism, on women's rights, on religion in school, on capital punishment, on free speech, on curtailment of civil liberties, and on a million different other issues Islamic fundamentalists don't share many disagreements with the ideologues running our country. The reason we hate Islamic fundamentalists is pretty much the same reason we're fighting to take back this country from the Republicans. They are two peas from the same pod, and diametrically opposed to everything we liberals stand for."
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/24/2006 #
COMMENT (2)
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/24/2006 #
COMMENT (2)
A Blogger's Bogus Defense of Chris Matthews: Distinction Without a Difference - One of the core attributes of the right's "liberal media" absurdity is that the definition of 'liberal' is anyone or anything opposed to Bush. Tom Maguire, who thinks he's got an irr efutable defense of Matthews' heinous comparison of Bin Laden to Michael Moore, says, "as a reliable Bush-basher, [Matthews] long ago lost his audience on the right... Matthews' point is that Osama is adopting the rhetoric of Michael Moore, NOT that Michael Moore is adopting the rhetoric of Osama Bin Laden. This is an important distinction that the critics on the left seem to be determined to blur." [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/23/2006 #
COMMENT (12)
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/23/2006 #
COMMENT (12)
Was Race a Factor in Russert's Obama Interview? (cross-posted on HuffPo): In light of the still-burning Chris Matthews scandal, I watched Sunday's political shows with keener interest than usual. And something very strange happened on Meet The Press: Tim Russert asked Senator Barack Obama to respond to Harry Belafonte's remarks about George W. Bush being the "greatest terrorist in the world." [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/22/2006 #
COMMENT (56)
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/22/2006 #
COMMENT (56)
Josh Marshall: "On the left or center-left, until very recently, there's simply never been an organized chorus of people ready to take t he Howells of the press biz to task and mau-mau them when they get a key fact wrong. Without that, the world of political news was like an NBA game where one side played the refs hard and had roaring seats of fans while the other never made a peep. With that sort of structural imbalance, shoddy scorekeeping and cowed, and eventually compliant, refs are inevitable."
mcjoan: "I'm just wondering when the traditional media is finally going to give up the pretense that it is objective in reporting the news. From Chris Matthews' (and the entire Fox gang's) hate speech to Deborah Howell's non-corr ection "correction," it's time they just admit the truth. They are Republican party organs. Most of the rest of the developed world doesn't operate on the false assumption that their media is unbiased. Why should we? Let's just get that out in the open, recognize who is on which side, and go on our merry way."
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/22/2006 #
COMMENT (0)
mcjoan: "I'm just wondering when the traditional media is finally going to give up the pretense that it is objective in reporting the news. From Chris Matthews' (and the entire Fox gang's) hate speech to Deborah Howell's non-corr ection "correction," it's time they just admit the truth. They are Republican party organs. Most of the rest of the developed world doesn't operate on the false assumption that their media is unbiased. Why should we? Let's just get that out in the open, recognize who is on which side, and go on our merry way."
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/22/2006 #
COMMENT (0)
SHAKESPEARE'S SIS ON MATTHEWS & MOORE: "And the fact that Michael Moore is not as dangerous for America as Osama bin Laden is only half of the lie. The other half is that Michael Moore is part of the institutional Left, which he isn’t. Michael Moore is a filmmaker, and a media personality at best. He’s not entrenched in the political process. He doesn’t, for example, sell access to “unnamed members of Washington’s Power Elite”—and doesn’t have that access himself." [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/21/2006 #
COMMENT (5)
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/21/2006 #
COMMENT (5)
Matthews Responds to Bloggers: "People Misunderstood What I Said Last Night" (cross-posted on HuffPo)
For those of you following the Hardball scandal, the online community's fury elicited this response from Matthews: MATTHEWS: "Why is [OBL] doing it? Why is he trying to track what he picks up in the internet and from the media as the lingo of the left in America, like Moore? Why would he start to talk like Moore? People misunderstood what I said last night. I think he's getting some advice from people, he's getting some lingo, some wordage that he hears working in the United States about this thing for war profiteers and he's jumping on every opportunity. Is that what you are saying Joe?" [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/20/2006 #
COMMENT (4)
For those of you following the Hardball scandal, the online community's fury elicited this response from Matthews: MATTHEWS: "Why is [OBL] doing it? Why is he trying to track what he picks up in the internet and from the media as the lingo of the left in America, like Moore? Why would he start to talk like Moore? People misunderstood what I said last night. I think he's getting some advice from people, he's getting some lingo, some wordage that he hears working in the United States about this thing for war profiteers and he's jumping on every opportunity. Is that what you are saying Joe?" [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/20/2006 #
COMMENT (4)
UPDATE: Welcome Open Letter readers. Below is my original post written shortly after Chris Matthews made hi s OBL/Moore comparison...
DEMAND AN APOLOGY: "Bin Laden sounds like Clint Eastwood" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Ron Silver" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Rush Limbaugh" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Bill O'Reilly"-- "Bin Laden sounds like Mel Gibson" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Bruce Willis" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Michelle Malkin"... Imagine the outrage on the right and in the press (but I repeat myself) if a major media figure spat out those words. Well, on Hardball, Chris Matthews just blurted out that Bin Laden sounds like Michael Moore. Simple: Matthews should apologize. On the air. This has NOTHING to do with Michael Moore and everything to do with how far media figures can go slandering the left. [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/19/2006 #
COMMENT (195)
DEMAND AN APOLOGY: "Bin Laden sounds like Clint Eastwood" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Ron Silver" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Rush Limbaugh" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Bill O'Reilly"-- "Bin Laden sounds like Mel Gibson" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Bruce Willis" -- "Bin Laden sounds like Michelle Malkin"... Imagine the outrage on the right and in the press (but I repeat myself) if a major media figure spat out those words. Well, on Hardball, Chris Matthews just blurted out that Bin Laden sounds like Michael Moore. Simple: Matthews should apologize. On the air. This has NOTHING to do with Michael Moore and everything to do with how far media figures can go slandering the left. [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/19/2006 #
COMMENT (195)
<>The Blog Buzz - 1.19.06 (Compiled and edited by Peter Daou and Steve Benen)
Bin Laden returns, countdown begins for our Twilight Zone media to suggest his reappearance helps Bush: "The OBL tape released the Friday before the elections were widely credited (amongst other excuses) for being a big PUSH for W.... At least one Bush staffer called it "a nice little present" or something like that, you can look it up. Of course the really WEIRD part is how W is given CREDIT for 9/11. Think about that-he openly TAKES CREDIT for 9/11." [LINK] [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/19/2006 #
COMMENT (6)
Bin Laden returns, countdown begins for our Twilight Zone media to suggest his reappearance helps Bush: "The OBL tape released the Friday before the elections were widely credited (amongst other excuses) for being a big PUSH for W.... At least one Bush staffer called it "a nice little present" or something like that, you can look it up. Of course the really WEIRD part is how W is given CREDIT for 9/11. Think about that-he openly TAKES CREDIT for 9/11." [LINK] [Read More]
Posted by: Peter Daou -- 1/19/2006 #
COMMENT (6)
Blogging from the Left
CHRIS'S RANTS
White House Declines to Provide Katrina PapersWe have been told all along that no one could have anticipated that
1/25/2006
HUFFINGTON POST (Kristen Breitweiser)
The Bush "Hay"stack of LiesThe Bush Administration has continually used 9/11 as an excuse to break the laws of our great nation. A simple reading of the September 11th story shows that General Michael Hayden and the Bush Administration are, once again, contradicting themselves in their use of 9/11, this time with regard to President Bush's illegal domestic spying program.
1/24/2006
IDDYBUD
EJ Dionne on Dems and Karl RoveE.J. Dionne makes the same point I made last Sunday.
What's so hot about Bush's post 9-11 strategy, anyhow?
1/24/2006
< /DIV> CARPETBAGGER
Just another day in BushvilleTrying to fact check every speech Bush delivers is too daunting a task for a humble blogger — a typical event includes far too much mendacity to bother. But since yesterday's speech was supposed to be the president's latest comprehensive defense of his warrantless-search program, it's probably worth taking a moment to document the more obvious problems.
1/24/2006
PISSED ON POLITICS
Spying and Torture: The New American WayI do not agree with the conservative values of spying and torture. I do not think spying and torturing are American Ideals but conservatives have made it the new American Way. Give Me Liberty of Give Me Death no longer applies thanks to Conservatives. Live Free or Die is no longer an American Value. The sad thing is that Conservatives don't even realize they have killed America.
1/24/2006
JUAN COLE
Top Ten Mistakes of the Bush Administration in Reacting to Al-QaedaThe Bush administration and the American Right generally has refused to acknowledge what we now know. Al-Qaeda is dangerous. All small terrorist groups can do damage. But it is not an epochal threat to the United States or its allies of the sort the Soviet Union was (and that threat was consistently exaggerated, as well).
1/24/2006
DIGBY
Killing Me SoftlyI am watching George W. Bush repeat his patented mantra for the 514,346th time. It's filled with lies, mischaracterizations and simple-minded gibberish, as always, and I'm watching it go out unfiltered, in its entirety, unchallenged by the media, no Democrats in sight, on every cable channel. I think they are personally trying to drive me crazy.
1/23/2006
TENNESSEE GUERILLA WOMEN
Reasons to Oppose AlitoThe Senate Judiciary Committee votes on Alito tomorrow (Filibuster Possible). The latest poll (ARG) puts the Bushie job approval at its lowest point ever, Among all Americans, "36% approve of the way Bush is handling his job as president." Among registered voters, Bushie does better, yeah, one point better - 37%. (via Josh Marshall) The American people have no confidence in Bushie, why on earth would the Senate Judiciary Committee give him a vote of confidence by voting to confirm Alito?
1/23/2006
BAD ATTITUDES
Mild Murmurs of DissentAtrios points us to this WaPo editorial that timidly ponders the limits of presidential power. My guess is that the WaPo editors will soon beat a hasty retreat from even this Milquetoast stance. As the current RNC talking points make clear, posing even the most innocuous questions about Bush's authority or actions makes the questioner an al Qaeda fellow-traveler.
1/23/2006
CROOKS AND LIARS
It contin ues: Buchanan compares Clinton to OsamaThe right wing's attempt to label democrats and war opponents as equal to Osama continues. If anyone believes that this is some dubious connection then you are sadly mistaken. I will continue to monitor this "meme" the Rovian republicans are hoping becomes buried in the subconscious of the American people. Let me know when you hear other talking heads making these statements.
1/23/2006
GLENN GREENWALD
The media's distorted understanding of "neutrality"Karl Rove is peddling transparent falsehoods about the [NSA] scandal because he knows we have a neutered media that will s imply pass them along, at most tepidly and neutrally noting that some Democrats disagree, but never, ever pointing out that the claims are factually false. If things continue as they are, public opinion polls will undoubtedly soon show that a majority believes that Democrats oppose eavesdropping on Al Qaeda and that the NSA scandal-- as numerous dishonest Bush followers keep framing it -- is based on a disagreement about whether we should have to "hang up" when Osama calls.
1/23/2006
PANDAGON (Amanda Marcotte)
Dedicated to the people who support Bush by screaming "9/11"Bush won the squeaker election of 2004 not because of god, guns, or gays, but because he managed to convince a number of piss-their-pants cowards that he was the only thing standing between them and getting nuked by terrorists. Cowards like Lileks, like Andrew Sullivan, like Christopher Hitchens, even like Dennis Miller. People who bought into the fear and gave up thinking and just begged Daddy Bush to make the mean terrorists to go away.
1/23/2006
FIREDOGLAKE
Why is Russert Asking Obama About Harry Belafonte?What the hell is Tim Russert asking Barack Obama to express his opinion about Harry Belafonte for? Russert has had two weeks to ask anybody on his show about it; why does he save this particular question for Obama? What sort of special expertise does Obama have about Harry Belafonte, a private citizen with no connection to the Democratic party, that none of Russert's other guests would have?
1/22/2006
NEEDLENOSE
A "red line," or a goal-line stand?The Los Angeles Times reports today that the Bushites are, at last, openly acknowledging the struggle that's been going on behind the scenes in Iraq for the past year...
1/22/2006
FUZZY AND BLUE
Michael Moore: Hardballs Matthews in the FaceIn response to Chris Matthews vomitous attack on Michael Moore and all people who oppose this questionable war in Iraq, Moore has righteously hardballed Matthews-- right upside his giant vacuous yellow head.
1/22/2006
Blogging from the Right
TOM RANTS
How big a threat is terrorism?The US numbers? [In an average week] less than 4 deaths due to terrorism, 825 deaths in traffic accidents, 26,346 babies lost to abortion. (Going back to and including the Marine barracks bombing in Beirut, total US deaths in terrorist incidents are less than 4,000 in 22 years.)
1/25/2006
CAPTAIN'S QUARTERS
Bush Offered Blair An Out For IraqGeorge Bush offered Tony Blair a pass on participating in the invasion and liberation of Iraq, afraid of the political effect it would have on the British PM's stability, Bush revealed yesterday in a speech at Kansas State University. The London Telegraph reports on Bush's statement for the benefit of British voters ... He has been ridiculed as Bush's "poodle" in the European press. This development might earn him more respect as his own man in terms of policy...
1/24/2006
RED STATE RANT
Exploring the "glory wall"Just what do pictures of President Bush with disgrace lobbyist Jack Abramoff mean? Probably not too much, says John Dickerson.
1/24/2006
WANDERINSTAR
"I don't support our troops"A few posts back I argued that you cannot "support the troops" if you oppose them being there...here is an honest opinion (If glib and c heeky) offerred by Joel Stein in "Warriors And Wusses...I don't support our troops" a 24 jan editorial in the LA Times. [LINK] I suspect that Stein cannot recognize the latent guilt he truly feels as being a beneafctor of "American imperialism and culture" in the year 2006.
1/24/2006
GAY PATRIOT
Another anti-Bush Government Voted OutIt seems that just like their neighbors to the South, even the Canadians don’t pa y much attention to Michael Moore. Despite the last minute desperate appeal from this anti-American propagandist, Canadian voters yesterday rejected the Liberal government of Paul Martin. Those in the Great White North were not swayed by the Liberals’ fear-mongering that a pro-American government would be bad for their nation.
1/24/2006
THE CORNER (John J. Miller)
On Bush, Clinton, and JesusIn his WSJ review of the new book on Bush by Fred Barnes, Tom Bray highlights this fact I hadn't heard before: "Mr. Bush, contrary to media hysteria on the subject, mentions Jesus Christ less often than Bill Clinton did."
1/24/2006
RIGHT WING NEWS
The Most & Least Desired 2008 Republican NomineeRight Wing News emailed more th an 230 right-of-center bloggers and asked them to send us a ranked list 1-5 of the candidates that they would most like to take the Republican nomination for President in 2008 and the 1-5 candidates they'd least like to see as the Republican nominee in 2008. Representatives from the following 58 blogs responded...
1/23/2006
ANDREW SULLIVAN
Fixing FISAThis is certainly the best defense I've yet read of why the 1978 FISA law could do with an overhaul, given the advance of information technology. No doubt Karl Rove is already performing rhetorical calisthenics. What the op-ed doesn't do convincingly, however, is explain why the Bush administration, after 9/11, couldn't have asked Congress to amend the law to make surveillance of al Qaeda more efficient and effective. Ms Toensing's answer: the Dems would engage in "political posturing"...
1/23/2006
SECULAR BLASPHEMY
The candidate called HitlerThe NYT has a profile of one candidate for the Palestinian elections. The candidate's name is Jamal Abu Roub, but everyone here calls him Hitler because, well, that is the name he has answered to quite comfortably since he was a teenager. And, hey, this is one of the "good" guys that we hope will win, running for Fatah, against the people in Hamas who are, presumably, even worse.
1/23/2006
HOLY COAST
Now It's Ford's TurnI've reported a couple of times on the job losses in the auto industry at General Motors, and now it's Ford's turn to bite the bullet: Ford Motor Co., the nation's second-largest automaker, said Monday that it will cut 25,000 to 30,000 jobs and idle 14 facilities by 2012 as part of a restructuring designed to reverse a $1.6 billion loss last year in its North American operations. It's not a good time to have your livelihood depend on the U.S. auto industry.
1/23/2006
ACE OF SPADES HQ
American Meddling in Canadian ElectionsMichael Moore is aghast at the thought that Canadians might actually elect a Conservative government. Oh, Canada -- you're not really going to elect a Conservative majority on Monday, are you? That's a joke, right? I know you have a great sense of humor, and certainly a well-developed sense of irony, but this is no longer funny. Maybe it's a new form of Canadian irony -- reverse irony! OK, now I get it. First, you have the courage to stand against the war in Iraq -- and then you elect a prime minister who's for it. You declare gay people have equal rights -- and then you elect a man who says they don't.
1/23/2006
MAROON BLOG
"Munich" extremists and the Moderate ShiftSteven Spielberg was discuss ing his latest epic work of equivocation and non-postured moral posturing on Sunday when he unleashed on straw man "extremists" who decry his film, demonstrating one of the most frustrating trends in leftist ideology today: the moderate shift. Now, this isn't something new on the left, as Ted Kennedy and the gang of congressional soap-box mongers will tell you.
1/23/2006
PARDON MY ENGLISH
Free Expression Now Includes a "Right" to Public NudityThe folks in Daytona Beach can let it all hang out. Federal Judge John Antoon assured that Spring Break in this college student spring hot spot ought to be even more interesting than normal this year.
1/22/2006
BALLOON JUICE
Last Thoughts on HaleighIn a long post/update on the sad case of Haleigh Poutre, Michelle Malkin laments the fact that no talk-show hosts or big media types have taken up the cause, and then dishonestly singles me out...
1/22/2006
COUNTRY STORE
Iraq "hostage" has some 'splaining to doReport says ransom money found on Osthoff: Part of the ransom money alleged to have been paid by the German government to win the freedom of Iraq hostage Susanne Osthoff last month was found on Osthoff after her release, the German magazine Focus said on Saturday.
No comments:
Post a Comment