Yet more documentation of the symbiotic relationship between the Republican Party and our legacy media, from a RNC recent press conference featuring Michael Steele’s less-than-totally justified gloating over, among other things, losing a longtime New York congressional seat to a Democratic candidate:
Cheeky RNC officials asked the reporters to wear stickers identifying them as RNC “contractors.”
Well, we knew that all along, didn’t we, Mr. Steele?
– Jonathan Martin, writing for The Politico, has a lengthy history of activism with the Republican Party in Virginia and Connecticut.
– The Politico itself is a Republican-run outfit whose de facto news editor and story selector is apparently that famous transmitter of GOP talking points, Matt Drudge.
– The Associated Press’ Washington bureau chief is Ron Fournier, who’s not only a good buddy of Bush advisor Karl Rove, but very nearly became John McCain’s official press secretary for McCain’s 2008 presidential campaign. (To judge from his articles, he apparently settled for being McCain’s unofficial press secretary.)
– And of course there’s Republican activist and paid male, um, escort James “Jeff Gannon” Guckert, whose two-year presence as “Talon News correspondent” in the Bush White House’s press corps didn’t cause the Villagers any heartburn, an amusing thing to remember in light of the attacks launched by the Villagers at Obama for giving reality-based bloggers like TPM a place at the press corps’ table.
Oh, and by the way — Remember how FOX claimed that Obama’s calling them out caused their ratings to spike upwards, and how the rest of the traditional media parroted this unquestioningly, leading to “Obama screwed up by attacking FOX” stories? Guess what: They were lying.
No matter how many times reporters and pundits made the claim, a detailed analysis of Nielsen ratings numbers clearly indicates that in the two weeks after the White House in mid-October sparked a media controversy by claiming Rupert Murdoch’s channel was not a legitimate news organization, Fox News’ ratings did not soar or go “through the roof.” In fact, not only did Fox News’ overall ratings not soar, they experienced no significant increase at all. Instead, in the two weeks following the initial verbal jousts with the White House, Fox News’ total day ratings virtually flatlined.
Think about it. The unfolding controversy, which gobbled up untold hours and pages of news coverage as the Beltway press treated the dispute like a major news event (even though news consumers couldn’t care less), and the hubbub barely moved the ratings needle one inch in Fox News’ favor.
Another example of the Beltway press not letting the facts get in the way of a good story? It sure looks that way. In this case, we saw nearly universal agreement among media elites that the White House decision to publicly call out Fox News was monumentally dumb, thin-skinned, short-sighted, and uncivil.
(Paging the etiquette police!)
But of course, the folks I refer to as the GOP/Media Complex aren’t going to let the truth interfere with their escalating their attacks on Obama. Can’t let a Democrat think he’s got the same rights as a Republican, you know!
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Steele is nothing but a clown.
Isn’t he, though? How is it that he hasn’t embarrased them to death?
So is Laura Ingraham, and “mean” in her own words. I mention her b/c she is the only one I ever hear, occ.in my car….but nuts & mean. And gets nuts and mean to fill in for her.
And if Milbank were the reporter he claims to be, he would have identified those “Cheeky RNC officials” by name.
Reporter FAIL.
Pretty tough to embarrass a sociopathic party with no sense of healthy shame. They are single minded androids bent on achieving their objectives by any means, legal or not.
Mean is just not a becoming quality is it? And, it seems many of those R women voices are just that. Bachman, Fox, Coulter…I guess I could go on and on. Thinking about your comment the other day about how some of these gals have taken the feminist movement back to the stone age. Maybe there is some internal dissonance for them. Now, that’s a diary.
Bob Woodward is one of the greatest slimy neo-con liars. His pro-oil-war propaganda exactly repeated what the Bushies wanted. Woodward defended war, torture, false flag ops, and assassinations, with the same script as John Yoo. He made the DC Villagers proud of their best phony journalist.
Is PW here? Quick, someone put a cup of coffee under her nose.
We could all stand outside her bedroom and sing Good Morning To You.
that should lure her in right quick!
Yeah, I guess a person would have to have a sense of self-consciousness to be embarrased. Some days it actually feels good to be a Democrat.
agreed.
Good Morning, Ellie. Gosh, it’s a gorgeous morning here in LA, CA. Blue skys with little wisps of white clouds. Just enough chill in the air to know it’s fall.
How’s by you?
it’s freezing!, even with a kitteh foot warmer
How is your alluvial fan? Can you make a withdrawal, or does it only accept deposits?
I don’t do freezing. Whenever foothillsmike and some of you others talk about the cold and snow, I just can’t imagine how you do it. But, I’ve only known Socal, so, I guess that’s why.
My gosh, you’ve got a good memory! It’s just fine. Getting a faint layer of greenerish now.
It’s fine and I love it. I can’t imagine living on a flat plain, but I’m sure that’s got it’s beauty too. I like looking up at the rocks and mountains. There’s something very comforting to me.
I noted this in the Late Night thread but it is probably more pertinent in this context. I always promise myself that I won’t watch the Villagers on Washington Week but usually do anyway until disgust forces me to change the channel. Last night Gwen and the gang ran a clip of John Boehner addressing teabaggers followed by a clip of Nancy Pelosi at a press conference, then the panel discussed them as if they were equally valid sides of the debate…
As if!? Like calling Weber’s bread.
All quiet in The City Beautiful today.
I was just thinking today about what as ass wipe Steele is.
I’ve known both.
Cold and snow blow.
My daughter was born and raised here, but moved to DC. She doesn’t seem to have a problem with the change. But, she’s young and adaptable. *g*
Funny, I was impressed by Steele’s concern over the Dems having 60 votes in the Senate and Still not being able to pass a health care reform bill. Really choked him up.
at http://seminal.firedoglake.com/diary/13037
Brrrr; we talked about the cold in the foothills earlier. Don’t think I’m ready. But am going from the 80’s here to D.C. and 50’s Monday. Having to think about sweaters and stuff.
I hit a snow drift and landed in the ditch one night when the wind chill here was 70 below zero.
Peterr’s upstairs
Fine For Me But Not For Thee
Same here and totally agree.
excellent post. However you could have gone farther, named some names. The US MSM are sucking the corporate teat, their claims to truth have long gone. I get my news from non american sources. China has some fairly accurate news on US, as does Japan and Korea. The BBC is quite liberal, which makes it a pretty good match to the US MSM, no.
Indeed.
Ah, but even the Beeb is problematic lately. I prefer the Grauniad, meself.