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The end result is that most of the media are now unwilling to take a stand for truth or reality. At best, they present both sides even when only one has merit. At worst, they present only the side with no merit at all.
Personally, I think Perlstein lets the media off too easy: All the monetary concerns and ref-working pale in comparison to the political interests of corporate and right-wing ownership. The media use “profitability” as an excuse to gut investigative reporting, and the figleaf of “balance” to obscure naked untruths.
All this reminds me a lot of Barack Obama and the Democratic establishment. They too depend on corporations for their present and future job security, and need to deliver for them without being too obvious about it. So what do they do? They “compromise.”
Even after back-to-back landslides delivered them the White House and huge majorities in both houses of Congress, they refused to take a stand for sound policy or Democratic principles. Instead, they sought common ground with the Republicans no matter how wrong and cruel they might be, inching ever rightward until they achieved a suitably pro-corporate outcome. And now that they have a Republican House and an almost-Republican Senate, that inching is even easier.
The media and the Democrats are playing the same game: Regardless of what truth or good policy may be, compulsively seek out a midpoint (or rather, rightpoint) between that and far-right lunacy and then pretend that the resulting mess somehow serves the public interest.
If Paul Ryan released a new “debt-cutting” plan that let all of America’s poor people starve and eliminated taxes on rich people and corporations, Obama would denounce it at first, but eventually announce a grand bipartisan “compromise”: Let only half the poor starve, and reduce the corporate and upper-income tax brackets to 15% instead of zero. And the media would praise him for his great courage and seriousness.
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Eli!
ELI!
Elliott!
BUZZ!
For Obama, compromise is the art of walking the ball backwards across his own goal line and then spiking it.
The increasing space the GOP is putting between themselves and sanity makes Obama’s day. His pollsters must be telling him that sliding into that space gives him and Democrats cover with ‘Middle-’Mer’ka’.
One wonders when Democrats will be too far to the right for the squishy center – perhaps I should watch the news so I will know when it happens.
Oops.
I have usually found lying the easiest way and most consequence free way out of difficult situations.
I think the location of that “middle” is largely predetermined, but it certainly is a lot easier to sell it if the right is all the way over in Crazy Base Land.
Problem is that there are a large number people on the right that absolutely believe what they is true. I’m sure the Ryan and Rand Paul and Bachmann are convinced they are telling the truth.
Eli, you fall into the same trap. Ryan’s budget increases the deficit, not reduces it.
You’re right, I should have put that in quotes.
Okay, fixed.
Wild video. Spooky.
Yeah, hard to keep track of their garbage vs. Ds garbage.
*heh* “I don’t recall” seems to work great too…!
Aloha, Eli…! Great job…!
It’s a personal favorite. Although not really because of any kind of political symbolism, just because it’s spooky.
As far as rolling back the New Deal goes, I agree. And it is probably not coincidental that the serious Paul Ryan should come along with an egregious overreach to provide the space to make it happen.
That said, Obama has gone a long way towards screwing himself with more than 50% of the electorate by allowing the GOP to run rampant on choice in health care legislation, and I don’t see that one as predetermined. There are other examples.
Aloha, CTut…! Thanks!
That’s the biggest problem with this model, that there are so many policies where Obama panders to the right even when there’s not actually a corporate interest. At least, I don’t *think* corporations feel all that strongly about whether abortions are covered by insurance.
ELI!
But there is quite the symbolism. That surviving dude on that platform should have the number “44.”
Yeppers, used that one too.
Hawaiian Q. In Dreams O claims that tutu is Hawaiian for grandma, which he shortened to ‘toot’. In clicking around the toobz, I quickly came across the wisdom that Hawaiian doesn’t have a t. One site claimed that kuku was the word in Q (for either grandmom or grandpop), but the ks were pronounced like ts. If ks are pronounced like ts, why would the transliteration have ever written it as ks?
Would you care to weigh in on this?
KELLY!
Hahaha. The guys who go over the side should all have long hair…
Oh how I know this to be true! We have a local millage election underway to support public transportation. The local newspaper published a series of questions/issues/statements, and alongside each one, instead of telling us how truthy the point was, gave us a “supporters claim” but “opponents say” list. I have no better idea now than I did before reading the article.
this what we have become,and Katie Couric knows it…
http://my.firedoglake.com/sadlyyes/2011/04/26/hate-beyond-any-and-all-reason/
uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh look over there royal wedding…flowers dresses
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ooolala
did you get your beets Mabee?
as a great guy at one of the town halls in Fla.said today
YOU DONT CARE ABOUT DEFICITS
or ya wouldnt have CUT TAXES!……..duh!!!!!!!!
please read my diary
http://my.firedoglake.com/sadlyyes/2011/04/26/hate-beyond-any-and-all-reason/
i would like to take up a collection ,for a reward to catch this EVIL DOER
NAH…its expedient to their future plans
guess im typing to myself
And smell like weed…
Nice summation of the cause of the end of the republic as we once knew it.
They should probably be holding hands too…
Not yet. But I haven’t checked the mailbox for a couple of days. Usually when there’s a package the mail carrier leaves it on my back porch. I’ll check in the morning.
As someone trained in science (before I switched to economics) I find that disgusting, but prolly typical of what comes out of schoolz these dayz.
Singing what?
I’m going to respond the same way as often as I find such a comment:
Dystopic Acquiescence Hastens the Undesired Result.
Of course you are right, Eli. But at least to me the more disturbing thing is the number of people, aka “voters”, who cannot distinguish even the most blatant lie from the truth. I mean, how does it come to be that Trump can play the birther game and now even maybe O never graduated from school, and his support goes up in the polls? You can go on and on with this sort of example. There is all the shit going on by these rethug governors, .. We must all be brain dead. In the end I fear we will all get what we richly deserve – - fucked over and left to die.
Saw a headline recently that smelling like weed was NOT probable cause for a search.
Found that highly amusing.
I my ski days, smelling like weed on the lift was plenty of cause for the sheriff to go after ‘perp.’
Heh.
I have to let Belch and Ms. Dani respond to the contemporary ski lift thing these days up in Summit, but my instinct with all the dreadlock lift operators I see up there is “Dude!”
Thanks, that’s a perfect description of our mainstream media.
Yer showing yer years eCHAN…./s
But hey me too after all I was at Woodstock in 69… ☺ ☺
The real question is something like is there anyone out there who really cares or would believe the truth if they heard it? People hear soundbytes, the bites the big shots want them to hear and that is what they react to. If it is the truth, great, but often as not it is another lie. Balance you know.
My anecdote comes from talking with the Alta UT sheriff in the Rustler bar. It was prolly a decade ago, and I asked him what a sheriff in a town of 330 peeps did. Ski thefts came at the top of the list, and I responded in surprise bc I never locked my skis at lunch and wasn’t aware that it was a problem. Next topic was weed. After sheriff gave me his report, I switched the topic to something more neutral. (I don’t do mj as I have frequently typed, but have no problems with those who do and the sheriff was a nice young guy so saw no reason to piss him off.)
There were also a brutal murder(s) he told me about, which really surprised the daylights out of me. I can’t remember whether they were domestic violence, or theft, or any of the details anymore, but was still surprised that such as small, high income, self-selective community would have even one such brutal crime.
Bought a new Karmann Ghia convertible in ’69 — sunburst orange, no less.
My years are one of my few remaining claims to fame…
OMG!
Matt Taibbi recently chatted with Boner. The vitriole this creep has against so many Americans is sheer treason. He despises anyone out of work and thinks college students are useless.
Something tells me Boner’s gonna regret he let fly!
The full interview is in June’s Rolling Stone but here’s a few rants.
Enjoy.
http://www.redesign.rumormiller.com/story.php?title=boehner-the-poor-and-lazy-caused-current-crisis-1
Nah. Just campaign talk for his base. If it gets too hot, then he was misquoted to you didn’t understand and most everyone will buy it.
where is it??
When serving in Germany I owned a 51 Porsche not really fast but cornering was phenomenal, loved to pass the BMW 2000′s in the corners such fun….sigh..
Unfortunately, I sold it pay for grad school.
LOL
Some of it will be pretty tough to walk back.
He thought he was talking off the record.
Whoopsie.
Good I would dearly love to see him tagged out like some of the other assholes I could name. but then we all know who they are.
Grover Norquist – the fellow pulling the strings on the deficit debate – has been behind the GWBush wars with no new funding plus more defense spending approach to deficit reduction – the wars balloon the deficit causing an outcry – and he has the idea being they he can deal with reductions to defense AFTER he has killed social programs that are in his mind things that control too much of our lives – killed them in the name of deficit reduction.
That is why the Obama and Ryan deficit plans barely touch defense – they are not serious about deficit reduction – it is only a game to kill social programs. Indeed that is why Grover has 41 Senators on a signed pledge (and 236 House members on the same pledge) to never raise taxes, either by raising rates or by changing law, with loophole closing defined as a revenue increase that they pledge to be against.
Our leader Obama has no plan to stop this because he is all about image – and he sees 2012 as the year of the deficit plan image – not the year of the defender of Democratic Party principles.
2008 was the only year Obama showed any interest in Democratic Party principles.
Who is Grover’s boss? Limbaugh or Koch?
sigh – true, very true
Taibbi: “With mounting unemployment what do you think is the possibility that we’ll see an Egyptian style uprising of the youth? Should we be worried?”
Boehner: “It’s not going to happen in the US. The kids here are too fat, too lazy, to addicted to TV, fast food, cheap credit, and facebook. I have news for you- there are plenty of jobs out there- the unemployed don’t want them. Today’s college student feels entitled to make at least $24 right after college. When they find out they can collect unemployment they would rather do that. You know the average college educated unemployed person is collecting $60k a year? The CATO institute did a study- and I mean, you and me we’re hard workers we could just sit around and live, but these kids today- that’s all they’ve been doing their entire lives. I’m not worried for this country- there are a few of them who actually want to work, take Mark Zucker(sic). You don’t build a site like facebook out of thin air- it takes talent and hard work. I went to a community college and all I saw were people sitting in front of computers typing away, their eyes were fixed. Probably just facebooking away.”
The funniest thing is Boner’s comments are so insulting and outrageous,
several people totally refuted the authenticity of Boner’s statements.
They have no idea who these people really are.
LOL!!!
Dreamz…
Quite an amazing reread.
I didn’t regard a word of it sincere the first time I read it, but on rereading, makes me puke.
“If Republicans really believed that sort of thing, why, they’d be monsters!”
I don’t want to spark a war here but I am not certain of that. At least I hope it is not true. He is sitting on top of a volcano of discontent even in his own base. And that base is not all liberals. O himself,as you note, is really not a liberal. He is, and always has been, more centrist. He is playing to the deficit hawks but I don’t think he has yet taken definitive and deleterious action against social programs. I do fear that he will compromise with himself and give up something he should not. I will never be completely satisfied with him but I cannot bear the thought of one of those other assholes in the WH and what they will do there as these rethug governors have done.
Eh, he was just thinking out loud.
My favorite is, the reason someone isn’t in college is because their parents were lazy. A ditch digging clan.
Another Boner for sure.
Too fat and too lazy…. fuck you Boner.
The CATO Institute – - isn’t that an intellectual organization just going after the facts ? They wouldn’t lie would they? My goodness who you gonna trust.
Link?
As I see the polls, discontent among D voters is mild.
And since Rs are becoming more extreme, seems highly likely O will easily coast to victory in 2012.
Grover lives about 5 miles down the road from me in a much much “better” part of the Boston area called Weston.
His father served as vice president of Polaroid, growing very wealthy, but living in a “medium rich” home (IMO) where Grover and his mother still live. In business Grover was allowed to co-found the Merritt Group, later renamed Janus-Merritt Strategies, so he does not lack for money or for a legal way to get money from corporations.
Out of College (Harvard University BA and MBA) he was executive director of both the National Taxpayers Union and the national College Republicans organization, and in 1983 took the position of Economist and Chief Speechwriter at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. A Reagan favorite, he worked with a support network for Col. Oliver North’s illegal efforts with the Nicaraguan Contras and other insurgencies, while promoting U.S. support for Mozambique’s RENAMO and Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA in Angola. Grover is currently a member of the board of directors of the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, and indeed is the face of the GOP outreach to ethnic groups, minority groups, and indeed those segments that do not vote GOP as much as he wishes (Advisory Council of GOProud, co-founder of the Islamic Free Market Institute, etc).
Currently he controls the GOP as president of taxpayer advocacy group Americans for Tax Reform, while also running the famed “Wednesday Meetings” in DC.
Well his approval is under 50% and he is facing a group of no nothing contenders. You really think folks are happy with this guy? Are you?
Maybe it’s just because of my journalistic background (including having worked as a copy editor), but I wish OP’s would proofread their copy before they post their stuff. It doesn’t detract from the merit of the arguments made (which here, as usually, I think are quite good), but it’s distracting and irritating, and it happens here a lot — well, intermittently, at any case.
Here:
“landslides delivered them the White House an huge majorities” should be “AND huge majorities.”
“The media and the Democrat are playing the same game” should be “and the DEMOCRATS”
Alright, back to a discussion of substance.
Crap, my apologies. I think I’m usually pretty clean, but I probably tinkered too much on this one. Fixed now.
Yes, that’s what he said.
It’s a short piece. You have got to read it.
I would bet there are quite a few Dems who
are closer to his way of thinking than ours.
Lives with his mom? Never married?
For some insight into Obama’s penchant for balancing and compromising, I recommend this article from the New York Times Magazine, published April 20, 2011, titled “Obama’s Young Mother Abroad” by Janny Scott.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/24/magazine/mag-24Obama-t.html?_r=1
BTW: You’re tragically spot on, Eli.
Nice bio on Grover. I’m sorry if I mislead you, I know who this asshole is or at least something about him though not in the detail you provided. I was really curious if he had any direct connection to Koch.
Spot on. They say the most ridiculous things and then feign outrage when somebody has the temerity to call them liars.
ELI!
Good to see you.
MARGARET!
Good to see you too, as always.
I think you are right that there are a lot of dems who think the same way especially the blue collar dems. Those people sort of jump around from left to right. I don’t mean to talk down the working man,as I was a union worker for a lot of years but I know how lots of them think.
Bluedot, Progressives don’t need Obama to be a liberal, we NEEDED him to be a Democrat! Eli, strong post, thx.
Thanks! Well, liberal would have been nice, but I might have settled for Democrat. Compromise!
Liberal? That won’t ever happen. I hope he just does not give away the store.
CATO’s study of 60K in unemployment bennies for college kids is mighty impressive.
Sheesh. What an asshole Boner.
Even he knows better than that.
May I steal that, Mr. Canfield?
Right. The Blue Rats are the party Dems I had in mind as well.
I actually think the blue collar tendencies towards blind self destruction is based on their racism (people of color are all freeloaders) or the irrationality of religious beliefs over self preservation.
I dont get it.
The Tea Party dragged the republicans to the right. someone has to drag O and the dems to the left. Some of the stuff in Madison and what is happening in other states helped in that regard. Maybe the Ryan budget will inadvertenly help bring out more support for the left. The support has to be visible to be effective.
All yours!
FWIW, Taibbi says on his Rolling Stone page that he did not interview Boner.
Thank you. :-)
Really? Hahaha!
Well, it’s so Boner like, I fell for it.
Only caveat – you can’t use it on eCAHN. I already have, and we’ve settled on agree to disagree as regards her forecasts.
Every couple hundred comments I still may throw it, :) but that’s the only limitation.
One last thought before I go. The media recycles lies and the thugs lie all the time. Shit they will tell you up is down. The only way to change it is to get in their faces. When they have a town hall, you gotta go and call out the lies so people can hear it. I mean they gotta hear a bronx cheer now and again.
Apologies to all. I got totally riled over a hoax.
Especially to you bluedot.
It was so life like though, wasn’t it?
And thank you, STTPinOhio.
But I won’t deny it was fun while it lasted.
Why shouldn’t they? There’s no downside for them. So-called liberals are so piss-in-their-pants afraid of the Sarah Palin that they’ll vote for any D, no matter how bad.
Stop voting for Dems.
Oh alright then. ;-)
But since it’s really yours I’ll leave this for you … a stone washed silk screened T with an interesting word cloud on the front from which the phrase stands out (versus a more cheery calligraphic form).
Hey look Maw:
Someone at Fox likes Obama now.
http://www.businessinsider.com/shep-smith-trump-birthers-video-2011-4
And Geithner and Obama look really really cozy.
http://www.businessinsider.com/debt-ceiling-negotiations-is-an-extension-in-the-works-2011-4
http://open.salon.com/blog/stuartbramhall/2011/01/29/the_imf_protection_racket
(for you now?)
I’m in a library.
Is this internet kill switch time?
You do have to wonder how long they can play this game. We have reached the point where polls say 70-80 percent of Americans are against privatizing Medicare and in favor of taxing the rich.
That means even self-identified Republicans think Washington has gone too far right.
And then the Obamabots would say “What’s the matter, Firebaggers? Didn’t get your pony? We’re so sick of your poutrage after Barack doesn’t live up to your childish expectations of scoring points for our side! At least the result was only two points for the Republicans instead of seven!”