A Liberal's Hit List: Oct 19, 2009

Al ritmo de salsa, bachata y bamba en la Casa Blanca

Monday, October 19, 2009

Para Luis Miranda

The White House

Cercano al fin del Mes de la Herencia Hispana, el Presidente Barack Obama y la Primera Dama Michelle Obama recibieron a varias figuras de la música y el entretenimiento latino así como más de 380 invitados entre ellos miembros del Congreso y líderes comunitarios de todo el país para celebrar la música latina, el pasado martes en la noche. La Fiesta Latina en la Casa Blanca fue parte de una serie de eventos musicales que se realizan desde el 1978 y la cual incluyó a principios de este año eventos de la música Country y Jazz, pero este sería el primero en enfocarse en la música latina y la herencia hispana.

"Buenas noches y bienvenidos a la Casa Blanca", saludó el Presidente. Luego comenzó reconociendo la presencia de los artistas e invitados especiales de la noche. Una de las personas presentes fue la nueva jueza de la Corte Suprema Sonia Sotomayor quién recibió una ovación de pie por parte del público luego de ser reconocida por el Presidente.

La fiesta dio inicio con la música de Gloria Estefan junto a José Feliciano y Sheila E. en los timbales. La Primera Familia y personas presentes también tuvieron la oportunidad de disfrutar de la música de Marc Anthony, la estrella internacional mexicana Thalia, el reggeatonero Tito el Bambino, el grupo de bachata más famoso del momento Aventura, la leyenda de los timbales Pete Escovedo y el grupo Los Lobos quienes pusieron a todos a bailar La Bamba. Los presentadores del evento fueron Eva Longoria, Jimmy Smits y George López quién le recordó a la audiencia "este es un buen momento en los Estados Unidos. Estamos en el mejor país del mundo".

La cantante Gloria Estefan culminó la celebración cantando "Mi Tierra" acompañada de los demás cantantes, músicos, presentadores y la misma familia Obama en el escenario. Un fondo espectacular, el pórtico sur de la Casa Blanca y a esto añadimos el sentimiento eufórico de las personas presentes. En un momento se escuchó a uno de los invitados comentar que la noche entera fue como un sueño. Así fue. Si se perdió la transmisión en vivo de www.WhiteHouse.gov, a continuación ponemos a su disposición el video de PBS.

También puede hacer clic aquí para ver la galería de fotos. ¡Que las disfrute!

Is Harry Reid Strong Enough?

GOP Launches Strategy to Trip Up Health Bill

By David M. Drucker

Roll Call

Senate Republicans, acknowledging they lack the votes to block a health care reform bill outright, have implemented a comprehensive political strategy to delay, define and derail.

With Democratic leaders and White House officials holed up in Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s (D-Nev.) office negotiating a final bill, Republicans are demanding a deceleration of the process and moving to define whatever plan that emerges as a combination of Medicare cuts, tax increases, higher insurance premiums and rising overall costs.

“Where they’re headed is inconsistent with the American people, so I’m not sure it’s as much about us as it is about making sure that the American people express their deep concerns over this,” Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) said last week. “Certainly they’ve got the votes, but they’re going to have to hold every one of them in the United States Senate to make it through this.”

Senate Democrats are rejecting Republicans’ demands to slow things down, charging that the GOP isn’t interested in working with the majority to craft a bipartisan health care bill. Rather, Reid said repeatedly last week, the Republicans’ primary goal is to sink reform in order to undercut President Barack Obama.

Negotiations on a final Senate bill are set to resume today with Reid, Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.), Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) and senior White House officials. Republicans have not been invited to participate in the talks, although Reid said Thursday that he has reached out to a few GOP Senators and is likely to consult moderate Sen. Olympia Snowe (Maine). Snowe was the lone Republican last week to support the Senate Finance Committee’s version of a health care overhaul....(Remainder.)

Following the Oxy-Moron, Right-Wing Hate Media Push Baseless Charge that Obama Administration Helped Kill His Rams Bid

By Media Matters

Following Rush Limbaugh's failed bid to purchase the St. Louis Rams football team, the right-wing media have echoed Limbaugh's baseless claim that the Obama administration was involved in torpedoing his NFL ambitions. Limbaugh has claimed that the Obama administration "corrupted" the NFL bidding process because the head of the NFL Players Association, DeMaurice Smith, once served as counsel for Attorney General Eric Holder.

Limbaugh's conspiracy theory: Obama "corrupted" NFL new-owner bidding process

Limbaugh: "Obama people have got their hooks in the NFL now." Limbaugh claimed that "[t]he NFL is as politicized as anything else is in this country, and for lack of a better word, when DeMaurice Smith, and Al Sharpton, and Rev. Jackson can pressure the commissioner into saying who can and cannot even apply and go through the vetting process, then they've got their own slippery slope and they're admitting that politics is here. And DeMaurice Smith is an Obama-ite. The transition team. A big donor. Close buddy of Eric Holder. So Obama, the Obama people have got their hooks in the NFL now." [Premiere Radio Networks' The Rush Limbaugh Show, 10/16/09]

Limbaugh: Obama "corrupted" November elections, Nobel Peace Prize, NFL bidding process. Limbaugh declared that in "each of these instances, Obama's success begins and ends with corrupting the voting process. And not just the November elections. I'll mention me first, the process where bids are taken for NFL owners to vote on new owners. The vote process has been totally corrupted." [Rush Limbaugh Show, 10/16/09]...(Remainder.)

Following Criticism of Being an "Arm" of the GOP, Fox News Aired No Live Coverage of Oct. 17 Media "Malpractice" Tea Party

By Media Matters

Following White House communications director Anita Dunn's recent critique of Fox News serving as an "arm" of the Republican Party, Fox News did not devote any live coverage to what it had previously referred to as the October 17 "tea part[y]" protests by Operation: Can You Hear Us Now?, an organization that planned "to show the MSM [mainstream media] that we as the American Public are absolutely fed up with their journalistic malpractice." By contrast, Fox News devoted significant promotion and live coverage of the April 15 tax day tea party and the September 12 "March on Washington."

On October 17, Fox News aired no live coverage of media protests

Operation: Can You Hear Us Now? organized October 17 protests against "journalistic malpractice." According to the Frequently Asked Questions page of the Operation: Can You Hear Us Now? website, the protests were a "nationwide event meant to show the MSM that we as the American Public are absolutely fed up with their journalistic malpractice."

Fox News did not cover "Tea Parties Marching on Media Outlets" live on October 17. According to a Media Matters for America review of Fox News' programming on October 17, the network did not report live on the media protests that day. While Fox News devoted no on-air coverage to the protests that day, FoxNews.com ran an October 17 article headlined, "Tea Partiers Take Aim at Major Media Outlets." The article stated that the "[t]he 'tea party' movement is back" and reported that "[t]he 'Can You Hear Us Now' rallies are planned for Saturday in front of NBC studios in Burbank, CNN in Atlanta and affiliate stations of NBC, ABC and CBS across the nation."...(Remainder.)

Glenn Beck Idolizes Adolph Hitler

By Mark

News Corpse

Tonight, more truth. More truth that I, quite frankly, am shocked by. I’m going to show you a quote here in just a few minutes, something that will melt your brain. If you’re a regular reader of this web site, you are going to say, “You got to be kidding me!”

There is information that you’re just not going to see anyplace else. I have to first give you a little bit of history, because the context is so important. So, if you just bear with me for a few minutes, I have to tell you a story.

I don’t want to believe that these things are true. I would love to be wrong. I love my country. I think you do, too. I don’t care if you’re Republican or Democrat. It’s not about party. It’s about our country. What I am telling you now is that there are Marxist revolutionaries who have dedicated themselves to principles that will destroy our nation as we know it! Now, that is a heavy charge, granted. That’s why I put the phone there.

That phone is directly to Glenn Beck. He is the one that Rupert Murdoch has put in charge to lead the campaign against Barack Obama and this web site.

Call me, Glenn. Call me! I’m begging you — call me, correct me. Tell me what I post here is not true. It would help me sleep at night. It would.

…..I haven’t received any phone calls…..(Remainder.)

The Banks Are Not Alright

By Paul Krugman

The New York Times

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. O.K., maybe not literally the worst, but definitely bad. And the contrast between the immense good fortune of a few and the continuing suffering of all too many boded ill for the future.

I’m talking, of course, about the state of the banks.

The lucky few garnered most of the headlines, as many reacted with fury to the spectacle of Goldman Sachs making record profits and paying huge bonuses even as the rest of America, the victim of a slump made on Wall Street, continues to bleed jobs.

But it’s not a simple case of flourishing banks versus ailing workers: banks that are actually in the business of lending, as opposed to trading, are still in trouble. Most notably, Citigroup and Bank of America, which silenced talk of nationalization earlier this year by claiming that they had returned to profitability, are now — you guessed it — back to reporting losses.

Ask the people at Goldman, and they’ll tell you that it’s nobody’s business but their own how much they earn. But as one critic recently put it: “There is no financial institution that exists today that is not the direct or indirect beneficiary of trillions of dollars of taxpayer support for the financial system.” Indeed: Goldman has made a lot of money in its trading operations, but it was only able to stay in that game thanks to policies that put vast amounts of public money at risk, from the bailout of A.I.G. to the guarantees extended to many of Goldman’s bonds....(Remainder.)

A Reality Check from the Brink of Extinction

By Chris Hedges

Truthdig

Photo: John McConnico (AP)

We can join Bill McKibben on Oct. 24 in nationwide protests over rising carbon emissions. We can cut our consumption of fossil fuels. We can use less water. We can banish plastic bags. We can install compact fluorescent light bulbs. We can compost in our backyard. But unless we dismantle the corporate state, all those actions will be just as ineffective as the Ghost Dance shirts donned by native American warriors to protect themselves from the bullets of white soldiers at Wounded Knee.

“If we all wait for the great, glorious revolution there won’t be anything left,” author and environmental activist Derrick Jensen told me when I interviewed him in a phone call to his home in California. “If all we do is reform work, this culture will grind away. This work is necessary, but not sufficient. We need to use whatever means are necessary to stop this culture from killing the planet. We need to target and take down the industrial infrastructure that is systematically dismembering the planet. Industrial civilization is functionally incompatible with life on the planet, and is murdering the planet. We need to do whatever is necessary to stop this.”

The oil and natural gas industry, the coal industry, arms and weapons manufacturers, industrial farms, deforestation industries, the automotive industry and chemical plants will not willingly accept their own extinction. They are indifferent to the looming human catastrophe. We will not significantly reduce carbon emissions by drying our laundry in the backyard and naively trusting the power elite. The corporations will continue to cannibalize the planet for the sake of money. They must be halted by organized and militant forms of resistance. The crisis of global heating is a social problem. It requires a social response....(Remainder.)

President Obama Weekly Address: Taking the Insurance Companies on Down the Stretch

AMERICAblog's John Aravosis Talks About Fox Being a Political Propaganda Machines, NOT News

David Axelrod: Fox News "Really Not News"

Raving Right-Wing Fucknut, Kristol, Defends the Pig-Man & is Thankful That Workforce Isn't Unionized

Sen. Arlen Specter Slams GOP as a Party of Obstuctionists

By David

Crooks and Liars

Sen. Arlen Specter told Fox News' Chris Wallace that the Republican Party was the party of "no, no, no" when it comes to passing meaningful health care reform. While Specter believes the public option is "gaining momentum" within the Democratic Party, the GOP is the "party of obstructionism," said Specter.

UPDATE: Joe Sestak and Ned Lamont will be on C&L live chatting with us tomorrow, Monday Oct. 19th at 3pm PST/6pm EST so don't miss it.

Fox Talking Monkey, Jon Scott, Caught Repeatedly Uses GOP Talking Points As His Facts

Cheney's Demon Spawn Has New Hate America Organization, and She's Attacking MSNBC

By Heather

Crooks and Liars

This one had me chuckling. After all of the air time Liz Cheney has been given on Morning Joe and some of the other MSNBC daytime programs, her new group, the ironically named "Keep America Safe" is running an ad saying that Chris Matthews, Ed Schultz and Keith Olbermann are afraid to debate her.

From The Plum Line-New Ad From Liz Cheney’s Group Bashes Olbermann, Matthews As “Afraid” To Debate Her:

The implication being, of course, that the MSNBC gang is running scared from Ms. Cheney. If memory serves, though, Ms. Cheney has repeatedly been granted a platform on … MSNBC, again and again and again, to defend her pop’s legacy and champion policies that don’t even exist anymore.

Looking forward to the lily-livered liberal network crew’s response to this one. Maybe they’ll invite her on again a bunch more times to discuss her contempt for them.

And from Benen:

Earlier this year, Liz Cheney spent so much time on the cable news networks, I think she had her mail forwarded to the green rooms on N. Capitol. At one point, the "liberal media" had the former State Department official on 22 times in 24 days. Not only were many of these appearances on MSNBC, but when people like me started complaining about the news networks turning Cheney into a right-wing celebrity, Liz Cheney's biggest defender was ... MSNBC.

And now Cheney wants to turn the network into a punching bag?

Also, I couldn't help but notice that Liz Cheney's ad targets Olbermann, Matthews, and Schultz, but seems to have left out one high-profile MSNBC host: Rachel Maddow.

Indeed, Rachel has invited Liz Cheney onto her show many, many times, and yet, Cheney has declined every opportunity.

To borrow a phrase, why doesn't Liz Cheney want to talk substance? Why doesn't she want to debate the issues?

Dylan Ratigan: Goldman Sachs Magic Trick

By Heather

Crooks and Liars

From MSNBC's Morning Meeting Oct. 16, 2009. Dylan Ratigan explains how Goldman Sachs managed to make $3 billion in three months investing our tax dollars sent to keep them afloat with no strings attached.

For more you can read his entry at the Huffington Post Goldman Sachs' Black Magic, Here's How They Did It:

Goldman at the apex of the crisis is delivered this money -- which they then use to borrow against at $20 or $30 for every $1. Which at 30x equals $2.1 trillion in available capital.

As one of the only banks in the world with money at the time, Goldman Sachs was able to buy billions in distressed assets around the world at record low prices -- only to watch $23.7 trillion in US taxpayer money be deployed during the past year to re-inflate the asset's values that Goldman had purchased with our tax money.

The question is not why did we bail out the banks.

The question is why did we give the banks billions of our money so they could then buy assets by the trillions with our money and they keep the profits?

The answer is Henry Paulson, former Goldman Sachs CEO who ran the US Treasury, and Tim Geithner, current Treasury Secretary who at the time ran the New York Federal Reserve, willingly delivered Goldman Sachs the $70 Billion -- with no strings attached.

Pathetic & Disgusting Excuse for US Senator, Jon Kyl, Doubts People Are Dying from Lack of Health Care

By John Amato

Crooks and Liars

It looks like David Gregory is reading C&L and many other blogs because I've been saying that for the cost of the wars, America would have health care bought and paid for. David Gregory finally asked a Republican the same question. This clip also shows that republicans are living in a land far, far from reality if they actually go on TV and say Americans aren't dying because they have no health care.

David writes: Sen. Jon Kyl (R-AZ) told NBC's David Gregory that the war in Afghanistan is a "necessity" but health care reform is not as important.

"And is it a necessity to tackle the fact that there are more and more Americans who die because they don't have access to health insurance?" asked Gregory.

Kyl disagreed with the premise of the question. "I'm not sure that it's a fact that more and more people die because they don't have health insurance. But because they don't have health insurance, the care is not delivered in the best and most efficient way," said Kyl.

Talking Points Memo notes that it is indeed a fact that Americans die from a lack of health insurance.

I imagine Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL) -- of "Republicans want you to die quickly" fame -- might have a field day with this one.

And for the record, a highly-publicized Harvard study released last month said that 45,000 deaths are linked to lack of health insurance coverage each year -- and that uninsured, working-age Americans have a 40 percent higher death risk than their privately-insured counterparts.

Fox and Friends “Heart” Rush

By Notveryhow

News Hounds

I learned 2 things this week. It is inadvisable to bake cookies while watching Fox & Friends (may the gods of Snickerdoodle forgive me), and the couch loves them some Rush. For several mornings, they have been mounting a wedge defense to carry Limbaugh towards the goal.

We’ve all heard of the controversy surrounding Rush Limbaugh’s now-failed bid to participate in an investor group’s purchase of the St Louis Rams. But we learned from Fox & Friends last week (10/15/09) just who is behind this nefarious plot to stifle sports-lover Rush’s bid to participate.

Now one might think that the NFL players union and the 7 NFL players who stated unequivocally that they will not play on a team owned by Limbaugh were angered by his remarks about Donavan McNabb. “I think the media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well. They’re interested in black coaches and black quarterbacks doing well. I think there’s a little hope invested in McNabb and he got a lot of credit for the performance of his team that he really didn’t deserve.”

You’d think that might be enough for the players to mount a full court press. But did you know, according to Fox, that the NFL players union Executive Director DeMaurice Smith donated $3300 to the Obama campaign? (This talking point was deemed so important that Fox Nation made it a top headline on their website.)

Now you’d think that the NFL owners' sensitivity to their players' concern, and their threatened refusal to play for a particular owner would be enough for the league to give Limbaugh a “red card.” But you’d be wrong, at least according to Fox & Friends (and elsewhere on Fox News). The real culprits are a couple of black boogeymen who seem to have conned and cajoled the NFL players into speaking out. Who are these powerful specters?

According to Brian Kilmeade, “Then we learn about the backlash. People like Jesse Jackson, the Rev Al Sharpton coming out and saying this can’t happen, because of some comments that they deem to be racially insensitive.”

Comments from Limbaugh like this perhaps: "We are being told that we have to hope [Obama] succeeds, that we have to bend over, grab the ankles ... because his father was black."...(Remainder.)

ABC Roundtable: "Is Obama Tough Enough?" (Video)

The Secret Democratic Healthcare Filibuster

By Brent Budowsky

The Smirking Chimp

The Democrats need 60 votes to end filibusters. The Democrats control 60 Senate seats. Democratic leaders do not yet have 60 votes to end filibusters on healthcare and other issues.

Sherlock Holmes to Watson: If they need 60 votes, and they control 60 seats, why don’t they have 60 votes? The answer, my dear Watson, is that there is secret Democratic support for the filibuster, from one or more Democratic senators who are not being publicly identified but who are being used to try to defeat the strongest healthcare reform.

I have no sympathy for the Party of No, the Republicans who use obstructionist tactics to protect the status quo and destroy the hope for change. But I have no more sympathy for any Senate Democrats, who are small in number but destructive in impact, who join the Party of No in obstruction, with nobody knowing.

The Senate has become dysfunctional. We have reached the point where a minority can obstruct virtually anything in the Senate, and usually does. Even worse, we have reached the point where certain senators don’t even have to acknowledge their obstruction; they filibuster in secret by whispering in the ears of Senate leaders, without their constituents or the nation being informed.

The public option is supported by a majority of the House, a majority of the Senate, supposedly the president and huge majorities of the people that in most polls reach 65 percent....(Remainder.)

Racist Email Doc Resurfaces as Expert on Glenn Beck

By Josh Marshall

Talking Points Memo

Back in July we brought you the story of Dr. David McKalip, the Tea Party movement anti-anti-reform activist who was caught circulating a racist email with a photo of loincloth wearing President Obama in the guise of a witch-doctor.

After we publicized the email, McKalip apologized, later said he was withdrawing from the public debate over health care and felt compelled to resign as the head of the local medical association.

So we were surprised when TPM Reader JG let us know that last night McKalip resurfaced as an expert on health care reform for none other than Glenn Beck at Beck's town hall style meeting to discuss the horrors of reform.

If you don't remember, here's the photo McKalip sent around ...

And here's McKalip on Beck's show explaining the horrors of "Obamacare" ...

The Baucus Bill: Right Step, Wrong Direction

By Rep. Joe Sestak

The Huffington Post

The health care reform bill passed by the Senate Finance Committee chaired by Sen. Max Baucus is not the reform we need and is not the reform we promised the American people. In its current state, the bill reinforces health insurance monopolies, does not provide access to affordable care for all Americans, and does not present a full and honest accounting of its costs. While I am encouraged that the Finance Committee has moved forward, I hope our Congressional leaders will embrace the legislation passed in my committee (Education and Labor) in the House that better controls cost, expands coverage, and improves care.

The Senate Finance committee is the last of five Congressional committees to advance a health care plan. It is the only one that lacks a public health insurance option.

The public option is crucial if we want to introduce competition and bring down costs. The current health insurance industry is highly monopolized, with a small group of insurers exercising an almost "cartel" like power to dictate prices and continually raise premiums and fees on American families. Nationwide, an astounding 94% of insurance markets meet Department of Justice criteria for being "non-competitive." In Pennsylvania, two insurance companies control 70% of the market; one company has 74% of all the insurance plans in Southeast Pennsylvania.

A public option will guarantee competition and, as it will not be subsidized by the government and will operate on a fair playing field, it will use market forces to bring down prices and raise the quality of care. As the Senate moves forward, it must incorporate a public option....(Remainder.)

Rep. Sestak represents Pennsylvania's 7th Congressional District and is a retired 3-star admiral.

Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-joe-sestak/the-baucus-bill-right-ste_b_325268.html

An Overwhelmed Secret Service

By Steve Benen

Washington Monthly

There was a report in August that threats against the president have increased 400% since the Bush era. A couple of weeks ago, Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele dismissed the reported surge, and questioned the validity of the claims.

Steele probably ought to take the matter more seriously. The threats against President Obama and other U.S. leaders are putting a strain on the Secret Service that's overwhelming the agency.

The unprecedented number of death threats against President Obama, a rise in racist hate groups, and a new wave of antigovernment fervor threaten to overwhelm the US Secret Service, according to government officials and reports, raising new questions about the 144-year-old agency's overall mission.

The Secret Service is tracking a far broader range of possible threats to the nation's leaders, the officials said, even as it also investigates financial crimes such as counterfeiting as part of its original mandate.

The new demands are leading some officials, both inside and outside the agency, to raise the possibility of the service curtailing or dropping its role in fighting financial crime to focus more on protecting leaders and their families from assassination attempts and thwarting terrorist plots aimed at high-profile events.

Even as the size of the Secret Service's staff and budget grow, the agency is struggling to keep up with demands on its time. On the one hand, the Secret Service is still in the business of investigating financial crimes, searching for missing and exploited children, and possibly even expanding its role in probing mortgage fraud. On the other, domestic threats against U.S. leaders, most notably the president, have escalated considerably....(Remainder.)

Fox Nation Nuclear Cloud Incites Talk Of Violence

By Hula

News Hounds

For a few days now, Fox Nation has featured a nuclear cloud prominently on their website and proffered the headline: "Dems Pave Way for Nuclear Option." The article refers to language in one of the Committee versions of the health care reform bill that “could” allow the Senate to pass the legislation with 51 votes instead of the usual 60 needed to avoid a filibuster. Funny, how we can't recall similar outrage from Fox News when the Republicans were threatening to use their own nuclear option.

Not surprisingly, this article spurred on threats of voter reprisal. But it also engendered at least one more Fox Nation death threat that the moderators approved.

The comment below, from “Ron in Cal” saying that “it's almost time to pop a cap on the dems soon” has been on the thread for more than 48 hours, despite the fact that another reader publicly flagged it several minutes later as threatening murder. All comments on Fox Nation are moderated. That means that someone approved the original threat and someone approved the comment pointing out that it contained a threat and still thought the “pop a cap on the dems” comment was appropriate. “Pop a cap” is a well-known term for shooting someone.

nuke%20cloud%282%29.jpg

Speaking Truth To Fox ‘So-Called’ News

By Mark

News Corpse

This is getting to be fun. Last Sunday, White House communications director Anita Dunn said what most rational observers of the news already knew: that Fox News is “the communications arm of the Republican Party.”

Today, another volley has been fired in defense of sanity. White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel was on CNN and this to say about Fox News:

“It’s not a news organization so much as it has a perspective, and that’s a different take [...] And more importantly, it’s important not to have the CNN’s and the others of the world being led and following Fox, as if what they’re trying to do is a legitimate news organization.”

Well said, Rahm. Especially the part about other news organizations and the need for them to avoid mimicking the dishonest methods of Fox. But that’s not all. White House advisor David Axelrod was on ABC’s This Week and said:

“It’s not really a news organization [...] We’re going to appear on their shows, we’re going to participate, but understanding they have a point of view.”

That is only partly good news. At least Axelrod recognizes that Fox is platform for a hostile, right-wing point of view, but why would he consent to participate with an enterprise that he concedes is “not really a news organization?” That’s like agreeing to participate with the National Enquirer. What’s the point?

Still, it is encouraging that the White House is aware of what they are up against. And it is even more encouraging that they are willing to openly and accurately characterize Fox as a fraud as regards the business of news....(Remainder.)

Wanna-Be Journalist Wallace Asks Eric Cantor Only One Question About Ensign Affair

By Heather

Crooks and Liars

Chris Wallace claiming to "fact check" Anita Dunn for daring to say that Fox News hasn't covered the John Ensign scandal. This didn't look like much of a "fact checking" to me. While I have seen some scant coverage of the Ensign scandal on Fox by the likes of Shep Smith, this has hardly been a leading story on Fox News.

So what example does Wallace decide to use to prove they're covered the Ensign scandal? Wallace asking Eric Cantor one question about John Ensign. That's it. No other clips to support that anyone else on his network has covered the story. Just one clip of him asking Eric Cantor--one question.

I hate to break it to you Chris, but that's not covering the John Ensign story. This is covering the John Ensign story.

TPM's Coverage.

This is covering the John Ensign story.

The Rachel Maddow Show: John Ensign's Deepening Hole

This is covering the John Ensign story.

The Rachel Maddow Show: Tom Coburn Caught Lying About His Role in Ensign Affair

This is covering the John Ensign story.

Ensign Claims He Complied with Senate Ethics Rules, Says He'll Cooperate With Investigations

This is covering the John Ensign story.

Rachel Maddow: John Ensign Did Have Contact With Doug Hampton on Lobbying Matters

I'd also like for Chris Wallace to explain to us why Fox News sat on the story for five days after this happened: Husband Of Ensign's Girlfriend To Fox's Kelly: Help Me Expose Senator's "Relentless Pursuit Of My Wife" and allowed the Las Vegas Sun to report it instead. We're all shocked Wallace didn't bother to bring that up, right?...(Remainder.)

NYT: The White House Conflict with Fox News is Just Like the War in Iraq

By Eric Boehlert

Media Matters

And Afghanistan, too!

The Times' David Carr belatedly joins a very long line of tsk-tsking pundits who in the last week have all said the exact the same thing (that's why it's called The Village), and announced that the White House was way off base when it criticized--when it fact-checked--Fox News. Fox News is just doing its job, Carr suggests. It's the White House that has to change its behavior. It's the White House that's out of line here.

I'm guessing that Kevin Jennings, the Dept. of Education official relentlessly targeted by Fox News as a statutory rape-loving "pervert" would disagree. But the elite pundits (the same pundits who have ignored the homophobic witch hunt of Jennings) have spoken: it's unseemly for the White House to call out the press by name.

Still, I couldn't help notice a rather warped sense of media self-importance in Carr's lede:

The Obama administration, which would seem to have its hands full with a two-front war in Iraq and Afghanistan, opened up a third front last week, this time with Fox News.

Really, criticizing the media is like sending U.S. men and women in combat? I realize the comparison isn't necessarily meant to be taken literally, but still. Seems like a painful, and inappropriate, stretch to me....(Remainder.)

Bob Saget Says Give America Back To The Indians (AUDIO)

By Air America Radio

It's not often you might find Bob Saget and Ron Reagan in the same sentence. But on "The Ron Reagan Show," you do!

Reagan and Saget talk about everything from the serious to the insane, covering Bob's comedy tour and even male geishas. Most important, though, Saget thinks we should give the country back to the Native Americas...or something like that. Listen above!

Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)

© Blogger template Newspaper by Ourblogtemplates.com 2008

Back to TOP