Spineless Media

I am watching George Stephanopoulos interview Hank Paulsen.

I wonder, where is the room where TV journalists go to have their spines removed before they can appear on TV?

Is there a room somewhere littered with the vertebrae of the media?

Ron Fournier Fournicating for McCain - Again

Never forget that AP's Ron Fournier interviewed for a job with the McCain campaign. Since then he's been working for the man anyway. Today's Fournication:

yahoonews: Poll: Racial views steer some white Dems away from Obama

Fournier is such an asshole. I'd like to meet him and like that scene in "Die Hard", walk up to him and punch him in the nose. (Sometimes words just won't do.) For those with more patience, Al Giordano rips into this piece and good over at The Field.

Al Giordano, The Field: The AP’s Ron Fournier: Racial Arsonist and Unethical Journalist

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks - many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

- Ron Fournier, Associated Press, September 20, 2008


Theorem: The amount of time conservatives spend talking about the Bradley Effect is inversely proportional to the fortunes of their candidate.



- Nate Silver, September 19, 2008

Today's AP story wasn't exactly about the so-called "Bradley Effect" or "Wilder Effect," a popular theory in the 1980s and 1990s that posited that some white Americans lie to pollsters claiming they will support African-American candidates but vote then against them in the secrecy of the ballot box.

The theory - if it was true back then - has been very thoroughly disproved in recent years, and today we'll walk you through all the documentation you need to debunk it when asked about it by others.

But with the McCain-Palin ticket sinking in the polls, and the financial crisis sucking the oxygen out of the culture war "issues" on all sides, with the economy now front and center as the dominant campaign issue, we're hearing increasing mention of the so-called "Bradley Effect," the so-called "Wilder Effect," the so-called "Bradley-Wilder Effect" (all names for the same 20th century theory).

And now, the Associated Press and its unethical reporter Ron Fournier are transparently attempting to turn the November election (and, if their attempted arson is successful, its aftermath for years to come) into a wedge to divide, polarize and set back race relations in the United States of America more than four decades.

Everybody take a deep breath and repeat after me: The race card is not working. It's not going to work. And we're not going to take the bait being dangled out in front of us by racially prejudiced provocateurs like Fournier: he wants us to spread his gasoline to make his arson fire bigger; we're going to hose water on it - and on him - instead.

Presstitute of the Year: AP's Ron Fournication

flickr, user hyku: WOMMA Research Summit - Ron Fournier

AP's Ron Fournier, hereinafter Ron Fournication, has been awarded this blog's coveted Presstitute of the Year award for this actual AP article:

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer – Sat Aug 23, 2:12 am ET

Fournication has rocketed to the top of my list of Republican presstitutes masquerading as journalists. It was just a few months ago that he won his first Presstitute of the Day award (when he said Obama was "bordering on arrogance" for making a joke, and that Barack and Michelle Obama ooze a sense of entitlement. That would be the one house Obamas, not the dozen houses worth $13,000,000 McCains.) And when Pat Tillman was killed, he was ready to carry the Bush Administration's lies, and even emailed Karl Rove: "Keep up the fight." And now he's won the annual Presstitute award, and it isn't even Labor Day.

To properly tell this story, I must indulge in some internet shouting (ALLCAPS on the 'net is SHOUTING). Ron Fournication INTERVIEWED FOR A JOB WITH THE McCAIN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. Ergo, he is not an impartial journalist. He picked a side. John McCain's side.

If there still existed something as quaint as "journalistic ethics" he would be barred from covering the presidential campaign. Instead, AP put him in charge of their Washington Bureau, and the man who once interviewed to work for John McCain is working for McCain by putting out slanted article after slanted article, all favoring McCain and heaping abuse on Obama.

How wrong is Fournication's "analysis?" Just look at the statements on Biden by REPUBLICAN Senators:

Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska: “Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden’s selection is good news for Obama and America,”

Richard Lugar, R-Indiana: "I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy."

Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania: "No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden," Specter said. "He's been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He's been a leader on crime control."

Finally, not only are Fournication's articles solidly pro-McCain, anti-Obama, and anti-truth, he is for sale. Lindsay Beyerstein documents that Fournication is available as a speaker through the "All American Talent & Celebrity Network" (you can't make this stuff up) for $10,000 a pop.

Firedoglake has the links to let you take ACTION: Tell AP To Remove Ron Fournier From the Presidential Beat

Newshoggers: Ron Fournier's ASS Press

firedoglake: Karl Rove's Little Hot Soup Nazi

Sourcewatch: Ron Fournier [aka Fournication]

Ron Fournier: The Rat We Smelled Is Indeed A Rat

Hacktactular!

Ron Fournier was for sale before he took over the Washington Bureau of the AP. He interviewed with the McCain campaign in 2007. We should not be surprised at how biased of his coverage of the 2008 campaign is. We've seen his ideological slip, and it's conservative Republican.

We were right: AP Must Fire Ron Fournier

Politico: One of Fournier's job options: McCain

dday at Hullabaloo: Media Industrial Complex

dailykos: Ron Fournier (AP Hack) Was Negotiating McCain Campaign Position

You can not negotiate with a campaign for a job, then report on it as a "neutral observer" unless you have no standards at all. We should apply pressure on the AP to do the right thing and fire him now. More importantly, his colleagues in the profession should be leading this fight. He not only writes, but assigns stories.

Everything the AP says and does between now and November is utterly tainted by Fournier not disclosing his conflict of interest.

AP Must Fire Ron Fournier

Fire this Republican cheerleader

Media Matters for America: The AP has a Ron Fournier problem

We wrote about Ron Fournier's inappropriate emails to Karl Rove here. You can read the emails in the House Oversight Committee report (pdf file) here on page 23.

Karl Rove exchanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

When confronted with the fact of his cheerleading, Fournier claimed (a) the emails were just "too breezy" in tone, and (b) that he was researching an article on Pat Tillman's death.

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters has discovered that the second claim cannot be true, as Ron Fournier never wrote an article about Pat Tillman:

Yet according to a search of Nexis, Fournier didn't write any bylined articles about Pat Tillman's death in April 2004. Or ever, for that matter. That means Fournier wasn't reaching out as a reporter to Rove for information, quotes, or context about the sad Tillman story. Fournier didn't need Rove to be a "source" for the Tillman story because Fournier wasn't covering the Tillman story.

Instead, Fournier seemed to be using the Tillman story as an opportunity to initiate contact with Rove and let him know that Fournier was on his side, and to urge Rove to "keep up the fight."

Read the entire article at Media Matters to see Fournier and AP's history of Republican cheerleading. Fournier isn't an objective journalist. Here's just one odious example of his bias:

For instance, in the months before Fournier was privately bonding with Rove and urging the White House to "keep up the fight," this was the lead Fournier wrote for a straight-ahead news article about then-Democratic front-runner Howard Dean receiving Al Gore's endorsement:

Dean hopes the coveted endorsement eases concerns among party leaders about his lack of foreign policy experience, testy temperament, policy flip-flops, campaign miscues and edgy anti-war, antiestablishment message.

Gee, not many Rovian talking points embedded in that AP article, eh?

You can let AP know what you think of their Republican plant Ron Fournier here at their contact page. I'm sure if the AP fires him, he could very quickly get a job with the McCain campaign. For writing stuff like this:

The fact is, Fournier's McCain love runs deep and goes back years. In 2004, when McCain wasn't even a candidate, Fournier praised him in print as "a former Vietnam War hero who emerged from his 2000 defeat as one of the nation's most popular politicians, beloved by independent voters and courted by both presidential candidates."

The next year, while reviewing the possible 2008 presidential field, Fournier insisted the Arizona senator was "favored by a majority of Democrats and independents who would vote in a general election."

But that breathless claim had no factual basis.

Name the Missing Phrase

Welcome to Corporate Media Jeopardy!

Here's an article from today's Wichita Eagle. For $200, can you name the missing phrase?

'08 Kansas tornadoes triple average

Preliminary statistics from the National Weather Service show that 172 tornadoes have been reported in Kansas this year -- the most in the nation.

Iowa is next at 134, and Missouri is third at 127.

As of Friday, 1,577 tornadoes had been reported in the U.S. this year. Last year saw 1,093.

While final statistics are typically lower because some preliminary reports are multiple views of the same tornadoes, officials say the numbers are still eye-opening.

Kansas' total is triple the state's annual average, for example.

Go read the whole article to make sure you make an educated guess.

If you guessed "global warming", you are correct. (We'd also accept climate change.)

Do we have to have 10 times the usual number of tornadoes before the media start mentioning global warming and climate change? Won't it be too late at that point?

Media Farewell to Saint Timmeh of Punditry

It's sad that Tim Russert died at the young age of 58. The hagiographical coverage, though, has gone a bit too far:

Hal Boedeker, Orlando Sentinel: Lessons of the Tim Russert coverage

Here's one thing you can say about journalists: Surely no one loves us as much as we love ourselves.

Eschaton: Worst Russert Related Commentary

I've been trying to hold back, but this is absurd:

It's surely no consolation to his family if we note that Russert dedicated himself to the pursuit of a noble cause: journalism, the free flow of information, the First Amendment, the need (more than ever) to hold politicians accountable for their words and actions. That, in fact, is more than a noble cause. It is patriotism. And his passing is sad proof that a patriot can sacrifice himself for the country he loves without dying in battle.

Even leaving aside the sharp contradiction between "free flow of information" and the Russert standard of "everything is presumed to be off the record," what sacrifice has Russert made? It's estimated that his annual salary was $5 million plus.

Comparing the "sacrifice" of celebrity journalists, even one who happens to die young, to people who get sent off to die in war isn't just absurd, it's obscene.

Roger (The Good) Ailes: And When They Rolled Away The Stone, Tim Was Gone

[SALLY] QUINN: I don't know any single person who ever thought that Tim was unfair.

...

QUINN: Yes, but, you know, the thing that is so interesting about it was that everybody believed Tim. There was never -- I never heard anybody say, "Do you think Tim is telling the truth?"

John Cole: Let's Get Something Straight

Tim Russert was a newsman. He was not the Pope. This is not the JFK assassination, or Reagan’s death, or the Space Shuttle Challenger explosion. A newsman died. We know you miss him, but please shut up and get back to work.

Go Read

Good news story of the day: the Supreme Court ruled that The Great Writ, the writ of habeas corpus, applies to the Guantanamo Bay prisoners: The Rule of Law Prevailed The prisoners are entitled to challenge their detention in federal court; the Bushies have failed in their attempt to create an extrajudicial SuperMax prison for the world. But it was only a 5-4 decision; our democracy rests on the weary shoulders of 88-year-old Justice John Paul Stephens. Elect Obama, save the Court.

To understand why this is so offensive, you must know that in contemporary jargon, "baby mama" means unwed mother: Fox News calls Michelle Obama "Obama's baby mama"

36-year-old right-wing nutjob Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal keeps getting invited to McCain's house for ribs as a VP candidate. Perhaps he's banished a few spirits while he's there? After all, he's an exorcist! Is Bobby Jindal -- Who May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist -- An Exorcist?

We all know the corporate media is bought and paid for. And then we see the concrete evidence. David Broder, the supposed "dean of the Washington press corps" is selling his own corpse to speak at coporate events. If they're lucky, he then features their issue in a column. Presstitute. David Broder’s Moonlighting: Post columnist benefits from corporate speaking deals

Media Sheeple

Ann Telnaes cartoon, Washington Post

10 1/4 Friedmans Later

Atrios: Happy Suck On This Day

I think it [the invasion of Iraq] was unquestionably worth doing, Charlie.
...
We needed to go over there, basically, um, and um, uh, take out a very big stick right in the heart of that world and burst that bubble, and there was only one way to do it.
...

What they needed to see was American boys and girls going house to house, from Basra to Baghdad, um and basically saying, "Which part of this sentence don't you understand?"

You don't think, you know, we care about our open society, you think this bubble fantasy, we're just gonna let it grow?

Well Suck. On. This.

Okay.

That Charlie was what this war was about. We could've hit Saudi Arabia, it was part of that bubble. We coulda hit Pakistan. We hit Iraq because we could. That's the real truth.

I Have One Great Senator

And he opposed the war in 2002. The corporate media conspicuously ignored him.

Media Matters for America: Why did the press ignore Ted Kennedy in 2002?

[B]ack in September 2002, with the Bush administration and much of the Beltway media rushing to embrace war with Iraq, Kennedy delivered a passionate, provocative, and newsworthy speech raising all sorts of doubts about a possible invasion. Unlike today, the political press wasn't very interested in Kennedy or what he had to say about the most pressing issue facing the nation. Back in that media environment, being the voice of American liberals didn't mean much.

[]

And looking back, a key turning point during that public rush to war was Kennedy's fervent and thoughtful speech. It was a turning point because it highlighted, months before the invasion even took place, how the press was going to deal with high-profile, articulate critics of Bush's war policy. The press was going to downplay them, marginalize them, and ignore them. Even if those critics included high-wattage political stars like Ted Kennedy.

In retrospect, I can't help thinking that if the media treated Kennedy in 2002 the way they treat him today (and the way the press treated him before 2002), as somebody whose actions command respect and attention, that the doomed public debate about the war would have, or at least could have, been much different. It could have been more critical, more thoughtful, and more illuminating.

Instead, much of the political press in 2002 treated Kennedy as a bystander in the passing Bush parade, and specifically, they treated Kennedy's September 27 speech as little more than a political maneuver that deserved only passing mention -- literally.

That night on NBC's Nightly News, just 32 words from the Kennedy address were excerpted. On ABC's World News Tonight, it was 31 words. And on the CBS Evening News, 40 words. In all three instances, the brief mention of the Kennedy speech was part of a larger report on the looming possibility of war. Meaning, on none of the networks did Kennedy's speech qualify as a stand-alone news event.

The address was given on a Friday. Two days later on the Sunday talk shows, where Iraq was discussed in detail, Kennedy's name never came up on NBC's Meet the Press, on CBS' Face the Nation, or on ABC's This Week.

For the network pundits, Kennedy's anti-war speech did not exist. It was irrelevant to the around-the-clock media chatter about a looming war.

And yet the corporate media thinks they did a great job on their media coverage. There are none so blind...

Glenn Greenwald, salon.com: Network news anchors praise the job they did in the run-up to the war

The Media Are A Serious Fucking Problem

TocqueDeville, dailykos: Why Obama Really Lost Pennsylvania

These are the people, more than any others, that shape American politics. The editorial boards of the major papers, a few columnists, and of course talk radio personalities have an influence. But nothing compares to this crowd. They set the tone and the terms of our national discussion. And they can move poll numbers like a toy.

And for the last two months, they have waged an all out assault on Barack Obama. It is unfortunate that the term "swiftboat", when used as a verb, is attributed to the small group of hacks that made a few videos lying about John Kerry's war record. Because the real swiftboating didn't come from them. It came from the crowd shown above.

There will always be political hacks. People who lie, and try to make mountains out of flag pins. But it is only with the amplification and distortion of the our political discourse, facilitated by the babbling class above, that these hacks are allowed to have an impact.

It is simply incredible to watch now, as pundit after pundit, including some of our allies, act bewildered as to why Obama didn't win Pennsylvania when he spent so much money, as though the last two months never happened. As though the Reverend Wright swiftboating never happened. As though the NAFTA ploy never happened. As though the "bitter" ploy never happened. As though the ABC "debate" never happened.

Of course it wasn't just the swiftboating of the media that worked against Obama. Kos accurately lays out a few other factors. But let's face it. We have a serious fucking problem on our hands. Even with the growing online movement, and expanding penetration of progressive-like media into the mass communications bubble, the power of the establishment media to manipulate public opinion is still beyond compare.

If Drudge Ruled Their World, 1858 Edition

Obsidian Wings: The Lincoln-Douglas Debates of 1858 (Slight Return)

STEPHANOPOULOS: I’m sorry to interrupt, but do you think Mr. Douglas loves America as much you do?

LINCOLN: Sure I do.

STEPHANOPOULOS: But who loves America more?

LINCOLN: I’d prefer to get on with my opening statement George.

STEPHANOPOULOS: If your love for America were eight apples, how many apples would Senator Douglas’s love be?

LINCOLN: Eight.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Proceed.

LINCOLN: In my opinion, slavery will not cease, until a crisis shall have been reached and passed. "A house divided against itself cannot stand." I believe this government cannot endure permanently half slave and half free.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Excuse me, did an Elijah H. Johnson attend your church?

LINCOLN: When I was a boy in Illinois forty years ago, yes. I think he was a deacon.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Are you aware that he regularly called Kentucky “a land of swine and whores”?

LINCOLN: Sounds right -- his ex-wife was from Kentucky.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Why did you remain in the church after hearing those statements?

LINCOLN: I was eight.

DOUGLAS: This is an important question George -- it's an issue that certainly will be raised in the fall.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce him?

LINCOLN: I’d like to get back to the divided house if I may.

STEPHANOPOULOS: Do you denounce and reject him?

LINCOLN: If it will make you shut up, yes, I denounce and reject him.

hat tip to BoingBoing

Global Warming: Not Important Enough for ABC Debate

If he were running today, ABC would ask: "Where's your flag pin, Abraham? Do you love your country more than Stephen Douglas?"

Charlie Gibbon and Georgie Peorgie Hannity couldn't be bothered to ask about global warming at the debate this week. (Shame on ABC or All the News That's Fit to Miss) There were flag pins to discuss! And McCarthy-ish guilt-by-association charges to be made! Drudge rules their world and you better not forget it.

Meanwhile, back on Planet Rational, we have these headlines:

TorontoStar.com: Ward Hunt Ice Shelf destined to disappear

WARD HUNT ISLAND, Nunavut–New cracks in the largest remaining Arctic ice shelf suggest another polar landmark seems destined to break up and disappear.

Scientists discovered the extensive new cracks in the Ward Hunt Ice Shelf earlier this year and a patrol of Canadian Rangers got an up-close look at them last week.

"The map of Canada has changed," said Derek Mueller of Trent University, who was amazed to find how quickly the shelf has deteriorated since he discovered the first crack in 2002.

(At ABC, Gibbon and pal are chanting, Flag pin! Flag pin! Flag pin!)

ScienceDaily: Jet Streams Are Shifting And May Alter Paths Of Storms And Hurricanes

Storm paths in North America are likely to shift northward as a result of the jet stream changes. Hurricanes, whose development tends to be inhibited by jet streams, may become more powerful and more frequent as the jet streams move away from the sub-tropical zones where hurricanes are born.

(At ABC, the chanting has turned to a shouted refrain: Ayers! Ayers! Ayers!)

NOAA: The second warmest March on record

[NOAA's National Climatic Date Center report says that] Based on preliminary data, the globally averaged combined land and sea surface temperature was the second warmest on record for March and the January-March year-to-date period ranked eleventh warmest.

March 2008 missed the record for the warmest March (2002) by a whopping 0.07°F. March 2008 was the warmest March over land in the record, beating the previous record by nearly 0.3°F. And it was the warmest March over land and sea in the northern hemisphere on record by 0.2°F .

(ABC's shouts have turned to screams: Reverent Wright! Tuzla! Polls! Electability! We know best! Pay no attention to the weather! Flag pins! Flag pins! Flag pins!)

What Really Matters in This Election

dailykos

I tried to watch the Democratic debate last night. I really tried. But there was no there there. The moderaters, faux journalists Charlie Gibson and George Stephanopoulos, asked questions about trivial bullshit for the first hour. Here's what they, and ABC (owned by Disney) think matter: Who will run for vice president, Bittergate, Snipergate, American flag lapel pins, knowing a former member of the Weather Underground, polls, Reverend Wright.

What really matters: The war, the economy, healthcare, the housing market, food prices, gas prices, climate change, torture, war crimes, outsourcing America, restoring America's moral core, and so much more.

We got almost nothing of the latter, and way too much of the former, from the debate.

It was almost unbearable to watch. Bizarrely, Charlie Gibson reserved his most withing contempt for the candidates refusing to agree not to raise the capital gains tax. What, did he sell stock this year?

If you'd like to let ABC know how disappointed you are in how execrably poor the debate monitors were, you can

- call them: ABC Switchboard: 212-456-7777

- email a response: ABC News Network Programming Feedback

- or call or email these honchos

ABC NEW YORK NEWSROOM: (212) 456-5100 newsradio@abc.com Newsroom Fax Machine 212.456.5150

Peter Salinger (THE MAN IN CHARGE OF ELECTION COVERAGE) Director, Special Events & Sports 212.456.5105 peter.salinger@abc.com

Cristi LandesManager, Programming 212.456.5107 cristi.d.landes@abc.com

Wayne Fisk Director, Programming 212.456.5327 wayne.fisk@abc.com

Jeff Fitzgerald Executive Director, Operations 212.456.5554 jeffrey.t.fitzgerald@abc.com

Heidi Oringer Executive Director, Entertainment 212.456.5541 heidi.b.oringer@abc.com

Jon Newman News Coverage 212.456.5100 jonathan.m.newman@abc.com

Joyce Alcantara Assignment Manager 212.456.5106 joyce.a.alcantara@abc.com

Jim Kane Deputy D.C. Bureau Chief 212.222. 6604 james.f.kane@abc.com

Andrew Kalb Executive Director, Programming 05.567.2269 andrew.l.kalb@abc.com

Robert Garcia Executive Director, News & Sports 212.456.5103 robert.garcia@abc.com

Tom Shales, Washington Post: In Pa. Debate, The Clear Loser Is ABC

Greg Mitchell, HuffPo: The Debate: A Shameful Night for the U.S. Media

Jason Linkins, HuffPo: Worst. Debate. Ever.

Hunter, dailykos: The Collapse Of The National Press

Media Massage of McCain Continues

100 Year Video
The foul odor of media-in-the-can-for-McCain and the Rethugs hangs over the 2008 campaign. McCain sez: It's fine with me if we're in Iraq for 100 years. The media sez: He didn't say that!

The Washington Post charges Democrats are "distorting" McCain by saying, well, that he said what he said. The New York Times says Democrats are misharacterizing and distorting McCain, by saying, well, that he said what he said. Again, the facts the media is trying so hard to ignore: McCain said he'd be fine if we stayed in Iraq for 100 years. After all, he said (you can watch it here on YouTube),

QUESTIONER: Yes, please. President Bush has talked about our --

McCAIN: Please, please, please start over.

QUESTIONER: President Bush has talked about our staying in Iraq for 50 years --

McCAIN: Maybe a hundred.

QUESTIONER: Is that -- is that --

McCAIN: We've been in South Korea -- we've been in Japan for 60 years. We've been in South Korea for 50 years or so. That'd be fine with me as long as Americans --

QUESTIONER: So that's your policy?

McCAIN: -- As long as Americans are not being injured or harmed or wounded or killed, then it's fine with me. I hope it would be fine with you if we maintain a presence in a very volatile part of the world where Al Qaeda is training, recruiting, and equipping and motivating people every single day.

But no, the media cries: He didn't really mean it! Stop picking on our Johnny Boy! They want so badly for their pal John McCain, McSame, McLame, McBush, etc., to take them on BBQs at his "cabin" (read, rich man's estate) in Sedona for the next four years.

Media Matters: When McCain cries foul, the media are eager to agree

And what other zombie lies has the media been feeding us? The bowling prowess, or lack thereof, of Barack Obama is a very significant story, according to graduates of the country's finest schools of journalism. Glenn Greenwald sums it up:

In the past two weeks, the following events transpired. A Department of Justice memo, authored by John Yoo, was released which authorized torture and presidential lawbreaking. It was revealed that the Bush administration declared the Fourth Amendment of the Bill of Rights to be inapplicable to "domestic military operations" within the U.S. The U.S. Attorney General appears to have fabricated a key event leading to the 9/11 attacks and made patently false statements about surveillance laws and related lawsuits. Barack Obama went bowling in Pennsylvania and had a low score.

Here are the number of times, according to NEXIS, that various topics have been mentioned in the media over the past thirty days:

"Yoo and torture" - 102

"Mukasey and 9/11" -- 73

"Yoo and Fourth Amendment" -- 16

"Obama and bowling" -- 1,043

"Obama and Wright" -- More than 3,000 (too many to be counted)

"Obama and patriotism" - 1,607

"Clinton and Lewinsky" -- 1,079

And as Eric Boehlert documents, even Iraq -- that little five-year U.S. occupation with no end in sight -- has been virtually written out of the media narrative in favor of mindless, stupid, vapid chatter of the type referenced above. "The Clintons are Rich!!!!" will undoubtedly soon be at the top of this heap within a matter of a day or two.

As I write this, "Clinton Tax Returns" google search returns 4,320 news results. "yoo torture" returns 172 results. "mukasey 9/11" 45 results.

The media is dead. Long live the servile, corrupt and shameless corporate media.

As Stephen Colbert said:

But, listen, let's review the rules. Here's how it works: the president makes decisions. He's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Just put 'em through a spell check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know - fiction!

Replace "president" with "McCain" and you have the current behavior of the media.

Presstitute of the Day: Ron Fournier of AP

Screengrab of Obama's face while he is making one of the statements Presstitute Ron Fournier claims is arrogant.

AP reporter Ron Fournier wins the coveted Presstitute of the Day award with his article claiming Obama is arrogant, proving his point by quoting statements by Obama that were clearly made in jest.

And who is Ron Fournier? A long-time friend of the Clintons from Arkansas. Gee, do you think that could have anything to do with his dislike of Obama? From SourceWatch:

"Fournier began his journalism career at the Hot Springs, Ark., Sentinel Record in 1985. He transferred to the Arkansas Democrat in 1987 and began covering then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton a year later. In 1989, Fournier was hired by The AP, which transferred him to Washington, D.C., after Clinton's election in 1992.

Obama walks arrogance line

By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 17, 1:57 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics. A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, "I belong in the Oval Office."

But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between "I'm qualified to be president" and "I'm born to be president." Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step.

He's bordering on arrogance.

The dictionary defines the word as an "offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride." Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own good.

The freshman senator told reporters in July that he would overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the polls because "to know me is to love me."

A few months later, he said, "Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there."

I must interrupt this article to put the entire exhange in so you realize how deceitful Fournier's claim is.

Here's what was really said:

MORAN: What are you doing out here in western Iowa? It's rural -- I wouldn't think it's Barack Obama country.

OBAMA: You know, every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there.

See the grin on his face in the picture at the head of this post? See the grin on Moran's face? It's a joke. They're both laughing. OK, back to the lying article.

True, there's a certain amount of tongue-in-cheekiness to such remarks — almost as if Obama doesn't want to take his adoring crowds and political ascent too seriously. He was surely kidding when he told supporters in January that by the time he was done speaking "a light will shine down from somewhere."

"It will light upon you," he continued. "You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it."

But both Obama and his wife, Michelle, ooze a sense of entitlement.

"Barack is one of the smartest people you will ever encounter who will deign to enter this messy thing called politics," his wife said a few weeks ago, adding that Americans will get only one chance to elect him.

I can't improve on No More Mr. Nice Guy's excellent takedown of this piece of crap.

See also Too Sense: This Just In: Who Does This Uppity Negro Think He Is?

Balloon Juice: Uppity Negro Alert

Connecting the Dots: Didn't You Mean Uppity, Massa?

Bloggers Read The NYTimes So You Don't Have To

John Cole's Balloon Juice summarizes each of the 9 Op-Eds in the NYTimes marking the 5th anniversary of Bush's disastrous war.

Read the summaries and weep.

The NY Times has nine op-eds to mark the 5th anniversary of the invasion of Iraq. Because I care about you all, I will simplify these op-eds into one sentence or less, each featuring the f-word. You will then be spared the pain of reading them.

hat tip to Middle Earth Journal

Profiles in Cowardice

amazon
Greg Mitchell has just published a book, So Wrong for So Long, about the Iraq war and the media. Here's his list of some of the shameful episodes (and a few heroes, see Al Neuharth of USA Today, #7) of media cheerleading and sheer incompetence.

Greg Mitchell, Mother Jones: The Iraq Follies

In putting together my new book, So Wrong for So Long, on Iraq and the media, I revisited the good, the bad, and the ugly in war coverage from the run-up to the invasion through the five years of controversy that followed. Even though I monitored the coverage closely all along, I was continually surprised to come across once-prominent names, quotes, and incidents that had faded to obscurity. Here is a list of 18 of those nearly forgotten episodes, in roughly chronological order.

1) The day before the invasion, Bill O'Reilly said, "If the Americans go in and overthrow Saddam Hussein and it's clean, he has nothing, I will apologize to the nation; I will not trust the Bush administration again, all right?"

2) Phil Donahue lost his show at MSNBC, he later claimed, because he did not wave the flag enough. A leaked NBC memo confirmed Donahue's suspicion, noting that the host "presents a difficult public face for NBC in a time of war.... At the same time our competitors are waving the flag at every opportunity."

3) After the fall of Baghdad, MSNBC's Chris Matthews declared, "We're all neocons now."

4) The same day, Joe Scarborough, also on MSNBC, said, "I'm waiting to hear the words 'I was wrong' from some of the world's most elite journalists, politicians, and Hollywood types."

5) The New York Times' Thomas Friedman wrote, "As far as I am concerned, we do not need to find any weapons of mass destruction to justify this war.... Mr. Bush doesn't owe the world any explanation for missing chemical weapons."

6) President Bush's comedy routine during the Radio and Television Correspondents Dinner in Washington, D.C., on March 24, 2004, included a bit about the still-missing WMD. While a slide show of the president scouring the White House was projected on the wall behind him, he joked, "Those weapons of mass destruction have got to be somewhere...Nope, no weapons over there...Maybe under here?" Most of the crowd roared, and there was little criticism in the media in following days. Mother Jones' David Corn, then Washington editor of The Nation, was one of the few attendees to criticize the routine. Corn wondered if they would have laughed if Ronald Reagan had, following the truck bombing of our Marine barracks in Beirut, which killed 241, said at a similar dinner, "Guess we forgot to put in a stoplight."

7) Who was the first mainstream editor/columnist to call for a U.S. pullout? It was the unlikely Allen H. Neuharth, founder of USA Today, who is certainly not known for expressing anti-war or liberal views. His May 2004 column drew wide reader protest but "the old fighting infantryman" (as the former soldier billed himself) stuck to his guns and penned a few more columns in that vein in the years that followed.

8) When the New York Times carried its now-famous editors' note on May 26, 2004, admitting some errors in its WMD coverage, it appeared on page A10 and Judith Miller's name was nowhere to be found. The note is often described today as an "apology," but it was no such thing. On the day it ran, Executive Editor Bill Keller, not exactly chastened, called criticism of the Times' coverage "overwrought" and said that the main reason it even published the note was because the controversy had become a "distraction."

9) Likewise, it's often said that the Washington Post also issued an apology. But the criticism of its prewar coverage came not in an editors' statement but in an article by the paper's media critic, Howard Kurtz. Post editors offered several defenses for the coverage and top editor Len Downie argued that it didn't make much difference anyway, because tougher coverage would not have stopped the war.

10) Stephen Colbert's routine at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner in April 2006 is remembered for the in-his-face mockery of President Bush—but he also spanked the press, perhaps one reason his mainstream reviews were mixed at best. Addressing the correspondents directly, Colbert said, "Let's review the rules. The president makes decisions; he's the decider. The press secretary announces those decisions, and you people of the press type those decisions down. Make, announce, type. Put them through a spell-check and go home. Get to know your family again. Make love to your wife. Write that novel you got kicking around in your head. You know, the one about the intrepid Washington reporter with the courage to stand up to the administration. You know—fiction."

11) In one of the purest "my bads" of the war, Fox News' John Gibson ripped Neil Young after the rocker released his protest album Living With War. Gibson demanded that Young go see the new United 93 movie and even offered to buy his ticket. Young, it was soon pointed out, had actually written one of the first 9/11 songs—"Let's Roll," about, you guessed it, Flight 93.

12) Surprise: David Brooks, Thomas Friedman, and Oliver North all came out against the "surge" last January after it was announced by President Bush. George Will wrote a column titled, "Surge, or Power Failure?" And, after the botched hanging of Saddam, Charles Krauthammer declared, "We should not be surging American troops in defense of such a government."

13) When Valerie Plame finally testified before Congress in March 2007, much of the media coverage focused on her appearance. Mary Ann Akers wrote a piece for the Washington Post titled "Hearing Room Chic," noting that Plame wore "a fetching jacket and pants" and should be played by Katie Holmes in the movie version of her story because they both favor Armani.

14) On March 27, 2007, John McCain, referring to the supposed calm settling on Baghdad, said, "General Petraeus goes out there almost every day in an unarmed Humvee." This turned out to be pure bunk, but McCain quickly visited Iraq to try to prove his overall point. There, the Arizona senator went from the ridiculous to the maligned, touring a Baghdad market and claiming all was safe—while troops surrounded him and helicopters twirled overhead. Rep. Mike Pence (R-Ind.) likened the scene to "a normal outdoor market in Indiana in the summertime."

15) In April 2007, CBS' Bob Simon admitted to Bill Moyers that his network should have dug deeper into the false claims on WMD. "I think we all felt from the beginning that to deal with a subject as explosive as this, we should keep it, in a way, almost light—if that doesn't seem ridiculous," he said.

16) Contrary to popular belief, the New York Times, which had editorialized against the invasion, did not call for a change in course or the beginning of a withdrawal from Iraq until July 8, 2007.

17) On Meet the Press in July 2007, David Brooks declared that 10,000 Iraqis a month would perish if the United States pulled out. Bob Woodward, also on the show, challenged him on this, asking for his source. Brooks admitted, "I just picked that 10,000 out of the air."

18) Also in July 2007, an old clip of a C-SPAN interview with Vice President Cheney from 1994 surfaced, in which he defended the decision not to depose Saddam Hussein during Gulf War I: "Once you got to Iraq and took it over…then what are you going to put in its place?…It's a quagmire if you go that far and try to take over Iraq." He explained, "And the question for the president…was how many additional dead Americans is Saddam worth? Our judgment was, not very many, and I think we got it right."

Greg Mitchell is editor of Editor & Publisher and the author of So Wrong for So Long: How the Press, the Pundits—and the President—Failed on Iraq (Union Square Press), which was published this week.

Christ Matthews: Unrepentant Sexist Pig

Chris Matthews is a sexist pig. If you've watched his show on MSNBC for five minutes you are aware of this. He finally got a lot of attention when he ranted on and on and on about Hillary Clinton only being elected to the Senate because people felt sorry for her because Bill Clinton was unfaithful (link to the video of that disgraceful rant). But he's been treating women with complete sexist disdain for years, by talking over them, discussing their looks and their bodies, and discounting their actual accomplishments, as documented by Media Matters for America.

Yesterday a coalition of women's groups sent this letter to the President of NBC:

Dear Mr. Capus:

During the controversy surrounding Don Imus' racist and sexist remarks this past spring, you acknowledged that, with Imus, “there have been any number of other comments that have been enormously hurtful to far too many people. And my feeling is that ... there should not be a place for that on MSNBC. This is about trust. It's about reputation. It's about doing what's right.”

We commend your acknowlegement that NBC has a responsibility to demand appropriate conduct and dialogue in its programming. That is why we are writing to you concerning comments made by Chris Matthews, host of MSNBC’s Hardball, that demonstrate a larger pattern of overt sexism when discussing women.
During an appearance on the January 9 edition of MSNBC's Morning Joe, Matthews said of Senator Hillary Clinton, “the reason she may be a front-runner is her husband messed around” and that “[s]he didn't win there [New York] on her merits.” Matthews has referred to Clinton as a “she devil,” compared her to a “strip-teaser” and called her “witchy.” He has referred to men who support her as “castratos in the eunuch chorus.” He has suggested Clinton is not “a convincing mom” and said “modern women” like Clinton are unacceptable to “Midwest guys.”

Matthews’ sexism is hardly limited to his comments about Clinton; such rhetoric is just the latest in a string of sexist attacks he has made against prominent female political figures.

-- During coverage of the New Hampshire primary, he said that Clinton is the only viable woman presidential candidate “on the horizon.” He couldn't think of a single female governor eligible to run: “Where are the big-state women governors?” he asked. “Where are they? Name one.” In fact, several of the states that currently have women governors are comparable in population to the states in which the male presidential candidates serve or have served as governor.

-- In November 2006, shortly after the Democrats took the majority in Congress, Matthews asked a guest if then-presumptive Speaker-elect Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) was “going to castrate Steny Hoyer” if Hoyer (D-MD) were elected House Majority Leader.

-- During coverage of a presidential debate last spring, NBC News chief foreign affairs correspondent Andrea Mitchell was compelled to remind Matthews that Sen. Barack Obama's (D-IL) wife, Michelle, is a Harvard-educated lawyer after he focused obsessively on her physical appearance.

During the Imus controversy you expressed a hope that “we don't squander this remarkable opportunity that we have to continue this dialogue that has taken place, to continue the dialogue about what is appropriate conduct and speech, to continue the dialogue about what is happening in America. I think we have, as broadcasters, a responsibility to address those matters.”

In the middle of a heated election season where, for the first time, we have both a female candidate and an African-American candidate vying for the Democratic nomination, “appropriate conduct and speech” is more important than ever. Matthews’ history proves that when discussing prominent female figures, he is prone to overt sexism rather than civil political discourse.

We appreciate your taking the time to address our concerns and look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kim Gandy, National Organization of Women
Lulu Flores, National Women's Political Caucus
Carol Jenkins, Women's Media Center
Ellie Smeal, Feminist Majority"

So tonight on his MSNBC program Matthews "apologized". I put the word apologized in quotes advisedly, as he was clearly unrepentant for his abysmal treatment of women. He got woodshedded by someone at NBC, but he still thinks he's fine. Just watch this BS apology and see what you think:

"It's My Show and I'll Pretend to Cry If They Make Me"