Obama’s Political Operation Escalates Attack On Media; Raises Money Off Failure To Debunk “Lies”
This has to be the Obama camp’s most direct and premeditated shot at the media yet: His outside political operation just blasted an email to supporters directly faulting the press for falling down on the job of debunking health care “lies.”
The email from Organizing for America, which was forwarded by a reader, is obviously not addressed to the media and explicitly focuses blames on the press for the traction that reform foes have gained. Hitting the media riles the base, and the email also asks for donations to fund OFA, because “stepping in where the media fails is a daunting challenge.”
“Our opponents will create and spread outrageous lies to try to stop President Obama from creating real change,” reads the email from OFA chief Mitch Stewart. “We just can’t count on the media to debunk them.”
The email suggests that the media’s failure has helped the “frightening smears” of reform foes seem “pretty convincing,” because “folks don’t know that they’re false.” It also quotes Obama’s recent denunciation of he-said-she-said journalism:
If somebody puts out misinformation… then the way the news report comes across is, “Today, such-and-such accused President Obama of putting forward death panels. The White House responded that that wasn’t true.” And then they go on to the next story. And what they don’t say is, “In fact, it isn’t true.”
Needless to say, this particular OFA effort has not been announced to…the media.
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Mr. Sargent:
“The email from Organizing for America, which was forwarded by a reader, is obviously not addressed to the media and explicitly focuses blames on the press for the traction that reform foes have gained”
Ha-Ha-Ha! ROFLMAO!
Yeah…it’s the MEDIA’S Fault!
LMFAO!
Boy…didn’t take long for The One to take a giant cr*p in the mouth of those who so loyally kissed his behind!
This has been a REALLY GOOD WEEK to be a Conservative.
I think a general agreement to ignore the chap above would be beneficial for the other folks in attendance. Can we agree? Let him yap, of course, but there appears to be no need to read him and certainly no reason to respond.
Bernie – been saying that myself for at least 5 days. It’s a total waste of time.
it’s a very nasty creature.
And it gets BETTER by the minute!
Well, they’ve got a point; right-wing talking points do seem to get a lot of traction in most mainstream media outlets.
Of course, the media is extremely sensitive about this sort of thing, so they probably won’t take kindly to being called out like this. I expect to see a lot of headlines along the lines of “Obama lashes out at media”.
I’ve said this before but considering the genisis of this thread I believe it bears repeating.
As a former broadcast journalist it saddens me to see what passes for reporting these days, especially the so called “fair and balanced journalism” of cable “news”! The current health care debate is the perfect illustration of the failure of the fourth estate to serve our nation.
It would have been so simple for any organization, broadcast or cable, to round up several dozen of the folks screaming, Nazi, Hitler, socialism, as well as the more rational opponents at the “town halls” hosted by our elected representatives and ask them questions germane to their objections. I understand the screaming, profane signs, and firearms make for exciting television, but doesn’t substance matter at all? Broadcast journalism has consistently placed ratings above the good of the nation! I would love to see these people respectfully interviewed and asked a few basic questions to place their “opinions” in the proper perspective.
1.) Ask them to define socialized medicine, single payer system, and private system, as well as the public option. Do they really know?
2.) Ask them if they are aware that all three are already in place in the United States and if they can name what they are called in our country?
3.) Ask if they know the results of surveys done about all three systems in our nation and which are the most popular with their consumers, and which are judged best in terms of patient outcomes and services by independent medical organizations?
In the United States we have socialized medicine known as the Veterans Administration, single payer known as Medicare and Medicaid, and of course the private systems run by the insurance companies. Surveys consistently show the Veterans, or socialized system scores highest among its consumers, Medicare runs second, with the privately insured expressing far less satisfaction. Most independent groups also rate the VA as providing the best health care and even the ultra conservative William Kristol has conceded the VA provides the best health care.
As somebody who interviewed dozens of foreigners during the first health care debate of the early 90’s I can assure you I found none of the mythology sold to our nation by the insurance companies to be correct. The foreigners were happy with their systems and yes that even includes the Canadians. Let’s stop insulting everybody else’s health care systems by making socialized medicine and single payer pejorative terms, instead of objective descriptions. Maybe we could open our eyes to some facts. Or maybe it’s like the Jack Nicholson character so famously said in the movies…”We can’t handle the truth!” It upsets our “fair and balanced” thinking!
“And it gets BETTER by the minute!”
..that’s exactly what I told your mother mid coitus.
James:
“..that’s exactly what I told your mother mid coitus.”
You stay classy, James.
I wouldn’t have you any other way.
I think we can agree that both sides can never go wrong by blaming the media. Mostly because both sides are right. What passes for journalism in main stream and cable media is fairly pathetic. You either have false equivalence or outright bias (left and right). But true journalism, that you have to hunt for because it is not in the major outlets.
I totally agree with this OFA mailing. When politicians and lobbyists and paid activists lie and the media either says nothing or advances the lies what can you do but call the media pathetic failures? There are good, fair sources out there, but they are not the big mainstream media sources.
Look at the stories on contentious town halls. That’s all you hear about right now. But where is the recent video? Most of the videos to advance these stories are 3 weeks old. Where is the video of pro-reform people at town halls pushing for their points? Where are the videos of calm respectable town halls? Where are the videos of lies being called lies? Nope, media can’t give us that. we get 3 week old videos of screamers from the initial Town Halls – if I want to know about what goes on in town halls in the last two to three weeks I have to go through individual blogs of people who were there.
When CNN, The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post or the 6 O’Clock news lead with “these are the truths of reform and these are the outright lies” I’ll give them some respect. Until then I will be one of those from the left who calls them failures. Because the news isn’t repeating what someone says, the news is telling us what is true or false. Until the news once again learns that there is truth in the world and not just he said-she said narrative they deserve this sort of reaction from OFA and from people like me.
“The current health care debate is the perfect illustration of the failure of the fourth estate to serve our nation.”
Thanks for that comment, rukidding. Given the importance of the press to a functioning democracy, I really think Congress should hold hearings to discuss the current state of our news media and how it got this messed up and what we can do about it.
The media should have educated the public on what these terms mean, but they haven’t. They just quote each side’s talking points and let them lay there.
A big part of the problem, AFAIC, is that broadcast news orgs don’t hire people for their brains, apparently, but for how they look on camera.
There is an awful lot of stupid out there and it is a self-perpetuating problem. I’ve heard talking heads on the local news in Dallas say the most ridiculously wrong things – like claiming the capital of Indonesia is Aceh Bande. No it’s not. I see the most egregious grammatical errors in newspapers.
Where are the editors and the producers who should be making sure that doesn’t happen?
It’s on all parties here.
Reps shouldn’t lie, but as Barney Frank said, it’s a testament to the First Amendment. I just wish they’d use it more responsibly. I love arguing policy, it makes us better people. But as soon as I hear death panel or rationing, I just tune out.
Obama has blame too. He’s not new to the political process or how the media works. He should know that you need to say everything explictly and clearly or else someone is going to twist your intentions. I know he wants to change the beast, but that’s something the needs to be addressed on its own, not during major policy debates.
Hopefully the media will change(read die and start over). Who, what, where, when, and why. Those were the days.
“You stay classy, James.”
Lessons in decorum from the likes of you is like a rapist giving someone dating advice.
Anybody remember the old Cyndi Lauper song “Money changes everything”? When William Paley stood up and separated CBS News from the rest of CBS he did a very altruitic thing. It resulted in some incredible journalism by Murrow and others who were free of ratings/money pressure.
Now of course the MSM is simply another tool of corporate America where ratings/money are the top priority. The most sorrowful part of today journalistic malaise is that the one individual who could have duplicated Paley’s granting of independence to a news division is a foreigner named Murdoch who gives a rat’s *** about the U.S. except for it’s profit potential for his empire. And alss that profit is easiest to earn by selling hate, fear, and doing whatever it takes to keep the money flowing including complete lies and deception. If money is your motive then Beck, O’Reilly and Hannity look pretty good. As far as truth…who makes money telling the truth?
Tena,
Here’s a good example of what you’re talking about. Today on CNBC Maria Bartaromo asked Congressman Anthony Weiner why,if medicare was so great why wasn’t he signed up. He reminded her he is only 44 and you have to be 65 to get medicare.
Last night I wrote a little yuk yuk piece imagining an Chris Wallace interview of Joseph Goebbels. To remind myself of the fellow’s propaganda techniques, I reviewed the wikipedia page on him. Does this sound familiar?
“He openly acknowledged that he was exploiting the lowest instincts of the German people — racism, xenophobia, class envy and insecurity.”
As Drew Westen and other cognitive scientists have written, we are depressingly motivated by emotional cues rather than rationalism. The modern right continues to utilize this fact about us in a way which we haven’t managed to duplicate.
“He reminded her he is only 44 and you have to be 65 to get medicare.”
Not to mention that he has full government single payer health coverage as a US Congressman.
[bangingforeheadonkeyboard]
James:
“Lessons in decorum from the likes of you is like a rapist giving someone dating advice”
Like I said…classy, very classy.
“Like I said…classy, very classy.”
..at least we know that you get your comebacks from the same ******* that you get your talking points from..
“Today on CNBC Maria Bartaromo asked Congressman Anthony Weiner why,if medicare was so great why wasn’t he signed up. He reminded her he is only 44 and you have to be 65 to get medicare.”
Is that real?
The media is rightwing. Obama is not a commie. War is peace. It’s the Post Office that’s always having problems.
@ ru kidding – your last post has my full agreement. Murrow to Beck. As trajectories go, not encouraging.
Tena:
“The media should have educated the public on what these terms mean,”
Oh, but they DID!
They REALLY did.
You really can’t say “ori-fice” here? lol
“”"Today on CNBC Maria Bartaromo”"”
That’s all you needed to say for me to lol. Truly unbelievable the depths of the so-called media. Thank god for Rachel. But yeah, teh stupid in this country is bad and getting worse.
James:
“..at least we know that you get your comebacks from the same ******* that you get your talking points from..”
Hey…you’re classy.
There’s no need to keep making excuses for yourself.
Just be your classy self.
@Bernie,
As always love your posts…and I”m struck by your Drew Westen refererence…”cognitive scientists have written, we are depressingly motivated by emotional cues rather than rationalism” Is it really impossible to locate some positive emotions to utilize. It seems to me that people like Dr. Wayne Dyer, Deepak Chopra and others have managed to find a fairly large audience, certainly large enough to earn boat loads of money and influence people positively. Call me a naive pollyanna (I’m sure Bilgeman will come up with far worse descriptors) but I sense a genuine yearning in this world for something positive. As much as I might appreciate Keith and Rachel and MSNBC they are still reduced to reacting to the lies and hate coming from the right.
Bernie – a couple of years ago, I read “Christ Stopped at Eboli,” which is Carlo Levi’s account of his time in exile under Mussolini, in far southern Italy. When Mussolini invaded (then) Abyssinia, here is what Mussolini said on the radio in explanation, word for word, from Levy who wrote this in 1948, I believe:
“They (Abyssinia) hate us for our freedoms.”
Does that sound familiar? The hair stood up on the back of my neck when I read it.
James:
“You really can’t say “ori-fice” here? lol”
Someone as classy as YOU can say whatever they want to.
rukiding:
“…they are still reduced to reacting to the lies and hate coming from the right.”
As opposed to all the class oozing out of the Left,
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/maria-bartiromo-presses-4_n_274024.html‘
indeed, Greg, it’s real. One of the most amazing displays of media stupidity I’ve ever seen.
“Not to mention that he has full government single payer health coverage as a US Congressman.”
Please don’t forget that he chooses from a wide variety of PRIVATE insurance plans – no public option there.
Greg, did you see the video from cnbc? It’s even funnier than my post. I didn’t really do it justice. It would be a good link for happy hour.
“There’s no need to keep making excuses for yourself.”
Yes, I’m classy, I get it – being a product of inbreeding means that witty retorts are foreign to you..
@Greg/Linda
Oh wow, I really hope that’s true. The video of that would be hilarious! Rep. Weiner has been on a tear lately…
As for the email bashing the media – “no duh”. The DC punditry is wired with Republican framing, and it has been for as long as I can remember. The likes of Chuck Todd and Wolf Blitzer report GOSSIP, not news. Sarah Palin isn’t worth a headline when she makes a blatently false accusation. The fact that every major outlet ran with it, asking for comments about from everyone under the sun, is what drove the story.
Anyone who thinks there’s a “librul” media is lying, either to you or to themselves.
But that said…it’s not like Obama didn’t know what he was getting into. It’s shocking to me that they are surprised by the hate and lies. They didn’t see that coming? Probably the most naive mistake I’ve seen Obama make.
They should be going around the media. They are in some cases, but not at every opportunity. I think they should do more of it. I think they should have bloggers (clearly identified as WH-Bloggers) on every major blog (both progressive and conservative) to copy/paste press releases, then stay and interact with the commenters. And I’m hoping OFA continues to push more community meetings and the like – as opposed to just defaulting on a huge email list.
It would be great if they started building some election training material for progressives as well. Such as how to articulate a message for common progressive causes, the finer points of policy making, and even how to be cadidate or run a campaign on a local level.
Get it out there in ways around the media. They aren’t doing their job as free press, and they aren’t going to. They are corporate run, profit driven, gossip rags in suits.
Except Rachel Maddow, most of the time. Love that woman.
“As opposed to all the class oozing out of the Left,”
Liberals are carrying guns to health care rallies? Hoping Obama gets brain cancer? There’s an ooze alright..
@ru kidding – Sure, there are lots of them…hope, charity, brotherhood, compassion, cooperative effort, equality, etc. And it isn’t difficult to see what conservative movement propaganda has done to tip each of these around into something negative…hope is false, charity is coersion, brotherhood is appeasement, compassion is empathy is inappropriate in a judge, equality is state intervention to force non-traditional social arrangements, etc.
The descent of christian notions into what we commonly see presents a very good illustration of how something very good-hearted can be morphed into something dispassionate and hateful (support for torture among American evangelicals is very much higher than in the general community.
I hate this approach about blaming the media. During the election cycle, President Obama’s opponents kept on blaming the media for Senator Obama’s popularity.
Getting reform bills through congress is not the job of the media. In fact, since newspapers are rapidly becoming obsolete, and the major networks, are reduced to just showing a few video clips, for a short period, five evenings per week, they are not really the source of real news anymore.
If they do not have video to show, then it is not covered. It is just predigested empty news morsels for those who are not capable of seeking out, and digesting real news substance.
Take a look at what goes on with ABC NBC, and CBS each evening. They mention the four or so top items, that they are going to show you little video clips of.
They run one of them, and ask the reporter on the scene for their opinion. Opinion mind you, not facts.
After one or two those newsless bits, they then bring in David, George, and who ever CBS has at hand, and they proceed to have the anchors interview those guys, and ask them to give their political takes on what they think is going to happen, or how the President is doing. None of that is news.
The health care reform agenda is in deep trouble. I suspected as much for some time, and sad to say, I think President Obama has been missing in action.
Now that they have started to blame “the media”, it confirms for me, that they think that they have been rolled, and they are just looking for a scapegoat.
As a longtime supporter of President Obama, I do not want to hear this media bashing ****. Why the hell is he not going on the offensive to spell out what he wants, passed, chapter and verse, and spelling out for people, how it will help them. He can use the media to do that, instead of bashing them.
He is still acting like a member of a legislature, where one can just be one of the group, who are willing to work together, so each can have a piece of the bill.
Some one needs to let him know that he is now the CEO of the nation,and he is supposed to spell out his agenda, and campaign tirelessly for it, and take no prisoners, when ever opponents distort his positions.
Does the man have the fire in his belly, that is required to lead; I am not sure anymore. He seems very dispassionate about everything. He even came across that way, when he eulogized Ted Kennedy. The words were there, but where was the emotion.
These lines from Yeats keep running through my mind.
THE SECOND COMING
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
I was about to jump to the B-man’s defense, kinda, sorta, because I thought I remembered him giving some reasonable background on his thinking over the weekend. So I went to look, and I found this:
“Y’see, chum, there’s one thing about the Left that has held true for generations…going back to my card-carrying Commie Grandpa’s day:
The more you’re exposed to and familiar with it, the uglier it gets. And the further you recoil from it.
(Ol’ Bilgeman narrowly avoided being born a Soviet citizen, since Grampa wanted to move the family to Russia and help build the “Worker’s Paradise” back in the early 30’s. Grampa later joined the followers of Brother John Birch.) And that’s the classic trajectory in American politics…you travel from Left and end up on the Right.”
And to the above I say, that’s not moving left to right, that’s bi-polar.
Henceforth, I follow Bernie’s advice.
Greg, Here’s another good one from the Tea Party Express in Ely Nevada. You have to watch the whole thing though. The lady in the flag shirt at the end goes up to the black guy who’s singing and tries to show how racially sensitive she is. She doesn’t care if he’s polka dotted, if he’s for America he’s ok by her.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnDQHj_sIQI&feature=player_embedded
“And it isn’t difficult to see what conservative movement propaganda has done to tip each of these around into something negative…hope is false, charity is coersion, brotherhood is appeasement, compassion is empathy is inappropriate in a judge, equality is state intervention to force non-traditional social arrangements, etc.”
Such absurd and useless generalities coming from Bernie? C’mon now!
Liam – as I recall, you were no longer sure several times during the campaign.
America just doesn’t do patience anymore, if it ever did.
@bilgeman,
Against the best advice of two posters I respect Tena and Bernie I’ll try to respond.
Do you believe in Fema Concentration camps? Does it seem more than a little disingenuous for Palin,Grassley, Gingrich…who all either promoted or signed off on legisltation including the very same language they later referred to as “death Panels” although Grassley would want to point out he said “pulling the plug on Grandma” not death panels…the numerous times the rights as turned the word optional into mandatory….well I could go on and on or as Tena might say blah..blah..blah..The point is that at least specifically in the health care debate…Fox News and the right have manufactured or repeated lie after lie and K.O. and R.M. have spent a large time debunking them. Whethere and out and out LIAR deserves being called “The Worst Person” in the world could perhaps be debateable…but as someone famously said bilgemen you are entitled your opinion but not your facts. It is an easily verifiable fact that the rights has LIED,distorted, and obfuscated the truth in the most disgusting and hypocritical manner. ***** about the cost alll you want…but death panels…rationing by government more than what is already taking place by the private insureres is simply mindless or perhaps worse…cynical opportunism!
Wow,
Thet censor the word c*r*a*p!
BBQ
Here’s the link to Maria Bartiromo and Congressman Weiner
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/01/maria-bartiromo-presses-4_n_274024.html
BBQ said: “Anyone who thinks there’s a “librul” media is lying, either to you or to themselves.”
This is, for me, one of the most interesting aspects of modern American culture. I’ve yet to bump into a conservative who has done any significant reading on this matter and there’s lots out there that’s well researched and meets good scholarly criteria.
The premise or assumption that the mainstream media is liberal is THE fundamental premise which underpins all conservative broadcasting rhetoric. It is the premise which provides their reason for being and their justification for the way in which they operate.
This premise comes to us here as an axiomatic truth, a given. Even if the folks who promote it have done no serious study (or reflection) to see if that premise is valid.
It has been one of the most successful propaganda efforts in modern American culture. It is right up there with “government is bad”.
How these two conceptions, taken as axiomatic truths, serve the purposes of an increasingly wealthy, increasingly powerful and increasingly isolated corporate and financial elite is quite lost on those who have adopted the notions.
And what better illustration than healthcare? As the experience everywhere else has demonstrated, citizens are absolutely unwilling to shift back from their systems to a ‘free enterprise’ system.
http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/Media-Bias-Is-Real-Finds-UCLA-6664.aspx?RelNum=6664
Wow. Just saw the Bartiromo clip. More corporate cheerleading from CNBC. They’re losing thet tiny bit of credibility they had left over from the recession.
Oh, and James – never wrestle with a pig. You’ll both get dirty but the pig will enjoy it
@Tena,
You recall wrong. I was always sure that Obama was the candidate I wanted elected. I did at times question some of his tactics, such as when he started talking about how he looked different than all previous Presidents, and I urged that he stop doing that, because he was giving the opposition a reason to play racial politics, and it was contrary to his previous remarks about it being one a America. I was glad to see that he stopped doing so.
You have an almost cult like worship of him, and you are never objective. I wanted him elected to lead, and make the changes he campaigned on.
You think that he always has some secret plan, because he is far smarter that every one else.
I see him as someone who was trailing John McCain late in the race, and got a political windfall thrown in his lap, when the financial crash happened, and McCain overplayed his hand on how to handle it.
Senator Obama through his superior planning, did not arrange that. Without that financial crash, he might very will have lost. He was behind in many of the key states.
I want the President to act like a CEO, on the health care issue. I do not see it yet, and blaming the media, be it the Republicans, or now the White House, is just scapegoating, instead of statesmanship.
Kathleen Hussein in Maine:
“I was about to jump to the B-man’s defense, kinda, sorta, because I thought I remembered him giving some reasonable background on his thinking over the weekend. So I went to look, and I found this:”
That my Grandpa was a card-carrying Commie who took the cure after the Non-Agression Pact, (with the Nazis, BTW), was signed…THIS is why you won’t defend my mother’s reputation huh?
Well, classy is as classy does.
“The more you’re exposed to and familiar with it, the uglier it gets. And the further you recoil from it.”
Point proven, huh?
I haven’t gone after anyone’s family members in our tiffs here.
Maybe because I’m not as classy as you people.
You’re one classy dame, Kathleen.
http://mediamatters.org/research/200512220003
“You have an almost cult like worship of him, and you are never objective. ”
I suppose in a way, Liam, I may have asked for that, but you couldn’t be more wrong.
I am objectively waiting to see what happens before I decide that Obama is a failure.
Congress hasn’t even come back yet.
and really Liam – did you have to go the Obamabot troll route?
Sheesh
James:
“Yes, I’m classy, I get it – being a product of inbreeding means that witty retorts are foreign to you..”
MAN, are you CLASSY!
You seem to have a following here!
Did you go to school to get so Classy, or does it come naturally?
Tena: I’m not sure what you mean by “Not to mention that he has full government single payer health coverage as a US Congressman.”
Federal employees have a nice insurance plan with a menu of options and plans they can choose for their families, and the employer’s share is paid by the Federal government, but it is not “single payer” insurance (like Medicare).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Media_bias#Scholarly_treatment_of_media_bias_in_the_United_States_and_United_Kingdom
“MAN, are you CLASSY!”
MAN, you really are a shining example as to why siblings shouldn’t marry. Inbreeding, not so classy.
rukidding:
“It is an easily verifiable fact that the rights has LIED,distorted, and obfuscated the truth in the most disgusting and hypocritical manner. ***** about the cost alll you want…but death panels…rationing by government more than what is already taking place by the private insureres is simply mindless or perhaps worse…cynical opportunism!”
That’s politics, bub.
If you think that what comes from the Left is all milk and honey while what comes from the Right is nothing but toxic waste and poison, then you’re a Grade A chump.
Politics is the art of disguising private greed as public service.
Do I default in favor of private enterprise as opposed to public programs?
You betcha.
Only a self-deluded fool walks into a store and thinks he’s going to walk out with a “bargain”.
You’re paying for everyone’s pork chop who touched whatever you buy, see? The guy who grew it, the guy who packaged it, the guy who delivered it, and the guy who owns the store.
Adam Smith in “Wealth of Nations” had a lot to say about that.
The saving grace of free enterprise is that if the guy charges me too much, I can go to some OTHER guy’s store.
If the government is the only store, I have to buy what THEY feel like selling,(which might not be what I need or want).
Do you get the picture?
(And for the record, no, I don’t believe in FEMA concentration camps, but I’ve passed some FEMA Trailer Parks on the Gulf Coast that are pretty grim-looking…although they beat the heck out of the ruins left behind from Katrina, Gustav and Ike.).
I can boycott Whole Foods or not. I can buy gas for my car at this dealer or that one. I can watch MSNBC or FauxNews. But I cannot go out tomorrow and buy myself a different health insurance policy.
@ sbj – kudos on your ability to use google. Now read them (eg Groseclose and Milyo) and their critics. Eg, G and M’s ranking system has the Rand Corporation as “leftist”.
# Tena | September 1st, 2009 at 04:21 pm
and really Liam – did you have to go the Obamabot troll route?
Sheesh
That is you wording. I have never used that term.
You are the one who intimated that I was not being consistently supportive of Senator Obama, in the past, and therefore when I critique him now, it is because I am not a loyal follower of him, which would indicate that you feel that I should just be a constant cheerleader for the President on all subjects, at all times, regardless of what I really feel.
Sorry, I fought for his election, so that he could implement the changes he promised, and when ever he appears to be not delivering, I will express myself. I believe in holding all elected official accountable, even those who I support.
I am disappointed in how he has let the opponents frame the Health Care Reform debate, and I am sorry that they are now trotting out the Blame The Media, scapegoating, instead of taking charge of the Health Care Reform agenda, and spelling out just exactly what he wants passed, and what he will not accept.
There is a huge contradiction in behavior, when a Leader says he does not want to engage in the old fights of the past, but then turn around and attacks “The Media”.
If he is going to go into attack mode, then for Cripes sake, attack those who have been actively trying to defeat health care reform, instead of trying to pass the blame on to the media.
@Bilgeman,
Yes I get the picture. Would you have been against Teddy Roosevelt for breaking up the trusts. The problem with your post is that it assumes there are choices when there are none…private insurers have gained a near monopoly status in many states which is not only bad for the consumers but ask the providers how they feel. I’m not really sure why the insurers should be worried about the public option hurting them…several of them…United, Wellcare, Ciga, Blue Cross are now what is classified as too big to fail….like the bankers they’ll get their bailout from the government…I think that’s what they mean when they call it FREE enterprise!
B-man, what does your mother’s reputation have to do with anything? You brought up your grandfather’s wild swing from Commie to Bircher. I was simply observing that that was an extreme lurch. a la bi-polarity. You may thank your lucky stars that he came to his senses so that you could be born American and grace us with your presence, and he may be your hero, but his own harebrained passions don’t demonstrate how people reject dreadful, evil liberalism. If that’s unclassy of me to point out, I’ll deal with your rebuke.
Kathleen
True, to a point…you could go out tomorrow and buy a new plan, but you may not get to transfer your health issues over.
There in lies the point of many conservatives…why not fix some of the issues rather than scrap the the whole system. Tax cuts are nice, but its rare you see a republican demand the whole tax system be overhauled in a month without any debate because the future of our country depends on it.
But I know what you’re saying…..compromises…we all have to make them.
is it me or is Liam different today…don’t get me wrong, I’m enjoying his objectivity versus the robots. anyway, just an observation, could be totally off base.
“If somebody puts out misinformation… then the way the news report comes across is, “Today, such-and-such accused President Obama of putting forward death panels. The White House responded that that wasn’t true.” And then they go on to the next story. And what they don’t say is, “In fact, it isn’t true.”
Uhh…. no, thank you. I prefer my news to say “Here’s what this side says and here’s what the other side says.” For this group to want reporters to say “In fact, it isn’t true” smacks of wanting the reporter to be the one to suggest or even determine what is and isn’t true.
I’ll decide what’s true and what’s not true, not you news reporter. Not ever you. Just me, and only me.
Professor O — I hear you. But we’re not talking single payer. We’re talking public option. Which doesn’t scrap the whole system. Would it inevitably lead to single payer? If it was super-successful it might. I guess the insurance companies would have to compete like hell to make sure they could stay alive. Other reforms, I’m all for them. I do remember one Republican proposing something to the effect of health savings accounts and high deductibles. That’s not going to help people who can’t afford insurance in the first place, and will defeat the point of preventive care and early, non-ER intervention.
Professor O — one more thing, it’s not just about pre-existing conditions. We have insurance through my husband’s job. Annual contract, not unlike my cell phone, but I could pay a penalty and switch providers. Can’t do that with the medical. And we have one private provider in Maine, Anthem. Three Anthem plans to choose among, though, oh, goody. And if you bring up our flailing Dirigo, I’ll have to go to the google and drag out how the health insurance lobby seeded it with poison pills. Please don’t make me do that.
Kathleen…
I would have confidence that government could come up with some new regulations on how insurance companies work. I think they might make some of the insurance industry upset with the regulations, but they also might see how each state has their own regulations which can vary county by county which is just more bureaucracy on bureaucracy.
The company I work for provides Cigna HMO to the 2 counties north of me, but not to my county b/c of state regulations and additional fees per county assessed by a state. If the state would be forced or encouraged to eliminate this issue, it would lower the cost of healthcare for my employees and the employees of the other county due to more of us being “in the system”.
Its things like this that drive us conservatives crazy b/c its government getting in the way. I work in a highly regulated industry, but we’re free to do business in any state or county without significant additional fees. The People would like a government that works to provide the right framework for free enterprise business to work within….Obama does that and he’ll be suprised how many people will support him…then you can start looking at having the government compete with private business.
The media has devolved into a gossip mill. Very few stories actually look at the facts to really present the truth. They do indeed engage in “he-said, she-said” presentations.
Walter Cronkite excoriated the media for this approach. He noted that, during his heyday, the news orgs used to expend most of their energy on in-depth analyses about issues. That’s no longer true.
The healthcare issue is a good example. Initially, people just reported that Sarah Palin was talking about “death panels.” Not one of the initial articles that I read or news segments that I saw even attempted to look at the issue in-depth, or dare to label her nonsense as the falsehood that it is. [Some didn't even think it was necessary to put quotation marks around "death panels," as if the concept was accepted language.] Instead, they gleefully reported articles with titles like “Palin slams Obama.” The media has focused, to the detriment of its last threads of dignity, on framing issues around personalities, in a manner more consistent with boxing matches than public policy reporting.
Look at how they handled the Cheney attacks. How many “Cheney versus Obama”; “Cheney takes on Obama”; “Cheney fires at Obama”; “Gibbs slams Cheney”; “Obama whacks Cheney” articles have you seen recently? How many “Cheney’s account don’t tell the full story”; “Cheney’s wrong about effectiveness of torture” (Or at least, “Investigations conducted with traditional methods usually produce the most reliable information”); “FBI and military leaders refused to endorse Bush administration interrogation tactics” (most people probably still don’t know this)?
The news orgs of today compete to see who can come up with the most sensational story. They often seem more bent on MAKING the news than reporting it. It’s a terribly pathetic and dishonorable approach. It’s why people don’t simply trust the media anymore: They have no real credibility with the American public, and don’t seem to understand that their “he-said, she-said” type of reporting lies at the heart of this issue.
We already know that we can go to the tabloids and their sites for gossip. Now, we just need places to go to get sound, unadulterated, in-depth information, minus all the bull.
“kudos on your ability to use google.”
Thanks! The point being (lost on you?) that there is plenty of “scholarly” research that supports both viewpoints about media bias.
Your earlier point was that the premise that the mainstream media is liberal is the fundamental premise which underpins all conservative broadcasting rhetoric and was the result of one of the most successful propaganda efforts in modern American culture.
I believe that one can reasonably contend that promoting this “premise” is more accurately referred to as impartially providing information.
Kathleen Hussein:
“If that’s unclassy of me to point out, I’ll deal with your rebuke.”
No…you’re a very classy dame because you admit that you WOULD have jumped to my, (actually, my mother’s) defense, (”sorta, kinda”), but you used the excuse that you object to my Grandfather’s politics.
Doesn’t make any kind of sense to me, but y’know, when you DON’T want to do something in the first place, ANY ol’ excuse, no matter how slender, will do…won’t it?
Just hope that you stay on classy people like James’ good side.
Travis:
“The news orgs of today compete to see who can come up with the most sensational story. They often seem more bent on MAKING the news than reporting it.”
Well, that depends.
This very blog made some minor news this weekend, but I’ll be durned if I can find where Mr. Sargent has yet to report,(much less comment), upon it.
When they’re embarrassed by being wrong, you never ever hear it brought up again…rather like the “Exit Strategy” meme.
Haven’t heard THAT one in a good long while.
Kathleen:
But I cannot go out tomorrow and buy myself a new insurance policy.
Well, you can, but it will be way more expensive than your employer provided insurance. Why? Because the goverment let’s the employer pay for it before taxes, but makes you pay for it yourself after taxes. Why else? Because the government won’t let you cross state lines to shop around for insurance. Why else? Because the government mandates certain coverage which you have to pay for even if you don’t want it.
And yet the solution, we are told, is to get the government even more involved. Go figure.
rukidding:
“The problem with your post is that it assumes there are choices when there are none…”
When you nationalize health care, your choice will be limited to one.
Isn’t that what Britain has? Pay out of pocket for one thing, and they put everything else on invoice.
Look at the school system, Sure, you have the choice to send your kids to private school, (just like Obama does), but you STILL have to pay for the seat in the public school that you’re not using.
And we saw pretty quickly how Obama felt about school vouchers, huh?
So what if the kids can’t get a decent education in a safe environment? The NEA and AFT and the Public School Administration ‘crats are the ones he CARES about.
In light of that, to even call it “Public Option” is a bad joke…
Bernie:
Re: the liberal media
Since you are asserting a proposition contrary to conventional wisdom and indeed the everyday perception of a wide swath of people (including, I believe, many in the media itself), it is encumbent upon you to provide evidence of your proposition.
So go ahead, convince me that the media (outside of FOX) is not left leaning. Perhaps you can start with America’s paper of record, the NYT.
Private Health Insurance is all about the profit margins, stock options, and huge salaries. They do not treat sick people. If people get sick, and threaten the Insurance Company’s bottom line, then they stop covering those people.
They throw those sick people overboard.
Like in this case, where one Insurance company, dropped coverage of EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE, because their health issues were a threat to the Insurance Sharks’ bottom line.
You cannot get a Shark to reform itself, and become a Teddy Bear.
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2009/07/02-2
“f you watched the president’s televised Q&A on ABC last Wednesday night, you probably noticed that one of the people in the audience was Ron Williams, the chairman and CEO of Aetna, Inc., the nation’s third largest health insurer, and currently one of the most profitable. But there are a few things that you should know about Williams.
Back in the ’90s, Aetna set out on an acquisition binge in its quest to become the biggest health insurer in the country. It got there by the end of the decade after spending billion of dollars for several competitors. By 1999 it had 21 million health plan members, the most any insurer had ever had at the time.
But, as often happens after buying sprees, Aetna soon came down with a bad case of buyers’ remorse. As it turned out, some of the customers it had paid top price for were not as profitable as Wall Street analysts and the big institutional investors who owned most of Aetna’s stock expected. When they took a closer look at what Aetna had bought, investors started deserting the company in droves. As a result, the company found its stock price in a free fall.
As the Wall Street Journal reported on August 13, 2004, Aetna’s pretax profits as a percentage of revenues began falling dramatically after peaking at about 12 percent in 1998. By 2001 the company was a basket case as far as Wall Street was concerned. It had to do something, and fast.
Probably the most important thing it did to turn itself around was recruit Williams from rival WellPoint, the ambitious for-profit company that was gobbling up Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans from coast to coast.
As the Journal reported, Williams promptly ordered a $20 million revamp of Aetna’s data systems. Health care analyst Joshua Raskin told the Journal that the new system that emerged from that investment, which Aetna dubbed the Executive Management Information System (EMIS for short), was “the single largest driver of the Aetna turnaround.” Why? Because it helped Aetna “identify and dump unprofitable corporate accounts.” How did it do the dumping? By jacking up premiums to unaffordable levels.
By the time the dumping — or purging, as it is frequently called in the industry — was done, Aetna had shed eight million of its 21 million members. It shrank so much that by the time it emerged from the Ron Williams-led turnaround, it had fewer members than when the company started out on its multi-billion dollar buying binge.
While Aetna was shedding those eight million men, women and children, by the way, it also reportedly shed 15,000 of its employees. Wall Street likes it when insurers dump employees, too, because the workers who don’t get the ax have to assume the responsibilities of their laid-off colleagues. That theoretically boosts productivity, which Wall Street likes. And reducing the payroll leaves more money for profits.”
“The healthcare issue is a good example. Initially, people just reported that Sarah Palin was talking about “death panels.” Not one of the initial articles that I read or news segments that I saw even attempted to look at the issue in-depth, or dare to label her nonsense as the falsehood that it is. [Some didn't even think it was necessary to put quotation marks around "death panels," as if the concept was accepted language.] Instead, they gleefully reported articles with titles like “Palin slams Obama.” The media has focused, to the detriment of its last threads of dignity, on framing issues around personalities, in a manner more consistent with boxing matches than public policy reporting.
Look at how they handled the Cheney attacks. How many “Cheney versus Obama”; “Cheney takes on Obama”; “Cheney fires at Obama”; “Gibbs slams Cheney”; “Obama whacks Cheney” articles have you seen recently? How many “Cheney’s account don’t tell the full story”; “Cheney’s wrong about effectiveness of torture” (Or at least, “Investigations conducted with traditional methods usually produce the most reliable information”); “FBI and military leaders refused to endorse Bush administration interrogation tactics” (most people probably still don’t know this)?”
———-
The above written by Travis is part of the problem. If a news reporter were to claim that Palin was wrong in suggesting there were death panels, or that Obama was right in saying they don’t exist, or that Cheney was wrong about effectiveness of interrogation methods, or any other type of reporting along those lines, I’m immediately going to disregard it as being biased. I’m not interested in biased reporting. I want “Palin said there’s death panels and here’s why,” and “Obama said there’s not death panels and here’s why,” and “Cheney said interrogation methods worked and here’s why,” and “Obama said they didn’t work and here’s why,” and then *I’ll* decide who’s telling the truth and who’s not.
It’s not the media’s job to “look at the facts to really present the truth,” I’ll decide what the truth is that after I get the facts. When the media tells me they’re “really presenting the truth,” I’m 100% sure they’re really not.
“The email suggests that the media’s failure has helped the “frightening smears” of reform foes seem “pretty convincing,” because “folks don’t know that they’re false.”
The email’s suggestion would be RIGHT! How can anyone with eyes and ears not see that the media has been doing it’s best to advance the right wing nuttery as truthful, when it’s been a constant drip of lies? The fact that they even acknowledge the lies as being in the least bit credible by giving them airtime, has baffled me ever since the “debate” about the stimulus when all they advanced was the Republican agenda!
The media is supposed to be objective in their distribution of information but instead, they have embraced false equivalencies that just adds to voters
confusion.
I will DEFINITELY blame the media, right along with the Republicans, if this bill doesn’t pass because the media decided to take the low road and helped in every imaginable way to see that this bill would be defeated!
Fourth Estate in US = Fifth Columnists.
The media will be judged as one of the main villains of orchestrating the downfall of US as a major world power in future history lessons.
Blame the Republicans and the media?? Why?? The Republicans are not the problem, at least we know where they stand. The Democrats are the enemy. They’re nothing but a bunch of corporatists. And year after year, self-proclaimed liberals and progressives foolishly vote for these corporate shills believing they give a **** about the average American.
I blame the Democrats, those who support the Democratic party, and those who cast their blame towards the Republicans and the media. Until those who support Democrats figure out they’ve become nothing but a bunch of mindless sheep who are being lead around by their noses, then they get what they deserve. I just wanna kick them in the teeth for dragging the rest of us down with them into their corporate Democratic party nightmare.
The political Left in this country is the party of the slippery slope. Almost every major historical argument has been a slippery slope argument. Ending parti bith abortion means back alley abortion, the end of the constitution and fascism. This folks want the media to pronounce as lies much more plausible slippery slope claims about Obamacare, because ‘theylre not in the bill’, so now they are static literists.
The fact that President Obama expects the news media to debunk his policy’s opponents is the clearest indication that even President Obama believes the news media industry is mostly liberal.
The fact that more than 70% of all journalists contribute to the Democrat party is another solid indication.
Yet another clear indication that most news media corporations are liberal is that news media constantly identify conservative organizations as “far right wing” and identify GOP politicians as such when they are in the news for negative reasons, but the news media rarely identify liberal organizations as anything but “non profit” and rarely identify Democratic Party politicians as such when they are in the news for negative reasons.
But believe what you want. If it supports Democratic Party policy, the liberal news media will help spin your coccoon.
this is what happens when you try and run a “paul krugman” economy.
no one individual did more to orchestrate the demise of this enitre gambit, than pk. the dems have been mouthing everything he has said, and now are stuck with his ramblings, musings, and contradictions.
The inception of the krugman economy stems from house leadership staffers, reading the nyt, and echoing it in the meetings, without bothering to look at the contradictions.
the end result is that they are pushing ideas which are beyond absurd.
I don’t worry about media bias. I cancelled my media subscriptions, including cable, 2 days before the coronation in November.
I had no choice – I have an aversion to propaganda.
Because media aren’t doing an honest job, I joined a dozen organizations to fight against a tyrannical, incompetent president; our DEAR READER.
Liberal regressives rely on emotions rather than facts or logic. It’s useless to discuss anything with them. If it isn’t their idea it can’t be good.
Most posts on this site are from liberal regressives.
You folks started the revolution, but we will finish it.
The repubs whining here about the media bias is the biggest joke.
Hey, repubs. You had an unfettered run for over 30 years and the end result is there for all to see. So, f*ck off.
Here’s a good example of the lies. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B-_SGGcJu_c
Medicare: broke.
Social Security: broke.
Federal Government: broke.
Deficit: 9 trillion dollars more spent than taken in.
Obamacare: the DMV with bedpans
@ Thad, who wrote the following: “The above written by Travis is part of the problem. If a news reporter were to claim that Palin was wrong in suggesting there were death panels, or that Obama was right in saying they don’t exist, or that Cheney was wrong about effectiveness of interrogation methods, or any other type of reporting along those lines, I’m immediately going to disregard it as being biased. I’m not interested in biased reporting. I want “Palin said there’s death panels and here’s why,” and “Obama said there’s not death panels and here’s why,” and “Cheney said interrogation methods worked and here’s why,” and “Obama said they didn’t work and here’s why,” and then *I’ll* decide who’s telling the truth and who’s not.
It’s not the media’s job to “look at the facts to really present the truth,” I’ll decide what the truth is that after I get the facts. When the media tells me they’re “really presenting the truth,” I’m 100% sure they’re really not.”
—————————
Thad, my friend, you’re simply saying exactly what I said, just in your own way. There’s no discrepancy in how we think the media should operate.
Nowhere did I say that media should make some declarative statement like, “Here’s the truth.”
Let’s take the “death panels” example: My point is simply that the media has a responsibility to note that the assessments of impartial experts disagree with Palin’s assertion — a point many subsequently made. The problem is that they did not do that initially; they sensationalized the story, and excluded any “truth” (i.e., facts, impartial analysis).
Frankly, I’m also inclined to retort that how you handled my comment is actually more of a problem for the media. I noted at the end of the comment that “we just need places to go to get sound, unadulterated, in-depth information, minus all the bull.” And, again, nowhere did I advocate a biased media. Yet, you selectively took portions of my comment out of context and editorialized to uncover my “true” proposition. That’s exactly what the media does in their “what Obama (or the politician of your choice) really meant” articles. I don’t need them to tell me what someone else meant. I can read and discern it for myself.
Additionally, I don’t need you to tell me what I meant, especially if you’re inclined to omit pertinent information, rendering yourself unable to clearly discern what’s apparent.
mad-as-H – “Most posts on this site are from liberal regressives.”
No shite genius.
@ Thad: It’s also worth noting that there is a significant segment of the media that focuses specifically on fact-checking (e.g., Politifact, etc.). Additionally, I’m sure you have seen “fact-check” articles after a major presidential address or press conference; many major news organizations do them. So, it’s not beyond the domain of the current media structure to use in-depth analyses to fact-check.
This point underscores my assertion that the media are more concerned with presenting sensational articles than simple information conveyance. Most major news orgs have run fact-checking articles, or have consulted independent fact-check orgs (e.g., Factcheck) for articles.
Which begs the question, why didn’t they do that for Palin’s assertion? I believe that they didn’t due to a desire (undergirded by bald profit motives) to stoke stories, to cultivate the most consumable news.
Bet the Govt is watching this to (ha!)
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first it was Bush’s fault, then it was the Republicans fault, then it was crazed nazi’s, then it was a right wing conspiracy,then astroturfers and then racists, now its the media’s fault.
“THE ONE” can’t seem to take responsibility for anything.. especially his own failures.
Obama and the socialist democrats own this debacle,the majority of “we the people” don’t trust them.
after 9 months, the “smartest” man in the world has destroyed his presidency.
He Failed.
The media can’t dispell the ‘lies’ because they are the truth.
Its staggering to see anybody who believes the media is conservative. They are all lefties “hired for their looks not their brains” – because liberals don’t have all the intellectual capacity they really need to function.
The reason the media isn’t showing fresh footage of the counter protesters is because they know that they are all Acorn, SEIU rent a mobs.
I wonder if the 4000 women who gave birth in elevators and in stairways in England are really happy with their health care.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1209034/The-babies-born-hospital-corridors-Bed-shortage-forces-4-000-mothers-birth-lifts-offices-hospital-toilets.html
Must be that the British media doesn’t hire reporters for their looks….
“Its staggering to see anybody who believes the media is conservative.”
Ssshhh! Its hysterical to read. And don’t waste your breath trying to convince them otherwsie.
My fav post so far is the “…no one I know voted for Nixon” logic.
Please don’t tap on the glass!
Travis:
I have also discovered that the “media that focuses specifically on fact-checking,” e.g., Factcheck, Politifact, etc., to be biased and unreliable. If a news organization tells me they used “in-depth analyses to fact-check,” I am fully confident they injected their own bias or they used one of these fack-checking organizations and have carried over their bias. If someone else chooses to believe them, that’s up to them. But I have caught them in too many blatant lies and distortions to ever regard them as worthy of my confidence.
Reporters have decided to inject their own opinions into the stories and then call it news or the facts, with that we agree. They have no one but themselves to blame for people not trusting them. Just look at the break-down in the media as to what percentage votes Democratic and which percentage votes Republican, or what percentage considers themselves to be conservative and what percentage consider themselves to be liberal, and the picture becomes even more clear. They aren’t reporters or journalists, they’re propaganda mouthpieces for their own political persuasion.
Welcome Instalanchers!
You have entered a Moonbat Nesting Zone.
This has been a Bilgeman Public Service Announcement.
The term “Death Panels” may be a bit inflamitory, but they are a neccesary part of any government run health program. When ever the government runs something instead of the free market, some government entity must decide where resources are spent. In the case of health care these are literally life and death decisions, thus we have death panels.
Of course the lefties on this site will come back with “but but we already have rationing”. No we don’t. The free market tries to give you want you want for the lowest price. If some bureaucrat is making your health care decisions for you, who knows what is motivating them: politics? personal bias? payoffs?
I have heard in numerous news stories recently a supposidly neutral journalist call the death panels “mis-information”,”smear”,”manufactured rhetoric”. In fact it is tautology.
“He openly acknowledged that he was exploiting the lowest instincts of the German people — racism, xenophobia, class envy and insecurity.”
As Drew Westen and other cognitive scientists have “written, we are depressingly motivated by emotional cues rather than rationalism. The modern right continues to utilize this fact about us in a way which we haven’t managed to duplicate.
———————————————–
Are you kidding? You guys throw around racism and class envy all the time. Don’t forget your fellow traveler Bull Connor was a Democrat. And you guys founded the Ku Klux Klan. Silly Kluckers.
I blame the media…I blame them for being so incredibly uncritical of this disaster of an administration. They are little more than sycophants and cheerleaders. That they are not doing enough in the minds of leftists to provide cover is very telling.
If the vast majority of the critics are wrong about what they say, it is because the leftist leaders in Congress and the Whitehouse have refused to honestly lay out their plans. They created a super ambiguous bill with almost unlimited power to control and destroy the market. This ambiguity leaves room to do incredibly terrible things. When possible outcomes get pointed out, the leftists scream bloody murder. No, the bill does not say “rationing” or “death panel”. It just happens to be what intelligence, history, and honest thought show to be the probable outcome.
These bills were written by hard left special interests and the American people are waking up and starting to say no. Democrats keep on this course at their own political peril.
Awww, Obama’s pet media dogs aren’t protecting him in the way he’s become accustomed?
Either the American public is uneducated and easily led by the nose, or it is not. You can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim a mandate due to a cheerleading press who sweeps your short-comings under the rug, and attribute it to the public understanding the need for change, then when the public turns on you attribute THAT to their ignorance because the media isn’t doing your job for you.
Frankly, I file it under “you can fool some of the people all of the time, you can fool all of the people some of the time, but you can’t fool all of the people all of the time.”
Well one thing the media, congresspeople, as well as most pundits don’t do, is actually talk about health care reform. They are too busy slinging mud at each other. When John Stossel is one of the only high profile people trying to talk rationally about what we can do to change the system, there is a problem. Shouldnt the President being tryign to convince us he’s right, instead of saying we’re all idiots bamboozled by special interest groups.
It would also be nice if the President actually wanted to “change” anything. Refusing to take on the trial lawyer lobby, giving an $80 billion handout to “big pharma” as he calls them, piling on more red tape, that is not change or reform, that’s just minimal small changes piled on top of an already broken system, but it will just cost trillions, trillions for nothing.
I’m struck by the irony, or the willful blindness, of apparently intelligent commenters here claiming the press is failing in its duties by not countering the “lies” about healthcare reform being spouted by the Right.
From my perspective, I feel the press is failing to counter the lies about the legislation being spouted by Obama and the Left.
I’ve been paying attention. In my judgement, the greater lies are coming from those who created the 1000+ piece of junk.
Liam
You blame President Obama for being missing in action? Are you kidding me? He’s been on TV every single day since since spring of 08. He never shuts up. I see him and instantly tune out – it’s blah blah blah scold scold scold blame blame blame constantly. Then you say as a long time supporter of Obama??? You must be from Chicago… He was a senator for a few months and started running for President – he’s still running! There’s been next to nothing to hang the label of supporter on.
All these people here accusing the media and right-wingers of propaganda as if Obama and his minions in and out of the press are pillars of truth. You are all deluded. I don’t think the change you all had hoped for was a Federal government take over of our society and our culture. Health care is just the start, oh that is after the car industry. Opposing this guy and his Saul Alinsky agenda is patriotic. Face the facts ever since it looked like this guy was going to be the Democratic nominee facing off against a waif like McCain everything has gone to shhhh… to hel…to the dogs.
Its sometimes to hard to tell but it seems that those who support Obamacare are not very educated. There is no thought, reason, deduction, nor logic in what they write. As they base everything on their feelings they are the most upset when othes don’t agree with them. Probably the result of our “single-payer” public school system.
In what universe does the mainstream media favor Republicans or conservatives? Maybe in the “reality-based” universe.
The media is reliably left-of-center, and has particular animus against conservatives. That said, it is possible that the Obamunists have gone so far left that even the latte-liberals can’t stomach it.
Interesting times….
BTW, I want my free beer.
Where do I start? To the average citizen, the government has pretty systematically lied to him. We have laws that say illegal immigrants can’t live in this country, can’t work in this country, and cannot receive benefits in this country. But, none of these laws are enforced. Thus, we have California literally drowning in a sea of red ink with illegals working “off the books” (i.e. paying no taxes), sending their kids to schools (at a cost of $10,000 per kid per year), and go to emergency rooms for medical care. All of this should not be so and yet it happens. Why? We don’t enforce the law.
We have government leaders like Time Geither, former senate majority leader Tom Daschle, head of ways and means Charlie Rangle paying less taxes then they are legally required to do so. And, do they suffer any legal consequences? No.
So, we have a system that lies to you and treats government leaders by a separate set of rules. We are, in all sense, nothing more then serfs to the government.
Now, along comes Obama and he says, “trust me.” Health care reform will cover 47 million more people but it won’t cost anything. Health care won’t cover illegals. He’s against deficits, etc, etc.
Is it any wonder that nobody believes him? It is only rational not to.
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