I can't help but wonder what the press would have done had Trump been a Democrat. I honestly believe if that were the case, Trump would have been impeached and removed long ago. It's one thing that the Republican Party has completely transformed themselves into fascists, enabling every conceivable lie that has spewed from Trump's pie hole. It's another that the media has also downplayed and whitewashed this obvious mentally ill president's divisive statements for over four years now when you include the 2016 campaign. We are on the precipice of losing our democracy forever. It's hard to believe but get it through your skull that we are one election away from becoming the wealthiest banana republic in history. So tomorrow and the days that follow we'll find out who we are. Are we a country of people who truly believe all men and women are created equal or are we all to blame for the failing of an idea the Founders had in mind 250 years ago, that we could govern ourselves and not depend on the whims of a king. We're all to blame. We hear about the Blue Wave and we certainly hope that's true tomorrow but where was this blue wave over the last 40 years as Republicans slowly and methodically eroded away our institutions. Dems couldn't see the long game. Many didn't even bother to vote or absurdly threw away their votes on third party candidates that had no chance of winning. How would things be different had we had a President Gore for the first eight years of this century and a Hillary Clinton the last four? Sorry, I digress but your blog at least gives me (and others) the opportunity to vent... while we still can.
Those of us who did realize what was going on also saw the media normalize that extremist behavior. We also saw too many people on the left buy into rightwing lies when the mainstream media helped spread them, like they did when they spread the lie that Gore had claimed to have invented the internet, that Hillary had broken the law and endangered national security with her emails, that the Clinton Foundation was corrupt, etc.
If the mainstream media doesn’t change its ways this nightmare will not go away.
Stephanopoulus has always been acted like he is holier-than-thou, too above-the-fray to be soiled by politics. The media and the public has bought that image. That devout Greek Orthodox even got a pass from his media buddies for socializing with Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein had been convicted. George may not really be a man of high standards but he plays one well on TV which sadly gives him a lot of influence and public trust.
Last week we also had that political genius Chuck Todd asking if Biden was taking the pandemic too seriously on the campaign trail.
Just this morning I heard John Heileman say that the best polls in Florida have Trump up by 1 on average. I checked the polls posted today and yesterday by Nate Silver. The top-rated polls show the opposite:
I find it hard to believe that Heileman is unaware of Nate Silver’s continually updated poll postings, complete with ratings of the polling outfit. He could have googled it while waiting for Mika and Mike Barnicle to stop bloviating. Either Heileman is too lazy to do a quick check or he is lying about those polls for some reason — horse race? Excitement? Scaring people to the polls? Whatever the reason that is journalistic malpractice just like failing to call out Trump’s lies. Journalists have no business spinning the facts.
Waking up to news that Biden was at least tied with Trump in Texas gave me a little hope. There are lots of things about this president that scare me, and I get how they couldn't indict a sitting president (though, still up for debate), but why weren't his criminal kids indicted? The fact that one of Ivanka's Chinese patents had to do with voting booth technology seemed to fly completely under the radar...
Dixville Notch and Hart's Landing will report their results right after midnight tonight. Will Trump throw a tantrum if Biden wins both OR will he declare himself the winner and demand the vote counting stop if he squeaks by?
As a Texan watching this all happening in real time, it is so energizing! I haven’t seen Democrats this active in years. I work in downtown Dallas. They are already boarding up glass front street level businesses in anticipation of the cult uprise. Our office sent out alerts to stay home if possible. Our building security is on high alert. These “very good people” are on our interstates, just driving and shouting with their flags flying and were showing up at the polls here just got overt intimidation.
On the plus side, not only have Republican efforts at voter suppression empowered record voter turnout, but also voter awareness across the board. Nobody took voter suppression seriously in the mainstream before this. It was always somebody else’s problem. But now, Trump and the GOP have made it everybody’s problem, and the pushback has been glorious to watch.
And seriously, what kind of idiot announces in advance his intention to steal an election by suppressing vote counts? Did they really think Americans wouldn’t fight back? Any pretext of legitimacy they might have manipulated is gone. These people, my God. 🙄
And just because Trump might declare himself the winner at midnight doesn't mean that Biden is going to concede. There's no way he's going to roll over and let Trump declare victory.
I was thrilled when Yochai Benkler, a guest on today's "Here and Now" on NPR, said that all news reported about trump's declarations should begin with the announcement that what he's said is a lie.
I do believe this is the first time I've heard someone else call out the press over the airwaves.
The truth sandwich approach. First statement makes it clear that what was said is false, describe the statement, then detail why it is false (or a lie if the reporter knows the person is knows what they are saying isn’t true). Cognitive and linguist research has shown that controlling the “frame”, image, story or metaphor people use to interpret what they hear is key. In news reports the opening statement or headline determines that “frame” that most people will use. In fact the term “truth sandwich” is a great way to frame that argument.
The First Amendment cannot survive a second term. As terrible as that would be if republicans retained control and thus finished their half-century-long fascist coup, the last people for whom I would have sympathy are the DC political media--the chief chucktodd of them all, madam; Clinton Boy Who Doesn't Condone His Behavior, wannabe madam; Norah O'Donnell, holder of the David Broder Chair in Career Declension; MoDodo, grand wizard.
I wonder if these so called journalist can look at themselves in the mirror in the morning and do they like the person they see. The person who has taken the money and sold their souls to the people who pitch hate. These same journalist that we know have a double standard. Maybe they should listen to MJ'S man in the mirror, because they have lost their humanity, empathy and caring about their fellow human beings. Greed, hatred and double standard that's what they stand for. It's distressing to even look at their faces.
And if they couched their phrasing in such a way that might pass editorial muster, by not actually using the word "lie," then the low-level reading comprehension of Rethuglicons would just gloss over it anyway. No win sitch, sadly.
There are also implications that San Antonio police were either involved in the "Trump train attack or were watching and laughing about it. These Trump idiots were all over social media posting pictures and videos and bragging about it. The guy who sideswiped the bus escort car also drove same truck into a BLM protest earlier in the summer. Oh, and he's bribed police with catered barbeque and beer, which helped him get zero penalties for a DWI...
“Kentucky State Police quoted Hitler and encouraged cadets to be ‘ruthless’ in a training program”
But then there is this one from CNN:
FBI investigating alleged harassment of Biden campaign bus by Trump supporters
The media should be highlighting the fact that the FBI is investigating those people for harassing and intimidating democrats. That would make people think twice about intimidating voters.
The FBI stepped in yesterday and are investigating. Targeting a presidential candidate with a Secret Service detail on a federal public highway is a federal offense. Somehow, I don’t think barbecue and beer is going to help him this time.
I can't help but wonder what the press would have done had Trump been a Democrat. I honestly believe if that were the case, Trump would have been impeached and removed long ago. It's one thing that the Republican Party has completely transformed themselves into fascists, enabling every conceivable lie that has spewed from Trump's pie hole. It's another that the media has also downplayed and whitewashed this obvious mentally ill president's divisive statements for over four years now when you include the 2016 campaign. We are on the precipice of losing our democracy forever. It's hard to believe but get it through your skull that we are one election away from becoming the wealthiest banana republic in history. So tomorrow and the days that follow we'll find out who we are. Are we a country of people who truly believe all men and women are created equal or are we all to blame for the failing of an idea the Founders had in mind 250 years ago, that we could govern ourselves and not depend on the whims of a king. We're all to blame. We hear about the Blue Wave and we certainly hope that's true tomorrow but where was this blue wave over the last 40 years as Republicans slowly and methodically eroded away our institutions. Dems couldn't see the long game. Many didn't even bother to vote or absurdly threw away their votes on third party candidates that had no chance of winning. How would things be different had we had a President Gore for the first eight years of this century and a Hillary Clinton the last four? Sorry, I digress but your blog at least gives me (and others) the opportunity to vent... while we still can.
Those of us who did realize what was going on also saw the media normalize that extremist behavior. We also saw too many people on the left buy into rightwing lies when the mainstream media helped spread them, like they did when they spread the lie that Gore had claimed to have invented the internet, that Hillary had broken the law and endangered national security with her emails, that the Clinton Foundation was corrupt, etc.
If the mainstream media doesn’t change its ways this nightmare will not go away.
Everything you said.
You are on point.
Stephanopoulus has always been acted like he is holier-than-thou, too above-the-fray to be soiled by politics. The media and the public has bought that image. That devout Greek Orthodox even got a pass from his media buddies for socializing with Jeffrey Epstein after Epstein had been convicted. George may not really be a man of high standards but he plays one well on TV which sadly gives him a lot of influence and public trust.
Last week we also had that political genius Chuck Todd asking if Biden was taking the pandemic too seriously on the campaign trail.
Just this morning I heard John Heileman say that the best polls in Florida have Trump up by 1 on average. I checked the polls posted today and yesterday by Nate Silver. The top-rated polls show the opposite:
https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/florida/
I find it hard to believe that Heileman is unaware of Nate Silver’s continually updated poll postings, complete with ratings of the polling outfit. He could have googled it while waiting for Mika and Mike Barnicle to stop bloviating. Either Heileman is too lazy to do a quick check or he is lying about those polls for some reason — horse race? Excitement? Scaring people to the polls? Whatever the reason that is journalistic malpractice just like failing to call out Trump’s lies. Journalists have no business spinning the facts.
God save us from these pompous fools
the network Sunday shows are broken under Trump....they seem to think their job is to book Republican guests and then just sit there
Lawrence Spivak is throwing fits in his grave seeing how Meet The Press has devolved into Meet The Presstitute.
Any suggestions about how we could protest that? Is there a contact for NBC that they really pay attention to?
NBC created Trumpenstein.
Not big on cancel culture but I did submit a request that if George can’t call out lies and be a real journalist, he might check out Fox News..
This. All of this. ☝️
Waking up to news that Biden was at least tied with Trump in Texas gave me a little hope. There are lots of things about this president that scare me, and I get how they couldn't indict a sitting president (though, still up for debate), but why weren't his criminal kids indicted? The fact that one of Ivanka's Chinese patents had to do with voting booth technology seemed to fly completely under the radar...
Dixville Notch and Hart's Landing will report their results right after midnight tonight. Will Trump throw a tantrum if Biden wins both OR will he declare himself the winner and demand the vote counting stop if he squeaks by?
Those places are painfully Republican. I'll be shocked if they go for Biden. It's Hart's Location.
As a Texan watching this all happening in real time, it is so energizing! I haven’t seen Democrats this active in years. I work in downtown Dallas. They are already boarding up glass front street level businesses in anticipation of the cult uprise. Our office sent out alerts to stay home if possible. Our building security is on high alert. These “very good people” are on our interstates, just driving and shouting with their flags flying and were showing up at the polls here just got overt intimidation.
On the plus side, not only have Republican efforts at voter suppression empowered record voter turnout, but also voter awareness across the board. Nobody took voter suppression seriously in the mainstream before this. It was always somebody else’s problem. But now, Trump and the GOP have made it everybody’s problem, and the pushback has been glorious to watch.
And seriously, what kind of idiot announces in advance his intention to steal an election by suppressing vote counts? Did they really think Americans wouldn’t fight back? Any pretext of legitimacy they might have manipulated is gone. These people, my God. 🙄
And just because Trump might declare himself the winner at midnight doesn't mean that Biden is going to concede. There's no way he's going to roll over and let Trump declare victory.
I was thrilled when Yochai Benkler, a guest on today's "Here and Now" on NPR, said that all news reported about trump's declarations should begin with the announcement that what he's said is a lie.
I do believe this is the first time I've heard someone else call out the press over the airwaves.
That is awesome. I'm sure NPR will never ask him to be a guest again.
The truth sandwich approach. First statement makes it clear that what was said is false, describe the statement, then detail why it is false (or a lie if the reporter knows the person is knows what they are saying isn’t true). Cognitive and linguist research has shown that controlling the “frame”, image, story or metaphor people use to interpret what they hear is key. In news reports the opening statement or headline determines that “frame” that most people will use. In fact the term “truth sandwich” is a great way to frame that argument.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/instead-of-trumps-propaganda-how-about-a-nice-truth-sandwich/2018/06/15/80df8c36-70af-11e8-bf86-a2351b5ece99_story.html
If only the reporters had taken Ms. Sullivan's advice!
The First Amendment cannot survive a second term. As terrible as that would be if republicans retained control and thus finished their half-century-long fascist coup, the last people for whom I would have sympathy are the DC political media--the chief chucktodd of them all, madam; Clinton Boy Who Doesn't Condone His Behavior, wannabe madam; Norah O'Donnell, holder of the David Broder Chair in Career Declension; MoDodo, grand wizard.
Well I think KKKrystal Ball deserves the top honors...
I wonder if these so called journalist can look at themselves in the mirror in the morning and do they like the person they see. The person who has taken the money and sold their souls to the people who pitch hate. These same journalist that we know have a double standard. Maybe they should listen to MJ'S man in the mirror, because they have lost their humanity, empathy and caring about their fellow human beings. Greed, hatred and double standard that's what they stand for. It's distressing to even look at their faces.
I also wonder how many of them actually wrote that Trump was lying, but their stories got watered down in the editing process.
Could very well be.
And if they couched their phrasing in such a way that might pass editorial muster, by not actually using the word "lie," then the low-level reading comprehension of Rethuglicons would just gloss over it anyway. No win sitch, sadly.
It's as though ads for stupid pills were keeping cable news in business and headline writers had replaced editors. Lord, let this trend pass.
that’s just amazing...and awful
There are also implications that San Antonio police were either involved in the "Trump train attack or were watching and laughing about it. These Trump idiots were all over social media posting pictures and videos and bragging about it. The guy who sideswiped the bus escort car also drove same truck into a BLM protest earlier in the summer. Oh, and he's bribed police with catered barbeque and beer, which helped him get zero penalties for a DWI...
A headline in today’s Washington Post:
“Kentucky State Police quoted Hitler and encouraged cadets to be ‘ruthless’ in a training program”
But then there is this one from CNN:
FBI investigating alleged harassment of Biden campaign bus by Trump supporters
The media should be highlighting the fact that the FBI is investigating those people for harassing and intimidating democrats. That would make people think twice about intimidating voters.
Why? Aren't Dems their sworn enemy now?
The FBI stepped in yesterday and are investigating. Targeting a presidential candidate with a Secret Service detail on a federal public highway is a federal offense. Somehow, I don’t think barbecue and beer is going to help him this time.
Is anyone surprised?
That’s a bad headline even without the context. A long and awkward mouthful. Wow. They had to do a lot of gymnastics to spit that one out.