I seriously don't understand why the American media establishment wants to create a narrative of failing Biden presidency. It's sickening that they're okay with turning a blind eye towards the Republican Party's embrace of authoritarianism, full-on racism & bigotry, and the destruction of the American democratic experiment as a whole. It's also sickening how they needed to create this narrative because they believe the man is "boring" and gaffe-prone that he's not "entertaining" compared to his racist, misogynist, psychopathic & idiotic predecessor whose impulsive and reckless style of governance nearly ruined your country. The antics of the Orange Palpatine were good for ratings and clicks meant that covering him was financially profitable for media outlets. The problem was that while the coverage of the Trump administration was good for the bottom line financially, the media establishment themselves should've focused more on their horrible policies rather than the reality TV antics going on inside the White House. While the Biden administration has its own flaws, they're trying to fix the mess of the previous one, but everybody seems to be giving them a hard time. The news media have seemed to have forgotten their actual duty to keep people INFORMED about the issues, and not provide entertainment.
Heather Cox Richardson cited Mr. Boehlert in her daily journal, and I wanted to compliment them both. I also wanted to say that this is a reminder that the political media are a graver enemy of democracy than the republikkkan party, because the latter would not be possible without the help of the former.
I just don't get these WH press reporters seriously asking Pres Biden if it's his fault that Terry lost in VA. Like wtf?! How about what did Terry not do to secure the win? It's like doesn't the candidate have to take some responsibility? Jeez and again this outcome was in line with how it always goes historically. So all this clutching of the pearls. The WH press always seem to be out for a gotcha moment. How about highlight the racism that has been festering throughout all of these campaigns and how the Rs are literally have ZERO POLICIES yet they want to BLOCK everything that will help the regular folk. Blocking voting rights. Yet they had to cast a vote to do that. It's just so frustrating. Thanks Eric for continuing to call out their BS. They are the ones holding us back, the media. Rant over.
It's not as sexy and click-worthy, but a key part of the "disaster" in Virginia is the fact that 25% of the voters who turned out in 2020 stayed home in 2021. In 2020, about 4.5 million voted, this year it was about 3.3 million, and so a 10 pt. win for Biden became a 2 pt. loss for McAuliffe. The high turnout stories are based on the governor race turnout in 2017. Was it a referendum on Biden, or was it just the (sadly) usual voter apathy in non-presidential election years? The turnout *framing* says it all.
Uhhh… the mainstream were complicit in Tuesday disappointments (not disasters) with their gratuitous bashing of Biden over Afghanistan and kid glove treatment of Manchinema’s screwing around with the BBBA.
This column sums it up. I refused to watch or listen to the news—with a few rare exceptions—from 7 pm Tuesday night all through yesterday. Based on previous elections, I knew it would be unbearable if the Dems lost. Thank you, Eric, for pointing out how much the media coverage has worsened in just this decade from the Obama first midterm to now.
I think part of it is MM journalists' hatred of Biden (much like they hated Gore and Clinton). They were annoyed that he was in the race, denigrated his campaign, were disgusted and astonished that he took the lead from the SC primary on, and fervently hoped he would crash and burn. The gnawed their teeth because he was boring and bitched he wouldn't answer every one of their stupid yelled questions.
Media had its first opening to hit the administration shortly after the vaccine began being distributed to the states in early spring. Morning Joe and Willie G (among others) groused about the "incompetence of the administration" vis a vis why they still had to wear masks when they had already been vaccinated (obviously among the first to get it)—even though at that time the supplies were still limited and millions like me (not old enough, not sick enough) weren't eligible to get their shot yet. (And their admonishments that he wasn't thanking Trump for the vaccine!)vThen came Afghanistan, and the flood gates opened.
It's open season now on the Dems and every day the media will hammer GOP talking points and pay even less attention to substance. Coverage will be all about "just how big the Dem defeat will be in 22." I don't have a solution for overcoming the trifecta of MM bias, RW propaganda, Russian disinformation, and the left's own ignorance and disinterest. It is heartening that more people—at least demonstrated by social media and the comments to news stories) see what is happening, so all is not lost.
But I'm not a Pollyanna; the next few months without more movement from Justice on 1/6 and/or without a big Dem legislative win will be tough.
“The Democratic Party needs to figure out ways to more actively court its base voters on a regular basis.”
Important note: if you have to "court" them, they are not your "base". Progressives are not the Democratic base for this very reason. It isn't because of their ideals, it's because of their idealism. Dems need to focus on courting independents, not just with popular policies, but with populist rhetoric. "If you don't vote for the Democrat you are a bigot." Maybe not quite so confrontational as that in wording, but that needs to be the message voters get. Because it is true.
Hey, you got a nice shout-out yesterday from Heather Cox Richardson. Hoping that will help to spread the word about the ongoing destructive machinations of the high-emotion, click bait-driven media.
What we need is for the Lincoln Projectvto fund some very clever, very funny you g people to make TikToks that mock the GOP and shine a light on their racism. You can’t take a population (voters between the ages of 21-40) who have had racism and fear drubbed into their heads their whole lives and change their minds by slamming them with facts. You need to meet the population where it lives - on TikTok and Instagram. Not kidding. You would be pretty-priming the teens, as well so that by the time they can vote, running on racism won’t be so easy.
Time to put up a bill in Congress to ban the teaching of CRT in k-12. The bill needs to be very carefully crafted to ensure the teaching on TRUE American history to K-12. Doing that would be a big optics win, and would be catnip to the Beltway media.
On a lighter note, my much-younger wife heard Sting singing the song you recommended and walked into my office. I said do you believe he's 70? (I am, too.) Knowing I can't sing worth a damn, she said, are you inspired? And then laughed at her own joke
The corporate media will do what it takes to maximize ad revenue meaning it will work to maintain competitive elections no matter how bad conservatives govern or how many good things the Democratic Party will try to achieve. They do what they do, like all businesses, for profit no matter how much damage they cause. Besides that, the Democrats lose because they are the most incompetent political organization in the history of the world. Absolutely pathetic.
I seriously don't understand why the American media establishment wants to create a narrative of failing Biden presidency. It's sickening that they're okay with turning a blind eye towards the Republican Party's embrace of authoritarianism, full-on racism & bigotry, and the destruction of the American democratic experiment as a whole. It's also sickening how they needed to create this narrative because they believe the man is "boring" and gaffe-prone that he's not "entertaining" compared to his racist, misogynist, psychopathic & idiotic predecessor whose impulsive and reckless style of governance nearly ruined your country. The antics of the Orange Palpatine were good for ratings and clicks meant that covering him was financially profitable for media outlets. The problem was that while the coverage of the Trump administration was good for the bottom line financially, the media establishment themselves should've focused more on their horrible policies rather than the reality TV antics going on inside the White House. While the Biden administration has its own flaws, they're trying to fix the mess of the previous one, but everybody seems to be giving them a hard time. The news media have seemed to have forgotten their actual duty to keep people INFORMED about the issues, and not provide entertainment.
Heather Cox Richardson cited Mr. Boehlert in her daily journal, and I wanted to compliment them both. I also wanted to say that this is a reminder that the political media are a graver enemy of democracy than the republikkkan party, because the latter would not be possible without the help of the former.
Racism and lack of education won the day. That’s the story. American media: always missing the point.
I just don't get these WH press reporters seriously asking Pres Biden if it's his fault that Terry lost in VA. Like wtf?! How about what did Terry not do to secure the win? It's like doesn't the candidate have to take some responsibility? Jeez and again this outcome was in line with how it always goes historically. So all this clutching of the pearls. The WH press always seem to be out for a gotcha moment. How about highlight the racism that has been festering throughout all of these campaigns and how the Rs are literally have ZERO POLICIES yet they want to BLOCK everything that will help the regular folk. Blocking voting rights. Yet they had to cast a vote to do that. It's just so frustrating. Thanks Eric for continuing to call out their BS. They are the ones holding us back, the media. Rant over.
It's not as sexy and click-worthy, but a key part of the "disaster" in Virginia is the fact that 25% of the voters who turned out in 2020 stayed home in 2021. In 2020, about 4.5 million voted, this year it was about 3.3 million, and so a 10 pt. win for Biden became a 2 pt. loss for McAuliffe. The high turnout stories are based on the governor race turnout in 2017. Was it a referendum on Biden, or was it just the (sadly) usual voter apathy in non-presidential election years? The turnout *framing* says it all.
Uhhh… the mainstream were complicit in Tuesday disappointments (not disasters) with their gratuitous bashing of Biden over Afghanistan and kid glove treatment of Manchinema’s screwing around with the BBBA.
This column sums it up. I refused to watch or listen to the news—with a few rare exceptions—from 7 pm Tuesday night all through yesterday. Based on previous elections, I knew it would be unbearable if the Dems lost. Thank you, Eric, for pointing out how much the media coverage has worsened in just this decade from the Obama first midterm to now.
I think part of it is MM journalists' hatred of Biden (much like they hated Gore and Clinton). They were annoyed that he was in the race, denigrated his campaign, were disgusted and astonished that he took the lead from the SC primary on, and fervently hoped he would crash and burn. The gnawed their teeth because he was boring and bitched he wouldn't answer every one of their stupid yelled questions.
Media had its first opening to hit the administration shortly after the vaccine began being distributed to the states in early spring. Morning Joe and Willie G (among others) groused about the "incompetence of the administration" vis a vis why they still had to wear masks when they had already been vaccinated (obviously among the first to get it)—even though at that time the supplies were still limited and millions like me (not old enough, not sick enough) weren't eligible to get their shot yet. (And their admonishments that he wasn't thanking Trump for the vaccine!)vThen came Afghanistan, and the flood gates opened.
It's open season now on the Dems and every day the media will hammer GOP talking points and pay even less attention to substance. Coverage will be all about "just how big the Dem defeat will be in 22." I don't have a solution for overcoming the trifecta of MM bias, RW propaganda, Russian disinformation, and the left's own ignorance and disinterest. It is heartening that more people—at least demonstrated by social media and the comments to news stories) see what is happening, so all is not lost.
But I'm not a Pollyanna; the next few months without more movement from Justice on 1/6 and/or without a big Dem legislative win will be tough.
“The Democratic Party needs to figure out ways to more actively court its base voters on a regular basis.”
Important note: if you have to "court" them, they are not your "base". Progressives are not the Democratic base for this very reason. It isn't because of their ideals, it's because of their idealism. Dems need to focus on courting independents, not just with popular policies, but with populist rhetoric. "If you don't vote for the Democrat you are a bigot." Maybe not quite so confrontational as that in wording, but that needs to be the message voters get. Because it is true.
Hey, you got a nice shout-out yesterday from Heather Cox Richardson. Hoping that will help to spread the word about the ongoing destructive machinations of the high-emotion, click bait-driven media.
What we need is for the Lincoln Projectvto fund some very clever, very funny you g people to make TikToks that mock the GOP and shine a light on their racism. You can’t take a population (voters between the ages of 21-40) who have had racism and fear drubbed into their heads their whole lives and change their minds by slamming them with facts. You need to meet the population where it lives - on TikTok and Instagram. Not kidding. You would be pretty-priming the teens, as well so that by the time they can vote, running on racism won’t be so easy.
We really need to pass the Freedom to Vote Act - Please watch the video here: ... http://represent.us/share2launch
Time to put up a bill in Congress to ban the teaching of CRT in k-12. The bill needs to be very carefully crafted to ensure the teaching on TRUE American history to K-12. Doing that would be a big optics win, and would be catnip to the Beltway media.
On a lighter note, my much-younger wife heard Sting singing the song you recommended and walked into my office. I said do you believe he's 70? (I am, too.) Knowing I can't sing worth a damn, she said, are you inspired? And then laughed at her own joke
The corporate media will do what it takes to maximize ad revenue meaning it will work to maintain competitive elections no matter how bad conservatives govern or how many good things the Democratic Party will try to achieve. They do what they do, like all businesses, for profit no matter how much damage they cause. Besides that, the Democrats lose because they are the most incompetent political organization in the history of the world. Absolutely pathetic.