What a great piece! I remember most of the events, but I wasn’t able to follow the various threads of this story in real time… How can the press justify themselves? Not only is Biden following a completely abnormal administration - he is 100% portrayed as senile on 🦊. First Obama was hamstrung (race)- now this :/ So TFG would throw them a half-baked narrative (with plenty of drama tho) and they could help fill in the script… Helluva drug(!)
I remember officials granting tRump the rights to that DC hotel building because they knew he would ‘make a fuss!’ Wow. That bullying technique gets internalized in people and the next thing you know - they go from appeasing to actively ‘helping the guy out’ with his stupid made up BS, to avoid a hissy fit! TFG was taught these techniques by lawyer Roy Cohn way back - he was schooled (see the ‘Where’s My Roy Cohn’ documentary - explains a lot). Tired of this crappy uneven playing field and the American people for accepting it!
Four years of that idiot with his thumb on the nuclear button stole years off of my life I'm sure. Thankful that this time there is reason for hope. The press needs to step up, and this community (Thank you Eric) is helping, mebbe more than we know. Let's keep our feet on the gas.
Not only did the press practically accuse the Biden Admin of lying, journalists challenged it with Zelensky's denials, taking the Ukrainian president's position over the administration's. They also questioned if the admin was wagging the dog, banging the war drums to draw attention away from Biden's "sagging poll numbers" and "stalled domestic agenda."
What's striking to me is how the media has lionized Zelensky. There is absolutely no doubt he has admirably risen to the occasion, demonstrating remarkable courage and leadership literally under fire. He deserves accolades and has carved his place in history. But he also made mistakes. He didn't prepare his people for the possibility of Russian aggression, which journalists have chosen to overlook. It's understandable that he did not want to panic his people, but it's difficult not to compare that lack of criticism to the "chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal."
It is striking that few in the media will give the administration credit for their masterful handling of the crisis. The press again attributes it to Zelensky, claiming that his courage is what has spurred the Europeans to act so boldly, and that we are lagging behind when it comes to sanctions, etc. Instead, the questions in the first few days of the invasion were, "What mistakes did the admin make and what should they have done to prevent this?" (Nor does the press mention that we have sent troops to Poland etc specifically to coordinate humanitarian aid and help the massive number of refugees seeking shelter in addition to bolstering our forces in Europe—the same forces that Trump wanted to remove.)
Should the Biden admin vocally claim more credit? By not being Trumpy, they have brilliantly made this conflict Russia vs the world, rather than Russia v the US. I don't know how this crisis will all play out, but am sadly confident that no matter what, Biden will be blamed for anything that goes wrong and ignored for things that go right.
It's clear that the MSM is doing everything it can to make Biden appear weak. The DC press has gone over to the dark side a long time ago. But as Malcom Nance pointed out on The Stephanie Miller show this morning, 20 percent of Democrats are adding to Biden's low poll numbers, mostly from the progressive wing. When are Democrats going to realize that they are not going to get everything they want but are getting the most they have wanted in decades. 70 percent of the American people want what Biden stands for. We need to vote in concert to keep Congress blue and to increase our majority. How sad it will be if Democrats, by not voting, is the reason we lose Congress. It's up to us! We will get no help from Republicans, the MSM, or Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Short of this, in January of 2025 we will be sending arms to Russia.
AS we have discussed many times, the elite stenographers of the Beltway Press Corps is conditioned to assume that Democrats need to be pressed on everything while pressing Republicans is pointless. Why? Perhaps they know that Democrats can handle it and will respond with more facts whereas Republicans, having knowingly lied, will just amplify that lie, perhaps to the point that the Beltway stenographers can no longer paper it over. As for Biden's intelligence on Russia and Ukraine, after the fiasco in Afghanistan (blamed on Biden in spite of the fact that it was all Trump's work) it was good to push back, if for no other reason than to allow Biden to show that the Trump regime of incompetence is over.
I wonder if many members of the press are embarrassed about how they let Trump and his cabal of criminal cohorts bully and intimidate them for years, so now they're taking it out on normal, nice-guy Biden and his administration to prove to themselves and the world that they're not really a bunch of starry-eyed celebrity worshipers and/or sniveling cowards.
I already loved Eric Boehlert, but Old Crow Medicine Show sends it over the top.
I emailed Dean Baquet with a question about word choice. The Times's banner today said Biden "seeks" unity against Putin. I said he already appeared to have it, except for some republicans. Was that what The Times meant?
The Today show brought in for an interview a Ukrainian parliament member to tell us Biden's address was a "total disappointment." Because of the lack of the no-fly-zone. Not about the job Biden is doing to help, no, they needed to make sure to have a voice criticizing the job Biden is doing.
Seriously, why? Clearly Today knew exactly what this person would say, and wanted to interview this person to get that response. That the US would entertain the idea of entering into a shooting war with Russia. Of course no real pushback to that idea. Hey, you know, maybe a shooting war between US and Russia is not a good idea and could even be worse for Ukraine.
Just another example of how the press will praise the 5 things Republicans do and ignore the 100 bad things. But criticize Democrats for the 5 things they didn't do (or could not do) and ignore the 100 good things.
Eric, I won't engage this particular example of press malfeasance. Just another depressing anecdote in an ongoing campaign. My question is this. Do any of these people exhibit any degree of self-awareness and self-questioning of their obvious bias, if only in private? Are they so arrogantly taken with their own self-justifications that they do not see their complicity in undermining the party and president that are our only lines of defense against the chaos agents, authoritarians and Christo-fascist barbarians on the other side? Biden's low approval ratings are a direct result of the slanted journalism they deliver on a daily basis. "Liberal media" my ass!
Eric, I bet you saw this, but I want to post it here because maybe not all your readers are on Twitter. Tfg asked for an Army study to see if there really was Russian interference in the 2016 election, and guess what?
When Trump was facing impeachment, he killed Soleimani. It’s what he wanted to do to Pelosi. But it showed him as a murderer. Word was that GOP senators were told before the impeachment vote that if they didn’t vote to acquit Trump he’d put their head on a pile. After the Soleimani hit and all Trump had done to belittle and destroy GOP opponents, the GOP senate backed Trump. Then after the impeachment he took revenge on America and the Blue States in particular by downplaying Covid, basically sponsoring its spread in the US and denying ventilators and PPE to Blue States. He is a lying murderer. Like Putin. And that is who the media backs. So yes. Why.
"Last month when the U.S said intelligence suggested Russia was planning a “false flag operation” with propaganda videos to justify an invasion, indignant reporters in gotcha mode demanded to know where the administration got that idea, even though Putin has a long history of doing exactly that."
Oh, come on. We were all skeptical. Making claims without proof is pure George W. Bush. And the US government has a bad habit of lying in these circumstances.
Comparing to Trump is fair, though - 30,000 lies and he was given the benefit of the doubt.
What a great piece! I remember most of the events, but I wasn’t able to follow the various threads of this story in real time… How can the press justify themselves? Not only is Biden following a completely abnormal administration - he is 100% portrayed as senile on 🦊. First Obama was hamstrung (race)- now this :/ So TFG would throw them a half-baked narrative (with plenty of drama tho) and they could help fill in the script… Helluva drug(!)
I remember officials granting tRump the rights to that DC hotel building because they knew he would ‘make a fuss!’ Wow. That bullying technique gets internalized in people and the next thing you know - they go from appeasing to actively ‘helping the guy out’ with his stupid made up BS, to avoid a hissy fit! TFG was taught these techniques by lawyer Roy Cohn way back - he was schooled (see the ‘Where’s My Roy Cohn’ documentary - explains a lot). Tired of this crappy uneven playing field and the American people for accepting it!
"That cautious mindset would hang over Trump's deliberations throughout the day as he huddled several times with his national security team."
In other words, tRump blustered about bombing Iran to "show strength" and everyone had to talk him out of it.
You nailed it!
Four years of that idiot with his thumb on the nuclear button stole years off of my life I'm sure. Thankful that this time there is reason for hope. The press needs to step up, and this community (Thank you Eric) is helping, mebbe more than we know. Let's keep our feet on the gas.
Not only did the press practically accuse the Biden Admin of lying, journalists challenged it with Zelensky's denials, taking the Ukrainian president's position over the administration's. They also questioned if the admin was wagging the dog, banging the war drums to draw attention away from Biden's "sagging poll numbers" and "stalled domestic agenda."
What's striking to me is how the media has lionized Zelensky. There is absolutely no doubt he has admirably risen to the occasion, demonstrating remarkable courage and leadership literally under fire. He deserves accolades and has carved his place in history. But he also made mistakes. He didn't prepare his people for the possibility of Russian aggression, which journalists have chosen to overlook. It's understandable that he did not want to panic his people, but it's difficult not to compare that lack of criticism to the "chaotic Afghanistan withdrawal."
It is striking that few in the media will give the administration credit for their masterful handling of the crisis. The press again attributes it to Zelensky, claiming that his courage is what has spurred the Europeans to act so boldly, and that we are lagging behind when it comes to sanctions, etc. Instead, the questions in the first few days of the invasion were, "What mistakes did the admin make and what should they have done to prevent this?" (Nor does the press mention that we have sent troops to Poland etc specifically to coordinate humanitarian aid and help the massive number of refugees seeking shelter in addition to bolstering our forces in Europe—the same forces that Trump wanted to remove.)
Should the Biden admin vocally claim more credit? By not being Trumpy, they have brilliantly made this conflict Russia vs the world, rather than Russia v the US. I don't know how this crisis will all play out, but am sadly confident that no matter what, Biden will be blamed for anything that goes wrong and ignored for things that go right.
It's clear that the MSM is doing everything it can to make Biden appear weak. The DC press has gone over to the dark side a long time ago. But as Malcom Nance pointed out on The Stephanie Miller show this morning, 20 percent of Democrats are adding to Biden's low poll numbers, mostly from the progressive wing. When are Democrats going to realize that they are not going to get everything they want but are getting the most they have wanted in decades. 70 percent of the American people want what Biden stands for. We need to vote in concert to keep Congress blue and to increase our majority. How sad it will be if Democrats, by not voting, is the reason we lose Congress. It's up to us! We will get no help from Republicans, the MSM, or Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema. Short of this, in January of 2025 we will be sending arms to Russia.
AS we have discussed many times, the elite stenographers of the Beltway Press Corps is conditioned to assume that Democrats need to be pressed on everything while pressing Republicans is pointless. Why? Perhaps they know that Democrats can handle it and will respond with more facts whereas Republicans, having knowingly lied, will just amplify that lie, perhaps to the point that the Beltway stenographers can no longer paper it over. As for Biden's intelligence on Russia and Ukraine, after the fiasco in Afghanistan (blamed on Biden in spite of the fact that it was all Trump's work) it was good to push back, if for no other reason than to allow Biden to show that the Trump regime of incompetence is over.
I wonder if many members of the press are embarrassed about how they let Trump and his cabal of criminal cohorts bully and intimidate them for years, so now they're taking it out on normal, nice-guy Biden and his administration to prove to themselves and the world that they're not really a bunch of starry-eyed celebrity worshipers and/or sniveling cowards.
I already loved Eric Boehlert, but Old Crow Medicine Show sends it over the top.
I emailed Dean Baquet with a question about word choice. The Times's banner today said Biden "seeks" unity against Putin. I said he already appeared to have it, except for some republicans. Was that what The Times meant?
The Today show brought in for an interview a Ukrainian parliament member to tell us Biden's address was a "total disappointment." Because of the lack of the no-fly-zone. Not about the job Biden is doing to help, no, they needed to make sure to have a voice criticizing the job Biden is doing.
Seriously, why? Clearly Today knew exactly what this person would say, and wanted to interview this person to get that response. That the US would entertain the idea of entering into a shooting war with Russia. Of course no real pushback to that idea. Hey, you know, maybe a shooting war between US and Russia is not a good idea and could even be worse for Ukraine.
Just another example of how the press will praise the 5 things Republicans do and ignore the 100 bad things. But criticize Democrats for the 5 things they didn't do (or could not do) and ignore the 100 good things.
Eric, I won't engage this particular example of press malfeasance. Just another depressing anecdote in an ongoing campaign. My question is this. Do any of these people exhibit any degree of self-awareness and self-questioning of their obvious bias, if only in private? Are they so arrogantly taken with their own self-justifications that they do not see their complicity in undermining the party and president that are our only lines of defense against the chaos agents, authoritarians and Christo-fascist barbarians on the other side? Biden's low approval ratings are a direct result of the slanted journalism they deliver on a daily basis. "Liberal media" my ass!
Eric, I bet you saw this, but I want to post it here because maybe not all your readers are on Twitter. Tfg asked for an Army study to see if there really was Russian interference in the 2016 election, and guess what?
https://bylinetimes.com/2022/03/02/trump-military-study-saw-brexit-as-first-step-in-russian-information-blitzkrieg-on-west/
The race for eyeballs and clicks is always downhill.
Our Failed Political Press would rather amplify a dramatic lie than a dramatic truth.
"Especially when the GOP lied about everything", and the Biden administration has proven to be correct.
When Trump was facing impeachment, he killed Soleimani. It’s what he wanted to do to Pelosi. But it showed him as a murderer. Word was that GOP senators were told before the impeachment vote that if they didn’t vote to acquit Trump he’d put their head on a pile. After the Soleimani hit and all Trump had done to belittle and destroy GOP opponents, the GOP senate backed Trump. Then after the impeachment he took revenge on America and the Blue States in particular by downplaying Covid, basically sponsoring its spread in the US and denying ventilators and PPE to Blue States. He is a lying murderer. Like Putin. And that is who the media backs. So yes. Why.
"Last month when the U.S said intelligence suggested Russia was planning a “false flag operation” with propaganda videos to justify an invasion, indignant reporters in gotcha mode demanded to know where the administration got that idea, even though Putin has a long history of doing exactly that."
Oh, come on. We were all skeptical. Making claims without proof is pure George W. Bush. And the US government has a bad habit of lying in these circumstances.
Comparing to Trump is fair, though - 30,000 lies and he was given the benefit of the doubt.