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looks like the current neoconservative and right wing strategy is to deny reality, blame the media...but GOP support fades...
Published on March 27, 2007 By Sean Conners aka SConn1 In Current Events
Since the handover in Congress in January, I have noticed something interesting. Now that Congress is beginning to get back to the task of executive oversight after a long hiatus, everything is now the media's fault. At least, according to the Neoconservatives.

Sure, there are always the complaints from either side charging bias whenever anyone makes a compelling argument for or against an issue they hold dear on the opposite side of the fence. But htis is more of the "chicken little" variety. Pre-emptive media complaints, if you will.

Right here, the evidence on JU is clear. The sub-prime mortgage issue? Media is to blame. The war in Iraq? Blame the media! Coverage of the 2008 Presidential candidates? The sky has alread fallen there, and the media did it. Going, going, Gone-zolezgate? It's a media scandal! Global warming? Have I mentioned that they believe that the media might have something to do with it?

And so on and so on...

But wait, there's more!

Also, if anyone the neoconservatives and far right wingers disagree with your article, and it's from a "major source" that isn't Fox News, then it's just "typical liberal media spin and lies." If it is from a not so major source, or not on the front page or not widely covered by anyone, then they poo-poo it saying it must not be true or it would have been covered by a bigger news source, put on the front page or would have been covered by everyone.

If it's their story, and only Fox reports it, or spins it their way, then they are the "voice of farness in the sea of liberal media bias." Then that gets parrotted over and over by the conservative portable punditry. If the story is done by a minor source, it is again viewed as a "voice of independence and truth." A story ignored by the "liberal media."

Heads I win, tails you lose is the name of their game.

Meanwhile, as we get the usual "early reports of progress" as we do with every "fresh 6 months" the administration buys to avoid the inevitable, voilence has surged and spiked to a new level. Over 4 million Iraqi citizens who didn't ask for this have either been killed, seriously mamed, crippled or disfigured in some way, been forced to emigrate from their homeland or have been seriously displaced. And the liberal media didn't do that to them, the bad policies and incompetence of this administration did.

One of the key members of the department of Justice, which President Bush promised would testify in oopen hearings has gotten herself a heavyweight defense criminal defense attorney and has exercized her right not to incriminate herself. The liberal media didn't do that to her, the possible crimes carried out by her or her bosses are. The administration just better hope she isn't using this to get some immunity and rat out her bosses. But most of all, I hope she doesn't have a husband in the CIA.

And the same right wing lackys that complained that democrats were alone in pre-emptively trying to stop voter fraud before the election of 2006 are now being the chicken little's who are charging that they already know that the entire media will be giving every democratic candidate "a clean or free pass" all the way thru November 2008.

As someone who doesn't subscribe to either major party, watching it from the bleachers, how the tables have turned, and how each side is handling it, is quite entertaining. Smart republicans are splitting from the administration and establishing a new game plan. Smart democrats are trying to do what the people sent them there to do and actually oversee this administration as the constitution dictates. A few democrats are still trying to be all things to all people and a few of the right wing loyalists are going back to their "blame the media" card until someone who rides an elephant comes up with something they can talk about.

And as the GOP brass realizes that the only decent path forward for them is to stop defending this administration's incompetence and closed door secrecy, hopefully it won't be too long before some republicans once again join the actual debate of issues as this "blame the media" charade is just so obvious and weak.






Comments
on Mar 28, 2007
And the same right wing lackys that complained that democrats were alone in pre-emptively trying to stop voter fraud before the election of 2006 are now being the chicken little's who are charging that they already know that the entire media will be giving every democratic candidate "a clean or free pass" all the way thru November 2008.


Chicken littles, neocons...LOL.

It has been well documented in the last few elections that the media gives more "postive" coverage for democrats than they do democrats.  Do you seriously believe that the media will give repbulicans the same treatment as democrats.




on Mar 28, 2007
It has been well documented in the last few elections that the media gives more "postive" coverage for democrats than they do democrats.


your theory assumes here assumes that all things are equal and the only determinent is the coverage. that is not so, necessarily. to believe that, you would have to have the predisposition that both parties do an equal number of things right and wrong. judging from your previous work, i'm confident that you don't believe that. please don't waste our time with a bunch of selective stats that both liberal and conservative pundits like to throw around, i've seen them.

if you want to locate the real biases in the media, look at their lazy bias. look at the "6 year olds playing soccer" mentality of the press at times. look at the commercials on the news channels (very few of which are for the "average american" unless it's to sell you insurance or some new pill) and then watch the "walking on eggshells" approach the news channels take with big business.
on Mar 28, 2007
they retracted it. and unlike you, i am not as sure that it is justifiable to go thru the expense of redoing the entire sunday magazine and possibly missing a deadline for the error made.

Let me tell ya something folks, this is a sixteen page article, detailing the tragic stories of several women in the military, Ms. Randall's contribution was not necessary for them to make their case

so why redo the entire magazine for an error which doesn't make or break the case? you said it yourself.

besides, you certainly prove my point by bringing this up...everyything that is wrong with the iraq war is the media's (in this case, the times) fault for making an error with 1 person.
on Mar 28, 2007
so why redo the entire magazine for an error which doesn't make or break the case? you said it yourself.


Not necessarily. It, quite realistically, wouldn't be economically feasible to do an emergency reprint of the entire magazine. That wasn't LW's entire point though. It WAS feasible (and also the ethically responsible thing) to print a retraction/modification in the SAME edition where the magazine was to appear. They knew in plenty of time to have the clarification ready to go on that Sunday. Did they? Hmmm....

Other than trying to get as much play out of knowingly false information as they could, why wait a week after publication, when it puts at almost TWO weeks knowing about it, to correct the problem?

In my business, it could quite easily cost me my job, and my company some serious money (fines and lost business) to have KNOWINGLY false information publicized as true and not correcting the issue.

Used to be that the NYT held themselves to this standard. It's what gave them the credibility to hold everyone one else accountable.

Now? They're lack of being able to keep a handle on their own accuracy/truth has diminished, if not destroyed utterly, any credibility that they used as a base for keeping others accountable.

It's gotten to the point where ANY news source is suspect. CNN, MSNBC, NYT, FoxNews, WP, and especially the Richmond Times-Disgrace, er Times-Dispatch. You have to sort through 10 paragraphs of spin to get the one fact that they actually include.
on Mar 28, 2007
It WAS feasible (and also the ethically responsible thing) to print a retraction/modification in the SAME edition where the magazine was to appear. They knew in plenty of time to have the clarification ready to go on that Sunday.


facts, opinions or speculation? i've done some work in the publishing business and know that some of that can be easier said than done. maybe they could have, maybe they couldn't. i don't know. in the end, they did the responsible thing. they may not have done what you or whip wanted them to do, but i see nothing but a continued nitpick of the NYT from the same people and pundits over and over. and here, like in most, they target in on something minor, in this case, so minor that it didn't really affect the story or it's credibility, and make a non existant federal case out of it.

the problem in that story wasn't the new york times getting 1 thing wrong. getting 1 thing wrong in a 16 page article that didn't depend on those "facts" to be included doesn't give license to write off everything. throwing the baby out with the bathwater isn't usually a genuine strategy. it is good political theater and posturing however.

on Mar 29, 2007
'Reporting' outright lies is not bias. It's lying

yep lil girl, it is. and you have proven yourself to be just that.


(Citizen)little-whipMarch 29, 2007 11:08:57

btw, Sean, since you've seen fit to delete my posts on your threads, expect the same treatment here.

In other words, don't bother. Just go write another long sob story about how badly misunderstood you are, how unfair JU Admin is, and what meanies me and my 'cronies' are.

but on Tex's thread she says this...

little-whipMarch 29, 2007 11:51:49
I wonder where he is this morning? Do ya think he is pulling a DoN on us? You know, disappearing for a few days until all this sinks below the radar? Of course, anyone then questioning his sudden lack of participation will be accused of 'having no life' because obviously he's got far more important things to do than blog.

Except when he's on here blathering, that is. And that's damn near all day, every day.


notice the times of the posts. at 11:08 she is responding to a post i made this morning correcting her on again misrepresenting my position and setting the record straight. then at 11:51, over a 1/2 hour later, she acts like "i am MIA" and she has "scared me out of here" or something.


you are a liar and you are busted whip.

on Mar 30, 2007
the first post of yours is a RESPONSE to my post in the morning (the one that you rushed and deleted minutes after i posted it)

the 2nd, you claim "you haven't seen me all day" which is an intentional lie because you replied to me not 1 hour before.

you are a liar, again.

and one that can't shut her lying mouth, now adding lies upon lies. keep diggin whip...






on Mar 31, 2007
now you've proven yourself to be a liar and a hypocrite on 2 fronts. you just can't shut up , can you? convenient that he posted that lil piece of evidence after i busted you. and as far as the times go, i know when you posted both of those, and the times are accurate. i don't need all this posturing. circling the wagons doesn't impress me 1 iota. i know the truth, lil girl. and this b.s. is typical and predictable stuff from your lil clique..

the past 2 days i have left everyone alone here. just writing what i write for my own satisfaction on my own blog. the only person i responded to was gideon, because i did actually give a damn about what he thought (notice the past tense there). and i did it on my own blog since i am not welcome to respond to any of the "pile-ons" elsewhere. oh, and i did wish someone a happy birthday. (i hope they weren't offended). you, on the other hand have played little juvenile games and continued to insult me at every opportunity. writing whatever you can to feed your own ego and somehow justify everything to yourself. and where that may entertain and impress the flock, i honestly could care less.

i have never sought anyone's approval or endorsement here or anywhere else, and that isn't about to change lil girl.

people will read my stuff, or they won't. people will choose to discuss the issues raised in my articles with me, or they won't. it is their choice. and where i enjoy a good discussion as much as anyone, i am certainly not here to offend by my mere presence. as soon as it was evident that i wasn't going to get a fair say with tex, i have left ya'll to your own devices. the 1 thing i have written concerning this petty matter was merely stating my viewpoint. and doing my best not to use it as some sort of "battle cry" and in fact downplaying any attention or further disturbance by at least trying to disable comments. you have done the opposite. and where the JU court of popular opinion may have it's own non binding verdict, the only one that matters to me is my own. and there, my actions have spoken louder than your endless blathering of words ever could.

but don't let that stop ya'll from patting each other on the back.

i've been writing for a long time, and have never suffered for an audience. nor have i ever pandered for one. i hope that is clear enough.

have a nice day:)
on Mar 31, 2007
you are now boiled down to having a typo be your big "piece" of evidence...wow...the impressive displays never stop with you i guess.