30 Tuesday Jul 2019
Posted in media criticism, social media
What liberal media?
Michael Bersin @MBersin
CNN: Do you believe your primary opponent (D) is too extreme to beat Donald Trump (r)?
Answer: Only if Donald Trump (r) orders the Reichstag to be set on fire in the week before the election.
8:17 PM · Jul 30, 2019
CNN’s only redeeming value is that they don’t have Chuck Todd.
28 Thursday Sep 2017
Posted in Uncategorized
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If you needed any proof that patriotism is definitely not the last refuge of scoundrels, Ed Martin’s new berth at CNN should do it. Nowadays that honor seems to belong to cable news – Fox News usually, but other news channels, such as CNN, usually keep a pet rightwing gremlin on hand. And who better to play hobgoblin than Missouri’s own Mister Ed?
According to the Missouri Eagle Forum, which Martin now – sort of – heads, he has signed on as a CNN political commentator “effectively immediately.” He’ll be taking the place of the “Seig Heil” guy, Jeffrey Lord, whose choice of salutation got him fired a few weeks ago. As you may have guessed, given Lord’s affection for Nazi greetings, his role on various programs was to act as Trump-apologist-in-chief. Martin ought to fill the bill on a number of fronts.
Steve Bannon likes to tout Trump’s potential to create “chaos” and “disruption” – which Bannon, adhering to the fascist playbook, thinks is a good thing. Whether or not that’s true (hint: it’s not – unless you’re an aspirational Hitler), Ed Martin also seems tailor-made for creating chaos and for disrupting things. He’s made a mess of just about everything he’s done here in Missouri. Mess-making isn’t the only way, though, in which he and The Clown-in-Chief are super-simpatico. Consider the following points of comparison:
— Obstruction of Justice: Trump fired Sally Yates for warning him that if he weren’t careful, he might be implicated by the potentially illegal activities of Michael Flynn, his National Security advisor, who seems to have been cultivating various Russians, including Vladimir Putin. Martin fired Scott Eckersley, former Governor Matt Blunt’s deputy attorney, who had warned Blunt and Martin that the destruction of potentially explosive emails that were, nevertheless, subject to the state’s sunshine law, was likely illegal. Martin quite properly took the fall, and was fired in short order. The entire episode has been labeled “memogate.”
— Both make the political personal – and ugy: Martin didn’t just fire Eckersley, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, he attempted to “slime” him, “disclosing his private e-mail correspondence with lawyers and reporters and ginning up allegations that the young attorney visited ‘group sex’ websites.”Of course, we’re all familiar with the copious ad hominem smears that Trump spews at his critics, ranging from the golden oldies like his concern about the blood coming out Megyn Kelley’s eyes – or from “her wherever” – to his recent effort to besmirch Mika Brzezinski.
— Bigotry: Consider Martin’s pungent sentiments on Mexican immigrants in the context of Trump’s “rapist” spiel:
Spearheading Mr. Blunt’s drive against illegal immigrants, Mr. Martin told a meeting of the Missouri Housing Commission that merely by driving by construction sites, “every friggin’ developer can figure out who is illegal.” And how could they do that? “There’s a bunch of Mexican there, I guess some of them are probably not legal,” he said.
Martin followed up on those sentiments last year, asserting at a Tea Party for Trump rally that it’s okay to hate Mexicans “because “Mexicans, that’s not a race.”
— Incompetence: As Chairman of the Missouri GOP, Martin was so inept that – in a red state yet – he managed to decimate the party’s fundraising apparatus during the two years of his tenure, which the Post-Dispatch politely described as “controversial.” Do I really have to labor the comparison to Trump here? As The Chicago Tribune’s Steve Chapman wrote earlier this summer, while many folks voted for Trump because they thought he would disrupt business as usual, they “may not have known what they were getting above all else: an incompetent,” adding that “his most formidable opponent couldn’t do half as much to foil Trump as Trump himself has done.”
–– Both are deadbeats: Trump has made a career out of stiffing the little guy – his record of defaulting on bills, leaving investors and others holding the bag while he makes out like a bandit (literally) has been described in detail by Quin Hillyer in, tellingly enough, an article in the conservative American Spectator. Martin, for his part, is currently in the news for his failure to pay a PR firm he hired to build up his renegade Eagle Forum. He’s in the hole for $130,000 dollars, but, get this, calls the PR firm that’s calling in his debt “DC swamp consultants,” equating their demands for payment to a protection racket.
— Both are con men: It has been argued that Martin, after failing as Missouri GOP chairman and in his efforts to attain elected office, owes his present gig as Director of the Eagle Forum to his ability to gull its founder, the elderly Phyllis Schlafly. At least that’s the story what her daughter are telling has implied. Trump, an arguably inept business man, mediocre reality TV star, and super huckster managed to get himself elected to the presidency of one of the most powerful countries in the world by playing on the fears and biases of a particular – and not incidentally, older – segment of the population. Now that’s some con – even if he did have the help of Russian backers.
The list could go and on, I haven’t, for instance, brought up dishonesty and corruption – there’s just too much material to cover. But, you ask, what are we to learn from this comparison? Am I maybe hinting that this is what today’s Republican Party has come to? All I can say in response is that the folks at CNN chose sleazy Ed Martin, arguably a Trump-in-miniature, to represent the conservative, Republican point of view. Draw your own conclusions.
21 Monday Nov 2016
Posted in media criticism, social media
This morning from CNN:
CNN @CNN
Fake news is often shared more than real news online. Here’s what’s allowing it to thrive, and how you can stop it:
[….]
4:45 AM – 21 Nov 2016
This from the network that hired Corey Lewandowski.
The responses are priceless.
28 Tuesday Jun 2016
Posted in meta, social media
CNN hired Donald Trump’s former (recently) campaign manager as a political talking head. There’s non-disclosure involved with the former campaign manager and the campaign. Donald Trump read a teleprompter today and CNN covered it:
Jennifer Hayden @Scout_Finch
Turns on CNN: “Corey Lewandowski, what do you think of Trump’s speech?” Lew: “I think it was best of his…” NOPE. CLICK. 1:59 PM – 28 Jun 2016
Because CNN is doing such a great job. Nah.
07 Friday Oct 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
The headline from CNN:
Romney assembles top-notch foreign policy team
(CNN) – On the eve of his foreign policy speech at The Citadel in South Carolina, former Massachusetts Gov. and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney announced selections for his foreign policy and national security team….
….Romney’s 22-member team of special advisers also includes former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman and former Missouri Sen. Jim Talent….
[emphasis added]
Top notch? More like retreads.
This must mean that you don’t have to show up for meetings.
12 Monday Sep 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
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Spotted on a vehicle in west central Missouri.
…do you think teabaggers would have voted for him?
22 Friday Jul 2011
Posted in Uncategorized
Representative Vicky Hartzler via Twitter yesterday:
@DoDBuzz dodbuzz by RepHartzler
House lawmakers appeal to Obama to stop defense cuts – bit.ly/rfJl7a 21 Jul
And today:
@RepHartzler Rep. Vicky Hartzler
Are voting on Legislative branch approps bill. Am voting to reduce our office budget by 7%. We all must do w/ less to balance our budget! 5 hours ago
[emphasis added]
Cognitive dissonance in everything.
It gets even better. A few minutes ago:
@RepHartzler Rep. Vicky Hartzler
New CNN poll shows 66% of Americans support passage of Cut, Cap, & Balance yet today the Senate tabled it! Unbelievable! Call them! 10 minutes ago
Really?:
CNN/ORC [pdf]
Interviews with 1,009 adult Americans conducted by telephone by ORC International on July 18-20, 2011. The margin of sampling error for results based on the total sample is plus or
minus 3 percentage points.The sample includes 856 interviews among landline respondents and 153 interviews among cell phone respondents.
14. In those discussions, several budget plans have been proposed that would reduce the amount the government owes by trillions of dollars over the next ten years. If you had to choose, would you rather see Congress and President Obama agree to a budget plan that only includes cuts in government spending, or a budget plan that includes a combination of spending cuts and tax
increases on higher-income Americans and some businesses?Only spending cuts 34%
Spending cuts and tax increases 64%
Other (vol.) 1%
No opinion 1%18. Based on what you have read or heard about the discussions between Congress and Barack Obama on the debt ceiling, do you think Obama has or has not acted responsibly?
Yes, has acted responsibly 52%
No, has not 46%
No opinion 2%19. Based on what you have read or heard about the discussions between Congress and Barack Obama on the debt ceiling, do you think the Republicans in Congress have or have not acted responsibly?
Yes, have acted responsibly 33%
No, have not 63%
No opinion 3%
[emphasis added]
That ain’t exactly a vote of confidence in Vicky Hartzler’s position, eh?
Then, on the proposals:
21. In some proposals, Congress would raise the debt ceiling while cutting between two trillion and four trillion dollars in government spending over the next ten years and raising taxes on some businesses and higher-income Americans. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?
Favor 66%
Oppose 34%
No opinion 1%23. In another proposal, Congress would raise the debt ceiling only if a balanced budget amendment
were passed by both houses of Congress and substantial spending cuts and caps on future spending were approved. Would you favor or oppose this proposal?Favor 66%
Oppose 33%
No opinion 1%
[emphasis added]
The devil is in the details on the second one. Some of the details which won’t make the republican gimmick proposal work:
24. Now I’m going to read you some of the specific proposals for cutting government spending and increasing taxes that have been suggested as part of the discussions on the debt ceiling. For each one, please tell me whether you favor or oppose that proposal as a way to reduce the amount that the government owes.
Cutting federal subsidies to farmers
Favor 31% Oppose 66% No opinion 2%Cutting pensions and benefits for retired government workers
Favor 30% Oppose 68% No opinion 2%Cutting defense spending
Favor 47% Oppose 52% No opinion 1%Cutting the amount the government spends on Medicaid, the federal health program for the poor
Favor 22% Oppose 77%Cutting the amount the government spends on Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly
Favor 12% Oppose 87% No opinion 1%Cutting the amount the government spends on Social Security
Favor 16% Oppose 84% No opinion 1%Increasing the taxes paid by oil and gas companies by ending federal subsidies for those businesses
Favor 73% Oppose 26% No opinion 1%Increasing the taxes paid by businesses that own private jets
Favor 76% Oppose 23%Increasing the taxes paid by people who make more than 250 thousand dollars a year
Favor 73% Oppose26%
Those polled want all of the things the republican obstructionists in Congress don’t.
Representative Vicky Hartzler (r) evidently didn’t read the fine print.
02 Saturday Oct 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
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CNN’s Rick Sanchez fired after explosive interview on satellite radio
By Lisa de Moraes
Saturday, October 2, 2010CNN fired Rick Sanchez on Friday afternoon in response to a radio interview on a SiriusXM radio show during which Sanchez called Comedy Central late-night host Jon Stewart a “bigot” and implied that the media as a whole are controlled by Jews…
…as a useful idiot:
….Rick Sanchez:…how can you get a volcano in Iceland? Isn’t it too, too, when you, when you think of a volcano you think of like Hawaii and long words like that. You don’t think of Iceland. You think it’s too cold to have a volcano there…
(via Wonkette)
A commenter at Wonkette:
At least CNN hasn’t lost a journalist.
He should fit right in.
01 Saturday May 2010
Posted in Uncategorized
Tommy Sowers‘ (D) campaign posted the following CNN story on his campaign today:
[….]
…The great thing about running in twenty-ten is there is so much demand for new blood out there…
[….]
…Everywhere I go I introduce myself, I’m Tommy Sowers, I’m a veteran running for Congress. I’m running to get some new blood in D.C. And everyone shakes their head and says, it’s about time…
[….]
…I wrapped my car like a NASCAR truck, I’ve got my dog in there, and we did this thing called boots on the ground where there’s twenty-eight counties, I spent a day and a night in every county…
[….]
…So you’ve got a Republican incumbent being challenged by a tea party candidate in the Republican primary. There is an independent tea party candidate that’s collecting enough signatures to be on the general election ballot. I’m unopposed as the Democrat…
[….]
Barbara Starr, CNN:
…Senators like John McCain and John Kerry campaigned very successfully on their war records…
Yes, that’s why they’re both President of the United States. Well, or at least why one of them is always on the Sunday cable television talk shows.
You’ve got to wonder about how much of Tommy Sowers’ interview ended up on the cutting room floor.
Of course, CNN had to do “an equal and opposite view” treatment to the story. As if the Faux News Channel ever would.
30 Thursday Oct 2008
Posted in Uncategorized
Missouri:
McCain – 50%
Obama – 48%
…The poll indicates another state Bush carried in 2004, Missouri, is basically a dead heat. McCain holds a 2-point lead in the poll, 50 percent to 48 percent, well within in the survey’s sampling error of 3.5 percentage points.
The poll was also expanded to include the major third party candidates, independent Ralph Nader, Libertarian candidate Bob Barr, and Green Party candidate Cynthia McKinney. None of them are polling over 4 percent in any of the states CNN polled and none of them seem to be a factor in the outcome of the results in those five states other than Missouri, where Nader’s 4 percent showing could have an impact…
…The CNN/Time/Opinion Research Corp. poll was conducted Thursday through Tuesday, with…825 likely voter in Missouri…questioned by telephone.
