The Media's Rocky Relation With The Truth

President Obama on the forced neutrality in our media, the lacks of "news" and how we pay the price.

"...I have to say, part of the reason it spreads is the way reporting is done today. If somebody puts out misinformation, 'Obama's Creating Death Panels,' then the way the news report comes across is: 'Today such-and-such accused President Obama of putting forward death panels. The White House responded that that wasn't true.' And then they go on to the next story. And what they don't say is, 'In fact, it isn't true.'

Adding:

"You know, it's fine to have a debate back and forth -- he said, she said -- except when somebody else is just not even telling remotely the truth. Then you should say in your reports, 'Oh, and by the way, that's just not true.'

No more fake debates. No more ad hominem attacks. Just the truth. It's such a waste of our time defending the misinformation thrown out there, then repeated on certain channels. They are not meant to add to any side or position of the issue, they are merely meant to undermine Obama.

Source: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

The Hollow Right Wing Echo Chamber

The opposition is hitting empty. They started with nothing and are ending with nothing.

This is an exchange between Blue Dog Congressman Baron Hill from Indiana and one of his constituents:

"I'm not a Democrat or a Republican," the man said. "I consider myself a political atheist. But from what I've heard about the plan on TV, there's a lot about it that I disagree with."

"What part do you not like?" Hill asked.

"Well, just some of the stuff they have been talking about on TV," the man responded.

"OK, and what was that?" Hill asked.

But the person couldn't come up with an example of what he disagreed with.

The Right Wing echo chamber is truly hollow these days.

Hill, sick of the conservative attacks on reform, followed with:

"You'll have choices, regardless of what the detractors tell you," Hill said. "They are lying. That's a strong word, but it's true."

The Right knows how to repeat their talking points, but the time has come to fix America whether they say "no" or not.

Source: http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/

77% Support

Here comes momentum.

77% support "choice" of public option. End of story.

Source: HuffPo

U.S. Stocks Advance, AIG To Repay Bailout

Try and spin this:

U.S. stocks rose for a third day as American International Group Inc. [AIG] said it expects to repay the government and data on manufacturing and economic indicators added to evidence the recession may be ending.

What about the Government takeover of capitalism? Obama is a Nazi? How could this happen without a birth certificate?

Source: Bloomberg

Madow: Republicans Don't Want Pizza

Rachel Maddow uses a parable of ordering a pizza to highlight the Republicans' complete lack of interest in reforming health care.

They say they want it, but then say "no" to every possible option. The change the Republicans offer does not exist. It's time to move on without them.

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Source: Oliver Willis

The Best Doctors Does Not Mean The Best "System"

The issue is access to health care. It is becoming more and more expensive, even for routine procedures. Forget it if you need an operation. I broke my ankle in 2004 and had a $21,000 bill.

So when people make the loose claim that America's health care system is "the greatest" because rich people from around the world come here for procedures, it merely points out that we have great doctors and advanced technology.

It does not address the rising costs and the fact that so many people go without health care. Fact: eight out of ten medical-related bankruptcies are filed by people with health insurance.

Having the best doctors that cost tens of thousands of dollars to have access to may some people's idea of "the greatest", but if you can't afford it, what does it matter?

The GOP Has Become a Party of Nihilists

Joe Klein has had it with the destructive intent of Republicans:

"How can you sustain a democracy if one of the two major political parties has been overrun by nihilists? And another question: How can you maintain the illusion of journalistic impartiality when one of the political parties has jumped the shark?"

He tells a story of his 89 year-old father and how end of life counseling would help him. It was to be free in the reform bill through Medicare, but somehow it was twisted into a "death panel" by the mental lightweights and Palin-ite cave dwellers on the right who are on a disinformation jihad.

While Democrats are not perfect and have flaws, they have not resorted to outright lies like the Republicans.

Walter Sobchak: "Nihilists! Fuck me. I mean, say what you like about the tenets of National Socialism, Dude, at least it's an ethos." [from The Big Lebowski]

Source: TIME

Barney Frank PWNS Town Hall-er

Sen. Barney Frank dismantles town hall Hitler fanatic who was instructed to ask the GOP talking point "Why are you supporting this Nazi policy?" distraction of a question, somehow equating health care expenditures with invading bordering countries, building a master race and putting millions to death in concentration camps.

Frank responds: "On what planet do you spend most of your time?"

He closes by saying: "Trying to have a conversation with you would be like arguing with a dining room table." [Although I think the table has more thinking power and a sense of history than the woman in the video.]

True fascism is violence and intimidation. It's bringing guns to town hall meetings. It's attacking people's patriotism for not agreeing with you. It's classic denial for the conservatives. They act as fascist as they can, then turn around and accuse the other side with "vile, contemptible nonsense." and their "I know you are, but what am I" infantile intellect protecting them from the obvious. If anyone is channeling the Nazi game plan, it's the conservatives and Republicans.

Public Option: "Yes We Can"

Rachel Maddow deserves an award. Her astute breakdown of the health reform "situation" is brilliant. The private sector builds bubbles and takes advantages through greed and fear to the point of breaking the system. The government and regulation are the "invisible hand" that stabilizes and corrects the market.

Just watch this video:

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

Source: http://www.realitychex.com/

GOP: We Have No Ideas, But We Have Guns

Rep. Phil Gingrey (R-GA) thinks more guns are needed at town hall meetings. “They are permitted to carry a concealed weapon. They have the right to do that…” Too bad these are not concealed, but in plain site in exposed holsters.

I wonder if he would have felt the same when Bush was President and some Code Pink advocate came strapped?

The Atlanta Journal Constitution writer Jay Bookman:

“It is attempted intimidation,” he wrote. “It is an acknowledgment that, lacking the intellectual firepower and ammunition to carry the day, the person in question is prepared to try to settle the issue using the kind of firepower and ammunition that any idiot can purchase at a local gunshop.”

Bookman continues: “It also reflects a growing mindset among some that the government just isn’t listening and thus must be made to listen, one way or the other. There’s a fundamental childishness to that attitude, a notion that equates listening to agreement. The person in question is not prepared to accept the idea that having listened to him, a majority of his fellow Americans might decide that he is wrong. So he reserves the right to try to impose his view at the point of a gun.”

So the Southern guy with no clue and a little penis feels marginalized because his idiot racist message is not reaching Manson-esque Helter Skelter levels, better get his "big gun" out and make us all fear his "power". After, he can go home to the trailer park and beat his wife, maybe have some corn dogs and RC cola.

Sucks that the weakest among us have to resort to violence.

Johnny Cash - "Don't Take Your Guns To Town" from the aptly named Town Hall Party in 1958.



Source: RawStory

Advertisers Fleeing From Glenn Beck

The power of the purse. Money talks. Hopefully the bullshit walks:

"Wal-Mart makes it a clean 20 advertisers that have pulled out of Glenn Beck's googly-eyed sarcasmo hour on Fox News Channel."

So advertisers are fleeing Fox and the chronically immoral Beck, but do they ever put a value on the people like myself, the ideal demo with purchasing power, who will never ever watch Glenn Beck and would associate any product advertised with the jack-off as a veritable sociopath's "stamp of approval"?

Source: http://www.bobcesca.com/