Pundit Repeat

In 2008, I posted a blog entry about the various media commentators featured during the presidential election. It's surprising to see many of the same pundits still in evidence for the current election, such as Paul Begala, James Carville, Eugene Robinson, Joan Walsh, Debbie Wasserman Schultz and Richard Wolffe. Two of my "new" favorites are Karen Finney and Robert Reich, who both appear regularly on the MSNBC shows.

There were several people I never wanted to see again for the 2012 election season, but they are back just the same: Tucker Bounds, Bay Buchanan, Lou Dobbs and Sean Hannity among others.

Some things never change – some people, too.

Stranger than Fiction

Love this picture - speaks for itself, doesn't it? Thanks to Teabonics and Blue Ollie for the reference!

Ads & Endorsements

This is the "political" portion of my Irish Eyes blog entry about advertisements and endorsements:

The worst of the ad lots are products promoted by celebrities. I can't think of anything less influential or less credible than a celebrity endorsement. Who wouldn't hawk a product if they were paid gobs of money to do so? The product or cause could be a load of crap for all we know, and I'm not willing to spend the dough to find out otherwise - no matter who is at the advertising helm. I've been a fan of The Rolling Stones for decades, but I definitely would not buy a product endorsed by Mick Jagger or his band mates just because they insist on its goodness.

The same applies to celebrities endorsing political candidates. Who cares what they think, for God's sake? Their opinions are no more viable than anyone else's, even if they try to lead us to believe they have insight into their particular candidate. To me, it's just another example of the high and mighty who believes American masses are nothing more than a tribe of idiots with no thoughts of our own. Of course, there are idiots among us (including the high and mighty), but for the most part we are all quite capable of understanding the political spectrum and arriving at a decision on our own.

I care as much about political candidate endorsements as I do the right-wing opinions of my neighbors. I'm just not interested. I'm old enough to know my own preferences, and I've heard all the arguments many times before.

And that's all I have to say about that…

Onwards & Outwards

As mentioned in my blog post Media Skim, I was rather puzzled by the lack of coverage on the Occupy Wall Street movement. However, it's hard to ignore when people are assembling in every major city to make their displeasure known, including the bloody place where I live at the moment.

Local news channels in my current place of residence are not known for their impartiality. In other words, it's fairly obvious to which political side they lean on any given day. It's one of the reasons I tend to look to the web or cable news, in particular MSNBC, to get a reality check and to shed the feeling that I live in a veritable Twilight Zone.

I was surprised when people gathered at the capitol nearby to carry on their own Occupy Wall Street demonstration, and even more stunned when local news channels reported the event. It was peacefully organized and well-attended, but resident senator Orrin Hatch naturally cast his own brand of alarmism into the mix:

"We are going to have riots in this country because of what these people are doing."

"These people" are tired of carrying the burden for everyone in America, which is something right-wing extremists like Hatch will never understand. I'm sure he would be perfectly happy if we all just sat back and swallowed the financial inequities that have nearly crippled our country.

On an unrelated note, I'm doing my damndest to get out of the place where I currently reside. I realize the political and economic climates are the same everywhere in the United States at the moment, but to get away from a community that tries to control what we view on television or attempts to foist their religious views non-conformists is a good start.

Media Skim

I fully support the views of the Occupy Wall Street movement. I knew sooner or later people would grow tired of class and financial inequity; the constant burden placed on them even as they lose their jobs, benefits and homes with no signs of relief in sight.

However, I'm not sure what to make of the disparity in media coverage. I didn't realize the demonstrations had spread to other US cities until a headline at the UK’s Daily Mail caught my eye: Occupy Wall Street protests spread across U.S. to Boston, Los Angeles and Chicago as cities brace for more demonstrations.

One glance at my usual news source, MSNBC, displays not one mention of the incidents as of this morning. Why is that? It's certainly not typical for people to take to the streets in America. When they finally do take action, it's NEWS. I've heard brief mention of the demonstrations, but nothing as intense as the boringly ridiculous coverage of celebrity weddings and split-ups. If I'm gleaning reports from the wrong source, where do I go to find decent coverage – other than a British online newspaper?

Think Progress and Wonkette have been tracking the various protests (re: A Complete List of National Politicians Who Have Embraced the Occupy Wall Street Protests), but I'm flummoxed as to why major media outlets skim over the topic.

Is every money-making machine in the hip pocket of Wall Street these days?

In my opinion, the protests are long overdue. Hard-working people are weary of footing the bill as the wealthy virtually get away scot-free.

Wing Nut Clog

I think it's the right-wing media's plan to clog the airwaves with garbage. By highlighting ridiculous stories, they probably hope to keep President Obama and his administration so busy debunking rumors that his agenda will not be carried out.

• Attacks on President Obama Going to Asia: A Long Trip from Reality

Why didn't anyone raise a fuss at the cost of George W. Bush's 160-plus excursions to his private ranch in Texas during the eight years he was in office?

Paid for with tax dollars, I might add.

Block FOX

A very worthwhile place to visit:



From the site:

We don't have to let Fox's attempts to stoke fear and hate shape our country's politics and culture. It's easy to turn off Fox News in our own homes — but when TVs in public places are tuned to Fox, that also spreads fear, division, and misinformation. Turn Off Fox is about ordinary people and small businesses working together to reduce Fox's influence in their own communities and across the country.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Last Linkage

I really hate the new layout at the MSNBC web site. It's not exactly new – perhaps a month or two old – but the more I use it to read or to reference a political article, the more I dislike it.

The pages are slower to load, probably due to increased graphic advertisements. In the past, MSNBC displayed articles on one page with reference links to additional and related information. Now articles are displayed in portions if they are a tad overlong, with the option of "show more text." Frankly, showing more text just provides MSNBC with the opportunity to force in videos and yet more advertisements.

Since I don't particularly care about the happenings in my local area, I'll continue to get my news from MSNBC-TV because I find them to be a highly credible source (as opposed to the blatant deceit perpetuated by Fixed News).

However, I'm through perusing and linking to the MSNBC web site articles.

Media Recoil

I have reached a point where I avoid television news coverage like the plague.

I am saturated with negative, vitriolic and pointless repartee between political parties. The selfish bastards – Democrats and Republicans alike – are thinking of their own careers and questionable agendas, not of doing the jobs their constituents elected them to do.

It seems as if every bit of "live" commentary rehashes the same old issues, where focus is placed on the ridiculous rather than the serious problems at hand.

I've even stopped listening to my beloved MSNBC as I work at my computer during the day. They have become just as bad as CNN by allowing the flow of nasty back-and-forth.

I'll get my news in quiet internet fashion from now on, or until the hogwash subsides.

Dobbs Be Gone

Oh boo hoo: Longtime anchor Lou Dobbs leaving CNN.

I doubt anyone believes the claptrap that Dobbs chose to leave CNN without a prod from the top. He was probably not given a choice in the matter, but considering he was at CNN for such a long time they more than likely allowed him to "leave" before his contract expired in order to save face.

A bloody liar and hypocrite to the bitter end…

POSTSCRIPT 11/16/09: Dobbs says CNN departure was amicable and CNN paid Lou Dobbs $8 million to quit.

Media Dreamscapes

This would be a dream come true:

• Lou Dobbs heading to Fox Business?

Let's get all the bigots and blowhards together on one network. What a road and pony show that would be, and might be worth watching if only briefly for a quick laugh. All Fixed News needs to do now is get Limbaugh on board and their vaudeville routine will be complete.

Last year I wrote a blog entry about various political analysts, party strategists, campaign advisors, journalists and other commentators' during the election campaign via television. This is the comment I penned about Lou Dobbs at the time:

There is only one phrase for this self-proclaimed "independent." He is nothing but an overblown windbag with a pink face and up-in-the-air-Republican nose who cannot hide the fact that he hates Barack Obama.

Click here to read the entire blog entry (Long Media Season).

On a similar note:

• Fox News operates as a wing of the Republican Party

I'm glad someone in a visible position at the White House finally came out and acknowledged that Fixed News is not a legitimate news source. Or, as White House communications director Anita Dunn said: "But let's not pretend they're a news network they way CNN is."