Muddling Toward Maturity Blog

O'REILLY DISGUSTED WITH MEDIA CALLING NORWAY TERRORIST "CHRISTIAN"

Bill O'Reilly has every reason to be outraged that the New York Times headlined: "Norway Charges Christian Extremist."  Click here for video.  Text is below.

BILL O'REILLY, FOX NEWS HOST: "Impact" segment tonight: mass murder in Norway. A vicious killer, Anders Breivik, has murdered at least 76 people in the Scandinavian nation of Norway. Breivik is a brutal fanatic who apparently objects to the presence of Muslims in Europe.

Last Friday he bombed buildings in Oslo and then took an automatic weapon to an island a few miles away gunning down 68 people. Norwegian authorities couldn't get to the island because they didn't have a helicopter, if you can believe it.

Now, on Sunday, the "New York Times" headlined "As Horrors Emerged, Norway Charges Christian extremist". A number of other news organizations like the "LA Times" and Reuters also played up the Christian angle. But Breivik is not a Christian. That's impossible. No one believing in Jesus commits mass murder. The man might have called himself a Christian on the net, but he is certainly not of that faith.

Also Breivik is not attached to any church, and in fact has criticized the Protestant belief system in general. The Christian angle came from a Norwegian policeman not from any fact finding. Once again, we can find no evidence, none, that this killer practiced Christianity in any way.

So why is the angle being played up? Two reasons: First, the liberal media wants to make an equivalency between the actions of Breivik and the Oklahoma City bomber Tim McVeigh and al Qaeda. The left wants you to believe that fundamentalists Christians are a threat just like crazy jihadists are.

In fact, in the "New York Times" today an analysis piece says that some believe we have overreacted to the Muslim threat in the world. Of course, that's absurd. Jihadists have killed tens of thousands of people all over the world. The Taliban, Iran and elements in Pakistan use governmental power to support terrorism by Muslims. But the left-wing press wants to compare nuts like Breivik and McVeigh to state-sponsored terrorism and worldwide jihad.

Again, dishonest and insane.

The second reason the liberal media is pushing the Christian angle is they don't like Christians very much because we are too judgmental. Many Christians oppose abortion. Gay marriage and legalized narcotics, secular left causes. The media understands the opposition is often based on religion. So they want to diminish Christianity and highlighting so-called Christian-based terror is a way to do that.

THE LIBERAL MEDIA DETERMINED TO DESTROY MICHELE BACHMANN

Will they be able to do it?  Not sure.  But they'll try.  Look how they went after Sarah Palin.  By the way, how hard has the mainstream media tried to track down Obama's senior college thesis?  Have they tried to find out ANYTHING about him?  No.

But now the media plans to go after the 23 foster children that were in Michele Bachmann's home.  I predicted this to friends a few weeks ago.  Many, if not most of these kids were really troubled.  Eating disorders, etc. etc.  Dare anyone conceive that a little extra spending money might -- just might - be offered to give some false testimony?  Pardon my suspicions. 

The liberal media is conducting warfare without the shooting.  One might as well recognize (and deplore) "it is what it is," and fight back.  Andrew Breitbart is doing so.   So are others.   The battle must be joined.

Jim Loft of Gateway Pundit reports:   

ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos warned Michele Bachmann that the media plans on investigating all 23 of her foster children.

Stephanopoulos: Finally one—one final question. I think one of the most impressive things that people find in your background is the fact that you and your husband have helped raise 23 foster children and I know you want to shield them but are they prepared and are you prepared for the loss of privacy that comes with the president campaign? And is that something you are concerned about for them?

Bachmann: Well when we were making this momentous decision we sat down for a long time as a family and contemplated what this was meaning and yes, we are ready. We have five wonderful biological children. Our last one is off to college our oldest one is a doctor. And then we had great – a great 23 foster children in our home as well. And as you can imagine and appreciate we’ve tried to keep a good handle on their privacy and we will do that, we will respect their privacy. We are thankful that we had them but we also want to observe their privacy and that of their families.

Added: 4/28/11 - I strongly urge you to click through and listen to Mark Levin unloading on Chris Wallace for his awful attack on Michele Bachmann.   Levin offers extraordinary commentary.

NBC CUTS "UNDER GOD" FROM PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE BEFORE U.S. OPEN

What's with NBC?

 

NBC apologizes:

“We began our coverage of this final round just about three hours ago and when we did it was our intent to begin the coverage of this U.S. Open Championship with a feature that captured the patriotism of our national championship being held in our nation’s capital for the third time. Regrettably, a portion of the Pledge of Allegiance that was in that feature was edited out. It was not done to upset anyone and we’d like to apologize to those of you who were offended by it.”

Me: Does anybody besides me find this "apology" lame?

JOHN FUND: THE JOURNALISTIC STALKING OF SARAH PALIN

Fund writes: 

[...] As Britain's Daily Telegraph noted, "the trove of more than 13,000 emails detailing almost every aspect of Sarah Palin's governorship of Alaska . . . paints a picture of her as an idealistic, conscientious, humorous and humane woman slightly bemused by the world of politics." But the buildup to their release was treated like the prelude to the release of the Pentagon Papers. . .

Contrast this with the level of interest that reporters have shown in Barack Obama's lack of a paper trail during the 2008 campaign and afterwards. No, I'm not talking about the issue of his birth certificate. I am thinking of his college records and papers; his application to the Illinois bar to become a lawyer; his complete list of clients while he was in private practice; and his records from his service in the Illinois State Senate. Almost none of this has been released in whole or in part by Mr. Obama, and requests have been airily dismissed.

And then there are Mr. Obama's longtime associations with very left-wing political figures and foundations. With the exception of journalist Stanley Kurtz, author of a richly documented new book called "Radical-in-Chief: Barack Obama and the Untold Story of American Socialism," almost no one has been interested in those ties. . .

More... 

WHY THE NEWS MEDIA IS SO LIBERAL -- MULTIPLE TIES TO GEORGE SOROS!

Dan Gainor reports that Soros has ties to over 30 major news organizatins.  (HT: Drudge)  Gainor writes:

When liberal investor George Soros gave $1.8 million to National Public Radio , it became part of the firestorm of controversy that jeopardized NPR’s federal funding. But that gift only hints at the widespread influence the controversial billionaire has on the mainstream media. Soros, who spent $27 million trying to defeat President Bush in 2004, has ties to more than 30 mainstream news outlets – including The New York Times, Washington Post, the Associated Press, NBC and ABC.

Prominent journalists like ABC’s Christiane Amanpour and former Washington Post editor and now Vice President Len Downie serve on boards of operations that take Soros cash. This despite the Society of Professional Journalists' ethical code stating: “avoid all conflicts real or perceived.”

This information is part of an upcoming report by the Media Research Centers Business & Media Institute which has been looking into George Soros and his influence on the media.

The investigative reporting start-up ProPublica is a prime example. ProPublica, which recently won its second Pulitzer Prize, initially was given millions of dollars from the Sandler Foundation to “strengthen the progressive infrastructure” – “progressive” being the code word for very liberal. In 2010, it also received a two-year contribution of $125,000 each year from the Open Society Foundations. In case you wonder where that money comes from, the OSF website is www.soros.org. It is a network of more than 30 international foundations, mostly funded by Soros, who has contributed more than $8 billion to those efforts.

LEFTIST MEDIA AND POLITICIANS DISGRACE THEMSELVES

Maybe it's a coincidence, but just yesterday I put up a blog post on truth.  This weekend, in response to the shooting of  Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (and the killing of six others in Tucson),  Leftist media and politicians have launched a major offensive to lay the blame for the violence at the feet of conservatives such as Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Fox news, Glenn Beck and others. 

Andrew Klaven points out: 

The Left—which has been unable to discover any common feature uniting acts of Islamist violence worldwide—nonetheless instantly noticed a bridge between the Tucson shooting and its own political opponents. The Chicago Sun-Times ran a slavering editorial blaming “the right.” MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann and the Washington Post’s Eugene Robinson suggested that the killings were inspired by right-wing rhetoric. Politico’s Roger Simon did the same.  

QUICK TAKES

-- World's 5 biggest airlines now from Asia, Latin America...

      

       -- Chuck Colson - Digital World Rewires Kids' Brains

-- Incredible… Washington Post Fails to Publish Their Own Poll That Shows Obamacare Sinking in Popularity

-- UK stores stocking almost no Christmas cards that mention Jesus

 

BRISTOL FIXING MOM'S HAIR IN HAITI

Pretty ordinary, right?  Of course.  Unless you're part of the Palin-hating media who want to make her look bad.   Associated Press:

Former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, center, has her hair done during a visit to a cholera treatment center set up by the NGO Samaritan's Purse in Cabaret, Haiti, Saturday Dec. 11, 2010.

No, she's not a prima donna who brought her hair dresser to Haiti to primp her for a photo op.  The person "doing her hair" was her daughter, Bristol.  Once again the media is caught trying to take down Palin.  And it ends with egg on its face.

PAINTING BY MICHELLE McCORKLE

(Posted by Douglas Groothuis)

NPR FIRES JUAN WILLIAMS

It's all over the internet.  Here's a collection of articles from WorldNetDaily:

TROUBLESPEAK WorldNetDaily Exclusive Williams fired after complaint by 'terror co-conspirator' D.C.-based CAIR demanded action on 'anti-Muslim' remarks by NPR correspondent --WND

 

Fox talker to CAIR exec: 'Happy now?' Megyn Kelly's heated interview with Ibrahim Hooper regarding Williams firing --Fox News

 

Juan Williams: 'I said what I meant to say' 'It's not a bigoted statement ... you cannot ignore what happened on 9/11' --Real Clear Politics

 

In wake of controversy, Fox News gives Williams expanded role Analyst signed to new 3-year contract for nearly $2 million --Los Angeles Times

 

CEO Schiller: Sorry firing came during fall pledge drive 'Juan is not an employee of NPR. He's an independent contractor. He's not NPR staff' --Atlanta Journal Constitution

 

NPR CEO suggests Williams consult 'his psychiatrist' Regrets: 'I spoke hastily and I apologize to Juan and others for my thoughtless remark' --National Public Radio

 

Stations inundated with complaints about firing NPR.org 'Contact Us' page crashes, listeners demanding return of donations --WBUR-TV, Boston

 

A brief history of NPR's intolerance, imbalance From wishing AIDS on Jesse Helms to rapture of Christians leaving world a better place --Fox News

 

BLAST FROM THE PAST, JULY 21 NPR affiliate employee wishes death on Rush Limbaugh 'I never knew I had this much hate in me, but he deserves it' --National Public Radio

Huckabee calls on Congress to cut NPR funding
Slams radio network as 'purveyor of politically correct pabulum'
--CNN

EUROPEAN REPORTING ON AMERICAN TEA PARTY FARCICALLY INACCURATE

The leftist European press does a terrible job reporting on the American political scene.  Tea Party reporting is so bad as to be scandalous.   British writer Daniel Hannan says Tea Partiers

are generally portrayed either as a gaggle of stump-toothed Appalachian mountain men or as a KKK lynchmob.  A typical column in Britain's Guardian newspaper last month described them as 'a movement most of whose emergent stars would appear to be better suited to prison or lunatic asylums.'

Who of us doesn't find that disgusting?  Hannan says further,

At the annual Conservative Party conference last week, I discovered that several delegates had no idea that the tea party was campaigning for smaller government. Such is the media coverage that even many Tories believe that it is essentially a fringe of irreconcilables who cannot bring themselves to acknowledge a mixed-race president.

Germany's Der Spiegel is no better.  (HT: Drudge)  Journalist Klaus Brinkbaumer writes of

America's hate-mongers, gun freaks and Tea Party demagogues who first compare Obama to Hitler and then minutes later to Stalin. They are people so filled with vitriol they can no longer think straight -- people like television presenter Glenn Beck, who says that putting the common good first is "exactly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in Germany." Beck has millions of followers, and appears in public with former Alaskan governor Sarah Palin, the darling of the Tea Party movement, who gleefully pronounces Obama's middle name Hussein as if it were a naughty, menacing word.

Me: Don't expect Europeans to understand America or the Tea Party movement.  With reporting like this, it's no wonder they remain deceived and clueless.   

WHY DOES FOX EMPLOY GERALDO RIVERA?

My guess is so FOX can claim a flaming liberal on its payroll.  And flaming liberal he is, complete with the trademark bias, put-downs, unfairness, false equivalences, and nastiness we've come to associate with  his ideological compatriots.  For  the above reasons, whenever his program comes on, my TV goes off.   Except last night. 

Pamela Geller had announced on her blog she would be on his program, and so I tuned in.  Geraldo's treatment of Geller was utterly disgusting.  I searched for an e-mail address to FOX to vent my disgust but couldn't find it.   Geller describes her experience below.  As a viewer, I can vouch for the truth of everything she says:

UPDATE: Geraldo Hit-Job Interview on YouTube

"JOURNOLIST" - AN OPEN CONSPIRACY OF LIBERALS TO SLANT THE NEWS

Now we know what has been going on behind the scenes to kill journalism in America and convert it into propaganda instead.  Jonah Goldberg brings us up to speed: 

Just in case you’ve been living in a cave, or if you only get your news from MSNBC, here’s the story. A young blogger, Ezra Klein, formerly of the avowedly left-wing American Prospect and now with the avowedly mainstream Washington Post, founded the e-mail listserv JournoList for like-minded liberals to hash out and develop ideas. Some 400 people joined the by-invitation-only group. Most, it seems, were in the media, but many hailed from academia, think tanks, and the world of forthright liberal activism generally. They spoke freely about their political and personal biases, including their hatred of Fox News and Rush Limbaugh. . .

JournoList e-mails obtained by the Daily Caller reveal what anybody with two neurons to rub together already knew: Professional liberals don’t like Republicans and do like Democrats. They can be awfully smug and condescending in their

LA SHAWN BARBER - UPDATING TERMS USED IN NEWS STORIES

La Shawn Barber comments astutely on NPR's new guideline on how to talk about the abortion debate.  NPR instructs its staff to no longer refer to pro-life people as "pro-life," but instead as "abortion rights opponents."  NPR bills that a "neutral position."  Uh huh.   In addition to the original "Bill of Rights," Barber observes:

Our rights have expanded to include the right to health care and housing we can’t afford, the right of privacy to kill unborn babies, and the right to not be offended. In 2010, these rights are on the same level as the right to free speech, free exercise of religion, and free association.

She goes on to suggest how lame stream news organizations should henceforth frame their stories:

• Refer to abortion supporters as “right to life opponents”
• Refer to gun control supporters as “gun rights opponents”
• Refer to “hate speech” backers as “speech rights opponents”
• Refer to racial preferences advocates as “constitutional rights opponents”

COULD THERE BE A BETTER NEWS NETWORK THAN FOX? YES!!

Pamela Geller (of Atlas Shrugs) argues the case persuasively.  She writes:  [I provided the explanatory links]

The only reason FOX does as staggeringly well as it does is because the other networks are so bad. The only reason FOX has no rival is because the competition is

so completely and utterly  corrupt. They aren't news. They are paid cheerleaders of the Democrat party. FOX presents the conservative view as well as the liberal view. It's that the competition is so bad, the bar so low, that FOX has no rival.

Imagine a news network that actually addressed the greatest threat to western civilization.

Imagine a news network that reported on the 14,793 Islamic attacks around the world, and the persecution of Christians and Jews, and actually explained why and how it was happening.

Imagine a news network that told us what the Organization of the Islamic Conference really was, and how they are behind the Wilders prosecution, and the Danish cartoon crisis, and the freedom of speech crime laws.

Imagine a news network that covered the trial of the century, nay, the crime of the century, Geerrt Wilders, with the wall to wall coverage it deserves. [Wikipedia on Wilders here]

Imagine a news network that actually had Robert Spencer, Wafa Sultan, Ibn Warraq, Nonie Darwish as contributors.

Imagine a news network that had Steve Coughlin as its military correspondent.  [Backround here]

Imagine a news network that covered the people's movement accurately and fully as the others covered Casey Anthony, Natalee Holloway, car chases, snowstorms, etc.
Imagine... (I'll stop channeling Lennon here.)

BLOGGERS DO BETTER INVESTIGATIVE JOURNALISM THAN PROFESSIONAL JOURNALISTS

Do you doubt that?  Then read Mark Steyn's post.  Here is his first sentence:

As Jonah and I have written here previously, "climate change" is not only a scientific scandal but also a massive journalistic failure. . . 

Read on. . .

SITTING IN AN AUTO REPAIR SHOP WATCHING THE TV SHOW "THE VIEW"

I was pleased to clip an auto dealer's 1/2 price coupon for an oil change.  I knew the dealership would try to sell me "needed repairs," but that was okay.  The oil change price was great, and I wasn't under any further obligation.  As I sat with several others in the waiting room we were assaulted by -- you guessed it -- a television set (how does one escape?) turned on first to "Dr. Oz," and then to "The View."  I had a book with me, and actually managed to read a few pages, but at the same time overheard some of the "stuff" taking place on TV.   The potty-mouthed "View" stunned me.  Questions rose in my mind:  "Do people watch this stuff?  Doesn't the pollution disgust them?"  The subject matter and language reminded me of a Bible verse:  "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth."  (Ephesians 4:29)  I had never thought much about that verse until today.  Now I think I understand a little better what the Apostle Paul was getting at.

The full verse reads: "Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear."  (ESV)  What a beautiful verse!

CNN & CNBC - ANYTHING BUT "FAIR AND BALANCED"

More details here.

WORKING FOR FOX CALLED "SATAN'S NEWS NETWORK"

Shendy Hershfield worked this summer as a Fox intern and penned a short article, "Going to Work for 'Satan's' News Network:  My Life as a Fox Intern."

I had an amazing opportunity this past summer: I was an intern at the Fox News Channel for the Hannity show.  I worked with some of the greatest people in the TV industry.  That being said, it was amazing the reactions I got from some when I said I was an intern there.  The way some of them acted, you’d think I had gone to work for Satan.  [more...]

Me: I doubt Fox critics ever watch Fox.  They pick up the bile from the liberal stations and never do independent investigation.  That doesn't say much for one's first-hand judgment.

REVOLT AGAINST THE MSM: "BIG JOURNALISM" WEBSITE LAUNCHED

Click here to find the new website. It looks gutsy.  It claims it will go after the stories the MSM refuses to investigate and publish, and it will hold the MSM accountable.  It will use big name writers.  The bell tolls for the MSM.   It's no longer just a few of us who have its number.  MSM, oldine media, has now been universally discredited as "propaganda news outlets" controlling what stories get play and which don't.   Thank God (literally) for an alternative media.  Big Journalism, if it delivers on its promise, will be a necessary site to visit regularly.  Editor-in-chief Michael Walsh says:

We stand foursquare with the Founders.  We believe in the First Amendment, not just for we, but also for thee.  We believe the phrase, “Congress shall make no law…” could not possibly be clearer.  We despise “political correctness” and everything it represents.  We will not be told, “you can’t say that,” because to accept that stricture means we cannot think it, either.  We believe that freedom of inquiry, freedom of opinion and freedom of expression are the fundamental liberties upon which this country was founded.  And we will fight to defend them.

As good as this website promises to be (hopefully), it won't displace the necessity of making regular visits to websites like Atlas Shrugs if one wants to keep up with Jihadism and anti-Semitism.

EXCERPTS FROM PALIN'S BOOK, "GOING ROGUE"

National Review Online has done a good job bringing together a number of short quotes from Palin's book, "Going Rogue."  Example:  

What used to be called the “mainstream” national media are, in many respects, worthless as a source of factual information any more. The sin of omission glares in their reporting. . . . Perhaps national press outlets just don’t have the resources any more to devote to balanced coverage. Perhaps they’ve all just given up on themselves, so we’ve given up on them, too, except to treat their shoddy reporting like a car crash — sometimes you just have to look. The time has come to acknowledge that it is a counterfeit objectivity the liberal media try to sell consumers. We are moving into a new, more intelligent realm to gather information differently in order to hold our government accountable. (p. 348)

GRAPHIC DISPLAY OF NEWSPAPER DECLINE

With the exception of the Wall Street Journal.  Get a load of the collapse of the Los Angeles Times!  Amazing!   For more commentary and a larger graph, click here.  (HT: HotAir)

 
 

DOUG GILES - "NO, IT WASN'T MY IDEA FOR MY DAUGHTER TO DRESS LIKE A HOOKER AND INFILTRATE ACORN"

Doug Giles is the father of Hannah Giles (of recent fame!) Most readers will want to read Doug's Townhall column setting straight many false accusations hurled at James O'Keefe and Hannah Giles -- and Dad Giles, too.

Update 9/21/09: Andrew Breitbart, creator of biggovernment.com (the site which posted the O'Keefe/Giles videos exposing ACORN), explains the strategy.  The Breitbart piece is well worth reading.  Not only has ACORN been exposed, but also the bias of old-line media.  To get past the protective, leftist, old-line media gatekeepers and spinmeisters, there had to be a strategy.  Breitbart explains it.  (HT: HotAir)

SHOCKING: PRESS ACCURACY RATINGS HITS TWO DECADES LOW

-- Pew Research Center -  Press Accuracy Ratings Hits Two Decades Low  Everyone agrees:  Mainstream media is biased and inaccurate.  No wonder newspapers can't sell papers anymore.  (HT: HotAir)

-- Bernie Goldberg (author of Bias) says we should no longer use the title "Mainstream Media."  He asked for suggestions from his readers and received the following:  (samples) - "Progressive Media," "Subversive Media," "Propaganda Press," "Trivial Media," "The Incurious Media," "Cheer the Leader Media," "Action Left News," "Left Wing Media," "Establishment Media," (keep the initials: 'Mainly Socialist Media,'" "State-Supported Media," "Dancing with the Czars Media," "The Lemmings Media," "LSM - Left Stream Media," "Liberal Media," and more . . .  (HT: O'Reilly Factor)  Update: Michelle Malkin opts for "Ostrich Media"

--- Addendum 9/15/09 -  "Acorn Story Grows But Mainstream Media Refuse to Cover It" - 

This story has everything you could ever want – corruption, sleazy actions at tax-funded organizations, firings, government ties, sex, hookers. It is a network news director’s dream. Imagine the ratings. But almost no one is covering it.

Bruce Springsteen once wrote: “From Small Things (Big Things One Day Come).” I doubt

QUICK TAKES

- Slanted media:  How Bad was the  New York Times Whitewash of Van Jones?  It has come to this.  (HT: HotAir)

- Jay Nordlinger - "Funny about our new president. He seems to reserve his harshest words, and biggest stick, for two little, struggling democracies: Honduras and Israel . .   Would that he were a fraction as tough on bad regimes — Iran’s, North Korea’s, Sudan’s, Venezuela’s, Cuba’s, Syria’s — as he is on those little democracies Israel and Honduras. Funny, this president.

MUST-SEE VIDEO EXPLAINING "POLITICAL CORRECTNESS" AND THE MSNBC "NARRATIVE"

Bill Whittle has produced a 13 minute video (after a 30 second commercial) which genuinely educates.  I'm indebted to Wintery Knight for the link.  He titles his blog post "How the Left Wing Media Suppresses News That Doesn't Fit Their Agenda").

Ever heard of the "Frankfurt School"?  Ever wondered about Feminist theory?  Gender theory?  The (exclusive) focus on slavery in America (and nowhere else?)  Get educated and watch this video!!   It's time we begin to understand the nature and development of the intellectual climate that now dominates the airwaves and universities.  While we're at it, we can learn more about "political correctness" by watching the following videos:

• Part 1 (10:36)
• Part 2 (10:30)
• Part 3 (7:36)

ABC, NBC WON'T AIR AD CRITICAL OF OBAMA'S HEALTH CARE PLAN

A comment is hardly necessary.  Television networks have thrown out any pretense of being objective and non-partisan.  They deserve the scorn and neglect they will inevitably reap.  Story here.    The 33-second ad by the League of American Voters can be seen here.  Dick Morris:

"It's the ultimate act of chutzpah because ABC is the network that turned itself over completely to Obama for a daylong propaganda fest about health care reform," he said. "For them to be pious and say they will not accept advertising on health care shuts their viewers out from any possible understanding of both sides of this issue."

Allahpundit over at "HotAir" wonders about NBC's alleged "facts in dispute" saying:

I’m curious to know which facts NBC thinks are in dispute. Cuts to Medicare, which even some Democrats are now hinting at? Rationing in Britain, on the heels of yesterday’s report about pregnant women being turned away from maternity wards? A crisis in Canadian health care, whose own administrators are calling for massive reforms even while they’re busy shipping patients across the border to the United States for treatment?

LAWRENCE O'DONNELL - WORST INTERVIEWER ON TELEVISION?

Ed Morissey thinks so as he posts an O'Donnell video "interview" with Peter Schiff.  I linked once before to an embarrassing O'Donnell interview (in which he was interviewed by Hugh Hewitt).   How such a man as O'Donnell remains on the payroll of MSNBC reveals something important to know about MSNBC. 

BIZARRE ANGLE OF OBAMA'S CEREMONIAL FIRST PITCH AT THE ALL-STAR GAME

The Anchoress asks the right question when she wonders

 "if David Axelrod had negotiated the bizarre angle (there is no other word for it, if you’re a baseball-watching fan) used to showcase President Barack Obama’s ceremonial “first pitch.” I have never seen a president throw a pitch, before, where the angle left out the catcher at the plate."

She has produced a brilliant comparison of Obama and Bush, not only in throwing ability, but more importantly in their style (and modesty).  Her post is definitely worth reading, as is her link to Andy McCarthy.

Rush Limbaugh plainspeakingly says:

Obama's pitch did not make it all the way to the plate. . .  The guy throws like a girl.  I'm sorry.  He throws like a girl, he had a girlie toss.

The video he posts substantiates his point.   Further down Rush's post you can compare President Bush's 2001 World Series toss.

Is throwing ability small potatoes?  Yes.  What's significant are the larger points made by the Anchoress and McCarthy.  The media will stand on its head (and orchestrate camera angles and commentary as well), to make this president look good.

MSNBC NEWS ANALYST LAWRENCE O'DONNELL - IGNORANCE ON PARADE

I was dumbfounded and my jaw dropped when I read the exchange between Hugh Hewitt and Lawrence O'Donnell posted by Ed Morrissey over at HotAir.  I mean... this is incredible and unbelievable!!   Pardon the emotional response, but... 

We have men on television (e.g. O'Donnell) offering "informed opinions" (!!) who don't know the first thing about what they are talking about.  We may have suspected that... but to have it blatantly demonstrated on the air, and in black and white.  Oh my..    Here's part of Morrissey's post:

If you didn’t get a chance to hear Hugh Hewitt dismantle MS-NBC’s Larry O’Donnell last night, Hugh made sure you have the opportunity today.  The entire transcript of the interview appears on his blog, with a link to the podcast of the 35-minute conversation.  It’s long, but well worth the time.  Here are a couple of highlights:

HH: What was the last book you read about terrorism?

LO’D: The last…I don’t think I’ve read a book about terrorism.

HH: Ever?

LO’D: No.

HH: About al Qaeda?

LO’D: No.

HH: About…how about the mullahs in Iran?

LO’D: No.

HH: I’m just stunned.

LO’D: Well, I’ll tell you, I’ve read Bob Woodward’s books about the accounts inside the Bush administration from what they were doing from the day they got sworn in, okay?

HH: You’ve never read a book about terrorism?

LO’D: There is no, there is absolutely no evidence, and I defy you today, Hugh,

HH: Larry, you’ve never read a book about terrorism?

LO’D: I defy you to point to me, point to me a citation of one memo or one meeting that Dick Cheney was in where he says anything about al Qaeda.

HH: Larry, I’ve got to go lie down. I really do. Do you think you’re a well-informed MSNBC, by MSNBC standards, do you think you’re above the grade of people on that network?

LO’D: That’s a trick question, Hugh.

He never read anything about terrorism?  Not in seven-plus years after 9/11, when he works as a political analyst for NBC?  That’s a rather amazing admission, but given O’Donnell’s statements, one that only mildly surprises, if that.

Hugh then presses O’Donnell for factual support for one of his statements, and O’Donnell crumbles: [more. . .]

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - "THE FIRST 100 DAYS OF A PALIN PRESIDENCY"

Or, put differently, how press predisposition and bias shapes the tone and commentary of "news" -- and thereby shapes public opinion.  How gingerly and with great deference the press handled the slips, foibles, goof-ups, and stupidities of Obama's first 100 days in office.  Now if it had been Palin, things would have been radically different.  Victor Davis Hanson tells us how she would have been treated and what we would have read:

The first 100 days of the Palin presidency, according to a consensus of media commentators, have proven a near disaster. Perhaps it was Palin’s scant two years’ experience in a major government position that has eroded her gravitas, or maybe it was her flirty reliance on looks and informal chit-chat. In any case, the press has had a field day, and it is hard to see how President Palin can ever recover from the Quayle/potatoe syndrome. Here is a roundup of this week’s pundit mockery.   [Read on]

  

PROTESTORS TAKE ON CNN'S SUSAN ROESGEN FOR HER SHODDY REPORTING

 Video here.  It's worth watching.

TV NEWS AS "ENABLERS" OF MASS SHOOTINGS

Mona Charen decries wall-to-wall coverage of shootings by cable TV. 

Once again the cable news programs are going wall to wall covering the latest mass shooting. All other programming is on hold. I've said this before. When the news shows do this they are guaranteeing the next atrocity. A twisted desire for fame and attention drives some of this. Recall that when the networks were having a problem with streakers at televised football games, they simply turned their cameras away. The problem evaporated. These mass shootings are a little more complicated, and news organizations cannot completely ignore them. But they don't need to stop everything to cover them. And they certainly should never provide stories about the shooter's problems, failed romances, experience with teasing, or political views.  [my bolding]

Makes a lot of sense to me.

QUOTE OF THE DAY - (ON MEDIA'S FAILURE TO EXPLICATE TRANSNATIONALISM)

 Andy McCarthy writes:

The mainstream media did not vet President Obama.  His transnational progressive positions were not scrutinized — and even though the President is even now on an important trip, crafting new global regulatory arrangements with other heads of state, we still have not gotten anything approximating an examination of Obama's views.  Bluntly, the public has been better informed about Gov. Sarah Palin's handling of the Alaska State Police than about their President's fondness for international redistribution of wealth, international treaties, and the transfer of national sovereignty to transnational bureaucracies and tribunals.  [my bolding]

Me:  McCarthy made this statement in the midst of a larger blog post concerning the upcoming confirmation hearing for Yale Law School Dean Harold Koh for the job of State Department legal adviser.  I encourage you to read McCarthy's whole post.  It's important.

VDH Contrasts Sarah Palin with Caroline Kennedy

I think Victor Davis Hanson's contrast of the two superb.

JOURNALISTS DO A POOR JOB COVERING STORIES WITH A RELIGIOUS COMPONENT

Such is the lament of Paul Marshall, Lela Gilbert, and Roberta Green Ahmanson in their book Blind Spot: When Journalists Don't Get Religion.  Vincent Caroll discusses the issue in his excellent Wall Street Journal article.   Recommended reading.

BUSH HAS FOOLISHLY ALLOWED THE LEFT TO WRITE THE NARRATIVE OF HIS PRESIDENCY: A TRAGEDY

President George W. Bush is a nice guy.  But as the leader of the United States, and the leader of the  free world, and the leader of the Republican party, he had a responsibility to answer his critics promptly and forcefully with fact, after fact, after fact.  Instead he remained silent, and thereby let his enemies distort reality and control the historical narrative.  President Bill Clinton did not make that mistake.  He did the opposite.  He went after his opponents constantly, even if it meant stretching or denying the truth.  History has been kind to Clinton.

But now, finally, the Bush Administration is fighting back against the New York Times on one issue, something it should have done  day after day, week after week, month after month, and year after year for  the past eight years.  That it has not done so is a tragedy.  Please read Andy McCarthy's  post which illustrates and clarifies my point:

MUSLIM YOUTHS RIOT IN MALMO, SWEDEN

But the BBC calls them "youths" and refuses to use the adjective "Muslim."  You wouldn't know the identity of the "youths" until the last line when it refers to a mosque closing.  The NY Times doesn't bother to report the riot.  Mark Steyn aptly comments:

GEORGE F. WILLS EXPLAINS WHY THE "FAIRNESS DOCTRINE" SHOULD NEVER BE REVIVED

 George F. Will's article serves as a touchstone essay on the subject.  As to media abundance (and variety) today, Will notes:

 . . . today there are about 14,000 radio stations, twice as many as in 1969; 18.9 million subscribers to satellite radio, up 17 percent in 12 months; and that 86 percent of households with either cable or satellite television receive an average of 102 of the 500 available channels. . . Whereas in 1980 there were fewer than 100 talk radio programs, today there are more than 1,500 news or talk radio stations. . . 

Because liberals have been even less successful in competing with conservatives on talk radio than Detroit has been in competing with its rivals, liberals are seeking intellectual protectionism in the form of regulations that suppress ideological rivals.  [Read more. . .]

HOW OBAMA GOT ELECTED

Media malpractice.  Michelle Malkin provides a link to a fascinating (albeit disheartening) website - www.howobamagotelected.com - which features a video of interviews with Obama supporters.  If you wondered about the effect of the media on the general populace, your fears will be confirmed.

Note these statistics: 

512 Obama Voters 11/13/08-11/15/08 MOE +/- 4.4 points

97.1% High School Graduate or higher, 55% College Graduates

Results to 12 simple Multiple Choice Questions

57.4% could NOT correctly say which party controls congress (50/50 shot just by guessing)

81.8% could NOT correctly say Joe Biden quit a previous campaign because of plagiarism (25% chance by guessing)   (Go to page two)

RUSSIA ECONOMY IN CRISIS -- AND THE RUSSIANS ARE THE LAST TO KNOW?

The power of propaganda continues.  (HT: The Corner)

Subjected to more than a century of propaganda masquerading as news, Russians often seem to live in a different reality from the rest of us.

THE MEDIA GLORIFICATION OF OBAMA

Stanley Kurtz surveys the extraordinary media adulation in an article titled A Giddy Sense of Boosterism.   It's an interesting read.  (HT: Drudge)

VICTOR DAVIS HANSON - PREDICTIONS RELATED TO "THE AGE OF POST-JOURNALISM"

Here is VDH's perspective:

We have seen it all the last two years: Weeping journalists on election night; a journalist openly promising to help make Obama successful  ("Yeah, it is my job."); film takes of journalists cheering an Obama speech; the savaging of Sarah Palin and the hands-off treatment of Biden; soft-ball interviews and long puff-pieces on Obama as the young cool crusader;comparisons to JFK's Camelot, and on and on.

In the 3rd book of his history, Thucydides has some insightful thoughts about destroying institutions in times of zealotry—and then regretting their absence when there is a need for refuge for them. The mainstream press should have learned that lesson, once they blew up their credibility in the past election by morphing into the Team Obama  press agency.

    There will come a time in the year ahead when either Obama's unexamined past will come back to haunt him, or his inexperience and tentativeness in foreign affairs will be embarrassingly apparent, or his European-socialist agenda for domestic programs simply won't work. And as

PALIN DRAWS 18,000 IN JEFFERSON CITY, MO.

(AP)

"Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin walks down the front steps of the Missouri State Capitol building Monday in Jefferson City before speaking to supporters." (Columbia Tribune)

Gateway Pundit reported on the Sarah Palin crowd.  Noting that Sen. Joe Biden drew 400 elsewhere in Missouri, Gateway Pundit observed wryly:

And, once again the mainstream news comes out today with its latest report on how Sarah Palin is costing McCain the election.
Sadly, this has become the norm from the mainstream media.

COLLEGE NEWSPAPERS ENDORSE OBAMA 63 TO 1

Jonah Goldberg notes: College newspapers endorse Obama 63 to 1.  He is no doubt right to comment (cough):
        I'm sure it's because all these kids are such fierce and fresh thinkers.

Victor Davis Hanson - "The End of Journalism"

VDH writes another great article  I recommend that you read it.  If Obama wins the presidency, the articles I am posting, along with that of many other bloggers who are doing so even more extensively, will make significant reading.  VDH concludes:

The media has succeeded in shielding Barack Obama from journalistic scrutiny. It thereby irrevocably destroyed its own reputation and forfeited the trust that generations of others had so carefully acquired. And it will never again be trusted to offer candid and nonpartisan coverage of presidential candidates.

Worse still, the suicide of both print and electronic journalism has ensured that, should Barack Obama be elected president, the public will only then learn what they should have known far earlier about their commander-in-chief — but in circumstances and from sources they may well regret.

But read the entire article, there is so much more here.

OBAMA SPEECHWRITER JUMPS SHIP

Click here.  It's hard for anyone close to political campaigns to be anything but cynical in the end.  In the course of her article, Wendy Button says appreciative things about Sarah Palin.  (HT: The Jawa Report)

A Study in Character Assassination: How the TV Networks Have Portrayed Sarah Palin as Dunce or Demon

Click here.   (HT: Hot Air)

IS JOURNALISM'S REPUTATION FOREVER RUINED AFTER THE SHAMEFUL "OBAMEDIA" SPECTACLE?

- Good question.  Michelle Malkin has selected what she considers the top five of the Obamedia’s most shameful biases and notorious blunders.  My personal guess is that she had an extraordinarily difficult time limiting herself so drastically.

-Columnist Michael S. Malone has perhaps penned the definitive lament over journalism's sabotaging of its own professed ethics.  It's a long read, but well worthwhile.  Some excerpts:

. . . For the last couple weeks, I've begun -- for the first time in my adult life -- to be embarrassed to admit what I do for a living. A few days ago, when asked by a new acquaintance what I did for a living, I replied that I was "a writer," because I couldn't bring myself to admit to a stranger that I'm a journalist.

MICHAEL BARONE - THE COMING LIBERAL THUGOCRACY

 Click here.   We can't say we haven't been warned.  Serious stuff.

Update - After posting the above, I came across this IBD editorial along the same lines, "The coming Counterrevolution To Hush The Alternative Media. Sound too wild and outlandish? It's must reading (my emphases):