Ron Reagan dared to say it. There is a double standard in politics.

[Hamlette]

On the After Hours program, Ron Reagan said if a republican does it, everyone ignores it, if a Dem does it, it's talked about forever in the media.

I've been waiting for someone to finally say it. Of course, Scarboy changed the subject quickly brushing him off.

[PROGRESSIVE1]

1. Why did Ron bring this up?

[PVnRT]

3. Stem cell research

He is royally pissed at Republicans for blocking it, and also, he's tired of the increasing influence of right-wing lunatics controlling the Republicans now.

[w13rd0]

4. Maybe because the media hasn't done its job...

...they've been derelict in their duties, serving the interests of their corporate masters, and propping up a arrogant moronic halfwit and his "cheney yourself" puppetmaster...

[Lex]

5. Because Joe Scarborough was whining about how mean

the Dems are to the Repubs.

And Ron Reagan set his ass straight on that.

Ron said there was a double standard where the Repukes get away with saying ANYTHING and the Dems and the media don't make a big deal, but if the Dems say the slightest thing about the Repukes, it's a big story.

It was booytiful.

Ron cited the Fuck You by Cheney "on the floor of the Senate to another Senator!" as opposed to "Shove it" by Theresa.

Ron also cited all the crap the Repukes said about Clinton (having a black child, etc.)

[Hamlette]

11. they were taling about the Dem fund raiser with Whoopi

and the "shove it" comment. The woman from The Nation was pissed and Ron kept trying to interupt her. I thought he was going to disagree with her but when he finally got in he said there is a double standard, Republicans get away with lots of crap and the Dems can't do anything.

Scarboy then started in about the problem with the fund raiser was that Kerry was there and supported it and no republican has ever done that. When the far right gets out of bounds the leaders in the GOP take them aside and tell them to knock it off. (As in, who the hell is HE kidding.)

I so wanted Ron or The Nation woman (I should know her name, she's great and on all the time) to say: You mean like Cheney appearing on Rush Limbaugh? Isn't that a major GOP politician giving support to the nuts in YOUR party?

But of course, they didn't. I damn near called in to say it, they said they were taking calls. I HATE that our side of pundits is so uninformed. But maybe it's just those "whispers in the staircase" (great lines you don't think of until you are on you way out.)

[blueblitzkrieg]

12. "The Nation woman"

Katrina vanden Heuvel ;-)

[kayell]

30. Some excellent examples of Republicans disciplining their own.

Some excellent examples of Republicans disciplining their own.

Senator Orrin Hatch said, "I don't blame anybody for standing up for their own integrity."

Lamar Alexander informed us that, "I think the vice president said what he meant to say and felt better after he said it."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/articles/04/06/30_colorful.html

These things happen from time to time," said White House spokesman Scott McClellan when asked what Bush's reaction to Cheney's remark had been.

[Momof1]

2. Keep watching....

unless they edit it out, Joe is going to get a spanking coming up.

on edit... added link

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=104&topic_id=2085407&mesg_id=2085407

[maggrwaggr]

6. Wow, good for Ron

if anybody can get airtime, that guy can.

I hope to see more of him on the national stage. I hope he keeps saying stuff like this.

The media needs to be called on their bullshit.

[ParisFrance]

8. The media is liberal...

Except mostly in Newspapers which in most cases are read by a certain region or metropolitan area. I think television media is rigt wing controlled in my opinion from what I have watched , but I may be wrong.

[maggrwaggr]

10. you lost me on that one

Do you live in Paris France? That would explain a few things here.

The mainstream television media is almost exclusively right wing, and if you're watching any of the coverage of the DNC, it is painfully obvious. Absolutely transparent!

[DieboldMustDie]

15. Not only does the right wing control the media...

they've managed to convince the majority of Americans that they're liberal. It's utterly absurd. :crazy:

[Orangepeel]

17. nonsense. many individual reporters lean left, but the media itself doesn'

most of the media today is controlled by a few conglomerates headed by large GOP donors.

Our problem is fourfold:

1. Not enough competition in the media (yes, there are a lot of TV channels and radio stations, but the TV stations are all owned by three or so companies, most radio stations are owned by Clearchannel and there is only one newspaper in each major city)

2. Reporters -- whether they are liberal or not -- who repeat talking points rather than doing their jobs. Maybe they are overworked, or under trained or just scared of their bosses.

3. Even the progressive reporters who do do their jobs tend to bend over backward to be fair, while right wing media personalities do not (now there's an understatement).

4. The right wing is better at whining and blustering than we are. We almost always lose the meme game.

[NewJeffCT]

20. forgot the exact statistics

But, national newspaper reporters are more liberal than the average population, while local newspaper reporters are only slightly more liberal than the average population.

However, editors (the ones who control what stories the reporters cover) are 2/3 Republican; and publishers (who control the editors) are 75% Republican.

Remember, despite 8 years of peace & prosperity, a majority of newspapers across the country endorsed George W. Bush, despite his lack of experience as the governor of Texas, which is generally considered the weakest govenorship in the country.

Radio, of course, is almost exclusively right wing. If you want choice, you can pick from Right Wing or Extreme Right Wing, or you can listen to a RW disc jockey spin music on Clear Channel.

Television news media is slanted to the right for the most part, with cable news being farther right than the old 3 of CBS/ABC/NBC.

The only place I would say that the "media" is generally liberal is in regards to movies, which aren't really news in the first place.

[buycitgo]

18. and except for the newspapers, as he said

what does that leave?

the internet?

RW sites FAR outnumber LW

how bout the radio?

oh, yeah; look at all the LW radio stations/hosts

good points there, though, other than ALL the ones you made

welcome to DU

Paris, France?

more like Paris, Texas

[PROGRESSIVE1]

29. Not the CBS/NBC/PBS Evening news. They are fair.

[ParisFrance]

31. ERROR

Disavow the except; I didn't mean to type that. I meant to say the newspapers are the only thing really liberal. The television media is extremly right wing controlled. Yes, individual reporters for the most part are leftist although as you were saying most editors and publishers are republicans.

[Wind Dancer]

9. I hope he continues to speak out for stem-cell research!

I'm glad somebody is finally speaking out against the GOP owned media.

[Radical Activist]

7. Is that a subtle jab at Scarby's intern scandal?

Ron Reagan is very good at making classy digs.

[spooky3]

27. Excellent point--but one minor correction...

Scarby's employee was a career employee, an adult woman, rather than an intern.

[readmylips]

13. Ron looks pissed off a lot.....

Scarface cuts him off and never answers his questions when they are about repigs. That Mathews guy was a real racist ass tonight. He tried so hard to inject hate and racism by stating that Americans would reject Teresa because she's a foreigner and speaks with a non American accent. Matthews asked Ron Reagan if he thought people, especially in the south, would reject Teresa. Ron replied that there's still a lot of racism and hate in this country and based on ignorance, yes, some people would see Teresa's diversity as a something to reject. Matthews was so rude to Richard Holbrook and his wife. He injected the same stupid racist questions to the Holbrooks. Mrs. Holbrook told him that she was born in Hungary and she's a proud American, and has never been discriminated for her accent.

[WindRavenX]

14. Ron sounded like he was wicked pissed

...and he had, at times, trouble containing it. I thought it was a very,very good speech.
BTW, did anyone catch the whores at the GOP making excuses about why Mrs.Reagan is not going to be speaking at the RNC? Sickening.

[Shopaholic]

16. I'm sending more e-mails to MSNBC this morning

to complain about both Tweety and Scarborough. Scarborough cuts off Ron Reagan at each and every opportunity and last night Tweety wouldn't let Andrea Mitchell get a word in. Anyone else who wants to join me--please do so at [e-mail]

I complained yesterday about Scarborough and their lack of use of Keith Olbermann (who actually is a fair journalist) and I did notice that they used Keith as a commentator during the 8:00 hour and that Scarboy had been banished to a later time slot (he's still got his 12am-2am gig with Ron though)--so at least that was an improvement of sorts.

[cthrumatrix]

21. they are making a mistake in thinking that it's not an issue...it is

[Scagbearer]

19. I agree

[RandomKoolzip]

22. Good for you, tring to get that post count up!

Try a less transparent method, though.

[Lex]

23. : snicker :

[Lex]

24. It was an excellent slap-down of Scarborough by Ron Reagan.

Scarborough's points were all shot down by Ron.

Sounded like RR had been reading DU.

[nomatrix]

25. Ron Reagan has been very vocal on the Bushes

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ron_Reagan

Quotes

"The Bush people have no right to speak for my father, particularly because of the position he's in now," he said. "Yes, some of the current policies are an extension of the '80s. But the overall thrust of this administration is not my father's - these people are overly reaching, overly aggressive, overly secretive, and just plain corrupt. I don't trust these people."

"I'll support any viable candidate who can defeat Bush," he said. Reagan said that he had agreed to speak at the Convention because the Democrats support lifting Bush's restrictions on stem-cell research."

In 2000 he said the Reagans never liked the Bushes. I wish I could find the quote but it was priceless.

[janx]

26. WOW.

I had no idea he had ever said things like that!

[Cats Against Frist]

28. I think the double standard is pretty clear

I think Ron should have taken it one step further, and called out Michael Savage, Sean Hannity, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter and Oliver North. What the hell should the Democrats EVER apologize for? "Shove it?" "F911?"

The talk radio hate barons of the right have been riling dull people up with their brand of vitriol and misinformation for YEARS -- these are the people who "hinted" that Bill and Hillary are murderers, the people who call normal Democrats "Communists," the people who want to "convert all Muslims to Christianity," the people who spread hatred of women, homosexuals, families, other cultures, people who want to wreck the NYT building, wreck the environment, and spread horrible, sensational disinformation propaganda that is a TRAVESTY, a TRAVESTY to the idea of a person being a rational steward of his or her democracy.

But do you see the GOP disavowing them? Do you see the GOP calling for the end of hate radio? Do you see the GOP "distancing" themselves from their rabid pundits? FOX News Channel gives Ann Coulter AIR TIME. AIR TIME -- for a half-crazy, sensational, hateful person who is nothing more than a right-wing shill and a TERRIBLE, TERRIBLE writer -- and Sean Hannity -- a blowhard brute that relies on bullying and mockery to silence anyone he argues with HAS HIS OWN SHOW!!!!

Where is the right-wing call for civility? When will they clamp down on their hateful, divisive, infotaiment shit jockeys who have done the most vehement and zealous work to divide our nation, and strip us of the possibility of intelligent discourse?

When will they apologize for "feminazi," and "welfare queen?"

Never.

And you know why? Because they DEPEND ON THEM. They NEED them. They need them to stir up hate, and sensation and the worst possible vision of their neighbors and country people.

You're damn right there's a double standard -- one that's been going on for years. While the right-wing turns the heads of the fearful into extremist echo chambers, our appeals to reason and logic and community and health go unheeded, drowned out by the voices of the dividers, the mean-spirited and the very, very unapologetic.

They will never disavow them. They are nothing without their preying attack dogs. Nothing.

[Generator]

33. Excellent post!

And I adore Ron Reagan Jr. He tells it like it is. Was thrilled to flip and actually see this bit too. Double standards, hypocrisy, and pure lies are the hallmarks of Republicans.

Imagine some truth slipping into the media! Shocking.

And I can't say it enough, FUCK Chris Matthews. He sold his soul. And hey everybody, do you all know he voted for BUSH last time, bet he will again.

[RGBflawed]

32. Ron on Hardball

Sun. and Mon. night I was in the crowd of Hardball with Chris Matthews and Ron Reagan, being a correspondent for the show, was all over the set. He's even great in person. When people cheered for Chris M. he didn't even flinch. When people cheered for Ron he turned around and gave a wink and a smile.

And he would come down to the crowd and say thanks to the people for being there.

What a great guy.