NPR's spin on Obrador developments in Mexico: "that bastard's smug!"

[AP]

NPR is never kind to the anti-neoliberals, so I was curious about how NPR would present this story.

To me, it's so obvious that trying to put a progressive in jail for building an access road to a hospital ahead of that guy possibly running for president as an anti-neoliberal is hard to spin as a good thing for Democracy or a wise political move, so NPR was going to have step lightly.

It's always interesting to see how NPR translates spanish. The Obrador translation was dripping with smugness. The translator had way more inflection than Obrador displayed. Yet, the translator for the government spokesperson: calm & level-headed.

The reporter's spin: the stock market was falling because of the uncertainty and Fox's action (firing his attorney general which means that Obrador probably won't be prosecuted) was a responsible action to avoid disaster. (What a guy!) The last line was that it seems that Obrador will run for president, but the charges remain and as all experts on Mexican politics know, "nothing is certain." Huh?

Well, anyway, that was the first long piece I've heard on NPR about the Mexican presidential elections which will almost certainly represent a debate over the issue of which NPR is most consistently on the wrong side: neoliberalism.

[KlatooBNikto]

1. Once again, as a propaganda tool for what passes for received wisdom,

NPR shows that a True Democrat like Lopez-Obrador has to be painted in the colors of an ogre so that the looting of Mexico by the oligarchy can contniue as it has for the past hundred odd years with no say on the part of the poor. Lopez-Obrador with his massive grassroots popularity has sent a scare into that oligarchy.He had to be stopped at all costs. Now that it has blown up on Vicente Fox's face, our propagandists are going all out to make Lopez-Obrador look like a tyrant, communist whatever.It has about as much chance of succeding as their attempt to overthrow Chavez.

It is time for these Rip Van Winkles to wake up.Latin America has finally shaken off the shackles. Its people are going to make decisions that benefit them.

[AP]

2. The spin is that L-O is a smug loose cannon who got lucky today...

...but might still be prosecuted so his smugness could bight him in the ass. Meanwhile, Fox has the best interest of the country in mind and made a level-headed decision to let the smug bastard off the hook today so that our god -- the stock markets -- don't get angry (oh, and isn't that L-O a bastard for being so destabilizing that he made the stock market god angry?).

[KlatooBNikto]

3. How relevant is the stock market to the poor in Mexico? They have so

little and been ignored for so long, even the simple act of a politician talking to them about their problems seems like a breath of fresh air to them.It is this breath of fresh air,the winds of change, that is causing a panic.