This Kewl Kidz and MeanGirls nonsense from the press has to stop!

[KoKo]

"America, unbound, was duly led by a President, unbound."

I blame the media for this. After 9/11 they lost their minds and became unthinking hagiographers and adminstration cheerleaders to an absurd extent. The man's halting, incoherent first press conference after 9/11 scared me more than the attacks and yet the press corps behaved as if they were in the presence of a God whose stuttering, meandering gibberish were words uttered from on high. He was called a genius and compared to Winston Churchill. Paeans to his greatness were turned into best sellers. His "gut" was infallible. It was patently obvious that he was in over his head and yet this bizarre, almost hallucinogenic image of the man emerged in the media that actually made me question my sanity at times. It took years for this trance to wear off with a majority of the public and even longer in the media. It was one of the strangest phenomenons I've ever observed.

Until recently, however, I was never quite sure if Bush himself believed it. It appears that he did. Big time. And that belief in his own hype created a completely dysfunctional organization.I suspect that what started out as a shield by Cheney and Rove to narrow the influences upon him may have morphed into a bubble designed to keep him from completely spinning out of control. But it couldn't keep him from making decisions, and make them he did, without thought or analysis or knowledge. His belief in his "gut" and God's anointment has been leading this nation since 9/11. Combined with Cheney's megalomaniacal belief in untrammelled executive power it has been a disaster.(In fact, Cheney could not have chosen a better subject to more thoroughly discredit his theory than Junior.)

I understand that it is difficult to know in advance what constitutes a real leader. A resume isn't enough to make one (although it's certainly better than not having one at all) and depending on personality or symbols isn't enough either. I don't know what the magic formula is. I do know that when someone speaks like a fool and acts like a spoiled child and appears to be "intellectually uncurious" and has never done anything in life that would give you a clue that he knows how to govern or lead -- well, it's not a good idea to make that person the most powerful person on the planet. If we've learned nothing else, I hope we have learned that.

The president matters. But whether or not we want to have a beer with him or whether or not we approve of his private life is not what matters about him or her. These are false hueristics and they don't add up to leadership any more than years of political experience translates into great political skills. Citizens need to think a little bit harder about this choice, look a little deeper, ask some serious questions. Part of the job is certainly PR and a president does have to be the star of the national TV show for four years. But it's a lot more than that and Americans need to rediscover a healthy sense of the requirements of this particular job.

Most importantly, the people who work in politics and the media need to take this more seriously. Presidential politics isn't American Idol, it's a contest for the leadership of the United States of America and putting together an "electable" package cannot be the only focus. And it goes without saying that this kewl kidz and mean girls nonsense from the press has to stop. The past six years have been a tragedy and we desperately need some thoughtful, intelligent, competent leadership to set this right.

Much More and a Great Read! You won't regret it at......

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_digbysblog_archive.html#116486610504597037

[grasswire]

1. and a good part of the blame for the kewl kids stuff...

...lies with ABC and its "insider newsletter" called "The Note" and produced by Mark Halperin. He, incidentally, is showing up more and more on cable news.

[kenny blankenship]

2. American society including its politics has been run like a public highschool

with bullies and jocks (and their vapid cheerleaders) making the rules up from one minute to the next. Television and its elevation of images and emotions in their immediacy over the prior culture of literateness and structured argument is the cause. Unfortunately that's not likely to change, until some other medium more friendly to reason steals television's mindshare away--perhaps the internet's text-centric nature can save us from spending our whole lives trapped in highschool social politics.

[KoKo]

11. kick..........

[dad]

3. Todays vocabulary words

Who wrote that, George Will?
Anyhow, here are the footnotes to that e-mail to save y'all time. Untrammeled and heuristic were misspelled, and I don't think heuristic was the proper word to use in that sentence.



hagiography

1 : biography of saints or venerated persons
2 : idealizing or idolizing biography


paean

Etymology: Latin, hymn of thanksgiving especially addressed to Apollo, from Greek paian, paiOn, from Paian, PaiOn, epithet of Apollo in the hymn
1 : a joyous song or hymn of praise, tribute, thanksgiving, or triumph
2 : a work that praises or honors its subject : ENCOMIUM, TRIBUTE


megalomania

Etymology: New Latin
1 : a mania for great or grandiose performance
2 : a delusional mental disorder that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur


untrammeled

adj.
Not limited or restricted; unrestrained.


heuristic

adj.
1. Of or relating to a usually speculative formulation serving as a guide in the investigation or solution of a problem: “The historian discovers the past by the judicious use of such a heuristic device as the ‘ideal type’” (Karl J. Weintraub).
2. Of or constituting an educational method in which learning takes place through discoveries that result from investigations made by the student.
3. Computer Science. Relating to or using a problem-solving technique in which the most appropriate solution of several found by alternative methods is selected at successive stages of a program for use in the next step of the program.

n.
A heuristic method or process.
heuristics (used with a sing. verb) The study and application of heuristic methods and processes.

[KoKo]

7. Huh? Sorry ....didn't get what you were saying. This wasn't an "e-mail."

and Digby is a well respected source. :shrug:

[MADem]

4. Presidential politics isn't American Idol. Absolutely!

What's so fucking SICK is that it took six years for someone to say that.

I mean, fachrissake, I know I am not the only one here who has felt like we've been living in Bizarro HELL, never mind Bizarro World. The Monkey is, and has always been, a stumbling, bumbling, idiotic, snarky, childish, petulant, ignorant, incurious, whining and hectoring DOUCHEBAG. Yet the media glossed over those significant flaws of character, personality and intellect, and reported on him as though he were some sort of centrally casted cartoon character in a cartoon world.

If the press really wants to know why folks turn from them and seek out information on the internets, it's entirely due to three things:

1. The repetitive, simplistic nature of their reportage, where the same, usually STUPID, stories are covered ad nauseum, and the stuff that is important is glossed over or isn't examined at all.

2. The catfight/showdown bullshit, where every issue is constructed as a smackdown opportunity, and the people involved are portrayed as WWF wrestlers. Screaming over one another to be heard is mandated when they play this card.

3. The total cowardice displayed by the media, who were truly afraid to challenge the GOP majority, for fear that they wouldn't be able to book any standups by GOP senators or reps, or studio visits by the Majority leaders, whips or others in GOP leadership positions. I've no doubt the media WERE threatened, but what they should have done is REPORTED ON THE THREATS, rather than kowtowing out of fear that fucking Faux would get all the interviews. Chickenshit bastards, just like the masters to whom they willingly and knowingly enslaved themselves.

Fuck 'em. I hope they're miserable, atoning, and learning from this horrible experience. And I hope their market share stays eroded for some time. They sure as hell haven't earned our trust.

[thingfisher]

5. I doubt the media will improve very much.

Katy Couric? Charles Gibson? Remember when journalism was about real reporting and not just reciting press release info, or gleaning the latest takes from think tank "pundits"? Why do we rely so much on these pundits anyway? Perhaps such symptoms show that the networks are really giving up on being NEWS providers, leaving that up to the real news gatherers and analysts who populate the internet.

[MADem]

6. Well, we DON'T rely on them so much, which is why they are crapping bricks

Every day, their market share diminishes, and we unwashed consumers of news get our info through the tubes of the internets!!!! They haven't any control and they are starting to realize it, the miserable bums...but their punditry and infotainment doesn't work, either...they'd better start concentrating on some serious CONTENT, rather than this fluff shit, if they want to hang on.

:evilgrin:

[eridani]

8. Dang straight it ain't American Idol

More people vote for the American Idol than vote for president.

[KoKo]

9. Broken Link...because site was DOWN today...Here's new link:

And, scroll down to "America Unbound" for the article. Digby doesn't have good "trackbacks" to specific posts.

http://digbysblog.blogspot.com/

[KoKo]

10. kick...