I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by the media

[tired_old_fireman]

Al Gore was an awkward liar who "invented the internet." The jury was still out on global warming. Howard Dean was too angry and he was crazy--everyone knew Iraq was involved in 9/11. John Edwards didn't really care about poverty. He really only cared about his hair.

I watched Edwards speak from New Orleans todays as he suspended his campaign. Immediately after, MSNBC cut to some blowhard who discussed Edwards $1200 haircut and how his rhetoric didn't match his hair. Give me a fucking break. Look at where Edwards chose to speak. Is anyone else disgusted that Americans allow our fellow citizens to live in such squalor after Katrina? Edwards words are real. The backdrop for the words are real. The media doesn't get it. There were all there--in front of such devastation. Instead of pondering why we have not rebuilt after Katrina, they pontificate about a haircut.

Maybe if they covered Edwards campaign and reported on what things are really like outside of their media bubble, he might still be in this thing. They don't report news. News is what already happened. They spend most of their time talking about what they predict will happen in the future. They should just hire fortune tellers. I hate them all. Maybe if they got out of their makeup chairs once in a while and spent a couple days living on minimum wage, they might report some news. Good luck to Obama and Clinton going forward. McCain looks like he has a pretty cheap haircut and that's going to be next to impossible for either of them to beat.

[Blue_State_Elitist]

1. His speech today was great.

It was truly emotional and personal, qualities I think the other two candidates could stand to learn from his campaign.

[WHEN CRABS ROAR]

2. But they are THE CORPORATE MEDIA.

[leveymg]

42. Why should you expect the TV Evening News to be any more honest than a Viagra commercial?

Or, more compassionate than "Survivor" (a metaphor for corporate jobs)?



The corporate media is a marketing and indoctrination device -- it exists solely to sell overpriced products you probably don't need, that you wouldn't want or even conceive of if the news and entertainment programming you watch didn't make you feel vulnerable and inadequate without them.

All you need to know to be a good corporate citizen is right there.



A miracle.

[raccoon]

43. Excellent point! ""Survivor" (a metaphor for corporate jobs)" nt

[Atman]

3. K&R

.

[n2doc]

4. If haircuts are the decider then LEE MERCER Jr. CAN"T BE BEAT

[zanne]

5. Ginsberg fan? nt

[tired_old_fireman]

9. Yes I am.

[zanne]

23. I love all the Beat Poets. nt

[madfloridian]

6. The media still insult Gore and Dean whenever they are mentioned.

Thanks for this post.

Living in Florida recently has been hell. We have a petty state party which acts childlike in its innocence in their complicity in the primary fiasco.

They attack the party chairman every chance they get, and the local media here absolutely eat if up. They love making him look bad.

Hillary is considered a saint here.

[redqueen]

7. Oh no... they get it all right.

Their 'mindless' behavior is intentional. Don't for one second believe otherwise.

[avaistheone1]

8. True. "The media is THE message"

Their are some truths which are undeniable.

[billyskank]

11. I believe it's many factors.

Yes, of course, Edwards and Kucinich (and probably Ron Paul too) say things that the powerful vested interests don't like. These people also own the media and certainly the media only promote points of view their proprietors want out there.

But there are also other factors working against such candidates. Kucinich and Edwards and Paul all talk about issues, in some cases even propose radical solutions. It's all quite technical, as it necessarily must be. However, most journalists in the big gigs are lazy and sometimes a bit stupid, just like most people are usually lazy and a bit stupid too. They'd much rather write about a story than a load of issues. The first woman president is a story, and so would be the first black president. Tabloid journalists and editors like narratives. Clinton and Obama give them a narrative, the other aforementioned candidates do not.

Also it does seem as if the news cannot cope with a multi-way race. They like head-to-head contests. A field wide open with many candidates, they can't figure it out, so they deal with it by as soon as possible cutting the tail-enders out of the picture. They create the two horse race. Look at how they are confused by the Republican contest: no clear frontrunners, and all they can write is how fucked up it is that there's no clear frontrunner. Why is it fucked up? Why should anybody give a fuck? (Republicans included). Why not just poll all the states and add up all the delegates at the end? What could be simpler?

[redqueen]

13. No... that doesn't add up... consider the republican race...

there was no clear front runner and so they gave however much coverage to whichever candidates... now pair that with the fact that even though JE came in 2nd in IA, they only gave him as much attention as the bottom-tier republicans, and the results will not pass the smell test.

Also, you have to consider the way Edwards was pulled from head-to-head surveys. He did the best of any candidate in December's polls - before the first vote was cast... and wasn't included in subsequent polls.

[billyskank]

14. True.

It does seem as if the media couldn't wait to make it a contest between Obama and Clinton. It feels as if this is how they wanted it from the start.

[redqueen]

18. It sure does... and there's evidence of how easily the voters are influenced by such things...

over and over after debates, focus groups would say they preferred Edwards, but were going to vote for someone else, because "Edwards can't win".

[billyskank]

19. Not that my opinion counts for shit, but

I think the spread out primary campaigns are an abomination. If it were up to me, which it isn't and will never be, I'd poll all the states on the same day, just like the general election. No "who's got the momentum" bollocks, just a quick poll of all the party members, bish bash bosh, the next day we know who the nominees are. And also I'd do it one month before the general election.

[Writer]

32. I'm with you there.

It's quickly metamorphosing into a single-day primary, I believe. The fact that the bulk of states vote or caucus on Feb. 5th (the first official day of the primary) says to me that our new digitized information environment has expedited information from one state to the next, completely eliminating the necessity of campaigning for each state individually.

All states should go on one day - Feb. 5th - then get on with it.

~Writer~

[Critters2]

15. JE came in 2nd in Iowa, not 3rd. nt

[redqueen]

16. Fucksake... how'd I screw that up?

:dunce:

Thanks. :hi:

[Critters2]

20. You listened to the media. It's an easy mistake to make.

Apparently.

[redqueen]

21. Eh, no.

It's called a brain fart... a typo... a mistake.

I sure as FUCK don't listen to the whore media.

[billyskank]

17. Yes, at that time it was an Edwards/Obama race.

Burt when Clinton won New Hampshire and Edwards was relegated to 3rd, they did seem to forget about him with indecent haste.

[OzarkDem]

36. They're following a script

that's how they keep their jobs.

[Mike03]

10. Glorious post. I wish were allowed to vote for it to be not just a "greatest

post" for 24 hours but one of the posts of the year.

This is so right-on, so accurate and so true that it is painful to read it.

Thanks.

[tired_old_fireman]

35. Thanks Mike.

[begin_within]

12. Throw potato salad at CCNY lectures on dadaism

[balantz]

22. The media gets it alright.

They just don't report it correctly. It is all done by script according to the game plan of the corporate interests. Edwards was most certainly not in their interest, nor is any other progressive who wants to dismantle the corrupt government and give it back to the people.

The media gets it alright, they get the script to read.

And we get the shaft!

[K Gardner]

24. I saw that asshole come on after Edwards and heard about half of his slanderous b/s, then turned

off the television. I'm done with it.

[jgraz]

25. Anyone know who that jerk was?

[K Gardner]

26. It was a journalist, I think, from one of the major papers.. he's on quite a bit but I don't

remember his name. Will check around to see if I can find a transcript.

[StatGirl]

27. "They destroy our leaders"

From http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson-and-james-boyce/how-long-will-the-right-l_b_36020.html

"That is the power of the smear machine. This is what the machine does to our leaders - the leaders of the party of the people. It smears and attacks and destroys them. . . .

"It leaves millions of Americans with an uneasy feeling about John Kerry or Hillary Clinton, a bad taste in the mouth, 'I don't know. I just don't like him.' It's emotional. It's not rational. But it is very, very real."

I see all the Republican pundits and columnists praising Obama. I expect that to change the minute the race turns from Obama vs Clinton to Obama vs McCain or Clinton vs McCain.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

30. BINGO FOR YOU, REMEMBER THE MEDIA IS THE PROPAGANDIST

[ladjf]

28. The media is a major destructive force to the Democratic

process in America. But, don't rule out the possibility that there might be physical environmental causes to some of our apparent loss of I.Q.

[HowHasItComeToThis]

29. THE MEDIA IS GOING BY ITS' OWN SCRIPT

THEY ARE BEING PAID WELL TO AVOID THE ISSUES.

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. Welcome to the United States of corprat America media. Pretty sad, isn't it?

[femrap]

33. We have to pick a network...either

the Time Warner owned network or the General Electric owned network and DO A HUGE CAMPAIGN OF SHOWING HOW MUCH PROPAGANDA THEY SPEW. Go after their advertisers, their CEOs who are over paid assholes, and any other creative protest we can come up with!!!

Read 'Rules for Radicals' by Saul Alinsky!!

[tired_old_fireman]

34. I'll read it.

Thanks for the suggestion.

[femrap]

45. Saul was a community organizer

in Chicago and had some 'creative' ideas. Code Pink shows some creative flair in their protests.

I just want to get the message out that what 'news' the public watching on TV is just propaganda....we are told what those 5 rich white guys want us to hear...which is the side that will benefit them financially.

If we could get some sort of publicity stunt going against one of the networks, say NBC, that would draw National Coverage, it might wake up some people. Maybe a boycott....and since this might help their competitors, our protests would be aired on their networks. We could pick one day where activists would demonstrate at the NBC HQ in NYC and in all the cities where there is an NBC station.

NBC is owned by General Electric which is makeing $ off of the war. Maybe the group, Media Matters, would be interested in working on an idea like this. I'll contact and see.

I bet Elizabeth Edwards would be interested. She was really pissed at the Media.

[Jack Sprat]

38. Do you ever listen to these morons

apologize for being perceived as liberal? They haven't been ever been liberal, but there was a time some 30 years ago when they were fair. What we need to do is highlight their lies and bias, as Media Matters does. Once again, deregulation raises its' ugly head.

[Jack Sprat]

37. Nailed it, fireman. Great synopsis.

You can watch some real news on local channels, but national cable and network programming is all opinionated entertainment. I hate them, too. I write them and ask them why they think their pundits' opinions are any more important than the opinions of any of the other 300Million of us? They never answer, but they get the message. Conservatives own most of the media market and they have steered this country over the years further and further towards their point of view.

[Jack Sprat]

39. Long before there was Muskie in 72

and then Gary Hart in the 80s, 88? I think. The Muskie takedown was manufactured by Nixon's creeps but the media got an assist. The Hart takedown was a media extravaganza with an assist from Hart himself. Both were more than qualified to win the presidency.

[Manifestor_of_Light]

40. Go to this website.

Go to this website and check out the articles about insiders and outsiders -- stifling the best minds of a generation. And then telling you it's your fault you can't succeed, when they've rigged the system.

www.sott.net

[Muttocracy]

41. welcome to the Biden fans' hell

Biden got labelled "plagiarist" unfairly and journalists and bloggers just HAVE to call him that to sound like they're on to him.
Newsweek slammed him for his botched compliment of Obama and then comes out recently talking about articulate black filmmakers. Nevermind his ratings from NAACP and track record.
Media barely covered him, only on foreign policy, and said, well, he're really just a foreign policy expert. Nevermind that judiciary committee and constitutional law and crime law experience.
Biden got called into Hardball as an expert on the situation with Pakistan. In the next segment, Matthews says, well, this really has to favor Clinton with all her experience.
So Biden was the old plagiarizing gaffe-making foreign policy expert with bad hair who couldn't possibly win.
Edwards was the rich angry white guy with the expensive haircut, I guess.
Sorry to welcome you to media hell. But you have lots of good company here.

[Faux pas]

44. Excellent post and so sadly true! Thank You! In case you missed

this one from yesterday:

If you believe the media manipulates campaigns, sign this please!!

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x2789511

When you go to the site, the link to the petition is on the left and tiny and hidden in the article.