My Proposition

AAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH:


I propose that we try Opposite World for one year and see what happens. Pay the people at the bottom of the economic ladder what the CEO’s make and pay the CEO’s minimum wage. Then let’s see if FoxNews has the discussion "Lowering The Minimum Wage: Is It Better for CEO’s?

From Off To On

Shepherd Smith: Now that the election is over, Carl, tell us more about all those reports of infighting between McCain and Palin staffers.

Carl Cameron: Well, I wish I could have told you back at the time but all of it was put off the record until after the election. There was great concern in the McCain campaign that Sarah Palin lacked the degree of knowledgeability necessary to be a running mate, a vice president, and a heartbeat away from the presidency. We’re told by folks that she didn’t know what countries were in NAFTA, the North American Free Trade Agreement, that being Canada, the US, and Mexico. We’re told she didn’t understand that Africa was a continent rather than a country just in itself ... a whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability. She got very angry at staff, thought that she was mishandled… was particularly angry about the way the Katie Couric interview went. She didn’t accept preparation for that interview when the aides say that that was part of the problem. And that there were times where she was hard to control emotionally there's talk of temper tantrums at bad news clippings…

Put off the record by whom? Why isn’t it off the record anymore? Did Carl Cameron and Fox News want another idiot to be president?

"This marching thing" in Denver

Griff Jenkins of FoxNews in Denver:

How much money does FoxNews pay Griff Jenkins and Jamie Colby to come up with these words of wisdom?

• “This is the recreate 68 crowd” (Yes, they really do exist. How nice it was of Griff and Jamie to give us so much information and background on them. Not!)


• “This marching thing” (Not to be confused with the talking thing, pretending to be a news person.)


• “I don’t know how rowdy this is going to be” (How about reporting the news, not predicting it.)


• “These people say they believe in freedom of speech” (Meaning what, exactly?)


• “Not all of them are Obama fans. That’s perhaps the biggest surprise of all. Obama’s getting not as much love as even Bush.” (It’s no surprise to me, Obama is simply the lesser of two evils. Where is the proof to support such an inane statement that these people dislike Obama more than Bush, because I really doubt that it is true.)


• “But Griff, Puerto Rico and Hawaii as well, what is their concern there?” (Don’t the citizens of Puerto Rico and Hawaii vote?)


• “I guess they don’t believe in freedom of speech” (In response to someone saying: “Fuck corporate media.”)


• “Let’s just work this crowd, and see who else we can talk to” (Work this crowd?)


• “Do you not believe in freedom?” (In response to someone saying: “Stop the torture, stop the war.”)


• “It is out of control” (What? They seemed pretty peaceful and reasonable to me, given who they were talking to.)


• “This group saying that they want to recreate 68” (But Griff Jenkins had previously said: “There are a lot of different groups represented.” Which is it? One group, or many?)


• “Giving them a chance to speak out, to tell what their message is, and they’re not even talking, all they’re doing is screaming and yelling at him” (The message is that FoxNews sucks, lady. Clean out your ears.)

Thanks to onegoodmove, where I first stumbled upon this video.

And thanks to johnny dollar's place for the video.

Will The Real Mike Huckabee Please Stand Up

Who is Mike Huckabee? Is he an ordained Baptist minister? Is he the head of a political action committee raising money for John McCain and other Republicans? Is he a political commentator on Fox News? Is he John McCain’s potential running mate?

The answer would be “all of the above.” Does anyone else see a glaring conflict of interest here? Fair and balanced all right.

From Mike Huckabee Joins Fox News by Andrew DeMillo:

Mike Huckabee, a former Republican presidential hopeful, has been hired by Fox News Channel as a political commentator.

Read the rest here.

Fox News And Karl Rove

From That Pundit on Fox News? An Upstart Named Rove by Jim Rutenberg and Jacques Steinberg:

George Stephanopoulos’s abrupt move 11 years ago from the Clinton White House to ABC News — initially as a partisan member of a Sunday political panel who would also do some reporting — raised hackles inside and outside the network.

Speaking at the time to The American Journalism Review, the Washington Post columnist David S. Broder complained about what he saw as a worrisome trend. “One day they are calling journalists to write favorably about their prominent political patrons,” Mr. Broder said, “and the next minute they are sitting at the table with journalists and indistinguishable from the journalists.”

This year, there has been hardly a hiccup as the cable news networks and other outlets have sought to stoke interest in the presidential race — already a huge ratings boon — by signing up strategists who have either left politics only recently or still work in campaigns, a detail that is usually shared with the audience but not always.

Read more here.

Apparently It's Working, At Least For The Time Being

What’s working you might ask? Why, the right wing media attack on Barack Obama. See my previous post God Damn And Shut Up for more of my thoughts on this.

TPM Election Central has the proof in this post Poll: McCain Now Leading Obama Among Independents by Greg Sargent.

Apparently this isn’t enough for FoxNews and Sean Hannity. Tom Tomorrow gives Further context.

FoxNews vs The Rest Of The World

Corporations Are Killing Individuality

Lee Camp appeared on FoxNews the other day. He went off script at the end and completely baffled everyone involved. Millions of people dead? Who cares, we must talk about Captain Kirk and sex. The requirements for being hired by FoxNews must be that you are brain-dead and have sold your soul to the company store. This type of discussion is what we see every day on television. No one is allowed to go off script, no one can take the time for depth and relevance. Move on quickly, we need to talk about Britney now. Bill Moyers is an exception to this. Even if you disagree with his content, you can’t disagree with the fact that he is one of the few interviewers who does interviewing the right way. Mr. Moyers treats his guests with respect, listens to them and actually HEARS what they say. He responds to his guests in real-time, not from a script. There is actual thinking involved on his part. By him, not what someone is telling him to think. He never tells his guest to “shut-up.” We need MORE ideas and viewpoints expressed, not less. Why was there no discussion on FoxNews of something as important as millions of people dead? It is childlike behavior. Pretend it’s not there, and then it really doesn’t exist.