Scariest White House during my lifetime

[thxleo]

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2009/10/18/white-house-escalates-war-fox-news-1925819282/

[DubiousComforts]

"Fox News contributor Karl Rove, who was the top political strategist to former President George W. Bush, said: 'This is an administration that's getting very arrogant and slippery in its dealings with people. And if you dare to oppose them, they're going to come hard at you and they're going to cut your legs off.'"

:lol:

[Mike70]

while i don't agree with a lot of the article and some if it is downright funny, the white house has no business trying to "marginalize" a news network. regardless of how i or anyone else feels about fox, the 1st amendment prevails over all. criticism like this strikes me very much as an attack on free speech.

[DubiousComforts]

All Fox News has to do is host a talk show like Letterman or Leno and you could count the seconds on one hand before Obama appears on it.

[darth los]

while i don't agree with a lot of the article and some if it is downright funny, the white house has no business trying to "marginalize" a news network. regardless of how i or anyone else feels about fox, the 1st amendment prevails over all. criticism like this strikes me very much as an attack on free speech.


I would debate the assertion that they are a "news network." This is an organization that took talking points from the Bush white house for christ's sake. Nuff said.

Everyone knows what fox news is all about. It's a running joke inside the industry. They should have been "marginalized" long ago.


And wasn't daddy bush on t.v. bashing msnbc's Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman about 5 days ago?

So yeah, there's alot of bashing and marginalizing going on on both sides and it's important to point that out.

:cool:

[Mike70]

I would debate the assertion that they are a "news network." This is an organization that took talking points from the Bush white house for christ's sake. Nuff said.


:cool:

perhaps "media outlet" would've been a better choice of words.

[darth los]

perhaps "media outlet" would've been a better choice of words.

Lol. Perhaps.


There's all these counter arguments, like "well msnbc has a liberal bias themselves." And that may very well be true and we can debate that as well but just because someone else is doing it doesn't make it right.


It used to deive me crazy when the Bush Administration used to justify doing illegal/unethical things by saying "well Clinton did it too." That's a cop out and a pathetic one at that. It was wrong when Clinton did it and it's just as wrong now.


:cool:

[MaximusIncredulous]

perhaps "media outlet" would've been a better choice of words.

Lapdog weasels is probably more fitting.

[thxleo]

I would debate the assertion that they are a "news network." This is an organization that took talking points from the Bush white house for christ's sake. Nuff said.

Everyone knows what fox news is all about. It's a running joke inside the industry. They should have been "marginalized" long ago.


And wasn't daddy bush on t.v. bashing msnbc's Rachel Maddow and Keith Olberman about 5 days ago?

So yeah, there's alot of bashing and marginalizing going on on both sides and it's important to point that out.

:cool:

Who does MSNBC take it's talking points from? How about CNN? ABC news? CBS news? NBC news? The New York Times? The L.A. Times? Oh yeah, I forgot! They do real, objective news reporting. Jesus.

What Fox News is all about is a running joke in the industry, huh? You mean the Obama press?

The left will have us reading Pravda, if they have their way. The good news is that FOX news completely dominates those other outlets, so I guess some people out there have not drank the kool-aid just yet.

[Mike70]

so I guess some people out there have not drank the kool-aid just yet.

lee, i'd be the first to admit that we've been like oil and water on here for years but i'll also admit that you have a good point here. regardless of what side of the aisle you are on, the president nor any of his "posse" should be criticizing the media. in a free society it ought to work the other way.


there is more to this. i am going through a host of life changes right now and those have kicked off one of those shifts in attitudes, ideas and values that do and should happen to you in life as you age. right now my thoughts on politics are undergoing what amounts to a large geomagnetic shift and i find myself far more open to different ideas and viewpoints that i would've been even a year ago. i don't know where it will lead me nor if i will end up gravitating to a conservative viewpoint but i can tell you this, it will be an interesting ride.

[strayrider]

If President Obama tells Fox to "shut up", then they should just shut up!

:D

-stray-

[3pidemiC]

What Fox News is all about is a running joke in the industry, huh? You mean the Obama press?


Fox News was a running joke long before Obama came into the picture.

[JDFP]

It's fairly simple.

Fox News has a conservative slant.

MSNBC, CNN, ABC, NBC, CBS, have liberal slants.

Fox News is easy prey for Obama and his minions, they don't like outlets that disagree with them on policy and issue and think for themselves instead of being a mouth-piece for him as the "Anointed One".

As far as Fox News being a "joke" -- have you seen MSNBC (which I'm beginning to believe stands for "Most Socialistic News Broadcasting Agency") recently? Between Olberman and Meadows I'm thinking I'm watching a DNC rally every time I accidentally flip channels and land on it.

j.p.

[thxleo]

lee, i'd be the first to admit that we've been like oil and water on here for years but i'll also admit that you have a good point here. regardless of what side of the aisle you are on, the president nor any of his "posse" should be criticizing the media. in a free society it ought to work the other way.


there is more to this. i am going through a host of life changes right now and those have kicked off one of those shifts in attitudes, ideas and values that do and should happen to you in life as you age. right now my thoughts on politics are undergoing what amounts to a large geomagnetic shift and i find myself far more open to different ideas and viewpoints that i would've been even a year ago. i don't know where it will lead me nor if i will end up gravitating to a conservative viewpoint but i can tell you this, it will be an interesting ride.

Very interesting post, Mike. I'm really surprised to hear you say those things, it takes guts to do so.
Most people think I'm a hard core conservative, but in reality I'm not. I do lean right of center yes, but I'm not an ideologue. I'm liberal on certain issues(abortion for example) and I'm more conservative on others(less big government & taxes).
Keep me posted on how things are with you and these potential changes. Take care!

[Skippy911sc]

I really want to enter this debate but I don't y think it will do any good. I will borrow (paraphrase) from B. Frank...its like have an argument with a dining room table. I get the crazy right wing emails and read posts from both sides here, but to think that Karl Rove is explaining how the Obama administration should learn to play fair is completely horse shit crazy! This is the guy that wrote the book on playing dirty...don't the Republicans remember what this guy did to john McCain in the 2000 primary???? Remember he had a black child out of wedlock. The people that run political campaigns should not be used as a source of news whatsoever. There is something that resembles news these days but it is not all of these pundit programing bs. People need to stop watching FOX period...or maybe those Fox viewer are the ones keeping the gun prices high the ammo scarce and the toilet paper business going.

I think I am going to throw up now.:annoyed:

[thxleo]

People need to stop watching FOX period...



People who think like you are now running the United States. That's the point of the post. SCARY times.

[AcesandEights]

i am going through a host of life changes right now and those have kicked off one of those shifts in attitudes, ideas and values that do and should happen to you in life as you age. right now my thoughts on politics are undergoing what amounts to a large geomagnetic shift and i find myself far more open to different ideas and viewpoints that i would've been even a year ago. i don't know where it will lead me nor if i will end up gravitating to a conservative viewpoint but i can tell you this, it will be an interesting ride.

/on fortune cookie wisdom

A wise man is able to grow and take stock, as points of view are just that: highly dependent on where one is standing.

/off fortune cookie wisdom

[TheSeasonOfFire]

The fact anyone gives these cable opinion channels credit as "news organizations" is sad.

Watching Glen Beck goose-step around or Keith Olbermann act smugly condescending is not "news", its catering to people who already have made up their mind and look to these people to confirm the beliefs they have already constructed. MSNBC and Fox are definitely the worst of the bunch, but they all pretty much suck in my opinion.

[SymphonicX]

I saw some Glen Beck stuff and really, it does make me wonder....

There is talk of relaxing the impartiality laws we have here which certain organisations think is the best thing since sliced bread, my personal opinion is that its probably the worst thing to happen to news for a long, long time.

This Glen Beck character is nigh on pathetic...this whole crying on camera thing is really, beyond sad...I mean laughable...if it didn't have such heavy implications for the world, but people like him are pretty much the bottom of the barrel really.

[Mike70]

I saw some Glen Beck stuff and really, it does make me wonder....

i wonder about all these folks. what beck, olberman, o'reilly, etc (both sides included) do, is offer opinions, not news but spin on news. i don't have patience for that. news is the presentation of facts in a neutral and independent manner that allows the reader/viewer to know/understand what is going on in their community or the world at large. the fact that so many people turn to both conservative and liberal talking heads, who do nothing other than tell you what their own personal feelings are, kinda scares me.

i prefer written forms of news media. i mostly get my news from the BBC or the CBC websites.

[SymphonicX]

^agree 100%....

We get it a lot in newspapers...and the thing that killed Jeremy Clarkson in my mind was him trivialising the murder of prostitutes, saying they deserved it and they weren't real people...

That's the kind of extremist opnions you get in the tabloids here...its pretty disgusting.

I'm the same as you - I enjoy impartial news but its so difficult to really find the truth nowdays.

One thing that really gets me is the constant use of dramatic words to enforce opinion on certain subjects...for instance a tabloid here will always use words like "shock", "anger", "outrage" and never, ever qualify where this outrage is coming from - mainly because it originates from the newsroom itself.

Its amazing how much power media has, and people like Beck and all those are exploiting that...

[Mike70]

One thing that really gets me is the constant use of dramatic words to enforce opinion on certain subjects...for instance a tabloid here will always use words like "shock", "anger", "outrage" and never, ever qualify where this outrage is coming from - mainly because it originates from the newsroom itself.



that's a great point and something that's always bothered me. there is a total overuse of words and wordings that are designed for no other purpose than to elicit an emotional response.

to quote sgt. friday, "just the facts, ma'am."

[AcesandEights]

its catering to people who already have made up their mind and look to these people to confirm the beliefs they have already constructed.

Word. Pundits are interesting to listen to when they stop tossing feces for a second and talk about how their respective parties (or those that align closely to them) work, but they are part of the self-deluding nature of the problem, in my opinion.

[darth los]

Unfortunately, this is the way the game is played because it WORKS. Why would they do it otherwise?


Also, there's plenty of blaming the media to go around. Isn't that an official part of the republican platform? Blame the liberal media for everything? In fact I can remember dick Cheney Calling out Olberman at the white house correspondence dinner a couple of years back, so administrations calling out media outlets is not exclusive to Democratic administrations.


:cool:

[JDFP]

I agree, news should be objective, not subjective.

My question though, is there truly such a thing as objective news reporting that exists any longer?

"The New York Times" is as liberal as they come, "The Washington Times" is equally conservative. All the newspapers I know of are politically motivated in one direction or another.

I don't know of any magazines that aren't politically motivated in one direction or another -- same goes with network and cable stations. CBS, ABC, and NBC are all as political as CNN, MSNBC, and FOX News.

Think of the embarassment of Dan Rather's reporting in attacking President Bush without substantial proof and documented evidence (and his story turned out to be false as well) which led to his "retirement".

Unfortunately, it seeems the days of Edward R. Murrow and Walter Cronkite have passed us by. It's a matter of which side someone falls on politically in which source they choose to receive their news as opposed to receiving "now the news" as great Paul Harvey would say. Please tell me I'm completely wrong and point out the sources to it, I'd love to admit I'm wrong in this, but every source of news reporting I know of has some type of political slant to it (even if it's mild as opposed to bold) in one direction or the other.

Second, it doesn't seem that any news agencies have respect for any source or any story any longer. It's all about the ratings, baby. It's about the shock and thrill. If Jack Kennedy had been president today he would have been ripped apart through the mud on every woman he so much as glanced at in their general direction, just as we had a field day with Clinton. Hey, right actions or wrong actions, once upon a time in this country we showed presidents the proper respect of the office, which DOES deserve respect, regardless of political persuasion. And it’s a shame that most news sources don’t have any respect for many folks any longer – again, on both sides.

j.p.

[Mike70]

My question though, is there truly such a thing as objective news reporting that exists any longer?



i think that all flows from this disgusting ass notion that news is somehow "entertainment."

[DjfunkmasterG]

I agree, news should be objective, not subjective.


+1

I don't even watch TV news anymore, like you folks I read online to get it. I have found the AP to still do real news reporting and that is who I have been sticking with mostly, but I do surf into CNN.COM from time to time.

[darth los]

i think that all flows from this disgusting ass notion that news is somehow "entertainment."

Walter Crokite even said it before he died. News as he knew it, as he felt it should be reported, (Report the straight facts and let the people make up their own minds) Is dead.

I believe he also said the talking heads you see on t.v. now are "news presenters" and not reporters.

Nowdays we have "reporters" injecting their own viewpoints into what they are reporting ala, Keith Olberman And Bill O'reilly. No one gives it to us straight anymore.


:cool: