News Roundup for 7/22/10

Sharron Angle's campaign slogan

-Headline of the day-
"Angle holds three-minute press conference, then runs from questions."

Crazy old desert prospector and GOP candidate for the US Senate Sharron Angle just learned that her campaign is circling the drain, which is fancy political-talk for "a huge disaster." So something needed to be done.

So she called a big, super-important press conference. According to the report, "In the warehouse of a family-owned clean diesel manufacturer in Sparks, Angle delivered a three-minute speech on her desire to permanently repeal the estate tax. When invited by the final speaker to stay and answer a few questions, she turned on her heel and rushed out a back door with a small cadre of staff members."

The reporters didn't like this much, since they get paid to do stuff like ask questions at press conferences. Let's face it, the job market's not so good, so if you're not doing your job, well...

"Reporters, including one who is six months pregnant, chased after her," the report goes on, "calling out questions on unemployment benefits and other topics she has largely refused to address."

Now I'm not an expert on campaigning, but I'm pretty sure that kind of press isn't going to help things any, Sharron. (Think Progress, with video)


-Cartoon time with Mark Fiore-
Hey kids, does Mom or Dad have one of those yPhones or Frankenberry's or whatever? You ever wonder where the stuff they're made out of comes from? Let's find out!


Click for animation

OK, so that wasn't any fun... I guess we won't take a look at what happens when we throw them away. (MarkFiore.com)


-Bonus HotD-
"Democrats pull plug on climate bill."

Looks like one of John Boehner's big projects for 2011 just bit the dust.

Which actually kind of sucks. A lot. (Politico)

Media Ignoring Breitbart's Role in Breitbart's Hoax

Media Matters sums up the Breitbart/Sherrod case:

Here's the thing though; "Is Breitbart washed up?" isn't a question anyone in the media is asking today. It's all about the White House and the NAACP and Shirley Sherrod, as if this hoax just dropped out of the sky without anyone behind it -- a sort of fraud with an immaculate conception. As the video shows, some talking heads got a few shots in, but that's about the extent of it.

There is no question that someone in the administration reacted irrationally to a video put out by a well-known serial liar. And that's something we really need to discuss. But at the expense of talking about the serial liar himself? I don't think so.

The media is absolutely saturated with bullshit pollution from hacks like Andrew Breitbart. If the administration falling for it is such a bad thing -- and it is -- then why is it that the media falling for it is not? Is it serving the public well? It is not. Case in point:

CBS News, Feb. 2010:

Of all the very information that came out of the recent CBS News/New York Times poll, one question stuck out, that of taxes.

Here's the poll question: "In general, do you think the Obama Administration has increased taxes for most Americans, decreased taxes for most Americans or have they kept taxes the same for most Americans?"

The answer:
" 24 percent of respondents said they INCREASED taxes.
" 53 percent said they kept taxes the same
" And 12 percent said taxes were decreased.

Why didn't Americans know they got a tax cut? Because media outlet after media outlet featured bullshit artists shrieking about how Obama had raised taxes. And those claims were very rarely challenged.

This would be an excellent time for the media to start some sort of self-examination and figure out how it is exactly they could extract their collective head from their collective ass. And they can start by reporting on what a fraud Andrew Breitbart really is and why they take people like him seriously.


UPDATE: I'm not going to repost it here, but check out Rachel Maddow's take on FOX News' coverage of this thing. One day, they were all "Racism! She's racist! RACIST!", the next they were all "shame on the media for jumping the gun on this story."

It makes my head hurt. Do FOX News viewers drink more than most people? Someone should do a study, because I'd almost think they'd have to. How could you fall for obvious crap like that and be sober?


UPDATE II: the New York Times demonstrates exactly what I'm talking about here with an editorial that takes the administration to task, but doesn't mention Breitbart even once. Apparently, the edited clip just spontaneously came into existence and no one is to blame for it.

Griper Blade: Boehner Promises a Do-Nothing Congress

Yesterday, a congressional commie hated America by saying that some of the fine patriots in the Tea Party movement were "anarchists who want to kill all of us in public office." Michelle Malkin went insaner. Andrew Breitbart tore out all his hair. Hannity, Limbaugh, and Beck took to the airwaves to expose how this congress critter's great aunt once met Joseph Stalin's valet's second cousin and that this proved said critter was a lifelong Marxist mole out to destroy America from within! All the cable news channels had heated talking head battles over the statement.

That's what would've happened if the person who said it was a Democrat, anyway. But it was House minority leader John Boehner, speaking to reporters with the Christian Science Monitor, so it's OK. See, when a Democrat says that there are some crazy teabaggers out there, it's an attack on fundamental American principles. But when a Republican does it, it's just stating the obvious. No media firestorm, no public displays of forced outrage -- in fact, hardly anyone noticed at all.

Less lost on the media was Boehner's Big Plan to create jobs. It's brilliant in its simplicity -- or it would be anyway, if there were any chance at all of it working. Boehner's Big Plan is to do nothing...[CLICK TO READ FULL POST]