Sunday Roundup

In my new book, Right Is Wrong, I show how the lunatic fringe of the right has hijacked the media (along with our democracy) -- not via FoxNews and the blowhards of talk radio, but through the complicity of high-profile enablers in the mainstream media. This week's disgraceful debate on ABC was further evidence. The slime parade was straight out of the Rovian playbook. For much of the night, I wasn't sure if I was watching Gibson and Stephanopoulos or O'Reilly and Hannity. In fact, Stephanopoulos' ludicrous question about 60s radical Bill Ayers had been suggested to him by Hannity the day before the debate on Hannity's radio show. After Hannity made his Ayers pitch, Stephanopoulos revealed the hijacking in process, saying: "I'm taking notes right now." And indeed he was.

My new book, Right is Wrong, is coming out on April 29. Please click here if you'd like to pre-order

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Comments

[WWWexler]

Well put, Arianna.

The scenario seems to be this: throw the election to Hillary, which she supports because she wants a crack at it and the GOP supports because they think she's easier to beat.

But what if it's this? Obama is still going to win the nomination, and by bringing this stuff up now they have actually inoculated him against future attacks by the GOP with surprise "gotcha" ads. Instead of previewing the GOP attack, they have actually preempted it.

I wonder. It's so convoluted these days one never knows who's pulling the levers behind the curtain.

It is clear that the "MSM" have devolved into something that is substantially less than journalism. The shambles of a nation we live in proves it. So, this may just be another example of crummy journalism, or maybe there's more to it than the first layer.

-Wexler

PS I'm not a resident of CA but I was practically living there during the recall of Davis and the subsequent stampede to fill his seat. I often wonder what would have happened if you had won that election. I would have volunteered for the campaign.

[elisunday]

The MSM may actually be more out of touch with the American people than most politicians, which is pretty goddam scary.

I'd threaten to boycott, but I've been avoiding their coverage for some time now, and I don't ever plan on tuning back in.

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"Hastiness and superficiality are the psychic diseases of the twentieth century, and more than anywhere else this disease is reflected in the press."

-Alexander Solzhenitsyn

"Media is just a word that has come to mean bad journalism."

-Graham Greene

[CARTERJ]

Those of us who have been begging for impeachment are appalled that it has come to this. Everyone is sick of this campaign by now. 2007 should have been used to correct the crimes of the Bush-Cheney regime by indictment and impeachment proceedings. Instead the pols, aided by the MSM have squandered a year by endless 'debates'. The race for the White house should have only started by late 2007, and right now we should be having the slate of Dem and Rep candidates vying for the top spot. What a waste of our democracy. GOBAMA!

[SemperVeritas]

ABC/Disney has no shame and no regrets. The right-wing cabal owns American MSM lock, stock, and barrel.

Let us all remember the ABC "debate" the next time we are tempted to:

* Watch ABC "News"

* Patronize ABC sponsors

* Buy a Disney video or go to see a Disney movie or musical

* Pay good money to stand in long lines at Disney theme parks

* Take our kids to a Hanna Montana show

Remember: Every dollar we give to the above is a contribution to the MSM/Disney Republican election effort.

Connect the dots, folks. Connect the dots.

[indypete]

Haven't you read the manual? The media is liberally biased.... just ask any host on talk radio! You know, Rush, Sean... those guys!

[dplaser]

its so evident that the corporate slim machine is behind all of this.. From the silly Tim Russert and Chris Mathews right on down to the obvious FOX TV group... I mean nobody ever touched Bush.. Nobody ever asked him any direct tough questions about the obvious.. Because they are all not to .. Protect him at any (pardon the pun) cost. How is it that anybody that views this pin head president knows he is in way over his head, yet he still commands admiration and adjulation from MSM... This is all about money and its simply disgraceful

[hank48188]

Many in the MSM are in the tank for Obama, NBC, MSNBC and the Huff Post are the worst, all this stuff you're now learning about Obama should have been promoted a year ago. The MSM tried to promote Obama like he was a Tiger Woods type, but now we are seeing his true colors, Rev. Wright, Bill Ayers and his America hating wife.

[unclewoody]

Humbly, I declare the entire ABC network is without social redeeming value. We should exile the lot of them to set up a news and entertainment facility in Fallujah.

[IowaKid]

Thank You Ariannna you hit that nail on the head.

[trevor01]

Like it or not the ABC News debate revealed serious problems with Obama that had hitherto remained obscure to too many people. At the least we know more about Obama now and what's wrong with that? I say nothing, unless, like the happy dreamer, you prefer sleep to wakefulness.

[ChimpmasterDJ]

To me, the very pinnacle of pin-headed journalism was reached when shampoo-model Stephanopoulos leaned forward and in his most "sensitive and concerned tone' asked "Do you think Reverend Wright loves America as much as you do?"

The amalgam of phoniness, irrelevance, and partisanship was potently nauseating. If Stephanopoulos can keep his job after that performance, he must be providing Monica-like services to his bosses at the network.

[Lauren1959]

I hope it's a little less nefarious than that, although I'm certainly not ruling it out. I think it just as likely that the left is so intent on appearing fair that they don't recognize unfairness, and are simply extremely gullible. Stephanopoulos should never have been allowed as a moderator; they may as well have selected James Carville...

[PatrickWalker]

I agree on most of the key points about the shody state of "journalism" today. Investigative journalism is dead. Criticism of products produced by advertisers is a sure way to alienate advertising revenue, so it's no surprise one continues to see dangerous items like BPA still being used in the mass market.

However, to say that the Ayers question was somehow irreseponsable is to miss the point of the question. Obama had to have know these questions would eventually arise; it is hardly just Hannity that's been thinking of this but many on the hard left of the Democratic party who understand the Republican slime machine and how Obama will be made next Dukakis; an outmoded "liberal" on the fringe with backing from Black Panthers and unrepentant terrorist bombmakers.

Associating Obama to the Weather Underground won't be the point of the attacks. It's going to be his continued acceptance of Ayer's contributions even after his remarkable comments of September 2001.

As much as guilt by association will tar both HRC or Obama, it is never applied to Republicans. Ever.

[nogardpans]

I'm just so disappointed in Charlie and George! Not ONE question about the candidates' positions regarding the WAR ON CHRISTMAS! How can we elect one of these people without knowing where they stand on the critical issues of the day? At the very least, they could have asked about Uma's nipple and its devastating impact on moral authority in America. I mean, what's important here, people?

[runswithscissors]

But McCain continues to accept support from Falwell, who said that the US deserved the 9/11 attacks, and it's NEVER been brought up. Must be that pesky liberal bias again...

[Charmed]

I couldn't agree with you more. The only subject they were really interested in was the tax question but that's because that's the tax bracet that would affect *them*. All these people making millions of dollars keep talking about how insulted middle America should be over the "bitter" remark, what better way to make sure they keep their tax breaks. Some people even fell for it and now they are walking around paying almost $5 dollars a gallon for gas and claiming NOT to be bitter about that, makes absolutely no sense to me.

[kfdan]

The ABC debate just goes to show you that mainstream news media has gone to the reality show format!
It's not news anymore, it's entertainment. The real news at this point is really possible only on the net.

[anonyMoses]

Can't wait to read the book.

No doubt. when it comes to Media, the so-called "mainstream" is polluted. It is also obsolescent...thank God!
I suspect that you will be involved in that which will supercede these strategically overpaid gatekeepers of the Media-Military-Industrial Complex, and maybe then we can come to understand the relationship between truth and reality, reality and visions. The BushWorld's famous "chaos and confusion" has created the hog-waste lagoon from which we need to rise above. And yet so many are getting drunk on the fumes...

D. Beckwith
Charlotte

[jpeads1]

Arianna, We are lucky to have you. We re witnessing not just the highjacking of the media which has been going on for 8 years now but the continued high jacking of our country. The hit job which was launched by ABC was not just against the candidates and, particulary Barack, but against us all. Many people say they have faith in the American people to see through all of this. I don't. They have been led around for long by sound bites of of distraction, I feel certain they will continue to do so.The saying should now be not " What's The Matter with Kansas but What's the Matter with Americans? If I were in the audience that night, I would have let my voice be heard loud and clear. PA we are counting on you to get rid of us HRC and her politics of destruction. Let her change parties and run.