If the corporate media had been as diligent about watchdogging President Bush as they have been about watchdogging Reverend Wright, it's very likely we wouldn't have invaded Iraq.
If the corporate media had spent as much time exposing the obvious flaws and grotesque inequalities of Reaganomics throughout the last 30 years as they've spent on Wright, we wouldn't necessarily be staring into the maw of another depression.
If the corporate media were as diligent about debunking the lies surrounding Iran's so-called nuclear program as they've been about Wright, there wouldn't be such a sense of inevitability in terms of attacking -- or entirely obliterating -- Iran.
So what is the very serious corporate media, the only industry that is explicitly protected by the Constitution, doing to remedy their failures of the recent past? Rather than watchdogging the Bush administration and Senator McCain on Iraq, Iran, the economy and all the rest of it -- areas in which Senator McCain is laughably wrong and dangerously inconsistent -- what are we seeing instead?
All three major cable news networks are wasting valuable air time on Senator Obama's former pastor. Why? Is the story newsworthy? Sure. Is wall-to-wall Wright coverage more important than Iraq or gas prices or the climate crisis? No way. But Reverend Wright is a scary, shouting black man and scary shouting black men equal ratings-sweet-ratings.
We expect to see this sort of race-baiting behavior from Fox News Channel, but CNN and MSNBC have, once again, similarly crossed the tabloid threshold into the very same nefarious Roger Ailes realm by beating this nothing story to death.
MSNBC, for example, continues to invite Pat Buchanan onto their air -- a known race-baiter and author of a recent article in which he claims that, despite 300 years of slavery, America has been the best nation ever for black people (food stamps, for example). The article, by the way, totally ignores the reality that, had it not been for slavery and Jim Crow laws, Africans could very easily have immigrated to America as free people and enjoyed the benefits of our constitutional liberties; but the article also lords welfare and food stamps over the heads of African Americans -- as if Buchanan ever once supported such measures in the first place.
Yet Buchanan gets thawed out of his cryo-freeze chamber every time there's some race-baiting to be done. Of the thousands of Republicans at their disposal as a means of balancing out the brilliant Rachel and the equally brilliant Keith, MSNBC chooses the one Republican who's known as much for his racism as he is for his high pitch voice. This leads me to believe that MSNBC is knowingly stoking the racial fires of the Wright story, simply because they continue to invite Buchanan to speak for the angry white men who think they're God's gift to black people (food stamps, for example).
The reality is that only one of the candidates is being attacked for their connections when, in fact, all three candidates have controversial and embarrassing relationships. The difference, as near as I can tell, is that only one candidate has an angry, shouting black connection. And -- bonus! -- there's videotape of this angry, shouting black man suggesting that America is partly to blame for the attacks of September 11!
Wait, wait. That claim sounds familiar. Who else besides, you know, the 9/11 Commission has claimed that American foreign policy in the Middle East was partly to blame for the September 11 attacks? In other words, who else has basically said -- and repeatedly so -- that America's "chickens have come home to roost"?
That'd be Republican Congressman Ron Paul. So let's see here... Which Republicans must, by their own standards, be held accountable for their relationship with such an obvious America-hater? Who ought to be forced to repeatedly renounce and reject Congressman Paul?
"I think it's all up for grabs, and I don't think that anyone's emerging. I think these people who are racing to declare anyone the true frontrunner at this point -- I just don't see it. Although I am partial to Ron Paul..." --Laura Ingraham
"That's music to my ears, Laura." --Tucker Carlson responding to Ingraham's praise
"I like him personally, I know him personally... I will say that he is also the one candidate that everybody knows who fought against big government. He voted against unsure Medicare, the prescription drugs, and No Child Left Behind. He's consistent, he's courageous." --Pat Buchanan
"Ron Paul is one of the outstanding leaders fighting for a stronger national defense. As a former Air Force officer, he knows well the needs of our armed forces, and he always puts them first. We need to keep him fighting for our country." --Ronald Reagan
"[Ron Paul] is the only candidate out there that's talking like a lot of us talked in 94. And that's what a lot of Americans want but no one will say anything anymore...I bet he's gonna shock a lot of people in New Hampshire." --Joe Scarborough
"He's a very engaging person... I'd like to see him as president."
"I think I'm fondest of Ron Paul... He's the only person I agree with on foreign policy."
"Rep. Ron Paul (Tex.) continues to amaze on many levels, and he had finally started to register on the polls. In last Tuesday's Midwestern ice storm, almost every Iowa event was cancelled. The exception was a Paul rally, which drew hundreds. His crowds are regularly huge and enthusiastic. He chalked up another record fundraising day on Sunday's anniversary of the Boston Tea Party, with more than $6 million in online donations in a single day." --Bob Novak
With the exception of President Reagan of course, I expect all of these Republicans politicians and pundits will step forward and declare their intentions to sever all ties to Congressman Paul, and to subsequently retract all praise for the Congressman.
How about it, Joe Scarborough? Does Ron Paul really talk like you used to talk? And would you, Pat Buchanan, define blaming America for September 11 as "courageous." And do you still support Ron Paul, Tucker? If Ron Paul is the most honest man in Congress, Senator McCain, does that mean he's telling the truth about September 11?
Naturally, the difference here is that Congressman Paul is a white Republican, and Reverend Wright is crazy shouting black pastor. Many (too many) white Americans fear angry black people, even though, given the historical record, we all ought to fear old, white, powerful Republicans a little more than we do right now.
What about other white Republicans who have said equally crazy things? Pastor Hagee, who has endorsed Senator McCain, just recently claimed that God "damned" New Orleans. Add that statement to the anti-Semitic statements and the anti-Catholic statements and you've got yourself a controversy. But are the cable networks cutting to live coverage of Pastor Hagee for two hours at a stretch? Are ABC and Fox News going to question Senator McCain about his relationship with Hagee -- the same questions over and over again, backed with the same footage over and over again? Of course not.
In addition to Hagee's awful remarks about New Orleans, the networks, by-in-large, skimmed past the news that this month has been the deadliest month in Iraq since September 2007. The networks continue to ignore the root causes of the current recession and Senator McCain's promise to continue the Reaganomics of the current administration. The networks all but ignored Senator Clinton's promise to "obliterate" Iran with nuclear weapons, even though hundreds of thousands of Iranian people, who held pro-American vigils after September 11, favor government reforms and disapprove of Ahmadinejad.
So I have to ask the appropriate network executives the familiar yet appropriate question: Have you no sense of decency at long last? Have you left no sense of decency?
The constant, around-the-clock coverage has become a race-baiting spectacle far beyond the realms of journalistic decency, honor and integrity, especially given the slag heap through which most Americans are marching right now -- a march which truly deserves wall-to-wall news coverage. And if the cable news networks can't help but to prioritize their headlines with the same twisted fury as far-right talk show hosts or racist Republican strategists like Floyd Brown or Alex Castellanos, it's clear that the answer to that famous question is a resounding "nope."
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After a whole week of endless comments and questions and nonsense about this guilt by association drama, and Obama's distinct and firm disavowal of Wright, MSNBC marched endlessly on with this story right into its Friday afternoon lineup. Gregory's first question was about whether or not the Wright affair would hurt Obama. Chris Matthews went on and on and on, and what's worse, he continued Saturfday morning on his network show. Keith mentioned it , but moved onto some of the more important events of the day, i.e., McCain's statement about how we have sent our troups to Iraq for the sake of oil. Never mind. Richard Capus, the head of NBC news then had Verdict replaced with a full hour "special" on Obama and Rev. WRight, going through every scrap of comment that was ever made.
This is a disgrace. It is dishonorable and an abuse of the people's airwaves. Some may say Congress sold those airwaves. However, they can never sell the people's right to the information commons. To do so would be to openly install an autocratic oligarchy.
I am so angry about this that I am writing the networks but I am also letting them know that I am sending copies of my remarks to their advertisers and letting those folks---who are, after all, the ones that matter to the broadcasters---that I will be doing my best to boycott the products of their companies.
When our founding forefathers wrote the Constitution they had the foresite to guarantee Freedom of the Press. I can only imagine how uncomfortable they must be as they look down at what the press has become. They put that ammendment into the fabric of our country to allow the press to be a watchdog over the truth and to reign in the government when it hides the truth from the people to protect themselves. Where has responsible journalism gone.? This country is slowly being brought to its knees by a miriad of issues such as the war, inflation, unemployment, the energy crisis ect. The Press should be pursuing these issues with the candidates so the American people can reach an intellegent decision on who the next President should be.I'm disgusted with what the press has become.
Ho hum, is this what we can expect from an Obama presidency? Continued charges of race-baiting and racism whenever a legitimate topic of concern comes up about the Anointed One? The media didn't make this about race. Obama and Wright did. The entire spectacle began with his "highly praised eloquent speech" in Philadelphia in which a cheerleading pro-Obama media was swooning in aisles proclaiming it the greatest speech in American history, only to find Obama a month later doing a complete 360 turnaround against his spiritual mentor and many of the remarks in his speech, including, "I could no more disown him than I could my own grandmother." Well, guess what. That's news. And it points to Obama's judgment and weaknesses. American voters want to know the truth about Obama's nefarious relationships.
In case you didn't read my post carefully it was neutral and commented on the press coverage of the election. I notice every one of your posts are a negative response to everything Obama. So I think maybe you want to see Clinton win so you and your republican cohorts can run against her because she is very beatable. So are you really a Democrat who loves Hillary or a Republican wolf in sheeps clothing?
Obama supporters, you can beat Clinton with the TRUTH. You don't have to lie and say that she is responsible for Rev Wright or Ayers. THE MEDIA brought those issues up and the only time she has commented on them, is when she is asked or it's a question in a debte. Direct your anger at the media.
None of the MSM nor the Clinton campaign forced Obama and his wife Michelle to join Rev Wright's church nor did they force them to sit there for 20 years listening to Wright's anti-American and racially offensive garbage. They did that themselves. Several remarks by Michelle Obama tell me that at least some of Wright's venom stuck to her. The comments about her "never being proud of her country" and that America in 2008 is "mean spirited" come to mind. Even Obama's remarks about "bitter" Americans "clinging" to guns and religion probably have roots in Wright's sermons.
Wright's comments (accompanied by his obscene gyrations) about the Clinton's "doing to the African American community what he did to Monica Lowinsky" were absolutely astounding. A "preacher" doing this in front of a congregation is unthinkable. The congregation's reaction was equally startling.
Obama has had many chances to disassociate himself from Wright and his way of thinking. All of his high sounding rhetoric from the Philadelphia speech (which was praised by the same MSM you now condemn) can now be seen through a different prism...a political prism. He finally condemned his pastor as Wright said "for political reasons". Wright's biggest offense? By his own words Obama threw Wright under the bus because he was offended by being called a politician. That shows that Obama is concerned about Obama; not the millions of Americans who are deeply offended by his spiritual mentor's words and actions. New kind of politics? I think not.
Bill Clinton pardoned 16 Puerto Rican Nationalist terrorists that blew up buildings and killed Americans because Hillary needed that voting block for her run for NY Senator. Does that mean Hillary supports terrorism? She's been married to the guy for how long? How could she stay married that whole time and not know that Bill had a soft spot for PR Nationalists that blow up Americans?
Ya know, a lot of us are getting pretty tired of the "sitting there for 20 years...." hand-wringing, so once again, I'll list the ways in which that's just lame:
1. Do you really think that this guy says the same kind of stuff every Sunday, or that he even preaches every Sunday? No, and no.
2. Do you really think every person in every congregation bases their membership in a church on nothing more than a few words in a few sermons?
3. Best example of "sitting there for 20 years...." With this logic, Catholic churches should be empty, because child sex-abuse is way, way, way worse than anything Wright has said.
Note to Bob: Please do something on your own blog to make posting a comment easier! Thanks!
Do you really think Obama knew NOTHING of his reverend's views and stances for the last 20 years? It only takes 20 minutes of listening to the good reverend to know where he's coming from. Makes me wonder about Obama's foresight, awareness and judgment.
I watched Wolf Blitzer on CNN this morning. As hard has he tried, the guest (all African-Americans) absolutely refused to discuss Rev. Jeremiah Wright. Their unanimous refusal forced him to change the subject. Mind you, one guest was a prominent Hillary supporter.
We know cable news (MSNBC, CNN and Fox) will stay on this subject as long as it gets them ratings, so let's hit them where it hurts - in the ratings. I suggest that we not watch any of them for the next days. We can get Tuesday's election results on-line from sites other than MSNBC, CNN and Fox. If they get back on this subject during the general election, let's turn themoff again!
I saw that, too. Normally I would have been watching MSNBC, but I haven't, nor will I watch that station (except for Countdown) until they ditch Buchanan and Scarborough and let go of the Wright bullshit. The Scarborough/Buchanan idiocy was bad enough, but when Countdown ended last week and I saw that Abrams was doing an entire "Special Report" on Wright, I fucking quit. Disgusting and disgraceful.
No, the gov't didn't invent AIDS to kill minorities, but President Senile didn't even acknowledge the disease for ten years because he was so biggoted against gays that he thought it was just God's way of cleaning up the country. AND he looked the other way while his sinister cronies sold & smuggled cocain (to pay for an illegal war on socialists) into the western ports creating the worst drug epidemic the country has ever seen, spawning the gang violence that keeps all the nice white folks afraid of blacks. Just like giving the Native American population whiskey, they F-ing knew what they were doing the entire time, the racist bastards. And the devil Ollie is paid well & celebrated as a F-ing hero. He should've been hanged in public on the Capitol steps. And our current President knew what they were doing, too. Just like they created the U.S. heroin epidemic by smuggling during Vietnam to pay for illegal payoffs to warlords & death squads in Cambodia. Think of the gigantic revolving mostly minority slave labor force created by the drug policies, which generate billions for private prisons & tech production. We're still not too far from the plantation days, but nobody wants to acknowledge it. Let's all just watch some stupid kid sing & dance on t.v. & be happy, huh? Let's concentate the ENTIRE media on some loud scary black preacher & keep that image connected to the one candidate with a soul. I am Jack's disgusted
I can't understand why you won't believe that Reverend Wright might have valid grounds for his statements. I am certain you are aware of the Tuskegee (sp?) experiment, the Native-American Small Pox campaign. Basically, Wright is saying that history repeats itself. You cannot fault him for the paranoia. Now consider this statement made by the U.S. government official in a secret World Bank memo:
"[S]houldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the less developed countries?. . . The measurement of the costs of health impairing pollution depends on the foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality. From this point of view, a given amount of HEALTH-IMPAIRING POLLUTION should be done in the country with the lowest wages. I THINK THE ECONOMIC LOGIC OF DUMPING A LOAD OF TOXIC WASTE IN THE LOWEST-WAGE COUNTRY IS IMPECCABLE AND WE SHOULD FACE UP TO THAT. . . I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT that under-populated COUNTIRES IN AFRICA ARE VASTLY UNDER-POLLUTED. . . ." LAWRENCE SUMMERS, US DEPUTY TREASURY SECTRETARY (AND US TREASURY SECRETARY DESIGNATE). Lawrence Summers made this statement while he was the World Bank Chief Economist. Yet, he was given a Cabinet position BY THE US GOVERNMENT! Do you think that Africans will have good grounds to conclude that the U.S. might poison Africans with toxic waste?
If we have to disown people for comments we consider racists, will you be willing to disown your friends and family members for racism? STOP THE DOUBLE STANDARD!
How desperate does one need to become to refer to pansy as an "anti-gay epithet"?
The dictionary defines it, and it's commonly understood to refer to a " a weak or effeminate man" in the context used. Bob, a weak or effeminate man does not equal a gay man and your argument would be stronger if you would stop try to deflect.
Obama spent 20 years in Reverend Wright's church. 20 years where he would have use believe he had never heard the reverend praise Farrakahn, claim AIDS was designed to kill US minorities, and that 9/11 was, essentially, our fault, and that Zionism is racism.
Bob, you may be that gullible and your Obama-nut fans may be as well, but I haven't drunk that much Kool-Aid, and I can only explain this temporary blindness to Bush and Clinton fatigue.
JohnBarleycorn,
I can't understand why you won't believe that Reverend Wright might have valid grounds for his statements. I am certain you are aware of the Tuskegee (sp?) experiment, the Native-American Small Pox campaign. Basically, Wright is saying that history repeats itself. You cannot fault him for the paranoia. Now consider this statement made by the U.S. government official in a secret World Bank memo:
"[S]houldn't the World Bank be encouraging more migration of the dirty industries to the less developed countries?. . . The measurement of the costs of health impairing pollution depends on the foregone earnings from increased morbidity and mortality. From this point of view, a given amount of HEALTH-IMPAIRING POLLUTION should be done in the country with the lowest wages. I THINK THE ECONOMIC LOGIC OF DUMPING A LOAD OF TOXIC WASTE IN THE LOWEST-WAGE COUNTRY IS IMPECCABLE AND WE SHOULD FACE UP TO THAT. . . I'VE ALWAYS THOUGHT that under-populated COUNTIRES IN AFRICA ARE VASTLY UNDER-POLUTED. . . ." LAWRENCE SUMMERS, US DEPUTY TREASURY SECTRETARY (AND US TREASURY SECRETARY DESIGNATE). Lawrence Summers made this statement while he was the World Bank Chief Economist. Yet, he was given a Cabinet position BY THE US GOVERNMENT! Do you think that Africans will have good grounds to conclude that the U.S. might poison Africans with toxic waste?
If we have to disown people for comments we consider racists, will you be willing to disown your friends and family members for racism? STOP THE DOUBLE STANDARD!
Pat Buchanan is an absolute disgrace, but Chuck Todd is worse, the way he twists the numbers against Obama is laughable. To listen to this guy you would think it was a dead heat going into the final primaries. As with a lot of these so called pundits they want to shape reality into their own twisted
fantasies of a Clinton comeback. I hope his beard falls off when he wakes up one day and sees the
headline 'President Obama wins in a landslide'.
it's disgusting. I stopped watching CNN some time ago, because of Lou Dobbs, and MSNBC during the day is just awful. Chris has gotten just as obnoxious and Dan Abrams' special report was a disgrace.
It seemed to me that the point of this editorial had more to do with the fact that there are other more dangerous and egregious things going on than the Reverend Wright's comments. or Senator Obama's responses to them. Rev. Wright is an obnoxious butthead, much like Ward Churchill, who used the phrase"....Chickens Coming Home to Roost" in a book title a while back.(but 9-11 was a dream come true for the corporatist right, so who's chickens came home to roost?) Barack Obama is in fact a politician, why does that surprise people? McCain is not just a victim of the wrong people liking him, he's actively sought out the religious right's endorsement. Hillary and McCain are so similar to each other, and so friendly with each other that I wonder if it would make a difference who wins, if they run against each other. But there are in fact other things going on here, and the media does function largely as a diversion and disinformation system.
I'm sorry that you feel that exploring the downside of a canidate his short cummings his inabilty to face facts(like bush) his burying his head in the sand(like bush) and like bush sr comes off with a huge wimp factor. This guy hasn't been honest with this whole i was a member who went to church regularly and never heard such a thing. As my mother would say Bull ----! The fact that he's just as underhanded as any other polititian, has sarogates drop the bombs of half truths and lies on other campaigns(like W too) it's not surprising that you'd feel this way. Especially after the no hardball Msnc love fest he's had, cnn is the only one that gives an accurate full story not just the good (msnbc) nor the bad (fox). this guy is about as much a new kind of polititian as bush was a compassionate conservative, new guy same game. ost of his campaign has been run like bush 2000. Said it before say it again, I will not vote for this guy ever! He's too much like Carter was no clue and like carter will be a one term president. Like Carter hopefully he'll do great things after the white house. But he'll never make it. I don't think he'll get the nomination because he offends too many by going to such a church, not being specific on issues, and he comes across too preachy self righteous, and being too wimpy.
YES!!! THANK YOU!!!! I've said elsewhere on this site that I regularly watch a lot of the MSNBC news/political shows, but I'm incredibly disappointed in their disgusting coverage of the Wright made-up controvercy and racist fear-mongering. I'm boycotting them and their sponsors over this stupid non-issue. Keith Olberman is the only one worth watching on MSNBC. In his "Bushed" segment, he identifies dozens of issues that should be reported on in depth by the news shows and instead all we get is hours and hours of Rev. Wright.
you have to be idding matthews has been humping obama's leg since last year. He and oberman have both been kissing his ass and ever time they talk about this issue thye make excuses for the loser. I'm a dem but this guy makes me sick. Racist- fear mongering isn't what this is and if you and others don't stop screaming racist everytime a negative story about obama comes up it only hurts him makes him less like the major portion of the electorate which is mae up of many other races, not to mention makes people think he can't relate to them. Personally the effect I love it makes hillary stronger. I can't beleive you are as rabid about msnbc as a fox veiwer is about fox noise. I've stopped watching msnbc because of the non nuetral reporting. I watch cnn they say good and bad about everyone the truth and the whole truth. The Wright issue is not only valid as to the lie exposed that he has or hasn't heard such things said depending on when asked about it. I know a girl from college who Wright spoke to in a group and said horrid things that were just as racist as his rant shown on tv. But more importantly like Kerry's lack of response in 2004 race this is something that will get only worse and makes him look weak and like a deer in the headlights. that's not what we need in a president.
Your 'Opinion' on the importance of the Wright slant tells much...
If you can get your mind focused as to why some would like you to believe this non-story, is valid, you would understand that when it's exposed to true light it will run as quick as a roach under a side board.
Since you evidently don't get it let me make it plain...
The white sheet scare that is being booed across the country is that Obama has swallowed the beliefs of Wright and would do his bidding.
If however that were the case, any researcher could dig through Obama's history and find his path, his goals, his beliefs and actions, and give credence to the fears.
Problem is, Obama's history proves the opposite.
Obviously Obama's life, and experiences have shaped his goals and outlook and have given him his unique gifts to understand the core of what America feels and needs and the views of his one time preacher have had no negative affect and possibly many positive ones.
Get that ?
In order for the Wright rhetoric to have any factual power in the real world, there would need to be some matching correlation in the past actions of Obama, and alas... there are NONE !
So all of you who are holding onto that piece of driftwood as if it"s your salvation, had better kick towards the nearest shore before you are washed over the falls¦
dmslv02, I love commenters like you that can't handle the truth. You want politicans that smile in your face and you think you can have a beer with, all the while they put their hands in your pocket stealing your hard earned money.
Rev. Wright's greatest mistake was that he dared to speak the truth about what our government has done to the black people in this country. On national TV at that. You can't handle the truth. What about Rev. Wright's military service, what about the church that he built, what about his service to his community. None of these issues were discussed. What was discussed was that he dared speak the truth. Get a grip.
Bob wrote sensibly on how corporate MSM is feeling us a lot of garbage for 24/7 on Rev. Wright while not discussing Iraq, causes of high gas prices, obliterating Iran, etc.
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Posted 08:33 PM on 05/04/2008
Posted April 29, 2008 | 03:29 PM (EST)