Why the Media Taint-Mongers are Continuing to Wrongfully Accuse Obama

When I wrote about the establishment media's taint-mongering last week, I never anticipated that the cable news networks would still be on this. Perhaps, I thought to myself, an Iraqi reporter might throw a pair of shoes at the president's head or maybe the American economy would continue to, you know, die. Maybe these or other news items would take over. I figured that after a full week there'd be some other ridiculously egregious media or Republican trespass I could dissect here.

No way. The cable news networks and some of the print guys are still chugging forward like obsessive little engines-that-could -- feigning outrage and flinging Blagojevich taint in the general direction of President-elect Obama while incongruously admitting that the president-elect is innocent of any and all, well, taint.

It's not necessary to spelunk too deeply into the taint sewer in order to collect some of the most ridiculous examples of the press -- the apparently "liberal" and "in the tank for Obama" press, by the way -- attempting to connect Barack Obama with the alleged Blagojevich crimes. MSNBC's Morning Joe crew, for example, might actually be guiltier of dishonestly tainting the president-elect than all of FOX News Channel combined. A feat heretofore considered impossible. Even prior to Joe Scarborough flinging taint at David Axelrod this morning, Matt Yglesias wrote of Scarborough's Morning Zoo and Taintwerks:

The people making the accusations kept acknowledging that they had no evidence. [...] Given that they knew there was no evidence of wrongdoing, they should have ceased implying that there was wrongdoing.

You'd like to think that, wouldn't you? Given the comparative abundance of evidence proving, for instance, how the present-day Bush administration authorized war crimes, it seems to me as though cable news would spend much more time reporting on an item like Vice President Cheney confessing to having greenlit torture -- an item accompanied by actual evidence of wrongdoing. But that would mean cable news was all about serious journalism, as opposed to the aforementioned sophistic taint flinging.

I'd wager that the MZ&T (Morning Zoo and Taintwerks) hasn't filled nearly as much air time discussing Vice President Cheney confessing to war crimes as they have on the president-elect's (completely nonexistent) connection to the Blagojevich scandal. In fact, it's reasonable to observe that if someone were to only watch MSNBC in the morning, they'd never know Cheney was on television this week, much less on television confessing to torture.

But it's this inconsistency that points to the reason why cable news is casuistically mongering the taint. Why, we have to ask, are they doing this?

Large swaths of the establishment press, with several well-known exceptions, of course, were caught sleep-walking through the Bush years in some kind of semi-patriotic Ambien-induced state of torpor. To wit: the vice president essentially confessed to war crimes the other day, and a guy hurled two shoes at the president's smirky dome on Sunday, thus underscoring the staggering failures of the administration's foreign policy, and yet cable news is still talking about Blagojevich's hair brush and his stupid Lycra jogging tights.

Put another way, a physical assault on President Bush failed to knock the taint meme out of the cable news roundelay of hackery.

So recognizing their own less than stellar track record, they're visibly reacting -- knee-jerking and overcompensating, really, to eight years of chronic narcolepsy by grappling onto the first non-scandal scandal of the Obama administration as if to say, See? We're not just a bunch of foppish, preening standees after all! Biggety-bam! Stand back and watch us totally nail this bastard for something he clearly didn't do.

Secondarily, but closely related, is how they're overcompensating for the perception of a pro-Obama media bias -- a bias that apparently doesn't include 24 months of cable news coverage of Rev. Wright, William Ayers, Rezko, Farrakhan, socialism, flag pins, "proud of America," Osama bin Laden mispronunciations, spreading the false Muslim rumors, bitter-gate, bowling, celebrity status, "presumptuous" and on and on -- all incontrovertible evidence of their obvious Obama love, right?

Seriously, none of that matters because TIME's very serious conventional wisdom machine Mark Halperin cherrypicked a misleading Pew poll and declared that the press coverage of the Obama campaign was "the most disgusting failure of people in our business since the Iraq war."

Since then, it's been all taint all the time. Now this might sound as if I'm making a fallacious post hoc ergo propter hoc ("after this, therefore because of this") argument by blaming the cable news taint-mongering on Mark Halperin. Admittedly, I enjoy picking on Halperin and his stupid lists. But he is, after all, the guy whose gig it is to define conventional wisdom for the Washington political press corp. Therefore, it's no surprise to learn from the Politico that...

...NBC Washington bureau chief Mark Whitaker said that reporters have not been aggressive enough during Obama's post-election pressers.

"Our job is to hold him to account," Whitaker said, adding that he thinks "we're going to have to get tougher."

A clear reaction -- a mission statement of sorts -- by Whitaker to his colleague's "disgusting bias" finger-wagging.

By the way, when Whitaker said "we're going to have to get tougher," he probably didn't mean "greater in-depth analysis of policy," he probably meant "more taint-mongering." Case in point: last Thursday, Mr. Whitaker said on MSNBC (paraphrasing), "Obama wants to change the tone in Washington? He couldn't even change the tone in Illinois!" In other words, it was Barack Obama's responsibility to thwart all of the political corruption in Illinois, and because he didn't, he's reeking with taint and will absolutely fail to change the tone in Washington.

This is the Washington bureau chief for the so-called "liberal" news outfit. Essentially, Whitaker is the executive who oversees the political content on NBC's air, so it's no wonder why MSNBC daytime has become The Place for Taint.

Yesterday, Newt Gingrich of all people called the phony-baloney linkage between the president-elect and Rod Blagojevich a "destructive distraction." Newt Gingrich said this. When the establishment media has plunged down to depths of intellectual dishonesty that even Newt Gingrich fears to dive, then you know the cable news crazy train has careened way, way off the rails.

BobCesca.com

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Comments

[arpaul]

How do I get to be a "media taint-monger"?

[certainot]

for 20 years, since reagan killed the Fairness Doctrine, GOP media operatives and overpaid talking heads have been riding the limbaugh/talk radio bandwagon and picking from their prechewed assortment of GOP-coordinated lies, distortions, and exaggerations.

the media double standards, the denial and hypocrisy, and the sabotage it does to our democracy would not be possible without the talk radio monopoly with its coordinated uncontested repetition to enable it. when these idiots go on national TV and repeat the GOP talking points they read in the morning or last week, they know they've already been pounded into the earholes of tens of millions of americans across the country and many of them are watching at that very moment just to hear them be repeated once again, with images.

until progressiv­es/liberal­s/dems/ame­ricans realize the crucial part the talk radio monopoly plays as myth maker and political correctness cop real democracy and bipartisanship is impossible- just plain naive.

[WritusMaximus]

Don't fret. Mr. Emanuel has all the answers.

[darker]

the press ain't in The Tank for Obama. They're DRUNK WITH SENSATIONALISM and
they KILLED JOURNALISM for the sake of RUBBERNECKING HYPE.

[RBN]

I get the feeling the press is covering this non-story for their own entertainment. Which is why I've stopped watching.

[FutureSight]

Why are we so focused on the bias in the media? Are we so conditioned that our personal perspectives must be conditioned by the media? True, it is difficult to watch a media source promoting a viewpoint which you do not agree with but, the easiest way to remedy that problem is to seek alternate forms of information distribution. You are not forced to watch the news on MSNBC or FOX every morning. The problem, it seems, is not the media but our intense addiciton to immediate information, whether useful or otherwise. The driving force behind our distaste is that media as a whole offers a number of perspectives of situations, atleast one of which we could hate.
Information comes at a price, and that price is opinion.

[JoeSausage]

Information and opinion are not the same thing. Opinion is not news, regardless of what FOX News might think. Distorting the facts is not reporting the facts. Spin is not news. Pundits are not reporters. Official spokespeople are propagandists. Cable New has virtually killed television news. Cable News is really just a 24 hour "Infotainment Tonight". Sound bites and flash, pretty faces and vacuous analysis. I'm not put off by someone's opinion that doesn't mirror mine. I like hearing an intelligent argument that forces me to examine my own firmly held beliefs. But lies, distortions, innuendo and taint have no place in the forum. The problem IS the media. The majority of people trust it as their news source. Of course we're responsible as individuals to sift through it and find that kernel of truth. The sad reality however is that not every single individual is a critical thinker. That's why millions of people think that Obama is a muslim, or a terrorist, or a socialist or whatever. They hear these lies and distortions and innuendos and taints repeatedly, on cable news and hate radio, and it helps form their opinions and beliefs. It becomes the truth to them; the news. So the media, or at the very least the mainstream media, IS the problem.

[vernbvb]

Now THIS is what a Huffpost pick should look like. On target! I sincerely hope you follow this up with an in depth article.

[graffen48]

I think a big problem with television media is the obscene amounts of money these people get paid. That automatically separates them from 95 % of us, and with this new social status, who do you think they're hanging around with in their free time? They literally think their s*** doesn't stink, and anything that comes out of their mouth is some kind of gospel. You can feel the arrogance coming right through the screen, thank god for remotes and instant off. A lot of these pseudo-jounalists probably don't even know what a beat is, or would even get out of their limo's to go investigate a story. Hey, money corrupts, and the TV news business carries no exceptions.

[2008CaliforniaFan]

A High School newspaper Journalist could have asked and gotten ALL of the questions the Press is asking... and be 'done'... in ONE day. Mindless dribble from the Networks.

Yet.... in a week where in an interview we have the Vice President 'ADMIT'.... that he "approved" of the practice of torture !!.. and it was 'necessary'..!!! Blago didn't 'confess'... but Cheney DID!

I don't see any networks with a panel of pundits lined up.... OR how about some Senators or Congressmen asking what they think of THAT? What is their Opinion...Do they think that is important in as much as it reflects on us around the World?

Nawwww.... that wasn't Newsworthy.
A question to the White House spokesperson might be in order on THAT.

[DofG]

Just two days ago, Olbermann, and the rest of cable media were quoting a Chicago Sun-Times article concerning Rahm Emanel's 21 x on tape story. Out of haste, Olbermann, and others assumed that the reporter, Michael Sneed was a man, when, in fact she's a "she"- a gossip columnist! No one even bothered to contextualize this irrelevant (second hand) innuendo for twenty-four hours. Even then, David Shuster still referred to Sneed as a man, while the impaneled Mary Mitchell, who works for the same paper as Sneed, made no attempt, up to that point, to correct Shuster.

These are the kind of things that will only get worse, when you have an institution (the "free press") that is specifically protected by the constitution, but is in the tank for commercial enterprise. We are committing cultural suicide on almost every front, because we've built, and benefited, all that we have on a granite of false knowledge!

[goldnchyl]

How easily the masses are swayed. Truth, lies ... doesn't seem to matter to some. I never realized before how easily some in the media distort reality. But more, I never really noticed, before this election year, how easily some will go for it. The "okie doke" crew. Not a critical or original thought to be found among 'em. Amazing.

[goldnchyl]

MSNBC smearing Obama? Gingrich defending him? Topsy turvy continuation of the long campaign. 'Seems like a whole lotta change to me. Obama is so centered that extreme opposition shows up more clearly for what it is. Extreme and usually, irrational.

[shamanbart]

Yeah, I'm pretty sick of Chris Matthews' MO -- bring up the same news headline 4-5 days in a row under the auspices that he just wants to talk about the issue... i.e., is Obama tainted by Blago.. why can't he be more tranparent about bla bla bla... did Obama's staff have contact with Blago bla bla bla...

Rinse, repeat x1000.

He knows the issue's been covered. He knows the answer has been broadcast -- by him no less the day before. By bringing up the issue repeatedly in that context, it becomes a smear.

Clean it up MSNBC. I know it's easier to recycle old material, but try harder.

[Bright Creature]

When you say they are overcompensating for years of negligence i think you're way oversimplifying things. Like.. wny were they asleep when Bush wanted to go to war? Any one looking could tell we were going come hell or high water,regardless of what anyone thought, but the press pretended that there was still a choice involved.

The fact is that the MSM is showing that they love the conservatives and hate the liberals.

They didn't care when liberals stood up and pointed out conservative bias, right? Now, they care when conservatives scream liberal bias? That says it all.

[vernbvb]

MSM did indeed fall asleep on the job when we attacked Iraq. Many Americans distrusted the so- called report of WMD and complained before the attack, but MSM was going to be allowed to be on the front lines. Why report the truth when you have an exciting action packed sensational alternative. And news coverage of the attack definitely increased ratings and sold ads. Afterall, isn't war about making money? Something for everyone - except our military and their families. Mostly a lot of heartache for them. i believe that the invasion of Iraq will become a legacy of shame for our country and for the Bush administration.

[JazzPuff]

Liked your article and I agree the majority of the media, if not all of the media has a salacious appetite for creating and mostly reporting on incorrect information. My god, if you talk about a story non-stop for weeks, on a 24-hour news channel, reported differently by different tv-show hosts, sooner or later...one of them you think will stumble upon the truth, but they get it wrong somehow, which gets out out there with the same spin, which they would rather sensationalize, which justifies their jobs.

[bascombe]

let's take it for what it is: the media is back to their day job. the election changed nothing. they are republican operatives, plain and simple. Once Obama won, he entered the no-win, blame-Obama-first world, formerly occupied by Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.

the MSM wonders why viewership is down. paper circulation is down and fewer people go to their websites. the answer is easy. no one believes anything they say anymore. they apparently don't recall tipping their hand with the pre-nomination party debates or with the presidential candidate debates.

They put their primo face people out there to demonize and attempt to intimidate the dems and the invoke fear in the voters. No one had the wool pulled over their eyes this time. Worse, the media even ignored the boos from the audiences when they asked stupid or demeaning questions.

And who can forget how they continually conflated sara plain's proximity to alaska with actual foreign policy experience.

Instead of realizing they were exposing themselves as shills, they went immediately into post-election center-right spin, denying what the voters and people all over the world knew - that America to people had had enough.

The biggest job Obama will face will be overcoming the coming avalanche of lies, innuendo, rumors and false equivalencies which will come from a media in league with those who have demonstrated nothing but contempt for the American people and the Constitution.