I spent 24 hours this past weekend off the grid -- no television, no print, no online, no news. It was a Jewish thing, not a Walden thing. When it ended, with a media break-fast, I couldn't help my thoughts from going meta. It wasn't the particular political news I consumed that I found myself tasting, but rather the nature of political news itself. I think it's making me sick.
There was, for example, the Washington Post story by Chris Cillizza and Shailagh Murray exclusively reporting a Celinda Lake survey saying that Clinton and Obama were anvils dragging down the prospects of "the 31 Democratic-held House districts regarded as most imperiled in 2008." I first heard about the Lake poll when it was cited by Joe Johns on Wolf Blitzer's Sunday roundtable, and by someone -- I think it was Cokie Roberts -- on George Stephanopoulos' show.
But neither Cillizza/Murray, nor their echo chambermaids, called Lake's survey what it was: a push poll. I found that out from Atrios, and from Steve Benen on TalkingPointsMemo. Here's the question Lake asked:
"Some people say [your Democratic incumbent] is a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton and will support her liberal agenda of big government and higher taxes if she becomes president," the poll stated, before asking respondents whether they would still vote for their incumbent or choose a Republican candidate" [bold added].The other version subbed Obama for Clinton. It wasn't enough for Lake to name Clinton or Obama; she had to tar them with Republican talking points about any Democrat. She might as well have also called them soft on terrorists and cut-and-runners. Is it any wonder that House incumbent numbers fell? Nor did Cillizza/Murray note -- though Atrios did -- that Lake is working for Biden, as Cillizza himself reported. "Lake," he wrote on the Post's blog, is "a well-known pollster among the chattering class."
Another example: The MoveOn.org New York Times ad, I shouldn't have been surprised to see, was still a whipping boy, and an easy way to dodge discussion of the debacle in Iraq. It wasn't from television or print, though, that I learned what I found on Media Matters: that Rush Limbaugh has repeatedly called Chuck Hagel -- a Vietnam veteran with two purple hearts -- "Senator Betrayus," for his Foreign Relations Committee vote for a nonbinding resolution on against the Iraq escalation. Georgia10 gave the Media Matters story some legs by posting it on Kos. She put it under the headline "The Hypocrisy! It Burns!" and framed it this way: "Just episode 51,003,926 of 'It's OK If You're A Republican'... But, folks, this time around, it was an Ad. In a Newspaper. By a (gasp!), liberal organization. That really makes all the difference in the world."
One more: On the Stephanopoulos panel, reacting to a Romney ad where the candidate says the Republican Party has lost its way, conservative New York Times columnist David Brooks said that this Mitt tack was a good move, comparing it favorably to George W. Bush's 1999 strategy of redefining Republicanism as BigTent-ism. That's right: the Party that gutted the civil rights division of the Justice Department, that seared our brain with Katrina indifference, that turned comprehensive immigration reform into an Hispanic demonization contest, that sold the Party's soul, such as it was, to theocratic bullies -- this was the consequence of Bush's con job, and this is just the horse that Brooks wants Romney to ride. You couldn't want a clearer illustration of the unaccountability of punditry, the triumph of theater over principle, the unctuousness of Brooks' moral core. I was waiting for E.J. Dionne to nail him, but since he didn't, I can.
Now I suppose the lesson I could draw from these examples is The Power of the Internets. TPM, Kos, Eschaton, HuffPo, Media Matters: these new media pipes provide a wondrous instrument to counteract the mighty right-wing Wurlitzer. Instead -- maybe because these stories came at the end of a sundown-to-sundown meditation on mortality -- what I take from my re-entry news nausea is how toxically absurd the whole media-political enterprise has become. Yes, I fully appreciate the corrective power of the netroots, and the imperative to challenge propaganda, and the alarming susceptibility of the beleaguered American electorate to fear and demagoguery. But I'm afraid that, while citizen-activists have embraced the understanding that media = politics, the Washington political class has made the mistake of believing that politics = media.
Why else would Congressional Democrats vote against their own constituents? Polls tell them that their stand on the war suffers from Stockholm Syndrome; despite overwhelming majorities against Bush policy, they emerged from Republican captivity making excuses for their captors. Polls also tell them that the more they kiss Republican butt, the deeper the contempt Americans hold them in, yet they persist in bipartisan fantasies. Why do they do that, if not because they fear the Limbaughs and O'Reillys more than they believe their constituents? Why do they vote against their own values and their own voters, if not because they have abandoned the vital distinction between political news and politics, between pseudo-events and actual ones, between images and ideas, between media and reality? I know it's too much to ask our punditocracy, and the power brokers posing as journalists, to recognize the essential triviality of their shadow-play on the wall of the cave. But is it too much to ask our elected representatives to distinguish between American democracy and the media circus it has become?
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Another, sad, but fine essay/post, a fast is a good thing, I hope you found some comfort in it.
I understand how ya feel, I'm looking forward to taking a break soon. I'm starting to digest some of the last few years, I'm wondering what will be the out-come? It sure has been a lot to take in. Agape.
Religious freedom is a fundamental right. The purpose of any just government is to protect the life, liberty, and property of the people (please see the U.S. Declaration of Independence and the U.S. Constitution). All government officials, federal, state, and local must swear or affirm that they will protect and defend our Constitution and laws.
Both of my Grandfathers fought for the U.S. and against fascism in W.W. II, and earned for themselves and their descendents the right to be Americans. In different forms, this is the story of every American who came here to share the human dream of freedom. America is a great nation, made up of people of many faiths and no faith, according to their own conscience.
No American owes Mr. Bush, or anyone else deference for being "allowed" the right of religious freedom in this Nation.
Mr. Bush, Mr. Cheney, and every government official do owe us, the People, fidelity to their oath of office to protect and defend our Constitution, and when they fail to comply with their oath, they should be removed from office and held to full account.
My assertion, and that of many others who post here, is that Mr. Bush, and even more so Mr. Cheney, have thumbed their noses at our Constitution, our laws, and the fundamental values of this great nation from the ancient right of habeas corpus to institutionalizing human torture and lying us into a disastrous and unnecessary war in Iraq.
In addition to the fast of no food or water on Yom Kippur, I went from Rosh Hashanah to Yom Kippur away from the news.
It was astounding then to see the news again. The time away brought into clear focus the absolute insanity and manipulation of the MSM.
It should be obvious that our Congress, both DEM and GOP, has failed us grievously by neglecting to serve as an effective check and balance against abuse of power by the executive branch.
But what becomes patently obvious, especially if you take a few days to detox, is that the MSM continues to play a major role in the neo-con divide and conquer strategy that has led this once great nation to the brink of ruin.
Turn off the tube. It's not worth watching.
Stop watching and start doing. The Bush/Cheney/MSM cabal has created a mess in this nation that will take a lifetime to fix, and we need every able bodied person to grab a shovel and start digging us out, so that our children will still have a future.
There is still hope. But the hope can't be found in the t.v.
Shalom to all
If the halls of congress are anything like what I witnessed...we're in bigger trouble than I thought.
Ya get enough and ya don't need the rest.
Instant Nausea
One word: Blackmail.
Brought to you by : W's Warrantless Wiretapping Extravaganza!
Go MoveOn.org!
Just look at how much criticism is out there for an ad in a newspaper that no one had to buy who didn't support the position of the ad. But now 22 Democratic Senators (including one from my state) are now being critical of the ad.
Today, the firestorm is against Columbia University for allowing Ahmedinejad to present his viewpoint to America. More importantly, students can now ask the tough questions that were ignored by Washington, because it conflicted with their opinions. Oh, and maybe the New York Times is now backing away from free speach as well.
About a week ago, and just to remind myself we can still have the "right kind of government", I watched the old favorite; "Mr. Smith Goes To Washington". I was moved to tears.
Suck up, kick down.
Lie all the time.
Take the money.
Get re elected.