This story was previously titled "Media haven't learned from their "death panel" mistakes"
Media haven't learned from their "death panel" mistakes »
Posted By Progressive 3 months, 1 week ago in Political Opinion
The media's reaction to Republican Congressman Joe Wilson's outburst during President Obama's health care speech to Congress illustrated two bad habits that encourage exactly the kind of political behavior reporters claim to dislike.
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Progressive
There are only two kinds of people who are really fascinating: people who know absolutely everything, and people who know absolutely nothing. -- Oscar Wilde
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moonstream1Comment removed: Spammer, Hard Banned4 Replies
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cowboygrandpa3 months, 1 week ago
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"First is the media's reluctance to "take sides" in factual disputes (which is, in effect, siding with the incorrect claim) and their apparent belief that rudeness is a greater sin than lying. Scores of news reports covered the controversy over Wilson's shouted claim that the president was lying when he said proposed health care reform would not apply to those who are in America illegally -- but they focused on the breach of decorum rather than the question of whether Obama or Wilson was correct. (Independent, nonpartisan observers like PolitiFact.com and FactCheck.org have made clear that Wilson was wrong; Obama was not lying.)
Thursday's broadcast of the CBS Evening News, for example, led with a report about Wilson's outburst, during which anchor Katie Couric told viewers, "The congressman apologizes, but insists he's right on the issue." The report did not contain so much as a hint that Wilson is wrong on the issue: no assessment by CBS News, no reference to independent fact-checkers, not even a line about Democrats saying Wilson is wrong.
Likewise, MSNBC spent much of the day obsessing over the rudeness of Wilson's comment -- and relatively little making clear it was false. During one such segment, MSNBC played two minutes of Wilson talking about his comment, including a lengthy defense of the merits of his claim. Then, more a full minute after the end of the clip, anchor Tamron Hall provided the segment's only assessment of who was right: "There's also been a number of fact-checkers who said that Congressman Wilson is wrong, that there was nothing to indicate." That's it -- that's all she said. And it got worse. Andrea Mitchell led off her show with a discussion of Wilson's comments; 28 minutes later, during what was at least the third segment of her show that touched on Wilson's comments, Mitchell finally offered a tepid acknowledgement that Obama was correct."
What is wrong in America as is in the rest of the world, is that people believe it is wrong to defend the Truth !!!
Somehow defending the truth is seen as relying on what is real instead of the lies that people love !!!
I want the Truth !!! Not a political lie that sinks us deeper into the lost chances of recovering our strengths as a nation.
Rudeness is allowing the lies to continue.
That jerk who called Obama a liar was the liar who was trying to cover up what he and those like him do !!!!! They lie to make money for the wealthy, and to keeep the poor and middle class paying for the wealthy.
Who do ya think own the media ???-
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chevydog3 months, 1 week ago
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I happened to be in McDonald's--cheap burgers and lots of soda refills-- the day after Wilson's outburst, and they had CNN on. CNN was broadcasting an interview with Prez O (I couldn't make out from when) in which he said that anyone going to an emergency room was required to be treated. Asked specifically if this included illegal aliens, Prez O said yes; then explained the logic of the answer. The show raised the question as to whether proposed reform legislation or existing practice would take precedence. Backers of Prez O's legislation quickly point to specific language in the reform legislation that bars illegal aliens. But does the effectiveness of that language depend on where it stands in the legal pecking order with respect to current practice? Or will we have to depend on the SC to tell us what the language "really" means? Either way, it doesn't sound like the open and shut case that Prez O claims.
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chevydog3 months, 1 week ago
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Captain -- I guess I pick up your point.
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Stereotypes have some value; mostly because there's almost always some truth in them. But this can vary. When I look up and down my street at who had the McC/Palin signs out, I see an interesting collection--generally pretty decent people. There's the lady across the street who has a revolving cast of young girls going through her house as a foster parent in the state Social Service program; the guy down the street who has an adopted black son; the retired school principal who now refurbishes and sells used cars as a sideline; a social worker we've known for over twenty years--you get the idea. None of these guys seems anything but normal; none is very vocal; some are "Christian", some not; and none seem to give a d*mn what color Prez O's skin is. I might add the same for myself. Now I'd be naive if I were to say there weren't people like you describe. I'm sure there are. It's just that my own experience leads me to believe that these are far from the norm.
So if it's not health care, what is it? At the risk of being trite, I kinda think that they see things differently--that their view of what human nature is is much different than the stereotypical Dem. Lots of room for dicussion here if people are interested in discussion.-
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Progressive3 months, 1 week ago
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Stereotypes are generally counterproductive to civil debate and your street may not typify the base of the Republican party. I, too, live on a street that was dominated by McC/Palin signs (one house still has not taken theirs down) and my home was vandalized twice during the period I had Obama yard signs (I had to keep replacing them, as they were stolen several times overnight--the other house whose residents supported him just gave up).
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My next door neighbor is a staunch defender of the second amendment who draws a government paycheck and has enough money to go out drinking every night, but neither the time nor the pride of ownership to maintain his property.
Anti-Mexican obscenities are spray painted in the nearby park on weekends. A doll wearing an Obama button was hung from a tree outside a local church.
Insurance industry shills are visiting local retirement homes to get elderly residents to sign petitions against health insurance reform, driving little old ladies to tears by warning them that the government is going to throw them out on the street if they don't help defeat healthcare reform.
Is there room for discussion here? You betcha.
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Progressive3 months, 1 week ago
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President Bush, as you may remember, did mislead the American public to justify going to war with Iraq. But to the Politico, saying so is the "crazy" statement of "traitorous radicals" -- and on the level of claiming Obama is a secret Kenyan with a plan to kill your grandmother and indoctrinate your children. According to the Politico, a member of Congress less than 1 percent of the American public could pick out of a lineup correctly saying Bush would mislead the nation about Iraq is comparable to the most recent Republican vice presidential nominee falsely suggesting Obama wants to put your loved ones to death.
Obama couldn't take death panels out of the healthcare bill because they were never in it.
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lloydm653 months, 1 week ago
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Yes PROGRESSIVE The Iraq war We know about,and the majority of crongress was all for until a soldier died there,then they done what democrats have done for decades,they put on their parachute,bailed.They done the same thing to president Truman because of Korea.The job had to be done,and he done it.I have always been a republican,but I would have voted him.I was off loading tanks,and other military equipment at Enchon,freezing my tail off.The other reason I was only ninteen in november,nineteen fifty two
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Progressive3 months, 1 week ago
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My uncle was a POW at the Hanoi Hilton with John McCain, so Obama's opposition to Bush's unilateral invasion of Iraq was enough to convince me he does not want it (or Afghanistan) to become our next Vietnam.
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As the saying goes, those who do not learn from history are condemned to repeat it.
We have spent enough money fighting Bush's "war on terror" to fund universal healthcare for the next twenty years.
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