Lose Your Mind
"Why are MSNBC's Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow so biased?," HuffPost columnist Eric Burns asked last Friday. "Because the Republicans are providing them with so much material that their bias is, at its core, a form of objectivity. They are not partisan so much as perceptive.
"I do not reveal my own choice for president when I state that, several days ago, John McCain made the most eye-popping comment I have ever heard uttered by a candidate for the White House.
"The topic was the economy. 'My friends,' he said to a gathering in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on 9.19, 'this is the problem with Washington. People like Senator Obama have been too busy gaming the system and haven't ever done a thing to actually challenge the system.
"We've heard a lot of words from Senator Obama over the course of this campaign. But maybe just this once he could spare us the lectures, and admit to his own poor judgment in contributing to these problems. The crisis on Wall Street started in the Washington culture of lobbying and influence peddling, and he was square in the middle of it."
"Uh...yes he was, Senator McCain. Senator Obama was square in the middle of it for less than three years! But you have been square in the middle of it for 22 years! If Senator Obama is too inexperienced to be President, as your campaign has many times suggested, how could he possibly have made such a powerful contribution to the plundering of the American marketplace?
"Nobody in McCain's audience laughed when the candidate charged Obama with being an economy-wrecking Washington insider. Nobody snickered when the Washington insider accused the relative outsider of maliciousness beyond his years. Or his ability. Or his record.
"I take it back. Somebody snickered. Keith Olbermann and Rachel Maddow were among them. So was I.
"And so now I ask myself, how hard is it these days for news programs be objective when the material on which they report sounds as if it were produced by writers for Saturday Night Live, and then rejected on the grounds of its being too preposterous to be funny?"
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on September 22, 2008 at 5:09 PM
comment #1
MartinBlank
says ...
Desperation. Flop sweat. This is like George HW Bush's "Ozone Man" fulminations two months early.
Posted by MartinBlank
at September 22, 2008 5:16 PM
comment #2
Deathtongue_Groupie
says ...
In addition to the black humor of it all, you also wonder how much future cynicism is being bred by such spectacles as Sarah Palin actually trying to spin the collapse last week as an example of why this country needs even more de-regulation.
My wife made me turn off the TV when that clip aired because I just kept saying "You. Have. Got. To. Be. Fucking. Kidding. Me!"
Posted by Deathtongue_Groupie
at September 22, 2008 6:09 PM
comment #3
Rich S.
says ...
The irony of all this is that if Obama wins, there's going to be a lot of people around with nothing to do. Jeffrey is certainly never going to write anything critical of an Obama presidency, and having purged the conservatives from the site, his hit counts are bound to plummet.
And what are the Daily Show, Colbert and SNL going to make fun of? The loyal opposition? Will anyone in power on the left ever be the Worst Person in the World?
The people in the media most ecstatic about an Obama win have got to be the Hannitys and Limbaughs of the world. The Bush administration has been very good to the doomsayers on the left. It will be interesting to see how they handle prosperity.
Posted by Rich S.
at September 23, 2008 6:59 AM
comment #4
D.Z.
says ...
Rich: "The people in the media most ecstatic about an Obama win have got to be the Hannitys and Limbaughs of the world."
Actually, they'll be more castrated than Jeff, since they have to worry even more about race-baiting than they would have in the past.
"The Bush administration has been very good to the doomsayers on the left. It will be interesting to see how they handle prosperity."
Probably better than Republicans who can only steal votes to win...
Posted by D.Z.
at September 23, 2008 7:23 AM
comment #5
Rich S.
says ...
But what will you do, D.Z.? Will you continue to take shots at the Obama administration if they do something wrong? I have a feeling you're going to get awfully bored if all you can do all day is argue about blockbusters' relative grosses.
Posted by Rich S.
at September 23, 2008 7:33 AM
comment #6
Richardson
says ...
"And what are the Daily Show, Colbert and SNL going to make fun of? The loyal opposition?"
Colbert will have it the easiest, because he's parodying the right-wing shows that will go nuts against Obama.
SNL will have it fine, because SNL's political satire is so toothless anyway.
And The Daily Show has always done a good job of making fun of Democrats, so I'm sure that the more power Democrats have, the more media exposure they get, and the more ridiculousness there is to make fun of. He just won't be as angry.
I agree, though, that TDS and Colbert will get lower ratings for a while because people won't feel the strong need to laugh (to keep from crying).
Posted by Richardson
at September 23, 2008 8:16 AM
comment #7
D.Z.
says ...
Rich: "Will you continue to take shots at the Obama administration if they do something wrong?"
If he throws us under the bus the way Clinton did, sure.
Posted by D.Z.
at September 23, 2008 6:23 PM
comment #8
Josh
says ...
Obama has two advisors.
One was the CEO for Fannie.
The other was the CEO who did in Freddie.
Great judgement he's got.
Posted by Josh
at September 24, 2008 7:02 AM
comment #9
janee
says ...
Si vous etes interesses par le dossier, ou desirez en savoir plus, contactez-moi par mail, et je vous mettrai en contact.
Best regards,Jane, CEO of cluster high availability
Posted by janee
at May 18, 2011 3:38 AM