Finally, A Member Of The MSM Gets It
By Wyatt Earp | June 10, 2009
I found this article by Phil Bronstein over at Drudge, and my jaw hit the floor when I read it. Finally, someone in the MSM is admitting that they are in the tank for Obama – and that that’s not a good thing.
Maybe Bronstein was possessed by space aliens from Mars or something.
Oh well, he makes some great points, anyway. Read on.
When Barack Obama decided that questions from the German press about his trip agenda in that country were too pesky, he told the reporters, “So, stop it all of you!” He just wanted them to ask things he wanted to talk about. Well, what politico wouldn’t want that?
OK, dad. We’ll behave.
And according to a new Pew Research Center poll, we are behaving…like fans. On domestic press, it showed that “President Barack Obama has enjoyed substantially more positive media coverage than either Bill Clinton or George W. Bush during their first months in the White House” with “roughly twice as much” Obama coverage about his “personal or leadership qualities” than was the case for either previous president.
Gee, I wonder why that is? Maybe it’s because if anyone dares to question the Obamessiah, they are branded “RACISTS!” by many of his supporters?
The first African-American president is too big to fail, kids. Remember that.
Back in the US, NBC’s Brian Williams’ two-part “Living Large With the Top Dog” feature on Mr. Obama’s life included a plug for Conan O’Brien’s new show and mention of cable talkies where Mr. Obama only cited MSNBC personalities. Accident? I don’t think so. There were a few probing moments in there, but they were overshadowed by the flash of hanging out in the back of the Auto One limo and having burgers. A little navel-gazing among journalism standards hall monitors about whether the thing had been too soft came and went.
This guy is good. Really good. And, frankly, so far, we’re not.
I heard the audio from that “interview,” and it make me want to retch. Nary a difficult question in the entire program. Go figure. However, Williams did give him hardball topics like his love of basketball and how he likes living in the White House. Truly hard-hitting.
The style-over-substance hit followed him from continent to continent. “While the president is popular among Europeans,” the Wall Street Journal wrote, “he returned from his second trip to Europe with little more progress on key issues” than he got on his first visit. That’s the Journal. But the Washington Post, where the John Kennedy myth was nurtured like a golden statue, managed a cautionary op-ed column from Robert Samuelson warning that “our political system works best when a president faces checks on his power.” He meant checks from the press.
So far, this is all about image and character and press “opportunities.” But with what CNN financial reporter Elizabeth Cohen called this morning “gazillions of dollars” of our money at stake and crazy people with nukes bristling from around the edges of the world, we can’t afford not to keep a closer eye on the substance thing.
Amen to that. For the record, Bronstein is not a conservative by any stretch of the imagination. This is not the ravings of a Sean Hannity type. Bronstein was the editor and president of The San Francisco Chronicle, and the person unlucky enough to be married to uber-moonbat Sharon Stone for six years.
Look, I couldn’t care less if the press fawned over this guy, say, 50 percent of the time. However, once in a while, a president has to answer the tough questions – especially when his stimulus plans are completely failing, and when he tells Iran they have a “right” to nuclear energy . . . You know, as long at they are “peaceful” about it. Is he frakkin’ kidding?
It’s time to step up, media members. It’s time to start doing your damned job!
Topics: Politics | 14 Comments »
June 10th, 2009 at 11:42 am
Good post and nice try Wyatt, but I think we are all in the wilderness screaming, but alas never to be heard by anyone in the MSM again. Or at best “pesky gnats to be batted away”. I do think however the next four years will be heaven for drinkers:)
June 10th, 2009 at 12:57 pm
Yes he has been at the helm while his newspaper lost more readers (percentage wise) than almost any other paper in the country. So he is a bigtime lib.
Also was the guy who got bit by the Kimodo dragon.
June 10th, 2009 at 2:53 pm
Lets see, He’s been in office almost 6mos,gave away more tax money than all previous administrations combined,more or less nationalized major banks,insurance co’s.,auto co’s.,unemployment still rising,still fighting wars on two fronts,nuclear threats from at least two maniac leaders,fuel prices rising 50 cents in a month,business’s failing left & right,the biggest division in wealth in the history of the USA,as well as the most divided populace since the Civil War. And the MSM,covers date night,food preferences,Me-shells,arms & fashion choices,he do’es seem to be operating under a bubble of adoration,from the talkin heads.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
Jon – That’s fine. We’ll just sit back and watch their papers, sites, and television networks fail.
AJ – The dragon probably hated Basic Instinct.
Diller – Oh, you forgot “He put a man in charge of GM who said, ‘I don’t know anything about cars.’”
June 10th, 2009 at 4:34 pm
“unemployment still rising,still fighting wars on two fronts,nuclear threats from at least two maniac leaders,fuel prices rising 50 cents in a month,business’s failing left & right,the biggest division in wealth in the history of the USA,as well as the most divided populace since the Civil War.”
* 2 Wars: Obama started them right?
* 2 nuclear threats: both of these countries started working towards nuclear weapons once Obama took office.
* fuel prices – that’s just a stupid comment.
* failing companies: businesses have been doing great for the past 18 months.
* biggest division of wealth in the history of the U.S. – that will only get worse as decent jobs are lost and more Wal-Marts pop up.
* We were one big happy country until Jan 20th.
Oh, and those companies ARE NOT nationalized. Please stop with the stupid buzzwords already. PLEASE!
June 10th, 2009 at 4:36 pm
The real question is how is Obama going to respond should the MSM snap out of worship mode and start asking real questions.
Seeing that this has never been tried before makes me nervous.
June 10th, 2009 at 4:47 pm
Randal – And, as usual, you addressed no points from the original article, written by a bleeding-heart liberal like yourself.
Sully – Don’t worry. It still won’t happen. They carry his water, and will continue to do so as long as the man is in office.
June 10th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Who gives a crap about the article. Of course most of it’s true. So what? Do you believe everything that you see on TV and in the papers? Does this mean that Obama’s a bad President?
They’re giving him softball questions. okay, and…..?
June 10th, 2009 at 7:51 pm
It’s still George Bush’s fault.
June 10th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
WTF should we have expected from a community organizer who never even organized a softball league.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:09 am
When the Government owns more than 50% of any private company that’s NATIONALIZED in my book.
GM=Government Motors!
Obama didn’t start the wars, he just pledged to cut and run… which he hasn’t. Explanation please?
The nuclear threats are a direct result of Clinton era policies coming back to haunt us. Good work Billy. Not to worry Hillary can talk us out of it with her deft negotiating skills. Ha!
Your boy has made things exponentially worse with the massive spending scheme. Shovel ready? The only thing this administration has shovel ready is the sh*t they are pushing on everyone.
June 11th, 2009 at 10:45 am
Totally agree with Capn’America..however..I found an error in one of his statements..
“Not to worry Hillary can talk us out of it with her deft negotiating skills.”
Sorry Cap but it should have read:
“Not to worry Hillary can talk us out of it with her..DAFT..
negotiating skills.”
What a difference a vowel makes:) LOL
June 11th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
“NATIONALIZED in my book.”
thanks, I feel better now.
June 12th, 2009 at 8:00 am
A tad off topic, but the same can be said for our local papers, it’s not hard hitting journalism, more like news-lite.
There was little coverage of the teen riots two weekends ago when an employee from the DA’s office was pulled from her car, beaten and had her purse stolen. Yesterday, The Daily News reported that a man on his way home from work was also attacked. They report that- “…he’s being treated for a frontal-lobe brain injury, broken facial bones and ribs, contusions and a punctured lung.” It should have been front page news, but it wasn’t.
Maybe if the Daily News and The Inquirer hired actual reporters who were interested in going after stories, instead of People Magazine wannabes, they may see their circulation numbers rise.