Conservatives Are Stupid: Graduation Edition

From Media Matters

Don't Take Financial Advice From CNBC

Jon Stewart skewers the market "experts" from CNBC:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Religious Crackpots

The Daily Show covers two crackpot religious leaders, one of whom describes Obama as the Antichrist, the other as Hitler. Funny until you realize that these two whackjobs have been featured on CNN and of course Fox Noise.

Even scarier if they've gotten federal funds for their "faith-based" evangelism.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Unusual Suspect

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Funny Political News
Joke of the Day

Palin Can't Name One Newspaper or Magazine She Reads

More from her soon-to-be-written book "How I Committed Suicide on the CBS Evening News"

COURIC: And when it comes to establishing your worldview, I was curious: what newspapers and magazines did you regularly read before you were tapped for this to stay informed and to understand the world?

PALIN: I've read most of them, again with a great appreciation for the press, for the media.

KC: But, like, what ones specifically? I'm curious.

SP: All of 'em, any of 'em that have been in front of me over all these years.

KC: Can you name a few?

SP: I have a vast variety of sources where we get our news too. Alaska isn't a foreign country, where, it's kind of suggested and it seems like, 'Wow, how could you keep in touch with what the rest of Washington, D.C. may be thinking and doing when you live up there in Alaska?' Believe me, Alaska is like a microcosm of America.

Sarah Palin was a journalism major. Sports journalism, but still.

Drunk Broke America

President AmericaFucker
yahoo

Ultimately, it is a good thing that it's all out on the table before the election, but really, media? The guy has been a MISERABLE FAILURE since Day 1. Nice of you to notice.

IOKIYAR

The corporate media was quick to run the National Enquirer story about John Edwards' affair. The same publication runs essentially the same story about Sarah Palin: silence. Same publication, same journalistic standards, one story trumpeted from coast to coast, the other ignored. This week the National Enquirer is reporting that Sarah Palin had an affair with her husband's business partner. The family values/rank hypocrisy party strikes again.

IOKIYAR

National Enquirer: SARAH PALIN LOVER REVEALED!

Spineless Media

I am watching George Stephanopoulos interview Hank Paulsen.

I wonder, where is the room where TV journalists go to have their spines removed before they can appear on TV?

Is there a room somewhere littered with the vertebrae of the media?

Ron Fournier Fournicating for McCain - Again

Never forget that AP's Ron Fournier interviewed for a job with the McCain campaign. Since then he's been working for the man anyway. Today's Fournication:

yahoonews: Poll: Racial views steer some white Dems away from Obama

Fournier is such an asshole. I'd like to meet him and like that scene in "Die Hard", walk up to him and punch him in the nose. (Sometimes words just won't do.) For those with more patience, Al Giordano rips into this piece and good over at The Field.

Al Giordano, The Field: The AP’s Ron Fournier: Racial Arsonist and Unethical Journalist

Deep-seated racial misgivings could cost Barack Obama the White House if the election is close, according to an AP-Yahoo News poll that found one-third of white Democrats harbor negative views toward blacks - many calling them "lazy," "violent" or responsible for their own troubles.

- Ron Fournier, Associated Press, September 20, 2008


Theorem: The amount of time conservatives spend talking about the Bradley Effect is inversely proportional to the fortunes of their candidate.



- Nate Silver, September 19, 2008

Today's AP story wasn't exactly about the so-called "Bradley Effect" or "Wilder Effect," a popular theory in the 1980s and 1990s that posited that some white Americans lie to pollsters claiming they will support African-American candidates but vote then against them in the secrecy of the ballot box.

The theory - if it was true back then - has been very thoroughly disproved in recent years, and today we'll walk you through all the documentation you need to debunk it when asked about it by others.

But with the McCain-Palin ticket sinking in the polls, and the financial crisis sucking the oxygen out of the culture war "issues" on all sides, with the economy now front and center as the dominant campaign issue, we're hearing increasing mention of the so-called "Bradley Effect," the so-called "Wilder Effect," the so-called "Bradley-Wilder Effect" (all names for the same 20th century theory).

And now, the Associated Press and its unethical reporter Ron Fournier are transparently attempting to turn the November election (and, if their attempted arson is successful, its aftermath for years to come) into a wedge to divide, polarize and set back race relations in the United States of America more than four decades.

Everybody take a deep breath and repeat after me: The race card is not working. It's not going to work. And we're not going to take the bait being dangled out in front of us by racially prejudiced provocateurs like Fournier: he wants us to spread his gasoline to make his arson fire bigger; we're going to hose water on it - and on him - instead.

Get A Shovel

Joe Scarborough's shilling for McCain on MSNBC tonight is interrupted by Keith Olbermann: "Jesus, Joe. Why don't you get a shovel."



The media is working overtime for their man, Telecom John.

Presstitute of the Year: AP's Ron Fournication

flickr, user hyku: WOMMA Research Summit - Ron Fournier

AP's Ron Fournier, hereinafter Ron Fournication, has been awarded this blog's coveted Presstitute of the Year award for this actual AP article:

Analysis: Biden pick shows lack of confidence
By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer – Sat Aug 23, 2:12 am ET

Fournication has rocketed to the top of my list of Republican presstitutes masquerading as journalists. It was just a few months ago that he won his first Presstitute of the Day award (when he said Obama was "bordering on arrogance" for making a joke, and that Barack and Michelle Obama ooze a sense of entitlement. That would be the one house Obamas, not the dozen houses worth $13,000,000 McCains.) And when Pat Tillman was killed, he was ready to carry the Bush Administration's lies, and even emailed Karl Rove: "Keep up the fight." And now he's won the annual Presstitute award, and it isn't even Labor Day.

To properly tell this story, I must indulge in some internet shouting (ALLCAPS on the 'net is SHOUTING). Ron Fournication INTERVIEWED FOR A JOB WITH THE McCAIN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN. Ergo, he is not an impartial journalist. He picked a side. John McCain's side.

If there still existed something as quaint as "journalistic ethics" he would be barred from covering the presidential campaign. Instead, AP put him in charge of their Washington Bureau, and the man who once interviewed to work for John McCain is working for McCain by putting out slanted article after slanted article, all favoring McCain and heaping abuse on Obama.

How wrong is Fournication's "analysis?" Just look at the statements on Biden by REPUBLICAN Senators:

Chuck Hagel, R-Nebraska: “Joe Biden is the right partner for Barack Obama. His many years of distinguished service to America, his seasoned judgment and his vast experience in foreign policy and national security will match up well with the unique challenges of the 21st Century. An Obama-Biden ticket is a very impressive and strong team. Biden’s selection is good news for Obama and America,”

Richard Lugar, R-Indiana: "I congratulate Senator Barack Obama on his selection of my friend, Senator Joe Biden, to be his vice-presidential running mate. I have enjoyed for many years the opportunity to work with Joe Biden to bring strong bipartisan support to United States foreign policy."

Arlen Specter, R-Pennsylvania: "No one on the Democratic side knows more about foreign policy than Sen. Biden," Specter said. "He's been an articulate spokesman on the subject. He also knows about domestic policy. He's been a leader on crime control."

Finally, not only are Fournication's articles solidly pro-McCain, anti-Obama, and anti-truth, he is for sale. Lindsay Beyerstein documents that Fournication is available as a speaker through the "All American Talent & Celebrity Network" (you can't make this stuff up) for $10,000 a pop.

Firedoglake has the links to let you take ACTION: Tell AP To Remove Ron Fournier From the Presidential Beat

Newshoggers: Ron Fournier's ASS Press

firedoglake: Karl Rove's Little Hot Soup Nazi

Sourcewatch: Ron Fournier [aka Fournication]

Obama Framed

Go watch this presentation on the media's framing of Barack Obama by Michael Shaw at BAGNewsNotes.




BAGNewsNotes: ObamaPhobia: BAGnewsNotes NetrootsNation Presentation '08

Department of Misleading Headlines

CNN.com: Poll: 'Sharp reversal' for Obama with Latino voters

Reversal. Obama's gone backwards, right?

Here's the first sentence of the story:

A new poll released Thursday shows overwhelming support from Latinos for Sen. Barack Obama over Sen. John McCain.

Is it backwards day at CNN? Yes means no? White means black?

AP Must Fire Ron Fournier

Fire this Republican cheerleader

Media Matters for America: The AP has a Ron Fournier problem

We wrote about Ron Fournier's inappropriate emails to Karl Rove here. You can read the emails in the House Oversight Committee report (pdf file) here on page 23.

Karl Rove exchanged e-mails about Pat Tillman with Associated Press reporter Ron Fournier, under the subject line "H-E-R-O." In response to Mr. Fournier's e-mail, Mr. Rove asked, "How does our country continue to produce men and women like this," to which Mr. Fournier replied, "The Lord creates men and women like this all over the world. But only the great and free countries allow them to flourish. Keep up the fight."

When confronted with the fact of his cheerleading, Fournier claimed (a) the emails were just "too breezy" in tone, and (b) that he was researching an article on Pat Tillman's death.

Eric Boehlert of Media Matters has discovered that the second claim cannot be true, as Ron Fournier never wrote an article about Pat Tillman:

Yet according to a search of Nexis, Fournier didn't write any bylined articles about Pat Tillman's death in April 2004. Or ever, for that matter. That means Fournier wasn't reaching out as a reporter to Rove for information, quotes, or context about the sad Tillman story. Fournier didn't need Rove to be a "source" for the Tillman story because Fournier wasn't covering the Tillman story.

Instead, Fournier seemed to be using the Tillman story as an opportunity to initiate contact with Rove and let him know that Fournier was on his side, and to urge Rove to "keep up the fight."

Read the entire article at Media Matters to see Fournier and AP's history of Republican cheerleading. Fournier isn't an objective journalist. Here's just one odious example of his bias:

For instance, in the months before Fournier was privately bonding with Rove and urging the White House to "keep up the fight," this was the lead Fournier wrote for a straight-ahead news article about then-Democratic front-runner Howard Dean receiving Al Gore's endorsement:

Dean hopes the coveted endorsement eases concerns among party leaders about his lack of foreign policy experience, testy temperament, policy flip-flops, campaign miscues and edgy anti-war, antiestablishment message.

Gee, not many Rovian talking points embedded in that AP article, eh?

You can let AP know what you think of their Republican plant Ron Fournier here at their contact page. I'm sure if the AP fires him, he could very quickly get a job with the McCain campaign. For writing stuff like this:

The fact is, Fournier's McCain love runs deep and goes back years. In 2004, when McCain wasn't even a candidate, Fournier praised him in print as "a former Vietnam War hero who emerged from his 2000 defeat as one of the nation's most popular politicians, beloved by independent voters and courted by both presidential candidates."

The next year, while reviewing the possible 2008 presidential field, Fournier insisted the Arizona senator was "favored by a majority of Democrats and independents who would vote in a general election."

But that breathless claim had no factual basis.

The New Yorker Jumps The Shark

This is the cover of the New Yorker this week. Thankfully I discontinued my subscription a few years ago, so my money didn't go into making this monstrosity.

It's every rightwing email in one loathesome caricature. Obama as a Muslim, certainly a foreigner, perhaps Osama himself; Michelle Obama as Angela Davis, or a Black Panther, or a member of Osama's bodyguards; the terrorist fistjab (thank you E.D. Hill for that turn of phrase), Osama bin Laden in the picture on the wall, the American flag burning merrily in the fireplace, all set in the Oval Office.

I look forward to their companion cover on McCain. A caricature of him in a pair of Depends underwear, holding out his empty wallet, to his wife encrusted with diamonds, asking for a little more?

A cartoon of McCain depicted as a canary, singing "Vietnam Rules, America Drools" at the Hanoi Hilton?

Or a cartoon showing McCain kicking his first wife and kids to the curb, her cane and their little baseball caps flying, as he holds onto Cindy McCain's miniskirt made of $100 bills?

Or just a naked McCain, from behind, his wrinkled white ass as he screws Uncle Sam (us)?

Hey, it's satire, right, and all's fair in modern journamalism. Wes Clark couldn't tell the truth, that being shot down and held captive don't qualify you to be President. The media attacked him like he'd said John McCain wears a G-string and pasties under his suit. But "journalists" and "publishers" and "the media" can put out complete and utter garbage like this cover and will hide under their handy First Amendment umbrella. Free press! Free press!

How free is a press that, like Chatty Cathy on steroids, regurgitates conservative propaganda every time the string is pulled?

The hitjob piece it illustrates can be read here, but don't miss the soft wet kiss the same writer, Ryan Lizza, wrote about McCain in February in the very same magazine. Or save yourself the time. Shorter Ryan Lizza: Obama bad, McCain good.

Lizza has a long, sad history of advancing right-wing memes, as it was he who named the Democratic plan for withdrawing our troops from Iraq "the slow-bleed plan", a phrase which was eagerly adopted by Fox News and their Republican overlords.

Journalism is dead. Long live the rotting press corpse.

Beware of Anonymous Sources

Well-known liar; columnist at Time magazine. Crime pays.

The press has hated Bill Clinton for years and never misses an opportunity to smear him. The blogs coined a term for the media obsession with the Clintons: the "Clinton Rules".

The anonymous sources in the article in the Telegraph (below) claiming Bill is angry at Obama are referred to variously as "campaign insiders," "loyal allies," "a senior Democrat," "a second source," "his friends," "another Democrat," and "a party strategist". The only source on the record in the whole article is Joe Klein, who wrote the venomous book about the Clintons, Primary Colors, and then lied about being its author for two years afterwards. (So Joe, if you were lying then, why should I believe you now?)

And Joe Klein isn't even a primary source, as he says "he has heard" that Clinton is bitter.

Expect to see this tissue of lies on the front pages of the major U.S. papers tomorrow, because now it's "out there".

And what kind of friends and allies would give off-the-record interviews about this kind of garbage? Not really your friends, I wager.

Journalism is dead; long live the vulturous corporate media.

Telegraph (uk): Bill Clinton says Barack Obama must 'kiss my ass' for his support

Presstitute of the Day: Ron Fournier of AP

Screengrab of Obama's face while he is making one of the statements Presstitute Ron Fournier claims is arrogant.

AP reporter Ron Fournier wins the coveted Presstitute of the Day award with his article claiming Obama is arrogant, proving his point by quoting statements by Obama that were clearly made in jest.

And who is Ron Fournier? A long-time friend of the Clintons from Arkansas. Gee, do you think that could have anything to do with his dislike of Obama? From SourceWatch:

"Fournier began his journalism career at the Hot Springs, Ark., Sentinel Record in 1985. He transferred to the Arkansas Democrat in 1987 and began covering then-Arkansas Gov. Bill Clinton a year later. In 1989, Fournier was hired by The AP, which transferred him to Washington, D.C., after Clinton's election in 1992.

Obama walks arrogance line

By RON FOURNIER, Associated Press Writer Mon Mar 17, 1:57 AM ET

WASHINGTON - Arrogance is a common vice in presidential politics. A person must be more than a little self-important to wake up one day and say, "I belong in the Oval Office."

But there's a line smart politicians don't cross — somewhere between "I'm qualified to be president" and "I'm born to be president." Wherever it lies, Barack Obama better watch his step.

He's bordering on arrogance.

The dictionary defines the word as an "offensive display of superiority or self-importance; overbearing pride." Obama may not be offensive or overbearing, but he can be a bit too cocky for his own good.

The freshman senator told reporters in July that he would overcome Hillary Rodham Clinton's lead in the polls because "to know me is to love me."

A few months later, he said, "Every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there."

I must interrupt this article to put the entire exhange in so you realize how deceitful Fournier's claim is.

Here's what was really said:

MORAN: What are you doing out here in western Iowa? It's rural -- I wouldn't think it's Barack Obama country.

OBAMA: You know, every place is Barack Obama country once Barack Obama's been there.

See the grin on his face in the picture at the head of this post? See the grin on Moran's face? It's a joke. They're both laughing. OK, back to the lying article.

True, there's a certain amount of tongue-in-cheekiness to such remarks — almost as if Obama doesn't want to take his adoring crowds and political ascent too seriously. He was surely kidding when he told supporters in January that by the time he was done speaking "a light will shine down from somewhere."

"It will light upon you," he continued. "You will experience an epiphany. And you will say to yourself, I have to vote for Barack. I have to do it."

But both Obama and his wife, Michelle, ooze a sense of entitlement.

"Barack is one of the smartest people you will ever encounter who will deign to enter this messy thing called politics," his wife said a few weeks ago, adding that Americans will get only one chance to elect him.

I can't improve on No More Mr. Nice Guy's excellent takedown of this piece of crap.

See also Too Sense: This Just In: Who Does This Uppity Negro Think He Is?

Balloon Juice: Uppity Negro Alert

Connecting the Dots: Didn't You Mean Uppity, Massa?

Too Delicious Not To Repeat

Soup Cans: Did Maureen Dowd Mistake Journo for Michelle Obama?
NYPost, Page Six:

February 7, 2008 -- A CLAWING cat fight over mistaken identity has broken out between New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd and a writer for the Times of London.

At the core of the mystery: Did Dowd mistake journalist Michelle Henery, who is black, for Michelle Obama? Or did Henery mistake some other redhead for Dowd?

In a column in the London paper this week, Henery wrote that Dowd, "one of my journalistic heroes," came up to her in the press room after the last Hillary Clinton-Barack Obama debate in LA. ". . . She was in my face, smiling warmly, greeting me like a long-lost friend. My mind went into overdrive trying to figure out why the world-renowned, Pulitzer Prize-winning, New York Times uber-columnist . . . was speaking to me. The shock . . . left me momentarily speechless, but in those few seconds Maureen's sweet smile turned into embarrassed confusion and she scampered off."

Henery continued, "The next day I e-mailed a group of American friends, asking whose doppelganger I was. They all agreed: 'She must have thought you were Michelle Obama.'"

Henery, a 1998 Georgetown University grad, added sarcastically: "Of course! I mean, despite her having almost 15 years on me and more than 3 inches in height, not to mention that she should be immediately recognizable having had her face plastered across every newspaper in America for the past three months, we're like twins . . . I wondered how white America was going to elect a black man for president if they could not even tell us apart." She joked: "Maureen, no hard feelings. When you came up to me, I mistook you for Arianna Huffington."

MoDo, that slut, denies all. Stay tuned. Is there any woman in America more deserving of being in an intercontinental factfree catfight than hissing, spitting, venomous MoDo? Mrrrreow.

The queen of mean seems to be winning; the Times of London has removed Michelle Henery's column from its website. I'm sure lawyers are involved.

Christ Matthews: Sexist History

wikipedia
Another lengthy recounting of Chris Matthews' long, sad history of dissing Hillary Clinton, and by extension, all women:

Media Matters for America: MSNBC's Chris Matthews problem

An excerpt (go to original for links):

Matthews has referred to Clinton as "She devil." He has repeatedly likened Clinton to "Nurse Ratched," referring to the "scheming, manipulative" character in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest who "asserts arbitrary control simply because she can." He has called her "Madame Defarge." And he has described male politicians who have endorsed Clinton as "castratos in the eunuch chorus."

Matthews has compared Clinton to a "strip-teaser" and questioned whether she is "a convincing mom." He refers to Clinton's "cold eyes" and the "cold look" she supposedly gives people; he says she speaks in a "scolding manner" and is "going to tell us what to do."

Matthews frequently obsesses over Clinton's "clapping" -- which he describes as "Chinese." He describes Clinton's laugh as a "cackle" -- which led to the Politico's Mike Allen telling him, "Chris, first of all, 'cackle' is a very sexist term." (Worth remembering: When John McCain was asked by a GOP voter referring to Clinton, "How do we beat the bitch?" Allen reacted by wondering, "What voter in general hasn't thought that?" So Allen isn't exactly hypersensitive to people describing Clinton in sexist terms.)

Presstitute of the Day

CNN's John King.

For these questions to John McCain:

* JOHN KING, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: You were speaking yesterday on the one-year anniversary of the president calling for the troop surge about how, A, you think it was the right policy, and, B, you think, frankly, you a little deserve credit, because you stood up and pushed for it when it was unpopular.

It was interesting yesterday. I kept looking at my BlackBerry e-mails all day long. I didn't hear the Democratic candidates talking much about that date. What does that tell you about the evolution of the politics of Iraq, if you will?

* KING: As you know, one of the issues you have had here in South Carolina in the past is either people don't understand your social conservative record or they're not willing to concede your social conservative record.

There's a mailing that hit South Carolina homes yesterday. It's a picture of you and Cindy on the front. It says "Always pro-life, 24-year record." Why do you think you still, after all this time, have to convince these people, "I have been with you from the beginning"?

* KING: The flip side of that mailing shows Cindy holding Bridget ... tiny Bridget, at the Bangladesh orphanage. As you know, some heinous and horrible things were said in the campaign eight years ago about you and about your daughter. Is that mailing in any way meant to tell people, here's the truth?

* KING: You feel good about the state this time?

That was the whole interview -- all four questions. To recap: (1) Democrats want to ignore your Glorious Surge; what does that tell you, huh? (2) Why are South Carolina voters failing to recognize what a stalwart rock-ribbed conservative you've always been? (3) Your baby daughter is absolutely beautiful and it was reprehensible what was done to you and her in 2000. (4) How great do you feel? End of "interview."

And for this response to being criticized for these non-questions by uber-blogger Glenn Greenwald.

WaPo Columnist Smears Obama

ANATOMY OF A SMEAR, by Richard Cohen: Write a column claiming the only African-American presidential candidate must support Louis Farrakhan, because the candidate's church gave him an award. Spend the entire column outlining Farrakhan's misdeeds. Sneak in this sentence at the end: "I don't for a moment think that Obama shares Wright's views on Farrakhan." Pretend that you have not delivered a vicious, factfree smear. Go have cocktails with Fred Hiatt.

Call article Obama's Farrakhan Test

This sickens me.