Letters to the Editor
Philadelphia Steve
Published Letters: 299 Editor's Choice: 3
-
Barak Obama is a smoker, "but it's unimportant".
[Read the article: Would you vote for a smoker?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If the author of this article agrees Obama's being an ex-smoker is not important, then why did he go on for two more paragraphs?
This is typical of the media reporting laziness that passes for journalism now. There is no story to report today, so the reporter puts in a story anyway. If there is nothing to generate heat, then let's invent something. Chris Mathews has raised this to high art, where he invents meaningless controversies even when there really is a serious story (If Hillary Clinton held a press conference today announcing the end of her candidacy, all that Mr Mathews would be able to talk about would be if her outfit showed clevage).
Or is this one of those FoxNews type stories, where something that is unimportant, but could be taken as a negative is tossed on the table, "just to ask the question": but really to get another negative in front of the public? What will we see next? A repeat of the question if Senator Obama really did attent a Fundamentalist Muslim School. (with a "but it's unimportant" tossed in to absolve the writer).
-
Unemployment
[Read the article: Unemployment jumps, payrolls drop]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Re: "Someone remind me of when "the leisure society" is supposed to kick in, again? "
It already has, if you're the CEO who tanked Bear Sterns.
Or wee you talking about the rest of us?
-
"Good old John McCain
[Read the article: That's McCain, Johm McCain]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Were one of Hillary Clinton's ads to contain such a type, the media, led by Clinto-hater Chris Matthews, would make a weeks' worth of issues out of it and declare (again) the end of her candidacy.
But, since it is John McCain, the reporters' best buddy, this story will have about a thirty second lifetime.
If John McCain does not win the presidency, it will certainly not be because our "independent" media isn't trying to get him in the White House.
-
The Christian Right
[Read the article: Huckabee to follow in Robertson's footsteps?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]The movement is stronger than ever. It owns the Republican Party in that, while it may not dictate the nominee, it can veto any choice with which it disagrees. And, as James Dobson proved in the Terri Schiavo case, it can even get George W. Bush to come home early from vacation (!).
The movement is just waiting for the Fall election and a President McCain to make its wishes known. And, knowing that he cannot win without their help, Senator McCain will promise them ANYTHING to get into office.
The fact that our central media talks about the demise of this movment just further demonstrates they have an even shorter memory span than a goldfish (three seconds, as I recall).
-
Cheney's bogus argument
[Read the article: Cheney's bogus oil argument]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why should it surprise you? When the VP is in front of a completely sympathetic audience (FoxNews) and NEVER has to asnwer questions from an objective asker, why should he care WHAT he says? Dick Cheney (or George W. Bush for that matter) could say we are protecting Iraq from the Martians and Sean Hannity would nod in agreement and 65% of Republicans would believe it.
When one is completely protected from accountability, then this is what you see.
-
Senator Liebermans "stewardship of his Senatoe Committee.
[Read the article: Will Lieberman lose if Democrats win?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Why is anyone at all surprised that Senator Lieberman wanted the Chairmanship in order to "do nothing"?
For all practical purposes, Joe has become a creature of the Bush White House: Parroting Bush/Cheney/McCain Administration line verbatim.
In that tradition, he is running his Senate Committee in the same manner as his Republican co-conspirators did for four years: Doing nothing and giving the Bush team a free pass on everything.
The fct that his negligence is so apparent in contrast to the work of Rep Waxman means nothing to a man who is apparently so bitter as his failure to be re-nominated that he will stop at nothing to be the Zell Miller of 2008.
My next prediction is that the good Senator will be one of the keynote speakers at the Republican Presidential Convention this summer. Look for the Republicans to give him full, prime-time coverage, and FoxNews will have him on the air on a daily basis, right through November.
After the elections, Joe best hope will be another 50-50 split that he can exploit to a chairmanship. If the Democrats expand their holdings by even one seat, this “Loyal Bushie” can expect to be ignored. If Republicans should take control, Joe will be rewarded for his fealty by being ignored because his usefulness will be over. In any of the last two cases, Joe will fade into deserved irrelevance.
-
McCain gets donuts; Obama gets likened to a terrorist
[Read the article: McCain gets donuts; Obama gets likened to a terrorist]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Don't worry. In year four of McCain's second term, the media will wake up and declare, "How could we have been so fooled, AGAIN?"
The answer is, of course, obvious. When the media is, collectively, lazy, cowardly and more concerned with "having access" than "reporting facts", then this is exactly what we will continue to see.
Our "reporters" stopped doing their job a long time ago. H L Menken and Edward R. Murrow are likely spinning in their graves.
-
Contradictory
[Read the article: Is it "contradictory" to decry the right's tactics while insisting on their equal application?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It works because our media elite are too lazy to do their job and report the facts of theRight wing pundits and smears. As long as they are nothing but stenographers for the White House, it will continue to work.
-
Hannity's unfortunate role in the Democratic debate
[Read the article: Hannity's unfortunate role in the Democratic debate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If a commentator from Air America so much as hinted about a question in the Republican debates, we would see screaming headlines from the Right, echoed by the mainstream media and debated in Congress.
However we can all expect this item to be completley ignored.
If, by some miracle, John McCain is not elected President in November, it won't be for want of trying on the part of our "independent" press.
-
So how do the candidates weigh in on Britneygate?
[Read the article: Hannity's unfortunate role in the Democratic debate]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know. But I do know that our mainstream media will paint it as "trouble for the Democrats".