Letters to the Editor
maniondl
Published Letters: 52 Editor's Choice: 1
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Gender and Power
[Read the article: Hey, Obama boys: Back off already!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]While the gender vibe (as I call it, unscientifically) has been present in *some* media treatment of Senator Clinton, I think it's reductive to equate passionate Senator Obama support and strong emotions against Senator Clinton to pure mysogyny.
While there is undeniable discomfort with not-subordinate women in male dominated power professions, I think many progressives--both male and female--express passionate discomfort with Senator Clinton primarliy because her rationale for staying in the primary is flawed and dispiriting. She is not making pro-Hillary arguments. She and Bill have subtly and not so subtly denigrated Obama--not his positions or campaign, but his personhood and his supporters, as if those who chose to cast their ballots for him were at best motivated by delusion and at worst, to quote Traister, something "dark and funky". To argue that a figure who rallies tens of thousands, who has motivated the elusive youth vote (and activism!), and who has broad appeal across party and racial lines seemed ludicrious to me even Obama's victories have made it impossible for Senator Clinton to win without a coup de Superdelegates at the floor of the convention (and the momentum is not in har favor on that front either). In my humble opinion, were the tables turned and Obama were trailing and vowing to fight to the floor, the outcry would be far more vicious.
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We Love You, John McSame!!! XOXO Traditional Media
[Read the article: "Great American Hypocrites: Toppling the Big Myths of Republican Politics"]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]More material for your tour, Glenn!
From frequent Olbermann contributor Dana Millmank at the WaPo (link in sig, too)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/14/AR2008041402633_pf.html
sysprog beat me to it.
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The Audience Booed the Moderators
[Read the article: The harmony between the Right and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Last night was a perfect microcosm of how our political process works. The Right creates stupid, petty personality-based attacks to ensure that our elections aren't decided on issues (where they have a decisive disadvantage). Media stars -- some due to sloth, some due to ideology, some due to an eagerness to please the Right and convince them how Good and Fair they are -- eat up the shallow trash they're fed and then spew it out relentlessly, ensuring that our political discourse is overwhelmed by it, our elections dictated by it. That happens over and over. It's how our media and our elections function. Last night was just an unusually transparent and particularly ugly expression of it.
Preach it, brother!
The only bright spot in my view was that the audience booed Charlie and Georgie at the end of the debate.
Oh, and Obama is probably making tons of money off this horrendous rightwing ambush of a debate.
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Out of the post-primary haze and back to real news
[Read the article: Media's refusal to address the NYT's "military analyst" story continues]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Media organizations simply ignore -- collectively blackout -- any stories that expose major corruption in their news reporting, as evidenced by the fact that no major network or cable news programs have ever meaningfully examined the fundamental failures of the media in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.
Psychological operations--a branch of military warfare--is being waged by our own government against US, the citizens who consent to be governed. The non-reaction to the NYT piece is infuriating.
While nefarious intent is obvious on the part of Rummy et al, I see the common American failing of laziness taking more of a role in the current blackout. The networks don't want to be embarassed, so they aren't going to draw attention to their lack of vetting. Reporters and analysts will censor themselves out of self-interest/ careerism/ the headiness of access.
Cynicism is easier. It's difficult for the public to make time to be informed, active citizens when the powerful have compromised traditional venues of accountability such as the legal system and regulatory oversight. Not to mention the psych ops against the, dare I say, once-respected impulses to grant access to quality knowledge to all who pick up a newspaper or watch television news.
Knowledge is power. Are reporters just "repeaters" to these Deciders or does their role extend to disseminating the truth, thus empowering the citizenry? I was amazed at first that the Times even received the documents. Now I fear that the powers that be released them because they know we are distracted by extended primaries and won't bother with the long, damning research. My new terror is that some day journalists won't even attempt these stories and all of the would-be authors will be relegated to the scary, paranoid "fringes" of the blogosphere.
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Shorter Joan, by Bill Clinton
[Read the article: Why Jeremiah Wright is so wrong]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]“I think it would be a great thing if we had an election year where you had two people who loved this country and were devoted to the interest of this country,” he said in Charlotte, N.C. “And people could actually ask themselves who is right on these issues, instead of all this other stuff that always seems to intrude itself on our politics.”
I find it profoundly depressing to read that the Editor of a long-respected website for political commentary is so swayed by the former pastor of a candidate who 1) has received a record-breaking number of votes in any primary ever, 2) has outraised any candidate ever, and 3) has demonstrated that the majority of voters accept he does not hold the same views of said pastor; so swayed, in fact, she finds this candidate unable to win the Presidency.