Letters to the Editor
farbie
Published Letters: 141 Editor's Choice: 2
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GREAT POST, AS USUAL
[Read the article: The U.S. establishment media in a nutshell]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn, your post today brings up a point that should be made: the media enabled the George W. Bush Administration to exist, with its vapid coverage of the 2000 election. If we are going to rise above the stupidity and emptiness of the current political discourse, we are going to have to do it ourselves, one voter at a time. I am encouraged by Barack Obama’s campaign, at least so far, which has not stooped to the level of the press. Barack needs to continue to rely on the Internet to not only disseminate his message, but to correct the unbalanced and useless media.
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WHO IN HELL IS SEAN WILENTZ, AND WHY IS ALLOWED TO POST ON SALON?
[Read the article: Why Hillary Clinton should be winning]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]It's obvious from reading Prof. Wilentz' article that he's nothing more than a shill for the Clinton campaign. I'm not sure who made the decision at Salon to run his article, but, given the fact that there are nearly 700 comments posted already, most of which are firmly against his article, I trust that Salon has the message that its readers do not desire to read blatant political hit pieces from the candidates. For all of the reasons expressed already, Wilentz is wrong. I agree with one commenter who stated that Wilentz doesn't deserve to be on the same page with Glenn Greenwald.
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WHATEVER HAPPENED TO COKIE ROBERTS?
[Read the article: Cokie Roberts speaks out on the war on behalf of the American people]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Whatever happened to Cokie Roberts? When she was merely a commentator on NPR, her opinions were at least ‘mainstream’ or even slightly left of center. She has become a shill for the RWNM, insofar as they point to her as a “liberal,” and say “see, she even agrees with us!” I watch This Week almost every week; yesterday was no exception. Kudos to Katrina Vanden Heuvel for her terrific appearance yesterday. The bottom line is, this fall’s election, despite the economic downturn, will still be a referendum on the Iraq War. Those of us who are against the war, at least 60 percent, need to VOTE!
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NO MORE "DEBATES!"
[Read the article: The harmony between the Right and the media]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I watched, thanks to TIVO, the entire "debate" last night. ABC has morphed into "FOX Light." Charlie Gibson, who used to be at least acceptably moderate, has morphed into a right-wing shill, especially with his questioning about Obama's plan to raise the capital gains rate. 100,000,000 Americans may "own stock," but the vast majority of shares, probably 98% (not sure of the exact percentage) are owned by the top 1% of Americans, in terms of total wealth and/or annual income. To paint a capital gains tax increase as an increase in taxes on the middle class is blatantly WRONG! I intend to write ABC, and call, too, to complain about the despicable coverage of non-issues, such as Rev. Wright, Obama's "bitter" comment, Evers, etc. to the exclusion of real coverage of real issues. Thank GOD for Glenn Greenwald, and Salon.com, where I can get real news, and real reporting! By the way, if you are in the SF Bay Area, and have nothing to do today, you might want to venture a visit to the Stanford campus from 12 p.m. to 7 p.m., where the FCC is holding a public forum on Net Neutrality!
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KEEP THE PRESSURE ON, GLENN
[Read the article: David Brooks' fictitious defense of his industry's behavior]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Glenn, I was so angry yesterday after the ABC 'Debate' debacle that I e-mailed (at great difficulty, I might add - just installed a new computer that's running VISTA - aaagh!) the following to ABC:
To ABC NEWS, George Stephanopolous and Charlie Gibson:
I was absolutely appalled at the Presidential Debate last night.
First, you devoted the first hour to trivial and useless information concerning “Rev. Wright,”, “bitter,” “landing in Bosnia,” and a Mr. Ayers, who was apparently a Weatherman 40 years ago. This is apparently the standard operating procedure now at ABC News: get the talking points from the Right Wing Noise Machine, i.e., Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and others of their ilk, and use them to smear the Democratic candidates up and down. As you could probably tell by the boos in the audience, America has had enough of the useless crap that passes for news these days.
Second, Charlie Gibson should be ashamed of himself, for his persistent questioning of Barack Obama’s proposed tax increases on people making more than $200,000 a year, or for a capital gains tax increase, as if either proposal actually affected the middle class. The capital gains tax only affects a very small number of Americans, despite his quote of the statistic that 100,000,000 Americans own stock. The reality is that only a very small percentage of people own significant quantities of stock, those in the top 1 percent. He is out of touch with the vast majority of the American people.
I will oppose any further efforts by ABC to moderate the fall debates, unless you show a radical change of heart in how you formulate the questions and run the debate. It’s time to get back to the real issues affecting America, such as ending the disastrous invasion and occupation of Iraq, and preventing a second Depression from developing. Leave the right-wing talking points to the Right Wing Noise Machine, and not to a supposedly mainstream media outfit such as ABC.
I already got a reply from the local (SF) station manager, saying that she would forward it to the appropriate people.
Let's keep the pressure on ABC and any other media that reduces our political discourse to the trash that brought us George W.