No Love For Keith

Beck ran a documentary the other day about communism and socialism and all the atrocities it supposedly led to in the 20th century (i.e. Nazi Germany had universal health care!). Never once mentioned the current administration directly. Just passive-aggressive b.s. to the nth degree.

Stuff like that used to make my blood boil. Now I just find it humorous. I wish citizens did a little bit more critical thinking instead of swallowing garbage like that hook, line, and sinker, but this country was built by crackpot propagandist shit-stirrers. They'll always have a place.

 

You've pretty much articulated my feelings, Dog. Charlie Rose is about the only thing I watch anymore. Interviewer and guest sitting at a table against a black backdrop. No frills, no shouting. I personally find it refreshing.

 

Frustrated rightests eager for capsulized answers have swallowed Beck and Slob-bo
whole.

Dittoheads, indeed.

 

Morning Joe is the most balanced political news show on. Every morning brings solid balanced discussion of days issues.

Matthews shows some balance and intellectual honesty also but his voice seems to drowned out by Olberman and Maddow.

Countdown has started on Olberman. I give him about 8 weeks before NBC pulls the plug.

 

Actually, the most balanced news commentary show is "The Daily Show." And you know why? This is pretty sad, but it's because Stewart comes off as FAR more trustworthy than any of the "news" anchors on the 24-hour networks.

He's up front about his political views, yet still manages to tell his jokes and give his opinion without selling out to one side or the other. These other dopes, I have no idea if they're being honest or walking some company line. I have no clue if they believe the incredibly idiotic shit they're saying, or if they're only saying it because it pays the bills.

Part of that mistrust, I think, stems from the fact that most of them work for companies that have a clear agenda, yet they present this facade of impartiality. Every other word that comes out of their mouths favors one side over the other, but the words in between are telling you that they're just an unbiased reporter trying to give you the real truth. It's nonsense.

And even worse: Most of it is hateful and angry. The only time there's a light moment is when they're near the end of tearing someone or some proposal down and turning the people with whom they disagree with into villains.

And then there's the fiction aspect. They create these wild scenarios that they share on live TV and end up turning good people -- many of whom have devoted their lives to serving the country when they could easily have made a boatload more cash without the damn hassle -- into these evil monsters who have conspired for years to be in a position to rob the American people of either their money, their dignity or their jobs. Or worse, they turn a group of people -- like immigrants -- into the bad guys, with no concern at all about how the inflammatory things they say might affect their way-too-impressionable viewers.

It works for ratings, I guess. Get people scared or angry and they'll keep watching and tell their friends. In the meantime, the rest of us are stuck in this cycle of lunacy, watching these two groups of morons argue back and forth about dumb shit like death panels (because when you're short of inflammatory topics, just make one up). And none of them with an original idea.

 

The entire genre, both sides, is built on freaking people out. Ergo, our politics gets increasingly freaked out. People who are emotionally overwrought, be they voters or pols, tend not to make good decisions.

 

Nah. Beck has shown the way: Craziness pays.

And as for Morning Joe: Barnicle is a disgraced journalist who usually brings pretty much nothing to the table.

What Mika brings to the table is a mystery, other than being the daughter of a Washington insider. Seems her job is pretty much just to nod and smile at Joe's musings.

And as for Joe: He can be a bit iconoclastic and go off the reservation at times, but he's pretty much a bought and paid for member of the right-wing noise machine.

 

Michael, you're buying into what the wacko right wants you to think: Of course, there are some nutjobs on the left: Mike Malloy comes to mind. But Olbermann is usually pretty resaonable and spot on, in my view. He's gotten a little strident lately, and Stewart rightly called him out on it, which Keith admitted.

Think Beck is going to be admitting he's wrong any time soon?

 

Please. I am embarrassed for you

 

Save your embarrassment, Boom. You need it for yourself.

If Olbermann is so irrelevant, why are we discussing him?

I mean, we know why you started the thread... to do your little neener-neener dance and tweak the libs on the board. But really, he obviously gets under you righties' skin, regardless of ratings.

 

The one thing I do hate about this phenomenon is that I feel compelled to pay attention to these characters in order to be an informed news consumer these days. It seems that the news is about the mechanics of, say, the health care bill, but just as much about Glenn Beck's reaction to it, Robert Gibbs' retort, what Anita Dunn said about the entire back-and-forth on "Meet the Press," how Sean Hannity compared it to the Bolshevik Revolution and who O'Reilly is going to interview on Tuesday for even more reaction.

I don't want to listen to a word of it, I really don't. I want to tune it out because I take it for what it is - partisan propagandists spewing a point of view. But I feel like I have a duty to stay on top of it because they are as much the story now, even to the point of driving the chances of legislation, as the actual story itself. I can't just talk to a friend about the stimulus because I also have to make sure I know about what Ann Coulter said about it on "Hardball" or else I'll be lost in the conversation in no time.

 

Yes, Keith ... your charges must be true because every politician hangs on your every word.