Is hangten right about the media?Follow

Jophed,



I blame it on the liberal conspiracy.

Don't forget the disable, collecting SSI and food stamps, plus mentally ill.

I wonder how he has time to check his kids homework and walk the dog.

I know that civics isn't your strong suit but that Washington state tax code isn't under the Executive branch of the United States government.

Assuming this is true, it's a large gulf between that and "Obama is giving bailout money to the newspapers!"

I dare say it's much more likely that, as usual, you just didn't know what you were talking about.

It's not about who he is Joph. It's about where his story appears on the site. Commentary and editorial is supposed to be in a commentary or editorial section. It's supposed to be clearly delineated from normal news reporting. For exactly the reason that most people reading a paper or visiting a news site assume that the columns are all fact based and not opinion *unless* they're clearly designated to be so.


I know that it helps the cause of inserting yet more bias into journalism to increasingly fuzzy that line, but that's part of the problem, isn't it?



I have made this point Joph. You simply refuse to believe it. Because I guess if you don't see something, it just plain doesn't exist.

Here's a local link. Notice the title bar Joph? This is what I'm talking about. Constant little uses of the term "teabagging" to describe what's going on. Usually with some reference to the GOP engaging in teabagging, or liking it, or wanting more of it, etc...

Is your head ducked into the sand? Did you seriously not notice all the references flying around? Again. Not just on the comedy sites, not just on the commentary sites (although it's still bad form on Olbermann's show as well), but the word was repeated and used in the mainstream media quite a lot as well.


Ultimately, the point is moot. There was a pretty clear effort by folks on the left to associate the term "teabagging" (along with snickering) with the events. Even if the only folks doing this were people like John Stewart, we're still talking about a lot of broad exposure to an automatically negative spin on the mere fact that a group of people who aren't traditionally liberal might dare to protest something.

That doesn't bother you just a little bit? It should...

Given that every one of his columns is in the same place, this is more a ***** about not clearly labeling his columns as commentary than it is evidence that the media was all over, mocking the tea parties. Which was what your original point was.Also, if it doesn't really exist then I'm unable to see it. I've asked you a couple times now for those time stamps for the Youtube clips you insist were nightly news footage and not clips from commentary shows. Were you going to ever post those or just keep stomping your feet and pouting?Yeah.... ya almost had it but then ya got greedy and lost it. Nothing in the article is mocking or saying "The GOP loves teabagging... hehe!" You've got a word in the titlebar with a dual meaning. Yippee.And, yet, when I asked repeatedly for some clips of this, you can't produce. So far you've given me clips from Olbermann, Maddow, an opinion column and a title bar. Well, you sure know how to build a case.... this was everywhere!!!Of course there was. It was an event established around a really silly hook that easily lent itself to being mocked. I'm sure whoever came up with it thought that the name would just show how deeply patriotic it was like "Patriot Act" or "Lexington Project" or any other of a bajillion other names that are deeply rooted in blind jingoism. The picked one that was silly. Them's the breaks -- get better people next time, I guess. Maybe you can advocate for legal immigration of hard working Mexicans by waving signs saying "We love a dirty Sanchez". It was message control, same as when (random example) the GOP was claiming that Obama's entire energy plan was tire gauges. They found a hook to make it look silly and ran with it. As I recall, you defended the GOP for doing so going so far as to parrot that the tire gauge line was his entire answer to the townhall guy's question. You're just mad now because the commentators on the left were very successful at it.Damn the comedians. Damn them all to hell. How dare they use a joke so obvious that it not only wrote itself, it also placed itself in an evelope, addressed itself and mailed itself to the National Joke Database.No, it shouldn't. Look, I'm really sorry that the events didn't drive a massive media spike and result in a public upheaval or something but... them's the breaks. Maybe next time they'll come up with a hook that isn't so easily mocked. The original point you were trying to make was about who was mocking it. Beyond commentators and comedians, you've made an exceptionally weak case for it being in the news.

Edited, May 14th 2009 8:50am by Jophiel

On the other hand, news media can often sell more newspapers & magazines if they have a reputation for being a legitimate source of worthwhile news. Otherwise they'd all be printing trashy romance novels.

[Generic FOX joke]