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Laura Flanders: Vanity Fair's Retort to the New Yorker's Obama Cover Misses the Mark
Posted by Laura Flanders, Firedoglake on July 24, 2008 at 3:02 PM.
Vanity Fair has released a cartoon cover online in response to the New Yorker's swipe at the media coverage of the Obamas. The fake Vanity Fair cover shows John McCain, in a walker with a bandaged head and Cindy with a bundle of pills giving her hubby a fist-jab. A portrait of George W. Bush hangs over the mantle-piece; the Constitution is burning in the grate.
Some are finding it funny. I'd say not so much. Worse, it's all wrong. If Vanity Fair's cartoonist wanted to flip the New Yorker cover on the GOP, they'd have to portray the media's lies about the candidate. Not the true stuff.
Sure, she's no drug addict, but the candidate's wife has been forced to admit that she was once addicted to prescription drugs. She even stole the drugs from her own nonprofit medical relief outfit. And while McCain doesn't use a walker, it's not as if the media misrepresent his age. Those aren't the media's wrongs where the McCains are concerned. It's not her looks, it's her wealth themedia understate, and it's not his physique, it's his politics.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Her Vagina Belongs to Daddy
Posted by Kathy G, The G-Spot on July 24, 2008 at 5:13 AM.
I heart Digby for many reasons, but one of them is that she was among the first to write about the ghastly "purity balls" -- those sick Christian right rituals in which little girls pledge their "purity" to their daddies. She's written another post about this nauseating patriarchal rite, and it's especially sharp, because it concerns two of the things she understands best: the complete freaking horror show that is the American right, and the shallow, patronizing, bizarrely other-directed and thoroughly phony and dishonest spectacle that is the American mainstream media.
Time magazine has published a piece on the purity balls, and apparently, Time thinks they're just swell. Digby's take on this is spot-on as usual, but I especially enjoyed this:
But people like her would no more ask their own kid to do this than they would suggest she join the Hell's Angels, and any husband and daughter of her social circle would think she was nuts if she even tried. No, this lovely rustic ritual is for the little people who are "authentic" and "natural" and have Better Morals Than Us.
Or, in the words of upper class man-about-town Algernon Moncrief in The Importance of Being Earnest, "Really, if the lower orders don't set us a good example, what on earth is the use of them?"
Digby continues:
It's that phony Village provincialism running amok again spreading patronizing, anti-intellectual drivel that allows these elites to wallow in salt of the earth moral superiority that they do not personally possess but take credit for by writing glowing paeans to primitivism and barbarity that nobody but a few fundamentalist weirdos actually believe in.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Hate-Speech Connoisseur Michael Savage Goes After Autism; Gets Pulled From Mississippi Airwaves
Posted by Steven D., Booman Tribune on July 23, 2008 at 12:21 PM.
What does it take to get a racist, liberal hating eliminationist, right wing talk show by Michael Savage canceled in Mississippi? Well, you might think that "nothing" Michael Savage could say would get his program removed from the air there. But you would be wrong. Apparently all it took was for him to call autism a "fraud" and a "racket."
The Super Talk Mississippi radio network has canceled The Savage Nation because of comments syndicated host Michael Savage made about autistic children last week.
Steve Davenport, president and CEO of Super Talk's parent company Telesouth Communications, confirmed The Savage Nation had been dropped from the network's lineup as of Monday.
"It was just horrible what he said," Davenport said Monday.
"When you talk about people in politics, business people, that's one thing. But when you talk about defenseless children, that's another."
Savage, a controversial conservative commentator, said during the July 16 broadcast of his show that autism is a "fraud, a racket ...
"I'll tell you what autism is. In 99 percent of the cases, it's a brat who hasn't been told to cut the act out. That's what autism is.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
MoveOn.org, ColorOfChange.org and NAS to Protest FOX's Racism in NYC
Posted by AlterNet Staff, AlterNet on July 22, 2008 at 5:00 PM.
Editor's Note: We just got this press release from our friends at MoveOn.org. If you're in New York, see you there.
Hip hop star Nas will join members of ColorOfChange.org & MoveOn.org on Wednesday to deliver 620,127 petition signatures demanding that FOX end its pattern of racist attacks against Black Americans including presidential candidate Barack Obama and his wife Michelle. The group will make the delivery at 2:00pm on Wednesday, July 23rd at FOX in Manhattan.
Over the last several weeks, FOX has had a string of incidents that many believe are a veiled attempt to prey on racism and intolerance and cast the Obamas as "outsiders": an on-screen graphic referred to Mrs. Obama as "Obama's baby mama," a pundit "confused" Obama with Osama and then joked they should both be assassinated, and an anchor called a loving fist bump between Barack and Michelle a "terrorist fist jab." In February, Bill O'Reilly talked about calling a "lynching party" to deal with Michelle.
The signatures were gathered online over the last month by ColorOfChange.org, a 450,000-member grassroots organization that focuses on issues of importance to the Black community. MoveOn.org and the Brave New Foundation also gathered signatures for the petition. In 2007, the groups led a successful campaign to stop the Congressional Black Caucus Institute from hosting a presidential debate on FOX. The debate was cancelled after major presidential candidates declined to attend.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
New York Times Spares McCain Embarrassment By Rejecting Op-Ed
Posted by Jason Linkins, Huffington Post on July 21, 2008 at 4:03 PM.
As anyone who hasn't been living under a boulder knows by now, John McCain has always enjoyed an extra-special relationship with the press, who care for the Presidential nominee as one might nurture an orphaned lamb, doing him no end of solids. For example, even though Barack Obama has consistently led in the polls since clinching the Democratic nomination, we are told that this is Good For McCain, because according to something written on the Ancient and Illuminated Manuscript of Press Corps Conventional Wisdom, Obama should be leading by more, and his waste should smell like Springtime in Vermont. Also, when McCain visits Europe, it burnishes his Presidential pedigree, but if Obama does so, it makes him look un-American.
Now, however, the McCain camp is angry at their special friend, specifically the New York Times, because the paper of record spiked an op-ed column that McCain had prepared in response to a similar offering from Obama. McCain's surrogates are flush with outrage over this. But I've now read the piece, and it's pretty clear to me that the Times' decision, if anything, is in keeping with the press' traditional friendly relationship. The Times put bros before prose, and in so doing, spared McCain no end of embarrassment, because the op-ed is rivetingly dumb and laden with inaccuracies. None of which would have come to my attention if the candidate had done the smart thing and kept his mouth shut! But since he wants the attention, let's give it to him.
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
National Review Tries to 'Feminize' Obama
Posted by Roy Edroso, Alicublog on July 20, 2008 at 5:17 AM.
Former TV critic lists top 10 reasons why "Real Men Vote For McCain" which, in addition to being one of the very few NR articles to support McCain without evident embarrassment, portrays the Democratic candidate as anathema to the butch: "Obama supports higher taxes for a government-run nanny state that will coddle all Americans like babies," "Obama gets support from Leonardo DiCaprio, Matt Damon, Oprah Winfrey, Tom Hanks, and every weenie in Hollywood," "Obama is married to a bitter, angry lawyer," etc.
In case some of the brethren have lost their decoder rings, Peter Kirsanow spells it out at The Corner: Obama "projects weakness," and not just "the vacillating, flip flopping weakness of your garden variety politician," but a "screaming, flashing, neon light on the forehead weakness." Not only is Obama a screamer, like all liberals; he's also a flasher. One wonders why Kirsanow didn't try to work "flaming" into the formulation. Maybe they do have editors at National Review after all.
Kirsanow also finds weakness in Obama's "attitude and demeanor." He doesn't really explain, though he does mention famous bachelor Adlai Stevenson, claim (without supporting examples) that "when Obama tries to talk tough it sounds either silly or plaintive," and make a jerking motion with his fist near his mouth while poking his cheek with his tongue.
"It may say something unflattering about human nature," says Kirsanow, "but everybody gets it." Indeed we do. The question is, what's the point publishing this in a wonky online magazine, when its intended audience barely knows how to read? Kirsanow would have had better luck reaching them by scrawling a seriously simplified version of his post on an outhouse door, printing it on a gimme cap, or painting it on Carl Edwards' Ford Fusion. (I would suggest they forward the top 10 to Larry The Cable Guy, but it's really not up to his standards.)
Note to Elite Pundits: You Don't Speak for 'Ordinary Folks'
Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo on July 19, 2008 at 2:08 PM.
Jamison Foser has a good column this week about the Village media's obsessive desire to help the Republicans depict Barack Obama as some sort of exotic freak that "regular people" (according to Chris Matthews) can't relate to. He points out that they insist on this despite ample evidence in the polling that says "regular people" relate to him just fine.
It's infuriating to watch these gasbags presume to speak for Real Americans on this matter in the first place. I know that Brian Williams loves to shop at Target, but I still think they might, on the whole, be a little bit removed from the cares of the average American, seeing as they are multi-millionaires and all --- just like their favorite maverick flyboy, the fabulously wealthy everyman St. John McCain.
Foser points out that no matter how many times they fail to make this case, they just keep on trying:
Like cliquish teens, the D.C. pundit class is all too happy to make up a reason why you should dislike a candidate if a real reason fails to present itself. They told you again and again that Al Gore was a liar, lying about things he had said in order to do so. They attributed a bogus quote about NASCAR to John Kerry in order to portray him as a stiff. And Barack Obama ... they're desperate to find a reason why people don't like Obama (even though they do). The bowling thing didn't stick as well as they had hoped, and it's probably safe to assume that, Chris Matthews' best efforts notwithstanding, Barack Obama's orange juice consumption is unlikely to spark much of a backlash against his candidacy. So this week they took a new one out for a spin, arguing that Obama's undoing will be that he is uptight and cannot take a joke because his campaign criticized a magazine cover that depicted him as a terrorist.
He contrasts that with another media flap from a week or so ago:
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
FaceBook In Reality
Posted by John Sellers, Agit-Pop on July 17, 2008 at 12:42 PM.
Comedy from idiotsofants.com. What would it be like if Facebook was actually played out in real life? As featured on the BBC Three show 'The Wall'.
New York Times Blames Obama for not Eliminating Racism in America
Posted by Zenbowl, Daily Kos on July 16, 2008 at 4:37 PM.
NYT says Obama should have fixed the US already.
How else can you explain this headline:
Poll Finds Obama Candidacy Isn't Closing Divide on Race
Oh, really?
You mean Barack Obama just running for President hasn't been enough to heal the wounds of slavery, of segregation, of Jim Crow? Barack Obama is running for office not already running the country. And speaking of running the country...
Indeed, the poll showed markedly little change in the racial components of people's daily lives since 2000, when The Times examined race relations in an extensive series of articles called "How Race Is Lived in America."
As it was eight years ago, few Americans have regular contact with people of other races, and few say their own workplaces or their own neighborhoods are integrated. In this latest poll, over 40 percent of blacks said they believed they had been stopped by the police because of their race, the same figure as eight years ago; 7 percent of whites said the same thing.
Eight years ago. Hmm. Remind me again what happened in 2000?
Oh, right, we got a Republican in the White House.
So, eight years of a George W. Bush administration that has included an invasion of Iraq, the costs of which have been paid ONLY by the families of the soldiers.
And let's not forget Hurricane Katrina.
But Obama is somehow responsible for this morass? Obama's campaign, the subject of smears, hate, and racism, is responsible for healing the country, before he even gets into office?
I mean, New York Times, seriously, W. T. F.
How is a campaign supposed to not only transcend one of (if not the) most fundamental issues that has plagued America since the first slaves were brought ashore, since the first Indians were massacred, but also fix it by virtue of simple existence?
Wouldn't a "Race remains a challenge for America" or "Bush Administration has done nothing to heal racial divide" be more accurate?
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Maureen Dowd Whines: 'Obama's So Hard to Mock and Marginalize'
Posted by Jill Hussein C. on July 16, 2008 at 1:55 PM.
The New York Times' Amber Von Tussle is upset because Barack Obama isn't giving her enough snark material:
At first blush, it would seem to be a positive for Obama that he is hard to mock. But on second thought, is it another sign that he’s trying so hard to be perfect that it’s stultifying? Or that eight years of W. and Cheney have robbed Democratic voters of their sense of humor?
Certainly, as the potential first black president, and as a contender with tender experience, Obama must feel under strain to be serious.
But he does not want the “take” on him to become that he’s so tightly wrapped, overcalculated and circumspect that he can’t even allow anyone to make jokes about him, and that his supporters are so evangelical and eager for a champion to rescue America that their response to any razzing is a sanctimonious: Don’t mess with our messiah!
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Delusions Abound as Fox Anchor Decries MSNBC's Supposedly "Biased" Reporting
Posted by Digby, Hullabaloo on July 16, 2008 at 6:22 AM.
Serious People, making very serious money, guiding our political discourse and determining for us who is allowed to lead our country:
Continuing Fox News' war of words with MSNBC, "Fox News Sunday" anchor Chris Wallace accused its rival of being "in the tank" for Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama, while further pressing the news channel's case that the mainstream press exhibits a liberal bias.
"I think MSNBC's coverage went so far over the line that it lost all credibility," Wallace told reporters Monday at the Television Critics Assn. press tour.
Wallace accused MSNBC anchor Keith Olbermann of inappropriately mixing anchor and opinion-making duties, and said Fox News drew a distinction between its reporters and opinion-minded hosts.
"There's a reason why Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity won't be anchoring the election night or the conventions," he said during the sesh at the BevHilton hotel.
Although the session was far from contentious, Fox did receive several questions regarding the propriety and terms of former Bush administration official Karl Rove's role as a Fox commentator given the ongoing dispute with Congress -- he ignored a committee's subpoena -- and his unofficial relationships with advisors to John McCain's campaign.
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If CNN Reported the Basic Facts, McCain's Craziness Would Be Obvious to All
Posted by Joshua Holland, AlterNet on July 15, 2008 at 12:55 PM.
A note. They gave me the keys to the blog again. I don't know what they're thinking -- clearly, I'm just gonna make trouble. Anyway, check in frequently over the next few weeks; should be a fun ride. And if you're going to be in Austin for Netroots Nation, make sure you catch the immigration panel I'm moderating on Friday, and then be sure to swing by the happy-hour party we're throwing on Saturday. You can meet Atrios and Jim Hightower! Did I mention that the margaritas will be on AlterNet (and various co-sponsors)? It’s our way of giving (alcohol) back to the community and all that.
So, CNN's Situation Room was on while I tried to burn some blubber at the gym the other day. Worked off 400 calories, and I think Wolf Blitzer knocked about five points off my IQ in the process.
The subject: McCain and Obama on foreign policy -- or FoPo, as we FoPo nerds like to call it.
One of the policies they touched on was McCain's proposal to kick Russia out of the G8. Blitzer had Very Serious Foreign Policy Analyst™ Fareed Zakaria on. Here's their exchange:
BLITZER: Let's get your analysis right now, what we just heard. Because as far as John McCain is concerned, we're hearing a very different stance from Barack Obama as far as Russia and its involvement in the G-8 alignment.
ZAKARIA: I think they're two very different visions of how to deal with the world, Wolf. I think on the one hand, you have McCain, who is suggesting, in a sense, a new division, a new Cold War, if you will, between the democracies and the autocracies.
What Obama said to me was, look, you can't solve the world's problems that way, we have got to deal with the issues of global warming, issues of nuclear proliferation. On nuclear proliferation, on loose nukes, you need the Russians. On any economic issue, you need the Chinese. So it's a vision of drawing in the world's major powers, whether or not they're democracies, which is a kind of more ideological view, you know, which is sort of democracy versus the rest.
BLITZER: So basically the major difference between Barack Obama and John McCain is, McCain wants to expel Russia from the G-8 and Barack Obama says keep them in, keep them in this tent, because the U.S. needs them.
ZAKARIA: Exactly. Draw these guys into the tent so we can solve some of the world's common problems together.
So, to recap, the "best political team on television" -- they're humble, too -- told me that McCain never got the memo that the Cold War is over, and Obama wants to keep the Russkies in the tent, whatever that means.
Here's what they failed to tell me, and the millions who rely on the pabulum broadcast by CNN for their political information:
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
Bush Nominates Neocon War Apologist to U.S. Propaganda Board
Posted by KingOneEye, Daily Kos on July 13, 2008 at 9:39 AM.
The Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG) is the federal agency responsible for all U.S. government and government sponsored, non-military, international broadcasting. Its affiliates include the Voice of America, Alhurra, Radio Free Europe, and Radio and TV Martí. If its mission was not originally intended to be a purveyor of propaganda, the Bush administration has seen to it that that is what it has become.
Now President Bush has made his latest attempt to further mire the agency in disgrace by nominating Clifford May to the Board. May is a former Republican National Committee communications director and the President of the Foundation for the Defense of Democracies, whose list of directors and advisors reads like a who's who of neocon warmongers. He is an advocate of torture abroad, the suspension of civil liberties at home, and always the supremacy of America by virtue of its military might. As a writer for the National Review and a frequent guest on television news programs, he has a record of deliberately inflammatory and partisan rhetoric.
(More below the fold.)
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In Latin America, Crime Pays if You Own a TV Station
Posted by BoRev, BoRev on July 12, 2008 at 6:31 AM.
If you haven't noticed, the concept of freedom of expression has expanded exponentially when it comes to the media in those left-wing dictatorships in Latin America that everyone in South Florida loves to hate.
Venezuela refuses to renew the broadcast license of a TV station using the public's airwaves to conspire against a democratically elected government? Violation of freedom of expression! Ecuador seizes a number of TV stations because they're owned by two brothers that are facing embezzlement charges to the tune of $661 million that basically collapsed the country's economy? Violation of freedom of expression! Colombia remains the worst country in Latin America and among the worst in the world to practice journalism? Oh, that's just bad luck. Or the FARC's fault. Or maybe because those journalists were the FARC. Yeah, that sounds right. Move along, no violation of freedom of expression here!
Read the rest of the post on the flip side »
New Jersey GOP Club Removes "Obama Loves America like O.J. loved Nicole" Banner From Website
Posted by Matt Corley, Think Progress on July 9, 2008 at 11:23 AM.
After local Democrats “alleged racist campaign tactics,” the Republican Club in Pemberton, NJ removed a banner yesterday from its website that compared Sen. Barack Obama (D-IL) to O.J. Simpson. “Obama loves America like O.J. loved Nicole,” the banner read. Though the image has now been removed, Blue Jersey saved a screen shot of the offensive banner:
Ed Kuck, the Republican County committeeman who placed the image on the website, told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he had put it up while adding pictures from a local rally for Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Simpson was effectively found liable in a 1996 civil trial for the death of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson.
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