It's the Stoopid Media, Stupid!

I know you're probably tired of hearing me say this, but I keep saying it because it's true. The MSM we has is largely responsible for influencing public opinion and shaping public policy. As President Obama said in the SOTU address, the media has turned politics into a game of gotcha, right wing talking points and all spin all the time. Instead of telling us what we need to know, they tell us what they want us to know. For example, we know more about Bill Clintons' private parts than we do about 911. Why?

This is the media who allowed Bush and Cheney to take us to war based on DEAD WRONG INTELLIGENCE. This is the media who allowed Bill Clinton to be impeached for trying to conceal a private, consensual, extra marital,sexual affair from his wife, his daughter and the country. This is the same media that marginalized and minimized the anti war protesters as anti Americans who don't support our troops, but legitimize the Teabaggers as a "grass roots" movement. This is the media that claims it's being fair and balanced when they are actually UNfair and UNbalanced.


As this post from another group explains "Democrats are lacking in media and message".

It seems to me more and more that the Democrats and the Obama administration
lack a comprehensive media strategy to explain and promote their agenda,
policies and programs. They have left it up to the increasingly active tea party
movement and promoter such as Fox News, Right wing talk show and cable networks
of all stripes to tell the American people what President Obama and the
Democrats are all about.

It's not only Fox News and other right wing media outlets, it's CNN, MSNBC and even C-Span. CNN is so busy trying to prove it's not "liberal" they've turned into Fox lite. MSNBC treats us to three hours of misinformation with ex republican Congressman Joe Scarbrough first thing every morning. We used to be able to count on C-Span to at least be fair, if not balanced, but the so called liberal Washington Post has been replaced with the conservative Washington Times as the newspaper of record and conservative leaning Politico.com is the blog of record and conservative/right wing groups and talking heads out number and out debate the democratic/liberal counter side. All of them have a noticeable lack of cultural diversity i.e. it's all white unless the minorities are conservatives.

They have allowed the President to have his face grotesquely smeared on posters
all around the country, House leader Pelosi and Harry Reid's name used as a
pejorative by Fox News day in and day out.

I would add they also allowed President Clinton, Hillary Clinton, the late Senator Edward Kennedy, Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and liberals in general to become a dirty word. If anyone dared protray Bush is a negative light they screamed bloody murder. Republicans=good. Democrats=bad.

Democrats could not explain their health bill in a way the American public could
understand.


Democrats reigned in the credit card companies last summer, then gave the same
companies six months to raise before the law kicked in.

Democrats failed to create a consumer protection agency.
The Democrats failed to create a Deficit reduction commission.

The democrats passed a stimulus bill and then let the right wing and cable news
pick it apart.

The democrats passed the Tarp and other laws and actions without adequately
explaining what would have happened if that had not been done.

With all the so called big money donors, why the lack of any media buys
explaining the Democrats and Obama's accomplishments?

Why indeed? The President and the democrats need to stop taking a knife to the gunfight and take the big guns instead. The current group of people who are allowed to present the message on TeeVee have failed and failed miserably. They are not effective. POTUS needs new, strong, bold faces on TeeVee speaking on behalf of the people, like Howard Dean, Rep. Maxine Waters, Rep. Dennis Kuchinich and other effective progressives and liberals. Someone who isn't afraid to take on the right wing bullies. In sports lingo, they need to send in the second string. ASAP.

One example that could have been effective is a simple chart showing which U.S
President had the highest deficit during their terms. This chart from zFacts
clearly shows the trend between cumulative federal debt and the economy during
each presidential term since Truman.
See: Gross National Debt as a Percent of GDP, by President
1950-2010
http://uspolitics.about.com/od/thefederalbudget/ig/Political-Economic-Measures/Debt-GDP-by-President.htm?p=1

The writer concludes;

The republicans, conservatives, corporations have a simple formula for winning
elections.
1. Appear to be for the middle class while doing the corporate bidding.
2. Embrace the moral issues (always votes there)
3 Strong military defense (men like guns and war- Male Vote)
4. Use fear of immigrants (brown, black) White and Asian are OK.
5. Use fear of Debt and deficits even though Republicans presidents such as
Reagan and Bush ran up more debt than any other previous presidents.
6. Count on the voters not reading or knowing history.

When will the progressives and liberals get their own Cable network to mirror
Fox News but from the left? The way things are going, liberals are disheartened
and disappointed and the right wing smells blood in the water.

When will progressives and liberals get our own Cable network and talk radio programs? How long are we going to continue to allow the public airways to be used to spread misinformation and to distort what we decide?

It's the media I tell you. The media thinks we are stoopid. They think they can tell us anything and we will believe it. It ought to be against the law to use the public airways to lie to the American people.