On the Contrary

Okay, I admit it.  I am a news junkie.  Usually while I work in the afternoon I alternate between MSNBC and CNN depending on which one has interesting guests, or is not engaging in banal banter, or is not giving me advice about my health or my money which I don’t have any of.  Fox News I avoid like the plague because it does really represent a very biased point of view and the amount of miss reporting far exceeds the other two.

But in a New York Times article on Monday I find I am fairly out of step. The gist of the article was that with MSNBC tilting left, and Fox right, CNN, who they claim holds the middle, is losing viewership.  What was shocking if we look at the April numbers is that CNN has been fourth. Fox has 668,000 viewers; MSNBC has 300,000; and CNN has 271,000. HLN has 277,000.  Fox has over double the numbers of MSNBC.  So let’s do some critical thinking here.

First, is CNN really in the middle?  They get this label by claiming that they give both sides a fair hearing.  But as pointed out in yesterday’s blog and by Fareed Zakaria and others, we have 1 ½ political parties and the ½ are the Republicans.  So if you give the Flat Earthers the same credence in a debate with Round Earthers, isn’t the debate slanted?  If you are giving the Republican No Machine the same footing with the policies put forward by the Democrats, are you not actually giving more weight than is due to their arguments?  By not being aggressive enough at challenging these Republicans and their ideas and having the two pundit debate, CNN is actually more conservative leaning than middle of the road because they are lending credence to the arguments having equal weight.  Besides, remember where Glenn Beck came from, that Lou Dobbs continues to bash immigrants, and the business interviews are decidedly conservative and the net result is a right leaning news organization.

My point here is that if you are conservative you will watch Fox News, and if you are independent or liberal, you are probably going to watch MSNBC where old thinking is challenge by new thinking from Rachel Maddow, David Schuster, and Keith Olbermann.  Instead of just accepting their guest’s statements, they are well informed and ask penetrating questions.  CNN is really competing with Fox News for viewers.  Now in all fairness, this does not apply to CNN’s international reporting, which I don’t think anyone does a better job.  Lets just hope they continue to hold on to these reporters and journalists because they do a great service for us.

The article implied that one has to pick a bias to gain readership.  Is MSNBC really that left leaning or has the middle shifted which leaves CNN looking conservative?  I will give you that Keith Olbermann does very definitely have a bias, but Rachel and David reflect more what I think the younger nation is thinking.

But there is something else to consider about these numbers.  News junkies are old like me but the majority of our nation is younger and does not watch these shows.  What the 2:1 ratio of Fox watchers to MSNBC watchers tells me is that we have an older generation that is mostly conservative watching these shows.  Old people find change much more difficult to deal with and Fox reassures them that nothing is changing and the old ideas still are viable.  It’s a lie of course, but in the world of making money, it is profitable.  In the world of let the market place decide, if lies, shrillness, conflict and misinformation sell better than truth and rational consideration of reality, then that is what we get.  But some of us still like to use our brains, and MSNBC usually is better at questioning the conventional wisdom so it is my choice, the exception being Chris Mathews.

I was out in the garage lifting weights and listening to CNN and what masquerades as news when Wolfe Blitzer announced that we would have a special report on whether tax cuts were effective stimulus.  I was excited.  Finally a rational discussion about this important topic.  What did we get?  The political reporter.  You can guess from this alone that this would be worthless.  I guess it was too hard to talk to economists.  Basically she said some (she didn’t say who except political flacks) say yes and some say no.  And this passes for news or information?  I almost hurt myself throwing my curl bar across the garage.  I will repair the hole in the sheet rock tomorrow.

Dr. Jeffery Sachs of Columbia University, and a respected economist, was on Rachel Maddow this evening and he pointed out that tax cuts are very ineffective in this kind of economy as the money is likely to be saved and these tax cuts were driven by our moderate Republicans in lieu of real stimulus spending.  He also noted that this package was way too small, but was reasonably sized if we don’t want to spend 10 years digging our way out of a deficit hole.  But then he noted that the spending needed to be focused on real stimulus and the “gang of three” had greatly reduce its effectiveness.  I stand by my earlier blog.

It would be really interesting if some of these political hacks who are spouting tax cut for everything would actually have to face grilling by a  panel of economists.  But then the truth would be out and where would the fun be in that Wolfe?  It is much more fun to continue the misinformation while the country burns.

First I need to apologize for being missing in action.  I am finishing up a consulting job and it has taxed my writing skills so that all I want to do in the evening is go back to my hotel room, watch Rachel Maddow, dream about her announcing my “wonderful” blog on her show, and then being interviewed on all the important issues. Actually I would just like to meet her sometime because she is just so darn nice, smart, and lovely. There is also “Chuck” where we can suspend our disbelief and believe a babe like Sarah (Yvonne Strahovski), would really go for a nowhere nerd like Chuck (played by Zachary Levi).  It gives all us nowhere guys hope. So much for an active fantasy life, but back to the topic at hand

Fat old white men, unless you haven’t figured it out, are the establishment in the Republican Party.  As I like to say, it takes one to know one, and I am a fat old white guy.  That is all we have in common.  But they were out in force yesterday and all I could think of was, are they all auditioning for the part of Scrooge?  First there was Senator Richard Shelby from Alabama looking like the Grinch who stole Christmas as he threatens to filibuster any auto bailout deal.  One thing that is always consistent about Republicans, they are all about punishment.  The auto executives have sinned and they should be damned to Chapter 11 hell.  Senator Shelby is not going to reward poor management by throwing our tax dollars at those bums.

One has step back a minute to understand the glaring hypocrisy here.  Senator Shelby’s state has a very protected auto manufacturing base, albeit, foreign manufactures, all of which have gotten billions is tax subsidies to locate there.  Tax subsidies; isn’t that taxpayer money?  Now I will grant you that the auto executives are morons.  Remember that the guy leading the development of hybrid cars doesn’t believe in global warming.  But this is not what this is about.  It is about the jobs of millions of Americans.  From Shelby’s point of view, Merry Christmas, you are all fired.  What he misses here is that the money they earn is the money that fuels the economy that allows enough income so that others can buy the cars produced in his own state.

But typical of Republican thought, this is all about punishment and he doesn’t get the concept that we are all in this together.  It’s not my state against your state, they all have to thrive for us to prosper.  Republican ideology is about selfishness, not about shared interests.  Personally I don’t like the bailout very much either.  I hate the fact that the other fat white person (George “the moron” Bush) wants to appoint the car czar and will not support the Democrats requirement that the auto industry quit fighting environmental regulations in states like California.  I mean after all, we have seen Republican “management and leadership” for the last 8 years and if they had produced greener cars instead of filing lawsuits, they might not be in as deep a hole as they are in.  To save the jobs, the Demos will have to cave for now, but they had better have a plan on 20 January to undo this moron’s “leadership”.  I think we ought to get them through to the new Administration, and then see if a structured Chapter 11 with the government loaning them reorganization money and a real plan for the future would work.  It’s certainly worth a try.

The other fat guy that got my attention yesterday was the Chairman of the Republican Party, Mike Duncan.  He was on MSNBC being interviewed by Nora O’Donnell (I got all this while working out in the gym at lunch) demanding that Barrack Obama explain any and all ties he has with Governor Rod Blagojevich of Illinois (of how much is that Senator in the window fame).  He said something like, “I wish the President-Elect well, but he needs to come out and make a clear statement about his involvement in this affair.”  Now to Nora O’Donnell’s credit she asked him what involvement since the U.S. Attorney (Fitzpatrick) stated that they had no evidence of any involvement and played Barrack Obama’s statement that he had no knowledge of a “pay to play scheme”.  That didn’t faze Duncan who continued to try to somehow link Obama with this scandal.  Nothing has changed.  These guys are still playing gutter politics (it is all they know) instead of looking at ways to face our looming economic disaster.  Duncan wants Obama to fail so bad he can’t stand it.  Republicans have no answers for the future they just want to sling mud so they can get back in power.

In this day where I think the looming financial crisis has only been felt at the margins so far, Republicans are still in denial and have one simple approach:  Punish evil doers and say no.  Herbert Hoover did basically the same thing after the crash of the stock market in 1929, brought on the Great Depression.  They are at it again because their psychological make-up is about power, authority, and punishment, not about looking forward and working together in a cooperative way to solve our problems.  Hopefully they are a dying bred.

By the way, just to let you know how much in denial we are in about our financial crisis and possible depression, the Yankees signed a $161 million contract with ace left-hander C. C. Sabathia.  I don’t think many people are going to be able to pay the price of a ticket for the next few years.  I wonder how many jobs could be created if even half the money was invested in infrastructure?

Now that we are past the election, the kibitzing has began.  Just when we thought we could focus on policy issues, the noise around the edges is drowning it out.  So here are the bits and pieces of what is being aimed at us:

• Barack Obama appoints Rahm Emanuel as his chief of staff and John Boehner is shocked, shocked, shocked. The House Republican leader from Ohio was less than kind. He called Emanuel’s appointment an “ironic choice for a president-elect who has promised to change Washington, make politics more civil and govern from the center.”  John’s idea of the center is a little left of the far right. What is entertaining about this is that any time the Democrats have played nice with the Republicans, the Republicans have stabbed the Democrats in the back.  Here is a flash bulletin John:  It has been playing this game your way that has gotten us into the mess we are in.  Sit down and shut up.  We will let you know when we care about what you think.
• On the same topic, Rachel Maddow is concerned that these are all Clinton people and how is this going to be new politics.  On this one Rachel is showing her naivativity.  Even if the Democrats want to play nice, does she really think the Republicans, most of which are right of Attila the Hun, will play nice?  What Barrack did was show them that he wants to move in a new direction, but he has no illusions about Republican cooperation.  If it takes hardball to turn this ship around, he has the right people to do it.
• Some of us down here in the south forty-eight are having a hard time understanding how Ted Stevens, a convicted felon, can get re-elected.  Actually it is quite simple.  Pundits like to say Ted is a much loved Senator in Alaska.  The reality is Ted has been bringing home the bacon in terms of federal pork in a major way for many years.  Isn’t it interesting that these small government, cut the waste, no taxes Republicans want to cut everybody else’s pork, but theirs is sacrosanct?
• Apparently at John McCain’s concession speech, Sahara had a speech all ready to go, but cooler heads prevailed and prevented her from stealing the lime light.  I would of loved to have heard that speech.  After John McCain’s gracious speech conceding the election, we would have had a red meat, divide and conquer speech that the base would have eaten up.  Well for once they cut her off and it was America first.  Thanks John.
• Even more entertaining is that the conservative brain trust has headed out to the hills in Virginia to regroup and decide the new direction of the conservative movement.  If you read my blog yesterday you know that in my mind, their basic philosophy has been shown to be bankrupt.  They have been successful by selling this snake oil to the rural, less educated, the religious right, and of course the wealthy who were the only ones who benefited from this nonsense.  So are they going to decide that the Palin red meat to the base thing, anti-thinking approach is what they need more of?  Will it be rallying around the fundamental Christians so they can ignore them after they get in power?  Or could they rethink their whole philosophy?  Oh that would be way too hard. Maybe they can come up with a strategy to block anything the Democrats try to do and then blame the Democrats for not moving the country forward.  Oh, I forgot.  That is what they have been doing.
• I was truly touched by those crying in the crowd in Chicago as Barack Obama won the Presidency, even Jessie Jackson.  Jessie Jackson has been a fixture in the black movement longer than I can remember and this must have been an emotional moment.  But I couldn’t help thinking, was he crying because it wasn’t him up there on the stage?  I know that is mean, but over the years Jessie has been somewhat of a black/minority ambulance chaser, so I am never sure what is genuine and what is for the cameras.
• George Bush, to his credit, instructed his staff to fully support the transition, with no stupid stunts like what the Clinton staffers did when they moved in.  I would admire him for that but the one thing that is consistent about George Bush is that what he says has little to do with what he does.  In the meantime his boys are rewriting regulations to make life so much simpler for business.  You know, little things like allowing coal companies to rape the environment with little or no regulation.  Did I mention the opening of extremely sensitive Utah land to drilling?  Drill Baby, Drill.  Apparently the failure of regulation in the banking community has no transference to the lack of regulation in degrading the environment.  You got to hand it to them, they are consistent.

So another week and those that are still in power never fail to entertain.  If we weren’t facing real trouble all this might be really funny.