Iowa Caucus' Big News: Christie is FINISHED

Bizarrely, the media has some sort of obsession for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. He makes it into nearly every newscast. Yet, he's always been stuck in a third tier status.
Tonight in the Iowa Republican Caucus we have the terrific news that Chris Christie is in second to last place, at 2%, just topping psycho Rick Santorum.
So, the New York-based national media will have to give a whole lot less attention to Christie and even more attention to Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, senators from southern states.
CLEAR DEMISE OF THE MODERATE CAMP
Aside from the news of Cruz, Trump, Rubio, Carson lead position of 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th place,  the moderates, the voices of reason and maturity, Jeb Bush and John Kasich, failed to break 10%.
No moderate GOP candidate will likely, pull ahead, unless some huge turn around happens in the New Hampshire.

10:26 pm: CNN predicts that Texas Senator Ted Cruz has won the Iowa caucus.

December 19 Democratic Debate: Corporate Media Pushing Interventionist Agenda Again

Much is made of FoxNews' interventionist agenda.

The same can be said, of course, to a far subtler degree, about the other corporate media outlets. Last night was a prime example.

On ABC News' debate in Manchester, New Hampshire moderators David Muir and Martha Raddatz injected their particular inherent issue position slants. Ostensibly, this debate was hosted by local ABC affiliate WMUR, the first and for most of its history the only commercial television in the state. However, the the two network hosts ran the debate. Raddatz was particularly egregious, as she was arguing with candidates, as though she was one of the debate participants. She tenaciously pushed her perspective of how to deal with disorder in the war-torn Middle East. And she was impatient when the answer was not professing a posture aggressive enough for her.

It is not the role of the media to frame issues and set agenda. Yet, this is what Raddatz did. When the media push an obsession with foreign wars and when they push their desire for United States involvement they are pushing their agenda.

Bernie Sanders has said that we should not have the degree of ISIS obsession that we are having. He pointed out that this takes away from attention to the economy, as he did when he called for more attention about two weeks ago to the economic needs of American cities such as Baltimore. This is absolutely correct. Of course, ISIS is a vile, horrendous scourge on humankind, across continents, and the ISIS threat must be dealt with resolutely. But every time that there is obsession with foreign issues, there is diversion from issues of domestic concern. Raddatz should not be arguing with candidates, engaging in rebuttals, in response to candidates' answers.

The media and the neo-conservative interventionist politicians push a policy of reflexive US involvement in many if not most international controversies that arise. This is not appropriate. This takes away attention to domestic needs. Additionally, we should resolve American issues, such as inadequate domestic economic development, rather than military ventures. Diverting attention away from domestic inequality and inadequate economic development and channeling attention to international unrest is a way to paper over inequality. We should recognize the effects of the media's agenda setting and question why we must allow its interventionist priorities become immediately adopted as policy, without exercising any independent critical thinking.

MSNBC and the Media Blackout on Bernie Sanders

MSNBC is putting a media blackout on Bernie Sanders. Its greatest offense was when it dismissed Ed Schultz.

The word behind the cancellation is that MSNBC's corporate masters, Comcast ordered the firing, over Schultz's coverage of the Trans Pacific Partnership (PPP), as reported by Alternet in "MSNBC Cans Only Cable TV Host Who Extensively Covered TPP."

Have any doubts? Read here:

It has to be noted that Comcast, the company that owns MSNBC, is a big supporter of the TPP. Comcast hired a phalanx of lobbyists to spearhead a targeted campaign to push for Trade Promotion Authority, which recently passed. Included among the individuals it was paying was the former chief of staff for former House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-VA).

Act now, while the momentum and popular outrage over Schultz's dismissal is still fresh. Please sign the petitions of protest over the firing at MoveOn and at Change.org.

The national paper of record likewise is doing a poor job, with an implicit political agenda. See the analysis at Alternet, "Why Is the NY Times Basically Doing a Blackout on Bernie Sanders? The New York Times' Sanders coverage is intellectually dishonest."

Thom Hartmann has given a few analyses of the media blackout of Sanders, earlier this summer, in "The Media's "Wave of Silence” on Sen. Bernie Sanders & Why" and in the last week, in "The Bernie Sanders News Blackout Continues...."

MSNBC gave an early view of how it was going to bat for Clinton and against Sanders when it gave extended time to Claire McCaskill of Missouri as she engaged in hyperbole, trying to make Sanders out to be an extremist, far beyond acceptable boundaries of American politics. Click here for the video of McCaskill redbaiting Sanders.

You can push social issues and fair treatment for different communities, as when the station points out inhumane policies regarding women's reproductive rights, Republican obstruction against marriage equality or other goals for LGBT fairness, or runaway police violence against unarmed black people. But do not ever tread on issues of economic power. Otherwise Comcast will make sure that you get the axe.

And what has the MSNBC tone been like on the station since the decision to let Ed Schultz go?

It is grasping at arcane side-distractions to divert attention from the surging momentum behind Bernie Sanders. A prime example of this is its pundits' steady drumbeat for Vice President Joe Biden to enter the race. Beyond this, it is just approaching candidates on a personality focus, instead of giving attention to the candidates' positions on the issues, such as Biden's personal tragedy of losing his son to brain cancer.

However, voters will realize that Biden is just another mainstream Washington politician, with too long a record of supporting corporations.

Twitter and other social media users, use this hashtag to protest MSNBC's firing of Sanders: #StopBernieBlackout

POSTSCRIPT:
Until this evening, the only major cable news network reporting Bernie Sanders' mere six percentage point margin behind Hillary Clinton in New Hampshire was none other Fox News.  CNN and MSNBC today restricted their reportage to push speculation of a Joe Biden candidacy. They noted Clinton's persistently weak poll numbers. Yet, if her numbers were weak, shouldn't the networks report which candidate was cutting into her potential support? --That is Bernie Sanders? No, they never uttered her name. Yet, it was Fox News that this evening reported the six digit difference. Only in the evening of August 4 did MSNBC report online the news of the NBC/Wall Street Journal poll that showed the Democratic presidential nomination race to be tightening between Clinton and Sanders in New Hampshire. A WUMR TV poll reported the same narrow margin between Clinton and Sanders.

Fox's position in news oligopoly

A little historical background on why there --historically-- had been Federal Communications Commission (FCC) restrictions on one company's ownership of multiple media outlets in one media market:
There had been a growing outcry at the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century against oligopolies (small numbers of companies controlling an industry) and monopolies (single companies controlling an industry).
In several sectors of industry the United States government established laws and agencies to increase competition and to limit monopolies and the monopolization of industries. The FCC limited media companies, whether headed by individuals, or run by corporations, to one media outlet (such as a newspaper, a radio station or a television station) in one media market.
A few media corporations secured exemptions to these restrictions. Rupert Murdoch's News Corporation secured numerous exemptions to this restriction. His corporation owns the tabloid newspaper, The New York Post, in New York City. And in the same city, his corporation owns channel 5 (WNYW) and channel 9 (WWOR). In Boston his corporation owns the tabloid, The Boston Herald, and channel 25 (WFXT). (See my Sunday February 22 post below to see the other metropolitan areas in which Murdoch's News Corporation owns multiple television stations.)

See Robert Greenwald/ Brave New Films' seminal video, "Outfoxed," on the News Corporation's Fox News' integration with Republican Party talking points.

Whether to boycott NY Post, News Corp / List of Fox-owned stations

Broad reasons to boycott the News Corporation's Fox Network outlets: It is widely demonstrated that the Fox News Network is an aggressively biased network that distorts the news and promotes Republican Party interests and leads the television networks in booking more Republican Party guests than Democratic Party guests. (See Robert Greenwald's documentary video and web-site, “Out-Foxed” and MediaMatters: www.mediamatters.org, e.g., see this recent report.)

Film director Spike Lee has called on entertainers and athletes to refrain from speaking to the Post. Lawyer and talk radio host Ron Kuby, on WWRL and Air America Radio, has argued that boycotting the post is unproductive, since the newspaper loses money.

Yet, the parent of the New York Post, the News Corporation has other significant holdings to which consumers can direct their protests.

Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. media holdings include the Fox News channel and the Fox Network in general. The latter has major shows that viewers can stop watching: American Idol, House, Lie to Me, Fringe, 24, Cops, The Simpsons, Family Guy and King of the Hill.

Also, those seeking to boycott News Corporation can boycott the following 27 Fox Television Stations that it owns:
*in New York City and Secaucus, NJ: WNYW (5) and WWOR (9)
*in Los Angeles: KTTV (11) and KCOP (13)
*in Chicago and Gary, Indiana: WFLD (32) and WPWR (50)
*in Philadelphia: WTXF (29)
*in Dallas-Fort Worth: KDFW (4)
*in Boston: WFXT (25)
*in Atlanta: WAGA (5)
*in Washington, DC: WTTG (5) and WDCA (20)
*in Houston: KTXH (20) and KRIV (26)
*in Detroit: WJBK (2)
*in Phoenix: KSAX (10) and KUTP (45)
*in Tampa-St. Petersburg WTVT (13)
*in Minneapolis-St. Paul: KMSP (9) and WFTC (29)
*in Orlando-Daytona Beach: WOFL (35) and WRBW (65)
*in Baltimore: WUTB (24)
*in Memphis: WHBQ (13)
*in Austin: KTBC (7)
*in Ocala-Gainesville, FL: WOGX (51)

Again, the stations in the above list are Fox-owned stations, not mere affiliates.

Superb skewering of media double standards against Obama's candidacy and qualifications

As we are in the age of e-mailed political broadsides, here's one for the campaign. It cogently addresses the gross partisan media biases for John McCain / Sarah Palin and against Barack Obama. He has been bearing a cross of double standards and tough scrutiny that is unbalanced in comparison to the media's treatment of his opponents.
The media is uncanny in repeating the positive spin on Palin's quirkier points. This piece deserves broad dissemination in e-mails.

If you grow up in Hawaii, raised by your grandparents, you're "exotic, different."
Grow up in Alaska eating mooseburgers: a quintessential American story.

If your name is Barack you're a radical, unpatriotic Muslim.
Name your kids Willow, Trig, and Track: you're a maverick.

Graduate from Harvard law School and you are unstable.
Attend 5 different small colleges before graduating: you're well grounded.

If you spend 3 years as a brilliant community organizer, become the first black President of the Harvard Law Review, create a voter registration drive that registers 150,000 new voters, spend 12 years as a Constitutional Law professor, spend 8 years as a State Senator representing a district with over 750,000 people, become chairman of the state Senate's Health and Human Services committee, spend 4 years in the United States Senate representing a state of 13 million people while sponsoring 131 bills and serving on the Foreign Affairs, Environment and Public Works and Veteran's Affairs committees, you don't have any real leadership experience.
If your total resume is: local weatherwoman (sportscaster), 4 years on the city council and 6 years as the mayor of a town with fewer than 7,000 people, 20 months as the governor of a state with 650,000 people, then you're qualified to become the country's second highest ranking executive.

If you have been married to the same woman for 19 years while raising 2 beautiful daughters, all within Protestant churches, you're not a real Christian.
If you cheated on your first wife with a rich heiress, and left your disfigured wife and married the heiress the next month, you're a Christian.

If you teach responsible, age appropriate sex education, including the proper use of birth control, you are eroding the fiber of society.
If, while governor, you staunchly advocate abstinence only, with no other option in sex education in your state's school system while your unwed teen daughter ends up pregnant, you're very responsible.

If your wife is a Harvard graduate lawyer who gave up a position in a prestigious law firm to work for the betterment of her inner city community, then gave that up to raise a family, your family's values don't represent America's.
If your husband is nicknamed "First Dude", with at least one DUI conviction and no college education, who didn't register to vote until age 25 and once was a member of a group that advocated the secession of Alaska from the USA, your family is extremely admirable.
OK, much clearer now.

There you go. Fire away on your email messages.

How media pundits carry the political water for McCain; this fall's Swift Boat for McCain

The media pundits are the Republicans’ October surprise.

Obama has the lead over McCain in the polls. He has a more confident understanding of the economy than McCain has.

Yet, currently many of the television news and discussion programs have recycled, over and over again, talking points from Fox News and from conservative talk radio hosts. The successive effect of a conservative, pro-McCain agenda could winnow away Obama's lead by November. (Look back to 2000, to 2004, note how strong Democratic nominees were in the summer, only to lose their lead by the fall.)

Robert Greenwald, in his 2004 video, “Outfoxed,” detailed how Republican operatives would channel a number of talking points to the Fox News network, and the network would drive its coverage and its approach to interviewing guests, based on the agenda in those talking points. In political science and media analysis, this creating of an agenda is called agenda setting, (a phrase first used by Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw). More to the point, with Fox this establishing of an agenda extends beyond a set of topics to defining what are the proper opinions to have on issues. It defines what are legitimate opinions and what are unacceptable, unpatriotic, irresponsible, illegitimate opinions.

Outrageously, this is what is happening this month. Conservative pundits grouse about some part of Barack Obama’s candidacy. What is more upsetting is that Fox News is not alone in carrying the agenda. A broader range of networks –beyond Fox-- are pursuing the conservative talking points / agenda. (Remember, the agenda are both topics and the proper opinion/response to topics or questions.) First, they doubted Obama’s understanding of foreign policy and the Middle East in particular. So, Obama took a trip to the Middle East. How did these media pundits respond? He’s paying too much attention to the Middle East. He was wildly popular in Germany. Yet, for Obama, this success would be a curse: the pundits dismissed him by labeling him as a mere entertainment celebrity. Little surprise that the McCain camp finds it convenient to compare him to Britney Spears. The media already wrote this script for the public. The McCain camp is merely building on a foundation that the media laid for it.

Taken on its face, the behavior of the McCain camp is simplistic and desperate. But it is disturbing that some reporters and pundits in the media have concerns that are trivial, a focus that verges on the puerile and the inane. Their focus diverges from the issues of governance and policy [what politicians will do once in office]. Who cares that Barack and Michelle Obama gave each other fist bumps?

News flash revision: McCain's ads comparing Obama to Spears has brought a backlash. Even his former consultant John Weaver criticized the ads as childish. About the negative ads, Obama noted that "He doesn’t seem to have anything to say very positive about himself."
Another update: The Republicans smear. And the lies or half-truths get a second generation of circulation, appearing as lead items on television news and on online news sites. After the dirt has been smeared, the sources of the smears might issue retractions or qualifications. Their retractions might not get the extended attention that they had when first introduced. The retractions are likely to have little impact, as the taint has already been imbedded in the public mind. It's nice that the McCain campaign made this concession, but will the networks and the news websites give this vague explanation the attention they first gave to the myth that Obama snubbed US troops in Europe: “It does not seem that Barack Obama snubbed the troops for reasons other than a lack of Photo-op potential . . . The initial reports were less clear.” --McCain campaign, MSNBC, July 31, 2008.

Some media are avowedly partisan. Cheers to Air America Radio's Rachel Maddow (in contrast to biased reporters, she is open and honest about her partisanship) for raising the issue of McCain and the parallels for a Swift Boat campaign against Obama. (The Swift Boat campaign was a stealth campaign by conservative Vietnam veterans to distort and discredit Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry in his 2004 candidacy. Their television ads inflicted devastating harm on Kerry’s candidacy.) Yesterday on “The Rachel Maddow Show” she brought to light Freedom's Watch. This organization is poised to discredit Obama’s campaign with the same kind of smears. Maddow pointed out that it has many of the familiar names from the recent Republican past: Karl Rove, the indicted Bush operative, as a lead political consultant, and Ari Fleischer as a press aide. It has Sheldon Adelson, a Nevada casino operator that leased a luxury jet to Rudy Giuliani last fall, as a major benefactor. Reminiscent of Swift Boat, Freedom's Watch is funneling money to pro-McCain veterans group, Vets for Freedom. (Reference links to come: David Saltonstall, "Daily News"; Laura Rozen, "Mother Jones"; Peter Stone, "National Journal" and "Roll Call" via DSCC.)

UPDATE: Here's a more recent Laura Rozen article on the benefactor that could be the "The Right's White Knight", Aug. 8, Mother Jones.

Funny that McCain grouses about Obama’s media attention. Here’s a video by his daughter Meghan McCain. (Formerly an independent, she voted for John Kerry in 2004; this year she registered as Republican -from her wikipedia biography.) In the video she shows a Sedona picnic that the McCain campaign hosted for the press. She gushes about how nice some of the reporters are, referring to them by first name.

For a broader analysis of McCain and myths, see this Nevada-focused blogspot blog.

And how the real media love affair is with McCain himself:
David Brock and Paul Waldman, “Free Ride: John McCain and the Media.”