Texas is the focus in many e-mails (both from members in Texas and from members outside of Texas). Yesterday, Jim Hightower was brought on KPFA to schill for Obama. To her credit, Aimee Allison (The Morning Show) noted that Hightower endorsed Bambi. That disclosure is required when you have an 'expert' on to speak if he or she has endorsed -- someone tell that to Amy Goodman -- and we may be doing a list of all the Obama supporters brought on her show to offer 'independent' analysis that suprisingly favored Obama but not so surprisingly when you consider that Melissa Harris-Lacewell was already part of the Obama campaign when she was brought on and presented as as just an unbiased observer or Frances Fox Piven who'd already signed that stupid petition (when "Minnie Mouse" has signed your petition, you're really begging for credibility and no one's in the mood to hand it to you). But those are only two. Panhandle Media has been in the tank for Bambi.
A note on that from an angry visitor who states that Ava and I "used to call" Hillary out. Yes, we've made those points. We did and we expected that everyone would do that -- but with all candidates. We thought Panhandle Media had standards. It's been an educational experience. But we would have been happy to hold both accountable. And Barack got praised by me here twice. However, he needs to get honest, Elaine and I both pointed that out long ago that he told a fairy tale about Iraq. He gave a pretty speech in 2002 -- while running for the state legislature, re-election -- against the "dumb" war. That's really all he ever did. We stood face to face with him when he was running for the US Senate and he stated that US troops could not leave Iraq because "we" were there now. This wasn't an error or him mispeaking. We questioned him and then we immediately left after the exchange (without donating). He was not an "anti-war" candidate. Which is why his awful speech in Boston was no surprise. Which is why his repeated statements to the press that he didn't know how he would have voted if he'd been in the Senate in 2002. In 2007, suddenly he knows how he would have voted. To the press from 2004 through 2006, he didn't. Suddenly, five years later, he knows how he would have voted. It's a pity he didn't know sooner. If he had, he might not have made all those US Senate votes that prolonged the illegal war. (A) I believed him that he'd serve out his first US Senate term and not run for president. (B) I believe he would have to get honest about his shifting stand on the Iraq War.
He didn't. The lie is that he was all always against the "dumb" war. That's not true. But since he pushes that point repeatedly (and Panhandle Media covers up for him -- they haven't even dug into his townhall meeting after he made it into the Senate and the angry constituents who wanted him, now that he was in the Senate, to do something). They run with that point and claim that he can therefore change the course of the "dumb" war if he's president.
As with most of the fairy tales repeated, that one doesn't add up either. He can't tell Congress, "I was right, you were wrong. Now do it my way." Hillary could, if she wanted to, say, "A lot of us voted for the 2002 resolution believing that the inspectors would be allowed to do their work. We were misled. Now we can fix that." Who are you going to listen to? The person screaming "I was right before it started!"? No, that's the person you avoid at all social gatherings. That's the know-it-all (or presenting themselves as the know-it-all).
The Iraq War is an illegal war. No one elected president from either of the two major parties will ever say that. That's not how they operate (ever). What they will say is "mistake." They may say "tragedy" or "tragic mistake." But they're not going to say "illegal." They don't do that and it goes to 'respect' for the office -- which is really just never admit any criminal activity on the part of the government, for the 'good' of the people, you understand.
So people need to get realistic about what can happen with the Iraq War and how it will end.
People also need to get realistic about the two candidates for the Democratic nomination. They especially need to grasp that Bambi's received fawning press from Real Media and something even greater from Panhandle Media which lies regularly, ignores stories (before this week, Amy Goodman mentioned Antoin Rezko's name once) to push Bambi. They go into the gutter on Hillary. It's disgusting. As it is disgusting that Latinos and Latinas are regularly shut out of by the media.
We'll get back to that point but take "reporter" and "journalist" Leigh Ann Caldwell who appeared on The Morning Show yesterday to say, "Everyone I have spoken to here" Ohio "is supporting Obama." Obama lost Ohio. Obviously Leigh Ann needs to get out more.
She spoke repeatedly of Clinton "prolonging" her campaign. That's her narrative, Caldewell's. Hillary's in a race. She's not "prolonging" her campaign unless you believe Bambi deserves the nomination. Leigh Ann Caldwell's been a sorry excuse for a reporter for some time. She flat out LIED when Congress was selling the people out on Iraq. She LIED and LIED again. She's a joke and like so many couldn't get a real job if her life depended on it. Not in journalism. Maybe in a creative writing class, but not in journalism.
What Panhandle Media has done goes beyond revealing they that have no standards, they've demonstrated that they can't work in the Real Media (there are a few exceptions, I'm speaking overall). They've destroyed their image in Real Media. I hear it from friends all the time, friends in the press, who were willing to give to tune in and check out the competition because I've plugged a number in Panhandle Media like crazy. But they've destroyed their own reputations. They've destroyed all the credibility they built up with their pre- and early Iraq War reporting. They're a tired, sick joke now. And they have no one to blame but themselves. No one made them embarrass themselves the way they did.
Jim Hightower was high on Bambi. He credited the "excitement, the energy" of the Bambi campaign for his decision to get behind Obama (I believe that's the same thing that prevents Hightower from running a successful statewide race). "The feel is just dynamic and Obama is getting 20,000 - 25,000 people wherever he goes," panted Hightower. A smart listener would be wondering why an Obama supporter was on to begin with since there was no Clinton supporter?
Hightower maintained that Obama's cutting into Latinos in Texas. Why? Because that was Panhandle Media's talking point. It was never true. It was never going to be true. But didn't we hear it over and over. The results are in and they reflect worse on Panhandle Media than on any candidate. 67% of Texas Latinos went for Clinton.
Here's what Amy Goodman (Democracy Sometimes!) said yesterday morning (noted by Micah, Joan and Eddie): "Obama has said Clinton may have to quit if he wins in both states, but she has vowed to stay in the race. Rhode Island and Vermont vote on Tuesday, as well." Did Obama say that? Once upon a time, Amy Goodman said it, I would assume it was true. But these days, she's disgraced herself repeatedly so who knows? The reality is that if he did say it, who the hell cares? They're in a race against each other. He's got the right to make any claim he wants and should. He should be running to win. But what he says about her campaign's life shouldn't be treated as gospel among reporters. But Panhandle Media doesn't have reporters, just beggars. And for any offended for Amy Goodman by that, be offended that Amy Goodman who goes to the well repeatedly on East Timor hasn't taken Bambi to task for his advisor involved in the slaughter of East Timor. You think Goody doesn't know every official's name? Of course she does. But she seals her lips on that, doesn't she? But she'll continue to bore us all with the replays of her -- years ago -- award winning East Timor report. And pretend she cares, that she gives a damn about East Timor. If she gave a damn, she'd be calling out Obama for that advisor. But she stays silent and that's one of the biggest laughs about her in Big Media.
(Or the biggest I can repeat.)
Remember when she had LIE FACE Melissa Harris-Lacewell on? Well Charlie Rose had a panel of journalists on yesterday's show plus LIE FACE. There was no one with the Hillary campaign and LIE FACE wasn't identified as being with Bambi's campaign in the last portion of the show. It may have been thought her comments (she was out for Hillary's blood) made it obvious. But if she had been identified as someone who is campaigning for Obama, viewers might have taken her cracked pot comments less seriously.
Hillary, LIE FACE claimed, will destroy the Democratic Party. It sounded like a threat from the Obama campaign because that's what it was. She went on to add that this was especially true if it was left to the Super Delegates. Connie Schultz disgareed and Schultz actually has experience. Melissa Harris-Lacewell just has her LIE FACE. (And she should be serious ethical trouble at Princeton for going on Democracy Now! the first time and praising Bambi as someone she just happened to catch speaking when in fact she was praising the candidate she was campaigning for without disclosing to an audience that he was her choice and someone whose campaign she was working for -- along with journalistic ethics, there are academic ones and Harris-Lacewell demonstrated none).
While Connie Schultz spoke, LIE FACE kept shaking her LYING FACE "no." After you've gone a program without revealing that you're part of a campaign, no one should believe a word out of your LYING MOUTH.
LIE FACE claimed that Connie Shultz isn't "listening to urban radio." Where's LIE FACE hearing it? Is she hearing every station across the country? No, or she'd hear the callers who don't favor Obama. More importantly, as Schultz corrected her on, the African-American community is not a "monolithic" group. The have their own radio choices (if they listen). LIE FACE is pushing the Urban Radio listeners (all of them) are for Obama. Check Arbitron, that's not a large audience. (The audience for Urban Radio saw a drop off over a decade ago and there have been no gains in the last years.) LIE FACE claimed that "all day long" on urban radio, you'll hear people "calling for Hillary to get out of the race." Actually, what you'll hear over and over is the campaign's song played as a song on many stations which is a violation of the FEC guidelines. But this community no longer goes to various sites because they know it's Hillary Hatred non-stop. LIE FACE claimed Urban Radio has that non-stop. Again, she's not monitoring every Urban Radio station. She's not even monitoring most of them. She just has to continue her work for the campaign and LIE on air.
She, a pollster, stated "I am absolutely certain" that if Obama doesn't get the nomination, the party will splinter. A pollster's absolutely certain. She polls and she makes predictions.
She LIES. And then she LIES some more. It's all she has to offer because she's a hack for a campaign brought on as "objective."
Back to Latinos. No Latino or Latina got invited on to the program. There were two African-American guests and at least four White guests. Two women. The rest were men. That's not reflective of the voting pool in America.
But if LIE FACE wants to argue that the passions are high, let's look at Latinos and Latinas who have gone overwhelmingly for Hillary. Are they going to pack up their bags and go home (the way Harris-Lacewell falsely claims African-Americans will)? That wasn't a concern. But they've turned out in huge numbers and they are the emerging population in this country. Can the Democratic Party afford to piss them off?
No.
The immigration rights rallies that rocked the nation in 2006 were a sea of change that announced the Latino community was not going to stand on the sidelines. They have huge numbers and they got politically active. They are the fastest growing segment of the US population.
Shultz noted that this is a race like we've never seen before and she is correct. Unlike Harris-Lacewell, she spoke favorably of both Democratic candidates. So who are you going to listen to? A journalist trying to practice objectivity or Harris-Lacewell who not only is part of the campaign (she bragged about campaigning for Bambi when she outed herself on her second Democracy Now! appearance) but doesn't feel the need to disclose that?
One person's demonstrated that they will LIE.
She was less than honest throughout. Ava and I will address a prime example in our TV piece this Sunday. (What I've gone over here already was noted about Harris-Lacewell in the past. And you can consider the above Ava and my comments because we both watch appalled when a PBS friend e-mailed about the program.)
Micah notes this "pathetic response" the Obama campaign gives in Michael McAuliff and Michael Saul's "Bam! Suddenly, momentum goes poof" (New York Daily News):
Obama's team was on the receiving end of a rough conference call earlier, when reporters pounced on Clinton's critique that he has not held a hearing on Afghanistan since becoming chairman of a subcommittee with oversight of the war effort there.
"He didn't become chairman of that subcommittee until January 2007. The fact is he made his announcement for President of the United States in February 2007," Obama aide Greg Craig said. "So, he had other things on his mind."
I don't think those serving in Afghanistan or the families of those serving in Afghanistan will be buying the excuse of Obama "had other things on his mind." As stated before, he could have refused the chair. But it made such a nice resume credit, didn't it? He could have used it to help others but instead he just grabbed the credit. Hmmm.
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