About This Site

WHAT’S WRONG WITH THE MEDIA? Really, what IS wrong with the media? I ask this question sincerely. Well, partially in a sincere manner, but also in an effort to push back against them by posing the same question about them that they ask endlessly all day every day about Barack Obama.

This whole silly mess began with Pat Buchanan back during the prolonged Democratic Primary knockdown between Obama and Clinton. No matter what you may say or think about Republicans, they know exactly how to press their point: by saying it over and over, day after day until the media pick it up and become their well-tuned Greek chorus. And so he did. That sly old Patrick Buchanan kept on asking that question every chance he got – and there were many – until it became the question of the day first on MSNBC and then on CNN. Well played, Mr. Buchanan!

So, dear readers, I have decided to turn the whole thing around and begin my every blog with that same question directed toward the media. So if you return to this site, don’t think that the content hasn’t changed because it begins with that central question. In fact, that question is the thrust of this entire site.

An independent study was released July 28, 2008, that found the media coverage of Senator Obama was 72% negative: an astounding number! But truly it only buttressed my suspicions in watching, literally, hours of political coverage on television every day. You see, I am a political junkie who is a retired old white man living in rural Texas with time to devote to my extreme interest on the subject. So I do.

Anyway, last week when Barack Obama was making his brilliant tour through the Middle East and Europe, I listened with dismay as the pundits on MSNBC and CNN worked overtime to find something negative to say about him. It was then that I decided to get out here on the world wide web and fight back, because it was clear to me that Barack Obama was going to not only have to beat the Republicans in this campaign, but also the news media which seems dedicated to keeping him “in his place.”

I have mused on the reasons for the 24-hour news media’s propensity to throw stone after stone at Obama. Are they just trying to help their old buddy McCain win? Are they doing what they can to “keep the race close and interesting” to boost ratings? Are they serving the interests of their corporate owners? Or maybe they are puppets to their advertising sponsors: big oil, big insurance, big banks and brokerages, big pharmaceutical companies. Perhaps. But who knows.

I’ve also wondered if the well coifed, well groomed, well dressed television personalities that beam into our homes like invited family members are so out of the mainstream lives of regular Americans that they just don’t get it. Maybe they’re so well paid that the rise in the price of gasoline is just another “bump in the road” on their way to work–annoying and notable but not major. And let’s face it, do these look like the kind of people the rest of us run into as we shop for groceries and clothing at Wal-Mart? Not where I live.

So it is the goal of this site to shine the light of scrutiny on the very influential national news media as it “does its thing” during the course of this very important election. The plan is to critique political commentary shows every day, concentrating on content and slant thereof. I do have one disclaimer to add. Due to love of my flat-screen TV, I will not be including any programming from the “Fair and Balanced” network because they make me want to throw something through the screen. So I will concentrate on Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough, Hardball with Chris Matthews, and Race for the White House with David Gregory, all on MSNBC, along with Wolfe – Wolfe Blitzer and Lou Dobbs on CNN as well as the Sunday morning broadcast-television shows on NBC, ABC and CBS.

Hang in there, fellow Liberals, and keep fighting toward victory in November!