Liberal Media, If You're Listening: Be Like Fox
One of my earliest Goodreads posts (12/1/13) attempted to debunk the liberal media myth. I recognized that just as the affirmative action myths undermined black folks, this false narrative ("alternative facts" hadn't entered our vocabulary in 2013) hurt Democrats. If the majority of the media were pro-liberals, and yet they criticized liberals and exposed their scandals even more than they did conservatives, then liberals must be worse than conservatives. I pointed out in that post that the NATIONAL ENQUIRER attacked Democrats (Hart, Jackson, Edwards, the Kennedys, the Clintons) and protected Republicans (Arnold S, the Bushes, McCain, and all of the sexually scandalous--Ensign, Sanford--Republicans). I also called out ABC for airing a fake documentary about the so-called ten greatest scandals of the 21st Century that included six Democrats and listed as the top three sexually misbehaving liberals (Edwards, Spitzer, Weiner) who were no longer in office. They didn't mention Katrina, the WMD lies that led to the Iraq War, or the recent (2013) GOP-led government shutdown. Since I wrote that post, I watched ABC interrupt regular programming to snarkily announce something that they thought would be bad news for Obama and when it turned out to be good news (some captured American military had been released), they abruptly returned to regular programming. Of course, this behavior on the part of what is supposed to be liberal media makes liberals look especially bad. But there are actual liberal media folks like most of the MSNBC anchors and at least some (Lemon, Cuomo, Cooper) of those on CNN. Unfortunately, just as Democrats tend to attack each other instead of behaving like conservatives who will support and defend a child molester or a racist maniac (see 2/17/19 and 3/31/19 posts), the liberal media will often attack Democrats more ferociously than they do Republicans. The behavior of the real liberal media is one of the many reasons why Democrats have trouble winning elections. If the real liberal media acted more like Fox, we would win more often and more easily.
A few months ago during the latest GOP government shutdown, I tweeted about the liberal media bullying elected Democrats for being paid while other government workers were not. I had watched morning MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson bullying a Democratic Congressman I didn't know. Why was she shaming him? He was not the rich, narcissistic, sadistic bigot who claimed he would be proud to shut down the government and then shut it down. Now the Democrats are being bullied by MSNBC and CNN anchors over impeachment. These know-it-all talking heads who didn't know that Trump could win, who didn't know or care that Michael Avenatti was a media whore (see 11/24/18 post), and who focused on the content of the Clinton campaign e-mails instead of on who had hacked them and why, think they know more than the leaders who gave us the now popular ACA. The two most obnoxious liberal media bullies are angry, suddenly-obsessed-with-impeachment black woman Joy Reid on MSNBC, who rudely interrogated the seventy-something, very dignified and stately (also too courteous for my taste) black Representative James Clyburn about what really happened when Clinton was impeached, and the privileged, entitled, smugly self-righteous (smug-righteous?) white man Chris Cuomo on CNN, who not only wants the Democrats to impeach the insane bigot that the media and Republicans elected but wants them to send money to the Homeland Security Department so that the Republicans will use it to help those poor immigrant children as if the racists running our government won't use that money to make life even more difficult for those brown children. It must be wonderful to be a naïve, know-it-all, born-to-fame-wealth-and-power white man.
If you keep attacking Democrats instead of protecting them and attacking Republicans, you will help Trump win again, liberal media, so here's what you must do:
1) Attack Republicans for not demanding that Trump resign or activating the 25th Amendment. Remind everyone that Nixon was not impeached, that he resigned before impeachment. Also, remind everyone (some talking heads are making this point) that the two impeached Presidents were not removed, and impeachment takes a long time. Shame, blame, and attack every Republican who enables or defends the President. Make it clear that Trump needs to go now because he is causing more damage to our democracy, our citizens, migrants of color, and our reputation around the world every minute that he stays in the office that Putin (and you) helped him win.
2) Attack McConnell, Graham, and other Trump enablers who are facing reelection. Focus not only on how they're enabling Trump but also on any connections they may have with Russia or any other nonsexual corruption you can find. Instead of digging up dirt on the 2020 Democratic candidates, which is the conservative media's (including ABC) job, dig up dirt on the Republicans and Republican-leaning organizations like the NRA.
3) Continue to attack the conservative media whenever they attack liberals. Chris Matthews (my least favorite MSNBC anchor because he has the personality of a Fox anchor) was especially effective last week at debunking the fake criticism of Speaker Pelosi's mentioning (in a private meeting) that Trump should go to jail.
4) Help me with my drive-Trump-crazier campaign by constantly criticizing him and comparing him unfavorably to Obama and the Clintons. Follow the Brits' lead by highlighting the polls revealing Trump's approval ratings around the world versus Obama's. Also, contrast how Obama responded to criticism and smears (with wit or by ignoring them) like Trump's racist birtherism to how Trump responds.
5) Minimize or don't report any good news, and maximize any bad news about the economy, relations with our allies or adversaries, etc. Blame Trump for anything bad that happens, and give others (Obama, Congress, the Cabinet members) credit for anything good that happens. You could also interpret good news as bad news or question the source of the good news as the conservative media did when the unemployment and jobs created numbers were good for Obama.
What's happening now reminds me of how the media helped elect messy GW Bush twice (attacking Gore as dishonest and calling Florida and the race for Bush in 2000 before taking it back, promoting the Swift Boat nonsense in 2004) and then criticized Obama for not cleaning up the mess left by the media's President fast enough and for the way he cleaned. The Democrats did not put Trump in the White House; racists, the electoral college, Putin, and the media did. The media need to get him out of there, and they can do that by attacking him and his enablers while protecting and supporting the Democrats. The media may not be the enemy of the people, but they are helping destroy our democracy by the way they treat Democrats and Republicans.
As I said in a post on the Joy Reid Fan Club site (the post was quickly removed by the moderators; hmmm, don't liberals believe in freedom of speech, constructive criticism?), if Trump wins in 2020, we should blame the media again. Let's hope the real liberal media will start acting like the conservative media. Let's hope the MSNBC anchors and the liberals on CNN will be more like Fox so that the 2020 Democratic nominee can win in a landslide.
A few months ago during the latest GOP government shutdown, I tweeted about the liberal media bullying elected Democrats for being paid while other government workers were not. I had watched morning MSNBC anchor Hallie Jackson bullying a Democratic Congressman I didn't know. Why was she shaming him? He was not the rich, narcissistic, sadistic bigot who claimed he would be proud to shut down the government and then shut it down. Now the Democrats are being bullied by MSNBC and CNN anchors over impeachment. These know-it-all talking heads who didn't know that Trump could win, who didn't know or care that Michael Avenatti was a media whore (see 11/24/18 post), and who focused on the content of the Clinton campaign e-mails instead of on who had hacked them and why, think they know more than the leaders who gave us the now popular ACA. The two most obnoxious liberal media bullies are angry, suddenly-obsessed-with-impeachment black woman Joy Reid on MSNBC, who rudely interrogated the seventy-something, very dignified and stately (also too courteous for my taste) black Representative James Clyburn about what really happened when Clinton was impeached, and the privileged, entitled, smugly self-righteous (smug-righteous?) white man Chris Cuomo on CNN, who not only wants the Democrats to impeach the insane bigot that the media and Republicans elected but wants them to send money to the Homeland Security Department so that the Republicans will use it to help those poor immigrant children as if the racists running our government won't use that money to make life even more difficult for those brown children. It must be wonderful to be a naïve, know-it-all, born-to-fame-wealth-and-power white man.
If you keep attacking Democrats instead of protecting them and attacking Republicans, you will help Trump win again, liberal media, so here's what you must do:
1) Attack Republicans for not demanding that Trump resign or activating the 25th Amendment. Remind everyone that Nixon was not impeached, that he resigned before impeachment. Also, remind everyone (some talking heads are making this point) that the two impeached Presidents were not removed, and impeachment takes a long time. Shame, blame, and attack every Republican who enables or defends the President. Make it clear that Trump needs to go now because he is causing more damage to our democracy, our citizens, migrants of color, and our reputation around the world every minute that he stays in the office that Putin (and you) helped him win.
2) Attack McConnell, Graham, and other Trump enablers who are facing reelection. Focus not only on how they're enabling Trump but also on any connections they may have with Russia or any other nonsexual corruption you can find. Instead of digging up dirt on the 2020 Democratic candidates, which is the conservative media's (including ABC) job, dig up dirt on the Republicans and Republican-leaning organizations like the NRA.
3) Continue to attack the conservative media whenever they attack liberals. Chris Matthews (my least favorite MSNBC anchor because he has the personality of a Fox anchor) was especially effective last week at debunking the fake criticism of Speaker Pelosi's mentioning (in a private meeting) that Trump should go to jail.
4) Help me with my drive-Trump-crazier campaign by constantly criticizing him and comparing him unfavorably to Obama and the Clintons. Follow the Brits' lead by highlighting the polls revealing Trump's approval ratings around the world versus Obama's. Also, contrast how Obama responded to criticism and smears (with wit or by ignoring them) like Trump's racist birtherism to how Trump responds.
5) Minimize or don't report any good news, and maximize any bad news about the economy, relations with our allies or adversaries, etc. Blame Trump for anything bad that happens, and give others (Obama, Congress, the Cabinet members) credit for anything good that happens. You could also interpret good news as bad news or question the source of the good news as the conservative media did when the unemployment and jobs created numbers were good for Obama.
What's happening now reminds me of how the media helped elect messy GW Bush twice (attacking Gore as dishonest and calling Florida and the race for Bush in 2000 before taking it back, promoting the Swift Boat nonsense in 2004) and then criticized Obama for not cleaning up the mess left by the media's President fast enough and for the way he cleaned. The Democrats did not put Trump in the White House; racists, the electoral college, Putin, and the media did. The media need to get him out of there, and they can do that by attacking him and his enablers while protecting and supporting the Democrats. The media may not be the enemy of the people, but they are helping destroy our democracy by the way they treat Democrats and Republicans.
As I said in a post on the Joy Reid Fan Club site (the post was quickly removed by the moderators; hmmm, don't liberals believe in freedom of speech, constructive criticism?), if Trump wins in 2020, we should blame the media again. Let's hope the real liberal media will start acting like the conservative media. Let's hope the MSNBC anchors and the liberals on CNN will be more like Fox so that the 2020 Democratic nominee can win in a landslide.
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