TPMtv: Dana Milbank, We Salute You
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© 2009 Next New Networks, Inc. Advertise with us.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 License.
Yo, Shepard Smith, what is with the tired old basketball analogy? "Another 3 pointer"??? Come on man, get with the times. Today, Black men don't just dominate on a basketball court, they dominate on the golf course. How about, "another green jacket" or "another 20 under par" or "kick Mickelson's ass again".
This does not surprise me. I was talking to a guy the other day who said he gets his news from "multiple" sources. Meaning he is "well informed." Those sources? CNN, FOX, MSNBC. He said that he was a real Obama supporter early on, but now he is not so sure anymore. Hmmmmm........Wonder why??
Okay Enkelt, here's some journalism for you.
http://mediamatters.org/items/200807300009?f=s_search
http://mediamatters.org/items/200808010004?f=s_search
This piece is an excellent example of the blogs' capacity for fighting back against the MainStreamMedia's bullshit (re: Obama's "presumptuous...arrogance".
I add the following observation re Pat Buchanan's Shakespearian allusion: "Upon what meat does this our Caesar feed" (That he is grown so great).
1. Do political commentators really want to discuss any Presidential candidate by using the words of the assassin Cassius?
2. There is additional (I believe conscious) irony in Buchanan's performance. Despite Rachel Maddow's immediately preceding debunking of the false Obama quote he plows straight ahead with his appointed task of defamation (note her bemused incredulity at his refusal to yield) by using the fictional words of a bitter and violent subversive (sans attribution as such, of course). In my opinion he's not really quoting Shakespeare but rather Edwin R. Murrow, who's famous attack on Joe McCarthy made use of the same quote! We've got about 16 layers of Nietzschean ressentiment here...
It is a long treasured technique of this country's Right (since at least the 60's) to appropriate left wing tactics and memes, turn them upside down or inside out and then chuckle at how clever they are. The old Bircher/Goldwaterite/Nixonian bastard thinks he's tossing off another wise ass rhetorical bomb, which you can bet is understood by his old comrades, if not the general public.
But now they're the next Colossus* that's on its way to turning into Ozymandias.**
And we get to do the chuckling.
Even if unfortunately we're all of us standing amidst the ruins...
* Julius Caesar – Act 1, Scene 2
Cassius
141. Why, man, he doth bestride the narrow world
142. Like a Colossus, and we petty men
143. Walk under his huge legs and peep about
144. To find ourselves dishonourable graves.
145. Men at some time are masters of their fates:
146. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars,
147. But in ourselves, that we are underlings.
148. Brutus and Caesar: what should be in that 'Caesar'?
149. Why should that name be sounded more than yours?
150. Write them together, yours is as fair a name;
151. Sound them, it doth become the mouth as well;
152. Weigh them, it is as heavy; conjure with 'em,
153. Brutus will start a spirit as soon as Caesar.
154. Now, in the names of all the gods at once,
155. Upon what meat doth this our Caesar feed,
156. That he is grown so great? Age, thou art shamed!
157. Rome, thou hast lost the breed of noble bloods!
158. When went there by an age, since the great flood,
159. But it was famed with more than with one man?
160. When could they say till now, that talk'd of Rome,
161. That her wide walls encompass'd but one man?
162. Now is it Rome indeed and room enough,
163. When there is in it but one only man.
164. O, you and I have heard our fathers say,
165. There was a Brutus once that would have brook'd
166. The eternal devil to keep his state in Rome
167. As easily as a king.
** http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozymandias
"I voz only following reports..!"
___________________________________________________________________________
All it took to set off a full 24 hours of cable news hysteria was one quote
that the Washington Post's Dana Milbank attributed to Barack Obama
- second hand, unsourced, out of context, and eventually widely disputed.
Nice work, everybody.
Dana Milbank, We Salute You; Veracifier.
___________________________________________________________________________
Dear Veracifier,
Howsa'bout some journalism?
Would you count it a creditable defence of Fox et al, that they simply reported a breaking story?
The case for the defence:
Second Hand - Reported as news, a report as news, of a report of Obama's words.
Source ------ Dana Milbank, Washington Post.
Context ----- President Obama Continues Hectic Victory Tour;
-------------"Barack Obama has long been his party's presumptive nominee.
------------- Now he's becoming its presumptuous nominee";
------------- Dana Milbank, Washington Post.
Conclusion -- Doh! It is just the news making the news..
------------- Of course it was second hand, but clearly sourced, and in context.
Ah! But did Fox et al check the veracity of Dana's source, or of the quote in its context?
And, did Veracifier?
Will y'all at Veracifier claim to have clear proof that the quote was misleadingly out of context?
Will you even claim to have clear proof of what the context was?
Certainly, no such clear proof was evident in your video confect.
What then do we have?
A dubious smear in reply to a dubious quotation.
Well done Veracifier - reporting the news as news, without journalistic verification.
Second hand, unsourced, out of context..
Reporting a breaking story, the news as the news - another Veracifier Vlog anyone?
And then..
"I am not proud to be an American right now.
I despair..when this is the group that represents us in the mass media".
Dr.D. wrote on July 31, 10:26 pm.
"..a conspiracy of morons".
Dr.D. wrote on July 31, 10:28 pm
"..another proof that the various media outlets are working in concert with one another.."
Mike Mansfield (guest) wrote on July 31, 10:17 pm
Well done Mike, Dr. D, et al..
Nice work, everybody.
Summa summarum:
All it took to set off another cut & paste Veracifier vlog of "news" hysteria was
- the reporting of a quote damaging to Barack Obama.
PS: TPMtv-Text Editor... nice device.
It seems you didn't watch the video.
Oh please shut these right wing diarrhea mouth fanatics up already. They would belittle Obama if he used the wrong color hankie.
this is an excellent video
team obama needs to work on their rapid response
Repulsive and irresponsible behavior from the media. God love Rachel Maddow though.
Shepard Smith....Dude!
I have often seen you being a voice of reason in the wasteland of Fox News. Can't you get out of that contract? We could give you your own show @ MSNBC. You could replace Joe Scarborough, and Rachel Maddow could replace Mika (some people say) Brzinski.
And what makes this such a conspiracy of morons is that not one of them actually looked at what Obama really said, which was not at all arrogant, it was showing his humility. Fortunately for dubya, these numbnuts will only go after half black dems.
I am not proud to be an American right now. I despair that this country has no shame and no dignity when this is the group that represents us in the mass media. It reflects on all of us. They may as well have said, "You go on now and git. You knew you couldn't be no president. Now git 'for we string you up, boy."
Obama is like the native American boy on the movie Billy Jack who dared shoot back. The condescending arrogance and conceit makes me want to throw up. Now, as Bob Dylan wrote, "I'm going to go find a hole to get sick in."
This video was another proof that the various media outlets are working in concert with one another, oftentimes spreading the "narrative" one of the commentators spoke of even when it isn't even there.
How many times did I hear the same words from various pundits: "Presumptuous, arrogant, etc." Those aren't words everyone uses every day. There must be some attempt at telling the same story among some of them.
I totally agree. I watched this episode develop real time and the buzz words kept showing up repeatedly out of the blue like all the pundits were having a collective coincident original thought.
haha, loved the ending!