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-Birth Certificate- The conspiracy was started by the Hillary campaign and nobody, outside of MSNBC, has talked about it for the last 2.5 years. Then, along comes Donald Trump, who after deciding 13 minutes ago he was a Republican and after supporting Obama, becomes a birther and is interviewed by every media outlet with a working camera. Pretty much every major conservative personality & outfit, whether they be from the fringe (Ann Coulter) or the moderate (O’Reilly) debunks the birther myth & denounces birtherism.
Normally, it takes the left weeks, months or years to re-write history but in this case they’ve managed to do it in less than a day. If you watch any media outlet outside of Fox, read any newspaper, etc. you think that FNC has been promoting birthers over the last 2 years with the help of the conservative establishment. It’s pretty amazing.
This is one time where it is great to have more than one news-channel. I do not give the proverbial rat’s @ss about The Royal Wedding. Marry the wench and Go Away.
^ I told you they would “fix” it by the end of the week. Screw it, there were huge tornadoes in GA. last night, which came way too close to a friend of ours. That matters, this doesn’t.
I’m not the Comic-Con sort, so I can’t verify that they “always do it”, but my Entertainment Weekly magazines tell me the superhero genre is being rebranded as a global product so they can make movies that sell overseas. The upcoming “rebooted” Wonder Woman lost her red, white & blue costume for that reason.
I’m not a comics person either but I was in San Diego during the big Comic-Con thing and it was disturbing to see grown-ass men walking around, eating in restaurants, dressed like Superman.
By “they always do it”, I just meant that sort of thing. It’s just so typical, in general. Not just about comics.
Obama will be going to Alabama, eh? Why do these stupid ass presidents (on both sides) go to disaster areas while people could still be trapped? Don’t they realize the police presence needed to guard him and his people is counterproductive?
Why won’t any of the cable news hacks point out this fact?
Right. Probably for the same reason they don’t admit these wars are nothing but oil grabs.
Tell me, how much ‘federal assistance’ could the men and women fighting wars that have nothing to do with protecting America provide at this juncture?
Obama will be going to Alabama, eh? Why do these stupid ass presidents (on both sides) go to disaster areas while people could still be trapped?
Because Hannity and his Great Great American Morons will bust on him for “not caring about the (white) people of Alabama”. Remember all the crap Bush got for viewing New Orleans from a jet? The PR disaster of “staying out of the way” ain’t worth it.
^ Btw, the iconic image of Bush looking down at the ruins of the World Trade Center led to that less successful rerun. I was surprised no one in the media made the connection. I have no doubt Bush was stunned at the negative reaction.
IMO, the ‘federal response’ is way more important than any PR photo shoots or a pep rally about perseverance. Let the ‘locals’ handle rallying the troops.
Are you cable news watchers getting much coverage? I’m not really interested in any wedding news.. just been watching streaming coverage from Alabama.
Yep, Terance..plenty of disaster coverage. In between discussions about the fact that “Kate” won’t say “obey” in the wedding vows. Duh, nobody does anymore.
Obama could take the lead, while at the same time being a statesman, by taking a pass on the photo-op. He could then explain that Bush got a bad rap, since that’s exactly what he was doing, in his situation. He could put an end to this ridiculous exercise, while at the same time making a magnanimous gesture to his predecessor. Yeah, right.
HA! If there’s one President that would never get away with it, it’s Obama. Fox would excoriate him until Election Day. Palin would hyperventilate. Not happnin.
Unfortunately, the rest of the press would report FNC’s complaints, treat them as valid, then have endless point/counterpoint debates about it. The “liberal MSM” has a maddening addiction to responding to every stupid thing the right wing media trots out. It’s their over-reaction to being called liberal: they’re constantly trying to disprove it by taking Fox, Rush, et al, seriously. Drives me nuts.
Drudge has a picture of milk cartons related to inflation. No freaking joke. The amount of milk we go through with 2 little ones is ridonkulous. I’ve pretty much weaned the oldest off of it but the younger one still has a crack like addiction. I don’t how those all organic, all the time folks afford it. We stick with the regular stuff. Neither of my boys has started growing a tail or a 2nd pinkie so I guess it’s alright.
“We bring you Fox News in order to denounce them as racists and extremists out to destroy the country and, oh yeah, get liberals to watch us since we can’t get anyone else.”
Let me understand this: the President can’t take an action – or not take one – because someone might criticize him?
I realize this is mostly a “howling at the moon” lament, but I don’t think the generalization is fair. Being the first Prez to publicly announce he’s not going to a disaster scene would not engender a normal level of criticism; it would be (another) major controversy for a guy who’s already had his share this week.
you think that FNC has been promoting birthers over the last 2 years with the help of the conservative establishment.
The timing of FNC hiring Trump for regular Fox and Friends appearances converges nicely with him going on a Birther rampage. I don’t consider it as FNC deliberately promoting Birtherism directly as a conscious decision. But the result is the same. If you talk about it, it promotes it. And FNC is not alone in this. All the news networks have needlessly pandered to this. They report on Trump and Taitz’s ridiculous allegations one minute. The next the devote copious air time trying to fisk the charges. It’s water cooler journalism.
Want proof? Look what happened next…Trump starts talking about Obama’s education and grades and the nets start reporting it. It’s the next issue now that Birtherism has been knocked down for everyone except the criminally insane (Taitz and Co.). The cycle repeats itself. It’s pathetic. It’s like watching what happened to Kerry in 2004 where the charges and refutations regarding his time in Vietnam sucked so much air time out of the nets.
LOD bringing Taitz on was ridiculous. I realize he wanted to prove that her request being granted by the President would make no difference, but who cares? We already knew she wouldn’t get off the Crazy Wagon, and the only people who take her seriously are blog commentors even more batshyte than she is.
The President taking the extraordinary step of caving to a conspiracy is news; whatever the idiots say now is not. Enough.
It’s obviously on a totally different order, but it’s no different than when they manufacture ‘outrage’ from statements made by people no one cares about. Or when they show titty-shot-b-roll of young women doing ‘outrageous’ things. Except that somehow the other networks are able to restrain themselves from following suit. And I have no idea what my point is, so you’re not alone.
“The timing of FNC hiring Trump for regular Fox and Friends appearances converges nicely with him going on a Birther rampage.”
Maybe but it also converged with him becoming a major player in American politics and still FNC talked about Trump less than one of the other cable networks. He’s the only potential Republican candidate out there saying anything. He’s going to get covered whether you personally agree with what he has to say or not. Some outlets may have gone over board but they can’t just ignore him because he’s hurting the President’s feelings.
“It’s like watching what happened to Kerry in 2004 where the charges and refutations regarding his time in Vietnam sucked so much air time out of the nets.”
Or, what’s happened to any number of other politicians over time. At least with Obama & Kerry, they had allies at virtually every media outlet devoted to attacking their adversaries. The point is that the left is out there blaming Fox News because that’s their reaction to everything. The truth, is that FNC hardly spent any time at all over the last couple of years talking about birthers. The same can’t be said for some of the other networks. They wanted to make it an issue, they did, and it backfired. Tough shiite for them.
Good point Laura.
How many hours have been wasted on news coverage of reaction to politician or pundit so & so being accused of racism or homophobia or whatever over the selected outrage of the day? It’s never ending. But, this one was about Obama so the skies were in danger of falling.
It WAS a winner until the story spun out of the control of those who were using it to smear people. I always thought Obama was playing a political game with the issue. It looks like a lot more people were starting to believe that as well.
Good point Laura.
How many hours have been wasted on news coverage of reaction to politician or pundit so & so being accused of racism or ho mo pho bia or whatever over the selected outrage of the day? It’s never ending. But, this one was about Obama so the skies were in danger of falling.
You’re on Mars, LS. Very few liberals are happy with what the President did yesterday. He caved to a conspiracy that a circus clown was leading the GOP off a cliff with. I think he did it for the betterment of the country, and I respect him for that, but he rescued the Republican Party from Donald Trump and the mainstreamimg of the birther conspiracy in the process. The only group this was politically expediant for was yours.
@LoneStar77 They dress up in those costumes in hopes of getting with the hot women dressed up in their Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Powergirl outfits, LOL.
Joe:
I think it may look that way today but the issue really was becoming too mainstream for Obama’s tastes. This is exactly what I predicted a while back and I think I’m correct. Of course, me thinking I’m correct & being correct are two different things. Guess we’ll agree to disagree…what’s new…
Andy:
Great point! I knew those comic book fans were infinitely more ingenious that I am.
See, here’s the problem: Eric “I want Beck’s job” Bolling hosts Pam Geller, and they both continue to question the BC; LOD has Crazy Orly on; now Chris Matthews is talking about it.
I don’t like that Chris is harping on it, but if these idiots would stop showing up on cable news, he wouldn’t have anything to harp on. OBAMA WAS BORN HERE. STOP PRESENTING PEOPLE WHO SAY HE WASN’T.
“he wouldn’t have anything to harp on.”
Fox News recap, starring Chris Matthews. In fairness, he doesn’t recap as much as the rest of them. But, he’d have plenty to harp on. Thus far, he’s only accused about 40% of the country of being ignorant racists. There’s obviously many more than that.
There is way too much over-exaggeration about how much MSNBC talks about Fox News. When Olbermann was at the network, it was getting annoying, but now that he’s left, it has drastically lessened. But, if you actually want to claim they talk about them all the time now, when just mentioning them a few times a week, doesn’t make it that often.
Besides, when you’re a far-right network promoting the ridiculous conspiracy theories that pander to your viewing base, you have somewhat of an obligation to expose it. I know I would. That’s why MSNBC has been covering the birther story so heavily… because they are exposing and uncovering the lies of Trump and the birther network that kept saying Obama should release his birth certificate.
Hannity, Fox & Friends and sometimes even O’Reilly would keep repeating that Obama should just release it so they could “move on”. Give me a break. That’s been the main subject at Fox News for the past few weeks since Trump opened his mouth… “why doesn’t he just produce it?”. And what do you think their talking point is now, post-release? “Why did it take him so long?”
By the way, just to clarify, I didn’t mean to contradict myself.
During this whole birther thing, MSNBC has obviously talked about Fox News, mainly because of how much their hosts have been harping on Obama to show the birth certificate, which has only lasted for a few weeks.
But, the main issue overall, has been about the birthers and that Obama is a U.S. born citizen, not how much Fox talks about it. So, while Fox was mentioned sporadically in the context of the birther nonsense, it was mostly just about the birthers, themselves.
It might be considerably easier for presidents to stay out of the way of ongoing disaster relief efforts if the news media, and particularly cable news, would better inform the public about what a “federal response” actually entails. Basically, it’s a surprisingly small number of bureaucrats carrying clipboards, a list of phone contacts, and checkbooks. FEMA can arrange for equipment to be brought in from other regions of the country, but it’s the state government that runs the show from there.
So if O’Reilly or anybody else starts complaining about a “slow” response from Obama, keep in mind that there’s little a president can actually do.
My2Cents:
You obviously don’t watch Fox News. Prior to Trump making it a big issue, it was extremely rare to any thing about birthers or birtherism on FNC. You’re just wrong. The people spending the most time on birther stuff for the last two years were the folks at MSNBC, particularly, but not limited to, Chris Matthews. To say otherwise is to just spew factual inaccuracies that most likely come from MSNBC or Media Matters.
“he wouldn’t have anything to harp on.”
Fox News recap, starring Chris Matthews. In fairness, he doesn’t recap as much as the rest of them. But, he’d have plenty to harp on. Thus far, he’s only accused about 40% of the country of being ignorant racists. There’s obviously many more than that. – lonestar
Well, Matthews couldn’t possibly harp on issues such as the GDP rising only 1.8% this past quarter. That might make Obama look bad.
^ Tempted to flip on that channel to see a hat… Nah, I’ll stick to a recorded Deadliest Catch. “Shut up and fish” I can handle as I’d rather my bucking feeper beckon than sit and watch the boring Royals.
2. Here it is, a weeknight at the 10 p.m. ET hour, and I’m watching MSNBC! No, it isn’t Rabid Rachel or Egregious Ed, they just happen to have the best documentary about Kate and the royals, from what I can tell!
I’ve been watching the draft & baseball tonight. No news. I’m guessing, from reading the above comments, that it’s wall to Royal wedding? Are they getting married tomorrow?
Having attended grade school quite near London, England, I don’t recall ever dreaming about marrying a princess nor do I recall any such wishes spoken by my male classmates. Must be a “girl” thing. Well, I do recall dreaming abou… er, n’ermind.
LS, the wedding is, like, 1am tonight/tomorrow-morning on the West Coast. Unfortunately, the coverage started an hour ago. I can’t do baseball, but I might have to try these things called “comedies” or “dramas” tonight. Could be interesting..
I surprise myself sometimes! I couldn’t get enough of all the Michael Jackson coverage a couple of years ago, either! I never paid attention to him or his music while he was alive, but once he kicked the bucket, I was just fascinated with him and his life, the way he changed his appearance, and the circumstances surrounding his death. Morbid curiosity, I guess.
But this royal wedding is fun, but mostly I like looking at the architecture and other scenes in London. My sister and I had big plans to watch the wedding together, but when we found out it would be at 6 a.m. our time, that went out the window!
Ok, I admit it, Missy’s right. In spite of my extreme disinterest in the whole schlamozzle, the MSNBC special is pretty good. Not enough to make me watch the wedding, but some of the backstory was more interesting than I expected. The fact that they both seem obscenely nice doesn’t hurt.
Anybody want to see the tornado near my house? There’s a good pic that I can’t see very well on this PC.
Might have to copy/paste the URL if it doesn’t read properly.
THERE WAS A RACE ON? Dang it, Andy, I unfollowed you on Twitter ’cause you kept spoiling races I hadn’t watched yet. If I was still following you, I WOULD HAVE KNOWN A RACE WAS ON WHILE CABLE NEWS WAS STUCK ON THE ROYALS. Grr..
Remi, I won’t be spoiling too many televised races (unless it’s ARCA which is never actually live and I have the results an hour before SPEED airs the final lap). I’ll be covering more and more short tracks while the Cup races are on.
Hey Andy, I tried the “watch the race, then check Twitter” thing. This is how I discovered I’m addicted to Twitter and go bonkers if I can’t check it. How did I become obsessed with what the Red Eye crew and Albert Brooks are babbling about..?
Speaking of, don’t follow @BillSchulz unless you really like basketball. That guy who plays a vaguely g@y character on Red Eye parties with Lauren Sivan and talks about basketball. Constantly.
Do follow @karenhanretty. She had almost 2000 followers, then 800 suddenly disappeared the other day. She didn’t take it well..
Maybe but it also converged with him becoming a major player in American politics.
And what caused that to happen? Trump going on a Birther rampage. And you’re wrong about Trump being a “major player”. Trump is nothing more than a vacuum filler…something to keep the nets (unfortunately) interested until the serious players come out and declare. Trump won’t declare. Bank on it. He’s a joke. His candidacy is a joke. It’s even more of a joke than the times Nader ran.
Trump is Fred Thompson without the campaign. Only difference is, Donald already knows he’s not interested.
Missy, it had to be a Twitter glitch. That site has glitches all the time. The number of people jumping onto it must be massively ahead of their ability to keep up. I’ve never seen anything catch on at this rate in my soon-to-be 49 years.
Missy, you should sign up and talk to us, it’s pretty cool. Spud is @insidecablenews, Laura is @laura_lrnzo, I’m @remibernard. You sign up, then search those names and click “follow”. Pretty soon you’ll find all kinds of people to talk to, and Famous People On TV will reply sometimes. I’ve heard from Gutfeld, Hanretty, Brooke Baldwin, and Veronica De La Cruz. And Peter Frampton! Make sure you come here and tell us who you are if you use your real name.
Josh and Andy are there, too, but I can’t remember their Twitter names. In fact, I need to find Josh’s, ’cause I’m not following the little right-wing nutbag..I mean, my friend, Josh!
MSNBC, CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, etc, etc.: Royal Wedding around the clock coverage.
Other headlines happening right now: 300 people dead in storms here in the U.S. mainland (but 100% of the national broadcast media is in London so they give no damn), it will take nine months to get control of the nuclear reactions in Japan, we’re still fighting a war in Libya, Syria is in chaos, so is Jordan, so is the rest of the damn region, and we’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
One exception there, Andy. Brian Williams is headed back for tornado coverage, which, as you know, came a ittle too close to home for our friend. I saw a lot of coverage today, and it scared me.
I agree with pretty much everything you just said Spud. By “major player”, I didn’t mean serious candidate. Palin is a major player and I’ve never thought she was going to run. And no, I’m not comparing the two…only in as much as they have the ability to drive a narrative and a political news cycle.
I can honestly say I haven’t watched an ounce of the wedding stuff. If it starts at 1:00am west coast time, isn’t that like 9am in London? Whatever. I don’t hate the monarchy, I just don’t care about the wedding.
I don’t care, either, LS, other than to say it’s slightly more romantic than I thought I would perceive it as..they seem like good kids who genuinely love each other..and I hope they live happily ever after under the maddening spotlight that will follow them. God bless ‘em.
You obviously don’t watch Fox News. Prior to Trump making it a big issue, it was extremely rare to any thing about birthers or birtherism on FNC. You’re just wrong.
Did I ever say that FNC was covering the birther stuff prior to Trump? No, because obviously I do watch Fox, and I know what they’re doing over there.
As I stated, “the main subject at Fox News for the past few weeks since Trump opened his mouth” has been the birth certificate and why Obama won’t release it. Prior to that, Fox barely ever, if ever, mentioned the birther nonsense. So, you’re just making my point for me… and you didn’t read my posting carefully enough.
And my point – which in my anger, I didn’t state well – is that FNC has been supporting, employing, and paying lip-service to the people behind this crap for two years. The Tea Party is a Fox News concoction, and Fox News is stuck with the madness they propagate.
April 28, 2011 at 7:53 am
-Birth Certificate- The conspiracy was started by the Hillary campaign and nobody, outside of MSNBC, has talked about it for the last 2.5 years. Then, along comes Donald Trump, who after deciding 13 minutes ago he was a Republican and after supporting Obama, becomes a birther and is interviewed by every media outlet with a working camera. Pretty much every major conservative personality & outfit, whether they be from the fringe (Ann Coulter) or the moderate (O’Reilly) debunks the birther myth & denounces birtherism.
Normally, it takes the left weeks, months or years to re-write history but in this case they’ve managed to do it in less than a day. If you watch any media outlet outside of Fox, read any newspaper, etc. you think that FNC has been promoting birthers over the last 2 years with the help of the conservative establishment. It’s pretty amazing.
April 28, 2011 at 7:59 am
This is one time where it is great to have more than one news-channel. I do not give the proverbial rat’s @ss about The Royal Wedding. Marry the wench and Go Away.
April 28, 2011 at 7:59 am
^ I told you they would “fix” it by the end of the week. Screw it, there were huge tornadoes in GA. last night, which came way too close to a friend of ours. That matters, this doesn’t.
April 28, 2011 at 8:01 am
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/188727/40/North-GA-town-flattened-by-storms-says-stay-away
April 28, 2011 at 8:12 am
Why do they always do this type of stupid stuff?
http://www.comicsalliance.com/2011/04/27/superman-renounces-us-citizenship
April 28, 2011 at 8:18 am
Why do they always do this type of stupid stuff?
I’m not the Comic-Con sort, so I can’t verify that they “always do it”, but my Entertainment Weekly magazines tell me the superhero genre is being rebranded as a global product so they can make movies that sell overseas. The upcoming “rebooted” Wonder Woman lost her red, white & blue costume for that reason.
Yes, I do think it’s funny I know this stuff..
April 28, 2011 at 8:34 am
Fox, Pamela Geller..it’s deja vu all over again. Which one on this show was the biggest tool? That’s a trick question.
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/who-said-its-over-foxs-eric-bolling-questions-authenticity-of-birth-certificate/
April 28, 2011 at 8:36 am
I’m not a comics person either but I was in San Diego during the big Comic-Con thing and it was disturbing to see grown-ass men walking around, eating in restaurants, dressed like Superman.
By “they always do it”, I just meant that sort of thing. It’s just so typical, in general. Not just about comics.
April 28, 2011 at 8:39 am
grown-ass men walking around, eating in restaurants, dressed like Superman.
You don’t know “disturbing” ’til you’ve been in a restaurant an hour before a Lady Gaga concert..
April 28, 2011 at 8:41 am
Did the customers smear the food all over their bodies, like Lady Gaga wearing a meat dress?
Seriously, that chick is a mentally ill version of Madonna.
April 28, 2011 at 8:48 am
^ Nah, most of them just looked cute and happy. But don’t ask me, I like The Gaga.
April 28, 2011 at 10:17 am
Obama will be going to Alabama, eh? Why do these stupid ass presidents (on both sides) go to disaster areas while people could still be trapped? Don’t they realize the police presence needed to guard him and his people is counterproductive?
Why won’t any of the cable news hacks point out this fact?
Right. Probably for the same reason they don’t admit these wars are nothing but oil grabs.
Tell me, how much ‘federal assistance’ could the men and women fighting wars that have nothing to do with protecting America provide at this juncture?
April 28, 2011 at 10:22 am
– going to Alabama –
I believe that was Bush’s justification, and we see what good that did him. I agree, it’s pointless.
April 28, 2011 at 10:22 am
Obama will be going to Alabama, eh? Why do these stupid ass presidents (on both sides) go to disaster areas while people could still be trapped?
Because Hannity and his Great Great American Morons will bust on him for “not caring about the (white) people of Alabama”. Remember all the crap Bush got for viewing New Orleans from a jet? The PR disaster of “staying out of the way” ain’t worth it.
April 28, 2011 at 10:27 am
^ Btw, the iconic image of Bush looking down at the ruins of the World Trade Center led to that less successful rerun. I was surprised no one in the media made the connection. I have no doubt Bush was stunned at the negative reaction.
April 28, 2011 at 10:43 am
IMO, the ‘federal response’ is way more important than any PR photo shoots or a pep rally about perseverance. Let the ‘locals’ handle rallying the troops.
Are you cable news watchers getting much coverage? I’m not really interested in any wedding news.. just been watching streaming coverage from Alabama.
April 28, 2011 at 10:47 am
Yep, Terance..plenty of disaster coverage. In between discussions about the fact that “Kate” won’t say “obey” in the wedding vows. Duh, nobody does anymore.
April 28, 2011 at 10:56 am
Obama could take the lead, while at the same time being a statesman, by taking a pass on the photo-op. He could then explain that Bush got a bad rap, since that’s exactly what he was doing, in his situation. He could put an end to this ridiculous exercise, while at the same time making a magnanimous gesture to his predecessor. Yeah, right.
April 28, 2011 at 11:05 am
HA! If there’s one President that would never get away with it, it’s Obama. Fox would excoriate him until Election Day. Palin would hyperventilate. Not happnin.
April 28, 2011 at 11:09 am
Yeah, poor little put-upon Obama. The rest of the press would lionize him, but mean, evil Fox would somehow negate all that. Yeah, right.
April 28, 2011 at 11:14 am
Unfortunately, the rest of the press would report FNC’s complaints, treat them as valid, then have endless point/counterpoint debates about it. The “liberal MSM” has a maddening addiction to responding to every stupid thing the right wing media trots out. It’s their over-reaction to being called liberal: they’re constantly trying to disprove it by taking Fox, Rush, et al, seriously. Drives me nuts.
April 28, 2011 at 11:19 am
Yes dear. It’s a trial you have to live with.
April 28, 2011 at 11:21 am
“I agree, it’s pointless.”
Ditto. Unfortunately, they all have to do it. It’s stupid.
April 28, 2011 at 11:22 am
“He could then explain that Bush got a bad rap,…”
Don’t hold your breath.
April 28, 2011 at 11:22 am
MSNBC: “We bring you Fox News so you don’t have to change the channel.”
April 28, 2011 at 11:23 am
”We bring you Fox News in the desperate attempt to peel-off some of their ratings..”
April 28, 2011 at 11:26 am
Let me understand this: the President can’t take an action – or not take one – because someone might criticize him?
Good grief. When did this become the standard? January 2009?
The opposition has been bashing Presidents – sometimes fairly, usually unfairly – all my life.
April 28, 2011 at 11:27 am
Drudge has a picture of milk cartons related to inflation. No freaking joke. The amount of milk we go through with 2 little ones is ridonkulous. I’ve pretty much weaned the oldest off of it but the younger one still has a crack like addiction. I don’t how those all organic, all the time folks afford it. We stick with the regular stuff. Neither of my boys has started growing a tail or a 2nd pinkie so I guess it’s alright.
April 28, 2011 at 11:29 am
“We bring you Fox News in order to denounce them as racists and extremists out to destroy the country and, oh yeah, get liberals to watch us since we can’t get anyone else.”
April 28, 2011 at 11:32 am
Let me understand this: the President can’t take an action – or not take one – because someone might criticize him?
I realize this is mostly a “howling at the moon” lament, but I don’t think the generalization is fair. Being the first Prez to publicly announce he’s not going to a disaster scene would not engender a normal level of criticism; it would be (another) major controversy for a guy who’s already had his share this week.
April 28, 2011 at 11:58 am
you think that FNC has been promoting birthers over the last 2 years with the help of the conservative establishment.
The timing of FNC hiring Trump for regular Fox and Friends appearances converges nicely with him going on a Birther rampage. I don’t consider it as FNC deliberately promoting Birtherism directly as a conscious decision. But the result is the same. If you talk about it, it promotes it. And FNC is not alone in this. All the news networks have needlessly pandered to this. They report on Trump and Taitz’s ridiculous allegations one minute. The next the devote copious air time trying to fisk the charges. It’s water cooler journalism.
Want proof? Look what happened next…Trump starts talking about Obama’s education and grades and the nets start reporting it. It’s the next issue now that Birtherism has been knocked down for everyone except the criminally insane (Taitz and Co.). The cycle repeats itself. It’s pathetic. It’s like watching what happened to Kerry in 2004 where the charges and refutations regarding his time in Vietnam sucked so much air time out of the nets.
April 28, 2011 at 12:17 pm
LOD bringing Taitz on was ridiculous. I realize he wanted to prove that her request being granted by the President would make no difference, but who cares? We already knew she wouldn’t get off the Crazy Wagon, and the only people who take her seriously are blog commentors even more batshyte than she is.
The President taking the extraordinary step of caving to a conspiracy is news; whatever the idiots say now is not. Enough.
April 28, 2011 at 12:21 pm
From Sam Stein’s Twitter:
@samsteinhp
laura logan breaking her silence about sexual assault in egypt on this sunday’s 60 minutes
April 28, 2011 at 12:32 pm
– If you talk about it, it promotes it –
It’s obviously on a totally different order, but it’s no different than when they manufacture ‘outrage’ from statements made by people no one cares about. Or when they show titty-shot-b-roll of young women doing ‘outrageous’ things. Except that somehow the other networks are able to restrain themselves from following suit. And I have no idea what my point is, so you’re not alone.
April 28, 2011 at 12:39 pm
“The timing of FNC hiring Trump for regular Fox and Friends appearances converges nicely with him going on a Birther rampage.”
Maybe but it also converged with him becoming a major player in American politics and still FNC talked about Trump less than one of the other cable networks. He’s the only potential Republican candidate out there saying anything. He’s going to get covered whether you personally agree with what he has to say or not. Some outlets may have gone over board but they can’t just ignore him because he’s hurting the President’s feelings.
“It’s like watching what happened to Kerry in 2004 where the charges and refutations regarding his time in Vietnam sucked so much air time out of the nets.”
Or, what’s happened to any number of other politicians over time. At least with Obama & Kerry, they had allies at virtually every media outlet devoted to attacking their adversaries. The point is that the left is out there blaming Fox News because that’s their reaction to everything. The truth, is that FNC hardly spent any time at all over the last couple of years talking about birthers. The same can’t be said for some of the other networks. They wanted to make it an issue, they did, and it backfired. Tough shiite for them.
April 28, 2011 at 12:42 pm
It backfired? This was a Dem winner all the way to Election Day. Obama did your side a favor.
April 28, 2011 at 12:45 pm
Good point Laura.
How many hours have been wasted on news coverage of reaction to politician or pundit so & so being accused of racism or homophobia or whatever over the selected outrage of the day? It’s never ending. But, this one was about Obama so the skies were in danger of falling.
April 28, 2011 at 12:48 pm
It WAS a winner until the story spun out of the control of those who were using it to smear people. I always thought Obama was playing a political game with the issue. It looks like a lot more people were starting to believe that as well.
April 28, 2011 at 12:49 pm
Good point Laura.
How many hours have been wasted on news coverage of reaction to politician or pundit so & so being accused of racism or ho mo pho bia or whatever over the selected outrage of the day? It’s never ending. But, this one was about Obama so the skies were in danger of falling.
April 28, 2011 at 12:57 pm
You’re on Mars, LS. Very few liberals are happy with what the President did yesterday. He caved to a conspiracy that a circus clown was leading the GOP off a cliff with. I think he did it for the betterment of the country, and I respect him for that, but he rescued the Republican Party from Donald Trump and the mainstreamimg of the birther conspiracy in the process. The only group this was politically expediant for was yours.
April 28, 2011 at 1:19 pm
@LoneStar77 They dress up in those costumes in hopes of getting with the hot women dressed up in their Wonder Woman, Supergirl and Powergirl outfits, LOL.
April 28, 2011 at 2:10 pm
Joe:
I think it may look that way today but the issue really was becoming too mainstream for Obama’s tastes. This is exactly what I predicted a while back and I think I’m correct. Of course, me thinking I’m correct & being correct are two different things. Guess we’ll agree to disagree…what’s new…
Andy:
Great point! I knew those comic book fans were infinitely more ingenious that I am.
April 28, 2011 at 2:14 pm
See, here’s the problem: Eric “I want Beck’s job” Bolling hosts Pam Geller, and they both continue to question the BC; LOD has Crazy Orly on; now Chris Matthews is talking about it.
I don’t like that Chris is harping on it, but if these idiots would stop showing up on cable news, he wouldn’t have anything to harp on. OBAMA WAS BORN HERE. STOP PRESENTING PEOPLE WHO SAY HE WASN’T.
April 28, 2011 at 2:16 pm
There’s hot girls at Comic-Con? That just doesn’t sound right..
April 28, 2011 at 2:20 pm
“he wouldn’t have anything to harp on.”
Fox News recap, starring Chris Matthews. In fairness, he doesn’t recap as much as the rest of them. But, he’d have plenty to harp on. Thus far, he’s only accused about 40% of the country of being ignorant racists. There’s obviously many more than that.
Trump is a draft dodger! http://www.nationalreview.com/corner/265925/donald-and-draft-brian-bolduc
Out of here. Baseball practice time. Have fun.
April 28, 2011 at 3:33 pm
Geez.
http://www.11alive.com/rss/article/189104/40/Storm-picks-up-moves-LaGrange-house-with-couple-inside
April 28, 2011 at 3:56 pm
There is way too much over-exaggeration about how much MSNBC talks about Fox News. When Olbermann was at the network, it was getting annoying, but now that he’s left, it has drastically lessened. But, if you actually want to claim they talk about them all the time now, when just mentioning them a few times a week, doesn’t make it that often.
Besides, when you’re a far-right network promoting the ridiculous conspiracy theories that pander to your viewing base, you have somewhat of an obligation to expose it. I know I would. That’s why MSNBC has been covering the birther story so heavily… because they are exposing and uncovering the lies of Trump and the birther network that kept saying Obama should release his birth certificate.
Hannity, Fox & Friends and sometimes even O’Reilly would keep repeating that Obama should just release it so they could “move on”. Give me a break. That’s been the main subject at Fox News for the past few weeks since Trump opened his mouth… “why doesn’t he just produce it?”. And what do you think their talking point is now, post-release? “Why did it take him so long?”
Pathetic.
April 28, 2011 at 4:01 pm
FBN’s is “There’s still questions!” Murdoch should fire Eric Bolling, and ban the horrible Pamela Geller from his networks.
April 28, 2011 at 4:01 pm
By the way, just to clarify, I didn’t mean to contradict myself.
During this whole birther thing, MSNBC has obviously talked about Fox News, mainly because of how much their hosts have been harping on Obama to show the birth certificate, which has only lasted for a few weeks.
But, the main issue overall, has been about the birthers and that Obama is a U.S. born citizen, not how much Fox talks about it. So, while Fox was mentioned sporadically in the context of the birther nonsense, it was mostly just about the birthers, themselves.
April 28, 2011 at 5:38 pm
-Federal response & presidential disaster visit-
It might be considerably easier for presidents to stay out of the way of ongoing disaster relief efforts if the news media, and particularly cable news, would better inform the public about what a “federal response” actually entails. Basically, it’s a surprisingly small number of bureaucrats carrying clipboards, a list of phone contacts, and checkbooks. FEMA can arrange for equipment to be brought in from other regions of the country, but it’s the state government that runs the show from there.
So if O’Reilly or anybody else starts complaining about a “slow” response from Obama, keep in mind that there’s little a president can actually do.
April 28, 2011 at 6:27 pm
My2Cents:
You obviously don’t watch Fox News. Prior to Trump making it a big issue, it was extremely rare to any thing about birthers or birtherism on FNC. You’re just wrong. The people spending the most time on birther stuff for the last two years were the folks at MSNBC, particularly, but not limited to, Chris Matthews. To say otherwise is to just spew factual inaccuracies that most likely come from MSNBC or Media Matters.
April 28, 2011 at 6:28 pm
Can we have an What’s Hot/Not?
NOT: This week’s Royal pain in the bum. Oh great.. His Royal Heinie proposed to her in… Kenya! Who bloody cares?
April 28, 2011 at 6:36 pm
And he took time-off to screw-around back in ’07. Fabulous!
April 28, 2011 at 6:36 pm
“he wouldn’t have anything to harp on.”
Fox News recap, starring Chris Matthews. In fairness, he doesn’t recap as much as the rest of them. But, he’d have plenty to harp on. Thus far, he’s only accused about 40% of the country of being ignorant racists. There’s obviously many more than that. – lonestar
Well, Matthews couldn’t possibly harp on issues such as the GDP rising only 1.8% this past quarter. That might make Obama look bad.
April 28, 2011 at 6:41 pm
Oh Carol, he talks about the economy all the time. This “covering for Obama” network in your head doesn’t exist.
April 28, 2011 at 6:42 pm
And he took time-off to screw-around back in ’07. Fabulous!
(swoon) It’s so (gulp) romantic..
Can we get this thing over with and get Red Eye back already!?
April 28, 2011 at 6:45 pm
^ I would love a Robot Theatre version of this thing.
April 28, 2011 at 6:50 pm
I’m starting to like Jonathan Hunt in those hats. It’s worrying me.
April 28, 2011 at 6:56 pm
^ Tempted to flip on that channel to see a hat… Nah, I’ll stick to a recorded Deadliest Catch. “Shut up and fish” I can handle as I’d rather my bucking feeper beckon than sit and watch the boring Royals.
April 28, 2011 at 7:05 pm
It was on The Fox Report. Shep is playing dress-up with Jonathan Hunt. It’s kinda disturbing, but kinda not. Could be auditioning for Red Eye.
April 28, 2011 at 7:21 pm
Shep and Johnathan do seem to be having a..fabulous..time..
April 28, 2011 at 7:25 pm
^ Not that there’s anything wrong with that…
April 28, 2011 at 7:27 pm
Outfits can be interesting. At least someone thinks so.
April 28, 2011 at 7:28 pm
Write this day down in history – me saying nice things about NBC News!
1. Brian Williams went all the way over to London to cover the wedding, and immediately turned around to come back to the U.S. to cover the devastation wreaked by the tornadoes down south. It was the right thing to do, but I sure would have had trouble had it been me who had to make such a decision: http://www.mediabistro.com/tvnewser/nbcs-brian-williams-returns-to-u-s-from-london-to-cover-aftermath-of-deadly-southern-storms_b63864
2. Here it is, a weeknight at the 10 p.m. ET hour, and I’m watching MSNBC! No, it isn’t Rabid Rachel or Egregious Ed, they just happen to have the best documentary about Kate and the royals, from what I can tell!
April 28, 2011 at 7:30 pm
This is funny..Missy is enjoying a program on “my” channel. The same program I’m throwing shoes at.
April 28, 2011 at 7:37 pm
I’ve been watching the draft & baseball tonight. No news. I’m guessing, from reading the above comments, that it’s wall to Royal wedding? Are they getting married tomorrow?
April 28, 2011 at 7:39 pm
Who gets married at that hour of the day? Really?
April 28, 2011 at 7:43 pm
Having attended grade school quite near London, England, I don’t recall ever dreaming about marrying a princess nor do I recall any such wishes spoken by my male classmates. Must be a “girl” thing. Well, I do recall dreaming abou… er, n’ermind.
April 28, 2011 at 7:45 pm
Not too many ‘girls’ in this neighborhood. Well, maybe Missy.
April 28, 2011 at 7:48 pm
LS, the wedding is, like, 1am tonight/tomorrow-morning on the West Coast. Unfortunately, the coverage started an hour ago. I can’t do baseball, but I might have to try these things called “comedies” or “dramas” tonight. Could be interesting..
April 28, 2011 at 7:51 pm
I surprise myself sometimes! I couldn’t get enough of all the Michael Jackson coverage a couple of years ago, either! I never paid attention to him or his music while he was alive, but once he kicked the bucket, I was just fascinated with him and his life, the way he changed his appearance, and the circumstances surrounding his death. Morbid curiosity, I guess.
But this royal wedding is fun, but mostly I like looking at the architecture and other scenes in London. My sister and I had big plans to watch the wedding together, but when we found out it would be at 6 a.m. our time, that went out the window!
April 28, 2011 at 7:59 pm
Ok, I admit it, Missy’s right. In spite of my extreme disinterest in the whole schlamozzle, the MSNBC special is pretty good. Not enough to make me watch the wedding, but some of the backstory was more interesting than I expected. The fact that they both seem obscenely nice doesn’t hurt.
April 28, 2011 at 8:03 pm
Missy, don’t turn the channel..a retrospective of Diana’s wedding. You’ll like.
April 28, 2011 at 8:08 pm
Anybody want to see the tornado near my house? There’s a good pic that I can’t see very well on this PC.
Might have to copy/paste the URL if it doesn’t read properly.
http://www.thedahloneganugget.com/articles/2011/04/28/news/01 funnel.txt
April 28, 2011 at 8:09 pm
Yep. Copy/paste.
April 28, 2011 at 8:11 pm
^ Geez, Laura. I do NOT like that that was close to you. Any closer and me and the ICN boys are punching it in the face!
April 28, 2011 at 8:16 pm
Any chance the news media can cover the tornadoes that killed, I don’t know, two HUNDRED people in Alabama?
Blah blah Royal blah Wedding blah blah blah
April 28, 2011 at 8:19 pm
It’s tiny now. And it works.
http://tinyurl.com/3dngq5k
April 28, 2011 at 8:22 pm
Aaw, poor little Kyle Busch just ran out of gas on the last lap of the showdown.
April 28, 2011 at 8:44 pm
THERE WAS A RACE ON? Dang it, Andy, I unfollowed you on Twitter ’cause you kept spoiling races I hadn’t watched yet. If I was still following you, I WOULD HAVE KNOWN A RACE WAS ON WHILE CABLE NEWS WAS STUCK ON THE ROYALS. Grr..
April 28, 2011 at 8:55 pm
Remi, I won’t be spoiling too many televised races (unless it’s ARCA which is never actually live and I have the results an hour before SPEED airs the final lap). I’ll be covering more and more short tracks while the Cup races are on.
April 28, 2011 at 9:00 pm
Hey Andy, I tried the “watch the race, then check Twitter” thing. This is how I discovered I’m addicted to Twitter and go bonkers if I can’t check it. How did I become obsessed with what the Red Eye crew and Albert Brooks are babbling about..?
April 28, 2011 at 9:11 pm
Speaking of, don’t follow @BillSchulz unless you really like basketball. That guy who plays a vaguely g@y character on Red Eye parties with Lauren Sivan and talks about basketball. Constantly.
Do follow @karenhanretty. She had almost 2000 followers, then 800 suddenly disappeared the other day. She didn’t take it well..
April 28, 2011 at 9:32 pm
Maybe but it also converged with him becoming a major player in American politics.
And what caused that to happen? Trump going on a Birther rampage. And you’re wrong about Trump being a “major player”. Trump is nothing more than a vacuum filler…something to keep the nets (unfortunately) interested until the serious players come out and declare. Trump won’t declare. Bank on it. He’s a joke. His candidacy is a joke. It’s even more of a joke than the times Nader ran.
April 28, 2011 at 9:48 pm
Joe, I don’t get this twitter thing. Why did people bail on Karen?
April 28, 2011 at 10:02 pm
Trump is Fred Thompson without the campaign. Only difference is, Donald already knows he’s not interested.
Missy, it had to be a Twitter glitch. That site has glitches all the time. The number of people jumping onto it must be massively ahead of their ability to keep up. I’ve never seen anything catch on at this rate in my soon-to-be 49 years.
April 28, 2011 at 10:03 pm
Don’t get me started on Nader. No Nader..no Bush, no Iraq, no surplus squandered. Pisses me off.
April 28, 2011 at 10:13 pm
Missy, you should sign up and talk to us, it’s pretty cool. Spud is @insidecablenews, Laura is @laura_lrnzo, I’m @remibernard. You sign up, then search those names and click “follow”. Pretty soon you’ll find all kinds of people to talk to, and Famous People On TV will reply sometimes. I’ve heard from Gutfeld, Hanretty, Brooke Baldwin, and Veronica De La Cruz. And Peter Frampton! Make sure you come here and tell us who you are if you use your real name.
April 28, 2011 at 10:15 pm
Josh and Andy are there, too, but I can’t remember their Twitter names. In fact, I need to find Josh’s, ’cause I’m not following the little right-wing nutbag..I mean, my friend, Josh!
April 28, 2011 at 10:51 pm
MSNBC, CNN, FOX, CBS, ABC, etc, etc.: Royal Wedding around the clock coverage.
Other headlines happening right now: 300 people dead in storms here in the U.S. mainland (but 100% of the national broadcast media is in London so they give no damn), it will take nine months to get control of the nuclear reactions in Japan, we’re still fighting a war in Libya, Syria is in chaos, so is Jordan, so is the rest of the damn region, and we’re still at war in Iraq and Afghanistan.
April 28, 2011 at 10:55 pm
One exception there, Andy. Brian Williams is headed back for tornado coverage, which, as you know, came a ittle too close to home for our friend. I saw a lot of coverage today, and it scared me.
April 28, 2011 at 11:26 pm
I agree with pretty much everything you just said Spud. By “major player”, I didn’t mean serious candidate. Palin is a major player and I’ve never thought she was going to run. And no, I’m not comparing the two…only in as much as they have the ability to drive a narrative and a political news cycle.
I can honestly say I haven’t watched an ounce of the wedding stuff. If it starts at 1:00am west coast time, isn’t that like 9am in London? Whatever. I don’t hate the monarchy, I just don’t care about the wedding.
April 29, 2011 at 12:03 am
I don’t care, either, LS, other than to say it’s slightly more romantic than I thought I would perceive it as..they seem like good kids who genuinely love each other..and I hope they live happily ever after under the maddening spotlight that will follow them. God bless ‘em.
April 29, 2011 at 1:58 am
Did I ever say that FNC was covering the birther stuff prior to Trump? No, because obviously I do watch Fox, and I know what they’re doing over there.
As I stated, “the main subject at Fox News for the past few weeks since Trump opened his mouth” has been the birth certificate and why Obama won’t release it. Prior to that, Fox barely ever, if ever, mentioned the birther nonsense. So, you’re just making my point for me… and you didn’t read my posting carefully enough.
April 29, 2011 at 8:42 am
And my point – which in my anger, I didn’t state well – is that FNC has been supporting, employing, and paying lip-service to the people behind this crap for two years. The Tea Party is a Fox News concoction, and Fox News is stuck with the madness they propagate.