After President Obama was caught playing tarmac theatrics with Gov. Jan Brewer, everyone accused Brewer of being a racist. (Though, if we’re playing identify politics, I’m not sure how a man storming off a plane with a thunderous expression, stomping over to a woman only to read her the riot act as she stands there with a handwritten note welcoming him to her state isn’t viewed as sexist.) The media would like for you to believe that Obama never thrust his finger in another’s face.
Remember when Obama wagged his finger in Gov. Bobby Jindal’s face? Neither does the media.
Sounds serious there. Sounds like they finally busted Mitt and they are preparing the graphics and music for the hour-long prime time special showing him doing the IRS perp walk.
Five paragraphs into the story you find out the amount is $1,700 dollars. Now, $1,700 is more than most recent Democrats candidates for president donate to charity in a year, but on Romney’s tax returns to find a missing $1,700 dollars is like finding a penny in the cushions that you forgot to report. I guess the dollar amount is not important (unless its somebody making too much money,) it’s the headline they were after here.
Better get top terrorist reporter Brian Ross out of the Caribbean and off to Switzerland to uncover this latest Romney plot.
NBC’s Brian Williams called Romney’s wealth “unimaginable.” Unimaginable? How you doing Brian in your luxury Manhattan apartment? Ask your neighbor Beyonce if you can borrow some sugar.
Better send that crew back to Mexico to see how the branch of the Romney family is doing down there and demand they tell you how much money they make off their citrus farms. You left that out of the last story you did on them.
Brian Williams doesn’t know what “begging the question” means….
Williams used the phrase as he turned to Ron Paul to ask him about a possible third party run at approximately 2 minutes into this video, emphasis mine:
“There is no denying you have an enthusiatic base of support, we could hear them outside tonight. Yet, there was that recent interview you were asked if while campaigning, you envisioned yourself in the Oval Office. And you said, “Not really, but I think it’s a possibility.” So, that begs the question about your path and when you will give an honest answer about, perhaps, your third party plans going forward.”
While perhaps true that many people misunderstand the actual meaning of the phrase, time was one would have thought better of a national news anchor. A clear discussion of its meaning and usage is available here:
To beg the question does not mean “to raise the question.” (e.g. “It begs the question, why is he so dumb?”) This is a common error of usage made by those who mistake the word “question” in the phrase to refer to a literal question.
The concise explanation is below. As another example, were I to say Brian Williams misused English on national television, it would not beg the question, “Is he dumb?” However, were I to say: “Brian Williams is stupid because he is dumb,” I would have begged the question. (more…)
The pressing issues of the day according to NBC: Terri Schiavo, sugar subsidies, the Everglades Project, the over-asked “Will you run as a 3rd party candidate?” question, English as the official language, and the very pressing issue of deciding what to do when Fidel Castro dies. There were a few moments that allowed for internal bickering and foreign policy. Most of the time, the candidates were fighting the moderators to get in policy talking points so that the American people might be slightly more informed of what the candidates actually planto do should they be elected President. (more…)
General Electric owns 49% of NBC. General Electric’s Chairman and CEO is Jeffrey Immelt. Jeffrey Immelt is a big-time Obama supporter, and if you’ve watched any one of NBC’s three news networks (or their entertainment endeavors), you know that NBC is the biggest billionaire-led, multinational corporation-owned Super PAC ever created, and it’s all in to get Barack Obama reelected.
It is within this context that you must look at everything NBC does in order to make sense of their behavior.
What Brian Williams did last night, with his fascist demand that the debate audience shut the hell up, was to ensure nothing exciting came out of the debate and — what do you know? — nothing did. Williams is obviously aware of the fact that the more excitement and attention stirs around the GOP, the more infectious that excitement might become, and that is not good for the news media’s Precious One — who will need the MSM in prime fighting form if he’s going to win a second term and, you know, ruin America.
Newt Gingrich, like many politicians (including Obama), feeds off his audience, and over the course of this primary it has been the roar of audience approval that has made Gingrich’s counter-attacks against Obama’s Media Palace Guards so compelling. Clips of these counter-attacks have gone viral, which means that Gingrich’s message exposing the corrupt MSM is starting to penetrate beyond the GOP faithful.
Can’t have that. And without the crowd roaring their approval, Williams knows any kind of counter-attack against him would look different, less like a winning moment and more like an argumentative one. In other words, Williams wasn’t going to allow himself to get John Kinged or allow our side to look like fighters and winners.
Brian Williams is not a dumb man. He’s a very smart and savvy political operative for the left, and he’s certainly smart enough to look for any angle that might help his side.
The Justice Department charged that John Kiriakou, 47, who worked as a CIA officer from 1990 to 2004, revealed the information to journalists and that one reporter passed some of the secrets onto attorneys representing prisoners at Guantanamo Bay.
Kiriakou worked for Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as a Senate Foreign Relations Committee investigator from March 2009 to April 2011, according to Senate records.
I’m sure the outrage over this will match the tantrum the media threw for Valerie Plame, yes?
Brian Williams of NBC is trying to qualify for quote of the year, in this the 11th hour.
Coming out of a commercial break on Rock Center Monday night, Williams said this:
“As we try to do on occasion, we wanna take a look at a few things that might have slipped by us of late.”
Seriously, Brian? You want to look at things that might have slipped by you?
No you don’t.
Was that line supposed to be on Saturday Night Live and you got the wrong script? I know you have a good sense of humor, maybe you were just joking. It could happen.
To Brian Williams and NBC; ever heard of Fast and Furious and Solyndra? I’m here to tell you, those two have slipped by you, of late. Actually, nobody believes they have “slipped by” you. You are intentionally not reporting these two stories.
I thought perhaps this was a budget issue … you know, staff cutbacks … but since you hired a new reporter named Chelsea Clinton maybe you can send her on one of those stories. If not then maybe it’s another issue. As a journalist myself, I tend to be just a bit cynical and “some may say” you’re not covering these stores because they could make Barack Obama look bad. Some may say that. If your entire staff of reporters are afraid of what the President might think if you do either of these stories, call me. I actually know the stories and I’m not afraid of what the President thinks of me if I do them. I’ll tell the truth and put it in the proper context. Looks like you’re hiring, which is a good thing right now. Some may say jobs are hard to come by right now. Yes, I can do a stand-up, read a prompter and I still have my hair. Your friends at HBO had me on recently to take down corrupt, powerful people, so I can hold my own in that arena. I work fast, I’ll have one hell of a story for you by the February Book … sooner if you want it, but you seem not to be in a hurry.
The verdict is in and it’s not kind. After the nepotistic controversy surrounding her hiring, the glitzy profiles in the NYT, and the dramatic rollout of her first segment, audiences were expecting more that what they got from Chelsea Clinton.
‘Clinton… seems like a very nice young woman. She is obviously bright, although we already suspected she was that as well. Otherwise, there was nothing else that necessarily dismissed charges (mostly by TV critics, although they were not alone) that she got this job because of that name’ (Verne Gay, Newsday)
‘The former first daughter appeared poised and well-prepared, though a bit nervous’ (Caitlin McDevitt, Politico)
‘Chelsea doesn’t “pop” off the screen, to use an industry term – her demeanour is reserved, she doesn’t project her voice like a broadcaster. Not that most viewers probably cared’ (Howard Kurtz, Daily Beast)
‘What was surprising to see on Monday night’s show is how someone can be on TV in such a prominent way and, in her big moment, display so very little charisma – none at all. Either we’re spoiled by TV’s unlimited population of giant personalities or this woman is one of the most boring people of her era’ (Hank Stuever, Washington Post)
Hank Stuever, writing for the Washington Post, said she displayed ’so very little charisma – none at all.’
He wrote: ‘Either we’re spoiled by TV’s unlimited population of giant personalities or this woman is one of the most boring people of her era.’
Sharyl Attkisson, Matthew Boyle, Katie Pavlich, and Cam Edwards did a great job covering all of these stories. Other Old Media outlets covered them but buried them deep in their websites and newspapers. Two news organizations didn’t report on any of these. One of them is NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams. Cam Edwards appears to be right. NBC will do anything to avoid mentioning Operation Fast and Furious. Then again, they haven’t mentioned Fast and Furious ONCE all year, but this past week would have been the best time.
This is no surprise, though. I’ve already written about Mr. Williams completely ignoring Operation Fast and Furious. I thought maybe, just maybe, the program would finally mention it. All the calls for resignation didn’t do it, so maybe this testimony would, especially due to the heated exchanges between Mr. Holder and Mr. Issa. But just because it isn’t a surprise doesn’t mean we shouldn’t call them out. Too many people have died, including Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry, because of this operation. (more…)
Brian Williams was as cool as they come as sirens went off in the NBC Studios at Rock30CenterFellerLand–or whatever it’s called these days. Alarms go off and he stays cool and calm and keeps reading that ‘prompter.
I admire a news anchor who can keep his cool while flames may be sweeping across the anchor desk and mess up his hair at any moment, but excuse me if I don’t get all that excited having “been there, done that.” Actually, my suit was on fire. Watch this quick anchoring bit from a few years back (I’m the kid in the video) when a light blew in the studio during a live interview and lit up my suit. Boxing champ Virgil Hill thought I might spontaneously com-bust right in front of him, I did not, but I ruined a good suit. I kept going with the interview and was glad they gave me a clothing allowance.
NBC is hoping alarms go off with their viewers on Williams’ new show Rock Center (how’s that for a transition?) It’s the Monday night replacement for the cancelled Playboy Club, and the failed experiment with Jay Leno in the 10pm time slot. Seems NBC has still not recovered from losing Hill Street Blues, ER, Law & Order, and Texaco Star Theatre. Since Nightly News outdraws NBC’s prime time lineup, they have chosen to take Nightly News to prime time. Not a bad idea and it might even work because, through their programming, the other networks are trying desperately to help NBC get back into the game.
Brian Williams of NBC Nightly News attacked the police at UC Davis during a recent broadcast. He said the demonstrators were just “sitting on a sidewalk peacefully protesting” when they were pepper-sprayed. Inviting members of his viewing audience to take the side of the protesters, he said, “Imagine those are your kids sitting on the sidewalk.” In fact, some of those “kids” were non-student agitators. They were locked arm-in-arm and had refused reasonable and repeated requests to move. They were threatening the educational atmosphere on campus by erecting a tent city that was luring increasing numbers of criminal outsiders. They wanted a confrontation and got it. What’s more, they got it on film, making sure they could portray the police in the worst possible light, without context or background to the confrontation that should have been avoided.
Doesn’t Brian Williams have the ability to get facts on the ground before going public with sensational and wild allegations against the police?
Sitting in the comfort of his New York studio, Williams ignored the statement issued by Linda P.B. Katehi, the Chancellor of UC Davis, when she noted that “…on Thursday a group of protesters including UC Davis students and other non-UC Davis affiliated individuals established an encampment of about 25 tents on the Quad.” Notice the reference to “non-UC Davis affiliated individuals,” including outside agitators.
Katehi said, “The group was reminded that while the university provides an environment for students to participate in rallies and express their concerns and frustrations through different forums, university policy does not allow such encampments on university grounds.”
So the radicals were there in violation of university policy, interfering with the rights of others. The head of a college or university clearly had a responsibility to act under those circumstances.
The chancellor went on:
“On Thursday, the group stayed overnight despite repeated reminders by university staff that their encampment violated university policies and they were requested to disperse. On Friday morning, the protestors were provided with a letter explaining university policies and reminding them of the opportunities the university provides for expression. Driven by our concern for the safety and health of the students involved in the protest, as well as other students on our campus, I made the decision not to allow encampments on the Quad during the weekend, when the general campus facilities are locked and the university staff is not widely available to provide support.”
So the chancellor wanted to keep the campus safe on the weekend, for the benefit of the real students who were there. Was she expected to let more and more outsiders assemble on campus, to the detriment of the students paying to get an education?
Rather than being victims of police brutality, a new video shows that Occupiers at UC Davis knew they were going to be pepper sprayed and didn’t mind it. Indeed, the new video evidence indicates that the entire confrontation with the police was staged for the benefit of the media, which took the bait and ran with it, making police out to be cruel and heartless villains. The new video evidence demonstrates that the police had not only warned the protesters in advance about what was going to happen but one demonstrator says to the police, “You’re shooting us?” and, after getting an affirmative answer, replies, “That’s fine.” Another tells her comrades, “Keep your eyes closed.” Several are seen covering their faces.
Despite misleading stories about the “peaceful protest” at UC Davis, the campus police had been ordered by Chancellor Linda Katehi to remove the protesters using pepper spray, determined to be the best way to do so without causing long-lasting physical injuries, because they had erected an illegal tent city on campus and were blocking a sidewalk. The police could have used batons, like they did during an earlier confrontation at UC Berkeley, but that was ruled out by the UC Davis campus police chief. The video shows the police holding and shaking the pepper spray canisters during a time period of several minutes. They gave the protesters more than enough time to disperse.
On his NBC Nightly News broadcast, NBC’s Brian Williams had called the lawbreakers “kids” and implied that parents should be outraged over their treatment. There is no evidence, however, that these “kids” being sprayed on the sidewalk were all students. Chancellor Katehi said in a statement that non-students had been active on campus and part of the protests. Indeed, these non-students were undoubtedly the organizers of the affair.
As Brian Williams should know, since he claims to be so concerned about parents and their “kids” on campus, safety is a top priority because of the ability of outsiders to enter the grounds and threaten or assault students. Crime on campus is a major issue for parents and young people looking for a safe educational environment. Under these circumstances, it would have been utter dereliction of duty for any college or university president to condone what the Occupiers were doing at UC Davis. That is why Katehi ordered the tent city dismantled and the protesters evicted.
Despite the numerous stories about alleged police brutality, which have led to putting the campus police chief and two officers on leave, there is no evidence the police did anything wrong. The operations plan used by UC Davis included the use of pepper spray. The police followed acceptable procedures.
The public should be quickly educated by the media about what is really going on here. The so-called Occupy movement, underway for several months now, is based on seizing public and private property. Since the public has demanded that the protesters be evicted from these spaces, and many mayors are ordering the police to do so, the leaders have decided to move on to college campuses. UC Berkeley and UC Davis were some of the first targets.
The effort to discredit the police is an old Marxist tactic, designed to lay the groundwork for larger mob actions. Congressional investigations were held in the 1960s into how communists foment riots and disturbances. The aim is to demonize and then paralyze the police. Since members of the Democratic Socialists of America have discussed plans to take over city halls and state capitals in the next several months, we can see that the stakes are rising as the Occupy movement gets more violent and confrontational over time. This is the time to support the police, not undermine their ability to preserve law and order.
It’s not exactly breaking news but still disappointing that Brian Williams has not mentioned Operation Fast and Furious on NBC Nightly News. I just sent off this email to him:
Dear NBC Nightly News:
I am extremely disappointed & disgusted NBC Nightly News has completely ignored Operation Fast and Furious. Our federal government has allowed guns to walk into Mexico into the hands of Mexican drug cartels & have been found at crime scenes in Mexico and USA. Not to mention showed up at the murder scene of Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry. I’m also disturbed because of the in depth coverage you gave Attorney General Alberto Gonzales in 2007.
How come you guys have been ignoring Operation Fast and Furious? Sharyl Atkisson broke the story on February 23, 2011 and there was no mention of it in your broadcast. The next day instead of talking about Fast & Furious you report how the new bulb ban hits Easy Bake Ovens. Really? The bulb ban affecting Easy Bake Ovens is more important than a scandal involving the ATF allowing guns to walk across the border? I looked through your episodes in March and saw no mention of it, but Sharyl Atkisson reported on it 16 times, including an agent that spills the beans on the operation and towards the end of the month another agent spoke out!
Here’s the kicker for me. Congressman Darrell Issa subpoenas Attorney General Eric Holder. No mention of it on your show or anytime during that week. On April 2 you reported about a Southwest airplane tearing open. I agree that is an extremely important story, but you guys gave an in depth follow up on April 3 and April 4, including about the probe into Boeing 737 airplanes were expanding. How about the probe into Operation Fast and Furious?
I thought I hit the jackpot when I saw a video titled “Border Corruption Crosses Border” but I was let down. It’s great you guys reported about the corruption that hits our agents, but what about the corruption within our own federal government AIDING the Mexican drug cartels. It’s bad enough DEA, ATF, and Border Patrol Agents aid the drug cartels but our federal government is aiding them with GUNS. Couldn’t you have put that in this report?
(Did you guys forget Border Patrol Agent Brian Terry was brutally murdered by a gun from this operation in December 2010?)
The collapse of our economy back in 2008 can largely be traced back to the federal government’s meddling in the housing market through Fannie, Freddie, and the Community Reinvestment Act–all of which focused on giving home mortgages to those who couldn’t afford or qualify in the fair and open marketplace. As a result, demand for homes went up and therefore the cost of homes went up. This is how the housing bubble was created.
Unfortunately, because all of this was built on what became toxic mortgages, the bubble burst, home values collapsed, and suddenly a whole lot of people found themselves upside down–owing more on their mortgage than the house was worth.
This was the fault of the federal government, and anyone who knows anything about how the market works also knows that this problem will not remedy itself until the free market has the chance to make a full correction. But after nearly three years of fiddling with with the trifecta of failures known as ObamaCare, green energy, and the stimulus, Obama has decided to pretend he’s interested in the economy again by reinserting the federal government into the housing market with another disastrous idea that will only forestall the market correction needed to help the economy recover.
And yet, if you rely on Brian Williams and NBC Nightly News for information, you would think that the only thing wrong with Obama’s idea is that it’s too small:
—–
Nowhere in that clip is there a single warning of what it could mean for the housing market if the federal government reinserts itself into the very same mess it created. Nowhere in that report is there a single criticism of Obama’s big government solution other than it not being big enough. And Brian Williams isn’t finished. In the following segment, he actually doubles down.
If the Tea Party farts, that’s news. But God forbid you should cover anything too far left of center.
- Also, did NBC anchor Brian Williams reveal a bit more than he intended when mentioning that the President of NBC News, Steve Capus, told him it’s okay for a news division to stand for something? Is that really “standing” or is it actually “leaning?”
Williams, who was speaking at the conclusion of NBC’s second Education Nation on Tuesday and introducing Capus at the time, raised as many questions as he answered with the revelation of Capus’ earlier remarks.
In a single year, health care premium costs have jumped 9% and nowhere in this report does the NBC Nightly News bother to look at the reasons why. All they appear to be doing is trying to scare people … right into the arms of the federal government and ObamaCare.
Furthermore, at no time does NBC even float the idea that maybe, just maybe, the very idea of ObamaCare – the inevitable burdens, costs and mandates just a year or so away – might have something to do with this jump in the cost of premiums.
My favorite part of the report, however, is when they announce that 31% of those covered by health insurance pay the first thousand dollars of their health care costs out of their own pocket.
Well, gasp and egads.
As far as I’m concerned, out-of-pocket costs are mostly a good thing. And I say that as someone who regularly pays upwards of $10,000 a year in co-pays and deductibles. But as someone who puts the well-being of his country over his own selfish interests, I realize that one component in bringing down the artificially-inflated cost of health care is to have the customers incentivized to shop around a little bit — create something along the lines of a free market atmosphere. As things stand now, there’s no benefit to doing that because insurance pays for everything. But if, for instance, you have to pay for your own MRI, you might actually make a few phone calls.
I give all but one of the GOP candidates an “F” for last night’s performance.
The very premise of the Republican presidential debate, hosted by NBC/Politico and broadcast by corporate welfare queen MSNBC proves that conservatives don’t understand the power the media is trying to exert over the next election.
It is an insult to the house of Reagan that MSNBC would try to pass itself off as a fair news organization with the eight Republican candidates giving the sneering, snobby and snide enemy a certain imprimatur of legitimacy.
The only reason the GOP is in a fighting stance in the 2012 presidential election is the Tea Party. The alternative narrative-drivers at MSNBC have spent much of the last two-plus years trying to frame millions and millions of patriotic and concerned Americans as violent, racist knuckle-draggers.
To dignify those habitual and unaccountable slanderers by appearing on that stage shows that apparently these Republicans and daily MSNBC punching bags don’t comprehend the scope of the media problem.
Barack Obama was elected due to the work of the media in 2008. Barack Obama will not cross the finish line in 2012 without the help of that same media–with MSNBC leaning forward as it pushes their wildly unpopular President from behind. (more…)
KATIE COURIC: We’ve never been used this way before. The White House called the other day and gave me a list of 2012 election night analysts acceptable to them. I don’t like it.
BRIAN WILLIAMS: Remember when it was collaborative? Now, they don’t even trust us to spin anything correctly. Zucker took away my Managing Editortitle and assigned it to Chris Matthews. And he reports to Gibbs.
DIANE SAWYER: Wasn’t so long ago they rolled over in the morning and kissed us and said they still respected us. Now, well. I hate to say it, but the right is right: Obama’s an egocentric narcissist who doesn’t know he’s in over his head.
On my Twitter account, I follow a few hundred mainstream media-types (keep the enemy closer, right?), and unless I've missed it (and I hope I have), not a single one has spoken out in defense of Roland Martin. Not one. How scary is that. The politically correct Groupthink...
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