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…)

I enjoy NPR.  That is not to say I think the government should be funding radio programs (actually, in NPR’s case, they don’t).  It is also not to say that NPR is not at times pretty left-leaning.  Of course they are.  Still, I find their programming quite compelling, far more in-depth and even centrist than a lot of television news, and frankly a better option while stuck in LA traffic than a lot of that crazy music kids listen to these days.  Still, I was quite offended last week when NPR, on their new opinion pages, featured a video by Mark Fiore called Learn to Speak Tea Bag.

The video, which has already been discussed on these pages, is an assault on millions of middle-Americans who are distrustful of and frustrated with our federal government.  Frankly, I find it repellent and was disappointed with NPR for running it.  Not that I believe they, or any other organization, should whitewash political differences, but because the piece is beneath them.  It lacks any substance, or for that matter, humor.  Clearly the creator of the piece was not trying to please me with his work, but juvenile is juvenile, and NPR is, traditionally, not a home to juvenile work.   I was pleased to see that NPR Ombudsman Alicia Shepard criticized the piece, and found her assessment to be spot on.  Good on you, ma’am.

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