Saturday, October 9, 2010

A Pledge To 1% of America!




It’s almost a shame that Americans are paying very little attention to the GOP’s "Pledge To America." But maybe that’s because most of it has nothing to do with them. What is not mentioned in the document makes it clear that it doesn’t speak to the urgent challenges Americans are facing. It doesn’t "pledge" to address the mass suffering inflicted on millions of America by the current crisis, or what failing to do so will mean for generations of Americans, because it’s not a pledge to most Americans. It’s a pledge to 1 percent (or even less) of America.

Much has been made of the homogeneous, colorless America depicted in the presentation of the pledge itself.


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Friday, October 8, 2010

Tea Party Firemen Let House Burn!




Did you ever wonder what it would be like if the anti-government tea party crowd actually took over? Well, now you know. Just consider what happened recently in rural Tennessee’s Obion County.

Gene Cranick and his wife panicked when a trash fire spread to their house. Then, just as they were desperately trying to save their house and possessions, firefighters from the city of South Fulton, summoned by a neighbor, rolled up to the scene.

We’re saved, the Cranicks believed. But their hopes were soon dashed when firemen informed them that since their records showed the Cranicks had not paid the annual $75 county fire protection fee, there was nothing firefighters could or would do for them. Cranick pleaded with firefighters, promising to pay whatever it cost to put out the fire. Too late, said the cold-hearted firemen. After which they merely stood around and watched the house burn to the ground. Mr. and Mrs. Cranick lost everything they owned in the fire, including three dogs and a cat.

That’s bad enough. What makes it even harder to swallow is that the firemen were subsequently defended by the city manager of South Fulton, a spokesperson for the National Association of Counties — and even right-wing Fox talk show host Glenn Beck.


Forget “compassion, compassion, compassion, compassion,” Beck told his radio audience. “Those who are just on raw feeling are not going to understand. … What is the $75 for? To keep the firemen available, to keep the fire trucks running, to pay for the fire department to have people employed to put the fire out … as soon as they put out the fire of somebody who didn’t pay the $75, no one will pay the $75.”

So there you have it: rules for life in the land of the tea party. Where government can do nothing right. Where it’s every man for himself, no compassion, no community spirit. Where everybody must follow the rules, with no exceptions. Where you’d watch your neighbor’s house burn down without even picking up a garden hose to help, and feel righteous about it. For tea partiers, it’s not a big leap from there to repealing health care reform, getting rid of Social Security, canceling the minimum wage, and declaring unemployment benefits unconstitutional.

Poor, misguided, Glenn Beck. He’s as wrong about the Tennessee firefighters as he is about most issues. Maybe somebody who makes $32 million a year just can’t understand: It’s not always about the money. There are people in some jobs — police officers, ER doctors, lifeguards, and, yes, firefighters — whose essential mission is saving lives and property, without worrying about collecting a fee up front.

He’s also wrong in arguing that allowing someone’s house to burn down is the only way to enforce the law and teach other property owners a lesson: pay the $75 or the same thing could happen to you. Not true. As they say in rural Tennessee, “there’s other ways to skin a cat.”

Nationwide, many counties charge residents a fee to help cover the extra costs associated with providing police or fire protection in rural areas. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But, outside of Obion County, Tenn., the general rule is: in case of emergency, save lives and property first, and worry about the money later. For some counties, the answer is a lien on the owner’s property taxes, a stiff penalty, or billing homeowners for the full cost of county services provided. Anything but looking the other way while their house burns down.

And Beck is remarkably wrong in insisting there should be no compassion when it comes to delivery of government services. Would you let a child drown in the lake because his parents had not paid the annual beach clean-up fee? Apparently, Glenn Beck would. Which is especially strange, coming from a man who wrapped himself in the mantle of Jesus at his Aug. 28 rally on the Washington Mall.

Before commenting on the Tennessee tragedy, and before he leads any more religious revivals anywhere, maybe Beck should ask himself: What would Jesus do? I doubt he would stand by, do nothing, and let his neighbor’s house burn to the ground.


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Thursday, October 7, 2010

One Pissed Off Leftist: Protest Further!

Article by OPOL
One Pissed Off Leftist




There is some march or other practically every weekend in DC and it has become old hat for the park police. Limiting access, choking off rebellion, smiting trouble-makers and controlling press coverage is now routine. Aided by a complicit corporate-owned media elite, ignoring and minimizing our protests has become a simple matter. While we once struck fear in their hearts, we barely raise an eyebrow now.

So is the answer to abandon street democracy? It might be ... if there were other realistic avenues. But there aren't many IMO. The electoral system is so corrupt that even those who still believe in it will admit that we have to win in overwhelming numbers to be assured our victory will be acknowledged. And even when we 'win' we don't get what we were promised. That was the entire rationale for the One Nation 'march'.

Republican-owned corporations electronically count our votes and our traitorous SCOTUS has opened the floodgates to unlimited corporate money flowing into the system. So our electoral democracy is every bit as compromised as our street democracy.

So what then is the answer?

I still support One Nation Working Together because we need a peoples coalition, and this seems a promising beginning. I am hopeful but not blindly optimistic. It's a fine thing to form a mighty peoples coalition, but I think we are going to have to go well beyond that. I think we are going to have to act up to get anywhere. Acting up is what the civil rights marchers did. Acting up is what the Vietnam protesters did. I see no way around it - this is what we are going to have to do too.

Teresa Heinz Kerry once told me that if we really wanted to get the government's attention, we should mass on the five bridges leading into DC and shut the city down. I think this is the sort of thing we're going to have to do if we want to have any real impact. Of course they'll freak if we do it and people will be beaten and arrested no doubt. But if we can't face that threat, take that risk and make that sacrifice then we are going to continue to lose. The deck is too thoroughly stacked against us. The only meaningful options left to us, it seems to me, are direct action and wide scale civil disobedience. Without it I fear that we are toast.

OPOL is dead on! We need not be violent, but we do need to be disobedient to get our message through the corporate blockade.

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The One With the Most Ads Wins!







Politicians believe they're going to win in November the same way they have for centuries; the one who spends the most money on TV commercials wins! Are we really that stupid and brain-washable, that we vote for the person who's commercial we've seen the most of? I certainly hope we live in a smarter society than that. Besides, we are in the information age of blogging and social networks. We pay much less attention to what we see on TV. The republicans really think they're taking congress and senate back because they have raised the most money for advertising. Let's let them know it takes more than a 30 second brainwash video to win our votes.

Vote Democrat all the way!!!!

-Dead Press- Journalism that's not sold-out!

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Tea Party Group Fighting Bill to Treat Puppies Humanely!

This post first appeared on Balloon Juice.

I’m seriously at a loss for words:










Dog bites man or man bites dog?A conservative group in Missouri is picking up the backing of the Tea Party and Joe The Plumber in its quest to stop the Humane Society and other animal rights groups from passing “radical” anti-puppy mill legislation.

The measure, which can be read in full here, is called Proposition B or the “Puppy Mill Cruelty Prevention Act.” It aims to help eliminate the “3000 puppy mills” in Missouri that constitute “30% of all puppy mills in the U.S.,” according to Michael Markarian, the Chief Operating Officer of the Humane Society.

“This measure would provide common sense standards for the care of dogs,” he told TPM, including sufficient food and clean water, vet care, regular exercise, and adequate rest between breeding cycles, among other things. Markarian said the measure only applies to “commercial dog breeding facilities” that have more than 10 breeding females who they use for “producing puppies for the pet trade.”

Sounds pretty straightforward, no?

Well, according to the Alliance For Truth, the main force behind the anti-Prop B movement, there is something much more nefarious afoot (er, apaw) in the Humane Society’s measure. The Alliance For Truth claims that the Humane Society of the United States has a “radical agenda” and is “misleading the public with its intentions on Prop B. The society seeks only to raise the cost of breeding dogs, making it ever-more difficult for middle-class American families to be dog-owners.”

Vote Republican, we’re against the trains running on time at all, we’ll let your house burn down, and we absolutely hate the idea of treating puppies humanely.

What’s next? Which wingnut is going to come out in favor of nun rape and baby punching? Who will seriously issue a statement about skull crushing kittens?








Tell me this is all a joke and they aren’t going to pick up seats in November…



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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

The Official Tea Party's "Real" American History!







by Phil N. Molé
If this article does not repulse you and makes you feel patriotic, then you are officially a Tea-Bagger!

Tired of textbooks written by liberals who wipe their muddy feet on the American flag and won’t be happy until all of our children are vegetarian, atheist, and gay? Then order the new ‘Tea Party Guide to American History,” and save your child from the siren call of socialist homosexuality.


This book will teach your children no more or less than what they need to know to be able to have a defiant, admirably unreflective perspective on their country’s history. Things like this:

American Prehistory

In 6,000 BC, the land containing the present-day United States was created, by God. Large masses of land surrounding the current Unites States were also created, for purposes known only in heaven.

The land containing the United States was designated for a special purpose by God – a future safe haven for the teachings of Jesus, and a place where women shouldn’t be able to get abortions and men should never use condoms. However, God’s plan is marred when pockets of original sin develop in parts of the northeastern and Midwestern states and in present-day California – these will later become “blue” states.

Colonial Days and Witch Trials


Everyone prayed to God at this time and everything was peaceful. There were those witch trials in 1692, but liberals have made too much of that. No one has told the story about how the witches persecuted the other colonists, so that’s obvious liberal bias right there. And many more people were killed in Europe in witchcraft persecutions, so really, the fact that we only killed 20 makes us look pretty good. Honestly, nothing to worry about here.


Indians, aka “Native Americans”


This is as good of a time as any to address the fact that there were people here before the European settlers arrived, namely, Indians. Some people call them “Native Americans,” but that’s a contradiction in terms, because America is a land of immigrants – you selfish, unpatriotic asshole Indians.

Revisionist, America-hating liberals try to make it look like there were lots of Indians here who had a complex, vibrant culture, so we’d feel ashamed of ourselves for taking their land and eliminating them. But there totally weren’t that many. And according to the earliest documented evidence we’ve seen of their culture (a John Ford film made in Hollywood in the 1930s), these Indians really don’t come off well at all.

Plus, haven’t we already paid enough homage to Indian culture? We’ve named subdivisions of retirement communities after them, and little league and professional sports teams, and we like drinking beer when a sports mascot in an Indian costume dances during halftime. What more do these ungrateful people want?

(Insert advertisement for Fly Rite American Flag Detergent, for getting the tough blood and spleen stains out of your American flag. Our motto: “Our colors don’t run!”)

The Revolutionary War and Early Days of the Republic

Series of illustrations: George Washington and the cherry tree, George Washington in battle, and the American flag, flying high against a blue sky background. Take a moment to reflect on these images, and feel warm and good inside. This concludes the lesson on the Revolutionary Era.

The Constitution originally included references to the Virgin Mary and Jesus, but those have been taken out by liberals trying to prove the country is not founded on Christianity. Here’s proof: Go right up to the next liberal you see and ask him what he did with the Virgin Mary, and watch his response. That flustered look says it all, doesn’t it?


Civil War


The War of Yankee Aggression, waged against helpless Southern states who only wanted limited government, states rights, and a nice sip of sweet tea. It wasn’t about slavery, and in fact, so-called slaves were better treated than most white males are – a trend that continues today. Slavery was possibly a little racist, in retrospect. But slavery ended with the Civil War, and so did racism.

World War II

There was a World War before this, and America won it.

We won this one, too, but liberals keep whining about the fact that so many Japanese Americans were interned in camps. But eye witnesses at the time swear that all of the Japanese who were relocated looked A LOT like the perpetrators of the Pearl Harbor attacks. More disturbingly, they were sometimes overheard speaking a language that did not appear to be English. There were no more Pearl Harbor attacks after the internment – think about that. But don’t think about it too long and don’t ask any follow-up questions.


Civil Rights Movement

OK, so there was a little racism that hung around after slavery ended. But this Martin Luther King guy came along and totally ended it for good. It wasn’t through attempts to end legalized discrimination against people of color, like housing discrimination and school segregation, because that was just big government in action, and it was all done wrong. It should’ve all just been done with speeches, like the kind King gave in “I Have a Dream,” which is significant because it influenced Glenn Beck. Also, after white people listened to that speech, they never again gave black people a hard time about anything.

Well, there was the assassination of MLK soon afterward, of course. But since racism ended thanks to MLK, assassin James Earl Ray by definition could NOT have been motivated by racism when he shot MLK. He was just a crazy guy with a gun, and no one else thought remotely like him, anywhere.

And of course, his assassination of King also does NOT show that we need tougher gun control laws in our country. Guns save lives. If King himself had been armed with an AK-47, he’d still be alive today.

Feminism and Women’s Liberation

Paved the way for Michele Bachmann and Sarah Palin, but otherwise an unmitigated disaster. Across the country, dinners languish uncooked, and undersexed men were forced to cheat or to visit prostitutes, which they never would have done otherwise, because men are awesome. And lots of women begin talking about how they want men to show their “feelings.” We’d been TRYING to show you how we felt, but then you passed sexual harassment laws.

A growing number of men find themselves in need of both food and of safe places to objectify women. To satisfy these needs, the restaurant chain Hooters would eventually be established.

The Reagan Years

For 8 years, all poverty and violence in the United States end. And Reagan says ‘tear down this wall” and the Berlin wall comes down. Millions of sick children are also healed by touching the hem of Reagan’s slacks, and the crumbs from Reagan’s table miraculously feed millions more. And there was this time that a little boy was cornered by a bear, and the bear was really big and mean and was totally going to eat the boy, but then Reagan swooped down out of nowhere and simply smiled, and the bear stopped being mean and licked the little boy and gave him honey instead.

The Clinton Years

George H.W. Bush was president before this, but nothing really happened. Clinton gets a blow job, and this shows the public that this is what is wrong with liberalism. It always, inherently, leads to extra-marital, taxpayer subsidized blow jobs.


Obama’s Presidency

Barack Hussein Obama is elected president, showing yet again that racism in America has ended.
He proceeds to destroy America with his Kenyan anti-imperialist, Islamophilic socialist agenda. The Constitution is ground into a fine powder and snorted up Obama’s nose, and Christ and all of the apostles are punched in the face. In response, the Tea Party movement is born to restore America’s purity. This chapter comprises 80% of the total book.

As a companion to the book, we also offer an “I Want My Country Back!” protest kit that includes a stylish slave costume, a DVD of Obama’s greatest bloopers, and a pitchfork and torch.

As a tie-in with your students science classes, we also offer a book burning experiment kit. Students can mass books such as “Fahrenheit 451,” “Their Eyes Were Watching God,” “Brave New World,” and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” on the enclosed scale, and then burn the books in the included oven. Then, they mass the ashes. The difference in mass before and after the burning is the amount of evil the book contained.

History is too important to be left to people who’ve read history books to teach. Take our history back, and our country back, by ordering now!!

Editor’s note – before Poe’s Law is invoked, the previous message is indeed satire that illustrates a dangerous historical revisionism prevalent in certain circles today.




-Dead Press- Journalism that's not sold-out!

Christine O'donnell Invokes Maddow, Olbermann and Brain Mice to Scare Up Campaign Cash!




Christine O’Donnell just sent the following e-mail out via Redstate.com (whose founder described her campaign as “amateur hour”, but I guess if the checks clear…):

We all knew that my opponent couldn’ t hide behind the failed policies of Obama, Pelosi and Reid forever. Even the liberal media led by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann can’t cover up the truth.

I’ ve been an hard-working citizen, who is only running so we can finally get the real change we need in Washington. My opponent has been a politician for years and is running away from his record. Since he has been in a leadership position on the New Castle County Council, spending has risen 33%.


Marc Rubio, Scott Brown, and now Christine O’Donnell have all based fundraising appeals around MSNBC hosts – but we’re supposed to believe that MSNBC’s progressives haven’t had any impact. Imagine. She is a human with a mouse brain!

The e-mail:




Dead Press -Reading Between the Lies-

Monday, October 4, 2010

I'm Voting Republican Because I Want The World to End!




"An unchecked executive, a compliant legislature and an overreaching judiciary have combined to thwart the will of the people and overturn their votes and their values," the Republican document says, "striking down long-standing laws and institutions and scoring the deepest beliefs of the American people.
"An arrogant and out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates, and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many," it adds.





But hold on one minute. Are they talking about when they controlled government?? I mean a judiciary that appointed the worst President in American history. That President who lied through his teeth to start a costly war while being rubber-stamped by a Republican Congress that cared little about what the other side thought. That same government that deregulated everything, handed out tax cuts during a time of war, ran up a huge deficit from a surplus and eventually completely bankrupted the country by throwing away everything including the kitchen sink to the very rich. Then when the economy crashed because of their misdeeds, they bailed out the bankers before leaving town in disgrace and now seek to blame the problems they caused on someone else. Yes, these Republicans should look in the mirror. If they want to see arrogance and idiocy they are looking at it.




Indeed their "plans" read like the same old garbage they always push. Bash gays, sell out America to the top 2%, and kiss corporate ass to get ahead. All the while whip the most hypocritical into a frenzy over straw men that only exist in their own imaginations:




Though it deals mostly with economic and national security issues, its introduction notes that "we pledge to honor families, traditional marriage, life, and the private and faith-based organizations that form the core of our American values." The language was seen as important to conservatives who oppose gay marriage and abortion.



Foremost is the plan to continue the Bush-era tax cuts. Unless Congress acts by Dec. 31, income tax rates will return to pre-Bush levels; Democrats want to maintain the current rates for everyone except individuals who earn more than $200,000 and joint filers who make more than $250,000.




Which brings me to this question for any of these folks. If they really care so much about abortion then why in the name of all that is holy did Republicans not attempt even once to outlaw it when they controlled all three branches of government?? What was there to stop them??


Nothing, and the truth of the matter is they could care less if abortion is legal or not as long as they can use it to make fools of the folks who care about making it illegal. Yes, to all the anti-abortion folks Republicans talk a good game to your face and then laugh at you behind your backs. Can you not see they are making idiots of you?? All they really care about is to use you to throw away all the money to the richest 2% while they crash your economy, break your bank account and tell you what you want to hear.




Their real goal?? To end any program that helps anyone but themselves and throw that money away to the rich and the bankers, and to make damn sure that being able to afford to see a doctor is only for the privileged few and that if you have a pre-existing condition you have the right to die quickly.




So all I can say America is be careful what you wish for, it might come true. All the policies that made it so miserable in this country are lurking in the shadows waiting to stab you in the back once more. While Democrats have been disappointing with their cowardice and complacency Republicans offer the same uncaring, evil policies of greed and idiocy they always have.




Bush and his all-star team may not be behind the wheel anymore, but they're still on the short bus and pulling the strings of their predecessors. The GOP MVP right now is the Billy Maze of politics, John Boehner. The Times report described Boehner as "a leader tightly bound" to lobbyists:


He maintains especially tight ties with a circle of lobbyists and former aides representing some of the nation’s biggest businesses, including Goldman Sachs, Google, Citigroup, R. J. Reynolds, MillerCoors and UPS.
They have contributed hundreds of thousands of dollars to his campaigns, provided him with rides on their corporate jets, socialized with him at luxury golf resorts and waterfront bashes and are now leading fund-raising efforts for his Boehner for Speaker campaign, which is soliciting checks of up to $37,800 each, the maximum allowed.
Some of the lobbyists readily acknowledge routinely seeking his office’s help — calling the congressman and his aides as often as several times a week — to advance their agenda in Washington. And in many cases, Mr. Boehner has helped them out.



The Times notes that the chain-smoking Boehner has especially close ties to the tobacco industry. Between 2000 and 2007, Boehner flew at least 45 times on corporate jets owned by companies that include cigarette maker R.J. Reynolds. People affiliated with the company have contributed at least $430,000 to Boehner's campaigns.

Also in Boehner's inner circle of lobbyists is Bruce Gates, who represents Altria, the tobacco company formerly known as Philip Morris.

The report also notes that Boehner has a seemingly insatiable taste for the high life: His expenses show in the past 18 months he has spent $116,000 at three country clubs in Florida, Ohio and Virginia.

TAX HIKES FOR THE MIDDLE CLASS?

On Meet the Press Sunday, Axelrod also accused Boehner of planning a tax hike for the middle class while pushing tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs to foreign countries.

"You listen to what John Boehner ... has said about what he wants to do about the economy. He said he wants to restore the tax cuts to companies that ship our jobs overseas. He wants to cancel the Obama tax cuts that were part of the Recovery Act for the middle class and raise taxes on 110 million families, and yet he wants to borrow $700 billion to give millionaires and billionaires another tax cut and add to our deficits," Axelrod told NBC's David Gregory.

-Dead Press- Journalism that's not sold-out!

Palin Fans Threaten to Kill One of Their Own!




Palin Fans Threatening to Kill a Disturbed Young Man

We’ve long documented the utter nuttiness of the Palin fans; their rabid attacks on anyone who dares to even question Sarah Palin, usually brought on by Palin herself suggesting that damage is being done to her unfairly by political “operatives”.

Now we have the Palin cult threatening to kill a young man against whom Palin got a civil restraining order. Palin fans are suggesting they will shoot this man with “liberal lead” as if he, too, must be a political operative.



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One Nation Ignored!









Although the Right continues to spread the myth that media is biased against conservatives, the truth was obvious again today as the media ignored the progressive One Nation rally. This is a pattern that has become apparent over and over again. White conservatives captivate the media, while the diverse progressive Left is invisible.

Even though tens of thousands of people showed up at the National Mall in Washington, D.C. today to support progressive ideas, the media was mostly absent. CNN did some cut ins and most egregiously, even the so called, “liberal news network” MSNBC could not be bothered to provide more than scant limited coverage of an hour or so to the event, but I guess MSNBC viewers should be happy that the network managed to rip itself away from its Lockdown reruns long enough to actually cover a bit of live news.


The pro-conservative bias in the media was most obvious today by the print media framed the rally. For instance, let’s compare how CNN’s wire service described both the One Nation and the Beck rallies.

The CNN story on Beck’s rally began with, “Conservative commentator Glenn Beck says his revival-style rally at the Lincoln Memorial on Saturday was about restoring America’s honor and returning the country to the values on which it was founded. Tens of thousands of people showed up for the event, which also featured former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin.”

Here is the beginning of the story they wrote for the One Nation rally, “With one month to go until the November elections, the country’s liberal wing is holding their own rally on the nation’s capitol. Thousands showed up to the “One Nation Working Together” rally held on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. It’s the same spot where just five weeks ago, conservative commentator Glenn Beck held a rally with the Tea Party.”

Notice how Beck is labeled as a conservative commentator, but there is no mention of the fact that the rally was a conservative get together in the original story. There is no mention of the partisan nature of the crowd or the fact that Republican Sarah Palin was one of the speakers. Let’s contrast that with the second story where the word liberal is used in the first sentence. It is as if CNN is justifying their lack of coverage of the One Nation rally because it was liberal.

The bias was also evident in the McClatchy Newspapers stories about the Beck and One Nation rallies. The Beck’s rally was described as, “Hundreds of thousands of people streamed onto the National Mall for a rally featuring Fox News personality Glenn Beck and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, the 2008 Republican vice presidential candidate. Beck said he wanted to focus on American heroes, not politics, and early in the event, he invited people to text a $10 to his charity, the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. The event, with the title “Restoring Honor,” is about reminding people of the legacy of the founding fathers, Beck said.”

Here is how the One Nation rally was written up by the same organization, “Thousands of liberal and labor activists rallied in the nation’s capital on Saturday and in other U.S. cities, calling for young or disillusioned Democrats to vote in the November elections. If conservative Fox commentator Glenn Beck’s late August rally invigorated tea party enthusiasts to vote for Republicans, many of those who turned out for the “One Nation Working Together” event saw it as their chance to shout back.”

Once again, any mention of the fact that the Beck rally was put together by conservatives and was funded the same groups fueling the Tea Party was left out of the original story, which by the way, grossly overestimated the size of the crowd. The McClatchy piece could have been written by Beck himself. It is interesting that the media blindly accepted and furthered Beck’s talking point that his rally was not political, but they had no problem pointing out that the One Nation rally was a liberal political event.

Even though Beck’s rally was the talk of the cable networks, the One Nation rally could barely get mentioned even on MSNBC, with the exception being Ed Schultz. The reality is that media is biased. White conservative anger sells. A rally about the diversity of America and people wanting to promote a jobs first agenda is boring to the media. It does not fit into their 2010 narrative of voter anger, so the One Nation rally gets neglected.


The elephant in the room here is race. The media would rather cover angry white people than a rally that prominently featured African Americans. However, it is no surprise that the media has no interest in covering stories about minorities in fact white Republicans are most often the people called on by network news to discuss issues of race.

According to a 2009 story in Digital Journal, “A group by the name of Media Tenor conducted a study for FAIR, studying ABC, CBS and NBC nightly news programs. Results of the study made last year showed that 92 percent of all U.S. sources interviewed on matters of race and politics were white, 85 percent were male and, where party affiliation was identifiable, 75 percent were Republican. Media Tenor found specifically one third of the US public is portrayed negatively, and these are immigrants, blacks and other minorities.”

According to a study done by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism found that only 1.9% of the news stories from February 2009-February 2010 related in a significant way to African Americans. Almost half of the coverage was based around three stories, “The arrest of Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, the Obama presidency, the death of Michael Jackson and the attempted Northwest Airlines terrorist attack by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab accounted for nearly half (46.4%) of all coverage that had a substantial mention of African Americans during this time period.”

Conservatives are correct. Media bias is very real, but they are wrong about who the media is biased against. The media would rather cover white conservatives than African Americans and progressives. To the media, including so called liberal outlets, which are also run by corporations, a rally that was both progressive and African American is a non-story. Real news is made by conservative whites. This is why the media lavishes attention on them and devotedly pushes their talking points. The more white conservatives refuse to talk to the “lamestream media” the more coverage they get, because their silence is even perceived as more of a story than the rest of America.

In this context, and without a 24 hour cable news network promoting it, the One Nation rally was never going to be huge. The root problem is that progressives still harbor the delusion that the media is neutral. Liberals, Democrats, and Progressives need to understand that the media is never on their side. They will only get media coverage when they are able to produce a compelling ready made narrative as happened with the 2008 campaign of Barack Obama.

The Left is operating with an outdated perception of the media. Narratives matter more than facts, and conservatives excel at producing ready made narratives. This is why the media laps up their claims unquestioned like hungry dogs. Until the Left learns how to manipulate the media as well as their counterparts on the Right, expect rallies like the One Nation to labor in relative obscurity while Glenn Beck’s every move gets documented as the right wing media bias continues.


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