Last night on The Daily Show, Jon Stewart did the mainstream media’s job by exposing the Republican double standard and the hypocrisy surrounding pundit reactions to Sarah Palin’s nomination and the gender card. It was a zing of beauty.
Two conservative pundits say what they really think about Sarah Palin — after they’re off the air. D’oh! One of them, Peggy Noonan, contradicts what she recently wrote in her WSJ column.
Fox News never lets US down with its patented fear mongering and Obama trashing. Now they’re incorporating Joe Biden. Apparently Obama + Biden = Osama Bin Laden. Not Babe Domain.
Oddly enough, Fox News has always used the Usama spelling when referring to the terrorist mastermind behind the 9/11 attacks. They even used the abbreviation UBL instead of OBL. But for some reason Fox News switched to the Osama spelling. I wonder why?
Fair and Balanced is an anagram for Candied Anal Barf.
Why is it every time a conservative pundit or columnist makes an attempt at humor they fail miserably? (Hello, Anne Coulter.) Do their frontal lobes lack the humor-processing pathway, thus rendering them incapable of successful satire? Fox News tried out its own conservative version of The Daily Show but failed due to lack of viewership and, oh what’s that other thing — comedy!
Maybe their comedy quandary originated from jealousy. It’s a little like Middle Child Syndrome, but instead of being in the middle, they’re on the right. When people who have a passionate desire to make others laugh simply cannot succeed, they become bitter and disillusioned. They cling to guns and religion and lame quips they obliviously assume are clever. Perhaps what’s most pitiful is that they don’t even realize it; they just assume the audience lacks a sense of humor. Conservative humorists — an oxymoron if there ever was one — can’t be Stephen Colbert because, whether they realize it or not, Colbert is making fun of them and their warped belief structure. That’s why he’s funny. You can only laugh at something that’s tongue-in-cheek if it’s clever. It’s a textbook case of thinking people are laughing with you when they’re actually laughing at you.
Howie Carr’s column from the Boston Herald (of the Apocalypse) “Newspaper” — “Test: How to Tell if You’re a Moonbat” — is a fine example of a botched attempt at humor. It’s basically a lump generalization and somewhat offensive stereotype of liberals, especially those that reside in Massachusetts, as observed by the conservative right. The clinker is not meant to be taken seriously but it’s also nowhere near clever. The delicious tragedy and poetic irony is that Carr isn’t quick enough to understand that he’s not even too clever by half. His delirious sense of self-satisfaction and accomplishment should suffice. Poor little fella.
The fact of the matter is that people like Howie Carr and Anne Coulter think they’re funny, while people like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert know they’re funny. The sad part is that those who think they’re funny don’t know the difference.
For those who don’t know, moonbat is to a liberal as wingnut is a conservative. The difference here is that moonbat is not recognized as a word in the English language. Wingnut, however, was recently added. I guess the “liberal media” extends to dictionaries now, too.
Sunday, August 3, 2008
After placing second Friday and despite predictions that it would finally fall from its perch atop the box office, The Dark Knight buried The Mummy over the weekend, bringing its three week cumulative gross to $394.9 million.
The Dark Knight, which is currently the eighth highest grossing film of all time, will pass the $400 million mark sometime Monday. By this time next week it will surpass Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace, E.T., and Shrek 2 to become the third highest grossing film of all-time, falling behind only the original Star Wars ($460,998,007), which it will overtake within another week, and Titanic ($600,788,188).
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Fox News is trying to make John McCain appear younger by using footage of the 71 year old senator from the 2000 presidential campaign. Back then McCain was a youthful 63.
MSNBC’s Dan Abrams caught the deception.
Finally! My two favorite things in the whole world have come together: Bill O’Reilly and mayonnaise. Well, not really. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy mayonnaise, but I don’t typically enjoy Bill O’Reilly. He’s not very good between two pieces of bread — white bread ONLY, mind you. I prefer turkey, not bologna. But for once I did actually find some amusement in Bill O’Reilly.
The amusement comes in the form of O’Reilly’s phony outrage and confusion over a Heinz mayonnaise commercial airing in Great Britain only. In the commercial, two men share a kiss, thus making them evil mayonnaise-pushing homosexuals. It’s the “gay thing” that confuses O’Reilly. He thinks the underlying subtext is not about mayonnaise but rather about tolerance and gender blending:
So why are they doing that? Why — it was… It was obviously a gay thing. Now I don’t know what the message is, other than gay people like mayonnaise… I’m confused. This whole gender blending thing. It’s confusing to me… I just want mayonnaise. I don’t want guys kissing.
You’ve got to watch the video. O’Reilly is the only one who seems “outraged” by the commercial. Everyone else is just enjoying a good laugh…at O’Reilly’s expense.
My favorite part: “This is not a gay issue. It’s a mayonnaise issue.” Priceless.
They should have known that you can’t talk about mayonnaise for too long before you start to find the situation utterly absurd, which is exactly what happened. And what was with the obscure Wile E. Coyote reference? What point was that guy trying to make?
Now every time Bill O’Reilly slathers mayonnaise on a sandwich he’s going to think of the gays having the sex — doing it live.
When reached for comment, Ketchup wouldn’t respond on the issue, even after pressing him hard and turning him upside down. But after a few minutes at the right angle, he spilled everything.
Mustard didn’t immediately return phone calls, though some sources have alluded to the possibility of a crusty clog in the tip. Critics have harshly accused Mustard of being yellow in the past.
[source: Think Progress]
Rachael Ray is a lot of things: annoying, loud, untalented, gassy, trashy, wide, bilious, skanky, indolent, abominable, abhorrent, bigheaded, smutty, vile, crude, uncouth…But is she a terrorist?
Well, Fox News thinks she just might be one. In a recent television spot for Dunkin’ Donuts — Rachael Ray’s favorite brand of coffee — Ray is wearing a scarf that Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin said resembled a kiffiyeh, a Middle Eastern garb that is “popularized by Yasser Arafat and a regular adornment of Muslim terrorists appearing in beheading and hostage-taking videos.” Charming.
According to MSNBC, Dunkin’ Donuts actually pulled the TV spot citing: “…the possibility of misperception detracted from its original intention to promote our iced coffee.”
But Rachael Ray is not alone. According to Malkin, other secret terrorist cells include actor Colin Farrell, rapper Kanye West, and Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean, all of whom have been photographed in similar scarves that were “distinctive hate couture.”
Contradicting Malken’s scarf theory is the website Stuff White People Like. According to them, white people love scarves:
White People’s body temperatures do not operate on logical or consistent levels, and because of this white people are often forced to wear clothing combinations that might seem strange or illogical. One popular example is the performance vest which solves the age old problem of cold chest hot arms. Another common combination is wearing shorts with a sweatshirt which helps bring about comfort when your upper body is chilly but your lower half is sweltering. But without a doubt, the one piece of clothing that helps to regulate white body temperature in all situations is the scarf.
As Fox News has taught me over the years, only Muslims and Democrats are terrorists. Perhaps Michelle Malkin should start a website called Stuff Terrorists Like. They could even use the slogan, “Death to America runs on Dunkin’.”
I guess this makes me a terrorist by association….
Fox News contributor Liz Trotta referred to Barack Obama as “Osama” then laughed it off and suggested that both Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden should be knocked off.
Wow. The full segment can be found here.
The American mainstream media could learn a thing or two or twelve from Al Jazeera. By examining racism in Kentucky, the Arabic news network boldly and bravely goes where CNN, MSNBC, and Fox News dare not tread — Kentucky.
Welcome to Kentucky.
Oh, Billy boy. I never knew you had such a temper. This is an old video from Bill O’Reilly’s days on Inside Edition. He completely freaks out and explodes with rage because the teleprompter isn’t working. The great thing about this video is that the O’Reilly of today would claim this to be some sort of left-wing fabrication created to destroy him.
Bill Moyers interviewed Jeremiah Wright just days before the pastor exploded on national television. Moyers tells it like it is. This is a must watch. (Transcripts below.)
I once asked a reporter back from Vietnam, “Who’s telling the truth over there?” “Everyone, he said. “Everyone sees what’s happening through the lens of their own experience.” That’s how people see Jeremiah Wright. In my conversation with him on this broadcast a week ago and in his dramatic public appearances since, he revealed himself to be far more complex than the sound bites that propelled him onto the public stage. Over 2000 of you have written me about him, and your opinions vary widely. Some sting: “Jeremiah Wright is nothing more than a race-hustling, American hating radical,” one viewer wrote. A “nut case,” said another. Others were far more were sympathetic to him.
Many of you have asked for some rational explanation for Wright’s transition from reasonable conversation to shocking anger at the National Press Club. A psychologist might pull back some of the layers and see this complicated man more clearly, but I’m not a psychologist. Many black preachers I’ve known — scholarly, smart, and gentle in person — uncorked fire and brimstone in the pulpit. Of course I’ve known many white preachers like that, too.
But where I grew up in the south, before the civil rights movement, the pulpit was a safe place for black men to express anger for which they would have been punished anywhere else; a safe place for the fierce thunder of dignity denied, justice delayed. I think I would have been angry if my ancestors had been transported thousands of miles in the hellish hole of a slave ship, then sold at auction, humiliated, whipped, and lynched. Or if my great-great grandfather had been but three-fifths of a person in a constitution that proclaimed, “We the people.” Or if my own parents had been subjected to the racial vitriol of Jim Crow, Strom Thurmond, Bull Connor, and Jesse Helms. Even so, the anger of black preachers I’ve known and heard about and reported on was, for them, very personal and cathartic.
That’s not how Jeremiah Wright came across in those sound bites or in his defiant performances this week. What white America is hearing in his most inflammatory words is an attack on the America they cherish and that many of their sons have died for in battle ? forgetting that black Americans have fought and bled beside them, and that Wright himself has a record of honored service in the Navy. Hardly anyone took the “chickens come home to roost” remark to convey the message that intervention in the political battles of other nations is sure to bring retaliation in some form, which is not to justify the particular savagery of 9/11 but to understand that actions have consequences. My friend Bernard Weisberger, the historian, says, yes, people are understandably seething with indignation over Wright’s absurd charge that the United States deliberately brought an HIV epidemic into being. But it is a fact, he says, that within living memory the U.S. Public Health Service conducted a study that deliberately deceived black men with syphilis into believing that they were being treated, while actually letting them die for the sake of a scientific test. Does this excuse Wright’s anger? His exaggerations or distortions? You’ll have to decide or yourself. At least it helps me to understand the why of them.
But in this multimedia age the pulpit isn’t only available on Sunday mornings. There’s round the clock media — the beast whose hunger is never satisfied, especially for the fast food with emotional content. So the preacher starts with rational discussion and after much prodding throws more and more gasoline on the fire that will eventually consume everything it touches. He had help — people who for their own reasons set out to conflate the man in the pulpit who wasn’t running for president with the man in the pew who was.
Behold the double standard: John McCain sought out the endorsement of John Hagee, the war-mongering Catholic-bashing Texas preacher who said the people of New Orleans got what they deserved for their sins. But no one suggests McCain shares Hagee’s delusions, or thinks AIDS is God’s punishment for homosexuality. Pat Robertson called for the assassination of a foreign head of state and asked God to remove Supreme Court justices, yet he remains a force in the Republican religious right. After 9/11 Jerry Falwell said the attack was God’s judgment on America for having been driven out of our schools and the public square, but when McCain goes after the endorsement of the preacher he once condemned as an agent of intolerance, the press gives him a pass.
Jon Stewart recently played a tape from the Nixon White House in which Billy Graham talks in the oval office about how he has friends who are Jewish, but he knows in his heart that they are undermining America. This is crazy; this is wrong — white preachers are given leeway in politics that others aren’t.
Which means it is all about race, isn’t it? Wright’s offensive opinions and inflammatory appearances are judged differently. He doesn’t fire a shot in anger, put a noose around anyone’s neck, call for insurrection, or plant a bomb in a church with children in Sunday school. What he does is to speak his mind in a language and style that unsettle some people, and says some things so outlandish and ill-advised that he finally leaves Obama no choice but to end their friendship. We are often exposed us to the corroding acid of the politics of personal destruction, but I’ve never seen anything like this ? this wrenching break between pastor and parishioner before our very eyes. Both men no doubt will carry the grief to their graves. All the rest of us should hang our heads in shame for letting it come to this in America, where the gluttony of the non-stop media grinder consumes us all and prevents an honest conversation on race. It is the price we are paying for failing to heed the great historian Jacob Burckhardt, who said “beware the terrible simplifiers”.
Most intelligent people know that Fox News is nothing more than a conservative propaganda machine used to promote the ideology gone mad agenda of the Bush administration. Skeptics are always looking for proof that proves this, and, usually it’s more than abundant. You don’t even really have to look most of the time. But this is the first time I can ever recall someone on Fox News outright saying that the Pentagon pays Fox News, sends them on reports, and tells them exactly what to say. Well, that’s basically what happened on Hannity and Colmes tonight.
You can actually hear Sean Hannity cringe in the background as he was no doubt ordered to immediately silence Fox News “Military Analyst” Bill Cowan.
What exactly is The New York Times trying to convey with this picture of Barack Obama?
This is a little more than disturbing.
This is utterly retarded. Fox News recently conducted a poll to see who voters would vote for if the election was held today. It’s not the results of the Presidential poll that are interesting though. It’s the very bottom of the article that deals with one of the other questions asked of respondents:
Who does Usama bin Laden want to be the next president? More people think the terrorist leader wants Obama to win (30 percent) than think he wants Clinton (22 percent) or McCain (10 percent). Another 18 percent says it doesn’t matter to bin Laden and 20 percent are unsure.
I’m not one to typically end up on a Fox News blog but I did just that this evening when I landed on the official blog of Fox News Channel storm trooper, Major Garrett.
Garrett interviewed Hillary Clinton recently, and then spun her words into a web of lies. Then the Fox News Channel used that to drum up a storm between the Democratic candidates. Garrett put words into Hillary’s mouth that she never said. Here’s a snippet from the article:
Clinton also said Obama and Edwards have acted like hypocrites during the race and appeared to diminish the role Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played in the civil rights movements, saying it wasn’t hope that King inspired that made the difference but President Lyndon Johnson’s decision to fight for and sign the Civil Rights Act into law.
Now watch the video and see if you can catch her saying anything remotely close to that. She doesn’t. In fact, the word “hypocrite” never came out of her mouth. It’s a deliberate fabrication conjured by Major Garrett and Fox News.
The saddest thing is that, of course, most of the comments are from the typical lobotomized Fox News viewer – the same people that put Bush in the White House and still support him. I doubt most of them bothered to watch the entire six-minute interview. They just took Fox News as the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth.
Thankfully, some of the comments are from Fox News viewers who don’t allow the propaganda network to make up their minds for them.
What a blatant misrepresentation of what Hillary actually said writer! As an American who happens to be black and who was actually marched for civil rights, I agree wholeheartedly with what Hillary actually said…it was the ACTION of President Johnson (and others) that brought Dr. King’s hopes to fruition. Her comments were not meant in any way to disparage Dr. King as the writer would have one believe. The fact is, hope alone feeds no man. We need a President who is capable of acting.
- CindyI think one of your particular talking points is absolutely wrong. She didn’t “appear to diminish the role Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. played” at all. Senator Clinton was shrinking Senator Obama’s lofty and melodramatic rhetoric down to actual size. At the end of the day, being “able to get it through Congress” is something she’s been doing longer. Ability to inspire by the “power of dreams” is a worthy and necesary talent for all social justice leaders…”becoming reality..”..she’s only saying she thinks she can do it better than Obama can.
Jesus Christ has inspired people for over 2000 years…Moses and Abraham for much longer…. and they never had to pass a law in any Congress in order to keep us bathed in the light of faith and hope. Many believe Moses handed down law from a source beyond our human existence.
Whenever a law that best forwards social justice is passed in the name of the people of this country, the law was one that was created long ago in the hearts of men and women.
There is no doubt that Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. was a man of God and an inspirer for the ages. Hillary Clinton was by no means discounting Rev. Dr. MLK Jr. by showing how his wonderful dream was put into action…and which President helped to facilitate the deam through government.
Isn’t that just a bit of as stretch to say the newest Senator of the top-tier-three is an inspirer of the ages and a JFK and an LBJ all wrapped up on one..and more capable than Clinton to get his agenda through Congress? How has he ever proven it?
If Hillary’s pointing that out, more power to her for the reality check.
- Jude
Now I’d like to point out some of the more imbecilic responses:
Once again Hillary puts her hubris to work for her. To hell with the party. To hell with Martin Luther King. The wounded lioness blindly lashing out because the world has not recognized her specialness.
She has had her good qualities but they are overwhelmed by her hubris. I will not miss her. But before she leaves the center stage I think she should return the money al those good people gave to finance Bill’s legal defense, one that would not have been necessary had he told the truth.
- Richard McDonoughThis makes me feel very sad. Now she’s slamming MLK Jr. in addition to Barack? Unbelievable. She is not seeming very presidential today, not at all. HRC should fire Mark Penn and Bill and go back to the drawing board, or, maybe even consider retirement. Things are not looking good for Mrs. Bill Clinton.
- WorkingMomInLAHilary’s comments are beyond offensive. In a few weeks, this country will celebrate the legacy of Martin Luther King, a man who died fighting for equal rights for all people. For this woman to belittle his achievements is the height of arrogance and desperation. Liberals like to pretend that they are racially enlightened, but comments like this prove that they are the real racists.
- LisaThis is just disgusting and I feel it is insulting of Martin Luther King and his role in the Civil Rights movement. This was really low and I think she should just pull out of the race now. She can not handle the pressure and is really losing it.
- amy R, Iowa
Now, this is where it gets really funny. This comment indicates that the video of the full interview was missing and that it stopped just as Major Garrett was about to ask the Obama question. Just further proof that Fox News viewers don’t need actual “facts.”
We Report. You Decide.
Dear Sherri Shepherd,
I’ve been too busy with school to anoint someone as Freak of the Week for the last few months but your perpetual mind boggling ignorance has forced my hand. Damn you.
You’ve already submitted, on live TV no less, that you think the world is flat, despite the overwhelming evidence to the contrary. News flash: the world is about as flat as your chest.
Now you’ve gone on record as saying “I don’t think anything predates Christians.” Lovable Joy Behar, God bless her, even tried to correct you with a little something we people call FACTS about the chronology of Greeks/Romans/Christians. But you could only reinforce that “Jesus came first before them.”
How the hell can someone as retarded as you be allowed on a nationally televised television program? You’re feeding the lifeless stay-at-home moms of America nothing but uneducated dribble. If you ask me, and you never will, I think it’s time Whoopi opened up a can of her patented Whoop-Ass® on you. Star Jones you are not!
Chins up, Sherri. I’m sure Fox News will be callin’ any day now. If not, you could easily secure a position in the The Decider’s cabinet. In the meantime, you’re just the freak of the week. In fact, I’d be willing to go as far to say that you might be the Cunt of the Month. Now look what you did, you made me use a horrible word.
There’s an increasingly disturbing trend going on in the media right now. The major media outlets are doing their very best to censor the candidates who dare to sound original. On the Republican side it’s Ron Paul, for the Democrats it’s Dennis Kucinich.
Kucinich, the only Democrat running for President who originally voted against the war has the most to say. He’s always been critical of the Bush administration and was the first to call for the impeachment of Bush and Cheney. But the Media, along with his own party, just won’t give him any love. At the last debate it was nearly 45 minutes before they even let him speak. In fact, ABC has so little love for Kucinich that they cropped him out of a picture of all of the Democratic candidates.
As far as Dr. Ron Paul goes, ABC recently censored hordes of Paul supporters outside the Iowa debates in favor of Mitt Romney supporters, as this video on YouTube reveals.
Maybe these two should run together.
Someone at CNN is apparently doing some journalism, albeit it’s a little too late. CNN jumped on the internet bandwagon over a 1994 interview of Dick Cheney where he said invading Iraq would lead to a “quagmire.”
Here’s the real question: Why didn’t CNN find this before some random YouTuber? Why didn’t CNN, or any other media outlet for that matter, pull this rabbit out of their hat BEFORE we invaded Iraq? It’s their job to ask all the questions. The fact that they jumped on this days after it made the rounds online goes to show just how useless and out-of-date CNN has become.
The other night Presidential candidate Chris Dodd was a guest on The O’Reilly Factor. O’Reilly was up in arms over an Adobe Photoshop® altered image that suggests Senator Joseph Lieberman was about to fellate the President. Oddly enough, it was only Lieberman’s head that was added to the picture. The original image did have someone kneeling before Bush, appearing to fool around with his junk. It also had someone one bump away from grinding his Presidential seal.
Hey, you know, if you want to ban military recruiting, fine, but I’m not going to give you another nickel of federal money. You know, if I’m the president of the United States, I walk right into Union Square, I set up my little presidential podium, and I say, “Listen, citizens of San Francisco, if you vote against military recruiting, you’re not going to get another nickel in federal funds. Fine. You want to be your own country? Go right ahead. And if Al Qaeda comes in here and blows you up, we’re not going to do anything about it. We’re going to say, look, every other place in America is off limits to you, except San Francisco. You want to blow up the Coit Tower? Go ahead.
Charming. Is there anything more American than encouraging terrorists to blow up San Francisco? It’s definitely not as vile as some person on teh Internets posting an altered image of The Decider and Senator Palpatine Lieberman. We all know the conservatives in this country have a no-tolerance stance when it comes to oral sex (they’re more accepting of diaper fetishes.) I’m sure if Lieberman had blown The Decider they both would have been impeached by now and Lieberman’s blue suit would be at the cleaners.
Fortunately Mr. O’Reilly’s suggestion of San Francisco seceding from the Union was chock-full of delicious lodrick. If San Francisco were to become its own country, I doubt terrorists would be all that interested in blowing it up. After all, it’s “Death to America,” not “Death to San Fran.” I imagine the first action the President of San Francisco, or as O’Reilly might call it: the USGay, would take would be to establish an inviting foreign policy. I’m also sure that other nations would be willing to work on having healthy diplomatic relations with this new tiny, tone, and tan country. Well, except maybe for the United States. The USA would probably invade San Francisco to disarm them and to liberate its citizens. (Can you liberate liberals?) It would get messy, as there would be rampant seculartarian uprisings, unless of course it’s the weekend of Burning Man.
There is another glowing example of O’Reilly’s hypocrisy that compliments his hatred for those who don’t accept his ideology. O’Reilly has stated that any content on a website is a direct representation of that site. O’Reilly has even gone as far as to say that he stands by the content on his site.
Recently Hillary Clinton’s Communications Director, Howard Wolfson, was on The O’Reilly Factor. O’Reilly criticized Clinton for attending Yearly Kos because of the hate on the Daily Kos website. Wolfson responded to that with, “Bill, even your website has things on it that you would find objectionable.” O’Reilly fired back with his trademark, “That’s Bull!”
The following night, Jane Hall was a guest. She also told O’Reilly that his own site had hateful comments on it. In retaliation, O’Reilly had her mic cutoff so that she couldn’t have her final say. O’Reilly justified this action by saying, “Here’s the truth, I can’t let Jane lie.”
Well it’s a good thing Bill didn’t let Jane “lie” on his show. The only one allowed doing that is Bill O’Reilly himself. There ARE messages of hate on billoreilly.com. One comment even garnered the attention of the Secret Service by making a death threat against Hillary Clinton. So if Bill O’Reilly endorses the comments on his website, does that mean Bill O’Reilly endorses violence against Hillary Clinton? After all, we already know he feels about violence against whole cites.
There it is, plain and simple, clear as crystal. The source of so much information for so many people is built on a foundation of nothing but lies. Yet so many people watch and believe and will continue to do so because they lack the ability to form their own opinion and need to be told what to think. Remember: Just because someone says something is the truth doesn’t make it the truth. And that’s The Truth.
