The news media is officially a total joke Options

[impala454]

Now that I actually get home in time for the evening news, I am realizing just how pathetic it has gotten. I just got done watching the Barack show... err.. I mean the NBC world news, and the whole time all they could discuss was how cool it was that Obama was having this big rally in Berlin of all places. Fucking Berlin. Why the fuck is a US presidential candidate taking a "tour" and spending all his time rallying OUT OF THE COUNTRY? Then they have to demonize McCain's mentioning that it's not something he would do. They dramatized it and kept coming back to it and showing his scripted speech and now they're having an obviously scripted interview. Then they showsome stuff about that cave collapse from way back, and his actual words, literally, verbatim, that described the cave's condition before the collapse were that it was "dangerously unsafe." Seriously, the news is an absolute joke nowadays. A contest of who can produce the worst, most controversial, "interesting" news possible. I wish there was some vehicle/show/media outlet one could use to simply get the damn news, i.e. what happened today. stock prices, news bits from around the world, sports scores. No adjectives describing to me how bad they feel something is and sound like they're from a third grader's first paper or pre-scripted interviews with policiticians they've chosen to back.

/end rant

[pebkac]

Now that I actually get home in time for the evening news, I am realizing just how pathetic it has gotten. I just got done watching the Barack show... err.. I mean the NBC world news, and the whole time all they could discuss was how cool it was that Obama was having this big rally in Berlin of all places. Fucking Berlin. Why the fuck is a US presidential candidate taking a "tour" and spending all his time rallying OUT OF THE COUNTRY? Then they have to demonize McCain's mentioning that it's not something he would do. They dramatized it and kept coming back to it and showing his scripted speech and now they're having an obviously scripted interview. Then they showsome stuff about that cave collapse from way back, and his actual words, literally, verbatim, that described the cave's condition before the collapse were that it was "dangerously unsafe." Seriously, the news is an absolute joke nowadays. A contest of who can produce the worst, most controversial, "interesting" news possible. I wish there was some vehicle/show/media outlet one could use to simply get the damn news, i.e. what happened today. stock prices, news bits from around the world, sports scores. No adjectives describing to me how bad they feel something is and sound like they're from a third grader's first paper or pre-scripted interviews with policiticians they've chosen to back.

/end rant

You know, up until now, it had been accepted that Obama was inexperienced about foreign policy and that John McCain was a wise, sage statesman who would be a foreign policy genius.

What better way to demonstrate Obama's diplomatic abilities than to actually go and be diplomatic? Granted he's not engaging in any huge foreign negotiations. But consider that he made that trip without one single gaffe or blunder for McCain to pounce on.

Compound this with the fact that McCain hasn't really been doing a good job proving his prowess in these areas. He hasn't even had to travel out of the country to screw up. He called the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia on at least three separate occasions, he once referred to the Iraq-Pakistan border (my personal favorite), and still hasn't proven that he knows the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite.

Not to mention that in his prepared speeches, he's given a foreign policy that's complete fantasy. For example, he's said in one speech that he'll kick Russia out of the G8. Not that he would support kicking Russia out of the G8, but that he would do it. Of course, this is a promise he'll fail on, because none of the other members would support such a move.

He also has proposed to do away with the UN. Even without taking into consideration of what that would do with our foreign standing, consider what he's proposed to do instead: start another international bureaucracy and only invite our friends! That sounds like a great way to resolve international conflict with countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea, doesn't it?

Did the media hype Obama's foreign travels? Almost certainly. Is McCain a foreign policy idiot? I don't want to jump to that conclusion. But you do have to give Obama credit over McCain thus far. He's proven that he can hobknob with foreign leaders, even if it hasn't been over very big issues. So to make a long story short, yes I think that Obama's travels to foreign countries are a good thing, and yes, I think that McCain needs to demonstrate more competency in the foreign policy department.

[impala454]

You know, up until now, it had been accepted that Obama was inexperienced about foreign policy and that John McCain was a wise, sage statesman who would be a foreign policy genius.

What better way to demonstrate Obama's diplomatic abilities than to actually go and be diplomatic? Granted he's not engaging in any huge foreign negotiations. But consider that he made that trip without one single gaffe or blunder for McCain to pounce on.

Compound this with the fact that McCain hasn't really been doing a good job proving his prowess in these areas. He hasn't even had to travel out of the country to screw up. He called the Czech Republic Czechoslovakia on at least three separate occasions, he once referred to the Iraq-Pakistan border (my personal favorite), and still hasn't proven that he knows the difference between a Sunni and a Shiite.

Not to mention that in his prepared speeches, he's given a foreign policy that's complete fantasy. For example, he's said in one speech that he'll kick Russia out of the G8. Not that he would support kicking Russia out of the G8, but that he would do it. Of course, this is a promise he'll fail on, because none of the other members would support such a move.

He also has proposed to do away with the UN. Even without taking into consideration of what that would do with our foreign standing, consider what he's proposed to do instead: start another international bureaucracy and only invite our friends! That sounds like a great way to resolve international conflict with countries like Iran, Syria, and North Korea, doesn't it?

Did the media hype Obama's foreign travels? Almost certainly. Is McCain a foreign policy idiot? I don't want to jump to that conclusion. But you do have to give Obama credit over McCain thus far. He's proven that he can hobknob with foreign leaders, even if it hasn't been over very big issues. So to make a long story short, yes I think that Obama's travels to foreign countries are a good thing, and yes, I think that McCain needs to demonstrate more competency in the foreign policy department.

Looks like Obama + the media's scheme worked pretty well on you. You seem to think that because he goes and makes a speech overseas that he's got McCain beat in the foreign policy area. Congrats Obama & Brian Williams for a job well done. And like Chuck said, the man just goes over there blowing smoke. Nobody asks him how he's going to do what he says, they just like the warm fuzzies it gives them that someone's going to "fix" all of these "broken" things. If you tell someone enough times that you're going to fix something, eventually they'll believe you that it's broken and welcome your "fix". That's what I don't like about democrats and what I definitely don't like about Obama.

[pebkac]

My problem is that all his speeches are about change and improving the world but lack anything of substance. I fear another Carter.

On one hand I agree with you, but on another I don't. I mean, both candidates actually have pretty well planned out tax proposals. And I'll sleep with you if you can read them and make sense of them. Unfortunately, it's kind of difficult to explain all the intricacies of being president even in a years' campaign.

On the other hand, I do agree that Obama can do more to explain a lot of his stances on certain subjects than he has been doing. With that said, I'm trying to be more open-minded on things, but the way McCain has been campaigning since the primaries makes it really difficult to think he'll handle the job of president. But there's still time for that to change.

Looks like Obama + the media's scheme worked pretty well on you.

lol...

I should just stop with this line. Blaming things on the "media" is such a cliched argument. Especially when you make it sound like the media's a single entity rather than the hundreds of thousands of single entities it really is.

And Obama's universal health care isn't fantasy? Actually, is there anything Obama has proposed that isn't fantasy?

Not that I can tell.

So to defeat your argument all I have to do is provide you with one thing Obama has proposed that isn't a fantasy? Arguments that say that something is always wrong or always true are almost always flat out wrong. The rest of the time, they're probably only half true.

[impala454]

you make it sound like the media's a single entity rather than the hundreds of thousands of single entities it really is.

well other than the one fairly conservative news outlet, fox, is it not? NBC ABC CBS CNN MSNBC, they've all followed obama around like a puppy dog.

[pebkac]

well other than the one fairly conservative news outlet, fox, is it not? NBC ABC CBS CNN MSNBC, they've all followed obama around like a puppy dog.

No, it's not.

And it's probably a good thing for McCain that the media hasn't been paying much attention to him. All he's really done is cry because he's not getting enough attention and hurl false charges at Obama.

[impala454]

No, it's not.

haha ok.. <3rd grade>YES IT IS!!</3rd grade>

And it's probably a good thing for McCain that the media hasn't been paying much attention to him. All he's really done is cry because he's not getting enough attention

he's the other candidate for the presidential election and he's not receiving anywhere near the coverage of the other. how is that not a legimate beef? (or "cry" as you so put it )

and hurl false charges at Obama.

False charges?? about what??

[pebkac]

he's the other candidate for the presidential election and he's not receiving anywhere near the coverage of the other. how is that not a legimate beef? (or "cry" as you so put it )

Well, let's face it. What Obama's been up to is more interesting than what McCain has been doing. Like the idea of Obama campaigning abroad or hate it, you have to at least admit that it got your attention (even without the media's influence).

In all, you're right: it's not fair. But politics isn't fair in general. I'd rather have someone who can turn such conditions to their advantage. Our country has a short attention span. It wouldn't take much to turn things around.

False charges?? about what??

http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper...-they-help.aspx

The most relevant parts quoted below:

Without even this illusory policy difference to flog, McCain had to find another line of attack. His chosen course, as Politico reports this morning, is "to employ the tack many strategists see as essential and which anonymous e-mailers and commenters with no apparent links to his campaign have been practicing since last summer: hitting Obama not on his record or his platform, but on his values and person." McCain's new strategy is on full display in his latest ad, "Troops (video above), which slams Obama for, among other things, "ma[king] time to go to the gym, but cancel[ing] a visit with wounded troops" because "the Pentagon wouldn't allow him to bring cameras." McCain's goal here is clear: to paint Obama as an unpatriotic troop-hater. Unfortunately, the accusation is baseless.




It's true that in Germany last week Obama went to the gym and nixed a trip to Landstuhl Regional Medical Center. But any resemblance to reality ends there. Late last week, the Pentagon informed Obama that it would regard the foreign policy adviser accompanying him to Landstuhl, Maj Gen. Scott Gration (Ret.), as a campaign staffer. Worried that the visit would be seen as a photo-op, his team called it off. "The last thing that I want to do is have injured soldiers and the staff at these wonderful institutions having to sort through whether this is political or not or get caught in the crossfire between campaigns," the candidate told reporters last week. In other words, he was afraid that the political spotlight would shine too brightly on the event--not, as McCain alleges, that it wouldn't shine at all. (Landstuhl--like the Combat Support Hospital Obama visited in Iraq--was simply never on the traveling press corps' schedule.) This may expose an excess of caution and concern over appearances. But it doesn't make Obama a troop-snubber. Meanwhile, McCain spent much of the weekend sniping that his rival "would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign"--a line that Joe Klein called the most "intemperate... personal attack... I've ever heard a major-party candidate make in a presidential campaign, and the sort of thing that no potential President of the United States should ever be caught saying.

Now I'm not saying that Obama's intentions were totally pure here. But McCain's attacks on Obama were a little below him. If you're going to make such an attack on an opponent, at least make it good.

Dude!! Pebkac responded just like an Impalia post!

This makes pebkac a sad panda.

[impala454]

Well, let's face it. What Obama's been up to is more interesting than what McCain has been doing.

haha no. at least not to me.

Like the idea of Obama campaigning abroad or hate it, you have to at least admit that it got your attention (even without the media's influence).

uh... it got my attention because i turn on the fucking news looking for news and his shit is what i get. i didn't have a choice. and how is that "without the media's influence"??

In all, you're right: it's not fair. But politics isn't fair in general. I'd rather have someone who can turn such conditions to their advantage. Our country has a short attention span. It wouldn't take much to turn things around.

i didn't say politics had to be fair, just that mccain has a legitimate beef for not getting as much coverage as obama.

The most relevant parts quoted below:
Now I'm not saying that Obama's intentions were totally pure here. But McCain's attacks on Obama were a little below him. If you're going to make such an attack on an opponent, at least make it good.
This makes pebkac a sad panda.

I fail to see anything in that story or in McCain's video that is a "false charge". Point out what McCain says specifically in there that is false. Regardless of what you may think, Obama's intentions aren't some proveable fact. Your article even admits he didn't go see the troops because he was afraid of what people might think (that it was a photo op). So he's putting his politics above what he was there for, which is exactly what McCain said. I don't see it as an attack, I see it as pointing out a weakness in your opponent.