As a former Democrat, Lieberman was used to being held accountable by the media.
So he instinctively reacted when he heard McCain spout a total fabrication--one that McCain had been repeating UNCHALLENGED for weeks.
I’m talking about Lieberman’s whispered correction in McCain’s ear--which, as Rachel Maddow marvelled last week--seems to have legs.
What exquisite irony that turn-coat Lieberman has carried the virus of reality into the Republican camp—and they are coming down with it.
I’m sure by now some Rove-type has pulled Lieberman aside and said "Look, it doesn’t matter if it’s true. We’re Republicans." But the damage is done. It’s indelible (IMHO, because it’s funny).
In short, "Ehhhhhxcellent!!!"
(What possible actions am I leading up to? Go all the way to the bottom.)
The media double standard has had other comical repercussions. For example, the addition of Bill Kristol to the New York Times op-ed page, where his column needs to be run under the heading "Future Corrections."
Most recently he reported as fact that Obama had been at the (relentlessly publicized) Rev. Wright sermon—even though that lie had already been totally debunked.
Poor "Grey Lady" New York Times. She tries to be the last bastion of responsible reporting, but after embracing Kristol, she has so much egg on her face she looks like Margaret Dumont in a Marx Brothers movie. (I wonder if Kristol also spits on the floor and takes a whiz in the potted palms. It would serve them right.)
They should have checked with David Brock (now of Media Matters).
Brock started out as a conservative journalist, but when he tried to actually be fair and accurate, he was shown the door. And then when he wrote an article for Esquire--his first NON-conservative publisher--he recounts the culture shock of seeing his copy handed to a fact checker. In all his years as a conservative writer, that had never once happened.
If you want more chuckles, check out Sam Seder. Last week I heard a segment where he told who was interviewed on TV that day, and what the OBVIOUS questions would have been...and what was asked instead. Then Seder played clips of questions that actually were asked, and the totally OTHER answers given--to which the "journalists" had absolutely NO reaction whatsoever. It was insane (and hilarious to boot).
(BTW: I will give $100 to the first reporter who asks Bush, "Have you apologized to McCain for push pulling that his adopted Bangladeshi daughter was his illegitimate love-child with a black prostitute?" Or ask McCain if he has confronted Bush on it, and if not, "If you won’t stand up for your own family, why should we think you would stand up for us?")
And now with most of TV and radio dedicated to 24-hour Rev. Wright reporting (and in earlier weeks, lapel jewelry reporting), I think even the most clueless have caught on to how it works:
- Fox, CNN, Sinclair, Clear Channel, 91% of talk radio, and other Republican house organs beat the right-wing drum.
- The rest of the pathetic steno-pool media resonates.
It’s funny, but it’s dangerous. We live in a deaf nation, which is surely why the U.S. is the only country in the world where global warming is doubted, and where a moron like Bush could be President--and that can kill us all.
ACTION ITEMS:
1. Stop the Fox Virus. Go watch the video, and sign the Move-on petition to NBC, CBS, ABC, MSNBC, CNN, etc.
2. Be the media. Read diaries here, post diaries here. Talk it up with friends. And yes, even become one of those email pests sending links and news to friends. Tell your friends about John Stewart, Olbermann, DKOS, and other sources of reality-based information.
3. Wake up the Dem Leadership. Like Lieberman, they think if they are reeeeal careful the media won’t get them. Bullcrap. The game is rigged. Fix the game. Stay off Fox, propose legislation, get mad, get even, fight back--in short, get the Dem Party involved in the media fight.
4. Support progressive media. If you have a local progressive radio station, it is important to support it. Borrowed from an earlier diary:
A. Tell your friends. Get a bumper sticker. Put a link on your web site or your sig. Talk it up. Email. Post diaries here and elsewhere.
B. Buy from it’s local sponsors. Tell them where you heard of them. (Thom Hartman calls this a "buycott," and says it's 100 times more effective than a boycott.)
C. Help it find sponsors. The station will have its "book" it uses to approach sponsors, and that’s not your job. But you can still help. Do you buy a pro-environment product or service? Point out to them that the local progressive station would be a focused medium--and their 30-second ads will NOT be sandwiched among 24/7 programming that dismisses as kooks those of us (actually, MOST of us) who care about green issues.
D. Approach local Democrats. The Franklin County Democratic Party put a link to our station on their web site. The local Stonewalls Democrats did too. It’s good that they appreciate that a progressive radio station is the best friend the Democrats can have. (And when it comes time to run political ads, I hope they remember that buying an ad on a right-wing station is giving aid, comfort, and money to their own opponents.)
E. Form a group (or see if a group exists). NonStopRadio.com is a good place to start. A group is not only effective for supporting a station, it will also be important if you lose your station, and need to start planning to get a new one. For example, here in Columbus, when we learned Clear Channel was killing our only progressive station last year, our group made a list of sponsors, so when we got our new station on Dec. 3, we were prepared to get them back.