Our Media: Lying liars! Edition

Atrios on teevee providing a Platforms For Liars

Some people wrongly imagine that the purpose of news is to inform readers and viewers.

JedL (DK): Now Fox claims Obama opposed public option

If you're paying any attention to what's actually going on in the world, watching Fox can be a dizzying affair. One minute, they are accusing President Obama of being the driving force being a government conspiracy to take over health care in the guise of the public option, and the next minute they are saying that he's been an avowed opponent of the public option, at least since his speech to Congress on September 9.
Take, for example, America's Newsroom which yesterday accused President Obama of hypocrisy by working behind-the-scenes (as reported by the L.A. Times) to bolster Senate support for the public option.

In Fox's version of reality, President Obama is sneaking around, trying to build support for the public option despite a public promise to support alternatives.
But outside of Fox's universe, everybody knows that while President Obama did say he was open to exploring alternatives to the public option -- if they would accomplish the same goals -- he also remained a supporter of the public option.
Indeed, the clip Fox cropped was taken from a seven minute discussion of the need for a public option. Immediately before the portion Fox cropped came this sentence:

It’s worth noting that a strong majority of Americans still favor a public insurance option of the sort I’ve proposed tonight.

President Obama's couldn't have been more clear. He wasn't abandoning a public option. He was proposing one, and there's no way Fox misunderstood what he was trying to say. Instead, they obviously and willfully distorted his words by selectively cropping video in order to make a partisan political point. In other words, they lied. Or as they put it, they were "Fair & Balanced."

digby: The New Debate

I just saw one of the most disgusting stories on CNN that I have ever seen: they are actually debating whether or not we should let illegal immigrants die now.

They tell the story of a young man who was brought here by his parents at age 14 and has been working ever since then. He has kidney failure and needs dialysis, which he has been getting as a charity case up until recently. Now they are cutting him off and unless he can find a private clinic that will take him he's in big, big trouble.

The reporter asked him why he should get treatment since he isn't a citizen, (at which point I'm screaming "because he is a human being!") and he showed her his pay stubs going back to when he was 15 --- which showed that he's been paying taxes just like the higher orders.

Then the reporter calmly said, "he has about eleven days and then he'll die." Wolf Blitzer asked the reporter to keep us posted on what happens, so that's good.

It appears that it's now perfectly acceptable to debate whether or not people should die for lack of care in the richest country in the world. But I guess I shouldn't be surprised. Once a society accepts torture, it's only a matter of time before it drops this pretense about every person being precious entirely. Now we can get down to the nitty gritty and start talking openly and honestly about which people deserve to live and which ones don't.

C&L: Anderson Cooper Asks Krugman and Matalin Whether Obama Has Lost His "Mojo"

By Nicole Belle Tuesday Oct 06, 2009 4:00pm

(h/t Heather for the vids, and Paddy at The Political Carnival for the tip) Argh, there's so much wrong with this clip that it's all I can do to keep typing and not smacking my head against the desktop. First of all, they ask on Krugman to discuss his NY Times column talking about how GOP obstructionism has reached cartoonish levels and they decide to frame the segment on whether Obama lost his "MOJO"? Seriously? A major news organization ignores the absurdity of the GOP overarching need to find things with which to smear Obama and instead frames the issue for the President of the United States as an Austin Powers plot? And no one but a hyper-partisan conservative "party before country" cheerleader thinks that the IOC selecting Rio for the 2016 games has something to do with a failing on any kind on the part of Obama. Cheers to Anderson Cooper for validating what Krugman so aptly described as "bratty 13 year old" behavior and using a Nobel Laureate to do it. Way to keep on top of the issues of the day, Anderson.
And there's that issue of media's bizarre notion of balance again. Sweet Jesus, why on earth would anyone need Mary Matalin's opinion on Obama's "mojo"? The woman has spent years advising Dick Cheney, fer cryin' out loud, what exactly is her expertise in mojo? As would be expected, Matalin never answers anything directly, resorting to the familiar GOP projection and mean-spritied insinuations, saying she's never drunk the kool-aid on the messiah-like qualities of Obama.
Watch as Krugman acknowledges that Obama hasn't done everything perfectly and that there's still far to go, but that the level of discourse from the right prevents any actual adult-level dialog. And Matalin proves him right by devolving into fingerpointing and bringing in one non sequitur after another. Of course, everything that Obama has been hit with has an equivalence in Matalin's mind to that poor, misunderestimated George W. Bush. If you believe Matalin, the Democrats did nothing but screamed "Liar!" and "Loser" to Bush. Constantly. Hmmm....funny that, I don't remember it that way, but maybe that's because I'm part of the reality-based community.
But hey, how much honest analysis can you get from someone who openly admits she reveres the Fat Bastard himself, Rush Limbaugh? For that alone, she should be laughed off camera.