guns_n_roses_gnr_lies_aSpend some time at The Huffington Post and before too long you will see a reference to Fox News that won’t appear on any of their promos.

“Faux News”, “Fixed News”, “Fake News”, on and on (and those are the polite ones).

The obvious inference is that Fox News is dishonest and not truly news, which is true (ask Pres. Obama).

I just cruised some of the web’s news sites, CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Beast, DailyKos and of course, that rapscallion, Huffington Post.

None of the news sites I visited carried a story similar to the hysterical front page story on Huffington Post referencing the Obama White House, “To Reid: Don’t Come Crying To Us If You’re Short Votes”.

Not one.

Not even MSNBC even though HalfTruth Post uses Chuck Todd to back up their article.

The closest any other news site comes to such a provocative and insulting story against Pres. Obama is saying that Obama is not happy about Reid advancing a plan that would not bring Olympia Snowe along, providing cover for Blue Dog Dems.

However, no one twists that into Obama saying, “Don’t Come Crying To Us!” Consider for a moment what such bullshit is saying, that Obama is a 5 year old brat who would rather say “I told you so” than get health care reform passed.

This may come as a surprise to many here but I have been less than pleased with how The Huffington Post presents tabloid-style, misleading, sensationalistic stories which it fobs off as “news”.

Where I haven’t gone before is where this story has led me.

The Huffington Post is Fox News for Progressives.

Yes, the style is somewhat different, unlike Fox, there are some earnest stories, journalists and bloggers there but Fox and Huff operate very similarly now. Factual news is casually blended with opinion and misrepresentation in a quest for ad revenues and building a following (read sheep) that will march in step with it as it pursues its own self-serving agenda.

A question…

…if you had a friend who was a good person some of the time and other times happily defrauded and manipulated other people, how long could you in good conscience play dumb and remain friends with someone of such character? What would it say about your character and principles? At what point would you actually become an enabler and a co-conspirator in such acts by remaining silent?

This is why I and many here find themselves in the position they’re in today, wanting for Huffington Post to be an honest and genuine force for the progressive movement but at the same time, not being able to rationalize away its corporate mentality of exploitation, dishonesty and repressing free speech on its site.

What attracted many of us to Huffington Post was our principles. We perceived them as reflected in that site and the membership there. So once one realizes that there are far too many things going on over there that run counter to our principles, how can one not call them out as one would Fox news for the same things?

It is disappointing to be disappointed. When you learn that actors you really like turn out to be assholes or idiots, it’s disappointing. When you learn that politicians you believed in are actually corrupt and self-serving, it sucks. And of course, when you learn that a news/blog site that you embraced for their philosophy are just using that as a facade to generate money, power and popularity, you look up and see a “Huffington Post” banner at the top of the page.

HalfTruth Post is just that. It is indeed Fox News for Progressives, feeding readers with opinion dressed up as news and sending them off into the world to spread their propaganda.

it is more infuriating to me than Fox News. We expect the greedy, ignorant and corrupt to do what they can to get what they want but using a movement that came out of opposing the lies, deceptions and manipulations of the Bush regime to further self-serving goals and doing so by lying, deceiving and manipulating is…well…really fucked up.

IMHO, if you’re principled, you have to stand up against dishonesty and corporate manipulation of the truth wherever and whenever, whether its on your right or your left.

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imusintheevening
Member

Nice to see some of my favorite posters here.

nicole473
Member

Welcome, imusin!

Kalima
Admin

“The Huffington Post is Fox News for Progressives.” I couldn’t agree more with this. You have your finger on the pulse of what HP has become and one of the reasons why I left. It became the “Star” tabloid of blogs during the primaries, continuing the Rev.Wright non-story almost as long as Faux news. I was disgusted at the time.

nicole473
Member

Sorry, Adlib, this is off topic but I didn’t know where else to put it.

Tee hee……

I just invited Levi, Sarah Palin’s nemesis, to leak to us. 🙂

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/27/levi-johnston-on-cbs-earl_n_335866.html?show_comment_id=33523981#comment_33523981

sharonh
Member
sharonh

heh heh

sharonh
Member
sharonh

Sam S is their Rush, hahahha. That stuff has been going on over there since at least the primaries. Clinton never had a good picture there then, now they are showing a retrospective in pictures. Hahahah.

Ted Turner said he was considering a return to the helm of CNN, and the first thing he would do was fire Lou Dobbs. If only I knew how to get in touch with Mr. Turner I would deluge him. Please, please, counterweight.

kesmarn
Admin

I’m willing to cut HuffPo just the slightest bit of slack for their heavy coverage of Wall Street and banking issues, given the fact that the major financial institutions have caused us all such a world of pain over the last few years. (Although Aryanna does seem a bit obsessive on this topic.)
What hurts even more is the subtle and not-so-subtle undermining of the President’s efforts to deal with the horrendous mess that was left to his administration. The most glaring example is the one so many of us have mentioned here–the suggestion that Joe Biden resign over the war in Afghanistan. But the more recent “Leaderless” headline and article were just as bad–if not worse.
I’m sure that most of us have noticed that one of the strong points of the right is that they virtually never throw their own under the bus. Consequently, there have been times when they’ve been very effective, even when they were in the minority. We should take note
of that. But Aryanna doesn’t seem to get it. Granted, if a fellow Progressive is involved in something that really seems to cross a line–morally speaking–we have an obligation to speak up. But just taking cheap shots at our leadership–the way AH does–for no other reason than to stir it up–accomplishes nothing but filling her already fat wallet.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Did you see her new op-ed, ‘Obama’s doing my job for me”, basically more attacks, an incoherant rant if you ask me…then the groveling positive posts below agreeing with her just made me sick.

The dissenters of her post, tried you to say that, ‘hey give him time, this is a big mess he has been left’ Which is how I feel, you don’t throw someone under a bus in just ten months…fast and quick knee jerk reactions are not going to get this done right…hey, I don’t mind that Obama ‘Dithers’

KQµårk 死神
Member

Her and her cronies threads are fully moderated so no opposing views ever get through. She has created the perfect echo chamber for her own vanity.

imusintheevening
Member

Yeah, filtering the opposing view just puts her in the same league as Michelle Malkin.

kesmarn
Admin

I saw that “Obama’s doing my job” article! Puh-leeeze! I responded that I thought she actually has blind ambition to be doing HIS job, but due to the whole “foreign-born” thing, realizes that’s not happening. So she contents herself with being the self-declared back-seat driver of the Obama administration. (As if he didn’t have enough problems already!)

escribacat
Member

Yes, I skimmed through that self-serving article — as though she could be compared to the president. It’s like something Limbaugh would write. It’s one thing to apply pressure but another thing entirely when the attacks from the left are worse than the attacks from the right.

KQµårk 死神
Member

Adlib excellent post again. That’s why I call Huffington Post, Bankington Post. The constantly are obsessed with the banks and use WSJ stories on the main. There is nothing progressive about that. Banks are a necessary evil and her obsession with banks shows she is obsessed with money. Progressive causes are healthcare, education, the environment, labor, green energy, social justice etc… Progressives don’t run banks for a reason. You have to be a money grubbing, greed is good asshole to be a banker.

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Money is ok, but the Love of money is not…she has started to show her true colors…those of like mind will gather as they did at HP, at other places…

BigDogMom
Member
BigDogMom

Thanks AdLib, I think you have discribed what I have been feeling for a while, and after Sat. nights BS even more so, deep disappointment.

It’s like when a hero of yours turns out not to be superman, just a mere mortal worts and all. But this cuts deeper, I feel like I have just figured out that I have been scammed.

You ask the million dollar question “how long could you in good conscience play dumb and remain friends with someone of such character?” For me, not long….have already started to look at the site with ‘new eyes’….

nicole473
Member

AdLib,

You took the words right out of my mouth.

I, too, am far more infuriated by the behavior of Huffington Post than I am by Fox. As you pointed out, we expect it from Fox.

My posts on that thread were scrubbed, and I am thoroughly maddened. No, we can’t just be silent. The problem is that it is nearly useless to speak up.

I did manage to get a link to this article on there. Hopefully, it will not be scrubbed.