Watching MSNBC this morning was like watching a five year old in a toy store after eating an entire bag of Halloween candy then washing it down with a 40 ounce Big Gulp Coke.
If corporations are people then these people are in the midst of a nervous breakdown. The frenzy to whip up the “Anyone can win!” meme is dizzying. The intentional twisting of reality and facts is non-stop and on a too-fast conveyor belt…in other words, the public is like George Jetson trying to keep up with the treadmill and howling, “Stop this crazy thing!!!”
For those who don’t wish to unnecessarily have their worries exploited and their blood pressure driven higher, it may be a good day to cuddle up with a classic movie on the Turner Classic Movie channel because you ain’t gonna miss anything of importance on the news channels today. You see, today, the news channels are going to party like it’s 1999 because by tomorrow evening, this huge gravy train takes a big break and viewers will begin returning to a more sanity-based life…meaning, watching less 24 hour news channel hysteria.
I was just checking in a little on MSNBC this morning and watched the blatant manipulation coming from Thomas Roberts, a generally likeable news host but he is still a puppet for the MSNBC agenda. It was the same old trick, focusing primarily on the national polls and declaring the race a toss up, cherry picking the only and Repub-financed poll showing Romney tied with Obama in PA, proclaiming that Obama’s 6 point lead in OH is insignificant and promoting that Romney has momentum Obama has to overcome.
Really? Even at this point when the swing state polls show a solid and unchanging Obama lead, corporate news factories have no reservation about trying to spin the race as a toss up? When the data says the exact opposite thing? This is not to say that news channels should be declaring Obama the likely winner, just that they should be accurately reporting that a preponderance of polls (not a cherry-picked outlier) reflect an Obama advantage in swing states. Now how hard is that? Reporting facts instead of horse race propaganda? I know, very difficult for them.
We’ve spent this entire election cycle recognizing more and more how dishonest Mitt Romney is…and at the same time, we have seen the same in our mainstream media. My question is, can we vote against them too?
It seems unpatriotic and a slap in the Founders’ faces, who saw the press as the last and dependable safety net for democracy. If all other branches of government failed the people, they would always have the protected speech of the press to stand up for them and protect them. Of course, back in those unenlightened days, none of the Founders recognized that corporations were people and that the press would become another corporate product like Double Stuff Oreos or Colon Cleanse (a recommended combo).
Here we are in 21st Century America where the press is held in the hands of five greed-driven corporations and instead of reporting news, they are in the business of manipulating and twisting news in order to most benefit their corporate profits. This is of course not “news” to many folks but it is constructive to remind ourselves about the nature of our corporately-owned media on occasion so that we don’t begin to take for granted this betrayal of the intent behind the 1st Amendment.
So, keeping in mind that today is the MSM’s bachelor party for propaganda, their last chance to go wild and have irresponsible intercourse with the public, it may be a good day to stay away from these crazed and desperate channels and spend the day with a good book…or ballot info.
The “MSM’s bachelor party for propoganda”. 🙂 Excellent line. I managed to avoid television and radio nearly all day today. I watched about 20 minutes this morning and everyone I watched seemed nearly manic. It was revolting.
AdLib, I watch MSM and then I get on here and read to see if I should be anxious or a little calmer. (Bito usually calms me) I won’t relax completely until tomorrow night. However, Current doesn’t play the dramatics as much. They do say it isn’t a done deal until tomorrow but they are more honest on the polls and love to give the odds in Vegas of 70% Obama.
Watch election night on the BBC for an hour or so Sally, its very calming.
First you are 1000% right with your observation. Even Mr. Sure Thing (Lawrence O’Donnell) broke from his normal braggadocio that Obama was a lock this election. But not counting O’Donnell’s cynical flip flop, I think some MSNBC folks are doing the president a favor for calling it so close to be honest. It’s much better than spreading the Nate Silver 90%+ lock line I see on Twitter which will just make some people complacent I fear.
I may be one of those people that needs to enter an election proof bubble. My distractions of choice are audio books and old time radio shows. Maybe I’ll do a self CBS Radio Mystery Theater marathon since they did so many and I even get to hear old reports about Watergate when we had a real media sprinkled throughout the shows.
KQ, we always want to make sure people get out to vote and not think it is a done deal. Not YET! Vote! VOTE!
In the end, yes, it’s good that Obama voters are aware of how important their votes are tomorrow but I really don’t think deceiving the public is necessary to get that message across and the MSNBC machine has been doing just that.
CBS Radio Mystery Theater sounds like a lot of fun! Great alternative to the corporate pundit blather!
AdLib, I wrote a few lines in TO/OT about the 6 point Ohio poll and that it was an NBC sponsored poll. I had even posted a link to it last night about it being a major poll. But likie you said when Ohio poll was reported this morning, they didn’t even use their own poll! Instead they reported Ohio using another poll showing that is was virtually tied/within the margin that Obama only led by two.
Gotta milk it to the last second.
A word about Romney’s lies.
I do remember some of the discussions we had about them in the very beginning of his campaign and some saying “Oh, it’s way too early to say much about his lies, people will forget it/them come November, and I remember some saying we have to keep reminding people or it has set the doubt in their minds that’s he’s dishonest.
Lucky for all of us, whichever side of the argument, Ole Mitt just obliged us by telling a new lie, prevarication or misleading one almost daily, he just couldn’t stop giving.
And while the Dems have run a very good campaign, I can’t but thank Mitt for starting and then closing his campaign with lies. His biggest gift may have been his last one about Jeep, Chrysler, dem Italians and GM closing in the us and shipping everything to China. It ended up being one lie too many.
Had the media done a better job reporting his whoppers, it may not have been needed.
I have no idea how many more presidential campaigns I will see in my life, but his lie, then doubling,tripling, down on it will be one blunder I won’t forget.
One more day GOTV!
Bito, yes, saw your post on the Ohio poll and as you say, which is the only poll that MSNBC talked about? The poll from a local OH university??? Because it was the only one showing a 2 point Obama lead.
What tools.
Yes, Romney’s aggressive lying has been a bit of a surprise but a welcome one. His Jeep lie appears to be the one that broke the camel’s back, EVERYONE turned on him as a liar for that one…with just days before the election.
Perfect.
With the economy and unemployment still tough and with racism decreasing the available voter base for Obama, the fact that he is so likely to win is pretty cool.
It is truly the Jetson treadmill, AdLib. And I think there is an answer to your question about whether or not we can vote against the MSM.
I think the answer is yes. We can drop cable.
It’s incredible how little there is on cable that cannot be found elsewhere. Online. In print.
I thought I was going to have a tremendous withdrawal period when I dumped cable. Not so. There are loads of movies on Netflix (and $7.99/month definitely beats the old cable bill), Hulu is fun, and lots of news is available via online streaming.
Meanwhile the MSM is getting next to $0 from me. And all those Koch ads? I don’t see ’em. (Unless they’re on patients’ TVs when I walk in the room at work.)
It’s a more peaceful world. I think my blood pressure may even be lower… In a world without FOX.
Very true, Kes. I rarely watch Fox but after Obama wins, I will just to watch the firework show of heads exploding.
That was one of my guilty pleasures in 2008 too.
I have cut way back on my news channel watching. MSNBC has made it easy with having so many annoying and unwatchable shows, just a few left that I watch.
CNN is moronic and nearly as dishonest and propagandizing as Fox so neither are watchable.
I look to The Planet and other sites that are trustworthy for the real scoop on what’s going on. Hope that more and more people turn off the corporate BS machine.
As you know, I hardly ever watch the TV and I only have two choices of international news, BBC World and CNN International, and there is no way I can watch CNN with all those idiots they ask to join them to give their worthless opinions. Will find a place to watch on my computer and keep what is left of my sanity after the clowns took over the circus. I even don’t plan to read too many stories and polls coming into my inbox today as I want to stay calm for tomorrow.
If I could have one wish right now, it would be to see Romney’s plastic face melting when he realizes that he has lost. After the deception and the thousands of lies throughout his dirty campaign, I want him to feel the pain from the consequences of his endless fraudulent bid for the WH. Roll on tomorrow and Wednesday. Nothing your msm have blathered about endlessly made any difference to me as I’m sure it didn’t to millions of voters over there, and when Obama wins, it will show just how dishonest and self-serving their reporting has been. I still don’t buy that the polling is close or ever really was, never have.
Kalima, I am looking forward to Mitt’s red-faced, smiling concession speech tomorrow night. Even more, I’m looking forward to the GOP civil war after this loss, the Baggers wailing on the GOP Elite who foisted Romney on them…this could be far more entertaining than Romney’s sickly grinning face when he concedes.
AdLib, I couldn’t agree more. I made the mistake of turning on Tamron Hall and had the same reaction. We know there are probably 20 polling companies doing their thing. She cherry picked the polls who showed Romney down by 2 points in Ohio, Wisconsin & PA. Really? I turned the TV off did my “domesticating” and then sat down at the computer. If only the MSM had a brain!
Sabreen, it’s kind of discouraging to see in such clarity what puppets these news personalities are of the corporate machine. I like Tamron, I think she usually does a very good job as does Roberts but they are in the end subservient to their corporate employer’s greed-first agenda.
Instead of watching the news today, I trained my yak to fetch me a cup of coffee…a productive day if I do say so myself.