I am getting old.
I’ll be 56 in January and I realize that the days behind me are beginning to far outnumber the days before me. I have lived a lot of history in those years and have seen just about everything in politics imaginable; huge upsets, the triumph and fall of conservatism, a presidential resignation, culture wars - exciting times to have lived.
But I will never understand this:
Van Jones was one of the good guys. A really, really good guy. He used his education and his passion to combat police brutality and the massive, wasteful incarceration of so many of this nation’s young, brown people. Having fought in the trenches for so long, he saw an opportunity to build hope and jobs and tangible communities as the world responds to the climate crisis. He connected the dots and inspired action and had a vision. He was the rare outsider who got a chance to move inside, and move he did.
This same blogger referred to health care opponents as “psychological terrorists.”
The way that some on the left bandy about the word “terrorists,” it sincerely makes me wish that they would demonstrate equal fervor in combating the real thing. Imagine if those who refer to conservatives as “terrorists” in any context would renounce the idea that the “War on Terror” is a made up political gambit of the Bush Administration and support the idea of stopping these fanatics before they attack us. As it stands now, we are geared to respond to terrorism after the fact - a very uncomfortable position to be in when one recalls we live in a world where the day is close at hand when using a weapon of mass destruction in a terrorist attack will be realized.
And then there’s this from Keith Olberman:
I don’t know why I’ve got this phrasing in my head, but: Find everything you can about Glenn Beck, Stu Burguiere, and Roger Ailes.
No, even now, I refuse to go all caps.
No, sending me links to the last two Countdowns with my own de-constructions of his biblical vision quality Communist/Fascist/Socialist/Zimbalist art at Rockefeller Center (where, curiously, he works, Comrade) doesn’t count. Nor does sending me links to specious inappropriate point-underscoring prove-you’re-innocent made-up rumors.
Tuesday we will expand this to the television audience and have a dedicated email address to accept leads, tips, contacts, on Beck, his radio producer Burguiere, and the chief of his tv enablers, Ailes (even though Ailes’ power was desperately undercut when he failed to pull off his phony “truce” push).
This is more understandable considering the source. Olbermann enjoys frolicking in the sewer of American politics. He and Larry Flynt should start a mutual admiration society.
And what in God’s name is Jane Hamsher so riled up about?
Now he’s been thrown under the bus by the White House for signing his name to a petition expressing something that 35% of all Democrats believed as of 2007 — that George Bush knew in advance about the attacks of 9/11. Well, that and calling Republicans “assholes.” I’m pretty sure that if you search through the histories of every single liberal leader at the CAF dinner that night, they have publicly said that and worse.
So where are all the statements defending Van Jones by those who were willing to exploit him when it served their purpose? Why aren’t they standing up and defending one of their own, who has done nothing that probably the majority of people in the Democratic party haven’t done at one time or another? Is he no longer “one of their own?”
Let me get this straight: It’s ok for Van Jones to be a Truther nut because 35% of the Democratic party are Truther nuts? Holy Jesus, save me from the logic of liberals.
What has me so perplexed this morning is that these liberals and other Democrats are upset that this racist conspiracy mongering Truther is out of a responsible position in government.
It just absolutely boggles my mind that these and most other Democrats have no problem with a guy who is an admitted Communist (”Former” communist? Would that be anything like a “former” racist like Strom Thurmond, Trent Lott, and other conservatives?), a man who pushed the conspiracy theory that white people want to deliberately murder black people by degrading the environment in the ghetto, who supports the cop-killer Mumia, and who signed a 9/11 Truther petition, claiming he didn’t know what he was signing thus making him a liar or an idiot.
They are defending this crackpot?
I don’t see how anyone can rationalize support for someone that the overwhelming majority of American people would agree is unfit to serve in any capacity in government. Forget Glenn Beck and Fox News. This guy was hoisted on his own petard of far left, radical statements and beliefs. For me, it had nothing to do with calling Republicans “a-holes.” I refer to many GOP’ers in such colorful language frequently.” But I draw the line at those who see shadows in the mist around every corner in America. There is no place in government for those whose minds have been captured by paranoid conspiracy theories. Such thinking colors everything else they believe and as such, interferes with sound judgment - a prerequisite for serving the people.
The Jones fiasco highlights how “movement liberalism” is so out of touch with ordinary people - treating those of us in flyover country with such nauseating contempt - that they are totally blind to the sensibilities of the majority.
The American people tolerate a lot in their politicians - in both parties. But they will not put up with conspiracy mongering communists. That’s a bridge too far and Obama and the left should have realized that before putting Jones up for such a prominent position in government.
8:36 am
I can understand the outrage of Keith Olberman, Van Jones was the most important member of the Obama Administration, after Obama himself, … NOT.
You’d think with ObamaCare and the rest of the Obama agenda in their death throws that Keith Olberman would have “bigger fish to fry” … but he does have his priorities, as warped as they may be.
8:54 am
“I don’t see how anyone can rationalize support for someone that the overwhelming majority of American people would agree is unfit to serve in any capacity in government.”
I think this is precisely why they MUST defend Jones. While the overwhelming majority of the American people would agree Van Jones is entirely and quite obviously unfit to serve in any capacity in government, our President did not see that. Jones’ elevation to a powerful position in the White House, with control over a $30 billion budget of taxpayer money, illustrates such breathtaking poor judgment and incompetency on the part of Barack Obama that Jones simply must be defended, and the narrative must be changed so that his appointment by Obama appears to have been good judgment. The defense isn’t of Jones, per se, but of Obama and the increasing public perception that he simply does not know what he is doing.
10:49 am
I think something important vis-a-vis the national media may have happened here. The emperor has no clothes kind of moment.
Clearly this story was not covered by the MSM. It begs the question…why not? I think lots of folks, left, right, and center may be asking that question today.
Can’t wait for the answer.
11:30 am
I’ll give it a go.
A man that almost no one has heard of named Van Jones is appointed to a newly created administration position designed mainly to reach out to people who are intensely interested in Green issues.
Glenn Beck, a man lots of people have heard of, but only believed by people who are loony attacks the previously little known Van Jones painting him as more important to the Obama administration that the head of the CIA.
Jones who unwisely boasted of being a communist at some point in his academic career (as opposed to bhaving been an actual Marxist like David Horowitz), who signed a petition circulated by the Truthers, and who uttered to beyond the pale words that Republicans are a**holes quits.
Glenn Beck who is at the centr of your own crusade to save the Republican party from itself claims a victory and amps up his crazy even louder. Meeanwhile some liberals who dspair of allowing even a shaky membr of their team to be hounded in this way defend him.
Finally Van Jones, who was otherwise unknown to most of the public that supports Obama is only slightly less unknown but still pretty much unknown and unremarkable for people mostly concerned with keeping their house and job.
That’s about it.
Too much Glen Beck. I don’t think Jones would have resigned if the man I referred to as a “kook” was on his case (Beck is not at the “center of my own crusade” to save the GOP nor is he outside some of the screwier base). Had to be more than that - much more.
Downplaying his importance is fascinating. That’s actually a good tactic - despite the fact that Valerie Jarrett herself and most of the lefty blogs were gushing about him and how vital it was for the promotion of “green jobs.” “He’s a nutter but he’s not that important and besides, this is a - wait for it - DISTRACTION!!!!” If this were truly the case, one would have to admire liberals who for 8 years of Bush were constantly being “distracted” by personnel and issues like this. Then, it was vital to the republic. Now? Not so much.
Still haven’t addressed the major issue I would sincerely like answered; was this guy fit to work in the White House? Did anything in his past - anything at all - disqualify him?
ed.
1:27 pm
BTW, could someone please tell me what it is Keith Olbermann has done that is so offensive?
He’s spent the last five years or so making the case about Michelle Bachmann, Glenn Beck, Hannity, the militia nuts, Switftboaters, and birthers being illustrative of the paranoia you’ve now decided is not good for the GOP.
I’ve rarely found his Worst Person in the World to not be deserving of the title and his running feud with O’Reilly might be a little old.
So what exactly is the deal that you’d put him in the league as Glenn Beck.
1:27 pm
As others have written elsewhere, Van Jones’ beliefs were a feature and not a bug with this Administration. Now, Obama isn’t a conspiracy-mongering Marxist. Yet his first reaction to Gates was that the white cop had to be at fault; the president has spoken repeatedly of returning this nation’s wealth to its “rightful owners;” Van Jones’ beliefs are in sync with William Ayers and a certain radical priest; and on and on. As pointed by Anon, Van Jones had to be defended by the Left, because failure to do so would call into question Obama’s own Van Jones-lite beliefs.
You asked the wrong question. Obviously Jones was unfit if mainstream America is the standard. The larger question is whether someone who accepts his worldview watered down is fit. Van Jones merely is a symptom of what ails this Administration and the Left. Loons though they may be, Olbermann and Hamsher are correct that Van Jones represents what the modern left-wing and more than a third of Democrats believe these days.
Finally, thank God for Beck and FOX. Without both of them, Van Jones likely still would be in a position highly questionable in and of itself, deciding how to undermine this nation’s economy and redistribute its wealth under the guise of enviornmentalism.
1:38 pm
Rb:
“BTW, could someone please tell me what it is Keith Olbermann has done that is so offensive?”
Let’s start with a three-word phrase: “Cheney’s death squads.”
Others can supply several hundred more examples if they want to wast the time.
1:54 pm
“It’s ok for Van Jones to be a Truther nut because 35% of the Democratic party are Truther nuts? Holy Jesus, save me from the logic of liberals.”
I’m not defending Van Jones . . . but as a Republican, how can you make the above statement without laughing at yourself?
The fact that Olbermann and Hamsher, two extreme voices, take up this position makes it the opinion of “liberals”? So its fair to say Beck and Limbaugh are the voice of “Conservatives”, right?
You couch your post with “yeah, both barties have nuts . . . but boy those Liberals are insane”. Gosh, how even-handed of you.
You made it a point how important it was to get Van Jones out of power (all of the awesome power that he had as, what, the “Green Czar”?) because of his nutniess. But Republican government officials who are birthers/truthers/tenthers/SocialistTakeovers . . . well, they’re wrong and that’s sad, but anyway, how ’bout them liberals? They sure are crazy. Crazy, crazy Liberals. There’s parts of the Republican Party that are crazy, but Liberals are nuts thru and thru.
Overgeneralization makes your reasoned opinions partisan hackery, and you know it. It diminishes your voice, in the same way it diminishes Olberman and Hamsher (who attack “Liberals” in the same vein, if not more stringently, as you do Conservative whack-a-doodles).
Both of them are partisan. Hamsher makes absolutely no bones about it. Olberman tries to straddle the partisan fence and generally fails. You’re better than them, or at least have the potential to be.
1:55 pm
For me Van Jones stands for a lot of what went wrong in the black community starting at the end of the sixties. Strange as it may see to some of you, I don’t think this is a partisan issue but an American issue. Opinions like his are commonplace in for example Detroit (I know that because I used to live there for some time; and not in the suburbs). So why are there so many black men locked up, so many kids born out of wedlock? Somehow the black community lost their moral compass back then and it is easy to say that is because of liberal enablers and welfare etc. Sure that is part of the story. However, conservatives are also a little bit to blame since they played the race card in the sixties and seventies e.g. Nixon’s Southern strategy, anti busing that left blacks with little alternative but the Democratic party.
Of course he is unfit and I’m glad he resigned but the ‘outrage’ on both sides is also telling about deeper issues at play.
2:15 pm
The wording may sound dramatic, but some very reasonable people do have a problem with independent contractors being hired by the CIA to carry out assassinations of Al-Queda members.
Not because Al-Queda are good guys but because if the government deems the information credible and they are sure they are killing the right people then it should be our duly sworn agents pulling the trigger, not members of Blackwater doing the job so they can be held accountable if there are avoidable civilian casualties.
As we can see from recent events in Afghanistan where perhaps hundreds of civilians were killed in attacks that were carried in in violation of the rules of procedure laid down to our forces: using a single source of intelligence.
If you’re going to kill people make sure it’s the right people and take as few non-combatants with them as can be avoided.
Sounds like a pretty non-hysterical interpretation of that issue.
Next.
4:23 pm
Tell me, Rick, would it have caused your head to explode to give a little credit to Beck and another blogger, Jim Hoft of Gateway Pundit, both who did yoeman’s work in exposing Van Jones for the radical nut case he is?
You may not like Beck’s methods (fair) but he did what no one else seemed able to accomplish; exposing a radical, racist communist in the current admnistration that had access to $30 BILLION in directing money toward “green” jobs. Beck created public outcry, and hopefully he will now concentrate on those like Sunstein, Holdren and Ezekial Emanual, all who have access to the President’s ear.
This was an article on the left’s reaction to Jones leaving. If you want to write something about Beck, I suggest you get your own blog and do so. Do not come here and tell me what to write on mine.
ed.
5:38 pm
You’re right, Rick. You are getting old. Me, I’ll only be 52 in October. But that’s not why your head is exploding. You’re trying to apply logic and reason to liberal thought. That’s like trying to push a rope. You know better.
Just be glad that this is the opposition. Be glad that they think Jones is a good guy. (oops, I said think, I meant “feel”, we all know liberals don’t think)Be glad they don’t know a terrorist from a gay pride parade, or that they think Bush flew the planes into the WTC. Be glad that Keith Olberman…well, just be glad he’s on their side. If the “enemy” is intent on self destruction, then by all means, get out of their way!
5:44 pm
A comforting thought I am sure.
There will now be hue and cry over Jones, breathless cries of how disaster was just averted through Glenn Beck risking life and limb to bring down the Green Jobs Czar and I am sure it will figure prominently in the plot of next season’s 24.
On our side of the aisle not many people really give a damn and those that do have other a lot bigger fish to fry so that this will not even make it to the end of this week as a hot issue.
6:12 pm
Rick, I see that age has not improved you attitude toward those that might question your authority. Perhaps if you wanted the entry to be simply about the reaction of the left, you should have left out the line “Forget Glen Beck and Fox News”.
What a shame that you cannot bring yourself to give credit where credit is due.
6:52 pm
Even a stopped analog clock is right twice a day.
7:32 pm
Rick, you answered your own question when you said: “…“movement liberalism” is so out of touch with ordinary people - treating those of us in flyover country with such nauseating contempt - that they are totally blind to the sensibilities of the majority.”
That’s how BO could insult “bitter clingers”, “typical whites”, etc. That’s how just a few days ago, Rep. Baron Hill (D-IN) could say to his constituents: “This is my town hall meeting, I set the rules.”
These little men are elitist snobs who believe that they simply know better than we what is good for us. They also believe that we won’t notice that all major government programs (Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Amtrak, the Post Office) are broke, and that we don’t understand that this will happen with health care/insurance “reform” as well. A pox on all of them!
3:55 am
Rick says:
“There is no place in government for those whose minds have been captured by paranoid conspiracy theories.”
I agree…All republican “birthers” in Congress should resign.
6:46 am
A big part of this flight from logic goes back to what the left expected from last year’s election. Basically, they expected conservatism to die, or at the very least fade away like the Whigs or become no more of a political factor during the Obama Administration than your average LaRouchite. What’s happened this summer was not in the playbook 10 months ago.
Second is Beck’s role in this. Having listened to him on radio a decade ago desperately trying to invent a persona that could make a mark on the national stage before finally hitting on the “Howard Beale Lite with a Wacky Sense of Humor” style in the early part of this decade, it wouldn’t surprise me if Beck manages to flame out in the Morton Downey Jr., style sometime in the future. But in the Van Jones situation he got this one right, even if the most damning evidence involving the 9/11 Truther petition was dug up not by Beck, but by Jim Hoft.
For someone like Olbermann, who has gone to bed for at least the last six years dreaming of doing a story that forced Bush, Cheney or others in that administration to resign and/or being indicted, the idea that Beck would do it just nine months after joining Fox is maddening, especially since he and others on the left and been portraying Beck as a fool — hate-filled, but a fool. No wonder he’s acting like Herbert Lom’s Chief Inspector Dreyfus reacting to Peter Sellers’ Inspector Clouseau solving another crime.
8:39 am
Um… you will never understand this? The quote is not a lie, Jones really did that. You highlighted the exact reason why Jones was given the role he had in the administration. Now, as we all know, he also signed onto the Truther conspiracy theory. I can’t defend that, it’s stupid and shows lack of judgment. The passion that drove him to do some good work is obviously derived from a poisoned well… it’s sad.
It’s not my business to defend Olberman or Hamsher, either. I sure don’t expect you to defend everything that every conservative says.
Finally.. .I know that the Republican party is trying to make “socialist” into an epithet, but aren’t we past the Red Menace days? Equating Communism with the form of totalitarianism practised in China and Russia is an easy way to brush over a complicated topic. Western European economies have been informed by Marx’s economic theories for decades now… when I last checked, I could not find any totalitarian regimes there. Whereas Russia is the same thug-ocracy it was in Imperial times, and in Communist times.
9:56 am
“BTW, could someone please tell me what it is Keith Olbermann has done that is so offensive?”
Other than being a venomous, sick, twisted liar and Goebbels-imitating shrill hatemongering propagandist? Every “worst person” he does is about some one more decent, honorable and honest than him.
And he’s a creep in real life too.
other than than? oh I dunno ..
Try Newsbusters.org.
10:05 am
Admittedly, Van Jones was not qualified for this position. So be it. As has been noted, it’s not the be-all, end-all of anything. Literally, anything.
But there’s this thing called “actual journalism” and sometimes they write about stuff. Stuff like Van Jones. And it’s not just a bunch of bilious idiots yelling, or rehashings of opinions about opinions about watered-down facts. It’s more nuanced, and more reasonable.
No doubt, I will offer this article, and everyone will seize upon certain quotes and passages as evidence of why Van Jones was not qualified for the job. I repeat: he was not. But let’s at least try to understand a little instead of knee-jerking ourselves completely out of the grey realm of subtlety and contradiction - such stuff as reality is made on.
If that’s possible.
http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2009/01/12/090112fa_fact_kolbert?currentPage=1
10:16 am
It is obvious that Americans are never going to be told the truth about the macinations of D.C. and it has now been left up to the bloggers to ferret out the truth.
Bloggers are doing the work that the MSM has historically been responsible for. Just like the [quiet] news that broke yesterday that the Orange County Register (a left leaning publication) had gone under because of $425 million debt. Who holds most of that debt? JP Morgan/Chase who has agreed to forgive what OCR owes them. But remember, JPMC got $25 BILLION in taxpayer bailouts so really, the American taxpayer just bailed out OCR. Who in the administration approved the forgiving of that debt? And why is JPM/C being allowed to replace management at the OCR? That had to be approved by this administration, but remember, JPM/C was one of Obama’s largest campaign contributors.
Would we know these things if it were not for the bloggers? No. And the best way to keep us informed is for the blogs to work together. That was the point I was trying to make.
11:23 am
And yet you provide no examples to justify your over the top spew. What exactly has he said that qualifies comparing he to Goebbels. And he’s mongered hate, it what way?
12:48 pm
Van Jones is an interesting man. He has succeeded using American shame and guilt. He was provided a great education and turned on the very country that provided his education. The fact that the Democrats have turned hard left this election is no different from the right turns hard at various times. The fact that Van Jones would be held in high esteem by the media and the liberals is no surprise. He is articulate, educated and rationalizes everything against American, white members of the society, and Christianity. Van Jones is a young black man who can entertain his audience and have his messages of hate and bias received with applause and praise.
The fact he is a self proclaimed communist is not germane. The fact his represents the black movement of hatred and bigotry against other races primarily white is not germane. It is the self proclaiming of the overthrow of the US government which is against the law that has made several individuals and citizens pause to ask “How did this man get this job?” His “Green” knowledge is one of stating that the white society has poison the earth and other races in America. Green jobs are for the union workers and members of the new wave.
The fact that Van Jones represents the essences of the Obama Administration is what truly frightens Americans.
5:55 pm
I would suggest that the core reason why you hear such vociferous protests from the left about the right on this issuesis that they’re more pissed off at the President but don’t feel at liberty to openly and loudly express that.
9:37 am
“Other than being a venomous, sick, twisted liar and Goebbels-imitating shrill hatemongering propagandist? ”
And yet you provide no examples to justify your over the top spew.”
As if one needs examples to explain how blue the sky is …
Drops in the ocean of Olbie sock-puppetry, dishonesty and propaganda …
Olbermanns’ Modus Operandi …
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2009/08/olbermann_celeb.php
“… sure enough he marked his return today by lifting a story from a blue blog, reporting it as fact without bothering to check, and then embellishing it with his own brand of reckless demagoguery. In other words, Another Olbermann Lie.”
Olbermann the model of a liar:
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2007/03/olbermann_the_m.php
Olbermann doctors words:
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2007/05/keith_olbermann_45.php
Top Ten Olbermann lies from 2007:
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2007/12/keith_olbermann_71.php#more
Blatant spinning in reverse:
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2009/08/keith_olbermann_105.php
Keith Olbermann on the subject of veterans’ health care, July 26 2007:
OLBERMANN: The outrageous treatment of our injured vets.
GEORGE W BUSH: We owe our wounded soldier the very best care and the very best benefits and the very easiest to understand system.
OLBERMANN: Too bad they’re not getting it….the embarrassing news stories of shameful medical treatment and crumbling facilities for badly wounded war veterans…It has gotten so bad that this week two veterans groups sued the government over how it treats injured vets, especially those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder…. One lawsuit claims that the VA has a backlog of 600,000 disability claims….
vs Keith Olbermann on the subject of veteran’s health care tonight, August 17 2009:
OLBERMANN: Today the President addressed veterans, a segment of the population that already receives public health care, and superlative health care at that….the President promising the vets that their excellent government provided benefits will not change.
Hmmm.
9:40 am
“Other than being a venomous, sick, twisted liar and Goebbels-imitating shrill hatemongering propagandist? ”
And yet you provide no examples to justify your over the top spew.”
As if one needs examples to explain how blue the sky is … olbermannwatch.com give daily evidence of his unhinged phony rantings. One drop in the ocean of Olbie sock-puppetry, dishonesty and propaganda … him blatant spinning in reverse:
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2009/08/keith_olbermann_105.php
Keith Olbermann on the subject of veterans’ health care, July 26 2007:
OLBERMANN: The outrageous treatment of our injured vets.
GEORGE W BUSH: We owe our wounded soldier the very best care and the very best benefits and the very easiest to understand system.
OLBERMANN: Too bad they’re not getting it….the embarrassing news stories of shameful medical treatment and crumbling facilities for badly wounded war veterans…It has gotten so bad that this week two veterans groups sued the government over how it treats injured vets, especially those suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder…. One lawsuit claims that the VA has a backlog of 600,000 disability claims….
vs Keith Olbermann on the subject of veteran’s health care tonight, August 17 2009:
OLBERMANN: Today the President addressed veterans, a segment of the population that already receives public health care, and superlative health care at that….the President promising the vets that their excellent government provided benefits will not change.
Hmmm.
9:50 am
The comment filter prevents me from giving multiple links per comment, quite insufficient for the “Olbermann is a liar” case… Here are top 10 lies from 2007… which actually links to dozens of lies.
You could fill volumes on Oblie’s distortions, lies, lifting of leftwing blogger rant-memes, and assorted acts of jounralistic malpractice. A sample:
http://www.olbermannwatch.com/archives/2007/12/keith_olbermann_71.php#more
#5 - As quickly as Herr Olbermann will rush to attack other broadcasters, he is oh-so-careful not to upset his corporate masters at A-Mess-NBC. He’ll broadcast flat-out fabrications, like claiming Rudy Giuliani’s Presidential campaign is being run by–get ready for this–Fox’s Roger Ailes. He’ll even lie about the contents of a competitor’s blog. But our #5 entry shows Keith “Man on Fan” Olbermann at his most desperate. So eager was he to protect a possible NBC hire (Rosie O’Donnell) he doctored her words (sound familiar?) to claim she never compared US troops to terrorists. Then he blamed “Fox Noise”–another lie to protect his own sorry butt, since the people who accused Rosie of the troops/terrorism comparison were Joe Scarborough, Chris Matthews, and Howard Fineman–not on Fox, but on MSNBC!
10:03 am
“But in the Van Jones situation he [Beck] got this one right, even if the most damning evidence involving the 9/11 Truther petition was dug up not by Beck, but by Jim Hoft.”
The Liberal Main-stream Media has created Rush. But not giving balance, they opened the door for a conservative POV take on the news to be hugely successful. The lame liberals fail to notice that half of Rush’s show is Rush reading from the MSM and giving his take on it, media critique, and half of his show is letting audience chime in.
The Liberal “mainstream” Media has created Beck. The bloggers up-ended Rather for his journalistic errors, errors rooted in bias and hubris. Since then, the liberal MSM continued in the liberal narrative mode to IGNORE REAL STORIES THAT HURT LIBERALS while pushing FAKE stories that hurt Republicans. The MSM failure to vet Obama’s background (can someone please show me the investigative journalism on Obama’s college records and grades?) failure to vet Obama’s nominees (it fell to conservatives to dig up Sotomayor’s statements) and appointees (New York Times AWOL on Van Jones), leaves a yawning GAP …
In the past, the gap created ignorance. In the new media era, the age of information abhors an information vacuum. This is partly why ‘birthers’ cropped up - a simple FAILURE BY THE LIBERAL MSM to actually care enough to ask Obama ‘hey, can we see the birth certificate you posted on your website?’ (someone tell me if any of the journalists were the least bit curious); it was left to bloggers to find newspaper birth announcements, etc.
And this is why Beck is successful and will continue to be successful. The NYT narrative and credibility is shot. Beck has a different narrative and fills a niche now - telling us the stuff about Obama’s admin that the liberal MSM is afraid to admit.
WashPost on Van Jones vs their distorting of