Last week, as the prospect of a federal government shutdown loomed as reality, the President of the United States told the media that he would “not negotiate” with “house burners.” And with that, the American mainstream media threw away their longstanding belief in “civil bipartisan compromise” in order to stand with Obama.
Since then, the GOP have passed two bills to avert a shutdown, both Senate Democrats and Obama have refused to offer a compromise, and now the media are attempting to make the GOP look like the crazies and the Democrats and Obama look like statesman.
Newest updates at the top, all times Eastern. Send tip to @NolteNC or jnolte@breitbart.com.
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8:45 – New Shutdown Poll Not the Numbers Obama/Media Hoped For
Bad news for everyone in a new CBS News shutdown poll is bad news for the media and Democrats.
These are not the numbers Obama/Media hoped for. It is not 1995, folks:
When the government shut down back in November 1995, 51 percent of Americans blamed the Republicans in Congress, while 28 blamed President Bill Clinton.
And what are those numbers today? 44% blame GOP, 35% blame Obama, and 17% blame both.
What we have today is a 9-point difference compared to a 23-point difference. And when you add up the 17%, both are over 50.
8:30 — BREAKING : Media Stops Caring About Kids with Cancer
In an extraordinary turnaround in just one day, the media seem to have stopped caring about kids with cancer.
Just yesterday, the story of children unable to get experimental cancer treatments from the National Institute of Health due to the shutdown was all over the media. Today, I have hardly heard a peep about these same sick children.
What happened between yesterday and today is that theGOP agreed to fund the NIH and give these kids the treatments they need. But Obama threatened a veto. So it is reallyObama’s fault that these kids are not getting treatment today, not theGOP’s. And…
…the media just aren’t going to continue a Narrative that will now hurt Obama.
Hopefully, the parents of these children understand that the media is no longer care about their children because to do so would now damage Obama. And to our media, advocating for sick children just isn’t worth hurting Obama.
October 2, 2013
4:51 – How Insane Is Media Bias During Shutdown? This Biased:
Today…
1. The President of the United States blocked aged WWII veterans from entering an open-air memorial even though the White House knew they were flying in from all over the country. This memorial is normally open 24/7.
2. Harry Reid dismissed kids sick with cancer.
3. President Obama tried to spook the stock market.
…and the media is going to let the Obama and Democrats get away will ALL OF IT.
4:42 – CNN Buries Their Own Reid Scoop In ‘Clash with Reporter’ Story
It was easy to predict that CNN would bury their own scoop. What Reid said could too easily change the shutdown debate and turn it against Democrats. So, like the Washington Post, CNN lets Reid off the hook by angling Reid dismissing kids with cancer as a “clash with reporter” story.
Reid gets fiery over question about shutdown’s effect on clinical trials for kids
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid fired off over a question about whether the Democratic-controlled Senate would vote to restore funding for children undergoing clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health.
Media outlets like CNN put protecting Democrats above their own scoops.
4:21 – Chuck Todd Reports Obama Trying To Spook Markets
Is Obama really so desperate for a political win that he would try to spook the markets into tanking in order to strengthen his hand?
4:08pm – Washington Post Buries Reid Gaffe in ‘Clashes with Reporter’ Headline
The Washington Post went on a rampage against Mitt Romney over the 47% video, but Harry Reid saying “Why would we want to do that,” and comparing furloughed workers sitting at home to kids sick with cancer, is buried in a story about “clashing” with a reporter.
4:00 – Matt Yglesias: ‘Mistake for Dems to Block Mini-Appropriations’
Yglesias is a left-winger.
3:56 – Study: Media Coverage of Shutdown Is Left-Wing Bias on Steroids
If anyone is paying attention, the fact that 21 out of 21 media stories blamed the GOP for the shutdown, is not at all surprising. And this is why we have a shutdown. Why should Obama negotiate the government back into business when he knows the media has his back.
For this reason, the media are as responsible for this shutdown as anyone:
The nation’s big three news networks are falling right into place for President Obama and the Democrats, blaming the Republican Party for the government shut down by a whopping 21-0 story count.
According to a survey by the conservative media watchdog, the Media Research Center, in 39 stories during the two weeks leading up to the shutdown, CBS, ABC and NBC blamed the failure to cut a budget deal on the Republicans 21 times, both parties four times, and Democrats zero times. In 14 stories, nobody was to blame.
3:28 – CNN’s Dana Bash asks Rep. Steve Israel (D-NY) About NIH Funding
CNN’s Dana Bash is doing some great reporting today through the simple act of asking Democrats and Republicans equally tough questions.
Like she did Harry Reid, Bash asked Democrat Rep. Steve Israel about joining the GOP in funding the NIH to give kids with cancer the opportunity to benefit from clinical trials. Like Reid, Israel had no good answer other than treating everyone equally.
When Bash reminded Israel that an exception was made funding military pay, Israel danced around the question with talking points.
3:15 – Reid Attacks Reporter, Dismisses Kids with Cancer — Will Media Bury It?
As you can see here, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid not only attacked the intelligence of a CNN reporter, he dismissed the idea of compromising on a small part of the budget as not worth saving a child with cancer.
This is video gold. Were Reid a Republican this clip would define the 2013 shutdown.
Unfortunately, the media is going to bury it. Too toxic for Democrats and, along with Obama barricading WWII vets, a potential gamechanger.
Reid’s comments are Romney’s 47% video on steroids. But it will most likely be buried.
2:18 – Harry Reid on Saving One Child Through Funding NIH: “Why Would We Want to Do That?”
After Harry Reid asked “Why would we do that” after being asked about saving a child from cancer, Reid then questioned the intelligence of the questioner, CNN’s Dana Bash.
Full story here.
2:01 – CNN Unthinking Panic: ‘Risk of Outbreak of food borne illness up’ Due to shutdown.
When it comes to CNN, you get the sense that you are either watching the dumbest people on the planet or the most biased. Sometimes it’s a mixture of both.
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer just brought Brian Todd on to terrify us over the non-essential FDA food inspectors being furloughed. Brian was in a real panic. Doom and gloom and all that. And yet, with two adult brains in the room, neither Wolf nor Brian thought to wonder about the madness of classifying food inspectors as non-essential. After all, if “food borne illnesses” could increase with furloughed food inspectors (and Brian is pretty sure they will), aren’t they at least more essential than those guards putting barricades around the WWII memorial?
Moreover, neither of these rocket scientists asked why Obama’s White House chefs are essential but the American people’s food inspectors are not.
These guys are supposed to be journalists, but it was like watching two ten-year-olds discuss what their teacher told them about nuclear war.
1:19 – TX Congressman Explains Why CNN Anchor Lied to Viewers: ‘Essential Obama’ Employee’
Rep. Steve Stockman (R-TX) explains why CNN anchor Suzanne Malveaux refused to inform her viewers that the GOP have agreed to fund the National Institute of Health while Democrats are refusing:
12:55 — CNN Demagogues Clinical Trial Shutdowns Without Informing Viewers GOP Agreed to Fund Them
CNN’s rampage to win the shutdown debate for Barack Obama is resulting in hysterical demagoguery mixed with extraordinary lies of omission.
Suzanne Malveaux just hosted a segment about 200 children sick with cancer who were turned away from the National Institute of Health (NIH) due to the government shutdown.
What CNN refused to inform its viewers, though, is that the GOP have offered to fund the NIH without pre-conditions and that Democrats and Obama have refused to pass it.
Fact: Were it not for Obama and Democrats, these children could be receiving treatment today.
Laughably, Malveaux did mention that there was a bill out there to fund the NIH (the Republican bill), but she refused to tell her viewers that this is a GOP sponsored bill the Democrats have already threatened to veto.
Shocking propaganda at work here.
12:26 – CNN’s Carol Costello Rips Fox News
CNN’s Carol Costello ripped Fox News for describing the government shutdown as a slimdown. Costello then pretended to care about the government workers furloughed; and I say “pretend” because she has never expressed a moment of sympathy for the hundreds of thousands who have lost their insurance, doctors, hours, and jobs due to ObamaCare.
Fox News is correct about the term “slimdown,” and Costello’s use of furloughed workers to criticize them is nothing more than the kind of cheap, emotional blackmail we have seen from the left-wing CNN on issues ranging from gun control to immigration.
12:10 – VIDEO: CNN’s Creepy Use of Fourth Graders In Shutdown Politics
The video below is from CNN’s failing morning show, “New Day.” No comment is necessary other than the fact that the uniforms make this bizarre segment even more creepy.
When Chris Cuomo brings fourth graders together and asks them how they feel about ObamaCare costing hundreds of thousands their healthcare, doctors, hours, and jobs — I’ll be sure to let you know.
11:57 – CNN Reports The Obama Not Calling Meeting to Negotiate — So Photo-Op
CNN says Obama is bringing congressional leaders to the White House this afternoon to repeat his talking points about not negotiating.
So what we have here is a big photo-op hosted by a president who knows he doesn’t have to negotiate because the media have his back.
11:43 – Obama Agrees to Meet With Congress; New Media Reporting On WWII Vets Reason Why?
John Boehner has agreed to the meeting, which is scheduled for 5:30pm.
Why did Obama crack? Could it be that even though the media are willfully and collectively ignoring his bullying of World War II vets, the story is still getting out via New Media?
This is not 1995, folks. There are no longer 4 media outlets deciding what is and is not news. A few can no longer smother news inconvenient to their agenda.
11:31 – Why is Obama Bullying WWII Vets? Because He Knows The Media Will Let Him.
A healthy, thriving, honorable media is absolutely essential to the health of a democracy. But our media is diseased, and that is why Obama knows he can do something as indefensible and reprehensible as bullying WWII veterans.
In a country without a healthy media, tyranny thrives — and what Obama is doing to to our WWII vets today is an appalling act of petty tyranny that is only possible for the reasons Mark Halperin explained just two days ago: Obama knows the media have his back.
11:23 – Will Media Ask Obama Why WWI Memorial Is Open and WWII Memorial Is Closed?
Below is a photo of the WWI memorial, which is not being Barry-caded. And yet, knowing WWII vets are on their way to visit the WWII memorial, the White House found enough “necessary” workers to blockade that.
You would think that a Commander-In-Chief doing something as sleazy as using aging WWII veterans as political pawns might get some media traction. So far, no. Our media has neither the integrity nor the basic human decency to do anything that might undermine Obama in this fight — even stand up for our veterans.
11:13 – Report: Vets Storm the Barry-Cades, Enter WWII Memorial
11:06 – CNN Reports On Garbage Piling Up in DC; Does Not Report GOP Wants DC Funded
CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield showed her audience a photo of garbage piling up in DC as a consequence of the shutdown. She did not, though, inform her audience that the GOP has offered to fund DC with a limited CR and no strings attached.
11:00 — WWII Vets Arrive at Open-Air WWII Memorial Obama Demanded Be Closed
Media will either ignore this story or try to blame the GOP, even though there is no legitimate need to close an open-air memorial that is normally open 24/7. This is nothing more than Obama being spiteful and willing to use war veterans as pawns in his political game.
Sadly, our media are just as willing.
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10:37 – Media Ignore Obama’s War on World War II Vets
For some reason, the staff needed to keep an open-air World War II memorial open have been furloughed as not necessary. But the people needed to block an open-air World War II memorial from World War II vets flying in from all over the country, are necessary.
This picture was taken this morning at the DC World War II memorial. these are apparently “necessary” government workers blocking a memorial even though the government knows that vets in their 80s and 90s, who have been planning a visit for months, are coming today:
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Thus far the media have ignored this story and the news that the White House is behind this petty move and the news that closing this memorial is completely unnecessary. It is normally open 24/7 and apparently unmanned for most of those hours.
Obama is waging war against aging veterans out of pure spite, but the media won’t report this fact because they know the potential for a public backlash against Obama could upend their carefully crafted narrative.
October 1, 2013
5:13 – “Objective” CNN Reporters Dismiss GOP Offer to Fund Veterans, Parks
Steve King, Gloria Borger, and Wolf Blitzer all got together today to dimiss the GOP offer to fund parks and veterans.
Like I mentioned earlier, the media will downplay and memory-hole this offer because it is a good one and they do not want to move to a Narrative that blames Democrats and Obama for not funding these services.
If you want incontrovertible proof the media are more interested in punishing Republicans than ending the shutdown, this is it. Not that we were short on proof before.
4:28 – Relevant Shutdown Poll Media Will Ignore: NC’s Kay Hagan In Trouble
Senator Kay Hagan (D-NC) is one of the vulnerable Democrat senators up for re-election in 2014, and a new poll shows that she is in real trouble. Only 19% said she deserves to be re-elected and her approval rating has slipped to 32%.
This is the kind of poll that would get the media’s attention were the roles reversed. But Hagan is a DEMOCRAT on the same side as the media with respect to the shutdown. Therefore, a situation where Hagan is being forced to make a number of unpopular votes defending ObamaCare will not be allowed to become news.
But here in North Carolina, long after this shutdown drama has ebbed in the memory of voters, Hagan’s votes will be a major issue.
Chess, not checkers.
4:17 – White House, Dems Refuse to Fund Veterans, Parks
The GOP have formally offered to fund the parks and the Veterans Administration. Democrats and the White House have officially turned this offer down.
The media will make no effort to make the Democrats pay for not funding these institutions.
3:34 – Slate Gins Up Identity Politics’ Machine: Women Hit Hardest in Shutdown
With ABC News injecting race into shutdown politics (see directly below) it is time to further fire up the identity politics’ machine by bringing gender into the debate. Slate writes, “Seven Ways the Government Shutdown Will Hit Women Hardest.“
We have a good idea now of where the media narrative will be heading tomorrow. “Seven Ways” is just another way of saying “talking points.”
3:23 – ABC News Attacks GOP Shutdown Negotiators as “all white males”
Less than 20 minutes ago I asked if the mainstream media would become desperate enough to inject race into the shutdown politics. ABC News was good enough to answer that question with this attack on GOP negotiators as “all white males”:
3:12 – Look For Media to Memory-Hole GOP Offer to Fund Veterans, Parks
It was a good move for the GOP to offer to fund the national parks and the Veterans Administration. The Democrats are refusing to do this, which of course makes Democrats responsible for those shutdowns.
The media, though, will ignore the GOP offer to fund these areas of government. That way Republicans can still be blamed for easy photo-ops.
CNN is only interviewing Republicans who want to bash other Republicans. That’s just one way the media ensures news inconvenient to their narrative never really gets out.
3:04 Salon’s Joan Walsh Makes Feeble Attempt to Inject Race in Shutdown; Will Media Bite?
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Mainstream media narratives frequently percolate in the left-wing fever swamps of Salon, Daily Kos, MSNBC… An obviously desperate Joan Walsh just wrote a Salon article and launched a series of tweets claiming the shutdown is a racist act.
It is easy to laugh at Walsh, but this narrative will now jump to MSNBC (where Walsh frequently guests) and who-knows-where from there.
When the MSM gets desperate, heaven knows they have stopped to this level before.
2:56 – CNN Interviews Couple Who Can’t Marry at Grand Canyon
CNN’s Brook Baldwin interviewed a New Jersey Couple who have had to cancel their plans to get married at the Grand Canyon due to the shutdown.
As far as I know, CNN has never once interviewed a single one of the 180,000 Walgreens’ worker who lost their healthcare due to ObamaCare.
2:40 – CNN Finds Another Republican Eager to Bash GOP; Can’t Find Loyal Lawmakers?
Jon Huntsman, former GOP presidential candidate, is another in a long line of Republicans CNN has lined up to bash the GOP over the shutdown. By my count, CNN has thus far interviewed 6 GOP lawmakers in the same number of hours, all of whom are ready to cave on the shutdown or eager to trash their own party.
In that time I have not seen a single Republican guest ready to defend the GOP in this shutdown debate.
2:37 – Wall Street Climbs, Defies Narrative; So Media Collectively Ignore
Yesterday, as the market dipped, the media was all over the news; eager to blame the market drop on a likely shutdown and by extension the GOP.Today, though, the market is rebounding and getting almost no attention.
2:22 – NBC Reports Dems Oppose Funding Veterans and Parks
Why do Democrats hate Americans on vacation and veterans?
2:08 – CNN Only Interviewing Republican Lawmakers Who Trash the GOP
I’ve been monitoring CNN all day and for some reason the only Republican lawmakers CNN has interviewed over the past few hours are those ready to cave or those eager to bash the GOP.
Huh.
1:43 – Dana Bash Reports GOP Just Got Smart; Preparing to Fund Parks, DC Government
A genius move for the GOP would be to do what Senator Ted Cruz suggested yesterday and that is to piecemeal fund what are considered “vital services” affected by the shutdown. CNN’s Dana Bash reports that the GOP is currently putting together a package to fund the park system, veterans, and the DC government.
Like the move yesterday to ensure the military is paid, by doing this the GOP takes away the media’s primary talking points and photo-ops. The media are already cry-babying over the park service being shut down and elevator operators at the DC Capitol being laid off.
If the GOP makes this move, will the Democrats say no? Will Obama refuse to sign?
If they do, those heartbreaking photo-ops are now on them.
This is a genius chess move the GOP are planning. All along the media said Repubs have no endgame. Well, this could be it.
1:20 – CNN’s Blitzer Calls Obama’s Divisive, Partisan, Name-Calling Speech “Strong”
Obama just completed a 10-minute attack on the GOP that was vicious, divisive, and nothing close to the conciliatory language a leader would use as a way to resolve this crisis.
Wolf Blitzer’s first reaction was to describe the speech as “strong.”
“Objective analyst” Gloria Borger then vomited out the talking points blaming everything on the GOP being divided. After Newt Gingrich pointed out that legislation has been attached to continuing resolutions since Eisenhower and that Obama could offer opening the Keystone Pipeline or killing the medical device tax, Borger stood by her White House talking points that history and precedent don’t matter — Obama should not negotiate.
The White House must be thrilled that CNN would present Borger as objective as a way to fool the public into believing their position is objectively righteous.
12:53 – Newt Gingrich Forced to Debate CNN’s ‘Objective” Wolf Blitzer, Gloria Borger
Sometimes CNN accidentally shows its cards, and so does “objective analyst” Gloria Borger. It makes total sense to have Borger debate Gingrich over shutdown politics. She is a leftist. The only thing, though, is that Borger wears the phony mask of objectivity.
Gingrich was actually double-teamed when anchor Wolf Blitzer piled on.
Both Borger and Blitzer spewed nothing but talking points. Using facts, Gingrich calmly cleaned their clocks.
12:42 – Objective Politico: Obama Shows ‘Resolve and Strength‘ By Shutting Government
The left-wing Politico frequently becomes a satire of itself:
President Barack Obama started September in an agonizing, extended display of how little sway he had in Congress. He ended the month with a display of resolve and strength that could redefine his presidency,” say Politico writers Edward-Isaac Dovere and Reid J. Epstein. “All it took was a government shutdown.”
As Time’s Mark Halperin accidentally pointed out Monday, one of the reasons our government is shut down is because President Obama felt no pressure from the media to negotiate. He knew they had their back. Had the media been consistent in their long-held principle about “bipartisan compromise,” Obama might have come to the table and offered something the GOP could accept.
Last night on Twitter I predicted Politico would run a lead story Today about Obama getting his politico mojo back. I wasn’t far off. That doesn’t make me a genius. It is just that the left-wing Politico is laughably predictable.
12:41 – President Obama Will Make Another Statement In a Few Minutes
12:00 – Video: Glitches Force MSNBC to Give Up Signing Up for ObamaCare
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11:44 – CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield Only Interviews Repubs Who Trash Repubs
CNN anchor, Ashleigh Bashfield’s idea of presenting both sides is to bring on Ana Navarro and Olympia Snowe, two establishment Republicans, who make a living agreeing with the left-wing media. True to form, like trained seals, both lashed out at Ted Cruz, the Tea Party, and blamed their own for the shu
tdown.
11:33 – Two Facts That Prove Media Want Government Shutdown to Continue
1. The media are not pressuring Obama to negotiate, not even on the medical device tax or the illegal congressional ObamaCare exemption.
2. The media are not suggesting congress pass limited continuing resolutions that would fund vital services like flu shots. Instead, the media prefer to demagogue those issues just like the Democrats.
11:28 – NBC News Reporter: Who will ‘hold doors,’ ‘push elevator buttons’ for Congress!
If you were going to create a phony Twitter account to mock Kasie Hunt, it could never top this:
11:23 – Huffington Post Admits Media Biased Against GOP, Singles Out ABC News
Even so, it was hard to argue with the idea that the press coverage wasn’t favoring the GOP. Much of that was due to the fact that reporters like ABC’s Jeff Zeleny kept getting one particular kind of intelligence from their sources.
“if anyone’s going to blink first, most people think it’ll be Republicans,” Zeleny said on Tuesday’s “Good Morning America.” “The question, of course, is when.”
10:59 – Transcript of NBC’s Chuck Todd Manufactring Excuse for Obama’s Refusal to Negotiate
Tuesday on Morning Joe, NBC’s Chuck Todd made this excuse for President Obama refusal to negotiate with the GOP to avert a shutdown:
One of the complaints you hear from Republicans is, well the president won’t negotiate. Who is he supposed to negotiate with? John Boehner–if he’s not going to move a bill–he seems to be violating even the Hastert Rule, the majority of the majority. You talk to a lot of people watching Capitol Hill last night, and there were a majority of Republicans that would have just simply passed a three-week, four-week budget funding bill. This is a new rule, I guess. Maybe we’ll call it the Ted Cruz (R-TX) rule or the tea party rule or the Boehner rule, which is don’t go to the floor unless you have all of the votes in one party to get what you want”
This is not only untrue, it is jibberish. Were Obama to offer to kill the medical device tax and end his illegal ObamaCare exemption for Congress — the government would probably open for business tomorrow.
But Todd would rather make the rounds on morning TV misinforming Americans — as though the CEO of the American government is helpless to make an offer.
Last week, Chuck Todd believed quite strongly in “civil bipartisan compromise.” This week, Todd is spouting incoherent nonsense to defend a president who won’t negotiate with those he describes as “house burners.”
10:50 – Objective, Unbiased BuzzFeed Reporter Declares Daily News Cover Slamming Republicans ‘Perfect’
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You’ll be glad to know that someone is actually paying money for Coppins to write a book about the GOP.
10:28 – Video: CNN Describes GOP as ‘Kamikaze’
This is video from CNN’s Dana Bash yesterday. Just last week, this kind of language was unnaceptable from Fox News, the Tea Party, and the GOP.
10:11 – Media Won’t Talk About Damaging Votes Vulnerable Democrats are Taking
Because the media’s goal is to narrow-cast their programming to manufacture a reality that will terrify the GOP into caving (giving Obama a big win), the media are collectively covering up what 2014 will look like after the memory of this shutdown has long faded. Due to the shutdown, a number of vulnerable Democrats from Red States are and will be on record voting for ObamaCare, for exempting government employees from ObamaCare, and for the medical device tax.
The shutdown nonsense will fade. Those votes, however, will last forever.
The media want to convince the GOP that this is a game of checkers when in reality it can be a game of chess that costs some Democrats dearly.
10:05 – CNN Does Man On the Street Interviews Over Govt. Shutdown, Not OCare
CNN put Ted Rowlands on the street to express their disgust at Congress (note: not the president) over the government shutdown.
Thus far, CNN has interviewed no one having trouble with ObamaCare exchanges or who have lost their insurance, doctors, hours, or jobs due to ObamaCare.
9:37 – CNN Identifies Left-Wing Columnist Roger Simon as “Chief Political Correspondent”
Good heavens, there are few columnists as extreme and leftist as Politico’s Roger Simon. But as Simon railed against the GOP on Carol Costello’s CNN show, he was identified as a “Chief Political Correspondent,” as though he was simply offering objective analysis.
Simon viciously smeared the GOP as using food to win political battles, mean spirited, etc. Costello even went so far as to identify Simon’s column slamming Ted Cruz for selfish buffoonery as his “Politico piece.”
It was Simon who eventually had the decency to describe himself in a way CNN would not — as a columnist with opinions. But Simon never identified himself as a leftist and neither did CNN.
8:56 – WaPo: One way to ‘punish congress for shutdown”: “Line ’em up and Shoot ’em.”
Last week, when the media wanted immigration reform and gun control, they were all about “civil bipartisan compromise.” This week, the Washington Post is publishing “9 ways to punish congress for a shutdown” and under a picture of John Boehner is the suggestion, “Line ’em up and shoot ’em”
Hat tip: JWF. My piece here.
8:44 – Gallup Releases Inconvenient Poll Media Will Ignore
As I write this, the media have begun narrow-casting. The idea is to angle all of their coverage towards the GOP in the hopes of scaring them into capitulating to a president who refuses to negotiate.
The media did this with gun control and the sequester; the con is on, which means that any context is ignored that might undermine the narrative that the shutdown will be a disaster for the GOP. For example, this Gallup poll that shows the consequence of a shutdown will be minimal.
When the media use the ’95 shutdown as a way to fear-monger the right, the media lies by omission by ignoring this important context.
8:19 – CNN’s “New Day” Hosts Panel of “Real People” Affected by Shutdown
CNN’s failing morning show, New Day, hosted a panel of about eight “real people” who will be affected by the government shutdown.
ObamaCare launched today. CNN is not and never has hosted a panel of “real people” who have been victims of ObamaCare. No panel of those who have lost their insurance, doctors, hours or jobs.
A bureaucrat gets furloughed for a day and the media freaks out. Hundreds of thousands of working class people are victimized by ObamaCare and the media says nothing.
8:13 – Chuck Todd Tells America that Obama Simply ‘Can’t’ Negotiate
Well, now we know why Obama went golfing over the weekend: he knew big shots in the DC media like Chuck Todd would make the morning rounds for him and spew nonsense-propaganda like, “Obama can’t negotiate. He has no one to negotiate with. He can’t negotiate with John Boehner — the Speaker has no control over the GOP.”
Personally, I am mourning the loss of the Chuck Todd I have come to know and love — the Chuck Todd who just last week made a career of calling for “bipartisan compromise.”
Is there a pod under Chuck Todd’s bed?
SEPTEMBER 30
5:31 – Politico Wonders Why 2016 GOP Hopefuls Don’t ‘Sister Souljah’ Congress
As far as terribly one-sided coverage of the budget shutdown, the left-wing Politico is the only outlet competing with CNN.
The latest Politico propaganda wonders why the 2016 GOP presidential hopefuls haven’t stood up and blistered the GOP congress over the shutdown negotiations.
This is Politico’s way of pretending the GOP is to blame for the shutdown, as opposed to Democrats and a sitting president who refuses to negotiate. This is also Politico’s way of tarring our 2016 bench as extremist cowards.
I’ll let you know when Politico wonders why Hillary Clinton hasn’t “Sister Souljah’d” Obama and Senate Democrats for their harsh rhetoric and refusal to engage in “civil bipartisan compromise.”
5:12 – New CNN Spin: Pointless for Obama to Negotiate
After the president’s 11-minute Monday afternoon statement, CNN’s Gloria Borger said this is all on John Boehner, that there was nothing Obama could offer Boehner to stop a government shutdown.
Wolf Blitzer: [The President] just outlined what’s at stake for hundreds and hundreds of thousands of Americans out there. Is there any indication he’s about to make a phone call to John Boehner and say, “This is enough, let’s just resolve this”?
Gloria Borger: In a way there’s really nothing the president can offer John Boehner in the way of help. This is a decision John Boehner has to make as Speaker of the House. He has to decide if he is going to provide enough Republicans to go along with Democrats to pass the funding of the government without attaching something that would kill ObamaCare.
Borger is talking completely out of her hat here; making excuses for a president who refuses to negotiate, as though it doesn’t matter if the leader of our government gets involved in negotiations.
This is CNN at its worst, outright lying to its viewers with the ridiculous claim that it doesn’t even make sense for Obama to engage in negotiations.
4:40 – CNN Has Obama Upside Down: 44-53%
In a new CNN poll, the president is sitting at 44% approval, 53% disapprove. The approval rating for Congress sits at a terrible 10%.
So who has more to lose in this fight? With polls showing Obama only faring a little better in the potential blame game after a shutdown, it is most certainly him.
4:25 – Time Magazine Downgrades Heritage Foundation to “Once-Esteemed”
The media’s ongoing fury against anyone on the right who doesn’t play ball, especially when it comes to budget showdowns, now extends to the Heritage Foundation, a think tank that apparently got too involved in politics for writer Zeke Miller.
4:20 – Report: Obama to Sign Bill Paying Military In Event of Shutdown
According to media reports, Obama will make an announcement at 4:45pm. He will make a statement on the budget stalemate and sign a bill that will keep the military paid in the event of a shutdown.
4:03 – Watch Repub Rep Rip CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield: “Who’s Bidding Are You Doing?”
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This is how you handle a CNN anchor. Unfortunately the video cuts off before Banfield demagogues, and practically starts crying, over the fact that Congress still gets paid in the event of a shutdown, and the military doesn’t.
Rohrbacher hits her back by explaining that Congress also gets an ObamaCare exemption the rest of the country doesn’t, and Banfield doesn’t seem too upset about that.
3:48 – Photo of Ted Cruz Beneath Even MSNBC
MSNBC might be hard left, but how do serious NBC employees like Andrea Mitchell and Chuck Todd feel about this?
The photo does, though, show how frustrated MSNBC is with Cruz.
If Fox News did this with Obama it would be called racist.
3:28 – Only 34% of Independents Approve of Obama’s Budget Handling; 27% for Dems
We don’t hear the media talk much about the lauded Independent voter anymore. Problem is, they are not big fans of Obama and therefore no longer worth lauding. When it comes to handling the budget, Obama is in big trouble with a group the media once loved to hold up as all things wise and wonderful. Only 34% of Independents approve of the president’s handling of the budget.
Congress fares a little worse. Democrats, 27%; Republicans, 21% — but everyone already hates Congress. Obama is the one with something to lose here.
The media have been doing a great job talking about how poorly the GOP is polling. The media are much less interested in highlighting the trouble Democrats and Obama are in — which is why I am doing it.
3:22 — CNN’s Dana Bash Describes GOP as being on “Kamikaze” Mission
While interviewing a Republican Congressman, CNN’s Dana Bash asked if he was on a “kamikaze” mission. I have yet to hear Bash describe Obama’s and the Democrats’ non-negotiation position as anything derogatory, much less “kamikaze.”
Now the media are joining the White House in using terrorist-type language to describe the GOP.
3:16 – Media Silent as Reid Attacks Half the Country as Anarchists
After the Senate voted down the House CR proposal (effectively guaranteeing a government shutdown), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid attacked Republicans as “anarchists” and talked about our society being “Banana Republican.”
Thus far I have seen no one in media condemn the Majority Leader’s rhetoric or even ask if that kind of name-calling is “helpful.”
This is a major change in policy for a media that always pushes back against divisive, uncivil rhetoric … when it comes from the GOP.
3:07 – Only 41% Approve of Obama on Budget Negotiations; 34% for Democrats
Another poll, like the CNN poll released earlier today, that shows bad news for everyone in these budget negotiations. Only 41% approve of Obama’s handling. As far as congress, only 34% approve of Democrats, 26% of Republicans.
The media want you to believe that only the GOP is in trouble. The fact is that everyone is, and a draw is very bad news for Obama, who has the most to lose. Congressional approval ratings are already in the toilet. They can’t fall much further. Obama, however, can fall to lame duck status.
2:19 – Same CNN that Ignores ObamaCare Victims, Very Concerned with Victims of Shutdown
Once again CNN is broadcasting a package that focuses on the effect a shutdown could have on military veterans. As far as I know, CNN has never done any kind of package about or any interviews with victims of ObamaCare — a law that is costing hundreds of thousands there health care, doctors, hours, and jobs.
2:10 – CNN Congress “Dysfunctional,” Obama “Standing His Ground”
CNN’s Brook Baldwin described congress as “dysfunctional” within the context of the budget crisis. She never mentioned Obama, preferring instead to pretend his refusal to negotiate plays no role in this.
Just a few minutes later, CNN’s Jim Acosta described Obama’s refusal to negotiate as the president “standing his ground.” Meanwhile, the GOP never benefit from language obviously engineered to make Obama sound principled. Instead, Republicans are described by the media as obstructionists, dysfunctional, and held sway by extremists.
1:31 – Newt Gingrich Shuts Down Wolf Blitzer’s Shutdown Propaganda
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer continued to spew White House talking points and to rewrite the history of the ’95 shutdown. Blitzer insisted the 17 year-old shutdown hurt the GOP. Gingrich had to remind Blitzer that, even according to Nate Silver, there was no real electoral fallout for the GOP over the shutdown. Gingrich also reminded Blitzer that under Democrat House Speaker Tip O’Neill, the government shut down over a dozen times.
12:10 – MSNBC’s Halperin Explains How Pro-Obama Media-Bias Makes Shutdown More Likely
Monday on Morning Joe, Time’s Mark Halperin admitted that one of the reasons we are headed for a shutdown is because Obama knows the media does now and will have his back.
In other words, media bias is playing a roll in pushing our government towards a shutdown. If Obama was dealing with an objective media instead of a bunch of cheerleaders he knows he can count on, he might be willing to engage in bipartisan compromise, which would save the day. But with the media on his side, Obama knows he doesn’t have to act in a bipartisan manner.
So the same media currently wringing its hands over the plight of those who could be caught up in a government shutdown just happens to be the one of the primary causes of a potential shutdown.
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12:05 -CNN Compares Shutdown to ‘Halloween Horrors’
The same CNN that has never produced a segment (I’m aware of) that reported on the awful effect ObamaCare is having on the working poor (who are losing their insurance, doctors, hours, and jobs), just aired a segment listing the “horrors” of a government shutdown on bureaucrats. The segment included scary music and graphics.
11:51 – CNN Anchors Cover up Their Own Polling to Scaremonger GOP
CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Ashleigh Banfield took a moment to reminisce about how bad things went for the GOP the last time the government shut down. What Blitzer and Banfield covered up, though, was that things are much different today than in 1995.
ObamaCare is very unpopular and Obama’s poll numbers are not rising. Some polls show his numbers falling.
CNN also ignored their own poll that shows both sides will be hurt by a shutdown.
11:49 – Media Silent as Shutdown Looms, Obama Golfs, Reid Takes Morning Off
Imagine the media uproar had Republican House Speaker John Bohner golfed over the weekend — like Obama did. Imagine the media uproar had Boehner not showed up to work today until 2pm, which is Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid’s plan.
The fact that the media are not making Obama or Reid pay a price for loafing as a government shutdown looms, is one thing.
What is most telling is that the Democrats are so sure the media is in the tank for them that they are comfortable loafing.
11:30 – Media Ignore Top Dem Claiming Iran, Syria More Rational Than GOP
Last week, the media believed in “civil bipartisan compromise.” This week a top Democrat can claim on a major news network that the GOP are worse than two murderous regimes without anyone in media tut-tutting the extremist rhetori — not even on Morning Joe!
Things sure have changed:
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11:20 – Republican Congressman Dana Rohrbacher Rips CNN’s Banfield: “Who is pulling your strings?”
CNN’s Ashleigh Banfield brought on two Congressional Republicans in order to attack them for shutting down the government and refusing to negotiate. Republican Dana Rohrbacher attempted to explain that the GOP have passed two compromise bills and that it was the Democrats and Obama who refuse to negotiate. Banfield didn’t want her viewers to hear this truth, though, and continued to interrupt him with White House talking points.
Rohrbacher was having none of it and hit right back. He demanded to be heard and asked “Who is pulling your strings?”
Rohrbacher was able to get his points in. Banfield then went on to demagogue congressional pay.
In the Zucker era, CNN has tossed aside every pretense of objectivity, except for the pretense of objectivity.
11:18 – CNN Embraces Shutdown Victims, Ignores ObamaCare Victims
CNN runs segment with everyday people expressing their frustration with prospect of a government shutdown. As far as I know, CNN has never run a segment with everyday people who have been victimized by ObamaCare.
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