Hugh Hewitt's site received 125,000 visits yesterday;
On Wednesday morning --oblivious to the feelings of the troops and their families-- the Washington Post's Howard Kurtz intoned that "[t]here isn't anybody, including in the Bush administration, who believes that Kerry meant to insult the soldiers in Iraq with his clumsy joke.On Wednesday afternoon --even after Kerry had published a half-apology (and an unsatisfactory one to much of the military if my e-mail is good indication), MSNBC's Chris Matthew was demanding of former Kerry campaign manager Bob Shrum why Kerry had apologized to people whom he had not insulted.
Within the Manhattan-Beltway media machine there was utter cluelessness as to opinion about Kerry's statement, Kerry's refusal to apologize, and then Kerry's non-apology apology, a cluelessness so profound as to be easily mistaken for contempt.
No other group would be treated with such casual disregard than the American military. They were the target of the barb, but their opinions about it and the man who hurled it were not consulted, and indeed, positively avoided. Much more important in the eyes of the MSM is what elite pundits and prestige reporters thought of what Kerry said and what Kerry did.
Why were so many so eager to defend Kerry instead of the troops?
A handful of Democrats instantly understood that Kerry had crossed an unacceptable line, though many including Pennsylvania's Bob Casey and Ohio's Sherrod Brown rushed to defend their patron as opposed to the military they soon hope to represent.
In MSM, there were almost no voices willing to recognize the slander and demand an apology.
New media moved to make sure the military's view was heard, but it was the military itself that ultimately settled the issue.
One picture --now a famous picture-- utterly routed the MSM. It did so because it came from the military that had heard and understood what Kerry had said, and what he had not apologized for. Whether or not the old media carries the picture on front pages today (which would have been an obvious decision in any newsroom not deeply biased against the military and in favor of Democrats) most Americans will have seen it and laughed and laughed at John Kerry. Ridicule is the best revenge, and the troops have it.
But the American electorate also has a very clear example of how the media has been covering the war, the 2006 campaign, and, yes, the military for the past few years. The big MSM names want another Vietnam, and they pursue that storyline with a relentlessness that isn't deterred even by plummeting circulation and declining viewership.
It is surpassingly strange to watch an industry will its own destruction. But stranger still if the culture within which it lives does not object to the design.
Someone in the comments asked a very good related question, and it's one I've wondered about myself - "Why does the leader of the fourth party in Parliament receive such a disproportionate amount of media coverage?".
The answer of course, is that while Jack Layton's leftist ideology consigns his party to the basement of the Canadian mainstream, it nonetheless represents that of the first party in Canadian media.
Thus, it's no accident that the majority of coverage Canadians receive about Iraq and Afghanistan tends to be filtered through that pink-toned lens, as though the battles waged there exist in isolation. It helps to explain why the activities of Islamists in Pakistan, India, Somalia, Nigeria, Chechnya, Indonesia, Thailand, France, Holland, (and until very recently, Darfur), receive next to no attention at all.
Their leftist world view is solidly rooted in the politics of envy, the tap root - anti-Americanism. Deprived of the ability to tie the atrocities commited by Islamic terrorists (excuse me, "insurgents") to decisions made by a Republican administration, they simply cease to exist as atrociites at all.
Addendum to "Much more important in the eyes of the MSM is what elite pundits and prestige reporters thought" - As I was posting this, I was listening to a lengthy rant by Bush Derangement Syndrome sufferer and ratings basement dweller, Keith Olbermann (MSNBC), playing over the Canadian radio airwaves.
Charles Adler - radio dedicated to the relentless pursuit of the opinions of other pundits.
More - Greg Staples had the same reaction.
I've often wondered why the NDP gets all the attention when they're basically deserving of none. I have no time for Jack's opinion regardless, and tune out when it's presented.
I absolutely hated when coverage of the war in Iraq contained almost exclusively articles, bashing the troops. Was it with or without the due cause... Regardless of what my personal opinion was about the alledged crimes that US military did or did not commit, I just did not see anything positive. Knowing for certain, how Saddam treated the opposition and what his rule equaled for Iraqy, it is clear for every flat headed person why American army is there and what it should do in terms of staying or pulling out. But that's not in the news and it is appaling! The media just do not portray the boys and girls as heroes, figting for democracy in a previous dictatorship. I cannot even call that a bias - that's prejudice and politics, dirty reporting, but not a bias. The line, where it was a bias, has been crossed long time ago.
Whats the avrage IQ of a liberal demacrat below that of a ants? that means the ant is more intellegent then the avrage demacrat
'joke' or no 'joke' mr jfk 2.0 needs to be vastly more AWARE of the 'topic' and ramifications of making 'jokes'.
The Dhimmicrats (Demon-rats) are going to be in for a very big shocker next week. Not just because of SKerry's stupid fumble, but because the citizens of the US have their number.
The US does not bend over and take from ANYONE.
Put THAT in your crack-pipe and smoke it, leftist dictator-loving moonbats.
Are the Republicans in such trouble that they have to make a big deal about this silly mess-up of joke telling???
Yes, I guess they are.
They must be so grateful for Kerry to give them the thinnest, tiniest bit of an excuse to get the story off of them and Foley and the related cover-up and their over-the-top-negative ads and Abramovitz and the related cover-up and Iraq and Delay and the related cover-up.
Although, I truly did almost fall off my chair laughing last night at Jon Stewart's comment: "John Kerry, making sure he loses even the elections he isn't running in". Or words to that effect.
Ted
Cerberus
Teddy,
By the logic of your very own observation, that makes Jon Stewart a Republican.
soooo lets see, weve got mount siribachi (flags of our fathers et al), mcarthur peering out a gun turret, the normandy footage and now the hapless American servicemen and women in 'irak'.
famous wartime photos......
my prediction? this is the coup de grace on kerry's pol. career.
Yes, this post is a very good sketch. I would only add that because it works against the NDP / Librano$ argument for withdrawl, there is so little connecting of the dots.
3000 injured police in France and gangs causing problems in the UK while Muslims raise hell in Spain and the MSM remains reluctant to draw any possible common aim across these events.
For a Conservative majority. = TG
Kate: By even calling them "insurgents" you've maligned them; they are mere "militants" (including our lefties here).
Mark
Ottawa
Kate: This post is a clear example of how you 'get' what is going on , not only in Canada but in the United States regarding issues of politics.
Absolutely outstanding and the post speaks for itself completely.
Just as the picture of the troops in " Irak" got what Kerry meant and zinged right in.
You always know how to 'zing right in' and are absolutely appreciated for it.
As far as "An Industry Willing It's Own Destruction"... far better for them to will their own destruction than that of our war effort and the the future of the western world.
Harper is only too willing to do a two-step with Layton, because it makes for great strategy in a game of triangulation. As a conservative, I hope the NDP gets all the coverage they need. I also praise Layton's brilliant feign on the non-confidence motion, which was not designed to bring down the government, as much as embarrass the Liberals into supporting the government on the environment, all the while showing the public that the NDP is getting results on that very issue.
So let's take the larger view, Kate, and admire both men - Harper and Layton - for doing a great number on the Libranos. Layton may be incorrigibly shallow and ideologically foolish, but he has a deep strategic sense that deserves our worship and gratitude.
Technically, we in the NDP (17.5% of vote) are the third party and BQ (10.5% of vote) is the fourth party. Unfortunately, thanks to the vagaries of First-Past-the-Post, concentrating your support in a single province gets you twice the seats with half the votes.
"Are the Republicans in such trouble that they have to make a big deal about this silly mess-up of joke telling???
Yes, I guess they are"
As the Liberals here in Canada must be, also, making such a big fuss over Peter McKay's, "you have her" comment.
I read most of Hewitt's interview with Halperin. It reinforces a lot of Goldberg's observations in his book "Bias". The MSM's leftist distortion is so ingrained the vast majority of those immersed in it can't even see it. It's not a get-up-in-the-morning conscious decision to spin things to the left. It's a worldview so deeply ingrained and constantly reinforced by like minded associates, that they simply can't conceive of any other way of thinking. Like bottom feeding fish in a pond that's drying up, with no experience of "air" they're at a total loss to explain the shrinking pond or where it might be going. They just can't get it. Their solution is to swim in ever shrinking circles of thought. Such is the mindset of the leftist MSM.
A misstold "joke"? No, not hardly. Look at the history of the man (the full history). Look at the audience. Look at the venue. Kerry fully intended the exact meaning that stooped ignuront ex grunts like me assigned to it.
Kerry has never been a supporter of the military and I don't want to hear anything about he "volunteered". Once again, study this persons history back to his teens. His were the actions of an individual who's sole drive was to become a politician. A ruler, not a doer. If JFK (who's PT109 moment Kerry was trying to emulate) had been a sewer worker, instead of a PT boat skipper, Kerry would have done his share of shoveling just long enough to get accredidation on record. Just as he did with the Navy in Vietnam. Next, immediate scrambling and crawling to get out front of the anti-war movement for face time. The kindest description I've ever had for this creature is "amoral cretin".
The fact that he did reach the US Senate is not surprising. The political machine in the people's republic of Massachusetts has kept fat Ted (alcoholic, adulterer, murderer by neglect, coward... the list goes on and on) employed for decades and Kerry's mouth is so firmly attached to the Kennedy family nether region that they're insepperable.
However if the good people of Canada are interested in a trade we'll swap you our Lurch and Fat Ted for your Belinda. Delivery may be slow I'm afraid since we'll need to find a butler willing to push a martini cart to Canada so that these two can be lured into following.
well mr petr, then all you have to do is follow buzz hardoneby's exhortation and 'strategically' vote lieberal, until you new democraps dont have a single seat. because adding your votes to the lieberals come election time still aint gonna be enough.
The same msm that supported the former Soviet Union (detente remember) is now supporting who ever is against the west as their heroes folded with a little help from Ronald Reagan and they cant get over it.
Petr
I am afraid that your logic is flawed. Your insignficant party is 4th. The last time I looked the number of seats is what is important. If the Bloc ran nationally, they would likely beat the Dippers in popular vote as well. Interesting side note, the NDP in Saskachewan are looking at a name change to the Social Democratic Party during their upcoming convention. Anyhing to distance themselves from the National Disgrace Party, I would guess.
Charles Adler..relentlessly dedicated to propping up the careers of Partisan liberal hacks and has been journalists with an axe to grind against the conservatives.....
To be fair, Layton is essentially the "third party" in a three-party minority Parliament (since the Bloc is only in Quebec, and helping it is political poison in non-French Canada). And as the 1972 Liberals showed us, that third party in a minority government is a disproportionately powerful one. (Which is why proportional representation is a bad idea)
........."Within the Manhattan-Beltway media machine there was utter cluelessness as to opinion about Kerry's statement,..........."
This describes the Democrat Propaganda Consortium.
Not news agencies!
And that picture was a beauty indeed.
It's official: From here on out, it'll be nothing but The Fan 960 for me while the the Chuck Adler Histrionics Revolution is on the radio. I'd rather hear moaning about how awful the Flames are than that overbearing windbag.
A while back a friend was lamenting the oh-so-obvious left leaning of the MSM. At that time I told her to be patient, it would eventually show up in the circulation numbers.
Lo and behold, the circulation numbers were published. My crystal ball glistened.
So... where does it go from here?
My predictions:
1) The ciculation numbers will continue ever-so-slowly downward. Since ad revenues are tied to circulation the bottom line will begin to show the double wammy in a flowing and growing flood of red ink.
2) The economic crisis that is sure to explode under the owners and/or stockowners sooner or later will force some deep cut backs. Or a sudden decision will be made to return to journalistic honesty.
3) In either event in #2 above, there will be a lot of liberal and far-left leaning journalists and editors put out of work.
4) There will be a lot of wailing and moaning from those displaced above.
5) Remarkedly, it will all be GWB's and the Republicans fault. It will also be John Q. Public's fault because they stopped buying the papers. How dare they all conspire against the freedom of the press!!!
The MSM has swallowed the poison; there is no antidote.
I'm done with Adler and his intellect of many colors as well. Listening to "all over the map radio" gets boring.
Journalists, entertainers, publishers and most media come from "LIBERAL ARTS COLLEGES" and receive liberal arts degrees, where liberal ideals are fostered and encouraged.
IT is amazing to me that they aren't even more left.
Plus there is a need for a story. The stock market is up over 80 points today. But that will be page three news compared to the massive amount of negative news that was spread around yesterday. It just isn't a story any more.
Charles (of the huge ego) Adler just had his fan base shrink by one for sure.
The "all over the map radio" comment was excellent and makes the point nicely.
Adler is an arrogant, poplulist, closet, confused liberal who cannot get over his unbelievable success at acheiving a mediocre career (in Winnipeg hahaha) while being the son of a blue collar immigrant.
Whoopie doo there Chuck ... what a guy.
Just in case he's reading this.....
Why did you mention Charles Bladder?
Bladders are good for only three things, passing piss, passing air, or being attached to a bagpipe, which is loud and obnoxious.
joker: that would be 'festered' not 'fostered' LOL !!!
hey, KERRY. ya you. mr ketchup. regarding that crack you made directed at the service personnel in 'irak':
....... news travels fast eh? LOL !!!
DrD says: "It's not a get-up-in-the-morning conscious decision to spin things to the left."
Top AP (Associated Press) Editor disagrees. It, the leftist world view, is a conscious decision of the left MSM.
There is no nudge, nudge, wink, wink...
It is their passion: destroy George Bush, the US Armed Forces, and the United States and its allies-friends, including Canada.
As to what/who would come after the revolution? The leftists would sort that out .... after...
The message is clear: The leftist world view is part-parcel/concomitant of/with the world-view of Top AP Editor. ...-
Top AP Editor Urges More Coverage of Detained Photog
Editor and Publisher ^ | November 01, 2006 | Joe Strupp
Executive Editor Kathleen Carroll today called on other news organizations, especially those that use AP services, to increase their attention on imprisoned AP photographer Bilal Hussein, who has been held by U.S. military officials in Iraq for more than six months without being charged.
...
"I wouldn't presume to tell them what to write, but I would presume to draw their attention to it," Carroll told E&P Wednesday. ...-
free republic
About a quarter the way though the Olbermann's rant I turned off Adler, I don't need to hear that garbage. After seing how Olbermann treated one of the Swift Boat Vets (would let him speak and kept calling him a liar) I have nothing but contempt for him. Adler and his sponsors lost a listener for the day.
About a quarter the way though the Olbermann's rant I turned off Adler, I don't need to hear that garbage. After seing how Olbermann treated one of the Swift Boat Vets (wouldn't let him speak and kept calling him a liar) I have nothing but contempt for him. Adler and his sponsors lost a listener for the day.
I usually have the Adler show playing in my office in the afternoon - more a consequence of not getting around to changing the station after the Rutherford show (CHED/CHQR in Alberta) than anything else. The Olbermann / Jackie Guerra experience today was the straw that broke the camel's back. I encourage anyone of like mind to do as I did, and send a message to the program director at your local station to let them know about it. There's a reason Air America went bankrupt and letting the management know why you've stopped listening is the first step towards getting rid of that guy.
I amke the following assesment based upon the empirical evidence of my own, older, sister.
She is "against the war". For her, it is still the Viet Nam war. How do I know? When she went on the pre-Iraq anti-invasion demo in London, England, in 2003, she said: "It was just like the old time, Viet Nam demos".
She had no response, literally was silent, when I pointed out that although she had "won" the Viet Nam war by demanding American evacuation and disengagement, the Vietnamese had lsot.
See the boat people and "re-education" camps.
Listening to Adler intone "one of the most powerful polemics whether you agree with the contents..."
Utter crap, Olberman spewing half-truths, lies and complete nonsense. That Adler gives it the time of day shows his lack of depth.
At the time Adler plays in the afternoon, there ar 3 talk radio shows other than sports: Dr Laura, Adler and CBC. Shows the depth of choice available.
enough
Kerry's badly spoken joke wasn't about bashing troops.
Target was Bush.
This isn't going to hurt Kerry when Bush runs around mangling the english language and making jokes about missing WMD's.
I wonder how many troops think they are stuck in Iraq.
GOP House Leader Boehner made a crack about the generals failure in Iraq and the military papers are carrying it. Wonder if Boehner will apologize to the generals.
Folks should not throw stones in glass houses.
James it must really suck to a such a severe hearing inpediment. Kerry meant exactly what he said. His underlying contempt for the military is well documented. Kerry's ambition to be president is toast. The main stream media has spent more time defending Kerry's remarks than defending the people he insulted. Their credibility is toast. Want to lose an election? Give disinterested people a reason to get out of their chairs. I loved the call in to Hewitt describing John Kerry's Vietnam carreer. "Four medals in two months and walked out." Beautiful!
"Impediment" memo to self.Fire proofer!
Why would they will their oun destruction ?? Maybe because:
# The Jounalistic Colleges are so corrupted only the hard Left can stomach the time there.
# The MSM is so threatened by the New Media that they have pulled out all the stops, Hail-Mary like. If we are going down, we are going down good syndrome.
# In Canada, at least, the huge influence of the State-run CBC and it's huge $Billion subsidy is just too much for other media to challenge, even if they wanted to.
# The hard Leftness of today's MSM is a counter force to the dominating sucess of Democracy and the free market system after the collapse of Socialism/Berlin Wall. The media is simply cheering for the under dog.
# The Media is in a power grab mode. Instill fear and you have control. They know they can never pull the wool over the Right's eyes, but the Left is easily scamed. i.e. Kyoto, running out of oil, ect.
# The United Nations is definitely pushing the fear and control card.
We can only hope the Wako-Left(I do not include the good, productive working man) will see the light. It is very signifigant that a prominent Liberal, like Warren Kinsella, made a comment, "At least in the Income Trust story the CPC did not leak information to LPC hacks". Amazing.
I've been meaning to contact QR to request they replace Adler, it's time to follow through.
I wonder how many more news cycles you can maintain your outrage for.