Mike Pouraryan
A Day In the Life of The Media: The Good, The Not-So-Good and the Ridiculous
March 12th 2009 05:35
:
Although Funny...it may well be scary.....
I find the recent spat between Jon Stewart and Jim Cramer and Meghan McCain and Ann Coulter hillarious to say the least. Bill O'Reilly talked about it in his Factor show on Monday on Fox News. He talked the Cramer vs. Stewart feud with Stewart Varney of Fox Business and on Meghan McCain vs. Ann Coulter with a reporter for the Washington Times.
I saw Jon Stewart's show, I saw Jim Cramer's "response when he appeared on MSNBC and NBC and then Jon Stewart's rebuttal. Jon Stewart nailed Jim Cramer. There was no question about it. But, O'Reilly's way of lambasting Stewart for going after him for being "liberal" and "mainstream" is a bit far-fetched. What O'Reilly and the folks at fox forget to tell the rest of the world is that they were the "mainstream" during the 8 years of the Bush Adminstration. They pushed this fiction that markets work and self-regulate and had to be left alone. Well, this so-called conservative philosophy (as they call it) was in fact the cause of the economic winter we are faced with today. Bernie Maddoff and Allan Stafford are but the most extreme of examples. But, the entertainment nature of CNBC was also just as much to blame in my view. Jon Stewart called Jim Cramer on it. I do commend Jim Cramer for agreeing to appear on The Daily Show later on tonight. That should be quite interesting. But, this fiction of a liberal bias that Bill O'Reilly continues to push gets to be old. It is entertaining and funny, though. Cramer made some bad calls and he has to own up to it.
There is of course, Meghan McCain. Bill O'Reilly had a segment "analyzing" Meghan McCain by having a reporter for the Washington Times on. Bill O'Reilly's view was that Meghan McCain's main intention was vying for attention because the younger McCain works for the Daily Beast, which is a Tina Brown "Project". Tina Brown's sin is that she is a committed liberal. But, I have also seen a number of other centrists and middle of the road folks and yes conservatives like Tucker Carlson who have also been active in the Daily Beast. It seems to me that there has to be a better way to discuss substance vs. simply dismissing a rational argument because Mr. O'Reilly seems to disagree with them.
As I have written before, I think Ann Coulter is an interesting character. She makes a great living by being rude, obnoxious, arrogant and mean. But, she has to understand that simply being rude and obnoxious will not get the message across. She did feel "unloved" when she had a chat with Hannity. What I also find quite stunning is how President Obama is being now blamed for the foreclosure crisis, the stock market and the loss of retirement savings. Seriously, though, the Republican Party has to get away from this us vs. them attitude and realizes that the country is actually changing. I yearn for a constructive opposition. I view listening and reading about Coulter, Hannity, limbaugh, savage and the rest of thee conservative crowd as simply fun and interesting. Ms. McCain's views should not be taken lightly. She does represent a potential way forward for the Republicans to begin the process of renewal. The challenge is whether the Republicans will listen or not. I wondered whether Abraham Linclon will recognize today's Republican Party and the people who speak for it.
Moving on to CNN, today The Situation Room had James Carville and Nicole Wallace on. James Carville was asked by Wolf Blitzer about a comment he made in 2001 wishing George W. Bush to fail. This was based on a Drudge Report on a conversation James Carville had with a Fox Reporter right on September 11. James Carville noted that he wanted George W. Bush to fail. But, he also noted that as soon as he realized the calamity we faced on that terrible day, he asked that all politically-motivated comments be taken back because he realized the country was at war. Carville noted that the Fox Reporter complied. The implication I noted was the comparision with Rush Limbaugh's wish that the President fail while the country was fighting two wars abroad and an economic war at home. Rush was repudiated by many in the Republican political establishment--and rightly so.
Rush, Jon Stewart, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the characters on our media are entertainers. At least Jon Stewart made an effort to inform, while he entertained--and was not shy about it.
I saw Jon Stewart's show, I saw Jim Cramer's "response when he appeared on MSNBC and NBC and then Jon Stewart's rebuttal. Jon Stewart nailed Jim Cramer. There was no question about it. But, O'Reilly's way of lambasting Stewart for going after him for being "liberal" and "mainstream" is a bit far-fetched. What O'Reilly and the folks at fox forget to tell the rest of the world is that they were the "mainstream" during the 8 years of the Bush Adminstration. They pushed this fiction that markets work and self-regulate and had to be left alone. Well, this so-called conservative philosophy (as they call it) was in fact the cause of the economic winter we are faced with today. Bernie Maddoff and Allan Stafford are but the most extreme of examples. But, the entertainment nature of CNBC was also just as much to blame in my view. Jon Stewart called Jim Cramer on it. I do commend Jim Cramer for agreeing to appear on The Daily Show later on tonight. That should be quite interesting. But, this fiction of a liberal bias that Bill O'Reilly continues to push gets to be old. It is entertaining and funny, though. Cramer made some bad calls and he has to own up to it.
There is of course, Meghan McCain. Bill O'Reilly had a segment "analyzing" Meghan McCain by having a reporter for the Washington Times on. Bill O'Reilly's view was that Meghan McCain's main intention was vying for attention because the younger McCain works for the Daily Beast, which is a Tina Brown "Project". Tina Brown's sin is that she is a committed liberal. But, I have also seen a number of other centrists and middle of the road folks and yes conservatives like Tucker Carlson who have also been active in the Daily Beast. It seems to me that there has to be a better way to discuss substance vs. simply dismissing a rational argument because Mr. O'Reilly seems to disagree with them.
As I have written before, I think Ann Coulter is an interesting character. She makes a great living by being rude, obnoxious, arrogant and mean. But, she has to understand that simply being rude and obnoxious will not get the message across. She did feel "unloved" when she had a chat with Hannity. What I also find quite stunning is how President Obama is being now blamed for the foreclosure crisis, the stock market and the loss of retirement savings. Seriously, though, the Republican Party has to get away from this us vs. them attitude and realizes that the country is actually changing. I yearn for a constructive opposition. I view listening and reading about Coulter, Hannity, limbaugh, savage and the rest of thee conservative crowd as simply fun and interesting. Ms. McCain's views should not be taken lightly. She does represent a potential way forward for the Republicans to begin the process of renewal. The challenge is whether the Republicans will listen or not. I wondered whether Abraham Linclon will recognize today's Republican Party and the people who speak for it.
Moving on to CNN, today The Situation Room had James Carville and Nicole Wallace on. James Carville was asked by Wolf Blitzer about a comment he made in 2001 wishing George W. Bush to fail. This was based on a Drudge Report on a conversation James Carville had with a Fox Reporter right on September 11. James Carville noted that he wanted George W. Bush to fail. But, he also noted that as soon as he realized the calamity we faced on that terrible day, he asked that all politically-motivated comments be taken back because he realized the country was at war. Carville noted that the Fox Reporter complied. The implication I noted was the comparision with Rush Limbaugh's wish that the President fail while the country was fighting two wars abroad and an economic war at home. Rush was repudiated by many in the Republican political establishment--and rightly so.
Rush, Jon Stewart, Bill O'Reilly and the rest of the characters on our media are entertainers. At least Jon Stewart made an effort to inform, while he entertained--and was not shy about it.
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