"I never saw a candidate so coddled by the media before in my life"

[RepublicansRZombies]

Great comment from JaneyVee on another thread about Gloria Allred's October Surprise
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021592589#post7

7. I hope its something DEVASTATING to make up for the abject failure of the media this election cycle

I never saw a candidate so coddled by the media before in my life. Here is a man who dodged the draft, outsourced U.S. jobs, evades U.S. taxes, won't release his tax returns, banks offshore, invests in communist countries, destroyed hard drives, took his state from 36th-47th, hates half the country, and on TOP OF THAT; has no specifics or details on anything and his tax plan has been debunked every which way.

Media? Silent. Except when they're propping him up for a horse race. Mitt Romney is a fraud, a CON MAN.

(Are we going to stand by and watch the media manufacture consent and help them steal another election with electronic voting? Everyone talks about uninformed voters? Whose fault is that? Everyone is busy, it is the 'news' job to research facts and present them to us at the end of the day. They are using our public airwaves, they are supposed to be serving the public interest. What are we going to do if they steal it again, with the help of the media?
"Fool me once, shame on..shame on you. Fool me twice, can't get fooled again!" George W )

[porphyrian]

1. ! n/t

[porphyrian]

82. Another kick... n/t

[uponit7771]

2. If Obama out and out lied as much as rMoney does there's NO FREAKING WAY he'd be POTUS now...

...the media would lead an impeachment charge against him after the first lie

[WinkyDink]

41. Just remember how they killed Al Gore's election.

[Evergreen Emerald]

84. And Howard Dean's

[NYC_SKP]

3. KR! NT

[TwilightGardener]

4. She has it right--he has been given a pass on everything except

his completely un-ignorable 47% bullshit. Not just Mitt gets a pass, but his family too--remember the "scandal" about Michelle O being quoted as being proud of her country for the first time--can you imagine if Michelle made a comment as offensive as Ann's "my mormon missionary sons served just like military members do"? Or imagine a member of the Obama/Robinson clan pulling a Tagg Romney, saying he wanted to punch the President of the United States? Imagine family members hinting that Obama goes CRAZY unless he can take out his anger on his wife? The election would have been over, we'd just be passing the time until the GOP candidate was declared the winner.

[heaven05]

65. he's

WHITE and the darling of the right wing owners of 99% of ALL media in this country. What can one expect when, in this country, money is god. Mittytwit has hundreds of MILLIONS of dollars, so that makes him a god, monetarily and don't forget he is seen as a god in waiting by his religion. I have never been more ashamed of being an american than now. We have a person like Mittytwit vying for our nations highest office. For him to get this far in the process points to something being fundamentally rotten in our system and that is that money can buy anything in this democracy of amerika. We, the american people, are slowly being denied our rights, civil, electoral and judicial, like the frog in the slowly boiling pot, it's almost too late to jump out. Oh we point out the coddling of the mittytwit, but unless THOUSANDS march on these so-called MSM bastions of lies and bullshit, nothing will happen, EVER! God bless amerika.

[Scootaloo]

87. "He's WHITE" - AND he's Republican

Those two together makes him media teflon

[K Gardner]

5. K&R. Yes, they need this to be "close".. a nail-biter. nt

[flamingdem]

6. Con Man

That's so accurate and sounds worse than Used Car Salesman

[CrazyOrangeCat]

7. kick

[OldDem2012]

8. LOL. Does she not realize who OWNS the media and issues the paychecks...

....to the media talking heads who are nothing but propagandists for the right-wingers?

Of course the media's not going to spend any time covering stories detrimental to Bishop Mitt!

What does she think this is, a democracy?

[NoPasaran]

9. Rumpelstiltskin must have missed the GWB era

[progressoid]

54. Yeah, their willing and shameless coddling of W was despicable.

[pacalo]

76. No kidding. The media's coddling of GWB is the reason this country is in such a mess.

[reformist2]

10. The fact that his main (only?) policy proposal is a huge tax cut for the rich is laughable.

I've never seen a challenger so weak on specifics, let alone a clear vision for what he would do. It's as if his entire campaign is "Obama didn't do as well as he promised, so vote for me, Mr. Default Candidate."

[ChisolmTrailDem]

11. "What are we going to do if they steal it again...?"

Same thing as when they stole it for Bush twice...nothing.

[RepublicansRZombies]

27. that's what I am afraid of! But I need my hope, that somehow we are smarter than they think

and we won't keep doing the same thing over and over hoping for a better result.

[Tigress DEM]

51. Kick their asses BEFORE they steal it. SIGN THE PETITION!! 35,000 goal met!! Thanks DU

with 35,871 supporters
14,129 NEEDED to have 50,000 signatures

SIGN the petition @ Change.org petition FOR Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate the Romney Family Connection to VOTING MACHINES & add Neil Tuch & Jeff Bohl in the free space line.


http://www.change.org/petitions/attorney-general-eric-holder-investigate-tagg-romney-owning-voting-machines-in-ohio

FROM FORBES ARTICLE <snip>
Hart Intercivic board of directors, Neil Tuch and Jeff Bohl, have made direct contributions to the Romney campaign.

[Doctor_J]

73. Signing a petition is not "kicking their asses"

get real

[Tigress DEM]

77. OK, it's asking the DOJ to do it. whatever - do something BEFORE it happens, don't whine/give up.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

93. so what would u do, then?

Suggest something. This issue needs all the momentum it can get.

[Doctor_J]

96. What I would have done is arrest a few hundred of these traitors

send them to real federal prison, and have them keep a web diary of all of the fun they had while there. It's too late for that now. Hopefully if the president pulls out a victory over these criminals he will start enforcing the law of the land and providing very stark deterrents.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

98. good idea ... but not realistic unless you have the authority to do it.

I'm looking for actions we can actually do, now.

[geckosfeet]

56. That may be what you did. It's not what I did.

[PCIntern]

12. Yes in toto...great post. K an r. Nt

[SweetieD]

13. I totally agree! However, I do think the media coddled Bush too.

If the media hadn't coddled Bush and have been beholden to his cronies, they would've made a bigger deal of his failures pre-2004, and the lying about going to war. The media helped drive the war and protected Bush. There's no reason Bush should've won the 2004 election if the media did their job.

[Shuhered]

97. Definitely True

The media sucks. NBC seems to stand out as most egregious. I see Obama in front by ~6 points. Anyone who is undecided at this point is uneducatable and sadly looking for TV time. I voted 3 weeks ago in Iowa so am sure Obama is in the lead here.

[senseandsensibility]

14. Yes, they coddled the chimp in much the same way.

And that's what scares me.

[We People]

15. He's used to getting away with things because he's been coddled ALL HIS LIFE

The man has no idea how much privileged treatment he has had all his life - privilege that has enabled him to gain even more advantages that most people don't have.

So it should be no surprise that, at age 65, he still expects it. And the Let-them-eat-cake Party couldn't have picked a more appropriate symbol to lead them.

[RepublicansRZombies]

31. "Let-them-eat-cake Party couldn't have picked a more appropriate symbol to lead them."

seriously

That is why it is the perfect time to crush their whole 'holier than thou' mindset.

[The Wielding Truth]

67. He got away with fraud when he claimed to have resided in Mass. in his son's basement.

[Scurrilous]

16. K & R

[world wide wally]

17. Well said... Short, succinct and totally accurate

[INdemo]

18. All that does not matter

to the corporate mafia..With McCain he was not their ideal candidate that they could make him into a puupet..With Rmoney they have the perfect canadidate,even more so than Bush Jr.They can pull the strings and he will do what ever they wish...They are spending billions to buy this puppet with the help of the corporate media.

[progressivebydesign]

19. the media serves their corporate masters now. Even tho they KNOW Romney is toxic..

they have to play the 'false equals' game or else face the wrath of the CEO, the Board, and the advertisers.

They can't come out and say what they KNOW, and that is ROmney is fucking disaster. He is a liar, and a shapeshifter, and aligned with some of the shadiest characters out there. But they can't say that.. lest they lose their jobs, or suffer the consequences like Dan Rather.

Our media has been silenced by MONEY... and monopolies. Gore and Clinton were right to worry about this in 2004, when they said it out loud. We're no better than a third world country now, because our media is controlled by the MONEY.

[Reader Rabbit]

20. Then you weren't paying attention in 2000 and 2004.

The media is just continuing what they started with GWB.

Just sayin'.

[RepublicansRZombies]

28. It's gotten worse. Every time they get away with something, they become even more empowered

I cannot believe what we are currently witnessing on the corporate media.

I was watching Carl Sagan last night, and to think how far Humanity has come, how we tried so hard to become educated and strive to do and learn more...now here we are in the greatest nation on earth, the height of humanity, just in the last twenty years the technology we have created is incredible....and this is what we have been reduced to?

[Stargleamer]

21. Actually Junior was even more coddled

but Romney is in 2nd place

[Lasher]

26. No, Saint Ronnie is in first place.

He said all kinds of stupid shit and the press pretended not to notice.

[RepublicansRZombies]

33. Reagan started a subsidiary with a advisors from a ponzi scheme? where the money was never found?

then started buying up voting machines?

I know the media has been corrupt for a long time, but they are outdoing themselves.

[Lasher]

49. How about trading arms for hostages in a giant money laundering scheme

to illegally fund a war in Nicaragua? Reagan should have been jailed for treason but the press gave him a pass as they always did - and continue to do so to this day.

"President Reagan doesn't always check the facts before he makes statements, and the press accepts this as kind of amusing." - former president Jimmy Carter, March 6, 1984

http://thereaganyears.tripod.com/reaganquotes.htm

Romney has not spent any time as president so that we could make an objective comparison. I believe he has the potential to be an evil and dangerous president but let's hope we never have to find out.

[eridani]

95. Not to mention being medically unfit for the job for a lot of his second term

Given the obvious signs of Alzheimers, something should have been done.

[NoMoreWarNow]

45. but most of that was after he was prez

Bush was clearly coddled and his flaws covered up -- but he didn't have the same sort of screaming blatant problems Romney has-- plus Bush had some charisma even if he was an asshole

[RepublicansRZombies]

48. yes, Bush missed his calling as a comedian

Romney makes me want to slap someone, and I am not a violent person

Bush didn't make his money outsourcing American jobs, then go around claiming he will create jobs.

This is so fucking stupid I can't stand it!

[Lasher]

60. That is a good point.

Remember Bush's DUI that he lied about for years? Then once this was finally exposed about a month before the 2000 election, there was hardly a peep from the media. Cheney had two of them. Hardly a peep about that either. I agree Bush is an asshole but I never thought he had any charisma. When he talks it's like fingernails on a chalk board. And when he talks it's like he's reading from a comic book.

[WinkyDink]

42. IDK about that. At least Dubya's non-service was discussed.

[JI7]

78. Romney has passed up Bush

[99Forever]

22. K&R

[L0oniX]

23. Coddled by racists too.

[desertduck]

24. Amen to that! It is so frustrating to watch. I don't even watch tv. But even online,

I noticed the slant to the right. Google news is one of the worst. I hate it.

[NRaleighLiberal]

25. well that about covers it all. RMoney - a viable candidate only here, only now...

[asjr]

29. I've been saying this for ages.

[Uncle Joe]

30. No doubt, the CEOs, upper management and talking heads are in the 1%

or very close to it.

This is not to say they're all complicit with or sacrificing the American People or publics best interest on the altar of profit and greed but they must overcome their own personal best interests to do so, at the least in the narrow, short term sense.

Of course the short term picture is what the corporate media; myopically as an institution almost always focus on with any subject unless it happens to be hard earned entitlements to the people.

On top of that Romney blatantly asked bosses to pressure their employees to vote for him, I don't believe he was drawing a line separating media bosses from any other private for profit authoritarian figure, including the corporate media.

Most bosses will never know whom their employees are voting for but the corporate media heads can monitor with the certainty of video and written word which candidate their employees are promoting via propaganda means.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10021571539

Romney Caught Encouraging Business Owners to Tell Employees How to Vote.

No doubt Romney didn't even have to ask for many corporate media talking heads or employees to know which side their mega rich, parent corporation or CEOs prefer.

Thanks for the thread, RepublicansRZombies.

[lpbk2713]

32. I couldn't agree more ... K&R

The MSM is desperate to keep the GOP alive at any cost.
Even when it makes their efforts obvious as hell.

[Iceberg Louie]

34. The M$M is so afraid of validating the manufactured charge that they have a liberal bias

that they prioritize appearing nonpartisan above journalistic integrity. Even MSNBC, the supposed liberal counterpart to Faux News, fired Cenk Uygur for being too outspokenly progressive, telling him "Hey, man, we are the mainstream." So the CON-servatives, who have made a career out of a demonstrably obvious persecution complex, exploit this false narrative they created. I believe this is the unifying characteristic of the logically disparate mega-wealthy corporatists and rabid-toothed religious right; the propensity to play the victim card.

[emulatorloo]

100. Damn right!

This manufactured fear has destroyed journalism.

[Beaverhausen]

35. The media wants the money he and his superpacs are spending

its really quite simple.

[NoMoreWarNow]

39. why? Are you saying he won't run the ads if they aren't nice to him?

I find that hard to believe

[Uncle Joe]

57. No but his party is the one most supportive of unlimited corporate campaign/issue cash

ie: Citizens United, that's a corporate media mother-lode of gold.

Obama; during his State of the Union speech chastised this radical conservative Supreme Court which purposely broadened a narrow case and overturned a near century's worth of precedence in order to elevate corporate interests over those of the people.

The "Justices" which passed that fetid piece of Supreme Court "legislation" were all appointed by Romney's Republican corporate supremacist Party.

[Beaverhausen]

79. I'm saying TV stations exist for one thing and one thing only- to make money

if you don't think Rove and others like him wouldn't threaten to pull ad buys if the networks talk trash about their guy, I just think that's naive.

At the very least, the networks have to make this race look close to make maximum cash.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

36. Speaking of dodging the draft...

there has never been an American ancestor of willards that has enlisted or fought in any war
going back to the Civil War. Never, nada one. Now willard wants to increase military spending
even though the Pentagon says it's not requested and he wants a military confrontation with Iran
against the judgement of military experts. He's mentally unstable.

[NoMoreWarNow]

37. yes, yes, a thousand times yes!

[RepublicansRZombies]

38. And they tell us the media is liberal! This stupid ass lie needs to stop.

We need to compile a list of all the stories about Romney that the 'liberal' media ignores to confront Republicans.

They think the media is liberal, so that gives them clearance to be even more insane than the stupid ass talking heads on the corporate media.

The media is empowering the stupid. They are solely responsible for the downfall of this nation. A Democracy cannot exist without a free press.


And I would like the Republicans to explain how the media is liberal, when they so fully support Romney, have Republicans running all the morning shows with all Republican guests. The media's reaction after the debates....give me a fucking break they think the media is liberal!!!

These people need to be called on their bullshit, not coddled as well. Liberals are too nice. We don't want to lower ourselves to their level. Which is why they keep saying the most insane bullshit every day, never have to answer to their hypocrisy, while we are all quiet because we don't want to rock the boat.

This is really getting stupid. The most corrupt, hypocritical, greedy, selfish people have been empowered, they took all the money for themselves and are paying off the media to squash the rest of humanity...and we can't do anything about it?

[Garion_55]

40. the media wants a horserace most of all

a 15 point obama lead for 6 months to an inevitable win is boring, theres no ratings in that, no advertising money in that so no matter what they have to make the race a dead heat.

a real liberal media would have found out why romney hasnt put out his taxes.

[hifiguy]

43. Willard belongs in prison.

He should be on his knees thanking the American people for not marching him to the fking guillotine years ago,

[NCcoast]

44. Deregulation of media ownership is the best move the Republicans ever made

There are two things that have to happen for us to have representative government again. We have to publicly fund our elections and we have to break up the media monsters. The media giants are beholding to the Republicans for supporting the deregulation which allowed then to became the huge corporations which they are. And because that is what they have become their interests are alined with other major corporate interests. I like to think of it as a soft conspiracy. No one has to issue marching orders, they know what to do. Their interests are one in the same with the rest of the corporate oligarchy. The largest share of the media market belongs to General Electric, the third largest corporation in the world. I believe they rank around 11th in American defense contractors. What kind of a crazy country would even allow such a thing? Did you catch their old CEO Jack Welch running around saying Obama cooked the employment figures? That guy used to control the largest slice of your media.

[dougolat]

71. +1

[kag]

46. But, but, but...

He's WHITE!

[RepublicansRZombies]

52. we're talking about the media, not racism. Racism is not why the media protects Romney

n/t

[Iris]

61. AND he did that difficult missionary tour in PARIS for god's sake!

n/t

[darkangel218]

47. Want me to sum it up for you?

Romneys supporters aren't votting for a President, they're votting for a white man!

That simple.

Do you think they don't know how corrupt and what a liar Romney is? They do.
They only vote for him cuz he's white.

[ProudProgressiveNow]

50. Sad but true. nt

[Spitfire of ATJ]

53. The media acts like Republicans get to rule and Democrats need to work with Republicans....

Then to top it off, Democrats need to act like it's a fluke that they won and to watch their step, or else they will be in BIG trouble.

They have to justify why they think they should be allowed in office and the explanation is always deemed inadequate. The media acts like Democrats have to apologize for having won the election and they ALWAYS say it caused the country to "become divided" and a Democrat's term in office is considered to be a total failure if they didn't win Republicans over to their side.

Meanwhile Republicans are deemed to be heroes for stopping Democrats from "ruining the country".

I swear, it's like everything has to be approved by The McLaughlin Group.

[RepublicansRZombies]

59. yes, great comment, this is absurd what we have to put up with

I am getting really tired of authoritarian hypocritical assholes 'ruining the country'

[DallasNE]

55. For Starters, All Of The Parent Companies

For the news organizations are contributors to Romney and his Super Pacs. David Gregory has even given paid speeches to Republican organizations. With this as a background, of course the electronic media will coddle Romney. What is interesting is how much the print media distances themselves from the electronic love feast with Romney. Example, the Salt Lake City Tribune expressed extreme displeasure with Romney, saying they expected to endorse him as a favorite son but cannot in good conscience and instead endorsed Obama for the steady hand and and leadership he has shown.

[spanone]

58. the media has taken in nearly one billion dollars of ad money = compromised

[ohheckyeah]

62. I was thinking this morning and wondering

why nobody has talked about his shitty record in Massachusetts.

[Shuhered]

63. Media is Propping Him Up

Yea this guy is a total loser and the worst offender is David Gregory.....looking for job security should never be a reason to ignore the obvious---Mitt will destroy the middle class.

[harun]

64. This has been what the Corporate Media has done every election I have ever

witnessed.

F'ing joke.

[TomCADem]

66. The Media Jumped On Kerry and Gore...

...and played right wing talking points against President Obama, but the media censors the huge issues surrounding Romney.

[Jamaal510]

68. I couldn't agree more.

In a country with a truly fair-and-balanced media, I bet you that Romney wouldn't even have 30% in the polls. His party's fiscal policies benefit only 1% of the population, and the media has done a pretty terrible job covering that fact. In the media's effort to appear neutral and impartial, they treat tax cuts for the rich and cuts to social security and medicare as perfectly acceptable! Every major media network is guilty of this (even the allegedly-liberal NBC). Furthermore, all of them keep mentioning national polls more than they do the electoral college, even though presidents get elected via electoral college. While Romney is either tied or close behind in the national polls, he is losing worse in the electoral college.
When Romney traveled to the U.K. this summer, I was amazed at how competent their media was in catching him in those gaffes. Their media was pretty unrelenting on him, and they made ours look like a joke. Something needs to be done to get the American media back to fair and honest reporting, even if we have to bring back the Fairness Doctrine or break up every conglomerate.

[LeftInTX]

69. When a guy does this in a debate and it doesn't go viral, he's coddled

[link:|

[NoMoreWarNow]

74. whoa-- I missed that

what the F was he doing???

[LeftInTX]

83. Not sure, but my guess is he's mouthing to Candy

[uponit7771]

89. +1!

[RomneyLies]

70. I recall George W. Bush being just as coddled by the media in 2000

Seriously, think back. They did the same with Bush.

[RepublicansRZombies]

72. Oh I know how bad they have been, stolen election, 9/11, pushing lies for war in Iraq

It just the absurdity now, just new heights of stupidity and hypocrisy.

Bush was incoherent, illegitimate, inept, full of gaffes, but he wasn't an outright criminal yet.

Starting a company with people who got away with an 8 Billion Ponzi Scheme! Then buying voting machines!?

I am afraid with how awful Romney is now, what they have planned for us when he 'wins'.

[Whovian]

75. Recommended

[randr]

80. Follow the money

Where does most of the campaign cash end up?

[Cha]

81. Excellent description of what's happening in the "media" by

JaneyVee! thanks so much for highlighting it in an OP, RepubsRZombies!

I stopped watching corporatemedia in Nov 2002 when I realized what they were doing..it's only gotten exponentially WORSE. But, Now we have Social Media so we can at least Pushback on their narrative driven A$$es!

ROMNESIA!

[Festivito]

85. ..and the media props him as though his family owns vote counting machines.

as though his workers throw Democrats' voter registrations in dumpsters.

[Smickey]

86. Well said. K&R n/t

[begin_within]

88. Here, I made it into a graphic for you:

[Blue_In_AK]

90. Hard to cram all that in one little graphic.

[DonCoquixote]

91. I did , and I will again.

I did, George W. Bush...coddled and outright assisted on the left and right by the media.

I willagain, whoever the next GOP scumbag is, thanks to Citizens United.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

92. this is something I dont say often:

I wish I could rec this a million times and put on the cover of every paper and magazine in the country.

[snot]

94. So when are we going to start work on the solutions?

And what are they?

Here's an idea: enact a law prohibiting companies that purport to engage in news journalism from engaging in or being affiliated with others who engage in any other kinds of business.

That would eliminate a lot of conflicts, for starters.

[Zalatix]

99. May I offer a contrarian opinion?

The media DOES bring out Romney's fuckups. The problem is that the viewers don't give a shit.

Let Obama be accused of slipping up, though...........