So CNN does a split screen of Obama and crack smoking mayor Rob Ford

[Cali_Democrat]

I was at the gym working out on Saturday and I look up at the TV to see this shit...I'm thinking to myself,

So in addition to the ACA website glitches being compared to Katrina and the Iraq war, Obama has now been likened to a crack smoking mayor by CNN, the self-proclaimed "most trusted name in news".

They aren't even trying anymore.

This is what our "news" media has become.

[delrem]

1. The only way to beat them is to *STOP PAYING ATTENTION TO MSM NEWS*

[riversedge]

2. damm!

[RosettaStoned77]

3. message not so subliminal

I mean, come on. Just look at these two guys and tell me who YOU think is the crackhead. (The BLACK one) Of course...

[In_The_Wind]

9. Hello ~ RosettaStoned77

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[LuvNewcastle]

4. The only time I ever see any cable news is at the gym, but

the only news I watch there is MSNBC. The big screens are always on ESPN or the Weather Channel. We each have our own tvs on the machines, so I can control what I watch on the elliptical. Those individual tvs are what really sold me on that gym, since I don't have to worry about being forced to watch Fox or some other odious trash.

[RosettaStoned77]

6. Fox is always on when I walk into the gym.

I always ask them to chang it to The Price Is Right! Equally mindless, but not nearly as infuriating.

[LuvNewcastle]

10. The Price Is Right brings back good memories for me.

My grandmother kept me during the day when I was a boy and we used to watch that show together. She an I were close, so the show gives me a warm feeling inside. Drew Carey's doing a good job, too. No one should object to watching Price Is Right; that's about as non-controversial as it gets.

[Turbineguy]

5. I don't know why they need to compete with Fox News.

[ProSense]

11. They're not competing

They're intentionally trying to validate RW talking points.

The notion that any news organization needs to be extreme RW shills to be successful is beyond silly. Obama just won re-election by a landslide. So if anything, they simply want to push wingnut memes. That's why CBS got caught out there with its BS story.

[Turbineguy]

12. Economically it doesn't make sense then.

RW books come out, in short order end up on the $1 shelf prior to being recycled into toilet paper. RW talking points have no validity outside the echo chamber. They go nowhere, the whole RW thing is dependent on the willingness of the Koch Brothers and others of their ilk, to allow this drain on their wealth. To them it may be an investment because conservatives, like communists of yore, are relaxed when it comes to poisoning the environment, but it's still a short-term return.

The destruction of America used to serve the interest of the Soviets, but now has become an inside job.

[Morphia]

7. At least they could have done was compare Rob Ford to Mayor for Life DC's own Marion Barry

Crack smoking Mayors do keep things interesting!

[DFW]

8. CNN is thinking: "Fox makes more money than we do. Why? And How?"

Their claim to be a news network will soon be akin to that of Fox Noise: sports stats are probably accurate, and the weather, too, as long as no mention is made of global warming. Other than that, if they are to conform with existing "Truth in Advertising" laws, they will soon have to rebrand themselves "Conservative News Network."

[Atman]

13. They're also running a promo for Ann Romney

Piers Morgan Ann Romney interview airing soon...the only clip is Ann saying something to the effect that Obama is done, completely cooked, his presidency is over. Nice, CNN...let's see what the loser's wife thinks about the man who kicked her husband's ask. Hmmm...I wonder what she'd say?

[spanone]

14. U.S. news media...a sham and a shame.

[BumRushDaShow]

15. Conservative News Network has been frothing at the mouth lately

like a pack of rabid dogs.

[flamingdem]

16. Rabid sells I guess

That's Entertainment!

[BumRushDaShow]

18. Seems it has now gone beyond "entertainment"

and into personal anger from the higher ups, where hyperbolic editorializing is presented as analysis or news reporting without a blink of the eye.

[flamingdem]

19. They just had Candy allowing that right wing loon

to compare the health care rollout with Katrina. Well not sure he did exactly that, had to turn off the sound. Amazing how Crowley lasted since she didn't give Mitt preferential treatment at the debates.

[BumRushDaShow]

20. They obivously found that using "Obama's Waterloo" as an analogy

made no sense, so they grasped at an even more ridiculous comparison (where that talking point was distributed among all of the outlets).

Hopefully this will be their "last stand" until they are annihilated (to use the Little Bighorn analogy on them).

[tabasco]

17. Turn that shit off

and convince a friend to turn that shit off.

[Generic Brad]

21. Switch to Al Jazeera

They actually report news on that channel.

[Igel]

22. Did you listen to the sound or just see a tv image for 2 seconds?

Inquiring minds ...

http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/11/17/cnn-split-screen-segment-compares-obama-and-crack-smoking-toronto-mayor/

With link to the video itself.

Of course, Rawstory has outrage as a weekly special, so most of the comments show no awareness of anything else other than the screenshot at the beginning of the article. Thinking with all the penetration of an atomic force microscope (hey, it's atomic, it's force, it must be penetrating).

It's a conversation I'd have described as "meta" a few years ago, before netizens redefined it as self-referential. It's abstracted: It's not about Obama or Ford's problems or really about the two men per se (nor about itself), but is at at least one remove from the men and their problems. They compare and contrast the respective responses and evaluate the merits and shortfalls of each response. Hard to squeeze that into a 2-second blipvert. (3 second blipvert? Please. That would try the patience of a saint these days.)

[Cali_Democrat]

25. There is no sound, but...

I think a poster mentioned up thread that the point is subliminal. When you create a split screen like that, it's just the image that makes the impact.

[Boom Sound 416]

23. Did you have the sound on?

They were making the comparison that both would like to focus on the work of the people, not really comparing the two.

[Cha]

24. Right.. cnn wasn't trying to send out any message to their viewers..

Who them?!

[Cali_Democrat]

29. CNN knows what they're doing

Yep yep.

[Cha]

30. Yes.. little innocent cnn knows Exactly what they're doing!

I like how SNL handled the mayor of Toronto.. led right into a 60 Minutes episode with a "Lara Logan".. Nailed!

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/snl-lampoons-mayor-rob-ford-and-60-minutes-during-cold-open/

Catwoman http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024045720

[IrishAyes]

26. Every day I grow less regretful of never having used that journalism degree.

[madrchsod]

27. well there`s always...'tv-b-gone'

https://cornfieldelectronics.com/tvbgone/buy.tvbg.php?PHPSESSID=m4mfobg0sk5ebdm414ojt48l17

[Blue Owl]

28. Hey CNN, no need to televise your toilet-licking

n/t

[Lifelong Dem]

31. Hard to believe this is all over a glitchy website or

Obama taking the heat for the insurance companies cancellations.