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Edited on Tue Jul-13-04 09:37 AM by calimary
SEVERELY out of joint.
I posted this awhile ago...
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It was Michael Moore's interpretation, sure, because it was HIS film. But the clips he used, the video footage, was raw stuff. The only editing of this material was what you've seen for the past (almost) four years, by ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN, MSNBC, Headline News, and - yes, let's not forget the mutant Pox "News" network.
For example, you may have seen on ANY of those outlets - or their local affiliates - a clip of george bush, in casual clothes, obviously away from the White House, addressing reporters in an impromptu news conference, about how we've got to get these terrorists. Your viewing stopped there, because the editors or news writers/reporters OR THEIR SUPERVISORS cut the tape right there. They did NOT show you the few additional seconds after he made his brief statement, wherein he took a few steps camera-left, hoisted his golf club, and instructed everyone on hand "now, watch this drive." You did not see that because it made him, and the statement he had just completed a few seconds earlier, look trivial. Also, the directive to watch his golf swing, and then the swing itself, was not included because it wasn't part of the nature or content of the designated soundbite. THEY edited it out. Not Michael Moore.
You may also have watched various portions (if not all) of the bush innauguration and assorted accompanying festivities. I'd bet you did NOT see ANY footage whatsoever of rather impressively large crowds along the presidential motorcade route, comprised ENTIRELY of angry bush opponents. They carried protest signs inscribed with such slogans as "Hail to the Thief" - and there were protest signs as far as the eye could see. There were also crowds. LARGE crowds. So large they filled the screen, and spilled into the street. They spilled into the street to such an extent that they LITERALLY, not figuratively, STOPPED THE MOTORCADE. There were crowd control officers all over the place. The car carrying bush was egged. You could also clearly see numerous news camera crews in the midst of it all, trying to get footage of the huge near-riot. Yes, it would be coldly, impartially accurate to call it a near-riot, and a huge near-riot, also. You could clearly see the many boom microphones that the camera or audio people in the news crews were trying to hold aloft, over the heads of the crowd, to get the sound.
Now the question - DO YOU REMEMBER SEEING ANY OF THAT REPORTAGE IN WITH ANY OF THE COVERAGE OF THE BUSH INNAUGURAL? ANY AT ALL? DID YOU SEE ANY CROWD SHOTS? ANY PROTEST SIGNS? WERE THERE ANY MAN-ON-THE-STREET INTERVIEWS? ANY SOUNDBITES? ANY AT ALL? Most, if indeed not all of those who did tune in throughout that day will answer that they saw none of the above. Perhaps some will say they heard some anchorperson, in studio, make a VERY brief, passing reference to "a few" protestors, or "some" protestors, or "a handful" of protestors along the motorcade route. NO OTHER COVERAGE WAS PROVIDED. THEY edited that out. Not Michael Moore.
The movie was filled with such examples.
The only bias in this movie, other than Michael Moore's oft-stated bias AGAINST the completely reprehensible policies of george w. bush, was Michael Moore's bias against the lousy, slipshod, asleep-at-the-wheel, kid-glove, "Monica-esque" treatment of george bush by the media. If the media had been on top of things, or had pursued the truth with bush anywhere near as ferociously as they did with Clinton's "bimbo eruptions," we wouldn't even have to have this conversation now. Nor, possibly, would we even have to be suffering through a bush administration at this point, because he likely would have been tied up in court, or in early retirement of some sort.
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By the way - I went to hear John Dean speak, locally, last night, and he said that, in private, his friends in the media (he did not specify, but it's QUITE believable that he keeps in contact with many of these folks) are VERY aware that they have done a horrible job covering the bushies. He said it was very likely an over-reaction (GROSSLY misguided and a day-late/dollar-short) to people's reactions that they went overboard on the Clinton-Monica titillation and most of America didn't give a hoot like the "beltway boys" all seemed to, and why didn't they move on? Well, as Dean indicated, they did, finally move on. Only, they waited til the NEXT president to do so.
They STILL don't get it.
So I guess we just have to keep smackin' 'em in the head with the proverbial 2x4. As long as Michael Moore sells, they will wince. And every story about those boffo ticket sales and more people questioning and the media's credibility further tarnished, the more they'll have to wince about. Eventually that'll probably translate to more liberal outlets - like another thread here indicates an entire South Florida station has switched from Fox Sports to the Air America lineup.
If the drum-beat is loud enough and the complaints are continuous enough, and the box office lines and questioning prevail enough, pretty soon you're going to see pendulums swinging all over the place. Because they'll just look at the bottom line and realize THAT is now where the money is. And, true to form, they'll probably go overboard THERE, as well. Frankly, I'd LIKE to see a little more lopsidedly liberal coverage for a change. A few years of that and we WILL finally have achieved overall balance.
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