Treatment of Cong. Jim Leach's speech captured the problem with the Media

[Armstead]

I happened to be watching PBS, which actually showed Republican James Leach's speech endorsing Barak Obama last night.

In terms of delivery, Leach was a real snoozer. But in terms opf content, he captured the real stakes in tjios election, and he actually put the issues in an intelligent historical analysis of the issues and stakes in this election.

I then tuned to MSNBC thinking that Keith Olbermann might be doing an erudite analysis of the speech. But no, they hadn;t even shown it, and were having the latest round of soap opera about Barak vs. Hillary and whether Michelle would be able to "sell" herself to average Americans....Then I turned to CNN, and the only reference to leach was a dismissive sneer that it was too "academic" for the convention.

Also, while on PBS, I had heard references by mark Shields to the dynamic speech given earlier by jessee Jackson Jr. Huh? I thought. He spoke that night, and I missed it? I had been watching MSNBC most of the evening and hadn't seen or heard anything about that..(To be fair, I did have the TV on ion the backgrond, and was doing otehr things, so maybe they did show him. But I heard or saw no reference to it.)

Then on CNN I heard James Carville snivelling about how the Democrats had blown it, because they hadn't taken it to Bush yet.

All this encapsulated how fucked up the Media is. They are handling the convention the same way they have handled everythiong else.

They prattle on and on and the same one or two accepted subjects of the day, while ignoring the real news and the 3D issues being played out on the convention floor. They avoid all substance, and then whine because there is no substance.

Despite the presence of the snarky david Brooks, PBS does deserve kudos for actually showing us the convention, dull points and all, rather than parading their egos.

[blm]

1. Media did exactly what they did in 2004 - ignored Repubs speaking for Kerry while giving Zell Miller

and Ed Koch all the airtime they wanted to kiss Bush's ass. Media IS our enemy every bit as much as BushInc is our enemy. They are partners in the fascist agenda, and Dems need to combat both entities.

[BeyondGeography]

2. It was a very thoughtful speech and, after a while, our nosiy Dems listened carefully to it

and gave it very strong applause. I watched it on C-Span; I knew the networks would blow it off.

[Armstead]

5. I liked his pojnts about the evolution of the American Questions

[BeyondGeography]

9. Text is here

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/2008-democratic-national-convention-remarks/story.aspx?guid=%7BB3E1CDBD-476F-4066-B590-DF651622FE3D%7D&dist=hppr

In a more civilized country, the whole election would be about this portion of his speech:

The American progressive tradition reflected in these debates spans Democratic standard bearers from the prairie populist William Jennings Bryan to the Camelot statesman, John F. Kennedy. It includes Republicans like Teddy Roosevelt, who built up the National Parks system and broke down corporate monopolies, and Dwight David Eisenhower, who ran on a pledge to end a war in Korea, brought a stop to European colonial intervention in the Middle East, quietly integrated the Washington, D.C., school system and not so quietly sent the 101st Airborne to Little Rock to squash segregation in public schools throughout the country.

In models of international statecraft, progressive leadership includes Al Gore, who helped galvanize worldwide understanding of the most challenging environmental threat currently facing the planet, and our current president's father, who led an internationally sanctioned coalition to oust Saddam Hussein from Kuwait.

In Congress, Democratic senators like Pat Moynihan and Mike Mansfield served in Republican administrations. On the Republican side, Arthur Vandenberg helped President Truman launch the Marshall Plan, and Everett Dirksen backed Lyndon Johnson's landmark civil rights legislation.

In troubled times, it was understood that country comes before party, that in perilous moments mutual concern for the national interest must be the only factor in political judgments. This does not mean that debate within and between the political parties should not be vibrant. Yet what frustrates so many citizens is the lack of bipartisanship in Washington and the way today's Republican Party has broken with its conservative heritage.

[TwilightGardener]

7. I didn't see the speech, but I read somewhere else that the audience

was kinda rude. That's embarrassing, especially since Leach was a "guest", being a GOPer and all.

[pnorman]

3. Here it is on YouTube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6981BGSPnNU&feature=email

I'm TV-free, and have to rely on the internet for my info. I sometimes miss the "immediacy" of events, but overall I think I'm WAAAAY ahead of the game. I can do without those corporate-friendly Talking Rectums.

I'm pretty jaded by now, but I still rate that speech as pretty effective. I doubt that it'll send any Democrats to the McCain camp, but it should bring some Republicans & Independents over to Obama.


pnorman

[TwilightGardener]

4. I was surprised that the cable networks had NO intention of covering

his speech. Gee, they covered batshit Zell's...

[midnight]

6. Sound like the Media is cherry picking the coverage.

Or it could be that they think that they" the news anchors" are more important than the message.

[ps1074]

8. Just wait for their reaction to Joementum's speech at the RNC

They will all LOVE it. It will be played at least 286 times over the next few weeks.

[liberalhistorian]

10. The only cable news channel we get is CNN.

So, I was, unfortunately, watching their "coverage" last night and was actually enjoying Leach's speech. Suddenly, right in the middle of the speech, they cut away from it and started in with their yammering how he wasn't as effective as when Miller spoke for the GOP, why is he speaking for the other side, will Lieberman be better when he speaks for the GOP, etc., etc., yaddayadda, ad nauseum. I simply couldn't believe it, even for them. Right in the middle of the fucking speech. The arrogance and bias of that was simply incredible. Yet, I'm sure they'll carry ALL of LieberBush's speech and be respectfully silent afterwards. Grrrrrr.