Matthews/Olbermann getting bashed for their analysis on local

[monmouth]

call-in shows this morning. The one show is my local call-in, the other is Bill Press's show. "With friends like them, Obama doesn't need enemies." HA!

[SoCalDem]

1. That, in a nutshell , is what's wrong with media..all media

media should never be "pro or con".."friend or foe".. they should report the facts and let the viewer interpret it for what it is..

The fact that the media has been Fox-i-fied & Clear Channeled to death is why we will never really know what's really happening .

[monmouth]

2. What pleases me about this is that they are not the "last word" as they

say, and automatically their listeners are going to fall in line. I was surprised that many of the listeners are wising up to the media and pretty much ignoring their bloviations.

[Skittles]

5. or, their "listeners" have their head in the sand

[WeDidIt]

22. Bingo

Just tell me what happened. I'll determine the meaning and political ramifications.

Too much spin, not enough real reporting.

[bobburgster]

24. Boy, you are spot on with that statement!

[elocs]

3. It's rare that you hear of Olbermann, a DU god, get criticized for anything.

Usually you only hear about how he is on fire.

[monmouth]

6. I tuned into him right after the speech to get a hint of reaction. He was

way over the top, much too dramatic. It was a speech for gawd's sake, not an earth-shattering event. I can't stand Tweets anymore so immediately went back to a repeat of NCIS....

[Ghost of Tom Joad]

7. after 5 minutes I turned to repeats of Bones

[Skidmore]

8. I agree and surprisingly Morning Mika has it right for once today.

Made the point that the media sets expectations high in advance and then snipes afterwards. Barnacle huffed, "But they were just words" in regard to the President's speech last night. Mika shot back with a rejoinder that what Barnacle & Tina Brown were saying "are just words,too." Once in a while she is right.

People on these boards seem to forget that the vast number of people in the US don't track the way political junkies do.

[babylonsister]

11. She shocked me, for a change. nt

[Skidmore]

15. It was a stunner.

I think she was spot on, but now we are being subjected to Chuck Todd's drivel. Someone told him he was an expert and he believed them.

[babylonsister]

16. Kearns Goodwin was good; chucky I seem to tune out; now

I know why.

[Captain Hilts]

27. She's still a plagerizer who farms out her research. nt

[babylonsister]

29. And that has nothing to do with her opinion on last night's speech.

What's your point?

[Captain Hilts]

32. She can be good, but ultimately, she's a shameless opportunist. Sorry I missed the show. nt

[malaise]

20. Both Mika Mouse and Joe Scum

shocked me this morning. :hi:

[bobburgster]

25. Me too!

Didn't expect to hear Joe defending Obama.....spilled coffee down my shirt ;)

[elocs]

10. Personally I find Olbermann to be overly dramatic most of the time.

I tend not to listen or watch any of them, preferring to form my own thoughts and opinions.

This last weekend I took a long trip out of town and scanning the radio I got to listen to some Liberal talk radio, something I usually do not do. After a few hours I realized that much of DU gets its talking points from our very own Liberal talking heads, as intelligent and as on fire as they may be. I think we are also guilty of parroting what we prefer to hear and condemning the other side for doing the same thing. There is a rather unpleasant word that describes that behavior.

[WeDidIt]

23. I've been slowly watching Olbermann less and less

After last night, no more.

Rachel is off my diet now, too.

Watching CNN now because I refuse to watch Joe Scumburger and Mika Mouse.

[CTLawGuy]

4. I believe it was George H.W. Bush who said

"if you want a friend in Washington, get a dog."

[Ichingcarpenter]

12. Harry Truman said it

George Bush said 'watch this drive'

Don't insult Harry

[trumad]

14. snarf...

[CTLawGuy]

18. I said HW not W

but thanks for playing.

[Me.]

13. Isn't That Quote Usually Attributed To Truman?

[CTLawGuy]

17. maybe HW was quoting truman

NT

[Captain Hilts]

28. Yes, it is Truman's. nt

[Scurrilous]

9. Corporate Media isn't Obama's (or the Dem's) friend.

Never has been, never will be.

[wolfgirl]

19. Mathews/Olbermann did

disappoint me...but I've been disappointed in many of the so-called journalists over the past few years.

Obama's speech didn't live up to the expectations of many people - expectations fostered by the media.
I watched his speech and what I heard reassured me that President Obama is very engaged in what is happening in the gulf (and has been from the start).

I didn't hear the President "get into the weeds" of the situation. I think he is very aware most of the viewing public (and it really isn't that many) are easily distracted & tune out when you get into the specifics of policy and when they do, they get confused & can be manipulated by the talking heads/pundits. Just look at healthcare reform - the more specific Obama became, the less people understood & the more frustrated they became - especially when the right-wing began to distort those facts.

I believe the President was less detailed partly as a means of killing the right wing's ability to twist every word. How are they going to twist Obama's statements about faith/prayer he made at the end?

I also believe that he President's talking about faith/prayer was his message that we as a people have traditionally relied on our faith to bolster us in hard/difficult times. And when we do, we have been able to tackle the worst of problems & come through better& stronger....and we should not let anyone tells us can't.


I am so tired of everyone either tearing down the President because he's too involved/not invlved enough, acting as superman/not being superman, too emotional/unfeeling....this President is faced with everyone (well, maybe not everyone) tearing him apart no matter what he says or does...no one is happy. Some also seem to forget, the gulf oil crisis is not the only happening at present. I would suspect a lesser man would have walked away by now (or gone off half-cocked and really screwed up).


Well enough of me and my 2 cents!

[monmouth]

30. If only I could rec your post. Thank you....n/t

[Vinca]

21. I didn't listen to any of the punditry last night and I didn't think the speech

was either great or horrible. The only thing that was "off putting" to me was the religious pandering near the end of it. You can't expect a broad vision with precise details in 15 minutes. The speech was fine. In any case, it's actions - not words - that count.

[tomg]

26. That could be the

major difference between how we on the left listen to the left media and those on the right listens to theirs. I truly enjoy Olbermann. Sure he is sometimes over the top, and I wish he had a wider range of reaction ( it is, too often, all high indignation) which is one of the things I appreciate about Rachel Maddow. But he is a commentator, and we are supposed to consider his - and others comments - as perspectives. The right listens to Beck or Limbaugh and they get marching order. The right gets marching orders. They don't consider - they respond. The Republicans thought they owned the right-wing radio, only to find that right wing radio owns them. Although I disagree with Kieth and others responses, I'll take how we do it.

[UTUSN]

31. K&R #3 n/t

[Berry Cool]

33. Oh my, I guess we have a new "dead to me" list of media people.

Now Olbermann and Maddow are in trouble because they don't agree with the group on DU who thinks Obama can do no wrong.

You guys are just as bad as the people who think the MEDIA can do no wrong.

I admit, I'm an Olbermann fan--there he is in my avatar--but I'm also an Obama supporter.

I don't agree with Olbermann on everything. Sometimes I think he has things wrong and sometimes I think he shows hypocrisy--which is especially disappointing in him because he's so good at sniffing out hypocrisy in others.

But last night, I didn't even need to hear his opinion before I made up mine, and when he finally opened his mouth, it turned out that HE AGREED WITH ME.

Yeah. I made up my mind first, and then he expressed his opinion. Not vice versa. Some of us are actually capable of that--amazing, isn't it?

So I can't say he was wrong about this. I found myself thinking, if Bush gave this kind of speech, I'd be going "?????" You tell me we're going to muddle through this, and in the meantime, you advocate lots of prayer????

You know what's scary?? I remember listening to NIXON speeches from the Oval Office in which he outlined more clear plans for whatever the crisis du jour was than Obama did last night. NIXON! Yeah, he was a crook and a liar. I know. But I remember him implementing plans to deal with economic issues that actually had structure. He would say, this is what I'm going to do and this is how it will work. Which is what presidents are supposed to do.

Obama didn't say much other than that he has "top men" looking into things, he's going to insist that Congress bring him something to sign that's supposed to make us less dependent on oil--something, whatever it is--and we're going to muddle through this thing somehow even if nobody really has a clue how, him implied to be included. And, hey, in the meantime, everybody PRAY!!!!

That just didn't cut it for me. And a few minutes later, I found it didn't cut it for Olbermann, and even later, I found it didn't cut it for Maddow.

In that order.