WHEN Will DU'ers Realize Democrats Have NO Say Over Who Gets On TV?

[KittyWampus]

every damn Sunday, DU'ers want to know why ........ (insert Lame-Ass, Self Promoting Democrat) gets to be on with the Sunday Bloviating Mediawhores.

"Why can't the Democrats put..... (insert Well-Spoken, Take-No-Crap Democrat) instead?", they lament.

Once and for all, it's mostly the TV show producers & hosts (depending on how much clout at the network/channel the host has) who pick the talent that gets on.

John Kerry can't just say "I want airtime Sunday". He can TRY and pull strings. He can release statements or legislation and HOPE it warrants getting himself and our causes some spotlight.

Sure there are occassionally times when Democrats like Dean or Kerry HAVE to be on, due to current events or such. This is surely much to the Mediawhores' chagrin.

Please realise that the Democratic Party and DNC do NOT decide who gets to represent us on TV. They can do their best, but there's a lot of bias against them.

Tim Russert and Wolf Blitzer are more then happy to put on self promoting
milksops like Donna Brazille or Foreign Policy hawks like Lieberman.

If the Democratic Party has a unified message they are trying to push any given week, you KNOW the Mediawhores WILL work to get Democrats on who are dissenter to that very message.

[Dogmudgeon]

1. Never!

Tantrums are so much more fun!

--p!

[Marleyb]

2. John Kerry has alot of connections with the media

Skull and Bones has intimate media connections, they have been working on media ownership for years.

The fact is however, Kerry doesn't help our cause. He is not sorry for voting for the war. He is not calling for impeachment. He is playing along pretending that Iran is a threat.

Dean can't even admit that Cheney should be impeached.

We need to fight for real leaders on the Sunday shows, like Dennis Kucinich. Maybe we could start protesting outside the media outlets, writing emails etc.

[mzmolly]

5. LOL

:eyes:

[KittyWampus]

7. "Skull & Bones"? LOL, is that an attempt at humor? Cause you so totally

missed the damned point, it seems hard to believe it wasn't intentional.

[Marleyb]

10. the fact is Kerry has connection with the higher ups

you can deny it or not.

Skull and bones is not just a frat. Read Alexandra Robbins book if you don't believe me. She was threatened by skull and bones 'journalists' for revealing information about them. They have control of much of the media. There is a great Democracy Now interview with her. Kerry is still tapping people for Skull and Bones, still very involved.

I just don't like the whole 'oh poor kerry and what the media did to him' bullshit because he played along. He was part of the sham. He had ample opportunity, everyone's eyes on him after the election and what did he do? He said it must have been the bin laden video that lost him the election...
:rofl:

[BuyingThyme]

12. Most here have been brainwashed into dismissing S&B.

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Marleyb]

17. my point was Kerry in particular has connections in the media

ALEXANDRA ROBBINS: When I wrote the first article for "Atlantic Monthly," I dismissed Bones as a harmless organization, because my secret society didn't have the power agenda, so I didn't think that Bones did either. After the article came out, I got a call at my office from the New Yorker from a journalist whom I knew by name to be a member of Skull and Bones. He scolded me for writing the article. He said, I’m quoting, “Writing that article was not an ethical or honorable way to make a decent living in journalism.” He asked me how much I had been paid for the story. I refused to tell him and he hung up on me. 15 minutes later, he called back. He says, "I have just gotten off the phone with our people." I laughed. I knew he meant other Bonesmen because I didn't think somebody would actually say our people. He told me that the society demanded to know where I got my information. I wouldn't tell him, of course, and then he spent the next 15 minutes or so, berating me for writing about Skull and Bones for having the gall to expose thing about his secret society. He ended the conversation by saying, “There are a lot of us at newspapers and political journalism institutions across the country. Good luck with your career.” He slammed down the phone. I was 23 then. I was an aspiring investigative reporter, so that did shake me a little bit, but what really appalled me was that I found out since that in the years since that call, this guy has been actively going out and trying to destroy my career as a journalist, simply because I wrote about Skull and Bones.
http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0122-10.htm

[Marleyb]

20. and Kerry is still very involved with Skull and Bones

Skull and Bones is a powerful alumni network, perhaps the most elite network in the country and it really focuses on life after college. What Kerry did was he tried to recruit Jacob Weissberg from his senate office in Washington to become a member of Skull and Bones.

He got a call from Senator Kerry's office, from his secretary, and Weissberg was spending the semester away from Yale. He was spending it, his junior year in Washington. And he got the call, and the secretary said, “Senator Kerry would like to meet with you tomorrow morning.”... He gets there the next morning, about 8:30, I think. And he's sitting in the senator's office and the senator is kind of schmoozing him and making small talk and Weissberg is wondering why (I guess he’s about 20 or 21 by then), why he is sitting in Senator Kerry's office and Kerry said, Kerry brought up Skull and Bones. Weissberg didn't know that Kerry was a member at that point.

and did I mention the are NUTS!

So, according to Skull and Bones lore, and this is something that both Senator Kerry and president bush would have learned, in 322 B.C., a Greek orator died. When he died, the goddess Eulogia, the goddess, whom Skull and Bones called the goddess of eloquence, arose to the heavens and didn't happen to come back down until 1832, when she happened to take up residence in the tomb of Skull and Bones. Now Skull and Bones does everything in deference to this goddess. They have songs or they call them that sacred anthems that they sing when they are encouraged to steal things, some remarkably valuable items, supposedly, they are said to be bringing back gifts to the goddess. They begin each session in the tomb, and they meet twice weekly by unveiling a sort of a guilt shrine to Eulogia. That's the point of the society. They call themselves the Knights of Eulogia. That's where the 322 comes in.

JUAN GONZALEZ: John Kerry, in terms of the number 322.

ALEXANDRA ROBBINS: I spoke with somebody close to Kerry, a member of Skull and Bones. He said that Kerry actually uses 322 as a code in his daily life.

[Mass]

21. LOL

[name not needed]

14. WAAAH! ITS A CONSPIRACY CAUSE DEAN DOESNT SAY

WHAT I WANT HIM TO DESPITE HE HAS NO IDEA OF WHAT I WANT HIM TO SAY AND BECAUSE I DONT CONTROL WHO GETS TO GO ON TV! WAAAH!

[donco6]

3. Actually, there COULD be a way to control it, but . . .

we don't have a unified party so it can't work.

The Repugs get to control who's on the air, because they rule their party with an iron fist. "No, so-and-so, you CAN'T be on MTP because McCain is the spokesperson for that topic. You will turn down the request for an interview, and suggest McCain . . . got it?" And they do.

That's how it works for them. Sadly, the closest thing to strongarm tactics we have are those used by the DLC to get THEIR version on the air. So you see Brazille, and Lieberman and all the other milksops. The only way a non-DLCer can get on is if he makes enough waves during the week that they HAVE to interview him/her.

[Marleyb]

8. "The only way a non-DLCer can get on is if he makes enough waves..."

"during the week that they HAVE to interview him/her."

hmmmm I like that idea...

like if someone say...introduced articles of impeachment!!

[donco6]

9. Ha! Yeah - like that!

But I, for one, am not holding my breath. :mad:

[mzmolly]

4. *Insert Jeopardy theme music*

;)

[patricia92243]

6. This is the very reason AAR needs to have more of leaders on. n/t

[OHdem10]

11. There may be a reason

why it appears Dems cannot get on TV. Just asking, here.

More than once have I heard Chris Matthews state he cannot get
Democrats in Congress(House or Senate) to appear on program.
Whether it is the intention or not , this gives the impression
they do not want to commit to a position on anything.
IMO, these same Centrists who will not appear will go
ballistic if he(Chris) puts too many "Liberals" on .

Here are my observations over the years. I monitor a lot
of TV in order tosee what is being fed to the public. Most
average Americans get their news from TV.--not the W. Post
or NYT.

When Bill Clinton was president, the Republicans in Congress
made noise, demanded time and got it. It is my opinion that
because they were organized and preparing to take back the
House and Senate, they practiced their messages in order to
come on strong. They were not afraid to be confrontational
(Media loves Confrontational)--the Republicans were on TV
often and loud in their message. When the Midterm election
rolled around--it was a rout.

Since I monitor TV, right now the message going to the American
People. There is no unity in Democratic Party. The Dems do
not have a message. Over and Over and Over--the Dem. Party
is weak on defense. The Dems are angry(means mentally unstable)
Democrats are on the side of the terrorists.

The Media has been convinced there is no difference in Democrats
and Republicans. Is this fair--heck no, but there are not
a large group of dems demanding some time to explain the difference.

jYes the producers at TV have a Rolodex of people they call.
They also want an exciting show. News has become Entertainment.

[leftofthedial]

15. the Dems can organize themselves though

and establish clear principles they agree on

and disseminate a coherent, consistent message

and "punish" and disavow the alleged Dems who corrupt the party's principles

but they don't do any of those things.

[OzarkDem]

16. Never, I expect them to fight

I prefer to say our Dem leaders have lost control over how they're represented in the news media.
They just have to figure out how to get it back.

[radio4progressives]

18. Oh Yes they Do have Control ...

Don't believe this insane bullshit. For four years, we've been led to believe that because our party is in a "minority party" we have no power.

It is true that our power in Congress is limited, but it is NOT true that we have NO POWER or CONTROL over such matters as the media, spokespeople are CHOSEN by the party leadership - not strictly by the media - nor is it absolutely true that we have no power about what goes on in Congress -

the Dems have RELINQUISHED their powers which could be excersized in a number of non-traditional ways - they're just too stupid to know how - probably because they are too priviledged and haven't a clue as to how to excersize their rights as elected members of Congress.

Additionally, too many are GOP backers as clearly revealed in the Non-Alito Filibuster - we saw it all - do not for a moment buy into this bullshit.

Instead DEMAND DEMAND DEMAND DEMAND they DO What they are elected to do BY ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

They can, and they should. But it will require the pressure from you, unfortinately - until we can elect REAL Democrats to take their places.

[Dr Fate]

19. Who is "banning" Kerry, Dean , Hillary & Obama interviews?

They all seem to get air-time whenever they want.

Did they all recently fire their PR people and let them take their rolodexes too?

[Armstead]

22. Mmmmm, not necessarily

It would be possible to control this, if Democrats ever were tio unify for a coherent media strategy.

The media may be 'ho's but they are also prisoners of news, and of ratings.

Plus they aren;t stupid. They do realize that at some point Democrats will again be in a position to force the media to be accountable.