CNN drops any pretense and goes for a full on Faux news style disinfo attack against President Obama

[Turborama]

For the first 20 minutes of this morning's State of the Union, its host Candy "Creepy" Crawley led a full on Faux news style assault against President Obama. As can be seen below in the full transcript, her aim was to embed into the minds of her viewers the meme that has been pushed for the past several months, "Obama is Anti-business" (after a quick check on Google, that phrase comes up with http://www.google.com/search?num=50&hl=en&safe=off&rls=com.microsoft:en-US&q=%22obama+is+anti+business%22&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=">76,100 results at the time of writing).

With a blatantly leading introduction and questions with no counter arguments from either of her two guests (Mort Zuckerman, editor-in-chief of U.S. News & World Report and Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief of Forbes magazine), it now looks like CNN is trying to out-Fox Fox.

The most obvious Faux news tactic they used was this part...

ZUCKERMAN: Well, certainly employment to my mind is the key indicator of where this economy is going. And frankly, if you take what is called the birth-death series in the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers on unemployment, which is the number of new companies that have been created and therefore hire people versus the number of companies that have shut down or gone bankrupt, where they lose employees. That series is a historical extrapolation. If you eliminate most of that, which I believe when we look at these numbers at the end of the year they will be eliminated, we have created virtually no jobs and we've had two years plus out of a recession. We have not seen that really since the end of World War II.

Now, why is that? Business is not spending, and -- or not spending nearly as much as you would have thought they would have, in fact because they view the economy and the future of the economy in much more negative terms than what you hear out of Washington. I am not saying that Washington hasn't tried to do some good things. They have also done some things that I think are really very, very counter to trying to get this economy growing. One of them is not only regulation, but expensive regulation. And the other is -- and they have done something here that affects everybody's confidence in the attitudes of this administration to the business community and to the economy. They have demonized the business world. They blamed everything on the business world. Frankly, I don't think that's accurate, but more than that, it's counterproductive to what this administration wants, which is a much more optimistic and confident business community.

The uncertainty that Steve refers to is absolutely out there, as anybody who travels through the business community as I do would see.

CROWLEY: So, Mr. Forbes, before I ask you the next question, a quick clip -- actually, several clips put together of President Obama talking about the business community, or at least some in the business community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: "We can't go back to a culture on Wall Street that says it's OK to bend or break the rules."

"The days of outsized rewards and reckless speculation that puts us all at risk have to be over."

"We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses."

(END VIDEO CLIP)

Well, we've just had a whole week of CNN gnashing and gnawing about what happens when video clips are used out of context yet now we see them doing exactly that.

Blatantly!

The context of those speeches were...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaforamerica/gGx5Tq">Quote 1:

"But we know that it’s not enough to address challenges like housing and infrastructure and job creation in the short term. None of this will make a difference unless we build an economy that offers prosperity for the long-run. We can’t go back to a bubble-and-burst economy based on reckless speculation and spending beyond our means, where a relative few do spectacularly well while the middle class loses ground. We can’t go back to a culture on Wall Street that says it’s OK to bend or break the rules and a culture in Washington that says it’s OK to look the other way.

And we cannot allow what happened at AIG to ever happen again in this country. I know a lot of you are outraged about this. I’m outraged, too. The idea that some of the very people who drove our economy into the ground could accept bonuses with one hand while they were taking taxpayer money with the other goes against our most basic sense of what is fair and what is right. And I am committed to ensuring that we have the tools to prevent the kinds of abuses that sent AIG spiraling so that we never again put our financial system at that kind of risk. "

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/03/24/politics/100days/main4890725.shtml">Quote 2:

During a prime-time press conference Tuesday night, President Obama sought to tamp down on anger over the AIG bonuses even as he assured Americans that he is “as angry as anybody” about the situation.

“Bankers and executives on Wall Street need to realize that enriching themselves on the taxpayers' dime is inexcusable, that the days of outsized rewards and reckless speculation that puts us all at risk have to be over,” he said. “At the same time, the rest of us can't afford to demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit. That drive is what has always fueled our prosperity, and it is what will ultimately get these banks lending and our economy moving once more.”

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaforamerica/gGM7Mm">Quote 3:

"Unfortunately, there are some in the financial industry who are misreading this moment. Instead of learning the lessons of Lehman and the crisis from which we're still recovering, they're choosing to ignore those lessons. I'm convinced they do so not just at their own peril, but at our nation's. So I want everybody here to hear my words: We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses. Those on Wall Street cannot resume taking risks without regard for consequences, and expect that next time, American taxpayers will be there to break their fall.

And that's why we need strong rules of the road to guard against the kind of systemic risks that we've seen. And we have a responsibility to write and enforce these rules to protect consumers of financial products, to protect taxpayers, and to protect our economy as a whole. Yes, there must -- these rules must be developed in a way that doesn't stifle innovation and enterprise. And I want to say very clearly here today, we want to work with the financial industry to achieve that end. But the old ways that led to this crisis cannot stand. And to the extent that some have so readily returned to them underscores the need for change and change now. History cannot be allowed to repeat itself."

In those speeches President Obama clearly wasn't talking about "Business", he was talking about the bankers and Wall Street stock brokers who totally fucked up the economy in the first place. When you look at what he was saying in context I challenge anyone to come up with a cogent argument that what he was actually saying meant he was "Anti Business". Yet, somehow, Crawley and team managed to make it look exactly like President Obama was demonizing "Business", which fitted perfectly in with the agenda they had set for the 1st 20 minutes of their show, and what seems like CNN's agenda from now until November.

CNN are running with this article headline now: http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2010/07/25/obama-is-anti-business-forbes-says/?fbid=31XWRiQdXJ4">Obama is anti-business, Forbes says


I haven't been able to find the video clip of this part of the show yet but when I do I'll add them. Meanwhile, here's the full transcript...

CANDY CROWLEY, HOST: One hundred days until the midterms, a nanosecond in politics and not much time for Democrats to turn around what may be a rough election day focused on one issue, the economy. The unemployment rate was 6.9 percent when President Obama was elected. Eighteen months ago, his administration released a report saying if Congress passed a stimulus plan, unemployment would stay below 8 percent. Congress did pass that stimulus bill. Unemployment is now 9.5 percent; 14 million Americans out of work. Friday, the White House projected the jobless rate will remain above 9 percent until 2012.

Americans are feeling the pain. Only 22 percent say the current economic conditions are good; 78 percent say they are poor. For Democrats, the numbers do not add up to a promising November.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Today, unemployment and a recovery that doesn't feel like one, with business leaders Mort Zuckerman and Steve Forbes.

ZUCKERMAN: They demonized the business, they've blamed everything on the business world.

FORBES: Unless the president deals credibly with that uncertainty, it is going to be a very subpar economy.

CROWLEY: Then, keeping ahead of the terrorists with the former head of intelligence, General Michael Hayden. And the country, politics and race with Christopher Edley and John McWhorter.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Race is not rocket science. It's harder than rocket science.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Racism still exists, but it's nothing like it was in the past.

CROWLEY: I am Candy Crowley, and this is State of the Union.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CROWLEY: Friday, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner taped an interview for NBC. He insisted that the private sector businesses are upbeat.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TREASURY SECRETARY TIMOTHY F. GEITHNER: They see an economy that is going to continue to grow, strengthen moderately over the next 18 months or so, and I talk to businesses across the country, and I would say that's the general view, an economy that is gradually getting better.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: That in the face of blistering criticism from Mort Zuckerman, a Democrat and one of President Obama's supporters in the business community. He owns U.S. News & World Report, and recently wrote, "The hope that fired up the election of Barack Obama has flickered out, leaving a national mood of despair and disappointment. The fundamental problem is starkly simple: Jobs and the deepening fear among the public that the American dream is vanishing before their eyes."

I was joined earlier from New York by Mort Zuckerman and Steve Forbes, chairman and CEO of Forbes, Inc.

Gentlemen, thank you both very much. I can't think of two better people to talk about the business climate right now. So let me just start by quoting Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed, as you well know, who called the state of the economy unusually uncertain. So, I would like to ask the two of you to give me your description of where you think the economy is right now? Mr. Zuckerman?

ZUCKERMAN: Well, I'm more or less on the pessimistic side of things. My view is that you have consumer spending which is either flat or going down; housing, which has fallen off the edge of the cliff; employment which still continues to be a serious problem. And I could give you a whole series of statistics that sort of fit into that general group of either flat or down, and that is what leads me to the conclusion that this economy is getting weak.

You have to understand that this is after the better part of two years of the most extraordinary fiscal stimulus we have had in our history and the most extraordinary monetary stimulus in our history. Generally speaking, when you get two years after the kind of fiscal and monetary stimulus we've had, you would have real creation of jobs. We are not having that.

CROWLEY: So, Mr. Forbes, your rendition of what you think the economy -- the state of the economy is, and if you think it's as bad as Mr. Zuckerman, why?

FORBES: Well, we are having growth, but it's not nearly the growth we should have given the severity of the hit the economy took in late 2008 and 2009. Just a natural snap back should be about two to three times the growth levels that we have had. But there is huge uncertainty out there, Candy, which is why you are not getting job creation. You have a weak dollar. Weak dollar always means a weak recovery. You've got tax increases coming, tax increases already embedded in this health care bill, massive new regulations coming. Small businesses not knowing what is going to happen. So the tendency is to clutch the cash, stay on the sidelines. So until the president deals credibly with that uncertainty, it is going to be a very subpar economy. There are very serious headwinds in the face of this economy.

CROWLEY: Mr. Zuckerman, I know you have made many of the same claims in print. I have seen a lot of the things that you have written. And the White House pushes back and says, listen, we have done a lot for business. That this is -- business always wants tax cuts, business always wants a better climate. And in fact, business is known to, quote, take risks, aren't they? So why not have -- why aren't these businesses going out, taking a little risk, hiring some people? Because we all know that's where the problem is at this point, isn't it?

ZUCKERMAN: Well, certainly employment to my mind is the key indicator of where this economy is going. And frankly, if you take what is called the birth-death series in the Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers on unemployment, which is the number of new companies that have been created and therefore hire people versus the number of companies that have shut down or gone bankrupt, where they lose employees. That series is a historical extrapolation. If you eliminate most of that, which I believe when we look at these numbers at the end of the year they will be eliminated, we have created virtually no jobs and we've had two years plus out of a recession. We have not seen that really since the end of World War II.

Now, why is that? Business is not spending, and -- or not spending nearly as much as you would have thought they would have, in fact because they view the economy and the future of the economy in much more negative terms than what you hear out of Washington. I am not saying that Washington hasn't tried to do some good things. They have also done some things that I think are really very, very counter to trying to get this economy growing. One of them is not only regulation, but expensive regulation. And the other is -- and they have done something here that affects everybody's confidence in the attitudes of this administration to the business community and to the economy. They have demonized the business world. They blamed everything on the business world. Frankly, I don't think that's accurate, but more than that, it's counterproductive to what this administration wants, which is a much more optimistic and confident business community.

The uncertainty that Steve refers to is absolutely out there, as anybody who travels through the business community as I do would see.

CROWLEY: So, Mr. Forbes, before I ask you the next question, a quick clip -- actually, several clips put together of President Obama talking about the business community, or at least some in the business community.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: We can't go back to a culture on Wall Street that says it's OK to bend or break the rules.

The days of outsized rewards and reckless speculation that puts us all at risk have to be over.

We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses.

(END VIDEO CLIP) CROWLEY: Surely you would agree, Mr. Forbes, that there are people in business who fit the description that the president was just talking about. And I guess what I don't understand is why the business community at large, who I'm told are flush with cash or at least have cash at this point, who are in a pretty good position, will not go out and hire because they perceive that the president is anti- business?

FORBES: Well, the president clearly is. I mean, you can take excesses and tar the whole business community, which is like taking election fraud and saying that's why we should not have free elections. He caricatures them, and you saw it in that letter that his top aide sent to the Business Roundtable saying our doors are open, even to the business community. The business community employs 110 million people. Companies and the people that work with them pay most of the taxes in this country. That's where the innovation comes from. So whenever business talks about the need for a stable currency, about the need for a better tax code, they always say, oh, that's what -- they are always wining that's what they always want, as if they are some dog that keeps barking or a baby crying on an airplane, instead of dealing with the substance of the thing, and that is when you have a tax environment where you don't punish success, where you don't trample on the rules of law, as they did with Chrysler and other situations, where you trust the currency, where you are not going to have massive thousands of new rules come and hit you, and you have no idea what they are going to be.

They don't take that stuff seriously. They just think they are a bunch of greedy crybabies, and the business community is reacting to that.

CROWLEY: Let me ask you both to hold just for a second. We are going to take a quick break and be right back, maybe talk about some solutions.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

CROWLEY: We're back with Mort Zuckerman and Steve Forbes.

Again, thank you, gentleman. I want to talk about the Bush tax cuts. They are set to expire in January. And I want to read you something that Timothy Geithner, treasury secretary, said to The Christian Science Monitor Thursday. "We believe that it is appropriate to let those tax cuts that go to, you know, the most fortunate 2 to 3 percent of Americans to expire on their current schedule. That will help us to begin the process of making a contribution to bringing down our long-term deficits."

Now, if I understand economics 101, Mr. Zuckerman, if we are still in an economy as bad as you describe, it is a bad time to let these tax cuts expire for a household making $250,000 and over, is that correct?

ZUCKERMAN: Well, I don't happen to share that view. I actually was opposed to those tax cuts when they were first put in. I don't think it's -- these tax cuts are of such a burden to the top 2 or 3 percent or whatever it is that they still would not pursue their normal economic interest. And I think we do have to begin to make some serious dent in the deficits, because I think those the deficits can create a major crisis for the American economy.

So I have always been in favor of frankly putting more taxes on the well-to-do. It's not an extraordinary burden. This is, of course, a difficult time to do it, but there is never an easy time to do it. And frankly I don't think that is what is going to turn back the economy.

It's the attitude and the confidence of the business community. And a part of that is to begin to get those deficits under control. This is just one step for the government to take. There are many other things they should do to get those deficits under control.

CROWLEY: Mr. Forbes, so my understanding of this is that if you take away tax breaks to the wealthy, what they tend to do is then go ahead and save the money. They don't spend it as much as they used to. I may have this wrong, but I also think you might differ with Mr. Zuckerman at this point?

FORBES: Yes, it's all about price, price and a burden on people working, people taking risks, people starting new businesses. And when you raise the tax rate, you raise the price of risk-taking, and you get less of it. We should have learned that decades ago. So this is absolutely counterproductive. It destroys capital, immobilizes capital.

And by the way, when the president starts beating up on the business community, Candy, let's look at the Federal Reserve, it's binge of money creation in the early part of the decade. You never could have had a housing bubble of the size that we did if they had not done that. Same thing with Fannie and Freddie, which were not addressed -- Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, which were not addressed in this reform bill. If the government had done its part, we would not have had this disaster.

CROWLEY: Mr. Zuckerman, what is worse, a high U.S. debt or high unemployment? And obviously the base of that question, I guess, is, should the president pump more money into this economy?

ZUCKERMAN: Well, you know, that's a critical question. There are a lot of people who are advocates of more stimulus and more deficits, larger deficits. I would point out we had an $800 billion stimulus program in which -- or about which the administration said the unemployment rate would not get above 8 percent. We're way above 8 percent. In real terms we are above 10 percent.

So the stimulus program does not always work. I do think that at this stage of the game we have got to begin to think in terms of getting these deficits down, because these debts are really going to have a huge affect on our economy over time.

What I do think has to be done -- and here is an easy thing to be done. I mean, if you are looking at the Business Roundtable, which is the CEOs of the country, the Chamber of the Commerce, and the NFIB, which is a group of -- the organization that represents small businesses, have all come out very, very strongly against the administration. That's really quite unprecedented. And that, to my -- it's really unnecessary.

So there are things that the government can do. And as Steve was saying, you know, an excess of regulation and the high cost of regulation and the high cost of health care in particular, which everybody knows is going to be a huge buster of fiscal health of this country, these are the kinds of things that really make everybody very nervous going forward and insecure and uncertain.

When people invest, they are not only investing for a week or a month, they're investing for several years. And right now that certainty and that confidence is lacking.

CROWLEY: Mr. Forbes, if I understand what really the two of you are saying, business is not investing, business is not re-hiring or hiring or expanding because, A, they are uncertain how much it's going to cost them to implement health care, they don't really know or they fear that financial reform is going to cost them, and they are still worried about the economy in general?

FORBES: Well, yes. You take small businesses -- or smaller businesses, companies -- outfits employing, say, 50 people, when tax rates go up at the end of the year, they are taxed at personal rates. So they're going -- there's a big slap on them. Businesses with narrow margins, they're going to go under.

And there is no sympathy for the administration on about incentives, on creating a stable and predictable environment. And you have even entrepreneurs, people who are willing to buck the tide, are just being very hesitant because they, again, don't know what kind of costs they are going to get hit with.

And so if -- I'll tell you this, Candy, if they took that health care bill, financial reform bill, suspended it for three years, left the tax code alone for two years, three years, you would see this economy roar up and you'd see the stock market immediately go up 20 percent.

CROWLEY: Mr. Zuckerman, the last question goes to you and is less about business and more about homeowners. And I know this is an area you know a lot about. What is wrong with the housing market right now? Why are we having record foreclosures?

ZUCKERMAN: We are having record foreclosures because we had a huge bubble in housing which was supported by a bubble in credit. And what happens is that the housing market got to such a high level, it was bound to -- it was unsustainable. And now have you a huge drop in prices, and there are literally millions of homes where the home is worth less than the mortgage. And there are -- you know, the housing market has dropped about by about 75 percent. There is a huge excess of supply.

When you have supply going up dramatically, both real supply and what we call the hidden inventory of people who are basically about ready to throw their homes on the market and you have few buyers, you are bound to have a drop in prices.

And that's exactly why people aren't buying. They're afraid the prices are going to go down. And by and large they've been right for the last 18 months. And they may be right for another 18 months. That's what they're worried about.

CROWLEY: Mort Zuckerman and Steve Forbes, I cannot thank you both enough for your expertise. Have a good one.

ZUCKERMAN: Thank you.

FORBES: Thank you.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1007/25/sotu.01.html

(edited to fix an errant apostrophe)

[MadMaddie]

1. I watched for about 2 minutes and changed it

She is worthless! She let them rant on and never challanged them. Of course she is the one that set up the premise that he is anti-business. I dislike her a great deal.

[grantcart]

2. "have a good one"

I wonder what Murrow would think about that sign off.

excellent thread.

Fortunately hardly anyone is watching CNN anymore, and of those that do don't listen to Crowley.

[Jennicut]

3. Yup, and they should just drop this whole "we are in the middle all the time" thing.

Because they aren't.

[Uzybone]

4. Apart from Fareed Zakaria, CNN is a shit hole

[Turborama]

7. Agreed. It's such a shame Christiane Amanpour left

And it's also a great shame they don't aim for the same levels of objectivity that their sister channel CNN International does.

[Whisp]

11. so true. Fareed is like a rare orchid in a steaming pile of shitfaces.

still wonder how/why he wants to be on CNN.

[earth mom]

5. Meanwhile, Obama & Geither do NOT want to hire Elizabeth Warren....

that should tell anyone who's paying attention that it's ALL bullshit and no one gives a flying fuck about the masses of people who are unemployed and living in the reality of the Great Depression 2.

[Whisp]

12. just because you said that

I now know it's a lie.

thanks.

[earth mom]

13. Wait until the Great Depression 2 bites YOU in the ass. You'll see then.

And :nopity: from me since you are the one that decided to smear me by calling me a liar when everyone knows what I said is the truth.

Dude-you are in MAJOR DENIAL. But that's not MY problem. :eyes:


And FYI-smearing your fellow DUer is against DU rules.

[Whisp]

14. go away, cupcake.

precious of you to cite me DU rules.


you....


:rofl:

[earth mom]

27. I don't even know who the hell you are and I could give a fuck.

Talk about a pesky fly.

[scheming daemons]

16. What will your response be when the DO nominate her?

ps. They already hired her once.. for a different position that she currently holds. Your post is already a lie.

[Hydra]

24. And what will your response be if they don't?

BP isn't filling that escrow account for some reason. I wonder what will be done about it?

[ProSense]

6. Mort Zuckerman voted for Bush in 2004 and said Kerry would have been worse

Here's a 2006 appearance on Colbert

One of the biggest assholes on the planet.

[Politics_Guy25]

8. Anderson Cooper is a neocon hack as well

He is bought and paid for by the RNC also.

[Turborama]

9. I didn't know that

On SOTU they had a banner on the side saying he voted for Obama as if that balanced everything out. We've only got his word for it that that's what he actually did in the voting booth. After hearing what he said in that segment, I'm not at all surprised that he voted for Bush in 04.

Thanks for the link!

[JohnnyBoots]

29. Forbes is a PNAC member annd not much better than Mort. Forbes

is much more nutty than Mort though. So the two panelists are both far right millionaires looking after their own asses...fair and balanced.

[rock]

10. Yep, it's garbage

Not that low-grade garbage but pure garbage.

[lunatica]

15. I haven't listened to Crowley since she got a crush on Bush in 2000

She traveled with the press assigned to him during the campaign and made it her work to dis Al Gore every chance she got. I was convinced she had a real high school style crush on Bush.

[voteearlyvoteoften]

17. REC

[FrenchieCat]

18. But you know ain't nobody at Du gonna do shit about this.....

we're just gonna discuss it, argue about whether Obama is a Corporatist or not, and we ain't gonna do shit else. That's why I don't even come to Du much anymore; cause it's useless, when it could do so much more than just have folks going back and forth getting nothing really "done" in terms of fighting back against this fucked up media! Our responsibility should be to organize against such bullshit programming from bias sources....but we don't. We wait for someone else to do if for us.
That's why some folks do a lot of talking and not much else.

Thank you Turborama for what you do. If only as good as your Ops are,
folks actually activated against the media instead of doing nothing,
like most here will do, we'd get somewhere! So again, thank you! :hi:

[Phx_Dem]

19. "Creepy Candy" is a perfect description

for this media whore who does not report the facts, but tries to make the facts fit her pre-formed narrative.

I can't stand that beyotch.

[PopSixSquish]

20. Wait, I Thought President Obama was a Corporatist

I can't keep up.

But I agree with you about Candy Crowley. She's useless...

[high density]

21. Business wants us to buy all their stuff and at the same time they want to pay us no wages

Until that equation changes our economy is going to suck.

[applegrove]

22. It has been a successful meme for business that any regulation is bad. Even

with all the evidence of all the crisis caused by lack of regulation (wall street, mining, BP, etc)the right wing base seems more attached to the "no regulation is good meme" than ever. I guess the further business moves the base to the right the further right the centre moves resulting in fewer regulations on business. As Rachel Maddow said yesterday the democrats need to hit back hard on that meme.

[NYC_SKP]

23. kick (nt)

[Hydra]

25. You know,

This, more than anything, should show how the "third way" doesn't work.

Why? Because the people they are trying to win over(ie: not the working people) are NEVER satisfied.

President Obama has bent over backwards for industries that didn't deserve it, and they are holding the country hostage to demand even less oversight and more of the pie.

[neverforget]

26. Did Forbes blink at all?

[Rhiannon12866]

28. I often watch Rick Sanchez, think he's been pretty fair since after he got tazed, LOL

But when I ran across him this past weekend, his guest was Ann Coulter. That was enough for me... :puke: