To me, the most interesting observation after the South Carolina primary came from New York magazine reporter and regular TV pundit John Heilemann, who said this on MSNBC (h/t Nicole Belle at Crooks and Liars):
Gingrich is going to get so much free media attention over the next few days. It is going to be wall to wall Gingrich, and I think it is fair to say that, in some ways, the “liberal media,” as Gingrich would put it, is kind of rooting for Gingrich right now. They want this–they/we, want this race to go on, so he is gonna have, he is gonna get more attention and in some ways more favorable coverage, at least for the next couple days, than he would ordinarily from people who would normally give him tougher scrutiny.
So the guy who’s been running against the “liberal media” might actually see his campaign boosted by that very same media? Yes. Heilemann thinks it’s about the press wanting to see a competitive race, which is certainly part of it.
But it’s worth pointing out that Gingrich’s attacks on the media from the debate podium don’t tell us much about how he really feels about the media. As Ginger Gibson of Politico reported (1/20/12), Gingrich can be quite the charmer when the cameras are off:
The same candidate who on Thursday decried “the destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media” shows another face to the cadre of reporters who follow his campaign day-to-day. He jokes with them, publicly celebrates their birthdays, teases them about the early hour they are often forced out of bed to cover his events.
Gibson added that “Gingrich also appears to make a distinction between individual reporters and the media as a whole and comprehends the insatiable nature of the modern news hole.”
Or to get at it more succinctly, read this post by Daily Mail reporter Toby Harnden. Or just read the headline: “Newt Gingrich’s Big, Slobbering Mutual Love Affair With the Elite Media.”
Harnden even posted a photo of the press pass reporters were given for Gingrich’s post-election event:
I guess you could say that Gingrich is both the charmer …
And the snake.
Having been a political reporter in the past, and having covered candidates with whom I disagreed, I can tell you from personal experience that it is entirely possible for a candidate to dislike what you write or how you cover them and still treat you like a dignified human being. I was on a first-name basis with many politicians from the local to the federal level who knew I would try to be fair with them in a news story (though I often wasn’t), but might turn around and trash them in an editorial or analysis piece. Very few of the Republicans on that list let that get in the way of them being cordial, courteous and nice to me in one-on-one situations. Only Democrats let my occasional disagreement with them become an issue. Only liberals would think that a Republican is incapable of treating their opponents (even those in the media – and they are opponents as much as any declared candidate) with grace and dignity.
From what I’ve read, Heileman’s statement:
“They want this–they/we, want this race to go on, so he is gonna have, he is gonna get more attention and in some ways more favorable coverage, at least for the next couple days, than he would ordinarily from people who would normally give him tougher scrutiny.”
has not come true. “More attention” does not necessarily translate into “more favorable coverage.” For example, the fact that Newt released one year of tax returns has not lead to favorable coverage, but rather has served to point out how profitable it has been for him to be an influence peddler, not necessarily a lobbyist in name but a lobbyist none the less.
As bad as Obama is about ignoring his promises to the American people, I see no one in the ranks of Republicans who can come close to him. The only thing Democrats have to fear is another series of stolen elections: that is an area where Republicans excel. If an incompetent idiot like the bush can become president through manipulated voting machines or engineer their fraud tallies, Democrats have something that can generate considerable anxiety.
He reminds me of the racists I knew growing up. They hated the group at a distance, but were always friendly to individuals up close. It’s probably a matter of proximity. Look what happened in South Carolina. Conservative Christians scream to the high heavens about religious issues when it does not matter, but voted in droves for the one candidate that openly urinates on their religious values, morals and traditions once he got up close and personal. Newt Gingrich knows how to relate to the manifest and superficial and draw out the latent and real at the same time better than any politician I have seen in a long while.
A Billings – that “only liberals” thing is absurd. I worked for years as a reporter. My last position was with a large daily newspaper on the east coast. I covered national politics. There were no differences between a Democrat or Republican candidate in regard to treatment of (as you say) “opponents” in the press. Generally speaking, candidates respected me as a reporter with an influential newspaper. Having said that, once a politician is elected, or once a person occupies a powerful position, the national press more or less plays a game of coddling them. The mainstream newspapers don’t do much in the way of real investigative journalism that dissects policy decisions, real reasons behind policy decisions, or who has influenced them (we need FAIR for that). The press relies on those in power for the substance (or lack of) in their stories. In my experience, in-depth reporting was mainly reserved for things like tragic accidents, foreign disasters, or an untimely celebrity death. Many of the reporters I worked with and TV news producers, who are my friends, are personally enamored of those in power. I think the politicians know that.
Gingrich is a very dangerous and unprincipled man. I have trouble seeming how Republicans can be supporting him following his fall from grace as speaker and the subsequent years spent hustling for cash in the most base and despicable ways.
European newsmedia calls this whole GOP spectacle insanity. It is a circus. No adults with everyone talking smack about each other. If the U.S. is ever concerned about losing credibility the GOP spectacle is the right way to go about it. Spreading myths about being the leader of the world while in reality we do not and have never lead anything; we BULLY and we engage in war crimes. We do so while we wrap ourselves in the American flag and speak about our armed forces as “serving our country” Our armed forces have never “served our country” they have instead “served Corporate America” And for that we are willing to forfit their lives. We do NOT believe in democracy nor in freedom. We have overthrown TOO many democratically elected heads of state to install a dictator who did our bidding. We are not the country of the free. We live under a oligarchy where Corporate America calls the shots and controls Washington as well as the media. None of those currently running are qualified to head this country. NONE! They are whoring themselves in front of the altar of Corporate America and fundamentalist right. None of them have any principles or any interest in this country’s wellbeing. Never mind its citizenry.
The country is being sold to the highest bidder. So all the psycho babble about Gingrich or Romney is just that. Babble to fill the airwaves and to prevent the Americans from THINKING, for if we ever started thinking this whole thing through and how we are being lied to there’d be a whole scale revolution. I survived Nazi occupation in Holland; was bombed three times by the allies with a faulty atlas onlyto learn that it was U.S. Corporations ho funded Hitler’s war machine after Germany was broke due to the Versaille treaty. America has never seen a dictator it did not like and was not willing to support. The allies did not win WW2, the Soviets did!!. D-day happened only to prevent the Soviets from overrunning the whole of Europe.
Obama might not be perfect…who would be having to work with Corporate controled House and Senate? Anyone who’s angry at Obama for whatever reason and decides to vote Republican deserves what they get. I deserve better.
Interesting post, Gerry. I read that big American corporations did business with the Nazis but didn’t know that they funded Hitler’s war machine.
“Anyone who’s angry at Obama for whatever reason and decides to vote Republican deserves what they get. I deserve better.”
Gerry, that is exactly what I thought on the eve of the second Bush election. And look whar we got. And now “they” blame Obama for not fixing it quickly enough. I think we are a nation of morons.
You’re right to think that anyone who voted for Obama and now will vote for a Republicon is nuts, Gerry, but saying, “Obama’s not perfect” and thinking that’s enough is wrong. President Obama has hired a bunch of wall Street lackeys for his economic team, and the Republicons didn’t make him do that. The President thinks that he can declare someone a terrorist, and on his say alone can hold that person forever–no charges, no trial, no lawyer. The President ordered the assassination of an American citizen, and declared that all evidence for doing this was “secret,” and that he didn’t have to explain this to anybody, and didn’t have to show why it was necessary to order a summary execution. The Republicans not only didn’t make him do this, many of them whole-heartedly agree with Mr. Obama’s civil-liberties quashing behavior (including “Big” Dick Cheney, who demanded an apology from the President; Mr. Obama and his “team” and many admirers having, just a couple years before, condemned Cheney for merely advocating the things team Obama is now doing in the “War On Terror”). All that aside, if you think Americans are suddenly going to start thinking, you are badly mistaken.
Mary, I’m not going to vote for anyone for President, but I live in Chicago, so that means that the great mass of people who bother to vote here in Illinois are going to vote for Mr. Obama, which means that what I do is irrelevant. It also means that anybody who votes Republicon is wasting their time–their votes literally won’t count for anything (in the Presidential election). I invite you to remember that Mr. Bush was not elected President in 2000. The Supreme Court stopped the recount that would have put Mr. Gore into the office. That’s just the facts. In 2004, there is very strong evidence that the Republicons stole the Presidential election in Ohio by lying, cheating, and stealing. So: Twice the Cons have subverted democracy, and both times the Dems did nothing. The Cons will again try to cheat, and they may succeed. And it won’t be my fault, or the imbeciles (the “Independent voters”) who think Mr. Obama isn’t “moving fast enough.”
Once again I will face a lousy choice. Good thing the GOP has fielded the pond scum that they have because Obama has severely disappointed me with his signing of that dangerous NDAA thing (his “signing statement” is a lengthy joke), and he seems to have forgotten Gitmo is still there. Perhaps to house all those who will be “detained” (GOP speak for prison) if they are not liked by this president or the next. Did Obama think he would be in charge forever? Gingrich or Romney would have much fun with this. Santorum would lock people up for blasphemy.
To Elaine
Henry Ford wrote a series of pamphlets called “the International Jew – The Worlds Problem” which were extremely anti-semitic. These writings were translated into German in the early 1920s when Hitler was in prison. Hitler was so impressed by them that he wrote “Mein Kampf” in which whole passages are plagiarized from Henry Ford’s writing. Hitler called Henry Ford “My mentor”. Hitler had an open door for Henry Ford.
1. Union Banking, with a subsidiary in Amsterdam, run by Averell Harriman (later Governor of NY) and Prescott Bush and controlled by Thyssen. In 1942 the U.S Government closed them down under the War Act.
2. Chase Banking
3. Citi Bank
4. Standard Oil
5. IBM – who did not have computers as yet but had a deadly punch card system that documented anyone of interest, Dissidents/Gypsies/Jews etc. Their system ran the transportation to the camps as well as food transportation. After extensive bombing of the railway system, food could no longer be transported and people starved, not only in the camps but outside the camps.
Just to name a few.
Every night I was awakened by sirens, the rumble of 300-500 bombers flying over on their way to Germany, anti aircraft gun fire. About 1 hour later to return home empty. They first bombed the Ruhr where all the military factories were. In those factories worked foreign workers. They all died. The City of Rotterdam alone lost over 20,000 young men who were taken to Germany never to return. When the Americans entered Germany all they saw were Ford military vehicles.
Fast forward: Vietnam…U.S. soldiers fighting the Vietcong encountered (again) Ford military vehicles. Henry Ford also had a factory in the Soviet Union which sold these vehicles to the Vietcong. U.S.General Smedley Butler’s famous speech “War is a Racket” says it well.
President Eisenhower warned us against a Military Industrial Complex and a standing army. It will always lead to mischief. A few people have succeeded in destroying this beautiful country. So listening to the moronic group of GOP candidates none of whom could run for dog catcher, is a waste of time.
Gerry – Excellent post. Nice to see there are others out there who share my sentiments.
For those blasting Obama for NDAA, I think some perspective is in order. Remember, nothing (especially in government) is black and white. So please take into consideration that the GOP had Obama’s back against the wall. Because the bill released funds to the military (including service member pay, benefits and other necessities), Obama HAD to sign it (hence his signing statement). What’s important to remember here is that he is a Constitutional scholar. Therefore, he knows the “indefinite detention” aspect of the bill is unconstitutional and will undoubtedly be challenged before the Supreme Court and ultimately struck down.
As for Gitmo, Obama still wishes to close it. But it is his own Justice Dept (with the help of the GOP) who are fighting him on this in order to keep their military contractor buddies gainfully employed… and wealthy. Think about it. Has Obama ever said he wants to keep Gitmo open? Aside from the GOP, there are extremely influential people within Obama’s own administration who hold the real power on this issue.
So, to blame Obama for everything is not only a cop-out, it is intellectual laziness. Try to keep in mind the grey area. Because in politics, it is ALL grey.
What an awful nightmare to have to live through, if one was even lucky enough to be able to live through it at all. There are times in life when you say to yourself, “What a terrible time to be alive” and for some, it was.
Btw, Gerry – It was your first post to which I was referring. Your second post is chilling, and reminds me of Joel Bakan’s book (and subsequent documentary) “The Corporation.” Speaking of Gen. Smedley Butler, another astonishing tidbit was his (unknowing) involvement in the corporate coup attempt to overthrow FDR. That floored me.
Anyway, thanks for sharing your personal accounts. Both posts were excellent.
On March 19, 21 and 23 my home town Doetinchem was inadvertently bombed by the British who thought they were flying above the German City Anholt.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgiqBwVWcKk
It is in Dutch but at number 3:12 of the video you will see the remnant of my bombed out city Doetinchem
Holland was liberated by Canadians btw. Dutch people were so happy to see them, they gave them their food whatever little they had, plus a bedroom and were promptly robbed blind of whatever little was valuable.
I lived in this rubble for many years and was schooled in a bombed school building. It was not until 1957 that we got a new school. The bombs were fire bombs, so whatever was not hit, the church for instance, burned out anyway. The bombing was done during day time and I watch hem coming down standing at the window with my mother screaming to get away from the window. Bombs “scream” from a high pitch to a lower one as they come down. I knew exactly when the boom would come. The video describes the town as a ghost town.
So when I hear about our bombings in Iraq (Fallujah) where the depleted uranium is causing severe birth defects on the new born and women are advised NOT to have any more children, my heart aches. Same is happening in Kosovo.
My daughter walks around in a shirt that says “Support the Troops”….(and on the back) “Bring them home”
No Americans should be fighting anywhere. Afghanistan was not to keep America free. Same with Iraq. It was/is solely for Corporate American interests.
When our troops engage in something that only serves the economic interest of Corporate America, their actions are illegal. Therefore to constantly have our politicians refer to them as heroes is propaganda to justify what is in essence a war crime. Noam Chomsky has repeatedly said that if the Nuremberg laws were being observed today, EVERY president after WW2 would have been hanged for war crimes. Bush cannot travel to Europe for fear of an arrest. Kissinger, about 10 years ago got a visit of the Gendarme at a Parisian Hotel with the request to present himself at their office in the morning (very courteous) Kissinger split that night and has not returned there since.
The high number of suicide amongst Iraqi veterans is staggering. Recent research shows that the number of casualties in Iraq combined with the number of subsequent suicides equals that of the casualties of the Vietnam era.
In a recent conversation with a friend (psychologist) I was asked what I thought of the young guys sitting in some sub basement in Colorado or elsewhere controlling these drones that indiscriminately kill in Pakistan/Afghanistan/Libya/Somalia/Iran/Yemen as if engaged in some game.
I responded that I worry about them when 5 or 10 years from now they realize what they were made to do and have to live with that. THEY too are victims. And WE should not be allowed to force anyone to engage in activities that will so alter/destroy their lives.
So every American of good will needs to examine his/her heart and ask the very basic question “Do we want a warmongering…..”American is the leader of the world”…”the wealthiest nation of the world” (while people live on the street and 45% lives in poverty) ….the land of the free while we have the largest percentage of incarcerated people per capita (including Russia/China) propagandist to LEAD this country?? Have any of the GOP candidates shown to have the character and the leadership required to lead us? Have they shown an understanding of basic diplomacy 101? And why should we listen to the pundits that talk endless nonsense and cough up theories as to who said what and why? What makes them think you and I are deaf???
Anger against Obama is a vote FOR these GOP morons. NO vote is a vote FOR these morons.
You don’t need to love Obama, all you need to do is examine the alternative.
Holier than Thou or standing on principle is another fallacy. … There’s a saying in Holland that the graveyards are full of those who stood on principle of having the right of way and got themselves killed while doing so.
I sign every petition that serves the public interest. I volunteer.
Let’s expose the myths for what they are and then rebuild THAT which we can and should be.
If you’re too lazy to volunteer, don’t come bitching later that you don’t like what you got.
Many of us are trying but it won’t be easy. I thought you’d like to know that the Reporters Without Borders’ latest Press Freedom Index was released recently. Reporters Without Borders is an international non-governmental organization that advocates for freedom of the press and freedom of information. This organization reported that reporters became targets again and again throughout the year, not just in the Middle East but on the streets of New York.
The U.S. fell 27 places to 47th place due to the “many arrests of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.” Reporters were “beaten, arrested, and prevented from covering police action against Occupy protesters,” according to their report. “Tensions heightened so much that the NYPD had to meet with journalists to remind them not to mistreat them.”
I couldn’t find mention of this in my local papers or on TV news.
Guys you are sounding like you are seeing the writing on the wall ,and singing the death nell of the republic, and all that is holy.Your being maudlin and ridiculous .Look in Obama you had thee most unqualified man to ever hold the office in it’s history.Believe me it shows.Anyone of the republican candidates are much more qualified.Anyone.What happened to that word Qualified.Under Obama’s super majority damn near nothing wash accomplished that helped this country.By the time he found his sea legs it was all over.He had spent us into oblivion and past a healthcare bill in the dead of night that will be stopped and stuffed at every turn(God willing)So now the old mantra of fear mongering the right.And Gerry is off on a tangent about how histories real killers are the shadowy corporations,and somehow tying that all into a bundle to be dropped at the Rs doorstep(Tim is an equal opportunity blamer at least).Newt and Mitt are like two experienced surgeons who are trying to get to the patient.Obama was a pizza delivery boy put in charge of surgery.Believe me experience and qualification will matter here.Both would do a better job.Will I LIKE Newt more than Obama on a personal note?Nope.I think Newt has a decent creep factor going for him.In the end it will be Mitt.A decent man ready to take over from a decent- if out of his depth man.So calm down
They say “Ignorance is bliss”. If it were to hurt there’d be a lot of people in pain.
Carry on Michael.
Gerry I think if Mitt gets voted in ,that is how you will see it.That the ignorant have blissfully triumphed.And that is a wee bit elitist.I totally understood the republicans being asked to leave last time around.They deserved it!You must see it is the same way this time around,no?Obama is just a failure.A good man but really it is over.
Mitt will not get voted in. And here is why:
1. Teflon Mitt is not the the solution. HE is part of the Problem.
2. When a man has everything handed to him and it was…….he values very little except money.
3. When a man’s sole raison d’être is to MAKE money and is very willing to outsource jobs abroad
he lacks any conscience, any love for country, by basically STEALING these jobs solely in order to enrich himself, and has no connection to the rest of America. As such he cannot possibly represent the working class. It is the labor of the working class that create the wealth, not the wealthy who create labor. Labor ALWAYS precedes wealth. (check Lincoln)
4. A man who aims for leadership of his country does NOT “park” his money abroad in 3 different countries in order to avoid paying taxes. That is decidedly UN American.
5. A man who seemingly has NO principles, considering that he flip flops every day depending on which way the wind blows is unable to stand for anything and should not represent this country.
6. When I watch this Teflon Mitt who is so uncomfortable in his own skin and is unable to relate to anyone I wonder how he related to his wife and managed to sire 5 sons. As a parent myself I wonder HOW he faces his children every day, after each disastrous and disingenuous “performance”
7. My own father(journalist) was in the Dutch underground and risked his life daily. My maternal grandparents had a safe house for Jews. “Grandma” wore a star of david on her coat. She was not a Jewess. These are the sort of people I look up to.
8. Whatever I have ever done was first and foremost remembering that I wanted to set an example for my children. So I wonder how Mitt faces his own children. Do they lie as well as he does? Do they believe that financially raping your own country is fine…???.
Teflon Mitt personifies EVERYTHING that is wrong with this country. He is the sort of person that does not have my respect but my contempt.
The ignorance comes in when those who will be Mitt’s biggest victims vote for him while being totally clueless to the man’s vulture appetite for money and his willingness to deceive them.
Homework: Look up the definition of “Propaganda”
OR “Cause and Effect”
REFLECT on the word “Choice”
Gerry……..That is your opinion and you are welcome to it.Now i know why you won’t vote for Mitt.But since the only two men standing will be Obama and Mitt ,who will you vote for?Teflon BAM who never had any qualifications-and has failed in every way shape or form?Or is there someone else you favor?
Yes it is, and my opinion is based on Mitt’s history, his actions. He is exactly what ails America.
On Obama:
1. Created a Healthcare system that, while not ideal, does not allow for the exclusion of existing conditions and has helped millions of Americans to get medical care and prevented others from going bankrupt.
2. Got Osama bin Laden
3. Saved America’s Auto industry (while Teflon Mitt croaks “Let the Auto Industry fail”)
4. Mitt: “Let the foreclosures continue, it will correct itself.” (Nice guy that)
5. Mitt: “I’m also out of work” (as he collect 57,000 per DAY and parks it outside this country to avoid paying taxes. )
6. “Corporations are people too”
7. Obama ending the war in Iraq…..and in process of ending it in Afghanistan.
The fact that you cannot provide ANYTHING concrete that reflects Mitt’s plans for this country, because he has none, PLUS your refusal to recognize/accept anything Obama has achieved DESPITE every obstacle the Republicans could invent, including but not limited to Mitch McConnell croaking on national tv “our sole purpose is to make sure that Obama only has 1 term in the WH” suggests that your interest is not in having a functional legislative body but that you are willing to destroy this country because of an deep rooted racism you feel because there is a black man that had the audacity to aspire to lead this country, was duly elected and currently lives in the White House . How dare he. Huh?
You sole function on this blog is being a shill, albeit not a very smart one. More like an empty suit.