Category Archives: Journalism

Update II: Annual White House Sycophants' Dinner

Barack Obama, Celebrity, Hollywood, Journalism, Politics, Uncategorized

It’s a sickening specter: some of the most pretentious, worthless people in the country—in politics, journalism and entertainment—get together to revel in their ability to petition and curry favor with one another, usually to the detriment of the rest of us.

Those gathered at the annual White House correspondents’ dinner are not the country’s natural aristocracy; but a group of people who make their living pretending to be something they are not. Poseurs and parasites.

Granted, actors do not coerce the citizenry to patronize their (mostly) lousy flicks. However, when they use their celebrity to push unconstitutional, naturally unlawful policies—then they are acting as enemies of the people.

Mostly, I find Hollywood disgusting. Every time I turn around a “celebrity” is preaching and propagandizing for the leftist cause du jour. Some of these tarts were using their tushes and other assets to tell their betters (YOU) to be good and do your “duty.”

Like nothing else, the annual White House correspondents’ dinner is a mark of corrupt politics. The un-watchful dogs of the media have no business frolicking with the president and his minions. This is co-optation. And when did the phonies of Hollywood become a fixture in this event?

The toxic “tradition” began in 1920, and, as far as I know, is sponsored by THE WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENTS’ ASSOCIATION. The event and the invited tell a great deal about the Association and its ethics and code of conduct.

The president’s performance was a little wooden. He had a few good lines. For example:

“I strongly believe my next 100 days will be so successful I will finish them in 72 days. And on the 73rd day I will rest.”

The dig at John Boehner’s tan: “We have a lot in common. He is a person of ­color, Although not a ­color that appears in the natural world.”

The dig at the sycophants: “Most of you covered me. All of you voted for me.”

On Rahm Emanuel on the eve of Mother’s Day: “It’s a tough holiday for [Emanuel] … He’s not used to saying the word ‘day’ after mother …”

On the other hand, this one captured how privileged Obama feels:

“Sasha and Malia aren’t here tonight because they’re grounded. You can’t just take Air Force One on a joy ride to Manhattan. I don’t care whose kids you are.”

Wanda Sykes, a talented comedian, began with some great material and then descended into vulgarity and sheer spite.

Update I (May 11): Glenn Beck gave into the temptation to join the high-flying toadies in Washington. It’s a shame; it damages this scrupulous soul’s credibility.

Written after attending the press palooza, Beck’s barbs would have rung truer had he watched the event from his bunker. For once, this is not a case of Beck bearding the proverbial lion in his den:

Glenn decided to attend the White House Correspondents’ dinner this weekend and called the atmosphere ‘slimy.’ Glenn said Obama did a good job with his delivery but was robotic, and he took issue with comedian Wanda Sykes’ routine. Typically this event serves as somewhat of a roast of the President (Imus bashing Clinton, Colbert bashing Bush) but apparently no entertainers these days know how to make fun of the Messiah, so instead Sykes made fun of Rush Limbaugh. Included in her hilarious (translate=crappy) routine were jokes about how she wished Rush’s kidneys would fail. Glenn imagines the things he can say with the new ‘kidney failure’ comedy bar set so low

Update II: Wanda Sykes’ gentle teases “ took a very ugly turn when she laid into Limbaugh.”

Updated: CNN On Tea Protest: ‘Not Really Family Viewing’

Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Liberty, Media, Propaganda, Race, Taxation

How far has the level of “news” fallen when a reporter doesn’t know that her role is to report, not editorialize.

The following is an irate display of ignorance and arrogance by a CNN anchor (via Glenn Beck). Following a rude “exchange”–it was certainly not an interview–with a clean-cut patriot carrying a toddler, who addressed the vile woman respectfully as “Ma’am,” Madam resorted to this rant:

“I think you get the general tenor of this. It’s anti-government, anti-CNN, since this is highly promoted by the rightwing conservative network Fox. And since I can’t really hear much more and I think this is not really family viewing, toss it back to you.”

Note the tone “Susan Roesgen” adopts; it drips contempt. Roesgen ought to be fired, simply because this is not journalism; it’s activism.

Update I (April 18): CNN defended Roesgen: “She was doing her job, and called it like she saw it.” From oral-sex jokes to red neck and racist insults: there has been not a vestige of honest reporting about tea party protests from mainstream malpractitioners.

Updated: CNN On Tea Protest: 'Not Really Family Viewing'

Journalism, Left-Liberalism And Progressivisim, Liberty, Media, Propaganda, Race, Taxation

How far has the level of “news” fallen when a reporter doesn’t know that her role is to report, not editorialize.

The following is an irate display of ignorance and arrogance by a CNN anchor (via Glenn Beck). Following a rude “exchange”–it was certainly not an interview–with a clean-cut patriot carrying a toddler, who addressed the vile woman respectfully as “Ma’am,” Madam resorted to this rant:

“I think you get the general tenor of this. It’s anti-government, anti-CNN, since this is highly promoted by the rightwing conservative network Fox. And since I can’t really hear much more and I think this is not really family viewing, toss it back to you.”

Note the tone “Susan Roesgen” adopts; it drips contempt. Roesgen ought to be fired, simply because this is not journalism; it’s activism.

Update I (April 18): CNN defended Roesgen: “She was doing her job, and called it like she saw it.” From oral-sex jokes to red neck and racist insults: there has been not a vestige of honest reporting about tea party protests from mainstream malpractitioners.

Poisonous Pundits Never Go Away

America, Economy, Elections 2008, Federal Reserve Bank, Inflation, Journalism, Media, Political Economy

Just a few months back, during the Bush era, high-ranking commentators like Larry Kudlow and proxies were touting the strength of the US stock market. Stocks were undervalued. The economy was “strongly reaccelerating.” “Goldilocks, Goldilocks,” Kudlow would crow from the CNBC rooftop. (What on earth does than mean?)

Kudlow and Company could not say enough about the economic benefits of a depreciating dollar. A weak dollar was an asymptomatic blessing, helping to make “US assets very cheap,” and thus ameliorating the trade imbalance. Never mind that it has made Americans poorer.

That was the man and his entourage’s cri de coeur.

“Today’s economic weakness is coming from the business side, not the sub-prime/housing/consumer side,” Kudlow wrote in January 2008.

Back then, Kudlow called for cheaper money and more credit: “the Fed needs to deliver a 50 basis point rate cut at its January 30 meeting. A big-bang rate cut would help businesses, consumers, and mortgage owners. It would make the cost of money cheaper and expand the overall liquidity base of the economy. … Inflation is the most overrated issue out there,” Kudlow asserted.

Kudlow failed to see that government had set the scene for the “minority Meltdown.”

Another snake-oil merchant is Stephen Moore of the Wall Street Journal. He wrote a book praising Bush’s quicksand society. It was titled “Bullish on Bush: How the Ownership Society Is Making America Richer.” Fox New’s Greta Van Susteren has seen fit to make the man who praised the state’s house-for-every-Hispanic schemes an authority on our economic woes.

Like Kudlow, Moore’s congenital inability to call the situation has not dented his career.

Now Kudlow has switched, conveniently, cribbing Peter Schiff’s analysis and pretending he was capable of the same prophetic predictions.

Why does he retain his job?

If you don’t believe me, check out the manner in which Schiff was maligned in 2007 by Kudlow’s crowd as another “Michael Moore,” for forewarning about the consequences of the US’s consumption and credit-based economy.