Dem Damn Dum Dems, Again

Read this. A liberal blog, The Carpetbagger Report, details several instances where television networks and newspapers have added conservative voices and views to their Op Ed, or talking head offerings.

For example, see Red America's latest here. This will surely get a rise from the left. Ouch!

Sackcloth and Ashes: What's Wrong With Infanticide?

But I digress. From The Carpetbagger Report:

The establishment media probably doesn't realize how ridiculous it appears when it tries to make the right happy by hiring hacks like Ben Domenech. Conservatives have screamed "liberal media" for a generation to help undermine news outlets that shine a light on their misdeeds. There was never a kernel of truth to the claim that news outlets had an ideological axe to grind, but it didn't matter — if the right could kill the messenger, it could kill the message.

I find it incredibly ironic how representative the above is of the left's distorted view of the world. They see the issue in terms of balance, of what's fair. But that isn't at the heart of the issue at all. What the often intellectually insulated left can't comprehend is that each one of the media entities they mention is, first and foremost, a business enterprise. All media isn't some tax-fueled node of NPR, or propped up by the likes of George Soros, like failing Air America..

Ultimately the entities mentioned are obligated, to some extent, to their audience, but also to their stock holders and boards. The fact is they are all following the money - and, guess what? The money is there because the people are there. Duh! CNN has been in the news because of the end of their Gallup relationship. And why was that? Viewership, plain and simple.

We have had a great relationship with CNN, but it is not the right alignment for our future. .... CNN has far fewer viewers than it did in the past, and we feel that our brand was getting lost and diluted," Clifton continued. "...We have only about 200,000 viewers during our CNN segments."

What would the left have us think? That the MSM suddenly decided to join in some right wing coup? All the MSM is doing is starting to realize how out of touch with America read their potential market they have been. And they're correcting for it. If the left didn't want to hear it from moderate to conservative pundits, they'd better get ready to hear it from the mainstream media. The American mainstream has always been more conservative than the media understood - new and growing competition has forced them to pay attention, or run the risk of being marginalized just like CNN.

Welcome to the wonderful world of business, my liberal friends - where the smart, most popular and ultimately the strongest survive - and the out of touch and unhinged shrivel on the vine of capitalism and die.

Comments

[vl]

Too bad you didn't actually do anything more than simply mention the article. It's a good example of how Domenech takes an issue that neither Dems nor Republicans are likely to be at odds on and immediately politicizes it for the GOP's sake (i.e.--who should have the ultimate right to decide whether a child should be taken off of a ventilator--the doctors or the parent? Duh). Domenech conflates this situation with reference to a hypothetical in which, if such a protocol had been in effect in the US, there would have been more than enough Dem doctors to shuffle Strom Thurmond off the mortal coil long before he passed on.

No this isn't moonbat. No this isn't wingnut. This is the kind of Rovian false conflation that you guys are so adept at, but which will ultimately be your undoing. It's the kind of thing I would expect of the son of the Interior Department political appointee who helped hook up Abramoff, his tribal casino clients, and recently-resigned Interior Secretary Norton. I guess we won't be hearing too much about that little connection over at Cap'n Crunch's or LGFtards.

[MrsLevy]

Tuesday, March 21, 2006

Meet Ben Domenich.
The question of the day is how Ben Domenech, a 24 year old with little journalistic experience who lists among his credientials being the "youngest political appointee of President George W. Bush", was hired by the Washington Post to be their conservative blogger providing balance to...I dunno, their editorial page which was gung-ho for the war in Iraq.

Here's an interesting tidbit about Ben Domenech. Turns out Ben isn't the only Bush appointee in the family. His dad, Doug Domenech, former Loudon County Republican Committee Chairman, was appointed in January, 2002, as the White House Liaison for the Department of the Interior.

How do I know this? Ben Domenech said so.

Perusing an old blog of Ben's, here's some wisdom from Ben Domenech, the college years:
Hopefully today's military action will be the first of a long campaign, though I've always preferred drop teams to smart bombs.

Peace Through Superior Thermonuclear Capability.[10/7/01]

Never trust a male cheerleader. [12/12/01] (You know, Ben, Bush was a male cheerleader)

If I was two or three years younger, I would at this very moment be emerging from the warm smells of popcorn and ju-ju bees to the air outside, fresh from the glory of the first showing of The Lord of the Rings. [12/19/01]
(but wait, Ben, I thought "Red Dawn" was the greatest movie ever...)

Post-9/11 TV Host of the Year: Jon Stewart
Ugly Old Bat of the Year: Helen Thomas
Winner of the Year (uncontested): God [1/4/02]

“It never fails to amaze me how little respect they have for women’s capacity to understand what goes on in our bodies,” [NARAL President Kate] Michelman said. “I faced a crisis pregnancy after having three children, and I didn’t need anyone to show me a sonogram to inform me that my pregnancy would result in giving birth to a person.”

How about the fact that having an abortion would result in the death of a person, Kate? Did you need a sonogram to remember that? [2/2/02]

Al Gore can suck it. [2/4/02]

Antonin Scalia openly questioned the Catholic Church's opposition to the death penalty today, proving once again that he is a man of deep spiritual intelligence, a modern St. Augustine of jurisprudence. [2/5/02]

I don't know about you, but the more Colin Powell insults the French, the more I like him. [2/20/02]

On Protest: It's totally different to protest against war before troops are sent somewhere and to protest against war after our boys are over there with guns in their hands and blood on the ground. The former, in my mind, is a totally legitimate act of political expression. The latter is horrendous and vile. [3/24/03]

I believe this war will take longer than the pundits were saying beforehand, but I also don't think we're going to be forced into a long door-by-door campaign in Baghdad. [3/30/03]

Al Qaeda is getting smoked out in Iraq -- and anyone who thought there was no connection better line up for their serving of crow. [3/28/03]

And here is my absolute favorite find so far:
Claude Allen is as clearcut as a razor's edge. He's a stand-up, principled Virginian. [5/13/03]
Claude Allen, of course, was recently arrested for a felony theft scheme.

And there's much, much more. But my eyes are beginning to bleed, so I'll leave it to others to find some other golden nuggets of wisdom.

And if you want to, you can buy Ben Domenech stuff at Cafepress, including a "Marine Sniper: You can run but you die tired" t-shirt as well as "Re-elect Reagan" and "Contra, Freedom, Nicaragua" t-shirts.

(And let me add at how embarrassed I am that Ben attended my alma mater)

http://yourlogohere.blogspot.com/2006/03/meet-ben-domenich.html

[AfghanVet]

See, you are making the classic and simplistic mistake of confusing journalism and news with entertainment and "media". Left/Right, Red/Blue, Secular/Relgious, they're all just labels to define a target demographic to which they can sell commercials, and more importantly, commercial time to sponsors. It's not news or factual story development and publishing, it's INFOTAINMENT.

Truth isn't about spin and opinion, it's about critical thinking and logical conclusions based on the best information available. Talk Radio and all punditry is not concerned with accuracy or truth, but opinion and provactive statements that get people to listen so more commercials can be sold for more money. Red State boy admits to as much in his first blog.

The problem is that we as a whole now mistake opinion for news because we are too damn lazy to form our own opinions and the "media" is only concerned with making money. Truth should not be a "for-profit" business.

As we say in the military...opinions are like assholes, everyone has one and they all stink.

All the spin in the world will not keep the facts from coming to light. Choosing to ignore such facts will not keep the Earth from revolving around the sun.

Spin on my man.

[vc]

Wait, Mrs. Levy--you mean he's younger than that Bush appointee over at NASA who's only apparent qualification was that he worked on the 2004 campaign? Yeah, you know, the one who wanted to inject "intelligent design" dogma and creationist theory into official documents describing the Big Bang. Exactly--the one who said on his resume that he graduated from Texas A&M, but he actually didn't--not that this small error didn't preclude the White House from saying, "come on down!"

[tester]

Could it be the conservatives screaming "polls mean nothing" for a generation has undermined polling outlets?

Lets not watch news, form statistics, and (most of all) use science.

But anyway, sounds like the viewership numbers quoted here are cherry picked and really do not represent actual viewership or even taking into account, the pattern of viewership.

[Dan]

Its always "Soros and the failing Air America" with you guys. What about Scaife, Coors, the dude that owns Domino's et. al.? Reverend Moon? Those guys have done more to change media than Howard Stern and they did it with their own money- in ventures they never recouped on.

[Steel Turman]

Oh gawd.

There is nothing so blatantly preposterous as liberals decrying balance in their media agenda.

Oh sure, let's add a 'conservative' voice.

Make things a little more 'balanced'.

No. No. No. Can't have that.

If it doesn't sing the party song - they don't want to hear it.

What a bunch of small minded sheep.

THAT would be YOU Mrs. Levy.

To hell with the MSM.

Blog on Dan.

'A keystroke is worth a river of ink'.

[tester]

"What a bunch of small minded sheep."

You are confusing politics with religion.

[Theo]

Here's the problem with your "leave it to the markets" notion when it comes to the media:
The airwaves belong to the people.

We LEND them to the broadcasters with the understanding that they give us information at least every six hours.
It's a responsibility, not a market-driven pander to whichever audience spends more time sitting on their couches.

But, by admitting that the corporations are driving content and editorializing, you've pretty much just blown apart the whole notion of a "liberal media".
So maybe this little column of yours was instructive, after all. Thanks!

[Phoenix]

Oh! Theo,

Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my TV to keep..
If I should die before I wake,
Help yourself to my bank account.

[Phoenix]

MrsLevy,

Your mater is Alma? Where the hell is she? I want her for breakfast. Of course, I'll let her watch CNN before I eat her.

[Phoenix]

" ....where the smart, most popular and ultimately the strongest survive - and the out of touch and unhinged shrivel on the vine of capitalism and die."

Nice. Dan.

The comments were a nice bouquet with the whine of the vine.

[COLUMBO]

Great new Coulter column!

http://www.anncoulter.com/cgi-local/welcome.cgi

[snuh]

that media outlets are, first and foremost, business enterprises, will certainly be, uh, news to the proprieters of, e.g., the weekly standard, the new york post, the nation, atlantic monthly, the new republic and the new york sun, all of which can only be considered businesses if by "business" you mean "entity which perpetually haemorrhages cash".