Cindy Claveau

Shit. I thought you were a friend!

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Sometimes, "I hit it with my axe" is the best solution.

Cindy Claveau

To settle this once and for all, I did a little research and found out why Fox is so popular:


Eat THAT, Wolf Blitzer!

Io Zeno

I may have to take off the gloves now, Cindy.

Clark is hardly a shill. Fuck, when the man ran for the nomination, most of our job as his supporters was convincing people he wasn't some republican Manchurian candidate. He believes what he believes and I tell you this as someone who has literally had to cover him over, politically because he says shit that politicians should never say, sometimes.

He was responding to a question. He did not come on the show and start yapping about McCain's service, even though that is how the media portrays it.

McCain is hardly some innocent victim here, he slammed Clinton, making remarks about smoking dope while he was languishing away in some POW camp, come ON.

Being the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO during it's first real conflict since it was formulated meant making life and death decisions on a daily basis that McCain never has, ever.

Surreal

Come on, tell me that you've never secretly harbored desires to wipe Oklahoma off the map. If so, you've never made the drive through OK City on a Saturday night with the Texas/OK U game on.

Cindy Claveau

I know, Io. I yanked your chain and it worked

And that's a good point - it's the media making a big deal out of it, more so than the politicians. "No issues to talk about? Let's make something up!"

Io Zeno

hey, you know I have no love for the guy Wes is supporting, I just love seeing him in the middle of the shit saying "no apologies".

jacqueline trudeau

Exactly. Is it?

What has Clinton to do with this discussion? Oh! Serving in the military. Gee, I don't recall that being an issue in that campaign.

Which record is this? Not mentioned in this ringing endorsement:

This is much closer the actual record.

Uh-oh ... let me out of Io's way.

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Trudeau Classic Sailing Yachts

Decadent

I got food poisoning in OK my first ever time there. I concur with the desire to have them disappear.

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You suck, and that's sad.

Io Zeno

I don't think anyone can argue that McCain's service fills out the character and balls side of the equation.

Which frankly is something that baffled me when he started sucking up to Bush, whose minions ran a nasty smear campaign against him and his family when he first ran.

I guess he really, really wants to be President.

Cindy Claveau

"Y'know John, we were just joshin' y'all. Here, have some barbeeque."

Persephone Milk

I have not read this entire thread, but I did go back and find a link to the photographs presented by Media Matters. Provided these aired as shown (which I have no reason to doubt), then I agree that this is disgusting. The photographs were clearly altered to make both persons appear to be unattractive goons. If a person working for Fox did this, then Fox should own it, fire the persons responsible, and make changes to editorial procedure and chains of accountability to prevent this kind of thing in the future.

That said, I have a very hard time believing this editing was reviewed or condoned by management. This is obviously the work of some low-level fool, perhaps an intern, in the graphics design department who thought it was funny. I don't believe for a minute that Fox News has a policy to edit photographs of democrats to make them look bad. This is something you could maybe get away with one time. It is far more likely that this exposes a serious deficiency in their editorial review process, and perhaps in their hiring practices.

The buck stops at the top, and Fox should be called out for this. They play fast and lose (especially in the non-news segments) and that will bite them in ass as it has here. So hold them accountable.

But keep it in perspective too. Fox and Friends is not a news program. It's 70% jackassery, 20% fluff, and 10% "news". And remember that all kinds of media sources are being caught right now for photo manipulation. From Time Magazine's manipulation of the OJ cover, to the more recent controversies at Reuters. It's a troubling problem in this day of digital tools and the rapid pace of an almost instant news cycle.

EDITED TO ADD:

I just noticed this, from the commentary at Media Matters:

This is very telling. In an effort to make a funny piece, somebody was given license to mess with the photos, in what would be an obviously silly edit - at least to make the poodle joke. It sounds to me like, that person got carried away.

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Io Zeno

You could tell how pissed he was for a while afterward.

It was only when he started to gear up his campaign that he really took the kneepads out.

I always said he might have taken that election had he run as an independent but he is really married to the Party at the end of the day.

Envoy Costagravas

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"When Men differ in Opinion, both Sides ought equally to have the Advantage of being heard by the Publick;
and that when Truth and Error have fair Play, the former is always an overmatch for the latter."
~ Benjamin Franklin

Io Zeno

Persephone, I will link later to a documentary that rather convincingly tells of how these are in fact, management decisions, it is *policy*, this bias.

It was no different from the whole story of the CNN management sending out memos during the invasion that criticism "during a time of war" was to be kept at a minimum, and we all remember the little US flags under every anchors face on that station for a year.

That is why I always find it funny, this "liberal bias" I hear tell about.

Io Zeno

You want some, Costagravas? And I don't mean nookie, either.

Victoria Kemsley

Yep Ritchie stupid I am...

Say, is Blackwater still policing the streets of New Orleans on the city/state/federal payroll?

Remember that one?

Io Zeno

Uh, yeah, they did.

Victoria Kemsley

They sent a couple helicopters to help look for survivors.

Private corporations hired them to protect private property.

At no time were they deputised as police

Please prove me wrong

Cristiano

Wow, Outfoxed was really enlightening. It certainly had biases of its own, but it confirms that FoxNews is a very different beast than the other channels, and how pervasive the control over its content is. A review by the NYT of the film sums up pretty much what I felt about it too - it has flaws, but is still pretty compelling:

The New York Times > Movies > Movie Review | 'Outfoxed': Spin Zones, Flag Waving and Shouting to Catch a Fox

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"At least he died doing what he loved most - blogging on the Huffington Post" - 30 Rock

* slu stuff *

Envoy Costagravas

Please to note, dear lusty wench, she said "a few wingnuts have actually been chipping at his military service". She didn't single out the Wes Clark issue, although that may have well been included. I could have parsed and chopped that paragraph before adding my , but there have been other, far less intelligent attempts to discredit McCain's service, and it is those that I find beneath contempt.

To sum up: I agree with the point that up til now, the two major party candidates have been doing at least a fair job of staying somewhat civil and on-topic for their discourse, and the bulk of the foaming-at-the-mouth attempts at low blows have come from outside the campaign. And I'm all for seeing if it is even remotely possible to return the choosing of the President to a slightly higher plane of dialog. Not holding my breath, obviously.

Hope that clears things up. Sex now?

Richie Waves

Whats that got to do with the price of watermelons?

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My lastfm

Oooh, Betty! the cat did a shit in the hat

Cristiano

Overkill in New Orleans | Hurricane Katrina | AlterNet

Io Zeno

Blackwater Down

In the Black(water)

Victoria Kemsley

Sorry Cristiano

Some of the mercenaries say they have been "deputized" by the Louisiana governor

They say they are on contract with the Department of Homeland Security and have been given the authority to use lethal force

What is most disturbing is the claim of several Blackwater


Still looking for any concrete proof here

Io Zeno

Vic, I underlined the parts where it was stated by Blackwell or through financial records and congressional testimony, that they were, in fact, hired as guards by the government, I don't know what else I can do.