Posted on 11/05/2014 7:42:01 AM PST by Kaslin
On the Sunday before the election, CBS "Face the Nation" host Bob Schieffer unloaded one of those pompously "progressive" end-of-show commentaries about how our democracy is being ruined by money. "The right to vote is our proudest possession, but the way it has become debased by money shames us all."
He claimed "Congress hasn't done anything in years, yet these midterm elections will be the most expensive in history, just like the last one -- $4 billion this time around. That's billion with a B," he lamented. On one level, he is correct. Special interests are purchasing candidates right and left and spending money at a dizzying pace. Consider: the North Carolina Senate campaign this year will cost more than all candidate spending in the presidential campaign of 1980.
Still, wouldn't it be fun to throw back in his face the idea that candidates are buying more and more TV ads in part because there's less and less TV news about politics? Who could possibly be an informed voter if they just limited their diet of political information to ABC, CBS, and NBC?
People quickly get sick of campaign ads, but they couldn't accurately claim they're sick of campaign news stories. The networks have been almost completely absent in this campaign season, obsessing over Ebola and violent football players instead of politics. ABC's "World News Tonight" didn't air a single story on the midterms from June 11 to Oct.27. That somehow did not make Schieffer's sermon on the abuse of the democratic process. Deliberately refusing to report on a campaign is every bit as bad, or worse, than overspending on it. .
CNN's Brian Stelter insisted on Sunday that the dearth of network coverage of this year's midterms wasn't liberal bias -- avoiding the "bad news" of Barack Obama's unpopularity and the resulting decline of the Democrats' appeal. "To me, it's not about bias, so much as it is about priorities. They decide to prioritize other stories, in many cases more entertaining stories, because that's what the public seems more interested in."
Taking Stelter at his word, we conclude that maybe democracy is falling apart because the viewers have voted with their remote controls for "priorities" other than politics. They want more "news" like this example from ABC's "Nightline": "Have a sexy selfie? So do they [celebrities]. From celebs to the new nude reality stars, it looks like everyone is baring it all. Why we're stripping down now more than ever!" That led the show, followed by a segment on "Royal Baby Mania" in Great Britain.
Sensationalistic garbage is winning. The same is true of local TV news, which likewise avoids political news as a ratings loser. Nobody in TV news is going to force-feed the "vegetables" of politics to viewers when they can make money focusing on nude reality stars.
But in Schieffer's estimation, politics has been ruined by politicians and campaign consultants, transforming "what used to be an amateur sport into a professional business where the jobs that volunteers used to do for free have been outsourced to professionals. ... And in the process winding up with an inferior product, a government that remains in permanent gridlock."
True again -- but hypocritical coming from Schieffer. TV "news" has been taken over by accountants and consultants who create an inferior product where politics is squeezed out in favor of weather news, tabloid material, and feel-good "human interest" stories. Anchormen lecture that our government is broken while they would rather pull out their own eyebrows than cover a congressional hearing.
The way these networks largely ignored the 2014 midterms was journalistic malpractice. They are the last people to lecture America about why our elections are debased.
I just saw Chirs Wallace say this hurt the Tea Party. The establishment won these races all by themselves.
Hate to tell you Chris but if the establishment is stupid enough to follow your lead, they’ll lose the whole package in 2016. Tea Party was biggest reason Republicans won anything this cycle. If we’d stayed home, it would have been a Democrat rout.
He's still alive?
The Tea Party is the only entity that has fire in the belly for Conservatism.
And no GOPe, Conservatism is not a dirty four letter word.
It doesn’t mean terrorist in some foreign language either.
Well, except for in the language you have been spewing...
Chris is a liberal, as his dad was too, he just is friendlier.
No monies needed for libs.
The MSM is pushing them for free.
The way elections have become debased by fraud is shameful.
Like it or not, Mr Schieffer, advertisements are information. And it is your network that charges gazillions of dollars to run those advertisements. And you get paid from their gazillions.
So, you are part of the money problem....if you’re going to call money a problem.
“And no GOPe, Conservatism is not a dirty four letter word.”
But to some it’s an obligatory campaign slogan, and nothing more.
“Skeletor” Schieffer is still around, the old pompous arrogant windbag, still wagging his finger, tut-tutting, harrumphing, & lecturing the great unwashed masses.
Meh.
However, based on the size of our precinct, they authorized our crew to get six people rather than the normal four (our usual team for primary elections) . . . and we were busy most of the day. Final turn-out was 51% and we only had three offices on the ballot: governor, U.S. Representative, state legislature representative. And none of these races were competitive. The governor contest was the only one within a 10 point margin.
Good Lord, Almighty.
Look at Wendy Davis and her abortion stand. Her main message was that all Republicans are evil and want women's right to abortion nullified.
The GOPe should get the message that to run against abortion is to win elections. It is to win the Senate back.
If you don't like pro-life just hold your nose.
This is a cover of crocodile tears. As if the mass media hates $4 billion spent on air time.
Should read:
"The right to vote is our proudest possession, but the way it has become debased by voter fraud shames us all."
As for Schieffer, long past time for him to go. As well as the money in politics meme. You'll never get money out of politics. Libs like Schieffer just want conservative money out.
The name ‘Tom Steyer’ never came up though, did it? Nah, I didn’t think so........
Exactly.
They are okay with illegals voting, as long as they vote for Rats.
The ‘money did it’ spin was on Jon Stewart as well.
They just don’t get it.
Animatronics pioneered by Disney!
“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! WE’RE NOT THE GATEKEEPERS ANYMORE! WE CAN”T THROW STORIES THAT DON’T FIT OUR AGENDA DOWN THE MEMORY HOLE ANYMORE! IT’S NOT FAAAAAAAAAAAAIR!”
The news media are the main threat to the American people
the news media gave more coverage to a football player hitting his wife in elevator than to most elections this year
the news media reporters and others are almost all democrat political activists posing as news people
look people if the news media is covering something it is for a reason to help socialism or democrats . count on it. if they are covering something it is to distract us from something else also . ANYTHING that is on the news media even fox news etc. is to be taken with that knowledge that it socialist propaganda with the goal to enslave you and make a puppet of you, to keep you poor and small, EVERYTHING that is on TV , news ,etc.
Money is dirty when the Republicans win, money is as clean and pure as the driven snow when Progressives win.
I get it now.
IMHO
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