[Grampa Dave]

Thanks for your excellent reply. Two things really stand out in your great reply:

Actually, what Limbaugh and everyone else in the broadcast media love to do is gin up ratings anyway they can. If that means destroying a good president in the long run so they can have short-term gain, their attitude seems to be, "So what!" In Limbaugh's case, he already makes gigantic bucks and could walk away never having to work again in his life. I think most of what he does on his show these days is ego-driven.

All sounds so grave; so indicative of a president being whipsawed around and controled by those dastardly "right-wing conservatives"; so threatening to the president's re-election chances — which is why the Brokaws of the world so gleefully report "conservative" angst over the president's policies. There is just one teensy weensy problem with the entire premise of the story — it is completely false.

Great analysis of what happened and is happening re this completely falsehood so shamelessly pushed by Rush.

[Wolfstar]

I know it is tilting at windmills, but I wish there was some way to get it through the heads of the majority of people that the media — the whole broadcast and print panoply — are no different that any other for-profit corporation. Except in the media's case their product is news and information, and their age-old primary means of marketing their product is via SENSATIONALISM. Sensational sex. Sensational blood and gore. Sensational political conflict. Sensational international conflict. Sensational celebrity stuff. All of it helps them sell their product, which in turn attracts advertising revenue, which drives up profits.

The one gigantic difference between the media and other for-profit businesses in this country is that freedom of the press is enshrined in our Bill of Rights. Over the course of 226 years, this has been interpreted in such a way as to essentially remove ANY check on media excess. So they can and do lie, manipulate, cheat, and otherwise screw anyone they please with near total impunity. They don't have to reveal their sources, so reporters can even make those up and/or put words into the mouths of unsuspecting or nonexistent people!

We have only the media's collective word that it makes every attempt at being accurate, honest and unbiased. Yet, although there is a mountain of evidence to contradict such assertions, most consumers of news still tend to accept what is reported as irrefutable fact. There is nearly universal, instantaneous, unquestioning acceptance of anything printed in a newspaper or heard in broadcast news-related programming. Name any — ANY — other business on the face of the earth whose product receives so little skepticism. Name any other business or organization which is virtually immune from lawsuits due to damage caused by their product.

As I said, tilting at windmills, but I wish more people would learn to aviod snap judgements and let a news story play out for a few days before forming an opinion on the subject. Particularly in these dangerous times, our nation will be much better off.