![]() GENE AND GABLER AND JANE AND THE PRESS CORPS! Gabler and Lyons and Hall know the things your mainstream press corps wont tell you: // link // print // previous // next //
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 17, 2007 THIS JUST IN FROM THE PLUTOCRAT PRESS CORPS: What does a plutocrat press corps look like? Go ahead! Just take a look at Dana Milbanks piss-pitiful Tuesday Sketch. For reasons only Zeus can explain, Milbank gets fobbed off on liberal viewers almost every evening, on Countdown. On Tuesday morning, though, the worlds greatest body-language guru was at his usual perch in the Post, sounding off about Social Security. Alan Greenspan has repeatedly said, on recent programs, that Social Security isnt facing a crisis; but then, we would have thought that everyone knew that after the extended discussions of same back in 2005. But on Tuesday, Milbank was typing from plutocrat scripts—although, who knows? Given the company Milbank keeps, he may even believe them! At any rate, his Tuesday Sketch teaches a valuable lesson. Most likely, this is how any press corps will work when its opinion leaders are multimillionaires. Russert could hardly have bungled it better! Starting next year, Milbank intoned, the 80 million-strong baby-boom generation...will begin to bankrupt the nation by crashing the Medicare and Social Security systems. The statement is absurdly disingenuous, especially when it comes to Social Security, but Milbank was eager to enhance it. As the boomers retire, Social Security will go into the red in 2017 and become insolvent 24 years later, he wrote, making a statement that could perhaps be defended as technically accurate—if you know what insolvent means in this context, which (trust us) few Post readers do. But the plutocratic scripting continued throughout, even extending to the photo caption, which shows a baby boomer sign[ing] up for benefits while they still exist. And, plutocrat tool that he is, Milbank simply couldnt resist this old iconic groaner: MILBANK (10/16/07): So, the Social Security commissioner has secret ideas for fixing the system and lawmakers secretly want to take action? No wonder the members of Generation X— born after 1964—are more likely to believe in UFOs than in receiving their Social Security checks.Who knows? Maybe they believe the UFOs are already here after reading a press corps of Milbanks! All kidding aside, Gen X members believe such things for a simpler reason. They believe such things because people like Russert and Milbank have recited that crap for many long years. (Astoundingly, so did Obama and Edwards, at the last Democratic debate.) It would be hard to produce a dumber column—and remember, this is the person with whom we get stuck on our nightly liberal news program. His Washington Sketch is almost always a mess—although, in fairness, he dissembles wildly against targets from both major parties. But try to believe that a semi-liberal is still out there peddling bull-roar like that. What does a plutocrat press corps look like? Go ahead! Read Milbanks column! ON A ROLL: In his typical Washington Sketch, Milbank offers inane analyses of the body language of whichever pol hes dissembling about. Thanks to C-SPAN, we can often see how baldly dishonest his factual statements really are. (A recent piece about Rep. Tom Davis, R-VA, was an instant classic.) But even by Milbanks comical standards, this recent chunk about Nancy Pelosi had to bring a smile: MILBANK (10/10/07): Pelosi may have realized that her words sounded too calculating, for at one point she begged the reporters' indulgence for her to "be allowed a partisan moment." She smiled at her joke, then chuckled.Omigod! It was just too perfect! These days, if you dont eat your roll, thats body language too! In a rational world, Milbank would be dismissed as a clown, treated as a figure of fun. In our world, though, hes constantly dumped on us unsuspecting liberals. But then, hes part of a plutocrat press corps. If you doubt that, go ahead—just read Tuesdays column. GENE AND GABLER AND JANE AND THE PRESS CORPS: What do voters deserve to be told about their mainstream press corps? Well answer that a bit later. But many of the press corps most troubling traits were on full display during Campaign 2000, when it staged an ugly, twenty-month war against the Democratic candidate, Gore. From that day to this, members of the mainstream press corps have tried to keep the public from knowing about that remarkable episode. But out in the country, some observers do know what happened. Take Neal Gabler of USCs Annenberg Center, for example. On Saturdays Fox News Watch, the panel discussed the press coverage of Gores Nobel Prize. Because the segment was so illuminating, well post the transcript in full. Gabler clearly understands his countrys recent presspolitical history—and Jane Hall, of the American University, quickly chimed in too. The host was Eric Burns. We do some helpful highlighting: BURNS (10/13/07): It has been a remarkable week for Al Gore. As the expression goes, you can't buy publicity like this. The week didn't start out well, as a judge in England ruled his film about global warming, An Inconvenient Truth, was full of errors and students must be told about them, all nine of them—errors, not students, that is—before they can watch the film. The week ended with a draft-Gore-for-president movement gaining momentum. And the announcement that Gore had won the Nobel Peace Prize.Quick notes: Host Burns, who is normally fair and competent, misstated vastly when he said that the British judge ruled that Gores film was full or errors. And while we personally like Jim Pinkerton, Big Pink was just cosmically wrong about Gores press in the past seven years. But lets focus on the things Gabler knows—the things he quickly emphasized. He knows that it was the mainstream press corps—not Fox; not Rush—which played the lead role in that War Against Gore. He knows it was Maureen Dowd, and Frank Rich, and the Washington Posts Ceci Connolly who were the main story here. (And Margaret Carlson, quoted speaking to Imus.) He knows to repeat the main idea, the one that might surprise many viewers: The mainstream press cost him the presidency. And somehow, Hall knows these basic things too! The New York Times loved Candidate Bush, she correctly said: It's in the face of what everybody thinks. (To read Halls real-time report, you know what to do: Just click here.) Somehow, Gabler and Hall have managed to learn these important facts about recent history. But then again, down in Little Rock, Gene Lyons has managed to learn them too! In his new column, appearing around the country this week, Lyons also discusses Gores treatment. And somehow, he too understands the important recent history involving the mainstream press corps. Heres a substantial chunk: LYONS (10/17/07): Gore shared the honor with the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a scientific organization founded in 1988—about when the then-Tennessee Senator began giving lectures about an issue that had galvanized him since his undergraduate days at Harvard. So no, Gore hasnt re-invented himself after winning the popular vote in 2000 but seeing the Supreme Court, led by two justices appointed by his rivals father, award the presidency to George W. Bush.Like Gabler and Hall, Lyons knows it was the group still known as the mainstream press corps which drove the war against Candidate Gore. And when he notes, contra Big Pink, that the trashing didnt end with the election, its Newsweek and the Washington Post he holds up for ongoing censure. Your liberal media at work, he snorts, at the end of his column. Compared to Gores achievement, the Posts nine significant errors are childish quibbles. Somehow, Gabler, Hall and Lyons all know the shape of our recent presspolitical history, especially as this story played out in the mainstream trashing of Candidate Gore. And yet, this important story has rarely been told within the mainstream and career liberal media. Its no surprise that Lyons and Gabler sound off from Little Rock and L.A., or that Hall is in academia, no longer a part of the press corps. Within that press corps, miscreants and their young enablers have worked very hard, for eight-plus years, to keep the public in the dark about the things these outlanders describe. For example, Jonathan Chait makes a fool of himself about these subjects in his new book and in last Sundays column (see THE DAILY HOWLER, 10/16/07)—but then, hes part of a long tradition. Somehow, Gabler, Hall and Lyons know the truth. But career types refuse to tell. We write all this with continuing reference to Paul Krugmans Monday column. Once again, lets be clear: Krugman has been/is/will be a hero; by light-years, he has been the most important figure in the upper reaches of our national press corps over the past eight years. Indeed, the past eight years would be hard to imagine without the superlative work he has done. But many readers didnt understand why we found Mondays column unfortunate. Tomorrow or Friday, well spell that out—and well refer back to Gabler/Lyons/Hall. In the end, this story isnt about Paul Krugman (great as he has been, great as he will be). It isnt about Gabler or Hall or Lyons or Chait or The Daily Howler. It isnt even about Al Gore—although anyone with a sense of justice would want to see his full story told. This story is about the American public—their right to know the basic facts about the way their press corps works. Before the week has ended, well spell out a few more things the public ought to be told about their modern, plutocratic press corps. But the mainstream press has worked, for eight years, to hide the facts about Campaign 2000. These facts are known in L.A. and Little Rock. But in the end, these facts must be told in DC and New York—at the top of our national press corps. LINKING LYONS: Perhaps today, the new Lyons column will appear at this very spot.. TOMORROW AND FRIDAY: Two of TDHs favorites: Kruggers and Tomasky |