Uppity Wisconsin

The new foreign policy team - Hillary Rodham Clinton as secretary of state; Gen. James L. Jones as national security adviser, and Robert M. Gates who will stay on as secretary of defense - are named.

And so do the networks use the occasion to comment on the lies of the Iraq War, the sham of the War on Terror, the obscene amount of money used on armaments? The deaths of 100,000s? Perhaps speculating on whether this will change?

No, the talk of the day is will Hillary get along with Robert and will Hillary get along with Barack? Will the U.S. be okay and recover from its mistakes?

If anyone doubts that Edward S. Herman and Noam Chomsky are spot-on in their institutional analysis of the corporate mass media in their Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (Pantheon, 1988), I recommend reading the book or the transcript of Chomsky's talk delivered at the University of Wisconsin - Madison, March 15, 1989.

Update: The Right Dictates MSNBC's Programming Decisions

What makes a political host incendiary? Holding Republicans accountable and asking questions.

These sins of Keith Olbermann and Chris Matthews have caused MSNBC to take the two politicos off the anchor chairs, leading the cable channel’s election coverage.

Olbermann and Matthews are apparently not aware that their mandate is that of a stenographer and propagandist delivering insipid descriptions of GOP-approved narratives.

Great piece in the CrystalBall exposing the lie that the American public remains virtually tied in their preferences in the 2008 presidential horse race.

Alan Abramowitz, Thomas E. Mann, and Larry J. Sabato write:

While no election outcome is guaranteed and McCain's prospects could improve over the next three and a half months, virtually all of the evidence that we have reviewed--historical patterns, structural features of this election cycle, and national and state polls conducted over the last several months--point to a comfortable Obama/Democratic party victory in November.
Trumpeting this race as a toss-up, almost certain to produce another nail-biter finish, distorts the evidence and does a disservice to readers and viewers who rely upon such punditry. Again, maybe conditions will change in McCain's favor, and if they do, they should also be accurately described by the media. But current data do not justify calling this election a toss-up.

But these facts and data tell a story that on broadcast TV just cannot be widely told. It just would not be fair to John McCain.

via MAL Contends

The campaign reactions tell the story.

You can see the difference in the integrity of the two campaigns by their reactions to this inane, imbecilic forum last night by two manifestly unqualified debate moderators.

There was a serious debate last night and Hillary won, says Hillary's campaign.

Obama’s site offers Americans the opportunity to comment on this travesty, "Post Debate: Any thoughts? If you're tired of a slash and burn politics that trades distraction for real debate, you don't have to sit idly and watch anymore."

Clinton’s site pretends that this was a real, substantive debate, "Hillary's Reviews Are In: 'The Winner,' 'Strong Presence,' 'In Her Element'" [Just like Hillary is pretending there was a primary in Michigan and Fla.]

Hillary is still the same, old, lying politician to which more and more Americans are taking a dislike.