To put it mildly, the mainstream media tend to be rather…how can I put this delicately…secure in their beliefs, which just so happen to coincide with Leftist beliefs. Rarely will they even entertain someone from a different ideology to penetrate the bubble they inhabit, and usually it’s done to show how superior they are to that person.
Most of the time, this doesn’t end well. Just ask Sonny Hostin of “The Spew”… I mean “The View.”
It’s because of this the Leftist media tend to hire milquetoast Republicans/former Republicans to nod approvingly at whatever insane shit the Leftist squawking heads say. Such was the case when NBC News/MSNBC hired former Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel as a contributor. And then promptly fired her.
Sometimes when a Leftist sets itself on fire to get my attention, I just have to give it to them.
NBC/MSNBC
What the Left thinks it means – two news outlets known for solid journalism and an honest, tireless pursuit of the truth
What it really means – reliable stenographers for the Left
Granted, the latter definition could apply to a lot of mainstream media outlets, but since we’re focusing on the two-headed monster that is NBC and MSNBC, it fits as well as any.
Back in the day, NBC had some journalistic giants in their employ. Chet Huntley, David Brinkley, and John Chancellor, just to name three. These were the faces and voices people depended on to deliver the news on a nightly basis, and they became the gold standard in the network news industry among so many others.
But as the 70s and 80s came along and new journalists with standards looser than a customer’s stool after eating the new Prune and Ex-Lax Burrito at Chipotle, the newsrooms turned into breeding grounds for ideological PR. Ethical standards, basic reporting, and even conflicts of interest became secondary to advancing the “right” ideas. Which, not surprisingly, got them in a bit of trouble. Repeatedly.
As bad as NBC’s news division got, it wasn’t until MSNBC came into being that the Leftist media utopia could be realized. And, as anyone with an IQ anywhere approaching a heat wave in Antarctica could tell you, it was and continues to be a dumpster fire. The worst part about it is the President of NBC News at the time Phil Griffin allowed it, chalking it up as a natural progression and pointing to ratings as justification. I don’t know who thought becoming a Mirror Universe version of Fox News was a good idea, but I’m sure they were with the same consulting agency that got Air America off the ground…and then right back onto it.
This brings us to the McDaniel hiring and firing. As soon as it was announced she was hired, Leftists within MSNBC threw a temper tantrum because…McDaniel didn’t stop Donald Trump from perpetuating the notion the 2020 election had issues. We can’t have differing opinions in a newsroom, as chairman of the NBCUniversal News Group Cesar Conde wrote in an internal memo:
No organization, particularly a newsroom, can succeed unless it is cohesive and aligned.
But I’m sure that doesn’t mean ideologically aligned, amirite kids?
Not so much.
The Left says they welcome all voices, but the voices they approve are of the controlled opposition variety. Look at the Republicans and former Republicans on MSNBC’s payroll.
Joe Scarborough
Michael Steele
Nicolle Wallace
Charlie Sykes
Steve Schmidt
Along with guests like Liz Cheney, George Conway, and Adam Kinzinger, it’s pretty clear who MSNBC trusts as “real Republicans”: people who are anti-Trump and marginally Republican. Although it can be argued the GOP is the Party of Trump thanks to his daughter-in-law Lara Trump becoming RNC Co-Chair and subsequent house cleaning within the RNC, the point is there are more Republicans than just the anti-Trumpers out there, and MSNBC is doing a disservice to its viewing public by ignoring or “otherizing” them.
Then again, maybe that’s the point.
The idea behind controlled opposition is to give the illusion of a counterbalance to the prevailing powers that be while secretly knowing this counterbalance is working for the powers that be. From a media perspective, this allows news networks to put on people from opposing political parties to make the reporting/commentary look and sound balanced. But if you can reasonably predict what the opposition is going to say and do…it’s not really opposition. Fox News does the same thing with its Left-leaning commentators, so it’s not just a Leftist activity.
How NBC News gets looped into this is when they perpetuate the “otherizing” of Republicans, particularly pro-Trump Republicans. MSNBC does most of the heavy lifting here, but NBC isn’t shy about helping out when necessary. They just aren’t as rabidly partisan in appearance.
At least, they weren’t until McDaniel was hired. “Meet the Press” host Chuck Todd ripped into NBC for hiring her…and he did it on-air. That act alone showed me NBC and MSNBC are no longer variations on a theme; they’re the same fucking song.
And it’s being sung by the same Leftist lunatics.
To watch NBC’s history go up in a fireball that would make the Hindenburg look like a wet sparkler is sad to an old school journalism fan like your humble correspondent, but it’s a self-inflicted injury. The people who made the decision to have both NBC and MSNBC go so far left they see Karl Marx as a poseur created this environment where someone who allowed Donald Trump some leeway is not worthy of hearing from, in spite of the fact this woman ran (albeit poorly) one of the two major political parties in America. To someone like me, that’s not just doing a disservice to McDaniel, but to anyone who watches NBC or MSNBC.
Yes, I know Michael Steele was a former RNC Chair, but he’s been out of power long enough that his perspectives may be obsolete. McDaniel is fresh out of the position, so her insight on the party right now and how Trump has operated as a Republican candidate should be highly valued. Especially going into a Presidential election where Donald Trump is the presumptive fucking Republican candidate.
But, best not to offend Leftist fee-fees in the name of actual political and newsworthy commentary, right? You keep that hugbox alive, dammit!
At this point, there is no coming back for NBC. The Faustian deal they made by joining MSNBC on the lunatic fringe can’t be undone, and the Ronna McDaniel hiring/firing only shows how close to the cliff’s edge they are. It’s gotten so bad Republicans are thinking about limiting NBC’s access to the Republican National Convention this year. If they go through with it (and with more Trump loyalists at the helm, they might), that’s going to hit both NBC and MSNBC right in the pocketbook.
Fucking brilliant.
I’m sure they’re working on their bullshit excuse to claim victimhood status, but it’s just that: bullshit. They made this bed and now they’re going to lie about it. And I will be here to laugh as they get frozen out of one of the biggest stories of the year, all because their fee-fees couldn’t handle a Partially-Trump Republican.
Tag: republican national convention
Leftist Lexicon Word of the Week
With the Republican National Convention finally over, Democrats and Republicans can start discussing issues that the American people really care about.
Who am I kidding? They’re discussing the Hatch Act.
President Donald Trump delivered some of his convention speeches from the White House, which the Left says is against the law. And now they’re complaining the President is getting away with it because no one believes in their latest screed to make him look like an authoritarian dictator unaccountable because of those evil Republicans.
If for no other reason than to get some mileage out of this controversy, let’s all drink some coffee and take some truck stop speed because things are about to get boring.
The Hatch Act
What the Left thinks it means – a law that prohibits federal officials from campaigning while serving the President
What it really means – an anachronistic law that no one enforces because of its potential for abuse
The Hatch Act of 1939 is a law designed to limit the political activities of federal employees working in the Executive Branch with some exceptions. Remember the last four words of the previous sentence because they will be important to understand later. Although this was done primarily to undercut political and monetary interests in policy decisions, it was also designed to ensure only qualified candidates obtained federal positions.
Yeah, that worked out as well as any of Joe Biden’s foreign policy ideas.
As politics, money, and special interest groups have become as inseparable as Bill Clinton and promiscuity, the Hatch Act seems to have lost its bite, if it ever had one to begin with. The key to the act’s power lies in two areas: personal responsibility in selecting Executive Branch officers, and enforcement of the act when violated. Without both parts in place, they’re just words on a page.
Which brings us back to the present day. The Left have their collectivist boxers in a bunch because they feel President Trump violated the Hatch Act by having RNC events at the White House. And, they would be right if only they looked a little harder at the Hatch Act.
Remember when I mentioned the exceptions earlier? Two of the people exempt from it are…the President and Vice President. Oops. Reading is fundamental, Leftists.
And it doesn’t take a lot of effort to understand why, but I’ll explain it anyway for any Leftists out there reading this. With every election cycle, the President and Vice President have the ability to lend their political might behind any number of candidates they choose, as well as campaigning for their own reelection. Applying the Hatch Act as the Left wants us to believe it must be applied means any sitting President and Vice President can’t campaign at all. Granted, this may not seem to be a bad thing on the surface, but it would give the other party (or other parties) free shots at the President and Vice President without giving them the power to defend themselves. Not only is that decidedly unfair, but it would be a gross violation of the First Amendment because the law as passed by Congress would be limiting a person’s freedom of speech.
Well, at least the Left is consistent with its contempt for free speech when the speech doesn’t agree with them, right?
Like it or not, Leftists, but President Trump didn’t violate the Hatch Act in any way by holding RNC events at the White House. Besides, aren’t we supposed to be staying in our homes due to COVID-19? After all, you did tell us lockdowns were effective in slowing it down…well, except if you’re a senior citizen living in New York State, California, or Michigan, that is. Regardless, the point remains the same: you don’t have a leg to stand on here. Either you deny the President freedom of speech or you open the door for future proceedings against the next Democrat President, or even previous ones. Much like the Biden/Harris ticket, either way it’s a lose-lose situation.
It’s also time we take a look at removing the Hatch Act altogether because it’s not working anymore. Both major parties have abandoned the accountability and enforcement elements of the law, and neither one really wants to be held to task on them. A law that goes unenforced is useless and shouldn’t be on the books anymore.
But let’s say you want to keep the Hatch Act in place. The only way I can see to salvage it is to amend it to the point it spells out every last detail of what the Executive Branch can and cannot do and forces Congress to act when it’s been violated. The drawback to that is it would create more bureaucracy and more ways for legally-minded scumbags…I mean Representatives to find and create loopholes so the other side can’t get away with doing what their side can. Essentially, it’s a wash, except for those who make money building immovable monuments to government sloth.
Of course, I have another solution. My idea would require politicians and candidates to undergo mental health evaluations for every stupid or impractical idea they come up with. After enough trips to take the test, they would be forced to retire and would no longer gain access to their government pensions, any positions that require a security clearance, and be deemed mentally unfit for any role with a PAC or special interest group and, thus, unemployable by said groups.
I call it the Booby Hatch Act, and I get the feeling it’s going to be very popular…