"Riffed from the Headlines" is Townhall's daily VIP feature with coverage on the deeply flawed aspects of journalism in the nation. We'll look to bring accountability to the mishaps, malaprops, misdeeds, manipulations, malpractice, and manufactured narratives in mainstream media.
10.12.21
Glossary Over Things – MSNBC
- He makes this "autocracy" thing sound really bad – we should stop Biden!
Ben Rhodes appeared with Nicolle Wallace on "Deadline: White House," and he had some stern intonations about some dire political machinations.
"We've already been going down this road of turning into something like... an autocracy... you have a very methodical, very transparent, very deliberate effort to try and turn this country into a Donald Trumpian, autocratic reality" - @brhodes w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/zvykmaTOwK
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) October 11, 2021
Now hold on a moment, Ben – you oppose this behavior? I guess this means that we need to put the brakes on Joe Biden then, considering he has repeatedly challenged the Constitution, issued a record number of executive orders, and wants to impose mandates on citizens and private businesses. After all, if autocracy is such a bad thing…
DNC PR Firm – POLITICO
With President Biden struggling to get passage on his spending package costing trillions of dollars, many in the press are upset that his signature bill is meeting challenges. Here to help is Politico, which decided it might be helpful for them to get the positive word out for his proposal; they felt the need to help sell the public on the concept, in an unbiased fashion, of course.
- "The bill has been terribly named. Former President Donald Trump, who certainly knew how to market things, passed the simply named 'Tax Cut and Jobs Act.' Yet Biden's signature bill is sometimes called 'the reconciliation bill,' after the legislative procedure Democrats plan to use to pass it."
So what did Politico do, in order to help out Biden in an objective and non-partisan fashion? The outlet turned to Madison Avenue to get ideas for a more palpable way to convince the voting public that a $3.5 trillion tax dollars spending spree was less painful to endure.
- "We thought it would be interesting to see if commercial advertising gurus and marketing experts had any better ideas for the Democrats. So we reached out to a group of experts to get their recommendations for how they would pitch the bill. You know, like Don Draper’s Kodak 'Carousel,' but for politics."
Don Draper's Kodak carousel, but make it politics: @politico Nightly tonight, w/ @renurayasam asking commercial advertising gurus how they would change the marketing of Biden's legislative agenda. https://t.co/38iFbfEsQa
— Tyler Weyant (@tweyant) October 8, 2021
Presentation Paradox – THE NEW YORK TIMES
After the fall of Afghanistan, the new Taliban regime is working on installing their form of government, but things are not going quite as smoothly as hoped. The new leaders may need to be careful, as their lack of proper female representation has drawn the ire of the United Nations! Well now, THAT will certainly make them think twice about the way they subjugate females in their society.
#UPDATE UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday slammed the Taliban's "broken" promises to Afghan women and girls, and urged the world to donate more money to Afghanistan to head off its economic collapse https://t.co/KrCB1sXcY1
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) October 11, 2021
Of course, this will also cause a bit of a black eye on the global impressions of their new government. Also, they need to consider how poorly their lack of diversity in the government will reflect poorly on The New York Times; after all, that paper was kind enough to grant them editorial space where they had pledged to involve more females in the establishment of their power structure!
- "We together will find a way to build an Islamic system in which all Afghans have equal rights, where the rights of women that are granted by Islam — from the right to education to the right to work — are protected, and where merit is the basis for equal opportunity."
Certainly, this has the Taliban frightened about how they will be perceived on the international stage
— Brad Slager - Focused On Lasers (@MartiniShark) October 12, 2021
Also, consider how the New York Times must feel about this turn from their avowed approach to the ladies in country. https://t.co/LhpvNXWWgs pic.twitter.com/9hnhqKYTPo
Both Kinds Of Standards – CLUTCH POINTS
- People need to follow the experts on vaccine mandates...found in the broadcast booth.
In the NBA, it has been a long-roiling controversy on whether the players need to be required to get the Covid vaccine. Many players have resisted, for a variety of reasons, and during a telecast of a recent Miami Heat and Houston Rockets game, former NBA coach Jeff Van Gundy was having none of it.
"You know what drives me crazy? 'I'm doing my own research.' I would like someone to answer this: What does that look like? You doing your own research? Are you doing studies yourself? Are you in lab nightly? I don't understand what that means."
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 8, 2021
- Jeff Van Gundy didn’t hold back pic.twitter.com/3XAzn0CtES
Yes! These idiot players need to knock it off and start following the medical advice of professionals who know better – such as blowhard basketball announcers behind a microphone in a stadium during a game!
Legalized Press-titution – NEW REPUBLIC
Look, we get that there is rampant sympathy for Biden from this outlet – that's no surprise. But the logic behind their own argument blows themselves out of the water on this matter.
First, in order to explain away the president's growing unpopularity, you have to ignore an entire shipment of issues, from inflation to Afghanistan to dismal jobs reports to his ineptitude with the pandemic, and many more items. So okay, sure – you want to blame Biden’s rapidly eroding approval on his inability to pass his spending package, and place all the responsibility on a lone female congresswoman who is getting uppity and will not follow directions. Cool.
But do these wizards not even consider that in order to sell this fable it means that Sen. Kyrsten Sinema is in possession of far more power than Joe Biden himself? Oops, bet you all never considered that twist, did you?
Enough, Kyrsten Sinema. Enough of this self-infatuated preening. Enough of helping to drive down President Biden’s poll numbers. https://t.co/helbkiwE9y
— The New Republic (@newrepublic) October 11, 2021
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – DAILY MAIL
British Airways has made the announcement that it will be retraining its staff and workers in an effort to become more inclusive. Starting soon, employees will be instructed to no longer refer to their customers as "Ladies and Gentlemen" going forward.
This is a very welcomed solution because we cannot tabulate just how many lives have been lost because those who self-identify as any of the other 56 genders were not included in the safety demonstrations before takeoff.
British Airways tells staff to refer to passengers as gender-neutral https://t.co/MvWCpYmGmo via @MailOnline
— Barry Byrne (@ByrneBarry) October 10, 2021
In the world of the woke, Ladies & Gentlemen are dirty words.
