08.22.23
Low Octane Gas Lighting – MSNBC
- When your guest is guilty of the thing they are accusing someone else of, you look like an utter fool.
There may be no better example than this segment to show just how little regard Nicolle Wallace has for her audience. We understand that feeding the minions red meat will deliver sufficient ratings, but when you are this blatantly intellectually vacant with your content, it proves how little the facts are considered important to your people.
Wallace brought on Tennessee State Representative Justin Pearson, one of the trio of legislators who was initially punished, but then rewarded, for helping stage a protest on the floor of the state capitol. Pearson came on to discuss the moves by the GOP majority in his legislature to limit future actions like the stunt he orchestrated, and he actually had the audacity to describe the Republican efforts in violent words. That Wallace had nothing to say in the way of corrective or critical analysis says everything here.
To summarize: Nicolle was content to have on the air someone who instigated a mob on the House floor to complain about new rules that would limit mobs from taking place and then claimed such an effort to prevent mobs was an example of “mob rule.” It does not get any better than this stunted display, seriously.
"Our democracy is in peril. The reality is we have people in the state of Tennessee, a Republican Party, who in much more interested in turning our democracy into their mobocracy for mob rules" - @Justinjpearson w/ @NicolleDWallace pic.twitter.com/jQe4Y8egew
— Deadline White House (@DeadlineWH) August 22, 2023
Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – THE WASHINGTON POST
There have been indications that the government is leaning back towards COVID restrictions and mandates, such as masking requirements, as reports that a “new” strain of the virus is out there. Allow us non-medical voices to offer a speculative voice on this matter: It ain’t gonna happen. People will not tolerate these mandates at any appreciable level once again, so give up.
In a probable effort at forestalling this resistance is WaPo’s Philip Bump with a “study” he found that shows how Republicans are more apt to believe false and inaccurate public health information, largely due to the news sources they rely upon for these details.
Of course, in order for this to work we have to rely upon the proper voices to declare what is false medical information, and then we can measure who is following these errant guidelines.
To show Mr. Bump the folly of his lack of reasoning, here is a list of false facts we had been fed during the pandemic:
- Masking prevents the spread of the virus.
- Vaccines prevent contracting the virus.
- Vaccinated people cannot spread the virus.
- The virus originated from bat soup from an exotic food market.
- Black Lives Matter protests would not spread the disease during lockdowns.
- Ivermectin is a horse de-worming medication.
To also help out Philip here – these were not falsehoods put out by Republicans
On a wide range of health-related issues including covid and vaccines, Republicans are much more likely to believe false things than Democrats. https://t.co/YL9gcqeZJm
— Philip Bump (@pbump) August 22, 2023
Democratic Custodial Services – CNN
- Apart from missing out on his words and actions, Bill Weir nailed it on Biden’s visit.
What a difference a (D) makes when it comes to natural disaster responses being fumbled by authorities. For weeks now, Joe Biden has been dismissive and apathetic about the Hawaiian fire disaster. During consecutive vacation stops, with a weekend at the beach in between, the most we could get out of Biden was a “no comment.” The press covered for him by essentially saying it would not be helpful during recovery efforts to have Biden and his people get in the way. Then, when he finally did go to Hawaii, the same press declared this was the perfect thing for Biden to do for the islanders.
His visit was a mess, with him giving a fumbling speech, nodding off as other speakers were at the mic and, of course, he had to deliver his trademark fairy tales to make things about himself. With hundreds of people devastated and suffering the loss of family, Biden decided to tell the myth of his house burning down and nearly losing his beloved Corvette!
CNN’s Bill Weir saw this shameful display and came to a truly stunted conclusion; he said Biden delivered the proper messaging, and then declared him to be “The Empathizer-In-Chief.”
CNN’s @BillWeirCNN praises Biden’s Hawaii visit: “He said the right things … He serve[d] as empathizer-in-chief” pic.twitter.com/UOLoQAVBSO
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) August 22, 2023
DNC PR Firm – MSNBC
- My, how Joe forgets the levels of his own criticism while defending the beloved president.
The desperation seen in the press over the man they forced on the country is reaching critical levels. After Biden’s Hawaii visit, Joe Scarborough – who used to insist he was a Republican – saw the people mocking/criticizing/noticing the president dozing off during his appearance and decided to rise to Biden’s defense. Scarborough claims Republicans (not him, mind you) were falsely upset at the nap time images, and declares that people were melting down over this.
And this would be the time that we have to remind Scarborough that he was the one who had a minor conniption when Donald Trump walked haltingly down a ramp and suggested the 25th Amendment might need to be invoked.
Here is Scar-Jo doing his best to defend the doddering luddite of a president.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) August 23, 2023
The most pathetic aspect? Joe pretending that he did not have his own "meltdown" when commenting on Donald Trump walking down a ramp. https://t.co/MHTgRAdRqv pic.twitter.com/iwvwvSeMYV
Stealth Story Evolution – THE NEW YORK TIMES
One of the consistent messages we have heard from the press over the past few years has been that the integrity of elections can never be questioned and that anyone doing so is perpetrating a direct threat to our democracy. Funny, as often as we had this message drilled into our heads, you would think a major news outlet would have picked up on the danger of such a message.
Now, acknowledging that this was an op-ed and not a news item, we allow a bit of latitude, but still – how did this get past editors??? At the Times, Adam Grant is “re-thinking” the concept of elections and how they impact our governance. Eventually, the Times staff picked up on this error of dangerous thinking and quietly altered the presentation of this deeply problematic entry.
See if you can pick up on the subtle shift in this @NYTimes entry. pic.twitter.com/nHiDFDX4hm
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) August 23, 2023
