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Artisanally-Crafted Narratives – LOS ANGELES TIMES
Yes, this piece is as desperate as the headline conveys. And while this writer, Steve Lopez, invokes demons like Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, he also cites the National Rifle Association as to blame for…the school shooting in Georgia last week. (Deflect much, Steve?) But the whole piece can be summed up thusly:
First off, I admit that Democrats deserve to be on the hot seat. They hold every statewide elective office and dominate the Legislature in a rich state that stands as the fifth largest economy in the world (not bad for a hellhole). And yet California has massive rates of poverty, cuckoo housing costs that are forcing people to flee, and a shameful number of homeless people, many suffering from addiction, mental illness or both.
Well, okay now, this is a healthy admission! Anything more to add, Steve?
Whose fault is it that in California, Democrats are in charge? I have the answer for you. It’s Republicans. In a state that proudly celebrates inclusion and leads the resistance to the politics of race-based scapegoating, climate change denial and the stripping of women’s reproductive rights, the out-of-touch GOP has been hell-bent on shrinking its tent. None of them has offered winning solutions to deep-seated problems, and it might be too late for a party resurgence because as the electorate has grown more diverse, GOP voter registration has dwindled to roughly 25%.
For one, it has not “dwindled,” the Republican voters have long been fed up about being ignored and suffering at hyper-liberal leadership, so they are moving out of the state. Those remaining have no shot at getting into office, unless they turn against all conservative values. In other words, the GOP is to blame for not getting elected, because…they are not Democrats. Therefore, the Democrats who are in power for years now are not to blame, because…because…?
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Did they really try to blame the problems of the state on the party that cannot get voted into office?
— Brad Slager: A Folksy Coach & Joyful As a K-Hive! (@MartiniShark) September 7, 2024
Yes, yes they did. pic.twitter.com/UIm8BVMLCv
DNC PR Firm – CNN
If you do not want to be accused of running PR for the Democrats, maybe stop broadcasting their talking points.
We have been asking this for some time, and we know at the same time there is no answer: Why do the Sunday talk shows continue to bring on Tom Cotton to embarrass their star pundits with facts? For the third week in a row, we see Senator Cotton leave a gabbing-head stammering. Two weeks ago he stunned Jon Karl with basic common sense, and last week he tied Kristen Welker in a knot to such a degree that the network had to walk-back her comments whe she ended up spouting an abject lie about Kamala Harris meeting Gold Star families.
This week, Dana Bash had the unfortunate luck to sit with the senator, as she attempted to join in on the narrative of Russia conspiring to buy off conservative influencers. (I break this false narrative down at my RedState podcast.) Cotton diffused her accusations about the use of such propaganda to interfere in the election by referring back to the media treatment of the Hunter Biden laptop in 2020, and how the intelligence community was behind the false claim that was Russian disinformation.
We doubt Bash anticipated the citing of the infamous letter that claimed it was a false Russian operation, given her ex-husband was one of those officials signing the letter.
Sen. @TomCottonAR notes how the intel community colluding w/ corporate media to confuse Americans about Hunter’s laptop was a bigger threat to U.S. elections than Russia promoting “memes & videos”
— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) September 8, 2024
CNN’s @DanaBashCNN: “It sounds to me like you‘re downplaying the fact that… pic.twitter.com/fCCYNqmFAi
Legalized Press-titution – THE BULWARK
We want to note at the start, we at “Riffed From the Headlines” find Marc Caputo to be one of the less-offensive members of the press. While he tends to operate from the left, he is not as militant and can be rather fair minded. (We had a bit of a feeling of disappointment when he latched onto The Bulwark bowlines, but that is not a complete discrediting either.)
In his recent piece on the fortunes of J.D. Vance, there was a bit of a record-scratch entry in pull quote:
JD VANCE’S FAVORABILITY RATINGS ARE UNDERWATER. The media coverage has been reliably negative. And the social media commentary has been an unceasing nightmare. Yet none of it seems to matter or register with Donald Trump’s campaign.
That phrase “reliably negative” sure pops out there, doesn’t it? We are not certain if this passage at the opening was an inadvertent admission and a slip-up, or if he was merely being cynically accurate. Having read Caputo for some time, we are leaning toward the latter, but it is still quite a descriptive label for the press.
JD Vance Has Become Trump’s Human Bulldozerhttps://t.co/gi8R3QgHVQ
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) September 6, 2024
First Amendment Strike Force – MSNBC
We are not entirely sure they understand what it is they are admitting with this segment.
On MSNBC, host Ali Velshi had on author Roger McNamee to address the controversy surrounding Elon Musk. The writer suggests that based on very dubious sources (a leftist outfit supposedly battling internet hate based on reports from the leftist fact-checkers), Musk should be prosecuted over what he allows to be posted on Xitter because of how it poses a threat to the government.
So, we have an author who wants to violate First Amendment rights and have Musk charged by federal prosecutors and promoting this concept on a news network that loves to say they are sworn to hold the government accountable.
On @MSNBC they promote the idea of prosecuting Elon Musk because his platform allows speech that poses a threat to the government.
— Lie-Able Sources (@LieAbleSources) September 9, 2024
The very thing the 1st Amendment protects us from is what they are pushing to take place. pic.twitter.com/k6O3mqA5yX
Glossary Over Things – COLUMBIA JOURNALISM REVIEW
Coining buzzwords is as easy as mining crypto currency.
At the esteemed think tank on the press industry, the Clumbia Journalism Review, they have minted a new term. “Sanewashing,” though attributed to a Reddit posting from 2020 and picked up by a number of media names in recent weeks, is said to be when the radical ideas or conditions of an individual in politics is rendered to be more acceptable to the mass audiences.
Now, OF COURSE, this is being attributed to Donald Trump these days, as Kamala is now slipping in the polls and the media push for her is losing traction. But what is remarkable is how this is a most perfect description of what has been the most damaging story to the credibility of the media complex this year. What better description is there of the months the press spent lying to us that Joe Biden was “sharp” and that he was in top-flight mental condition than “sanewashing”?!
By @Jon_Allsop: "Is the press ‘sanewashing’ @realDonaldTrump?" https://t.co/irKW1WvJA6 via @cjr
— Fred Sternburg (@TooFred) September 9, 2024
Pulitzer Prize Nomination – WASHINGTON POST
No idea why reporting on her purchase receipt was considered news, but here we are.
There is a sign that the press is running out of things to tout about Kamala Harris in the effort to avoid discussing her policy agenda, or specifically the lack thereof. This really is the journalism example of scraping the plate clean, when it comes to doling out morsels of Kamala’s greatness.
James Hohmann is on the campaign trail, and he was reporting from Pnzey’s Spices, a hyper-liberal business that runs anti-Republican sales and other politically-charged promotions. Hohmann is here to detail for us what Kamala bought. Nothing of substance, import, or political significance – just her itemized billing list.
Kamala Harris just went to Penzeys Spices and bought Creamy Peppercorn Dressing Base, Fox Point Seasoning, Trinidad Lemon-Garlic Marinade, Turkish Seasoning, and Tuscan Sunset Salt Free Italian Seasoning.
— James Hohmann (@jameshohmann) September 7, 2024
