Cokie Roberts on Howard Dean on NPR (GRRR!) -- action, please

[emcguffie]

She stomped all over Howard Dean as the DNC chair, and talked about what a mistake electing him is, and how it happened, accidentally. Because it is only the "party activists" who want him. And he will turn away the moderates, which the Dems need, and, oh, if you look at a map of the US by county, it's almost all red! (she said) And they (us, that is) didn't want Roemer, because he's pro-choice! And the Democrats have really got to moderate their position...

It was lies, lies, lies, lies, lies.

I've written the ombudsman. Will other "party activists" do the same?

The e-mail address is [e-mail].

[CottonBear]

1. Send her the purple map

that shows the states ranging from blue to purple to red. It's a much more realistic map than the red/blue map.

[helderheid]

2. I didn't realize we were annointing people

I thought Ms. Roberts believed in democracy. Guess not!

[Norquist Nemesis]

3. If Cokie's going at Dean this hard

it just confirms the CONS are scared. Their running at the mouth trying to get their talking points out there for the willfully ignorant sheeple.

[NationalEnquirer]

4. Cokie is weird.

I dont think she is a leftie or a rightie, I just think she thinks too highly of herself and her opinion.

She tends to follow the trend though, and at this time, everyone who is NOT one of us is bashing Dean.
THIS IS GOOD.
Because it lowers expectations, and when Dean wow's em, they wont know what hit them!

[KaliTracy]

6. i used to think that, but this last election cycle I think she came out on

the right more than the left.

and daniel shore -- more on the left than the right

[NationalEnquirer]

9. Yeah, I thought she leaned right this time as well.

I am not too surprised, I think alot of reporters are leaning more and more to the right these days.

[John Q. Citizen]

16. Daniel Shore is one of my heros

He actually does analysis.

Cokey does "beltway regurgitation," which these days, passes for analysis.

[KaliTracy]

18. LOL -- i agree!

[dmkinsey]

7. I can barely tolerate Cokie

First she's always favoring the right and second she's absolutely total conventional in her "analysis"
Who needs her? I can read the latest polls myself

[NationalEnquirer]

10. Exactly!

Too conventional in her analysis.
And she acts as if she thought of things on her own.
Way too full of herself.
Her dad was a famous newsie, wasn't he?
Maybe thats her problem.

[KaliTracy]

5. You mean Roemer's pro-life, right? -- in any case, I heard it too, and

was yelling at my radio. I'm not sure how to do an action letter with all of the things she covered. It'll be another 2 pager for sure....

[emcguffie]

13. You're right, thanks.

The trouble is, she's the "political analyst" for NPR. There's no other voice.

[KaliTracy]

17. oh, I know -- I've written several letters to NPR since the election

about her coverage, and a few others, too. When I said "another 2-pager" -- I meant, in order to make my point I have to give the facts I know -- which then, makes the letter longer than a soundbite that can be read on the radio...

[Evacuation7]

8. Cokie also blamed the way Michael Moore looks

as a reason Dems lost with Kerry. Anybody else hear her on Chris Matthews after the election? She said Moore helped Dems lose because he embodies everything Americans hate. And Chris Matthews said yeah. not shaving and being fat. Cokie said yeah, his appearance sure didn't help!

[Bridget Burke]

20. Of course, you know that's wrong.....

Research at suburban malls actually reveals that the Michael Moore "look" is quite popular with middle America.

Besides, Michael Moore bashing is just SO 2004!

[ktowntennesseedem]

11. Insert the phrase, "the GOP hopes" and it reads a bit differently.

...what a mistake electing him is, THE GOP HOPES, and how it happened, THE GOP HOPES, accidentally. Because it is only, THE GOP HOPES, the "party activists" who want him. And he will turn away the moderates, THE GOP HOPES...

Whine all you want to, Cokie. The Dr is in!

[emcguffie]

15. Some people change --

-- when they get a lot of money.

I remember my parents' best friends, as soon as they made some money, they become conservative Republicans. Had always been Dems, or my parents would never have hung out with them.

Money really does cloud the eyes of some folks. Thank goodness not all of 'em

[bettyellen]

33. wow that's better than adding "in bed" to your cookies paper fortune!

[Bill Bored]

12. her dad was Hale Boggs.

BOGGS, Thomas Hale, Sr., (husband of Corinne Claiborne Boggs), a Representative from Louisiana; born in Long Beach, Harrison County, Miss., February 15, 1914; attended the public and parochial schools of Jefferson Parish, La.; was graduated from Tulane University, New Orleans, La., in 1935 and from the law department of the same university in 1937; was admitted to the bar in 1937 and commenced practice in New Orleans, La.; elected as a Democrat to the Seventy-seventh Congress (January 3, 1941-January 3, 1943); unsuccessful candidate for renomination in 1942; resumed the practice of law in New Orleans, La.; enlisted in the United States Naval Reserve in November 1943; was commissioned an ensign and attached to the Potomac River Naval Command and the United States Maritime Service until separated in January 1946; again elected as a Democrat to the Eightieth and to the thirteen succeeding Congresses; chairman, Special Committee on Campaign Expenditures (Eighty-second Congress); majority whip (Eighty-seventh through Ninety-first Congresses), majority leader (Ninety-second Congress); disappeared while on a campaign flight from Anchorage to Juneau, Alaska, October 16, 1972; served from January 3, 1947, until January 3, 1973, when he was presumed dead pursuant to House Resolution 1, Ninety-third Congress.

[emcguffie]

14. Golly. Well, she's drifted right --

I've thought that for years and years now. It's sort of like she's a wolf in sheep's clothing.

And it is "the GOP hopes". The thing is, though, the media can do a lot to hurt him, just like they did before.

I just read the Votescam article on the 25 years of election fraud. And now I'm even more leery of the media.

[KaliTracy]

19. her mom took over for her father after he was presumed dead and

stayed in office for awhile, too.

http://www.nndb.com/people/227/000058053/

[KaliTracy]

21. interesting how we think she is leaning right and conservatives think

she is leaning left....

http://www.intellectualconservative.com/article4042.html

[garybeck]

22. Cokie / NPR = Corporate Media

you're going to see more and more of this. get used to it.

the horrible thing about NPR is that millions of liberals still listen to it and think they're getting the liberal news but it's just a sligthly watered down version of the Orielly factor.

Cokie is 100% wrong.

the question is whether the party needs to strengthen its anti-bush, anti-war, anti-corporate base, or reach out to the bush/war sympathizers.

the answer is obvious. over half the people in this country are against Bush and all his policies. to abandon the anti-bushers and reach out to the center would be a deathblow to the party. the only hope is to strengthen the base which is already strong but somewhat weakened by a demoralizing election where most people actually still think Kerry lost, when in reality he won but Bush stole it.

If Dean can fix election fraud and hold his ground on anti-bush/war he will succede.

If they go to the center, they will just be "republican light" and they'll die a painful death.

But the issue here is that people need to realize that NPR is not a good source of news anymore. they buried the election fraud story just like the rest. they called us conspiracy theorists. they refused to put any real experts on the air. We shouldn't listent to NPR anymore.

[emcguffie]

25. that's essentially my point.

The damage that is done when this stuff is repeated ad nauseum and we don't respond. We must not let a vacuum develop around this kind of coverage. We have to bury it.

[Fly by night]

38. You're right, Gary, NPR's election theft coverage was the worst.

Every story they have done has been dismissive and very slanted. And they have caught hell for it from their loyal fans (of which I used to be a contributing one). We need to keep writing them every time they show their true (new) colors. Me, I've put NPR on "snooze".

[garybeck]

47. I sent them an empty donation envelope

and a letter explaining why.

i'm guessing you can imagine what I said.

[Land Shark]

23. Red/Blue/Purple doesn't matter, it's ONE PERSON ONE VOTE!

Every time we buy into the Red/Blue dynamic (or even Purple, though not as bad), we are reinforcing both the Electoral college as well as the idea of one acre/one vote or one county/one vote, instead of one person/one vote.

Republicans have pushed this Red/Blue hard with their county by county map showing tiny dots of blue, the cities. And Cokie helps them with that.

I’m going to repeat this until Blue in the face: The most powerful things are what’s NOT said at all, but implicit in the presentation. Like Red/Blue maps giving the APPEARANCE of some kind of Republican lock when it’s still very close even if you accept the reported Presidential race results completely.

Let's not let memory be erased: It’s one person one vote, and it’s still VERY close.

Anything other than these two is either anti-democratic or else a distortion (like the county by county red/blue map)

PS. By the way, in the county map who said the national parks and forests all voted for Bush? I used to work in Yellowstone, you can’t live there even if you’re bill Gates unless you work there, and it was Democratic workers living there for the most part).

Cokie is really trying to push an aura of invincibility with red and blue and marginalizing Dean before he has a chance.

[davidgmills]

24. Cokie's just lost it

assuming she had it to begin with.

Hello EMc!

[emcguffie]

26. Hi. Do me a favor --

-- and send a note saying that to [e-mail].

We can't let her go unanswered.

[davidgmills]

42. Done

I also asked if they could get a progressive. I'd settle for just one.

[MelissaB]

27. I heard this on the radio

this morning and it made my blood boil. :grr: How in the hell could she be so clueless?

[mod mom]

28. Let them have it and told them they will lose our bequeath amt left to

them in our will as well as our reg donations.

[lonestarnot]

29. Cokie on Crackie!

:silly:

[locomotion]

30. Not only that but

in addition to NPR she spews on ABC news "Nightline" and George's "This Week" as well. This past sunday she and George Will tagged teamed the Dr. The electile dysfunction was another one of her pathetic "journalistic" endeavors. You would think out of 270 million people we could hear from others than the small in-group who work for mutiple outlets.

[bush_is_wacko]

31. You know the thugs MUST be terrified of this man. I have NEVER heard so

much rhetoric being tossed around about how terrible it is for US to have him as a leader. if they think Dean is bad, he MUST be the best thing since sliced bread to ever happen to the Democratic Party!

They are afraid. I think they fear his ability to connect liberal grassroots causes and unite them. They should be afraid. He has the power to create a nearly unstoppable force. He only had a little taste during the campaign but I think he knows there is a lot more out there just waiting for the word!

BTW, don't be fooled Cokie is no Liberal and she is not unbiased either. She leans right. IMO, WAY right.

[emcguffie]

35. I've always believed the GOP spiked Dean's candidacy--

-- because they were terrified of him. They wanted Kerry, the "Massachusetts liberal", with 20 years in the Senate, because that gave them so much ammunition. Which, of course, they used.

Goodness, the NRA endorsed Dean over and over as Governor of Vermont, because he says different states need different gun laws.

He's so moderate in the good way, they are really scared of him. And they are behind this overwhelming effort to paint him as an extreme lefty.

[bush_is_wacko]

40. Of course they are and if I remember right, cokie is the daughter of

the other man that died in a plane crash with hale Bogg's during the Nixon impeachment. The fact that SHE is jumping on the bandwagon to slaughter Dean with rhetoric only re-inforces my belief that Dean TERRIFIES the hell out of them all!

[emcguffie]

43. I think she's the daughter of Hale Boggs. n/t

[bush_is_wacko]

51. I wasn't sure which man was her father. Brain overload! But thanks for

reminding me. Now I remember. Bill Clinton drove them to the airport that day as I remember. Somewhere I have a link to a story that suggests they were alive the first time they were spotted in a fly-by. I'll see if I can dig it up.

I think this is the one:

http://www.check-six.com/lib/Famous_Missing/Boggs.htm

[KaliTracy]

45. she is the daughter of Boggs -- see posts 13 and 19 -- didn't know

about the Nixon connection, though -- thanks!

[John Q. Citizen]

37. Cokie makes a lot of her money on the lecture circuit..

and is essentially a neo-con mouth piece.

She won't bite the hand that feeds her.

Cokie passes off GOP talking points as news analysis.

[bush_is_wacko]

41. Dead on! n/t

[garybeck]

50. you know why else they're afraid?

he knows about election fraud and he wants to do something about it.

[bush_is_wacko]

32. Sent an email too! Cokie is blind to the truth and AFRAID of Dean!

We know that. There would have been no stink whatsoever if ANY other generic Democratic contender had been voted in. Dean means PUBLICITY and that scares the hell out of those that have bought in to the thug scheme!

[fasttense]

34. I use to listen to NPR almost religiously

but now I don't because they have gone so far right. Cokie has been RW since she has been on NPR. I use to turn it off when she spoke. Now I just don't listen to it. My mother, who is 75, use to complain about Cokie when Mom was in her thirties. She said that Cokie and was a Republican in Democrats clothing. Now, it seems, Cokie has stopped pretending all together.

[emcguffie]

36. yes -- Air America is much better --

But I can't get it in the shower, no reception. So I listen to NPR in the shower.

I need a better a.m. shower radio.

[John Q. Citizen]

39. My e-mail to the ombudsman

Dear Sir or Madam;

I am writing about the ethical problem of journalists who make much or most of their money on the lecture circuit and then use their spot on NPR to push an agenda that supports their lecture circuit activity. I believe this may be a conflict of interest.

I've noticed that Cokie Robert's news analysis often closely mirrors GOP talking points. A good example of this was her recent report on Howard Deans getting the DNC chair. Her analysis was neither informative nor insightful and It makes me wonder who she is really working for.

Given the recent revelations of journalists working as US Government subsidized propagandists, I feel NPR has a responsibility to their listeners to insure this isn't happening in a back-door manner at NPR. Paid propagandists need not be paid directly, after all.

Please investigate Mrs. Roberts sources of income (other than NPR) and try to determine if her NPR news analysis is being swayed by those lucrative speaking fees or other indirect financial arrangements


Thank you.

Sincerely,

[emcguffie]

44. It sure would be nice --

if we could get some balance among these "pundit" know-it-alls. As you say, the same voice everywhere, saying the same thing, stinks.

As far as NPR goes, I do think if we make a stink they will at least air the other argument. Whereas most MSM would not.

[KaliTracy]

46. they have been pretty good revisiting some things -- after the election,

Pam Fessler did a spot on "Election Myths" -- so many people wrote in, that later that week she went to Youngstown Ohio to get a story on the E-machines changing Kerry Votes to * votes -- interviewed someone it happened to (verified by him reporting it to a poll worker) -- someone from the machine company, and others -- wasn't as deep as it could be -- but it did bring to the public that something happened (Unfortunately, they didn't say (nor do I think we knew at the time) -- how MANY places this occurred.

[fasttense]

48. You were nicer than I was

I wrote that I found Cokie's analysis on Howard Dean to be biased and ill prepared. She sounded as if she were reading from a republican news release. Can't she do any analysis on her own? Can't she give an unbiased presentation based on facts and not just her right wing ideology? I have never found Cokie's opinion to be anything more than a rehash of the Bush white house propaganda.

The next time she gives her personal right wing analysis, I wish you would clearly identify it as that and not as a well informed opinion. If you would indicate that Cokie is a right wing pundit no more educated in democratic politics than Rush Limbaugh, then I could turn off NPR before I become disgusted with your sheepish imitation of Fox News.

[emcguffie]

49. Even Cokie should pretend to present two sides....

But she doesn't even do that.

Well, I guess we can have faith that "the party base" knows better than to listen to her. Hey, Cokie, it's just us Dems that like him!

She really enrages me. I stopped watching Sunday a.m. tv a long time ago because of her. Knit, knit, knit.

Have to get a decent a.m. radio for the bathroom. Morning Sedition is great.