Media Matters takes John Stossel (of the no fact zone) down a peg

[nam78_two]

http://mediamatters.org/items/200609270002

Of all the "free-markets-fix-everything/global warming is a myth" libertarian psychos out there, John Stossel is one of the worst....I don't understand how this person that just LIES is on 20/20.
I find it ironic that he has written a book called "myths, lies and downright stupidity" -that pretty much describes everything he ever said :eyes:


More on Stossel's fact free zone (old article but still relevant seeing he is still around):

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=1133

Not only do we spend too much on the poor, Stossel claims (9/19/99) that poor Americans enjoy the same access to medical care as the wealthy: "Our system does sometimes fail poor people, but the truth is that when someone is denied care, it makes headlines because it's so unusual."

So unusual? Analyzing data from the 1987 National Medical Expenditure Survey--at a time when fewer Americans lacked health insurance than today--David Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandler concluded that 945,000 people were unable to receive emergency care that year (American Journal of Public Health, 3/95). Almost two-thirds of those unable to obtain care cited "high costs or lack of insurance." Were there really hundreds of thousands of "headlines" that year about the poor being denied access to basic healthcare?

The "victimhood" of labor laws

One has to give Stossel credit for being willing to stake out a strong and often controversial position. Consider his assertion that strengthening labor laws has set a dangerous precedent (10/26/94): "Most of the immigrants who poured into America knew work wouldn't be easy, that hiring practices might not be fair. There were few laws to protect them. But that gradually changed, and by this decade America had anti-discrimination laws protecting women, minorities and people over 40." Sounds good, right? Not to Stossel: "That put most of us in protected status and alerted us to our potential victimhood."

Stossel is one of my pet peeves...I can't understand how this person has any credibility and keeps winning awards for journalism.

[meegbear]

1. Here's a link to him last nite saying Media Matters is a smear site ...

Too bad he couldn't give any examples, of course.

http://www.crooksandliars.com/2006/09/27/john-stossel-goes-after-media-matters-and-fails/

[Rowdyboy]

4. The guy from MediaMatters made Stossel and Scarborough look stupid

after they claimed MM had told lies about them. They were both stammering and totally unable to come up with a single example when he challenged them. Bet he doesn't get invited back on the wimp Scarborough's show anytime soon.

[Atman]

10. Okay, so what are we talking about?

Where is this clip? What was it about? I LOVED the wrestler smacking the dumb-ass to the floor...GIMME MORE! Where is the link to the MM piece? MM, I assume?

ON EDIT: Okay, found it.

[Rowdyboy]

25. We accidentally left the tv on MSNBC after Olberman and it made my

day! Just seeing Stossel speechless when asked to back up his attack on media matters with examples of his claims was priceless. They called his bluff.

[proud2BlibKansan]

23. That wrestler!

LOL Poor John. You think he would learn after being knocked down like that. LOL

[MADem]

2. The man is an idiot, AND he has an ill-advised moustache

Hell, Magnum PI went off the air how long ago???

[nam78_two]

3. he missed his true & more respectable calling-moustache porn/nt

[vickitulsa]

7. Uh oh, now you did it...

:spray: :rofl:

Tell me you made up that term, right? I cracked up laughing so abruptly when I read that my dog thought there must be some sort of emergency in the house!

A perfect example of one of those phrases or terms that evokes both visceral shudders and riotous guffaws at the same time....

[nam78_two]

15. hee hee -I think I actually stole it

from someone on crooks and liars or somewhere who was suggesting that Geraldo do that :evilgrin:

there now you can add that as well to "Images that give you nightmares"...:evilgrin:

[myrna minx]

13. Oh shudder.

Good GOD, how, HOW do I erase that horrible image from my head. :spray:

[nam78_two]

16. sorry ;)

But seriously think how much less harm he would be doing :P

[myrna minx]

17. Oh, OH and then you bring up Geraldo up thread!?!

:puke: Oh the humanity. Now which one is the refrigerator repair man and which one is the pizza guy? :rofl:

[valerief]

5. He's not an idiot. He's an evil liar like the rest of his media ilk. Evil.

[MADem]

8. Nawww, he's an IDIOT

Come on, who but a geek trapped in the past continues to emulate MAGNUM? It's pathetic.

[kurth]

6. Millions listen to this lying asshole on ABC every Friday

It's pathetic.

[madmusic]

9. What does that wrestling have to do with it?

Seems as if the cut got mixed up.

[Atman]

11. It was Stossel getting smacked to the floor

It was worth watching just because it was Stossel getting a smackdown. Literally.

[semillama]

20. May I add

"on his candy ass"?

yup.

that made my day in so many ways.

[depakid]

12. Corporate media & John Stossel are peas in a pod

The only solution is to divest and re-regulate them.

[gratuitous]

14. Stossel wins awards for journalism?

News to me. What isn't news to me is that Stossel has a very, shall we say, unusual contract with ABC in that it gives him license to lie on the air, and that those lies must be repeated. When caught, it isn't Stossel facing reprimand, censure or loss of his job, it's one of his personal production staff:

http://www.ewg.org/reports/givemeafake/fitzpatrickcanned.html

[nam78_two]

27. Thanks for posting that

Always glad to hear more about my best friend John....
What a sleazy deal :grr:

[zbdent]

18. Gee, I'd like to see John Stossel go into the ER with no insurance and

no money, and be treated to emergency surgery ...

Let's see how long it is before he cracks under not being able to get pain medication, like those who can't afford to pay have to suffer through ... (wonder if he'd support torture then?)

since the liberal idea of ERs having to treat all that fall on their doorstep made the ER the health care choice of people who can't afford any health care at all due to lack of anything resembling universal coverage ...

Somehow, I think that Stossel would immediately point out that he has coverage ... guess he could afford it after suing the WWF for him being an asshole ...

[fladonkey]

19. I quit....

listening to this guy a long time ago.

[NewJeffCT]

21. Thanks for posting

Media Matters does an awesome job! I get their summary emails every day at work, and get their updates at home as well.

[VOX]

22. WTF??? "...Our system does sometimes fail poor people..." WTF???

Sometimes, John? Get off of Planet Neocon and stop spouting these **lies**.

Our healthcare system, as most of our systems, fails poor people ALL of the time.

There's no other way to drive all the wealth to the top -- as it has been for the last 6 years -- without taking it from someone.
And just whom do you think it's being taken from??? :grr:

[vickitulsa]

24. He's one of my pet peeves, too. Emphasis on "PEEVE"!

I'm wondering, does anyone recall when he first began his stint on 20/20, before he got his own (short) segment called "Gimme A Break!"? He was just another among many of the lackluster, goofy-looking, oddball ignoramuses out there who manage (I've never figured out how) to get their mugs on the air.

He never had anything worthwhile to say; yet in every report he made, he added his own pointless and inane commentary -- usually putting someone down or poking fun at victims like that was entirely appropriate behavior.

People like him need to experience a good dose of unavoidable, no-fault "victimhood" themselves for a change and then have others laugh them off the map over it. I can just imagine wimpy John S crying himself a river at that point -- which is precisely when others ought to tell him to "stop yer whining!"

Can'tcha just hear it? "Yeah, so whaddaya want, Stossel? 'Special treatment'? Ya big crybaby, reach for your own bootstraps! And it's probably your damn fault, anyway, that you were blindsided by that Mack truck when it ran up on your front porch and into your living room! Here's a quarter -- go tell it to someone who gives a shit that your legs are broken in fourteen places and your face has permanent tire tracks!...."

I remember how satisfied I felt when he challenged the pro wrestler as a "fake" to his face, and the guy didn't hesitate to put a little smackdown on Stossel to demonstrate that some very real pain was involved in his occupation!

IIRC, the wrestler made a grab at pencilneck Stossel, who then showed his true colors when he left skidmarks with his tennies, he took off running so fast -- trying to find someone to hide behind. I always wondered how much of his cowardly hypocrisy was surely caught on tape that day but then was carefully edited out to show him in as good a light as possible.

Then, much later when he had become a frequent contributor to the show with his "Gimme A Break!" segments, he ran out of anything worthwhile or rational to rant about after a couple of weeks -- and immediately began resorting to making absurd claims and mocking any easy targets he could find.

You could tell that even "Baba Wawa" was appalled at some of the heartless, meanspirited tirades he spewed at his audience. And the blatant lies he pumped out every week were just plain shocking!

I never was a big fan of 20/20, but John Stossel was the primary reason I stopped watching it altogether several years ago.

I just love seeing MediaMatters AND fair.org put him in his place! Every criticism they leveled at him was spot-on and well earned.

That nasty, arrogant, lie-spouting scumbag has done way too much to hurt a lot of good people and for the most part gotten away with it unchallenged (remind you of anyone?). Then on one occasion I remember when he was called on some of his lies and compelled to acknowledge it and issue an on-air apology, he made it sound like he hadn't really been wrong at all ... he had simply been required by legal necessity to make-nice due to "liability issues."

No shit, you posing piece of slippery, malodorous excrement! Doesn't that fact alone TELL YOU SOMETHING?!? Why don't you 'give US a break,' shut yer lyin' maw, and remove yourself from all public arenas and airwaves?!

~~~~

Now do ya wanna hear how I really feel about him? :evilgrin:

Thanks so much for posting this, nam78_two; as you can tell, it totally made my day! :rofl: :hi:

[nam78_two]

26. My pleasure

:hi:

Always happy to make the acquaintance of a fellow Stossel hater :D!
This is why I hang out here so much...its like a spot of sanity in a crazy world..here I don't have to explain to people why Stossel sucks and then hear "Oh but he won 12 emmys-what are you talking about...he is just balanced and has common sense" :eyes:

Lots more on the creep at various places online:

http://www.fair.org/index.php?page=19&media_outlet_id=19
(FAIR fact checks him all the time)

http://dir.salon.com/story/media/feature/2000/02/25/stossel/index.html
http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=John_Stossel
http://www.dailyhowler.com/dh011706.shtml

And his lies about organic food, that made ABC air an apology, is well known.

I wish he, his smirk and that God awful moustache were off tv ;)!

Awesome rant btw....I wish more people felt this way and then maybe his ratings would drop-smarmy jackass.

[vickitulsa]

28. "I wish more people felt this way...

and then maybe his ratings would drop-smarmy jackass."

Me too ... he can further darken a black hole somewhere as far as I'm concerned! ;)

And thanks for the other links -- I'll definitely check them out.

Ya know, to me, Stossel is so like Chimpy it's downright eerie. And definitely disgusting.

I'm actually hoping that a victory in our fight to expose the (p)Resident's true nature and venal behavior for everyone to see and understand will tarnish or ruin a lot of other people like him as well. We desperately need to rid our culture of their ilk -- the sooner the better!

Every moment lost in this effort means more putrifaction is occurring in our very midst.

So we fight on, brothers and sisters, and never give up!

:patriot:

(Ranting again, but you encouraged me and it didn't take much of a push. Hah! Nice to know a fellow Stossel-hater, you're right. Venting this well today probably kept my head from exploding.... ;))

[sendero]

29. Stossel..

... just another reason I wouldn't give a Libertarian the sweat off my ballsack.