watching rachel & wondering: can democracy exist with a blatantly lying media ?

[spanone]

"A lie can travel halfway around the world while the truth is putting on its shoes" ...mark twain

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

she's reporting on the false story that they are spending 200 million doallars a day

and sending 34 warships to india to protect President Obama. also that they have 3,000 people traveling with him

and they have rented 500 some rooms at the taj mahal hotel....just ludicrous bullshit that is LIES. nothing more.

how can the people be expected to make opinions of the government when the information is fabricated?

+++++++++++++

who said this? bachmann...hannity...ru$h....the usual lying mo fo's...a fox fabricration

As you may have heard, President Obama will travel to India on Saturday, part of an overseas diplomatic mission that will put the president face-to-face with the leaders of a key strategic and trade partner, not to mention a regional nuclear power. For Obama, the India visit is a chance to get all presidential after his recent "shellacking." For India, it's a change to further a relationship mutually beneficial to both nations. For the right wing, it's a one-way ticket to Freakoutville.

Here's the right-wing India trip meme: Obama is spending more money -- $200 million per day -- than the nation spends daily on the war in Afghanistan, in order to fly something like one million planes full of his closest friends to a multi-day bacchanal on the steps of the Taj Mahal, all paid for by you, the taxypayer. Or something.

As Eric Lach reported earlier today, the meme is just about 100% garbage, according to the White House. "No basis in reality" was the way Deputy White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest described it.

But that hasn't stopped the engines of right-wing panic from spooling up to 11 over what is, basically, a totally normal -- though inarguably incredibly expensive -- part of being President.

http://tpmdc.talkingpointsmemo.com/2010/11/freak-out-right-wingers-howl-over-obamas-india-trip.php

[elleng]

1. I'm afraid not.

[spanone]

2. fox is a cancer on this country...a slow growing insidious malignant tumor on democracy

[blondeatlast]

3. No, they don't call it the Fourth Estate for nothing. If a free press fails so does

democracy; one simply cannot exist without the other.

I, for one, do NOT welcome our new overlords.

[Bigmack]

4. Have you heard the new one? Snopes, Politifact...

Factcheck, yahooanswers... all the rest of the debunking sites aren't to be trusted.

The rightwingnuts got tired of being shot down, and just took the next logical step.....the lies that they pass around are now UN-debunkable.

I never saw it this crazy in this sad country, but then I'm only 67.

[spanone]

5. i've lived thru the same era you have, when the media was truth.

you knew walter cronkite told you the truth

huntley & brinkley...harry reasoner

people & media corporations with integrity

when news was fact

[foxfeet]

17. That era is gone for the foreseeable future.

And the Nation is poorer for it.

[DirkGently]

6. It's politics-as-religion.

[glinda]

9. You forget that there are still many without a computer or who have the time.

[postulater]

7. "This Statement Is False!." - Fox News

[Octafish]

8. No. It's why the Founders made a free Press the only business mentioned in the Constitution.

The First Amendment

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Without a free press, we're doomed to be operated by goons, gangsters and traitors.

[snot]

10. EXACTLY.

[WhaTHellsgoingonhere]

11. Not as long as half(?) of the electorate is participating in the spoof!

My Foxified friend told me about Obama's trip to India last night. They get so far ahead of every story that they make it appear as though they are breaking the story and none of the Liberal Media is going to report this.

I got ambushed by a Foxified relative with this gem shortly after the passage of the healthcare bill

(The big lie) The IRS will hire 16,500 new agents to enforce the insurance mandate in the new health-care reform law

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2010/04/lyingliars.html

[newspeak]

20. yeah, remember when Little Boots was selected?

It was all over the news that the Clintons had trashed the WH and took some keys off of typewriters. All a bunch of lies--but our glorious corporate media went on and on about the lie. The GAO stepped in and stated it was false, but the media had already done the damage. They are nothing but lying gossip rag crap instead of journalistic integrity.

[JudyM]

12. Vicious, vitriolic, knowingly false propaganda: the new media.

Between fox and the citizens united decision it seems that we're sunk. The "marketplace of ideas" was contemplated to be a level playing field, which this no longer is.

[Octafish]

14. To make it a level playing field, we must have real Campaign Finance Reform.

When it comes to media, every dollar makes a difference. Every candidate should enjoy the same amount of air time and coverage in order make this a true democracy.

Currently, ABCNNBCBSFixedNoiseNutworks make a lot of money every two years in gobbling up every last penny of campaign contributions. Only the rich can compete. Only the rich candidates survive.

That's part of the reason why almost all the laws since 1981 have favored the rich. Politics has become a game for the wealthy.

[baldguy]

13. No. That's why we HAVE a media that blatantly lies.

[Canuckistanian]

15. America seems to be the test subject for this question

I can't even think of any parallels from other countries.

It used to be thought that a robust democracy had to have a robust press. The founding fathers sure thought so.

But now, the country that screams "freedom" the loudest has the most dysfunctional press.

Interesting to see what happens.

I would advise everyone else to get familiar with the BBC or our own CBC. They're far more objective - and informative.

[spanone]

16. between corporate ownership of media and corporate donations.....

i think you can fool a lot of the people a most of the time

[Canuckistanian]

18. But what Lincoln said is still true

You can't fool ALL the people ALL the time.

[spanone]

19. true, but lincoln didn't have fox news in every stable...nationwide, instantaneous 24/7 propaganda

[Canuckistanian]

22. But it's so much more than just Fox

It's CNN, MSNBC before 6:00 and ABC/CBS.

And it's also the complete takeover of newspapers and radio stations by blatantly conservative owners who INSIST on editorial control.

And now, the demonization of NPR and the death of Air America and Knight-Ridder.

I'm not sure if it's profits or ideology, but looking at the "big picture" it sure looks like conspiracy to squelch liberal views to the general public.

[spanone]

26. i agree...fox is the obvious one...it's throughout the media culture

the worse reporting on national events i see is my local news...

[The Magistrate]

24. Mr. Thurber Trumped Him, Sir: "You Can Fool Too Many Of The People Too Much Of The Time."

[spanone]

27. i like that one best....

[Gold Metal Flake]

21. The corporate-owned conservative media is our greatest enemy.

[wiggs]

23. No. I'm VERY happy that this is being discussed. Jefferson: "the BASIS of democracy

is a well informed public". Einstein: knowledge is the enemy of power, now and forever. If you control what people believe, and 30 years of media and think tank ownership can do that, then you control democracy.

This is very very important.

[moondust]

25. The first half of Rachel's program Thursday should be required viewing.

For every American.