It was absolutely adorable that Rachael Maddow thought David Gregory might actually go all "real journalist" on Willard Romney's ass.
Needless to say, nothing of the sort happened because while Dr. Maddow is serious about policy and politics...
...all David Gregory is serious about is David Gregory's career.
Half of Gregger's interview spent on Mitt and Ann's campaign bus with Mitt's arm half-around him asking giggly, open-ended fluff. Greggers spent the other half of the interview in big, comfy white chairs on the roof of the Romney campaign headquarters tossing Mitt softballs (nothing on Mitt's taxes, one-count-em-one question on abortion, etc.) which Romney deflected with big wads of pre-chewed talking points -- "I'm as Conservative as the Constitution!" -- for which Gregory had no substantive follow-up questions of any kind.
It would be wrong to say that David Gregory is an embarrassment to his profession.
It would, however, be perfectly accurate and true to say that David Gregory's profession is a disaster for democracy and embarrassment to real journalism. It would also be accurate and true to say that the status quo will never change until an unholy amount of pain is visited on the corporate decision makers who continue to abet Conservative lies and fob establishmentarian testicle cozies like David Gregory off on the public as "real" journalists.
Once upon a time there used to be a profession that, at its best, brought exactly that kind of pressure to bear on powerful institutions that abused their positions of privilege to cheat the public and screw over its opponents. That profession was called "journalism" and people like David Gregory have killed it and until people like David Gregory learn to fear for their professional lives at the thought of using their positions of incredible influence and privilege to carry Conservative water and cover their crimes under an avalanche of Fake Centrist bullshit, the professional of journalism will remain dead.
Later, a dancing manatee gambling addict and a tipsy spider monkey were rolled out to divine the real meaning behind the howling vacuum of Mitt Romney's every hollow word.
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Note: I am off to the Big City where I spent the last 27 years to empty the last of my possessions out the old homestead. There is no phone or internet access back at the soon-to-be-former Castle Driftglass anymore, so I will be off the grid for awhile.
Your Pal,
driftglass
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UPDATE: I posted this at Rachael Maddow's blog a few minutes ago --
Last week, Dr. Maddow made a pretty big deal over Mitt Romney's upcoming, high-profile interview. She strongly suggested that, by applying a modicum of real journalism on behalf of the public, Mr. Romney might be compelled to clarify his Party's hilarious and/or alarming and/or dishonest positions on a variety of issues, including it truly medieval views on rape, abortion, etc. Since David Gregory has (once again) let an opportunity for genuine public dialogue on genuinely vital issues slip away by (once again) spectacularly failing to use his privileged position to commit real journalism, I wonder what Dr. Maddow will have to say tonight about her colleague's persistent habit of abdicating of his professional responsibilities when they are needed the most?
19 comments:
Hurry back driftglass. We need your voice in the debate.
Best of luck with the new homestead.
Cheers,
Scott.
They control the horizontal, and the vertical.
David Gregories is what they've wanted.
~
Yes, safe travels, DG! Meanwhile, at least we have the voice-in-the-wilderness: http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/david/krugman-republican-base-elderly-white-people
Most of us could benefit from a "news fast" as Dr. Andrew Weil recommends.
Here's hoping this news/net fast serves you well.
Peace
Clap clap clap clap clap clap clap!!!!
Roll on, sweetie.
To a great new world of wonder.
Don't hold your breath.
You are the true new new journalism.
S
It would, however, be perfectly accurate and true to say that David Gregory's profession is a disaster for democracy and embarrassment to real journalism. It would also be accurate and true to say that the status quo will never change until an unholy amount of pain is visited on the corporate decision makers who continue to abet Conservative lies and fob establishmentarian testicle cozies like David Gregory off on the public as "real" journalists.
Once upon a time there used to be a profession that, at its best, brought exactly that kind of pressure to bear on powerful institutions that abused their positions of privilege to cheat the public and screw over its opponents. That profession was called "journalism" and people like David Gregory have killed it and until people like David Gregory learn to fear for their professional lives at the thought of using their positions of incredible influence and privilege to carry Conservative water and cover their crimes under an avalanche of Fake Centrist bullshit, the professional of journalism will remain dead.
When you get back could we discuss posterizing that photo of bendale Greggers?
An unholy amount of pain IS being visited upon the corporations which dispense this bullshit. What are the viewership numbers for the dinosaur networks' evening newcasts now, vs. what they were in the days before 24/7 cable news? Way down, eh? Who watches that shit any more, except for old people? Do the evening news shows shape anyone important's opinion, or inform anyone about what's going on in the world?
As for the cable nooz, how many viewers does Faux get -- 3 million? That's about 1% of the U.S. population. CNN, MSNBC, less than Fux. So maybe 2 to 3% of the country is partaking of the over-hyped but under-ratingsed cable channels.
What's the readership of the Kaplan Testing Journal/Fred Hiatt spooge-rag? I grew up reading that thing; it was one of the reasons I went to journalism school for my first career, and it had aims of being a national newspaper like the New York Times. Now the WaPoo has shuttered all of its bureaus outside the D.C. Metro area. It's thinner than it ever used to be, both in the width of the newsprint and the number of pages it contains. Shit don't sell.
Similar stories for many other papers, like the New Orleans Times-Picayune, down to three print editions a week. Everywhere, the corporate garbage is losing eyeballs and money. The corporate meeja are dwindling due to irrelevancy, wasting away like cancer patients.
They ARE feeling pain, but they don't care, because making money is not the motivation. Propaganda for the ruling class is. They're talking to themselves, throwing up illusion-dust to mesmerize the courtiers who sing the praises of the Emperor's WONDERFUL new clothes. Meanwhile, we in the peasantry are ever more alienated and not giving a good goddam. And when your populace doesn't care about the overall enterprise, it eventually collapses.
Dude, I hope you're learning how to grow some food and live in a more resilient manner. The Collapse is coming. It's what happens when a country is hollowed out, the way the Meaningless Mass Meeja has been. Not everybody is going to die when it all goes down, but it's going to take some nimble footwork to survive.
Have fun in Rahmcago
I've heard that CPS has cancelled school today after learning of your final departure from Chicago's shores. From all indications it's a huge deal all over the city.
Happy trails.
"Conservative as the Constitution."
I hadn't heard that, anywhere, before this. It's breathtaking, isn't it? It goes even beyond calling Nazi Germany liberal.
I wonder if Dr. Maddow was giving a little dig to Mr. Gregory. She knows what's going on. She knows what kind of tongue-licking the Republicans get on the interview shows. She just can't come out and say it without losing her job.
I wonder what Dr. Maddow will have to say tonight about her colleague's persistent habit of abdicating of his professional responsibilities when they are needed the most?
Oh, well played, sir, well played.
I'd love to see Dr. Maddow compare/contrast Gregory's dim incompetence against Norah O'Donnell's quick-witted BS-calling of Paul Ryan on Face The Nation yesterday morning.
Yeah, I know, ain't gonna happen. But a guy can dream, can't he?
Inspired by DG, I just posted on maddowblog:
I'd love to hear Dr. Maddow compare David Gregory's miserable failure to Norah O'Donnell's crisp & competent handling of Paul Ryan on Face The Nation yesterday morning.
Say, didn't O'Donnell used to work for NBC? Does anyone doubt she'd do a much better job than Greggers in the big chair on MTP? How about Candy Crowley? Kelly O'Donnell? Christiane Amanpour? Soledad O'Brien? For that matter, with the possible exception of Cokie Roberts, is there a veteran female reporter in all of D.C. who couldn't do a vastly better job than the airhead currently warming that chair?
Might make an interesting glass-ceiling riff for Dr. Maddow, there...
Looking forward to your return Mr. Glass! Don't always comment but do always, always read. Safe travels.
Careful in Chitown Drift... Teachers strike may get ugly... We need you back in the fight on the front lines...
Looks like Dr. Maddow punted....
I think if Dr. Maddow were to start analyzing the media's spectacular abdication of responsibility in the realm of journalistic integrity, she might be compelled to continue to do only that for the rest of time.
And she wouldn't have time to do ANYTHING else. A cogent review of Village media personnel and their actions on these types of shows would easily fill her entire program, and then some.
She is wise to stay away - some bites are just too big to chew.
I think if Dr. Maddow were to start analyzing the media's spectacular abdication of responsibility in the realm of journalistic integrity, she might be compelled to continue to do only that for the rest of time.
And she wouldn't have time to do ANYTHING else. A cogent review of Village media personnel and their actions on these types of shows would easily fill her entire program, and then some.
She is wise to stay away - some bites are just too big to chew.
I think if Dr. Maddow were to start analyzing the media's spectacular abdication of responsibility in the realm of journalistic integrity, she might be compelled to continue to do only that for the rest of time.
And she wouldn't have time to do ANYTHING else. A cogent review of Village media personnel and their actions on these types of shows would easily fill her entire program, and then some.
She is wise to stay away - some bites are just too big to chew.
If Dr. Maddow tried to do any of that analyzing of the meeja's failures, she'd soon be doing it on her own blog, with literally hundreds, or maybe thousands, of readers. But ONLY there. Because any commentator in the corporate media who raises questions about the "Red vs. Blue" fake combat in the Inverted Totalitarianism system is soon out of a job. See Ratigan, Dylan: Ugyur, Cenk; Olbermann, Keith and so many others.
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