Wednesday, July 02, 2008

Keeping the Liar in Liasson


"Maverick" journalist Mara Liasson was on Morning Edition today to burnish the "maverick" myth of John McCain. Here are a few priceless assertions:
"McCain has made a career of taking heat from his own party for working with liberal Democrats like Russ Feingold on campaign finance reform, or Ted Kennedy on immigration and these bipartisan efforts are both the source of his maverick reputation and the cause of his ongoing problems with the Republican party's conservative base."
Actually the source of his "maverick" reputation are hacks in the media who keep repeating it despite of a wealth of evidence to the contrary. Liasson's assertions of "taking heat from his own party" leaves one asking, What heat - has he ever been passed over for important committee appointments? Has he been denounced publicly by the leadership of the party? Has he been sanctioned in any way? Facts be damned, Liasson is not about to be deterred:
"...if the criteria is who's stuck their neck out on difficult issues and paid the price for doing it, McCain has it all over Obama."
Whether it's her recent collaboration with Montagne in citing the biased National Journal's attempt to paint Obama as the ultra-liberal (Don't I wish!) or her joining in on Fox News to bash liberal bloggers - you have to wonder just how far into misinformation, smear, and outright lies someone like Liasson has to go before getting called out by NPR. Or could it be that her tactics and politics are right in line with the tactics and politics of NPR's leadership? You'll have to make that call yourself.

UPDATE: I emailed Media Matters regarding this piece and I see they've dinged NPR...again.

4 comments:

Porter Melmoth said...

Splendid graphic! And, based on how many times Fox has identified scandal-plagued Republicans (i.e. Larry Craig) as Democrats, in ever so subtle ways, Ms Mara's 'Liarson' moniker, pinched from our great group by Foxy sleazes, might just be the real thing.

See how discreetly she hides her vampire fangs! See how she restrains herself from laser-beaming Chris Wallace from her pop-eyes!

I imagine that Liarson really expects to be McCain's Press secretary when he ascends to the imperial White House.

Anonymous said...

The fact that she might be gunning for a position in a McCain White House hadn't occurred to me. All along I thought she was angling for her own show on Fox. I have little hope of it, but NPR really should re-brand her as a "commentator."

Anonymous said...

SCARY!!!!

Anonymous said...

Every so often I return to NPR Morning Edition, just curious to see if it's still as lame as I remember. This morning was one of those times. The first two stories I heard were about the Palestinian with a bulldozer--presented without irony--and then the 5 minute love-note from Mara Liasson to McCain. Same as it ever was, I thought, and switched off.