(click picture for source)- Norman Ornstein of the extreme right American Enterprise Institute
- Michael Gerson, former Bush speech-writer (his bio at the Council on Foreign Relations lists his "Expertise" as -get this - "Democracy promotion; human rights issues; health and disease; religion and politics.")
- Bob Kagan who Liasson calls "a foreign policy scholar."
- Michael O'Hanlon - sorry hack of the Brookings Institution.
Regarding solving "the huge problems he's inheriting" Liasson says that "On the campaign trail he made it sound easy. The only sacrifice he asked people to make was (sarcastic tone) turning off the lights and checking the pressure in their tires." Funny how Liasson ignores Obama's campaign calls for sacrifice and service, but revives the ignorant Republican attack on tire gauges.
She then lets Ornstein make claims for "the left." He whines, "if the expectations are high generally, their highest on the left. You've got a group of people who think - first of all - that it's their victory, who believe that Obama is one of them..."
After Ornstein, it's on to Gerson who she says worries that "nothing Obama said during the campaign indicates when or if he might push back against the Democratic leadership in Congress." Seriously, a Bushist speech-writer worried about a President who won't "push back" against his party's leadership in Congress.
Next it's on to money. Liasson warns that "Then there's the clash of campaign promises with dollars and sense reality." Yes, Liasson has just been all over "dollars and sense reality" for that little war that she is so fond of.
As the "tire gauge" jab above shows, Liasson is interested in reviving old Fox News/Republican attacks from the campaign. She revisits the covertly recorded remarks of Biden predicting that Obama would be tested by an international crisis. Liasson says, "His running mate made it clear what he expected in the first six months for a young president just four years out of the Illinois state legislature. 'Mark my words,' Joe Biden told a group of Democratic donors. 'Mark my words.' (This is followed by the distorted recording made of Biden's remarks). This sleazy use of the Biden remarks leaves one wondering where Liasson's gig with Fox ends and her work for NPR begins.
Her piece winds down with Bob Kagan warning that Obama will need to take a complex view of Pakistan and Afghanistan, because "there are no easy answers"--this from easy-answer Kagan himself. It ends with O'Hanlon ratcheting things up on Iran and admitting that Obama does have world popularity.
This from what Montagne calls "NPR's national political correspondent." Astounding really...and disgusting.
11 comments:
NPR does love them some right-wing think tanks. And yet their promos feature listeners extolling NPR's "unbiased" coverage.
This shameless shilling, under the guise of "balance," is outrageous.
Can anyone explain what NPR had invested in a McSame victory? Better days for corporations in general, or something more?
This kind of cheap commentary on NPR is truly disgusting, and it is clear that NPR is being co-opted by a right-wing corporate agenda.
However, it must be said that Obama has shown not the least inclination to resist the pressure (if one can call it that) from the right wing.
It's hard to see how NPR, or Fox for that matter, can't be delighted with their man, but they'll keep pulling the chains -- and Obama will keep obliging them.
P.S. Gotta love the commentator who said of Richard Nixon this morning, "He always told the truth."
I hope NPR's days are numbered. They are worse than useless.
God forbid if someone like Liasson/Palin ever gets into the White House.
NPR is not so much a news organization as a "think tank debating platform".
On every "journalists" desk at NPR headquarters, there are two phones. Nothing else -- no paper, no pencil, nothing, just two phones.
These (blue and red) are no ordinary phones. In fact, they can each dial only a single number.
The blue line connects directly to a left-leaning think tank wanker and the red to a right-leaning-wanker.
So, whenever NPR wants to do a "story", which is every day, all they do is pick up the red phone, let the wanker talk for a few minutes without interruption or questions, then do the same with the blue -- and viola, a "balanced" story. All the NPR "journalist" needs to do is play back the recordings spliced together.
no need to leave the safety of the office (lots of terrorists out on the street these days, you know) and no need to analyze anything.
The wankers have already done it all for you.
More expectation bashing and think tank wankery;
Can Obama Make Good On Promises About Wars?
Bowman again picks up the O'Hanlon wanker-phone.
Anonymous said:
"The blue line connects directly to a left-leaning think tank wanker and the red to a right-leaning-wanker."
More like "the blue line connects to a center-right think tank wanker and the red to a raving lunatic fringe right-wing wanker". I haven't heard a true left-winger on NPR since the 1970's.
Well, I was a bit hasty. To be fair, NPR use to occasionally feature commentary from Michael Harrington before he passed away in 1989.
You are probably right, but technically, if you go far enough out to the right , you come back around to the left.
The only real difference between a "raving lunatic fringe right-wing wanker" and a "raving lunatic fringe left-wing wanker" is the color of their tie (wankers always wear ties) -- and of the phone you call them on.
They both suffer from the same paranoid delusion that the end is nigh -- coming tomorrow, in fact.
Ah, the slow, steady progression (or is it retrogression?) from "All Thinktanks Considered" to "All Shit-tanks Considered."
NoPR rightfully deserves the "Salò" treatment - willing slaves for the ruling fascists (yes, that's right - I recently got to enjoy the re-release of Pasolini's excellent but harrowing cinematic swan-song).
"All Thinks Conshittered"??
My gosh, b!p!, you're the first person/wabbit I've encountered who's seen 'Salo'! I saw it when it first came out. In a backroom basement screening room. In Paris. Without English subtitles. As if I needed them.
Yes, things are very 'Salo', aren't they? Yes... Yes...
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