The Eyes of Mara

On February 22, 2012, when Jake Tapper, ABC senior White House correspondent, asked how the Obama administration's praise for serious journalism in Syria could "square with the fact that this administration has been so aggressively trying to stop aggressive journalism in the United States by using the Espionage Act to take whistle blowers to court" - journalists of conscience like Glenn Greenwald took note.  Readers of this blog were quick to point out that in the video clip of the interchange, NPR's National Pundit of the Right - Mara Liasson - could barely contain her scorn.  Enjoy!

If it Talks Like a Fox

(disclaimer - graphic is slightly altered from the actual screenshot from NPR)

His name is Larry Abramson and he counts like a FOX:

On Saturday's ATC,. Referring to the thousands of anti-union protesters who came to Madison - and were massively outnumbered by pro-union activists - Abramson said, "But today, as you mention, there were thousands, maybe tens of thousands, of Tea Party supporters and other supporters of the governor's plan,..." Talk about just making crap up.

and he talks like a FOX:

On Sunday's Weekend Edition he crowed that "supporters of Governor Walker...brought in some Tea Party firepower." He said, "One local remarked he'd never seen so many conservatives gathered at one time in notoriously progressive Madison." And according to Abramson, the Capitol building in Madison isn't an important symbol or platform for getting labor's message across any longer; it "has turned into what amounts to a giant performance space."

Well dang, if it counts like a FOX, talks like a FOX, and scoffs like a FOX - it must be...an NPR reporter!

Two Bold Fresh Pieces of ___________ !

It's a twofer on NPR this morning. There's a gentle 7 minute tea chat between Michele Kelemen and war criminal Sec. of State Rice. A bit later in the program Renee Montagne leads an O'Reilly infomercial for his latest book, A Bold Fresh Piece of Humanity.

The only positive element of the Kelemen interview was her use of the word "torture." Kelemen says to Rice, "And Guantanamo wasn't sort of the only issue that tarnished the U.S. image. There is also the treatment of terror suspects, waterboarding, other methods of torture..."

Rice cuts off Kelemen and huffs, "Oh, well, you know that I'm going to have to object, because the United States has always kept to its international obligations, which include international obligations on the convention on torture. The President was determined after Sept. 11 to do everything that was legal and within those obligations, international and domestic laws, to make sure that we prevented a follow-on attack."

And Kelemen's follow up is...NOTHING. She doesn't politely ask, "Are you saying beatings, forced nudity, bolting to the floor and letting people defecate on themselves are keeping with 'international obligations?' I guess that would take a bit of spine. That would take a bit of spine.

Kelemen lets Rice state such comical absurdities as "Well, I'll certainly give my advice to the incoming team, and I'll do so privately. There are obviously some things that are under way. I think that the Annapolis process will eventually lead to the establishment of a Palestinian state." Not once does she even timidly note the string of foreign policy disasters that Rice/Bush have had their hand in.

And of course, it wouldn't be a morning edition interview without the banal. Kelemen asks, "And you've said that we were not — we're not going to hear from you very much. I wonder if you're going to be ready for life out of the limelight, away from the blogs that follow your hairstyles and shoes?" (By shoes does she mean Condi's Katrina shopping spree?)

With O'Reilly, Montagne is downright collegial - chuckling at his jokes, comparing childhood memories (and perhaps wondering when she can get a Mara/Juan gig over at Fox). There's not one mention of O'Reilly's lies, bigotry, hatred, rudeness and general rightwing stupidity.

My Pet Fox

More problems with blurred lines between NPR and Fox News was evident in yesterday's report on Brit Hume's announcement that he was stepping down from his anchor position at Fox News. The piece featured David Folkenflick barely articulating the most timid critique of Fox News, while mainly claiming that that Brit Hume "brought the news channel credibility."

Only in the Orwellian world of NPR News could a loyal mainstay of the venomous Fox News channel claim that he's lost enthusiasm for his job because of "this poisonous atmosphere in Washington over the past, oh I'd say 14 or 15 years. It makes news because sparks are struck; sparks are what make news — there's dissent and disagreement, intense feeling and so on, which all contribute to an untidy and ugly at times, but nonetheless newsworthy, atmosphere."

So does Folkenflik challenge Hume's hypocrisy with a list of Hume's own lies and ugly smears? Barely. He notes euphemistically that "Fox News is itself a home for all kinds of rancor..." (I guess this counts as rancor) and then politely asks, "How much do you feel that your own channel has contributed to that?"

Hume responds that "We've certainly been a forum, as everybody else has, for the arguments of the day. We are more a reflection of it, I think, than a cause." A forum? Like everyone else? Does Folkenflik follow up with evidence to show that Fox News has been far more than a forum, and is not like everyone else? Here's his response:

"Hume cuts an elegant figure in pinstripe suits and pocket squares, and he's known for his mordant wit and his love of a good story."

Clueless Folkenflik might want to watch this interchange with Chris Wallace on the Daily Show and notice how at the 3 minute mark Wallace is presented with evidence of Fox's sorry excuse for journalism. I know evidence is soooooo left leaning and biased.

The story ends noting that Hume wants to spend more time with family and read the Bible...

Execrable Takes on Great Expectations

(click picture for source)

In the comments of the "Crystal Ball" post below there were some angry (and informative) posts about Mara Liasson's Foxist assault on the expectations of Obama supporters. You have to love the bottom of the tank "scholars" that Liasson stitches together for her report (in order of appearence):

• 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.

With the aid of these characters Liasson puts together her septic rant:

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.