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Once again, Kirsten Speaks Truth to Power(s) re Libya and the FauxMedia

By Anita Finlay ("Ani") on September 25, 2012 at 11:30 AM in Counterterrorism, Current Affairs, Media, Media Bias, Media Handling of Story, Media, Television, Obama Administration, Susan Rice

* Bumped Up *

Once again, I applaud Daily Beast columnist Kirsten Powers for her courage in calling out the irresponsible mainstream media and their “nothing to see here” attitude regarding the recent preposterous White House spin and Ambassador Susan Rice’s false statements regarding the current Libyan horror show. It is rare these days to see an affirmed liberal speak out against their own brethren and sistren. Looks like Ms. Powers has finally reached her tipping point. Can the mainstream media please stop trying to influence the upcoming election for five minutes — just long enough to report the real news?

After all, if Mr. Romney is really the “disastrous candidate” the media keeps telling Americans he is, and President Obama is really such a lock for re-election, they shouldn’t need to keep harping on it, should they?

Belated H/T to Jake Tapper of ABC News for his recent interview with Laura Ingraham finally decrying (a little) media bias as well. The only other one I can think of who bothers to do this is Glenn Greenwald of Salon.com. Feel free to share more names of honest reporters below. I would certainly like to thank them, too.

**********************************

Anita Finlay is the author of Dirty Words on Clean Skin: Sexism and Sabotage, a Hillary Supporter’s Rude Awakening. Available on Amazon in print and Kindle editions. Six weeks at #1 on Women in Politics books.

Like Anita Finlay, Author on Facebook.

Follow @AnitaFinlay on Twitter.

  • HObama HObamanana

    I really believe that the Obama people think that as long as they ignore the issue it will go away. Sadly, the vast majority of those in the media seem willing to let Obama get away with this. If we (the American people) are lucky, the question will get asked at the first debate. But by the time it is asked Obama will have rehearsed a plausible answer that won’t satisfy anyone, and will likely get away with it unless Romney pounces on him and doesn’t let up. Like a Tasmanian Devil.

    I’m certain the MSM will then paint Romney as being disrespectful of the office of the presidency. But who really cares what they think? Chris Matthews will finally pop his cork and end up hospitalized. Can’t you just see him blathering: Has anyone seen my tingle? Did you racists take my tingle?

    • piattq

      You are so right about Romney needing to attack O on this and so right that as soon as he does the headlines will be disrespect, bad timing, probably even treason (I don’t think they have leveled that charge at Romney yet).

    • HARP2

      Chris has really gone over the edge this time.

      • KenoshaMarge

        Chris went over the edge and round the bend a long time ago. What does that say about the fools that watch him? Are they “drool” groupies?

      • Roninstia

        Euwwwww! That’s nasty, need brain scrub.

    • KenoshaMarge

      I think most people are aware now of the fact that we have the most corrupt media in two generations. Others, the potted plant voters will just check off whichever box their partisanship tells them to check.

      Thanks for mentioning Chris McTingles. I had a great cartoon I was just waiting to use.

      • HObama HObamanana

        Excellent cartoon. I needed a good laugh.

  • piattq

    I watch Kristen on Fox regularly. I see her as definitely a liberal and pro O but drawing a red line at out right lies and obfuscation. I think she is actually a principled liberal—something O does not begin to be. And I am sorry to say that Hillary seems to have abandoned any pretense at either principles or pragmatism and instead is covering desperately for O and I have no understanding of why. ( I do not buy that she plans to run in 2016. ) I did just return from a trip into the American Heartland (Illinois and Indiana); Romney has solid support there (except, of course, for Chicago). He will only carry IL because of Chitown and flagrant voting abuse. My friends in Springfield tell me he will not carry anything outside of the Cook County crime scene.

    • CathyInKs

      I believe it piattq. I think Obama isn’t going to do well in most of the Heartland. We’re plain speaking, some of us Bible and gun totin’, who are really sick of this faux president and the corrupt party which supports him.

      • KenoshaMarge

        All the polls show the race to be neck and neck, and that’s with Obama with the bully pulpit, Follywood and the obamamedia. The little pisswart would be trailing by a ton without all that.

        And still the obamamedia insists that Romney is done, finished, has all ready lost and that his campaign is in disarray. That shows Obama desperation to me.

    • GabbySummers

      I used to admire her, but no more – it’s outrageous for her to be standing next to him while he utters his nonsense about the Libya situation and she’s apologizing to the Pakistans on a video. She’s pathetic now and she looks awful. How can she lie like that for him. She’s obviously a fake just like all the rest. She should have broke out months ago and ran against Obama. That actually used to happen. Now the dems are like a cult where EVERYONE must be in lockstep with everything this clown president proclaims. She better not run in 2016, because she will never have a chance of winning.. She lost her chance this year.

  • HARP2

    Obama polled 47 percent to Romney’s 45 percent among likely Pennsylvania
    voters, with 6 percent of voters undecided and 44 days until Election
    Day, according to the survey by Susquehanna Polling & Research. The
    survey of 800 voters, conducted Sept. 18-20, has a margin of error of
    3.46 percentage points.

    • akaPatience

      That’s very interesting. Thanks Harp!

  • piattq

    I don’t agree or care for Tomasky over at the Daily Beast but he does have a point today—that the fault with the Romney campaign right now is not all Romney’s fault. That he is dealing with factions in the GOP who leave no room for moderate choices/movement to the center, expect the campaign to parrot there own thoughts and present a view of America that is out of touch. Something to that.

    • shelldoll2

      I have never understood why the Republican party does this.

      They tear down their own candidate and then can’t figure out why they lose.

      If they can’t support their own side at least they could shut up.

      Despite all of Obama’s major gaffes and failures at least his party is solidly behind him.

      • akaPatience

        Amen shelldoll2. Republicans eat their own.

      • CathyInKs

        Actually during the dem. primaries of 2008 the dems did a really good job of chewing up and spitting out Hillary and her supporters.

        • cookiegramma

          some of us stayed gone and found homes in other parties. Working hard now!

          • CathyInKs

            You betcha cookiegamma!

        • shelldoll2

          Very true. The way her own party and the media turned on her was stunning.

          There was a point when many us realized the fix was in and Hillary stood no chance.

          • DianaLC

            I realized that early when Media Matters polled its members / contributors / subscribers about whether they should go with whoever got the most votes. But….when they realized that would be Hillary, they just didn’t do as everyone had voted—-which was to go with who had the most votes.
            I left the party really at that point in my mind.

      • CathyInKs

        I would say the MSM and Obama’s party (what’s left of it) are solidly behind him. If Obama didn’t have the majority of the MSM as his propaganda machine, the man would never have made it out of the dem. primaries of 2008.

        • AnitaFinlay

          Winner winner, chicken dinner. Well stated.

        • KenoshaMarge

          Absodamlutely Cathy!

          It also proves to me what a weak candidate the left thinks they have that they feel they must slant everything for Obama and against Romney.

          A good strong candidate wouldn’t need them or their lies and could stand on his/her own two feet. But then they wouldn’t be as relevant as they think they are.

          They know that they elected Obama in 2008 and want to prove that they can do it again.

          Journalistic Integrity is an endangered species. Cretinism and greed rule in the MSM!

          • CathyInKs

            KenoshaMarge – Couldn’t agree with you more!

    • KenoshaMarge

      These are those elite Conservatives who will never support anyone who is less conservative than they.

      Romney is a moderate and they hate moderates worse than liberals IMO.

      I think this post says it quite well:

      Let Romney Be

      http://www.americanthinker.com/2012/09/leave_romney_be.html

      • piattq

        Thanks, good article in the thinker.

  • akaPatience

    Um, I’m still trying to think of any unbiased reporters…
    I think 2012 is worse than 2008. At least then, O had yet to prove or disprove whether or not he’d be a competent leader. But now that he’s performed so poorly, the bias is even more egregious. The constant drumbeat against Romney is sickening because Media Elite don’t have to worry about a lot of the things us normal folks do. They earn 6-7 figures for blathering and they live in a rarified bubble of groupthink and vanity. The “conservative” ones end up selling out because they won’t get as much face time or column inches unless they trash Republicans.

    • AnitaFinlay

      Yup. The column inches thing was huge in ’08 as well — in big media as well as the blogosphere, as we all well remember. If you did not sing the correct praises, you didn;t sing at all.

    • KenoshaMarge

      And doncha just love how they talk about how “we” think and feel? As if they had a clue.

  • ctfsh

    Powerful! She just cuts through all the obfuscation so plainly and non-offensively.

  • getfitnow

    This sort of o/t–but about media. Here’s a link to the full length feature film “2016.”
    http://tv.inewstv.org/view/2016-obamas-america/

    • wylrae

      Thank you for the link. I have not made an effort to see 2016 as I knew I was going to be voting against Obama. However, through this link I watched 2016 and it just makes me more opposed to Obama. His dream is not my dream and IMHO it is not the dream of most Americans.

  • Hokma

    Kirsten is the the most principled liberal journalist there is. She toes the company line until the line goes too far.

    In this case, the media support of Obama far surpasses even what happened 4 years ago. It is the ONLY reason that Obama is in this race and ahead.

    I have stated this before, MOST voters get their news from their local TV news station (all are affiliates of ABC, NBC, and CBS), as well as their local newspaper (most of which are liberal dailies and pick up their national news from AP, Washington Post, LA Times, or the NY Times).

    Obama’s press office and Media Matters does an effective job of coordinating with this news network to either suppress or distort the actual news about Obama and his opponents.

    This is a scandal, but Romney does not seem to want to confront the media which will result in his defeat.

    Either he starts treating the media as much of an opponent as his opponent or he will lose this election.

    • CathyInKs

      I don’t know that you’re correct in all your assumptions. Yes it is true the news networks do suppress and distort actual news about Obama and his opponents but what kind of audience listens to them? I think it’s the diehard liberals who were already going to vote for Obama anyway. For example, 60 Minutes is doing an interview of both Obama and Romney tonight but we turned it off in the first couple of minutes because their headliner was part of their actual interview with Romney and then cutting it off before he had hardly responded to the question. And the headliner for Obama was showing him at a packed rally – no doubt from 2008 – saying Obama had had some successes with his foreign policy (not mentioning the disastrous ME). That’s all we saw – my husband turned it back to football. I didn’t want to give CBS any ratings for what we could already would be a propaganda piece for Obama. It’s a rare day we watch that network or any network programming anyway.

      • CathyInKs

        Just had to add this to the media bias of 60 Minutes. My husband just turned it on briefly during commercial of the game. Romney was being interviewed in a “formal setting” of the studio. Obama was being interviewed outdoors as if he was on the campaign stump. The obvious thing here was to make Obama look relaxed and just a “normal guy” while painting Romney as stiff and formal. These people make me sick! The only good news about this whole thing is I think football will pre-empt 60 Minutes. Now we’re watching the Hannity Special. We’ve had our fill of football for the day and 60 Minutes is not even thinly disguised propaganda!

        • Hokma

          I missed the whole thing but picked up that Obama referred to Israel’s pressure on concern about Iran’s nuclear weapons as “Noise.”

          I will be that it got edited out.

      • Hokma

        The diehards (the “base”) account for no more than 10% of either the right or the left. The largest percentage are those that are party registered and lean toward that party but do swing.

        The fact is that most voters do not get engaged in politics until about now. And they do get their news from watching their local news and reading their local newspaper or the home page of MSN, Google, AOL, or Yahoo (whatever their email preference is).

        You may be savvy enough to know what is going on but most people are not by choice and assume that what is in front of their eyes is the truth and all they need to know.

        The fact how you described the 60 Minutes settings shows that Romney is still not trying to control what the liberal media are doing.

        • http://twitter.com/beyondpartisan beyond partisan

          Sorry, I disagree on your assessment of “diehards” – especially on the Democrat side. Most of the people I know from California are liberal (with some closeted conservatives mixed in), and the liberals there are the majority, and way more than 10%, and they would not vote Republican if you paid them. I would say that a good 70% of the white people in Los Angeles are liberal Democrats who think Republicans are their enemy. Even if they put “independent” on their voting registration, they are still die-hard Democrats who think Republicans are the most evil creatures on the planet. There is no hope for them.

        • CathyInKs

          You do make good points. And I’m thinking that Romney should have used more control about the setting for his interview or just refused to do it at all. However if he had refused the interview that too would have been “news” to use against Romney!
          You’re right about many people not becoming engaged until now. I do think Romney’s campaign which has more money to spend now is going for t. v. advertising blitz in the swing states. It may all come down to who has the better ads and more of them. Everyone is talking about the debates and I think Romney will do better than Obama because he’s just smarter but I remember the debates between Geo. W. and Kerry. Kerry was better but Geo. W. went on to win re-election so I don’t put as much weight with the debates. But I do think political ads and more of them do make a difference.

      • KenoshaMarge

        Screw “60 Minutes!”
        They have Obama on their program oftener than Scott Pelley! And always with the adoring softball questions. I don’t bother to watch their endless liberal pandering anymore.

    • AnitaFinlay

      Gallup just released a poll saying that 60% of the media do not trust the media, so the spin may be having less and less effect. One has only to look around the neighborhood to see brick and mortar stoers closing left and right, home foreclosures, short sales, rentals offered because no one can afford to buy, increased joblessness — the media’s rosy picture and sycophantic behavior only becomes more irritating.

      • Hokma

        But then they pick up their local newspaper or watch their local TV news and they convey “all is well” and believe it to be so.

        • AnitaFinlay

          That may well be true, but if they are that easily persuaded to forget what their own lives (and that of their neighbors) look like, there is no hope they will make a change at the polls anyway.

        • akaPatience

          Media obfuscation may work when it comes to foreign affairs but I wonder if it’s really working when it comes to domestic issues? People won’t believe the spin if they’re suffering or know someone else who is. An old school friend of mine committed suicide last year. I’d lost touch with her for many years but nevertheless heard about it: first her mother passed away after a lengthy illness, then she lost her job and couldn’t find a nother one, then her home was foreclosed upon. It was obviously too much to bear and she took an overdose. Also, one of my best friends lost his job a couple of years ago and hasn’t been able to find a new one. He’s been living off the family nest egg but at this rate he worries what kind of situation they’ll face when they’re really old. He and his wife and children won’t be casting votes for Obama.

      • CathyInKs

        So true Anita! People do notice what’s going on in front of them. I had a friend who was recently shopping for groceries and was complaining out loud to no one in particular about the rising prices of food. A fellow – the next aisle over – heard her and told her he was going to change this by voting in November for the guy who wasn’t currently in office. People do notice what’s in front of them and aren’t all buying the garbage put out by news outlets whether they be local or national.

      • iert2

        Yeah FOX did a lot to destroy the Media.

        • HARP2

          Get outta here.
          You have all the knowledge about what is going on in this country as a potted plant.

          • HoosierinDixie

            More like a “Dead” potted plant.

      • getfitnow

        I can’t keep the pollsters straight, but there was another one recently–perhaps the question was posed differently. It showed only 21% trust the msm.

    • HoosierinDixie

      I have to disagree with you Hokma. There is an old adage that says; “Never pick a fight with a person who buys ink by the barrel.” As a successful businessman and former gov. from a liberal state, I am sure Romney understands this very well. If he were to directly confront the media we would here nothing but “He’s so Whiny” for the rest of the campaign. Whereas it is true that most people get their news from their local paper or network news stations, it is important to remember that newspaper subscriptions are down significantly across the country. Equally important is the fact that television news ratings are down across the board. I could also imagine people who have been bombarded with political ads in the swing states are not exactly spending all their time soaking up every ounce of news that is thrown out there. But those same people are well aware of their immediate environment. There are very few if any Americans that don’t know someone who unemployed or underemployed, facing foreclosure or bankruptcy. They see price increase at the grocery store and the gas pump. I think All those things are what will have a direct impact on their way of thinking and ultimately drive them to the polls on election day, not whether Mitt confronts the press or not. Lets also not forget Mitt has had everything including the kitchen sink thrown at him and he is still neck and neck in the polls. Don;t count him out. He didn’t get to where he is in life by being a pushover.

  • akaPatience

    I’m old enough to remember how effective Reagan’s remark, “There you go again” was against Carter in a 1980 presidential debate. But those were the days before Big Media became so blatantly biased and unprofessional. My God, the TV show Nightline came about because of the situation in Iran and the hostage crisis. Fast forward 30 years and now, in the last few days a US ambassador’s been murdered along with 3 other Americans; the mission’s been destroyed; other embassies have been mobbed, stormed, damaged, and abandoned; over 20 countries have burned the American flag and effigies of Obama; and what has our degenerate Fourth Estate done? Try its damnedest to drown it all out with hypocritical, petty, and intellectually dishonest shots at Romney. They continue to milk the 47% story while the world’s turning into a tinderbox.

    • DianaLC

      I don’t think they realize how that 47% comment did get many people’s attention. What I mean is that there are many around here whom I know who said basically that they were happy someone had the guts to say something about those people who don’t pay taxes and get so many services from others’ taxes. It was well received in my social circle.

      • CathyInKs

        Diana – I have a good friend who’s now drawing medical disability – who worked 2 or more jobs during her working career who has no problem with the 47% remark. She knows Romney wasn’t referring to her. He was referring to deadbeats like her ex-daughter-in-law who let my friend raise her daughter, provide food and shelter, take her to the doctor and pay all her medical bills but meanwhile cashed her daughter’s social security checks (my friend’s son who is the father of the girl is deceased) collected food stamps in her daughter’s name, and even a wardrobe allowance. Happily this story has a good ending. Mommie dearest got cut off and social security checks for her daughter are now being mailed to my friend’s address. Also Mommie dearest can only see her daughter in supervised visits. But as my friend has noted, her ex-daughter-in-law is not unique. There are a lot of them out there and they’re milking the rest of us dry! The good news for Romney – these people are so drugged out, stupid, and irresponsible, that they’re not going to show up to vote.

        • DianaLC

          I am a moderate–always been left leaning socially but conservative financially.
          Just finished readying a book about the influence of the Kings James Bible. In a section on social movements, the author writes about the Bible Ladies. They went into the really horrible slums to sell Bibles. The sold them at low prices and on payments because they felt it necessary that the people feel pride of being able to own them. They visited to help, but the help was predicated on people trying to find work, getting off drinking, etc.
          This idea that some don’t have to work while others do really is impossible for me to understand.

          • CathyInKs

            Agree Diana. That type of system has never worked. Those who work and produce aren’t going to put up with freeloaders for very long especially when those freeloaders are sitting around smoking grass, partying, having children they hardly know or care about their existence except as a “meal ticket” for themselves, I am outraged! And I don’t think I’m alone!

            • http://twitter.com/thebigotbasher The Bigotbasher

              Or those who live on disability who spend their time blogging irrational conspiracy theories. If someone can blog they can work, they should not mooch off the state and complain about other moochers.

    • CathyInKs

      The thing that scares me about all of this Patience is this. Obama needs lots of pressure put on him NOW regarding the international situation and as long as the media blacks out how bad it really is, Obama can keep doing what he’s always done – NOTHING and WORSE THAN NOTHING! He ignores Netanyahu, but not Morsi! How long will Israel wait? How emboldened is the Iranian government with the ME in chaos, Israel isolated, and our President ignoring Netanyahu?

      • akaPatience

        I have the same fear as you CathyInKs. This is such a serious situation and I worry the unthinkable could happen.

  • MG6

    I came across the movie Obama’s America 2016 at the Constitutional club :

    http://constitutionclub.org/2012/09/21/obamas-america-2016-full-video/

    It is good.

  • HELENK2

    http://freebeacon.com/obamas-army/

    I brought this up from down stairs

    who needs an election when backtrack has his msm army?

  • iert2

    Why do you think Susan Rice lied? Last Sunday before there were any real details she said that given the avaiable information at the time there was no evidence that it was a planned attack. Even today it is unclear whether they knew the Ambassador was there. She made a completely fair statement. As did Jay Carney. If you and Larry Johnson want to jump to conclusions, then fine.

    • beachnan

      You need to change the station or look at some other news sources because even Jay Carney admitted that it was a terrorist attack. Are you really that dumb? Actually, don’t answer that, as it is self-evident.

    • HARP2

      WASHINGTON, Sept 12 (Reuters) – The attack that killed the U.S.
      ambassador and three other American diplomats in Benghazi, Libya, may
      have been planned and organized in advance, U.S. government officials
      said on Wednesday.

      http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/12/libya-attack-planned_n_1878395.html

      Just another low information obot that DOSEN`T WANT to know the truth because they won`t believe Barry is a shyster.

      • http://twitter.com/beyondpartisan beyond partisan

        iert2 isn’t just a “low information obot” – they are likely being paid by the Obama campaign to post stuff like this. Notice how many more of them are showing up here lately?

    • Hokma

      Susan Rice then and Obama is lying now in the U.N. – still blaming that film even on the terror attack in Libya.

      Bottom line. Barack Hussein Obama is not MAN enough to accept responsibility for any of his actions and is a WEASEL who always has to point blame elsewhere.

  • akaPatience

    I have such total distrust of Big Media these days that I fully expect Obama to be given debate quetions in advance. And I’m not kidding. Any group of so-called journalists who would exercise every possible means of bias on a daily basis to the extent that they have wouldn’t be above giving him a cheatsheet. So I’m not getting my hopes up for Romney’s performance in the debates — they’re really and truly out to destroy him. And wouldn’t you know they’ve even found ways to fault him for his tax returns — a man who paid nearly $2M in federal taxes (PLUS local taxes) last year PLUS gave $4M to charity. Unbelievable. What a bunch of vile, worthless assholes our media have become.

  • KenoshaMarge

    I also applaud Kirsten Powers for her courage and honesty. I don’t agree with her about much of anything but I certainly respect her more than most other liberal media types.
    Perhaps she and Jake Tapper aren’t alone in having some integrity but thus far they are the only ones to have the guts to show it. And integrity without courage doesn’t mean much.

  • getfitnow

    Anybody surprised? Didn’t 60 Minutes OMIT something not long ago? I forget what it was.
    http://www.weeklystandard.com/blogs/cbs-doesnt-air-obama-admitting-mistakes-campaign-ads_652973.html

  • getfitnow

    Since most of the polling we see comes from msm, I’m putting this here. The comments are worth checking too.
    http://pjmedia.com/tatler/2012/09/23/skewed-and-unskewed-polls/

  • KenoshaMarge
  • elizabethrc

    Isn’t Joan Walsh with Salon? She’s anything but honest and unbiased and can always be counted on to get down and dirty in her comments about Republicans.

    • KenoshaMarge

      Joan Walsh is Tingles Matthews buddy. Nuff said!

  • KenoshaMarge
  • getfitnow

    Is this what the msm had done to people? Lord, save us.

    Howard Stern did this in ’08 too!This is so scary—funny. The
    Obama supporters.

    http://nation.foxnews.com/howard-stern/2012/09/24/howard-stern-exposes-obama-supporters

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jack-Kolkmeyer/1081903515 Jack Kolkmeyer

    Once again, being the moderates that many of us are, it raises the question for the need of a third party that is truly “moderate”…..forget Republicans or Democrats who won’t honor us…..and certainly this time around, I do not want to be either one of them….