Rep. Patrick Kennedy Yells: 'Despicable' That Press Focuses On Massa Instead Of Afghanistan (VIDEO)

Man. A beautiful thing to call out that Banality of Evil that calls itself the Washington Press Corps.

God bless him! This country needs more people like Patrick Kennedy and his father in the halls of Congress.

Kennedy is absolutely correct, but how else would we learn what "snorkeling" is?

http://politicalwire.com/archives/2010/03/10/the_massa_story_gets_worse.html

But when the press does focus on Afghanistan (like during the "debate" over the Surge II), they just repeat the talking points of Petraeus or Obama.

Whats up with that fake Australian accent? He sounds like Nancy Donovan on 30 Rock.

The American people is fit? Sorry, I'm in Patrick's district and I appreciate the sentiment, but he's loaded.

hear, hear!

Well, did Afganistan ever frack a same sex country?

Yeah, but seriously, today Josh had two to three separate Massa stories - and nothing on afghanistan - or proportionally very little on bank reform for that matter.
Hysterical that this runs on TPM.
Josh, you used to be be so good during the Bush years. Now the majority of the blog is sex scandals. Who is TPM kidding?
PS: Tpm rarely (if at all) covered Massa's opposition to the afghan escalation.

toilet paper memos
TPM

It's about time somebody slams the "news" media for their NON-Reporting of the IMPORTANT NEWS, instead of wasting most of their time on low priority news.

To re-phrase the words in the song Mrs Robinson, "Where have you gone Walter Cronkite, our nation turns its lonely eyes to you....."

Ha ha. You guys are such rookies. The media is owned by private equity firms -- Wasserstein, Capital Growth, VSS, and others -- and you want these firms, whose only concern is flipping these media properties for profit, to care about democracy in America? Really?

Since when would a Wall Street investor trade profits for democracy? Do you really think that the rest of the media owners, the Donald Grahams and Rupert Murdochs of the media world, care about democracy? Really? Democracy? Accountability?

Guys, there is money to be made. And selling you American Idol and the Wall Street Journal is way more profitable than democracy.

Although normally a serious blow hard, Rep. Kennedy is 100% right; he only got the person to blame wrong.

It isn't the media's fault. They are filling the consumer demand for the circuses. Compare the ratings of any of the pop culture focused tevee shows to the ratings or any serious news shows and you'll see the clear expression of what We The People want.

Sure it would be nice if the media led by example notwithstanding our own poor taste, but it's their job to hold up the mirror to what we want. Not create what we want.

We get what we get because we allow it and /or want it.

It's as complicated and as easy as that.

Anybody want to lay odds on whether Kennedy's speech gets covered by the MSM?

The MSM press and TV helped get us into war, but they're not too effing keen on helping us get out.

Methinks Young Kennedy doth protest a bit much. If the US is about anything these days it's about consumer fetishism and police fetishism (and military authority by extension). Try this combo elsewhere, say Denmark, Japan, or Namibia, and it just doesn't play as well. Now if you'll excuse me, I want to watch Law and Order on my iPod.

It did get covered on MSM news. Brian Williams (?) mentioned it on the NBC 6:00 cast and showed the clip, and then went on to other "news." Not a peep about Afghanistan in the entire 30 minutes, other than that one mention of Kennedy's rant.

If memory serves, it was also mentioned in passing on Olbermann's show. And segments 3, 2 and 1 of the countdown were spent on Massa.

Whoever says irony died when Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize was RIGHT!

What else would you expect from the Washington Press Corpse?

Almost eighteen years ago at the end of Comedy Central Political Convention coverage, Al Franken sang the parody, "That's Infotainment!" It is far truer today than it was in those days.

This is what is wrong with press and why I do not watch news coverage.

http://randomthoughtstd.blogspot.com/

Yes, journalism today definitely is infotainment. As demonstrated here:

http://andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com/the_daily_dish/2010/01/anatomy-of-a-news-segment.html

Further, while I appreciate the point that the businesses that own the news outlets are in business to make a profit, it was not ever thus.

Years ago, we're talking Edward R. Murrow days, television networks were run with the understanding that the news division was never going to be a money maker and it was up to the entertainment division to provide enough profit to float the entire enterprise. The MBAs and the bean counters in this country effected a silent coup in the '70's, probably at some point during the Nixon years, I have no doubt.

See, e.g., Ned Beatty's speech/Paddy Chayefsky's rant in "Network", full text at:

http://thisdividedstate.blogspot.com/2006/03/network.html

"It is the international system of currency which determines the vitality of life on this planet. THAT is the natural order of things today. THAT is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today. And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature. And YOU WILL ATONE. Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale? You get up on your little 21-inch screen and howl about America, and democracy. There is no America; there is no democracy. There is only IBM, and ITT, and AT&T, and DuPont, Dow, Union Carbide, and Exxon. Those are the nations of the world today."

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