Oh my fucking god, Howard Kurtz.
I agree that leakers often get to set the story line, but I also know that Democrats are not unfamiliar with the practice. (Remember the Bush DUI leak just before the 2000 election?) And those who leaked information about domestic surveillance, Abu Ghraib and secret CIA prisons also had an impact.
This was in response to Digby complaining about endless Republican-driven media blather about Hillary Clinton’s boobs and John Edwards’ hair.
You read that right. “OHMIGOD BOOOOOOBZ” is no less legitimate a news story in Kurtz’s eyes than no-doubt purely partisan crap over our nation’s violation of the Geneva Convention, the establishment of American gulags, and unconstitutional spying on American citizens. The only reason apparently, to cover stories about the dismantling of our democracy is to get at the horse race aspects. Will torture prisons help/hurt the Republicans? Will the abandonment of our basic principles of justice and liberty turn the 2004 election? Is John Edwards’ hair too shiny to win him the nomination? It’s all the same story, because they’re just sports reporters covering a beat.
Time to drag this excellent campaign commercial out again:
20 Responses to “Get a real job, Howard”
Leave a comment
Line and paragraph breaks automatic, e-mail address never displayed, HTML allowed: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <code> <em> <i> <strike> <strong>
I think Howard Kurtz is a perfect example of the evil v. stupid conversation being held below. Does he really think that all these examples are equivalent, or is he just a tool? After seeing the clip on Crooks & Liars of the exchange between Stephanie Miller and Chris Matthews when she called him a right-wing tool, I wonder just how self-aware some of these media types are.
I think he’s very self-aware. I have good reason to think that he’s extremely tight with the hard right wing—think about the glowing profile he did of Michelle Malkin, where she whined about sexist mistreatment of her right in the middle of her being a ringleader of a glaringly sexist attack on Melissa and me—and he knows his job is to take right wing ideas and mainstream them. He doesn’t tip his hat often to the right wingers feeding him stories, creating the illusion that he’s a disinterested journalist. He was, as far as I remember, the only journalist to contact me when it was only the bloggers whining about my dirty mouth.
The first time I even became aware of Howard Kurtz was years ago when Eric Alterman was chewing him out pretty regularly on his MSNBC blog, and his basic argument was that Kurtz knew exactly what he was doing. Someone like Matthews, however, I think believes his own shit, actually believes that he’s impartial to left-leaning, which is insane. He seemed really flummoxed when Stephanie Miller called him a right-wing tool, which is different from calling him a right-winger. He is a tool, a useful idiot, if you will, and there are plenty of others out there just like him.
I think he’s very self-aware. I have good reason to think that he’s extremely tight with the hard right wing—think about the glowing profile he did of Michelle Malkin, where she whined about sexist mistreatment of her right in the middle of her being a ringleader of a glaringly sexist attack on Melissa and me—and he knows his job is to take right wing ideas and mainstream them.
Very interesting Ms. Marcotte. That is an interesting analysis and I think you’re right.
Sometimes I almost wish for an actual fascist takeover in this country, just so I could see the look of dumb, shocked betrayal on the faces of tools like Kurtz when they were imprisoned and shot with the rest of us.
Oh, they wouldn’t be. They’d happily move into their new jobs as the official propagandists for the state.
Hm. Maybe you’re right. I think that at least a couple might not, though.
The ones who actually consider themselves independent wouldn’t make it–Matthews wouldn’t, and neither would O’Reilly, believe it or not. He’s delusional enough to believe his own bullshit about being an independent to have it cost him if there were an actual takeover. But the more blow-dried ones would make the switch in a second.
Kurtz also is a horrible bigot.
His presence as the main media critic at the Washington Post is an example of how right-wing that paper really is.
I’m still trying to figure out how commenting about John Edwards’ hair or Hillary Clinton’s cleavage counts as a “leak.”
Completely off-topic, but absolutely fascinating:
Dumbledore is gay, says JK Rowling.
It’s too difficult to choose whether Kurtz an idiot or a lying sack of shit in this case. Fortunately, his own words and activities clearly indicate that he’s both.
As a TV professional as well as a dork, Kurtz should know that the weed whacker neighborhood rate he pays for the dork look is nowhere near what it costs to have TV / film hair and makeup professionals get him ready for his appearances on CNN.
Anyone on TV who catapults the Republican propaganda to invent a smear narrative about Edwards and his hair is as as direct and knowing a slimy participant in a drive by smear job as McConnell was when feeding regurgitated Drudge chewed cud to CNN’s John Roberts — a regular right wing shill apparently.
This bullshit that only Dems get professionally styled for the camera is as nonsensical as the fiction that only Dems are “partisan” (or “playing politics” or pulling a political “stunt”).
Republicans are outright lying when they pretend that they’ve never been styled for the camera. Not surprisingly, they use two sets of math on par with their usual double standard and unlevel in the extreme playing field to gin up the statistic.
Kurtz, Wolf Blitzer, John Roberts, Kiran Chetney (sp?) — smirking and snarfling along with the hyenas that feed them this rancid rotten “insider” crap — dutifully repeat it after just having the same fucking neck towels removed when going to the camera to catapult the nonsense like the fraudulent buffoon squad they are. They are simply a disgrace to their profession.
They get precisely the same kind of TV hair, makeup and wardrobe service routinely that would easily cost as much or more (fairly factoring in overhead, equipment, product, materials, shift worked, onsite transportation and of course, skilled labor.)
Shame on them for pretending otherwise and willfuly lying to their audiences this way.
Hey! Stop criticizing The Greatest Media Critic in American History!
You would think in a media and celebrity obsessed culture, the ordinary person *would* understand that people on TV are given expensive stylings, including the politicians.
Howard Kurtz wasn’t talking about hair or boobs. He was talking about the mantra of the left that it was unfair to actually question the Frosts’ ability to provide their own insurance. If you actually read Kurtz’s column, you’d know that.
The point was that the Left is decrying any skepticism about the Frosts as “smearing a 12-year-old” by pointing out that Democrats are not beyond “smearing” (or investigating, take your pick) Republicans. In other words, smearing one’s political opponents is an equal opportunity occupation.
“The point was that the Left is decrying any skepticism about the Frosts as “smearing a 12-year-old” by pointing out that Democrats are not beyond “smearing” (or investigating, take your pick) Republicans.”
Sharon, deary, do you really see no difference between the concept of “smearing” - which implies that whatever is being promoted is either untrue, greatly exagerated beyond reasonable proportion, or presented in such a way as to imply that it’s a totally unique situation when it isn’t - and “investigating”?
I know (and you know) this one of the standard Reichwing talking points (”Well, you know how it is, they ALL do it…”) to deflate the seriousness of charges against the Right while inflating charges against the Left.
That’s exactly why it’s presented in a way that implies Hillary’s cleavage, Edward’s hair, Obama’s parentage, etc., are topics that are either just as serious, or just as trivial, as whether GWB finished his stint in TANG, whether he was a coke user, whether he had a DUI, whether Cheney covered up details of his “accidental” shooting of a hunting buddy, whether phone taps began months before 9/11, whether we knew there were no WMD in Iraq before invading, whether we were/are/continue to torture people, etc., etc., etc.
Ultimately, all this is just another way to divert attention away from the magician’s other hand while he uses it to pick our pockets yet again.
Sad to see you falling into their trap again sharon. Doesn’t being a puppet of the Right ever get old to you?…
Sharon seems to have no idea that the Frosts’ story was, in fact, proved true in every detail. So to continue to claim that they’re liars is — guess what? — a smear.
Nice to know that Sharon still sees nothing wrong with continually breaking the Ninth Commandment.
Huh, Sharon, if he was saying what you want him to have said, why didn’t he say that instead of what he did say?
I lose track of which Commandment has which number, but the one about lying actually is translated as being specifically against bearing false witness.
As for instance, perpetuating lies about the Frost family after they have been proven to be lies–it’s not just the falsehood of the statements but that the statements are intended to influence a judgement away from truth and hence away from justice.
Another example might be, oh, I dunno, pretending the government has good reason to believe some nation overseas has stockpiles of dangerous weapons when they have none to speak of and this is well-known to the actual intelligence experts, when said “error” is intended to influence a nation to attack the one overseas.
False witness.
Exactly which part was a “smear”? That neither Frost held a full-time job? That they were already coverd by S-CHIP and, therefore, extending it wouldn’t affect them? That they own several vehicles and properties? That their state’s program doesn’t consider assets but only wages?
It’s amazing the lengths you people go to to keep the meme alive. It’s a smear! It’s a smear! Yes, I suppose when the truth hurts, it must be a smear.
“Exactly which part was a “smear”?”
…I swear just I heard the sad sound of somebody’s mental faculties dying and expelling a last rattling breath of air…
..sad…