wkmac
Well-Known Member
http://www.salon.com/opinion/blumenthal/2007/09/27/dan_rather_suit/index.html
OK, for starters, don't tell me Sidney Blumenthal is a Clinton operative as I know this, blah, blah, blah. Secondly, don't tell me the Bush Air National Guard story has been vindicated in GW's favor either because this again is not why this story is of interest.
Here's the real meat IMO. Rather's lawsuit could expose to the light of day about the internal workings not so much of CBS but how big media in general operates as to the political goings on of the day. Was CBS via it's parent Viacom influenced by it's power access it thought it might have with one political party over another? Also don't come back with the old tired democrat comments about republican control of all things business as again you'll miss the mark just as much as the republican defenders of the faith. Personally I look forward to the day when America wakes up and we hunt republicans and democrats with dogs just for pure sport! Tells you what I think of the 2 parties.
Oh BTW D, we can hunt the Libertarian party as well because IMO it's way of thinking, not the answer in the form of a political party.
This whole matter IMO boils down to the pure independence and neutrality of big media and media in general as it delivers news and information to us as citizens that we then use to digest and form decisions about what is good or bad and how that moves our thoughts especially when we enter the ballot box. I happen to think the petty personal attacks used by bothsides has gotten way out of hand and especially when you go back 30 and 40 years to dig up something when a person in all honesty was a kid.
I just find it interesting these days that political operatives will layout 30 second soundbites extolling that they have the cure for all that ailes us and never provide any of the least little details of their plans but then will feed volumes and volumes of personal garbage about their political rivals by way of their media connections to the point that all we hear about in the news is Bush or Kerry's war record, Hillary's laugh on FoxNews, John Edwards haircuts, Thompson's trophy wife or is or is not Obama muslim. If I didn't know better, this junk sounds like the junk I see on the shelf while standing in line at the grocery store checkout. It's only a matter oftime I guess that someone will accuse a candidate of either being a space alien or at the least having sex with one!
But what about the more exact details of what the various cnadidates policies would be and how would they effect this part or that part of our lives? How will it solve the problem? How does it stand and where does it derive it's authority under the Constitution? How will it be paid for? Will it solve the problem once and for all and thus at some point no longer be an item for budget funding or will it just be a process of managing a problem that over the years people build a beauracracy around and it becomes a huge monetary black hole for politicians and political operatives to explolt for their own personal and/or business gains? These are the type questions that should be asked and where is our media in doing so?
I know to Dan Rather, proving the Air Guard story would be a personal vindication and to Blumenthal it's political mud to sling building into an election cycle but to me it's deeper and more important issue of answering that all important question of just how "FREE" (not in how much it costs) is our big media in America?
To that, I hope Dan's case provides a clear and complete answer and then I hope Americans will wake up and realize they need to push and probe more to get the facts.
OK, for starters, don't tell me Sidney Blumenthal is a Clinton operative as I know this, blah, blah, blah. Secondly, don't tell me the Bush Air National Guard story has been vindicated in GW's favor either because this again is not why this story is of interest.
Here's the real meat IMO. Rather's lawsuit could expose to the light of day about the internal workings not so much of CBS but how big media in general operates as to the political goings on of the day. Was CBS via it's parent Viacom influenced by it's power access it thought it might have with one political party over another? Also don't come back with the old tired democrat comments about republican control of all things business as again you'll miss the mark just as much as the republican defenders of the faith. Personally I look forward to the day when America wakes up and we hunt republicans and democrats with dogs just for pure sport! Tells you what I think of the 2 parties.
Oh BTW D, we can hunt the Libertarian party as well because IMO it's way of thinking, not the answer in the form of a political party. This whole matter IMO boils down to the pure independence and neutrality of big media and media in general as it delivers news and information to us as citizens that we then use to digest and form decisions about what is good or bad and how that moves our thoughts especially when we enter the ballot box. I happen to think the petty personal attacks used by bothsides has gotten way out of hand and especially when you go back 30 and 40 years to dig up something when a person in all honesty was a kid.
I just find it interesting these days that political operatives will layout 30 second soundbites extolling that they have the cure for all that ailes us and never provide any of the least little details of their plans but then will feed volumes and volumes of personal garbage about their political rivals by way of their media connections to the point that all we hear about in the news is Bush or Kerry's war record, Hillary's laugh on FoxNews, John Edwards haircuts, Thompson's trophy wife or is or is not Obama muslim. If I didn't know better, this junk sounds like the junk I see on the shelf while standing in line at the grocery store checkout. It's only a matter oftime I guess that someone will accuse a candidate of either being a space alien or at the least having sex with one!
But what about the more exact details of what the various cnadidates policies would be and how would they effect this part or that part of our lives? How will it solve the problem? How does it stand and where does it derive it's authority under the Constitution? How will it be paid for? Will it solve the problem once and for all and thus at some point no longer be an item for budget funding or will it just be a process of managing a problem that over the years people build a beauracracy around and it becomes a huge monetary black hole for politicians and political operatives to explolt for their own personal and/or business gains? These are the type questions that should be asked and where is our media in doing so?
I know to Dan Rather, proving the Air Guard story would be a personal vindication and to Blumenthal it's political mud to sling building into an election cycle but to me it's deeper and more important issue of answering that all important question of just how "FREE" (not in how much it costs) is our big media in America?
To that, I hope Dan's case provides a clear and complete answer and then I hope Americans will wake up and realize they need to push and probe more to get the facts.
