Sunday News Shows: Where Are The Democrats?

Roll Call did a piece this morning on the "face time" that members of Congress receive on Sunday News Shows. There were only two Democrats, Senators Durbin (IL) and Schumer (NY) that appeared in the top ten. The other eight consisted of seven Republicans and one Independent and it wasn't Bernie Sanders. Suprised? No.

Here is the list of the top ten results. The next time someone says to you "the media is liberal", flash this list to them. To read the entire list, go to rollcall.com.

Member of Congress	Face the Nation (CBS)	Meet the Press (NBC)	This Week (ABC)	State of the Union (CNN)	Fox News Sunday (FOX)	Total
Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.)	3	1	2	4	1	11
Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.)	0	3	0	4	3	10
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.)	2	2	1	1	3	9
Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wis.)	2	2	2	1	2	9
Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.)	4	3	1	1	0	9
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.)	2	2	0	2	2	8
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.)	2	1	0	0	2	5
Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.)	1	0	1	2	1	5
Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.)	1	0	0	1	2	4

 

Washington Press Corp Circling The Wagons Over Stewart?

On CNN's Reliable Sources Sunday program there was a panel discussion about comedian Jon Stewart's debate that took place a week earlier on the Fox Sunday program with host Chris Wallace. Stewart made the assertion that a portion of his interview had been edited by FOX to leave out relevant information that Fox executives hand out "talking points" to their news anchors to read on-air.

The odd thing I've noticed recently is whenever anyone is critical of the corporate news media, regardless of what network it is, they all "circle the bandwagon" to protect one another. The panel discussion on CNN yesterday was just one more example of this mentality by the media.

Watch the clip of this discussion and see if you come away with the same response I have.

What's With DC Democrats?

David Axelrod, a former White House Senior Aide to President Obama, appeared in an interview with Candy Crowley of CNN yesterday. He discussed issues like the US economy and the upcoming 2012 presidential elections. After watching this interview yesterday morning, a question sprang to mind. Why do DC Democrats seem to have such difficulty leading on issues even when the majority of the nation supports what they say they support? Why is that in the state of Wisconsin just fourteen state Democratic elected officials could capture the hearts and minds of so many working class Americans across the nation by standing clearly with American workers and not cow towing to GOP narratives the way that frequently happens to DC Democrats?  

It seems in DC the conventional wisdom is that Democrats must always compromise. At least that's the corporate media meme but notice that seems to not apply when the GOP are at the helm of the controls.

In my opinion the GOP won back the House of Representatives because the campaigned on JOBS, JOBS, JOBS. Since the November 2010 elections, the Republican Party in DC and state wide have massively "over-reached" and misread their mandate which is/was to create jobs. Their mandate was not to reduce collective bargaining rights for state workers, eliminate abortion rights, or anything else. It was jobs stupid. In state after state (examples: Wisconsin, Ohio, Indiana, Michigan, and Florida), the Governors and state legislatures have misread why they were elected in the first place. They have championed anti-worker agendas of attacking worker rights, cutting jobs, and cutting safety net programs in the name of "We're broke" but have at the very same time found millions to give to millionaires/billionaires in tax reductions and corporate give aways. Then comes US Wisconsin Rep Paul Ryan's plan to effectively end Medicare for those aged 55 and under and yet DC Democrats seem incapable of taking advantage of  any of this and turning the peoples' populist rage that is brewing state-wide against the GOP. Why?

Listen to this interview David Axelrod gave to CNN and you will see why. If President Obama and the DC Democrats hope to gain election victories in 2012, they should ignore the majority of what Axelrod and advisers like him have to say. Job creation is number 1 on Americans' minds, not deficits or cutting programs like Medicare.

Listen to Axelrod's beltway conventional wisdom here.

Something You Will Not See On Corporate Media 'News" Programs

Remember the debate last year about whether or not the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy should be extended? It seemed the vast majority of reporters and pundits echoed the GOP talking points on this issue: "Should taxes be raised during a bad economy?" The correct question was should taxes be raised on millionaires and billionaires during a bad economy? Of course if the question was framed like the later, the majority of the general public would have overwhelmingly supported that. This is the very reason that the GOP and the corporate media framed the question the way they did, to make ordinary Americans making $30,000 or $60,000 a year fear that taxes would be raised on them. This issue will resurface once again, just in time for the 2012 Presidential election and you can bet the GOP and corporate media will frame the issue the exact same way they did last year.

Fast forward. There is a group of American millionaires labeling themselves as "Patriotic Millionaires for Fiscal Strength" who are advocating for higher taxes on the wealthy in America to help our nation stay afloat until our economy recovers. This group took out an ad in the New York Post last year during the debate on the renewal of the Bush Tax Cuts. It got very little to no media coverage on the major and cable television news networks. You will not see them of course appearing as guests on premier beltway news programs like Meet The Press, Face The Nation, and the like.

Here is a  report by National Public Radio (NPR) taking a closer look at their proposal.

Listen.