Full services start up tomorrow: We’re headed home on Amtrak. Full services resume here tomorrow.
That said:
In our view, the weekend’s most appalling news report appeared in yesterday’s New York Times. It concerns the way average people get conned by propaganda and disinformation.
Reporting from West Virginia, Jackie Calmes explained why some low-income people failed to enroll for subsidized health insurance or perhaps for Medicaid. They believed various crazy claims about Obamacare:
CALMES (4/27/14): “Literally, people thought there would be chips embedded in their bodies if they signed up for Obamacare,” Mr. Bryant said.These people believed the bogus claims which were spread far and wide. For that reason, they refused to sign up for affordable health care.
Far to the east, at a branch of the Shenandoah Valley Medical System in Martinsburg, Sara R. Koontz, a social worker, said she had heard people express fears about chip implants as well as “death panels” as she sought to enroll uninsured residents. Some told her that they would rather pay a penalty than sign up for insurance, she said, and even people who did enroll paused in their excitement to ask, “Wait—this isn’t that Obamacare, is it?”
Stoking such sentiments in order to rouse conservatives to vote is central to Republicans’ hopes of not only keeping their House majority but perhaps recapturing the Senate.
Of course, cons and deceptions of this type have driven our discourse for decades. For the past two decades, Sean Hannity has played a leading role in spreading bogus claims about Social Security, federal taxes, and whatever else was current.
Now, we liberals are in a fury because of Hannity’s pimping of the ridiculous Cliven Bundy. Meanwhile, Bundy got pushed from the headlines this weekend by the pitiful apparent statements of 81-year-old Donald Sterling, the Los Angeles Clippers’ owner.
We liberals are aflame, sometimes happily so, about the pitiful statements by Bundy and Sterling. How inane were Sterling’s statements?
So inane that the Los Angeles NAACP has dropped plans to present him with a lifetime achievement award next month! For more information, click here.
We’ll be honest. We think the focus on Bundy and Sterling is in some ways unimpressive. We’re wondering why it takes such ridiculous statements by such ridiculous figures to rouse our liberal world.
Sterling has been considered a ridiculous figure for years. We’re wondering why he was slated to receive that lifetime achievement award, though we can imagine several answers.
Beyond that, we’re thinking about the liberal world’s failure to confront Hannity, and other purveyors of disinformation, down through these many years.
(Just for the record, Sterling’s ridiculous statements were made in private, to his ridiculous girlfriend. Hannity’s endless bogus statements have been made in the open air, to millions of people.)
We liberals! We’re very good at ridiculing the dumbest people in the world. But what has kept us, down through the years, from creating a winning politics?
The liberal world is up and roaring today. As all those people go uninsured, we’re a bit less than impressed.
Meanwhile, this just in: Yesterday, she made it official. As it turns out, Maureen Dowd is prepared to announce that she’s brighter than Bundy too.
Again, we think of the punch line to Carole Leifer’s joke. How far down the evolutionary scale do we have to venture?
When you talk about cons and deception in Obamacare, I think the most widely repeated ones are:
ReplyDelete-- If you like your insurance, you can keep your insurance.
-- If you like your doctor, you can keep your doctor.
-- The average family will save $2,500 per year.
I don't think the average person thinks of these as "cons" because (1) is generally true except in some rare cases, (2) is generally true except in some rare cases, and (3) has the word average in it and thus cannot apply to every family.
DeleteCons are things that are being said to mislead people in order to deter them from signing up for ACA. These include things that are patently false, never were true and are not part of the legislation at all. They include lies spread by conservatives, not mistaken statements made by Obama before it was understood what the wider implications of the bill would be. For example, that businesses are laying off people because they cannot afford to offer them healthcare, that costs of healthcare will be driven up by Obamacare. Or, that the government will be invasively involved in delivery of health care services (like the ad showing Uncle Sam leering over the shoulder of the gynecologist).
Characterizing the President's statements as a con is not only wrong, but disrespectful of the office, in my opinion. Like the guy who shouted out "liar" at the State of the Union address. There is a difference between disagreement over how the mechanics of the bill will play out and a deliberate con intended to harm people by telling self-serving lies, which is what the anti-ACA ads funded by Koch's are.
David, are you really saying that those people who signed up for ACA based on the President's statements will not be receiving health care as advertised? What exactly is the con? Those who believe the false statements against ACA will be harmed because they won't receive medical care. That seems like a much more harmful "con" to me.
DeleteIt's true: if you were misguided enough to like your almost useless insurance policy pre-ACA, you have been disappointed to learn that you can't keep it and, for instance, be eligible for ACA subsidies. As for keeping your doctor, long before the ACA people's doctors came and went, as doctors changed the insurers they would work with. To blame the ACA for some people's need to change doctors is ignorant, at best. (At worst, it's to have ignored for decades the problems with our system as long as it didn't affect you personally. The important thing is that people who lacked access to medical care of any kind now have access.) As for savings per family -- and savings overall in our system: no one knows yet. Best estimates DO, however, indicate savings are in the works. What is your real problem with the ACA, David in Cal?
Delete" almost useless insurance policy pre-ACA"
DeleteSpeaking for myself, my pre-ACA policy, no longer available, paid for a helicopter ride to a top tier trauma center and four nights in the hospital, two surgeries, follow up visits and physical therapy, so you can go pound sand with that angle.
Please provide us with the name of the wonderful company that offered the helicopter ride and perhaps a link to their wonderful offerings.
DeletePotty mouth.
Delete"Potty mouth."
DeleteGolly.
Oh yeah, the President said we can keep those worthless policies for another year if the state insurance commisions and the companies providing them will agree. How many hundreds of people will die because their worthless policies will not provide health care when needed, all with the President's blessing now?
Obama compromises too much but the blame for those deaths (and financial troubles due to inadequate coverage) still rests with critics of ACA.
Delete"Obama compromises too much "
DeleteObama *lies* too much.
The bottom line is that Junk Policy Meme suddenly appeared as if by magic after October 2013, and as soon as you heard it your BS meter should have been set off and you should have paid attention to that, and then maybe have at the least suspended your judgement about how true it was in the face of actual facts.
"I asked you simply to prove there was merit in your comment."
Delete"Simply"? I would have to go through mountains of paperwork to find the name of the helicopter outfit. That is all in storage. You on the other hand ought to be able to produce a single pre October 2013 article, with "merit", that lays out how millions of junk policies will be cancelled, contary to everything Obama said. Besides, my story is anecdotal, there would be more merit from a report covering the individual market policies as a *whole*.
Don't you get it? The Junk Policy Meme was *invented* on the spot when Obama was caught lying.
Are you saying junk policies don't exist? I know otherwise. Of course the explanation came after the criticism. It doesn't make it a lie.
Delete"Are you saying junk policies don't exist?"
DeleteNo. The question is what percentage of the whole they are. In the face of no overall report on that, my guess would be about 5% while yours I suppose would be 99%, since you seem so eager to just get on board with the talking poin
"the explanation came after the criticism. It doesn't make it a lie."
The "explanation" came devoid of nuance or detail. Did you not notice that? The way people throw around the word "lie" these days I'd call that lying, as there was little concern for advancing exactly what the truth was on those millions of policies, only damage control for what was a very dark time for the administration.
You don't have the name of the insurance company from whom you purchased your policy? You know, "my pre-ACA policy, no longer available, paid for a helicopter ride to a top tier trauma center"
DeleteYou give trolls a bad name.
12:05 Do you wonder how long he would have been dead had a loved one tried dig through a mountain of paperwork before finding the phone number of that helicopter company when he needed it to take him to a major trauma center?
Delete"You don't have the name of the insurance company from whom you purchased your policy?"
DeleteGolden Rule. I was with them for 12 years:
http://www.goldenrule.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Rule_Insurance_Company
The provider network was United Healthcare.
I'm spreading my cheeks open now so you can give me the full cavity search, thus proving I am not a troll. My social security number is tattooed in there, feel free to use that as well.
"Do you wonder how long he would have been dead had a loved one tried dig through a mountain of paperwork before finding the phone number of that helicopter company when he needed it to take him to a major trauma center?"
Stupid idiot. I was barely conscious after falling 35 feet, the helicoptor arrived after *the local authototies* dispatched it, on my behalf, you stupid stupid idiot. I never saw thier bill until weeks after I was discharged. Do you even think before you type?
I left in some typos so you geniuses could discredit me on that count as well. Have a nice day!
DeleteAnd now it's time for someone to provide some "merit" for this Ols CHestnut as they say:
Delete" almost useless insurance policy pre-ACA"
Thanks in advance!
"Medicare may also pay for emergency ambulance transportation in an airplane or helicopter if your health condition requires immediate and rapid ambulance transportation that ground transportation can’t provide, and one of these applies:
DeleteYour pickup location can’t be easily reached by ground transportation.
Long distances or other obstacles, like heavy traffic, could stop you from getting care quickly if you traveled by ground ambulance."
http://www.medicare.gov/coverage/ambulance-services.html
"Medicare may also pay for emergency ambulance transportation in an airplane or helicopter if your health condition requires immediate and rapid ambulance transportation that ground transportation can’t provide"
DeleteThat's helpful, and my junk insurance plan also covered that service.
So enlighten us. What was the reason ACA forced cancellation of your policy?
DeleteThe letter from Golden Rule stated that they had to comply with ACA requirements. I think you know that already. Lots and lots of such letters went out.
DeleteI have since gotten employer based coverage. We'll see if that gets affected I guess as things develop.
So the answer is you don't know. You just took Golden Rule's word for it.
DeleteI "know" that millions of letters didn't go out making false claims that they are dropping insurance due to ACA. The insurance industry is *highly* regulated, they would not be able to do that, and you and I both *already* know that Obama himself was forced to admit that milliions of cancellations were made due to ACA requirements.
DeleteHere are examples of letters, I can't vouch for them individually:
https://www.google.com/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1680&bih=935&q=aca+cancellation+letters&oq=aca+cancellation+letters&gs_l=img.12...0.0.1.31781.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0..0.0....0...1ac..42.img..7.17.1000.TfRzWX6cyQ0
OMB (More Parts Than the Chris Matthews Almost Murder)
ReplyDeleteThe OTB Takes On Sean Hannity At Last!
Part Prologue
"For the past two decades, Sean Hannity has played a leading role in spreading bogus claims about Social Security, federal taxes, and whatever else was current.
Now, we liberals are in a fury because of Hannity’s pimping of the ridiculous Cliven Bundy.
-------
Beyond that, we’re thinking about the liberal world’s failure to confront Hannity, and other purveyors of disinformation, down through these many years." BOB, Today
"He repeatedly said that the BLM showed a “lack of proportionality” in the way they approached the situation two weeks back.
We can’t necessarily say that’s untrue." BOB 4/23/14
We'll be honest. We think BOB might have kept his mouth shut and enjoyed the train ride rather than posit himself as a great foe of Hannity while liberal fools flamed others with R-bombs. Maybe he's right. We can't necessarily say that untrue. Beginning Monday we will take a look at OTB on the key issues of Hannity on "Social Security, federal taxes, and whatever else was current."
KZ
Hmmmm.
DeleteBob complains that "we liberals" failed to push back against Hannity over the years.
So "we liberals" push back against Hannity re: "pitiful, isolated rancher" with a small army equipped with assault rifles, and he complains about that, too.
I'm so confused. Are "we liberals" supposed to push back or not?
Wonderful how liberals have pushed back against those isolated ranchers with out-dated ideas in the hinterlands. Is that really an issue that affects many people's lives the way lies told about social security do?
Delete11:17, liberals pushed back hard on Social Security, and so far have won.
DeleteYou start shooting whenever you can draw blood. Hannity has huge resources behind him, so it is not always easy -- although Media Matters and others have been doing whatever they can to undermine Hannity and Limbaugh for years. now Hannity has stepped into it, and he deserves everything that can be dished out on him. Piling on may get his audience reduced even more than it was when he was dropped from the No. 1 slot.
It's ridiculous for the Howler to attack liberals for attacking hard whenever the legitimate targets expose themselves. He doesn't seem to get that these are not the times to turn the other cheek.
I don't call Obama's statements about social security "push back." I see him as someone we must push back against. I don't understand why so many so-called liberals are willing to give away benefits elderly people depend upon, such as real cost of living increases. Compared to defending the integrity of social security (instead of joining the conservative cries to reform it), these attacks on the racism of isolated ranchers is a huge waste of time.
DeleteThere - just as predicted - the turd found something to say in mitigation of Sterling:
ReplyDelete"Just for the record, Sterling’s ridiculous statements were made in private, to his ridiculous girlfriend"
And these are not just views uttered in private - sterling has acted on his views:
'
Los Angeles Clippers owner and real estate mogul Donald T. Sterling has agreed to pay a record $2.725 million to settle allegations that he discriminated against African Americans, Hispanics and families with children at scores of apartment buildings he owns in and around Los Angeles.
'
BLOGGER - BITTER,ANGRY OLD LOSER FART - COME OUT ALREADY.
Hannity might be willing to hire you to sweep out his office.
Yep, as predictable as the sun rising in the east.
DeleteI guess Bob is saying that "private" racist attitudes are just fine.
Somerby makes one true statement about the context in which Sterling's remarks were made, and you portray him as defending him? Way to exaggerate.
DeleteUntil we have total mind control and thought police, one's private views, racist or not, should remain private. When someone's ridiculous girlfriend records a private conversation and broadcasts it on TMZ to hurt her ex, that is a violation of privacy, something liberals used to care about and want to protect.
Sterling did pay a settlement but did not admit to the wrongdoing alleged against him -- you seem plenty willing to rush to judgment against him however. Guilty until proven otherwise is not particularly consistent with liberal values either.
But, hey, anything to hit Somerby with, right buddy?
Way to defend 11:21! You did a much better job than Somerby. It was really unfair poor Mr. Sterling had to pay
Deleteeven though he admitted no wrong doing. And how much did he pay?
Thanks for unholding the principle of not mentionable until journalistically disproven.
That's exactly how they got Clinton.
Delete12:08 You mean they got Clinton, like Sterling, because he was sexing a much, much younger woman not his wife?
DeleteYep, a taped personal phone call. On the plus side in Clinton's case, the light of day scrutiny may well have kept him from raping again.
DeleteGod bless Chris Matthews for being one of the very few mainstream journalists to bring Ms Willey's story to light. It was rare indeed for a liberal journalist to point out how the Clintons helped promote rape culture in this society.
"We liberals"
ReplyDeleteThis is the part that gets me. Bob really thinks he is fooling people with his sheep's clothing.
In what ways does TDH differ from other one-man, right-wing blogs?
In fact, if one of the Tea Party billionaires decided to launch a Tea Party answer to "Media Matters", wouldn't the content resemble TDH rather closely?
So, who did you march with back in the day? What gives you liberal cred? Do you imagine that attacking a self-labeled liberal makes you more liberal than he is? Why shouldn't we assume that anyone who attacks a liberal as aggressively as you do must be himself a conservative, but one too lazy to maintain even a one-man blog, obviously. In what way do you differ from the assortment of schizophrenics, 12-year olds with hostility issues, and paid-shills who also frequent these comments?
Delete11:23, regarding your response to questions raised by 10:54
DeleteI take your failure to answer the questions as agreeement with 10:54's inference that TDHG resembles a Tea Party version of Media Matters and that you know of no way TDH differs from one man right wing media blogs.
"I take your failure to answer the questions as agreeement with 10:54's inference that TDHG resembles a Tea Party version of Media Matters and that you know of no way TDH differs from one man right wing media blogs."
DeleteIs that a failure of logic on your part? Ie. Because you don't address a claim, that automatically makes the claim true. Circular reasoning. I know it's a subjective claim but 11:23 has no burden to answer it one way or another and drawing conclusions if he doesn't means nothing really. Do you see where I'm coming from?
10:54 - could you clarify your claim? You are saying Bob is lying about being a liberal? If so, can you provide a basis for that claim so i can understand it better? Thanks,
Delete12:49, if it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck . . .
Delete12:58 - can you explain what you mean using examples? thanks,
Delete12:58 That answer is just not good enough.
DeleteI take it 12:46 that your continued non response to 10:54's questions and your non denial response to me affirms my inital judgement.
DeletePeople here seem to think a liberal can't criticize another liberal. In this case very powerful liberals. I don't understand the reasoning. Remember what Kubrick said about power.
DeleteYou just don't like it when corporate media liberals come under criticism do you. My take on it is Somerby is an old school "bleeding heart" liberal, and I mean that in a most positive way. Back when liberals actually stood for something, when they had some standards. We need that in the ideological gene pool to counteract the punishment freaks, the scolds, and the snively dweebs that seem to have taken over the mainstream of the Democrat party.
DeleteSomerby pushes back on Mathews and Dowd. Those aren't liberals. And if they were, they wouldn't be anywhere near NBC or the NY Times.
DeleteBerto
Ah, so Bob is an old school liberal who has never abandoned his ways.
DeleteWell, if your dog deposited something in your backyard, I suppose you could call it a rose bush, too. But if you step in it, your shoes won't exactly smell like roses.
Once again we have "old school liberal" Bob, you know, the guy who stands for something and has standards, attempting to excuse blatant racism by turning the perp into the victim -- right out of the right-wing noise machine play book every time the issue of race comes up.
But go ahead. Pretend that the pile he just left on your computer screen is really roses.
2:23 - Can you tell me on what you base this claim?
Delete"Bob ... attempting to excuse blatant racism by turning the perp into the victim"
Thanks,
Somerby is the only online source I know of that offers a valid, serious critique of high end, often "liberal" media. Some people just can't handle criticism like an adult.
DeleteSo who exactly is the victim in all this? An anonymous African American who didn't get a courtside seat from the billionaire's wacky mistress. Cry me a river.
Delete6:13 "Serious"? Yes. "Valid"? Once upon a time, perhaps. Rare is the subject of Bob Somerby's critique who considers his invenctive worthy of a response.
DeleteWhy are these trolls so obsessed with turds?
DeleteCouldn't possibly be that this blog is one steaming pile.
DeleteThe comments certainly are.
DeleteWhen I heard Sterling's comments it sickened me.
DeleteThen don't ever invite the guy over for dinner.
Delete10:54
ReplyDelete"we liberals" is just an infantile taunt by blogger. Unless he is picked up by FOX or some such outlet, I don't see how he can continue this charade for long.
OMB (More Parts Than the Chris Matthews Almost Murder)
ReplyDeleteThe OTB Takes On Sean Hannity At Last!
Part Lunch: Reviewing Howler's Hannity Record on Social Security
Checking the Incomparable Howler archives in its current iteration, we could find no bogus claims about Social Security mentioned which BOB identifies Hannity as spreading. These are his newer archives, however. In the newest archives we find eight pages of Hannity mentions. Far more link liberals to Hannity-type behavior than identify any such behavior.
We did find BOB saluting one refutation of Hannity's work on Obamacare. It occurred in Salon.
KZ
10/21/2013 Eric Stern Debunks Hannity in Salon on Obamacare
We must recall that in its latest incarnation with the comment box, when you search the name "Hannity" you'll get a hit every time Hannity's name appears in the combox. Thus, this very post and its comments will generate multiple search "hits."
DeleteNot like the old days without the comment box that reduces some of Bob's poor fans to tears.
Looking back there are 18 pages worth of hits on "Hannity." Many of these date from the earliest days of the blog, when Somerby often would push back against Hannity's nonsense.
Over time, however, we got such posts as, "Feckless Dem Spokesperson gets eaten alive by Hannity" until they slowly morphed into his present schtick: "Rachel Maddow is just like Hannity."
We appreciate very much your doing our job for us. It gives us time to look over the tortoises and cattle we recently abducted from some property in Nevada. The foolish male humans there were busy waving flags, signs, and looking at the backsides of a line of hefty female humans in front of them. They didn't see our craft appear, land, abscond with specimen, and depart.
DeleteKZ
Bob, do you actually believe the modern Stalinists care about privacy? They're happy when incorrect comments made in private are taped and exposed and would be happy if government were doing the exposing "for the greater good." It gives them an opportunity to type things that make them feel good about themselves.
ReplyDeleteI don't see Bob's issue regarding the statements to Sterling's girlfriend as "privacy." I think that he's commenting about the fact that Sterling's private statements, however inappropriate, aren't broadcast in a manner that mis-informs millions. He's suggesting that people of good faith focus on issues that matter rather than shiny objects that make for interesting copy but ultimately are meaningless in the larger scheme of things. Whether or not Sterling is exposed as a racist won't make a difference in anyone's lives. On the other hand, if Hannity's lies are effectively debunked, then his viewers won't continue to be conned, and presumably things like Obamacare would work for more people.
DeleteThe comments by people like KZ mystify me; I don't think that it's hard to understand what Bob is saying, unless you're willfully refusing to do so.
Always nice to have a Bobfan explain what Somerby really, really means.
DeleteWhen what he says is misrepresented clarification is useful.
DeleteYes, especially an old-school Bobfan explaining the richer context to a Bob-newb attracted by Bob's more recent work saving the collapsing culture from the Wisconsin tainted McCarthyesque Stalinists.
DeleteOn the other hand, if Hannity's lies are effectively debunked, then his viewers won't continue to be conned,
DeleteAnd if Sharpton's and O'Donnell's are effectively debunked, we won't have duped presidents who saw photos of 14 years olds and joined the mob of insane white liberals trying to imprison an innocent man for being white and defending himself.
Are we still making believe Zimmerman didn't follow Martin for the crime of being black in his neighborhood?
DeleteWhy did Martin double back and walk around Zimmerman's truck and stare at him before Zimmerman (concerned about his lower middle class neighborhood with no guards or patrol like O'Donnell has) got out to keep police informed of where this suspicious individual (who subsequently attacked him) was headed?
DeleteI'd ask Martin, but he was shot dead by a guy who thought he was acting suspicious by the act of walking through his neighborhood.
DeleteLiberals have done a poor job countering the BS from the right wing. Saddam's atom bomb, Atta in Prague, Kerry's swiftboating, death panels on the ACA, and more recently Benghazi, the IRS 'scandal',Joe Wilson's 'you lie'...but remember all the people FIRED from the corporate media because they attempted to counter the lies before the war in Iraq? I listen to every Sunday news show, including Fox Sunday and every week I am appalled at how ill prepared Democrats are for a 'hardball' debate. I constantly run through my mind all the facts and arguments they could use that would be much more effective. I used to do this for a living. And I was fired the first week we invaded Iraq (after being continuously reminded this was a 'liberation' not an invasion).
ReplyDeleteLiberals are born losers politically. They are good at other things like making music and organizing craft fairs etc.
DeleteAnonymous at 12:27 PM,
DeleteSo countering the lies of the right wing will get you fired in today's media. Somerby still thinks the problem for liberals in the media are the talking heads, while the reality is it's in the media ownership. There is no such thing as "the liberal media".
Berto
So, we should all organize a craft fair or folk music festival and raise enough money to buy ourselves some media ownership?
DeleteI think there is value in spotlighting the malfeasance of the so-called liberal media so that it will be more difficult to call it liberal or claim that it is doing a good job of informing the public instead of propagandizing on behalf of plutocrats. I see a need for what Somerby does here. If he were irrelevant we wouldn't have so many trolls here wasting their time.
Just how many people, trolls or otherwise, do you think bother to comment on this blog? On his best days, Somerby gets around 100 comments under a post, and that's rare. Very rare.
DeleteI'm going to guess he's got less than 50 regular commenters. Problaby even as low as a couple dozen or so.
Most people who read this blog skip the comments, for obvious reasons.
Delete7:27 PM,
DeleteBetter that Bob stop calling non-liberals "liberals" if his blog is about accuracy.
Berto
OMB (More Parts Than the Chris Matthews Almost Murder)
ReplyDeleteThe OTB Takes On Sean Hannity At Last!
Part Tea Time: Reviewing Howler's Hannity Record on Social Security
The excellent work of Anon @ 1:06 notwithstanding, we determined to press ahead with an examination of BOB's claimn that "For the past two decades, Sean Hannity has played a leading role in spreading bogus claims about Social Security...." and other sundry matters of public import.
Reviewing the older Howler archives we cannot find a single instance where this fact has been noted in the Howler. In fact, we can say with some confidence that, while BOB has on a few occaisions stated without a shred of documentation that false claims about Social Security are the kind of thing we get from Hannity, he has never given Hannity such a starring role in this margarine tub of misinformation spreading before.
We refer you to the week of August 16, 2010 in which BOB did one of his famous multi-part series, this time about the misinformation about Social Security. We challenge you to find reference to Sean Hannity. We could not, but we would be happy to be proven wrong, whether that effort qualifies as journalistic disproof or just plain old vanilla disproof.
KZ
So I am reading said series just to prove KZ wrong!
DeleteAug. 16: What Mike Hatchell said on Olbermann's show, with Paul Krugman in rebuttal.
Aug. 17: A repeat of what Hatchell told Olbermann, and a dose of what Alan Simpson told John Berry, with a dash of lips on Chris Matthews' hindquarters thrown in, seemingly gratuitously.
Aug. 18 -- Hannity is mentioned. But only to call a Muslim imam "radical" that Maureen Dowd said was "moderate." The SS series took a one-day respite as he took on Dowd for not being forceful enough.
Aug. 19 -- What Krugman (then a friend) said brilliantly. What Dean Baker and Mark Weisbrot wrote 11 years earlier. Meanwhile, E.J. Dionne and other "liberal pundits" twiddle their thumbs.
Aug. 20: A repeat of Krugman's brilliance. How Reagan, Greenspan and O'Neill saved Social Security. How the Gallup poll shows how dumb America is, particulary those damned kids.
End of brilliant series.
You researched the archives to determine if Somerby had ever mentioned Hannity and Social Security in the same column in order to supposedly demolish his argument that career liberals have done a less than stellar job informing the public regarding Social Security. Somerby's spot on correct, the "liberal" flavor of corporate media has done an absolute piss poor job of it. The level of misinformation posing as "conventional wisdom" is proof of it.
DeleteWhat is a career liberal?
DeleteBig Buck Corporate Select
DeleteNo, 9:19. KZ is actually testing Somerby's claim that "we liberals" were silent for 20 years when Hannity was a leading purveyor of myths about Social Security to see if Somerby was one of those silent "liberals" himself, re: the purveying Hannity.
DeleteTurns out, he was.
Now this is not to say that Somerby didn't do yeoman work on the myths of Social Security. He did in his own inimitable style -- saying the same thing day after day.
But naming the name of the person back then who he now claims was purveying mightily as he wonders why it's taken so long for "we liberals" to discover Hannity?
Bob didn't seem to be any better at that than any of us "we liberals."
Anon. @ 9:19 We are confident you cannot answer the question we posed at 2:07. We will tell you now, in response to your comment that our examination had nothing to do with the quality of the job the liberal media has done defending Social Security. What we examined is BOB's claim that Hannity played a leading role in spreading misinformation about it. If so, BOB never got around to calling him out on those bogus claims. Which makes BOB
Deletea pretty average careerist in liberal world when is comes to that test score.
KZ
For those who wonder what a liberal actually looks like -- in fact, one raised in Baltimore, a product of those schools in which bob once, so famously, taught:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theatlantic.com/ta-nehisi-coates
To argue that the racial views of an NBA owner or of a rancher around whom militia have rallied, defying the U.S. government, are a sideshow diversion: despicable. (In all fairness, I bet there are even conservatives who would agree with me -- in fact, I know a few. Strangely, not bob, nor many of his commenters.)
mch
Very good and harrowing article. Thank for sharing the link.
DeleteI strongly disagree with you mch. This is very much a sideshow diversion because persecuting Bundy or Sterling (as opposed to enforcing the law against them) has no policy implications and will do nothing whatsoever to improve life for anyone.
DeleteI see the ex girlfriends actions as very cynical since she seems to have been deliberately using the race of the men she dated to needle her ex. What does that say about her attitudes toward race and why isn't she being harried?
&:36 -- It's amazing how well you can tell African-Americans what they should and should not be upset about. Or are you African-American, too?
DeleteBe upset, be very upset. This is a game called "ain't it awful" and it does not lead to change. It is a waste of energy. If African Americans spend time worrying about these elderly bigots, they are foolish.
Delete"persecuting Bundy or Sterling"
DeleteAgain, right out of the Rush Limbaugh playbook. In any discussion of race, always turn the perp into the victim.
So, who is the "victim" in this situation?
DeleteNot taking your bait. All I said that Bundy and Sterling are certainly not the vicitms here, despite Bob's attempts to downplay and minimize what they say so he can attck "liberal pundits" for ganging up on the poor souls.
DeleteI don't see much difference between the blood in the water feeding frenzy of the liberal sharks here and the kind of bullying some preteen middle schooler might attract for posting a socially awkward comment on social media. The problem is the potential for people to gang up and socially ostracize another person over something essentially private that should have remained so. Sterling has now lost Clipper endorsement money over this. Liberal pundits shouldn't be engaging in mob action like this. They should be using their heads and writing about real issues, not gossiping.
DeleteKevin Drum was laughing because Sterling publicizes every time he donates money to some cause by running an ad in the LA Times. That may seem like a big joke to Drum, but as he noted, the guy gives away a lot of money. That strikes me as a good thing, no matter what his purposes for doing so, and I don't care whether he praises himself for it or not, those causes are getting funded. If he has a guilty conscience or just likes to see his name in print, the causes still get the money and that is more worthwhile than Drum's snark or anything else his does in his daily columns, in my opinion. If this guy wants to sit around his living room saying bigoted things about others, fine with me, as long as he keeps donating to worthy causes, as he has been doing.
I see. Sterling is no worse than a middle schooler on Facebook.
DeleteAnd people are "ganging up" on poor Mr. Sterling. After all, he's given lots of money to charity. That makes his racism perfectly okey-dokey.
He has the right to be racist in the privacy of his home, which was violated by the recording posted by his ex girlfriend. It isn't nice or fair but it is his right until we have thought police, a time not far away based on public reaction.
DeleteHow do you know it was his home? Perhaps it was hers.
DeleteLets face it, issues like Social Security aren't important to our millionaire pundits. It's an insignificant pittance.
ReplyDeleteLet's face it. It is not in the news at the moment.
DeleteDoes that mean it doesn't need to be? When things aren't in the news, that doesn't mean nothing is happening affecting social security. I would worry more about what is happening when there is no coverage.
DeleteIf misconception and misinformation is the norm with little or no pushback, as it is, then apparently it never was news at the moment.
DeleteGiven who is in charge of the House of Representatives (and it is not John Boehner), when it comes to Social Security, no news at the moment is indeed good news.
DeleteGiven the failures of the liberal world to push back against Hannity it is no surprise that wholesale privatization of Social Security, the main domestic goal of President George T.S. Bush, passed with nary of peep from Congress and the media.
DeleteComing to grips with the Sterling situation has been an emotional rollercoaster. What I don't understand is how a guy worth a billion dollars a couple of times over would have a mistress that he has to request not date other men. Doesn't that kind of money buy a little exclusivity for cryin out loud? Either this guy is beyond cheap, or he's got the weakest pimp hand ever. It's just gotten too far gone. Times like this it's perhaps best to refer to the masters.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ea6TwUC1fto
Here's what gets me. This whole thing started with the mistress taking a picture of herself and Magic Johnson at an LA Clippers game and put it on Instagram.
DeleteYou don't want an LA Laker icon to be seen at a Clippers game? Hell, I would have put that picture on billboards all over town.
Here's what gets me. Your excellent final point is based on an incorrect fact. She posted a picture of herself with two black men. One was Magic Johnson, with whom she was not alone when the picture was taken. The other was Matt Kemp, with whom she was pictured alone. Kemp is a player for the LA Dodgers and the photos were taken at Dodger Stadium. And Sterling's admonition not to bring Magic to Clippers' games was coupled with a more generic call not to bring anyone black.
DeleteWhat would Magic Johnson's image watching a basketball game saturated on billboards across Los Angeles do to enhance the Clippers franchise? You do know the two teams share the same building? The Clippers sell out every game as it is.
DeleteThe NBA is not exactly a traditionalists league. What Magic Johnson did thirty years ago isn't going to sell a single ticket today. The Lakers have become a citywide embarrassment. And it's not going to get any better for them for a long, long time. Even the tacky new local arena football team, owned and named after the rock group Kiss is cracking back on the Lakers, with their own billboards mockingly saying they are more exciting by default than the Lakers. The Clippers on the other hand are a dynamic team on the rise. If they wanted to incorporate the Lakers into their marketing in any way a better idea for a billboard would be an image of the scoreboard after their last meeting, a 50 point Clipper beatdown. or one of the other recent 30+ blowouts.
DeleteWho are the brain police...
ReplyDeleteOMB (More Parts Than the Chris Matthews Almost Murder)
ReplyDeleteThe OTB Takes On Sean Hannity At Last!
Part Late Night Snack
As we said at the start, we wanted to examine the role of the OTB and his fine blog, TDH, in documenting, in real time, the claim he makes here of the colossal failure of "the liberal world" to confront Sean Hannity in his leading role in "spreading bogus claims about Social Security, federal taxes, and whatever else was current."
We have already offered proof that if Sean Hannity played a leading role in spreading misinformation on Social Security, BOB did not point that out in the last decade and a half, much less confront him. Who in the "liberal world" should have done so is a mystery to us, because, despite asking many, many times in these comment threads, we have never gotten an answer to the question, just who is this "liberal world" BOB with which BOB fills many posts and which in turn fills him with disappointment.
We will in future installments, turn to taxes. We know BOB's archives should turn up more on Hannity and taxes, because BOB's blog has been in existence when the Bush tax cuts were adopted and when they expired. But we will bet the farm he does not demonstrate the "liberal world" failed to confront Hannity. We will bet he used the debate to attack liberals when they did.
KZ
With Bob and the "liberal world" its always damn them if they don't, damn them if they do.
DeleteWhen they don't, they are sitting on the sidelines twiddling their thumbs. When they do, they are just like Fox News.
A great blog and very helpfull post. I really like it.
ReplyDeleteDisc Treatment Los Angeles
What then do we make of the very common practice of families objecting when a son or daughter wishes to date outside the community, whether Asian, Jewish, African American or Hispanic?
ReplyDeleteIs this racist? How offended should one be about this?
You sit down and write something about such stupidity. Like Romeo and Juliet. Or you complain about liberals taking silly things like this too seriously.
DeleteOMB (More Parts Than the Chris Matthews Almost Murder)
ReplyDeleteThe OTB Takes On Sean Hannity At Last!
Part Breakfast with BOB:
BOB has indeed included Hannity in his discussions of bogus claims on taxes over the years, just as we predicted.
Alas, we must note, in his seminal series on the Big Bogus Claim told by conservatives about taxes in 2010: that lowering taxes raises revenue, BOB blames "thirty years of liberal sloth." We are not as accomplished as BOB at analyzing (and making up) categorizes of test scores, but we can subtract 30 from 2010 and come up with 1980 as the year of the onset of the Sloth in Liberal World. Sean Hannity was 19 that year and almost a decade away from his first obscure stint at a college radio station mic.
The series began on July 20, 2010. BOB called the Big Bogus Claim the "World's Dumbest Idea" in that series. It ran in four parts. During that period Hannity was discussed once. When BOB posted Part 3.
Can we talk? It was not about taxes, it was about his role in smearing Shirley Sherrod. BOB applauded the NY Times for naming names by citing Hannity in that instance. He quickly moved to attacking Melissa (then) Harris-Lacewell and Lawrence O'Donnell for their coverage of the Sherrod incident. After that, BOB got to Part 3. Hannity disappeared.
KZ
Blogger has outdone Michele Bachmann with his kid-gloves treatment of Bundy and Sterling (the old white fart ties run deep, I guess).
ReplyDeleteBy the way "read "you liberals" when he says "we liberals" and the effect won't be so jarring.
'
Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.
'
Michele Bachmann
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