A WEEK IN THE LIFE: Substantive topics need clarification!

MONDAY, APRIL 18, 2016

Part 1—How many did Maddow discuss:
On the front page of today's New York Times, a fascinating news report adds a bit of context to a recent debate.

The report was written by Farah Stockman. It's her first report since leaving the Boston Globe for the Times.

(For better or worse, Stockman really knows how to kiss ascot. We refer to her recent column, "My love letter to Boston," which was published upon her departure from the land of the bean and the cod.)

Stockman's front-page news report concerns attitudes about the 1994 crime bill among younger and older black voters. As you may have heard, this 22-year-old bill is suddenly very hot.

Along the way, Stockman makes some interesting points about the crime rates which existed at the time of the bill, and especially about attitudes toward the bill among that era's black voters.

At one point, Stockman describes the reaction to a speech Bill Clinton gave at the Memphis church where Dr. King delivered his last sermon—Dr. King's last sermon before being killed.

In his 1993 speech, Clinton railed about the ugly effects crime rates were having on black youth at that time. "Black churchgoers gave him sustained applause and named him an honorary member of their congregation," Stockman writes.

At one point, she even writes this:
STOCKMAN (4/18/16): Ms. Brock’s comments underscore a sometimes overlooked reality in today’s re-examination of the crime bill: The legislation was broadly embraced by nonwhite voters, more enthusiastically even than by white voters. About 58 percent of nonwhites supported it in 1994, according to a Gallup poll, compared with 49 percent of white voters.
"Ms. Brock" is 53-year-old Caryl Brock, a social worker in the South Bronx, who described some of the horrors of the era. Later in Stockman's report, a young activist nails Bill Clinton as being "implicitly racist" for recent remarks in defense of the bill, which was apparently favored by nonwhites more than by whites.

This background material can't answer a wide range of questions about that bill. For starters, it can't tell us whether it was a good bill in all its particulars, or even on balance.

It can't inform us about the overall effects of the bill. It can't inform us about the effects of any particular part of the bill.

It can't inform us about the extent to which the bill added to the phenomenon known as "mass incarceration." It can't tell us whether Hillary Clinton should or shouldn't have used a certain term on one occasion in 1996, a term which was in widespread use at the time.

Stockman's report can't answer these questions. It does provide interesting information about a 22-year-old bill which is now extremely hot.

As you may have heard, New Yorkers will be voting tomorrow in that state's presidential primary. On the Democratic side, you've probably heard that there are two candidates—Candidates Clinton and Sanders.

Quite a few substantive issues have come into play as their race for the Democratic nomination has unfolded. The 1994 crime bill is hot, but quite a few other substantive topics are begging for clarification and elucidation at this particular time.

Which of the candidates has the better ideas about trade? Which of the candidates has the better plan for dealing with "big banks?"

Was Candidate Sanders right in his recent remarks about the Panama Papers? Was Candidate Clinton right in her remarks about guns?

Who has the better position on the $15 minimum wage? Who has the better ideas concerning "mass incarceration?"

By the way—what are the two candidates' dueling positions on these various issues? And while we're at it, let's ask this:

Which candidate has the better ideas about dealing with mass incarceration today? About dealing with crime moving forward? About dealing with police conduct?

(The debate about that now-famous bill follows a certain pattern. We hear a lot about what the candidates thought about crime in 1994. We hear amazingly little about what they've proposed moving forward.)

Finally, and most important:

How big a racist is Candidate Clinton, based on her loathsome remark from 1996? How big a racist is Candidate Sanders, based on his slightly more recent denigrations of Democratic voters in the Deep South?

Granted, each of the hopefuls is a master racist. But which of the two is the bigger racist? And how can the voters decide?

A wide array of substantive issues are involved in tomorrow's election. In the next few days, we'll ask a basic question:

To what extent did a certain major "cable news" star attempt to clarify or elucidate those substantive issues last week? How much did viewers learn about those issues from watching her "cable news" show?

The major star to whom we refer is MSNBC's Rachel Maddow. Last week, she hosted her eponymous cable news show on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday nights. On Monday night, guest host Steve Kornacki was forced to read the transcripts the cable star's staff had prepared.

If we're counting correctly, that means that the Maddow Show aired five times last week. Our question will be this:

If liberal viewers watched that program all five nights, how much did they learn about the substantive topics which are allegedly at the heart the Democratic race? How much did they learn about the substantive differences between Candidates Clinton and Sanders?

How much more do viewers know if they watched that show last week? More specifically, how much more do viewers know about those substantive issues?

Ever so quickly, let's offer a bit of background:

The major cable star in question was initially sold to us as Our Own Rhodes Scholar. We've always been told that she's very bright. At present, here network is running a major ad campaign to that precise effect.

The major cable star is also famously honest. For years, she helped us understand this fact through her DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS reports, which have largely ceased to exist, perhaps from sheer embarrassment at the preternatural phoniness they always involved.

The cable star is very smart; she's also obsessively honest. Given those facts, to what extent did she try to help viewers understand those substantive issues last week?

Warning! In our view, this won't be a pretty story. In our view, the major star almost seems devoted, at this point, to pandering to her viewers' baser tribal instincts. In this way, she almost seems to be playing the game like big cable stars on certain other networks.

To her credit, her ratings are up. That may tell a tale about Us.

Last week, the cable star helped her viewers learn to loathe The Others more fully. She wasn't always obsessively honest or even bright in the lessons in loathing she taught, but these lessons were tribally pleasing.

In the process, how much did her viewers learn about actual matters of substance? As New Yorkers make their way to the polls, we'll examine that question all week.

Tomorrow: Is everybody happy?

28 comments:

  1. Ever Google the term "Our Own Rhodes Scholar"?

    What, NUN of you have?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The Naughty NovitiateApril 18, 2016 at 1:55 PM

      Hey, I have googled it!

      http://www.rumproast.com/index.php/site/comments/oh_bob_somerby_youve_gone_and_done_it_now/

      Delete
    2. Every left publication that has done a bio on Maddow has mentioned that she is a Rhodes Scholar. When you google Maddow, Rhodes Scholar and MSNBC you get publicity in The Nation, Rolling Stone, New York Magazine, and similar publications all mentioning that she is a Rhodes Scholar, among her credentials. If you didn't find it, you didn't actually look.

      Delete
    3. Year of Liberal DumbnessApril 18, 2016 at 6:00 PM

      Ever Google the term "Our Own Rhodes Scholar"?

      The only mention you get of Maddow involves Bob Somerby.

      But thanks for caring Our Own Bob Ascot Kisser. Or should I call you what many people do, Sister Smooch?


      Delete
    4. my ex-boyfriend dumped me 5 months ago after I caught him of having an affair with someone else and insulting him. I want him back in my life but he refuse to have any contact with me. I was so confuse and don’t know what to do, so I visited the internet for help and I saw a testimony on how a spell caster (Dr Camara) help them to get their ex back so I contact the spell caster (Dr Camara) and explain my problems to him….. he cast a spell for me and assure me of 3 days that my ex will return to me and to my greatest surprise the third day my boyfriend came knocking on my door and beg for forgiveness. I am so happy that my love is back again and not only that, we are about to get married. Once again thank you for helping me to get my love back and your love spell is truely perfect, you are truly talented and gifted i will continue to publish your name on the net because of the good work you are doing.If you need his help contact him now through his email: camaralovespell@live.com .He also specialize on all kind of spell such as:

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      6 BUSINESS SPELL
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      8 LOTTERY SPELL

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      Delete
  2. Re: the recent focus on the 1994 omnibus crime bill - maybe nostalgia for an era in which legislation was actually passed, compared with our current intentionally do-nothing Congress.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Farah Stockman can't be called youngish so she is an Ascot kisser.

    Here she is kiising some Harvard butt:

    http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/06/27/elena_kagan_and_the_harvard_stigma/

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Compared to Bobish she is youngish.

      Delete
  4. My life became devastated when my husband sent me packing, after 8 years that we have been together. I was lost and helpless after trying so many ways to make my husband take me back. One day at work, i was absent minded not knowing that my boss was calling me, so he sat and asked me what its was all about i told him and he smiled and said that it was not a problem. I never understand what he meant by it wasn't a problem getting my husband back, he said he used a spell to get his wife back when she left him for another man and now they are together till date and at first i was shocked hearing such thing from my boss. He gave me an email address of the great spell caster who helped him get his wife back, i never believed this would work but i had no choice that to get in contact with the spell caster which i did, and he requested for my information and that of my husband to enable him cast the spell and i sent him the details, but after two days, my mom called me that my husband came pleading that he wants me back, i never believed it because it was just like a dream and i had to rush down to my mothers place and to my greatest surprise, my husband was kneeling before me pleading for forgiveness that he wants me and the kid back home, then i gave Happy a call regarding sudden change of my husband and he made it clear to me that my husband will love me till the end of the world, that he will never leave my sight. Now me and my husband is back together again and has started doing pleasant things he hasn't done before, he makes me happy and do what he is suppose to do as a man without nagging. Please if you need help of any kind, kindly contact Happy for help and you can reach him via email: happylovespell2@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  5. Once I saw a Mutt and Jeff cartoon. One of them is on a ladder painting the ceiling. The other tells him to hold on tight to the paint brush, because he's going to remove the ladder. Dumb joke, eh?

    Equally dumb is the idea that we can remove the Clinton crime bill, which is supporting today's low crime rate. The Clinton crime bill brought crime way down, especially in the ghetto. It's working right now, to hold down crime. But, when the support of the Clinton crime bill is removed, the crime rate will again rise. Poor and minorities will be hurt worse.

    ReplyDelete
  6. The point of today's post is that Maddow has done little to inform Democratic voters in advance of an important primary in NY. That should matter to people who read this blog.

    I find a parallel between the lack of substance on MSNBC and the lack of substance in the comments here.

    David, why are you calling the 1994 crime bill the "Clinton crime bill"? No one else calls it that, at the time or now.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Bill Clinton says he made mass incarceration issue worse"
      CNN Headline 7/15/15

      http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/15/politics/bill-clinton-1994-crime-bill/

      Delete
    2. Anon 4:50 -- "Clinton crime bill: Why is it so controversial?" http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-36020717

      Delete
    3. Until now, I've really missed Goofus and Gallant. Thank you Anonymous 6:08 PM and David in Cal.

      Delete
  7. Bob's Maddow obsession is really becoming pathetic.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. He can't help it. His precious bodily fluids have been contaminated by fluoridation.

      Delete
    2. Which spellcaster do you think will get us our old Bob back fastest?

      Delete
  8. My Name is Leon Adrian. I will love to share my testimony to all the people in the love site cos i never thought i will have my girlfriend back and she means so much to me..The girl i want to get marry to left me 3 weeks to our weeding for another man..,When i called her she never picked my calls,She deleted me on her Facebook and she changed her Facebook status from married to Single...when i went to her place of work she told her boss she never want to see me..i lost my job as a result of this cos i cant get myself anymore,my life was upside down and everything did not go smooth with my life...I tried all i could do to have her back to all did not work out until i met a Man when i Travel to Africa to execute some business have been developing some years back..I told him my problem and all have passed through in getting her back and how i lost my job...he told me he gonna help me...i don't believe that in the first place.but he swore he will help me out and he told me the reason why my girlfriend left me and also told me some hidden secrets.i was amazed when i heard that from him..he said he will cast a spell for me and i will see the results in the next couple of days..then i travel back to US the following day and i called him when i got home and he said he's busy casting those spells and he has bought all the materials needed for the spells,he said am gonna see positive results in the next 2 days that is Thursday...My girlfriend called me at exactly 12:35pm on Thursday and apologies for all she had done ..she said,she never knew what she's doing and her sudden behavior was not intentional and she promised not to do that again.it was like am dreaming when i heard that from her and when we ended the call,i called the man and told him my wife called and he said i haven't seen anything yet... he said i will also get my job back in 2 days time..and when its Sunday,they called me at my place of work that i should resume working on Monday and they gonna compensate me for the time limit have spent at home without working..My life is back into shape,i have my girlfriend back and we are happily married now with kids and i have my job back too,This man is really powerful..if we have up to 20 people like him in the world,the world would have been a better place..he has also helped many of my friends to solve many problems and they are all happy now..Am posting this to the forum for anybody that is interested in meeting the man for help.you can mail him on this e-mail; happylovespell2@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Anyone else tonight see Maddow kissing Matthews' ass about his ridiculously insane comments concerning New York City's non-problems, or the fact that we're not building "Empire State Buildings" any more (forgetting the Freedom Tower), that the "subways" are a disaster (they're not, old Walter Matthau movies notwithstanding), and that this is why Trump won New York so handily?

    Since New York City has a 17:1 Democrat/Republican plurality, I suspect Matthews's theorizing about why Trump won -- lies or not -- is more than a bit inane. And yet there was Maddow calling him "brilliant."

    ReplyDelete
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    ReplyDelete
  11. my ex-boyfriend dumped me 5 months ago after I caught him of having an affair with someone else and insulting him. I want him back in my life but he refuse to have any contact with me. I was so confuse and don’t know what to do, so I visited the internet for help and I saw a testimony on how a spell caster (Dr Camara) help them to get their ex back so I contact the spell caster (Dr Camara) and explain my problems to him….. he cast a spell for me and assure me of 3 days that my ex will return to me and to my greatest surprise the third day my boyfriend came knocking on my door and beg for forgiveness. I am so happy that my love is back again and not only that, we are about to get married. Once again thank you for helping me to get my love back and your love spell is truely perfect, you are truly talented and gifted i will continue to publish your name on the net because of the good work you are doing.If you need his help contact him now through his email: camaralovespell@live.com .He also specialize on all kind of spell such as:

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    8 LOTTERY SPELL

    YOU CAN CONTACT HIM NOW AND GET YOUR PROBLEM SOLVED email: camaralovespell@live.com

    ReplyDelete
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