Sexy-time sex talk and plenty of it!

WEDNESDAY, APRIL 9, 2014

Rachel and Lawrence thrill viewers: Last night, at 9 PM, the Maddow program started with a somewhat unusual topic.

The segment was 17 minutes long. This is the way the Maddow site headlines the segment:
Sex scandal exacerbated by insider silence
Rachel Maddow reports on a burgeoning sex scandal made even more outrageous by the mishandling of a police report and the silence of high level politicians who allowed a man with serious allegations against him to ascend in political rank.
The “mishandling of a police report” involves redactions by a black magic marker which wasn’t quite dark enough.

In theory, this isn’t a “sex” scandal at all, since it involves a set of alleged assaults. But whoever wrote those headlines thought it was all about sex.

The person who has been charged with assault is a state senator in Wisconsin. As such, he isn’t a national figure. But did we mention the sex?

Exciting! And then, sure enough! At 10 PM, Lawrence O’Donnell started his program with a different sexy-time tale. They haven’t posted a transcript yet, and we can’t say we blame them.

Lawrence had some security tape of a no-name, married Republican congressman kissing someone who isn’t his wife. He played the very exciting tape, then built a 13-minute segment around the outrageous behavior.

On line, Lawrence's sexy-time segment is headlined like this:
GOP lawmaker ruins a traditional marriage
Video recently surfaced of Republican Rep. Vance McAllister kissing a female staffer. The staffer has now lost her job and her husband says the congressman has “wrecked his life.”
We felt sorry for Krystal Ball, who was forced to discuss this garbage with Lawrence.

She did her best to play along with the effort to find political rationales for this pointless discussion. But we’d have to say, very much to her credit, that her heart didn’t seem to be in it.

With E.J. Dionne, it was different. He seemed to have no problem at all with Lawrence’s sexy-time segment or with his inane, forced discussion. E.J. seemed eager to play along with O’Donnell’s exciting themes.

(To see Lawrence play his security tape, you can just click here.)

To their credit, Lawrence and Rachel managed to craft political rationales for their sexy-time opening segments. The corporate channel for which they work?

It seems to get worse every night.

29 comments:

  1. I guess covering this beats attacking their recent coverage of Bridgegate. Taht would require TDH to aknowledge reports of grand jury testimony and possible immunity for acts of good, but bungled, faith.

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  2. "In theory, this isn’t a “sex” scandal at all, since it involves a set of alleged assaults. But whoever wrote those headlines thought it was all about sex."

    Two counts of felony second degree sexual assault, Bob. Not merely "assault."

    It is quite dishonest of you to misrepresent the charges against Kramer.

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    1. Trolls churn out more invective in defense of their tribal rulers.

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    2. Anon 137: you're so sexy-time, especially the name calling right off the bat. Good to know you're not one of those churning purveyors of tribal invective.

      By the way, I think you parked your fainting couch in a handicapped space.

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  3. 17 minute segment? Sounds brief. Sometimes she is 17 minutes in before I even know what the topic is. Keith O. used to do the same thing, though not as frequently, and usually not quite as long. It gets annoying.

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    1. I am glad Mr. Somerby can count minutes as well as he counts words and comments. His accuracy with numbers is legend and adds much to his work.

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  4. Everyone does it is a not a valid defense.

    Are you arguing that this story is sufficiently newsworthy to merit a lengthy segment on a national news show? Should MSNBC conduct itself like TMZ, in your opinion?

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  5. OMB ( BOB Missed the Better Title)

    We think a separate post on Maddow alone was called for and should have been titled:

    What's Wrong With (the term) Rape Culture? Part 2

    http://www.jsonline.com/news/ron-johnson-did-not-tell-police-of-assault-allegations-three-years-ago-b99240536z1-253954591.html

    Glad BOB downplayed the nature of Maddow's frivolous story to protect the innocent fellows. And thank heavens he didn't mention how much more these guys get paid than the lazy flirting staffer gals involved. Think of the misimpression that would create!

    KZ

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    1. 2:02 PM Have you watched the video of Maddow's show.

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  6. So is Diane Sawyer with TMZ these days? Did they fire her for not smiling enough when she posed with the "New Jersey Strong" Christie Family "last" Thursday?

    Putzapologists aplenty around the place again.

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  7. Thanks Bob. Keep covering this stuff that spreads like margarine.

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    1. 2:11 PM Have you watched the video of Maddow's show?

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  8. "Everybody does it" is not being offered as a defense.

    It is merely pointing out once again that Somerby only seems to have eyes (and ears) for one particular person, rather than "musing on the mainstream press corps."

    In fact, given the fact that the charges are felonious sexual assault, it would be interesting to see if any other media reported a "sex" component in this.

    Nope, says Somerby, since the charge is only "alleged assault," Maddow must be making things up again.

    And once again, Somerby becomes exactly that which he pretends to despise the most.

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  9. Somerby didn't say any of that about the attack not being read. Alleged is what you call a crime until the accused personal has been convicted. It doesn't mean the crime didnt' happen (or wasn't important). It means the person accused of it may or may not have committed it, but you know that.

    If you were actually concerned that Somerby doesn't focus on the rest of the mainstream media, you might have said "Attaboy Bob, and now focus on these guys too [insert list of other news orgs]." Your ire is clearly because he has once again attacked Maddow, not because he has overlooked some of the other news sources.

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  10. We all know this is part of the standard repertoire of liberal attacks on the right. Grab a sex scandal and portray the perpetrator as a hypocrite, especially if marital infidelity or closeted gayness is involved.

    It is exactly the same as those folks pointing at Obama and calling him a liar, or screaming Benghazi. It is meant to smear, not report.

    When it involves an actual crime, a violent attack rather than consensual sexual behavior among adults, the framing as an embarrassing sex incident is inappropriate because it mischaracterizes the crime (which is serious), and trivializes violence against women. Somerby correctly notes that the addition of a sexy-time headline to a serious crime story is wrong, as is use fo such crimes for ulterior motives, whether to embarrass conservatives or to attract viewers and beef up ratings. A local criminal act doesn't deserve national attention because it has few implications for viewers elsewhere and cannot be generalized to any group or set of issues that are relevant to national discourse. So, I think it is fair to ask why it was given so much focus.

    I think it is similarly ugly when trolls use serious concerns and real issues to enact their hatred of Somerby or play their troll games. Some of us do care about these issues and find it grating when the trolls mock the welfare of African American children or the harm done to a woman who has now lost her income because of media focus on something that was nobody's business.

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    1. Not only lame, but also utter horseshit. I notice that you didn't say that the guy in question, who portrayed himself as this upstanding Christian family dude, is not a hypocrite. Would you like to add that to the record here, or were you just smearing liberals?

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    2. 4:01 PM Have you watched the video of Maddow's show?

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  11. Correction: attack not being real

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  12. How omniscient and presumptuous of you to tell others what the source of their ire is.

    But the sad fact remains. Kramer is accused of two counts of felonius SEXUAL assault, which makes the following words of Somerby a bald-faced lie:

    "In theory, this isn’t a “sex” scandal at all, since it involves a set of alleged assaults. But whoever wrote those headlines thought it was all about sex."

    But since you are such a mind-reader, perhaps you can tell us why Somerby would tell such a lie.

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  13. Sexual assault is about violence not sex.

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  14. 10:11 PM Have you watched the video of Maddow's show?

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  15. Bob's headline and coverage, as it relates to the story on the Rachel Maddow show is shameful. He coverage is deceitful and erroneous.

    Watch the video of the show linked earlier in this post. Read the article linked in the KZ comment. Then reread Bob's post.

    I have no interest in getting into a debate about the merits of Maddow.

    Watch what she says. Read what is reported in the Wisconsin daily. Then read what Bob says again. He is deceitful, gets his facts wrong, and his headline, not the one at MSNBC, is the one which is demeaning based on the events being covered.

    Somebody does need to learn what rape culture means.

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    1. He says the headline referring to a sex scandal is wrong. He doesn't blame Maddow for that but does blame MSNBC. I think you are mischaracterizing Somerby's complaint. I will assume you do not understand it rather than that you are lying.

      Sexual assault is not sect and assault is not a sec scandal -- it is a crime.

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    2. Autocorrect won't let me type sex.

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    3. Heavens. You obviously didn't watch the video. This is an infuriating habit of people who defend Mr. Somerby.

      HE has the audacity to criticize an internal MSNBC website headline after the headline he placed on this post?

      "Sexy-time sex talk" with a subhead "Maddow and Lawrence Thrill Viewers." Sorry, Charlie Tuna! He is not going to get away with a headline like that by having you, a reader, say his real complaint is with an internal website headline and summary of what was broadcast on the air. His clear implication is the headline errors carry over to the broadcast whose length he mentions for negative reasons, and whose content he glosses over, diminishes in importance, and states with errors of fact and ommission.

      Maddow did not start her talk with reference to sex or sexy time. She said "We are going to begin tonight with a very serious story...a story we've talked about before...but it has taken a much serious and disturbing turn....

      It was not just about sexual assault. It was about also about sexist conduct. It was about sexual harrasment, and electing someone into a leadership position despite that conduct being made an issue. And it was about silence.

      It was not, as Somerby stated, merely about someone who "isn't a national figure." Nor was it about a Wisconsin State Senator either. Somerby couldn't even get his office straight. It also involves the Republican U.S, Senator from Wisconsin as well.

      Bob Somerby made a big deal out of Rachel Maddow reading the wrong page number in the Mastro report the other day. He used that to question her honesty. He wove the obvious reading error of a page number into a theory implying the page number error was done deliberately to
      deceive. Should we do the same with Somerby here? Did he get the office wrong and leave out the US. Senator in an effort to dishonestly deceive readers into thinking Maddow was making another ginned up story of no importance into a big deal?

      Sorry. This Wisconsin State Representative was elected Majority leader despite a pattern of behavior that was brought to his colleagues attention. What was not brought to their attention were serious allegations of sexual assault. Those charges were known to a U.S. Senator who said nothing about it as legislators elevated him to higher office.

      How many times have we, the readers of this blog, been told by Somerby about the sins of silence in the media as other reporters said things BOB found offensive. This story was about the silence of a national elected official holding his tongue about a possible sexual predator rising to power
      while he sat silent. And Somerby calls it sexy time sex talk.

      Shame on Somerby. And shame on you for defending him and using the cowardly back door Somerby method of calling me a liar. You want to say I am either ignorant or a liar? You are simply despicable.

      Somerby and some of his readers think "rape culture" is an off putting term? This kind of nonsense is part of that culture.

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    4. All Somerby says is that the network put a misleading headline on the story. The rest is all you.

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    5. You also did not watch the video. The earth is still flat.

      That Columbus fellow was lucky. He obviously did not go quite far enough to reach the edge.

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    6. 8:42 "All Somerby says is that the network put a misleading headline on the story. The rest is all you."

      All Rep. Kramer did was kiss the victim. He did not fondle her. "(The victim) has very nice doctor enhanced breasts. I am not a big fan of those I like the real ones," Kramer told the detective.

      Read more from Journal Sentinel: http://www.jsonline.com/news/statepolitics/woman-accusing-bill-kramer-of-sex-assault-had-asked-staffer-about-job-b99237009z1-253237501.html#ixzz2yUeFkTDD
      Follow us: @JournalSentinel on Twitter

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