Blackburn, Brazile drop the gloves: Has the American cable “news” business ever been quite so inane?
That’s the question we found ourselves asking as we watched Donna Brazile and Marsha Blackburn drop the gloves for a hockey fight on yesterday’s State of the Union.
In recent weeks, our cable nets have been playing by two basic rules:
If Candidate Trump is speaking somewhere, the nets must break away to watch.
If Candidate Trump is sleeping or silent, teams of pundits must spend their time examining day-to-day changes in polls—day-to-day changes which, at this point, are almost totally meaningless.
Yesterday, on CNN, Jake Tapper led his panel of pundits on a forced march through the new polls. First, though, he let the ladies drop the gloves and stage that hockey fight.
People, that’s entertainment, a point which was rather transparent.
At issue was the comment in which Hillary Clinton had compared Republican candidates to terrorists. Or had she actually been drawing a contrast?
When Brazile advanced the latter claim, she and Blackburn dropped their sticks. Like a veteran ref in the NHL, Jake stood back and let them fight.
Below, you see the way the official CNN transcript captured the engagement. In essence, it was a war between INAUDIBLE and its long-time companion, CROSSTALK.
We’re simply cutting-and-pasting here. This embarrassing bullshit is live-and-direct from the official transcript:
BRAZILE (8/30/15): Look, she was making a contrast, not a comparison. The contrast of course—“The (INAUDIBLE) are going to agree with us?” It’s almost like some modern haiku, designed to capture the essence of a deeply degraded, corporate clown-car age.
BLACKBURN: No, Donna, she made a—she made a comparison.
BRAZILE: She was making a contrast because—look, she understands the difference between a Taliban and their views toward women and their policies toward women. And what she was saying is that Republicans have taken this extreme position on giving women the full range of reproductive health services. That's the point she was making.
I'm sorry if you are upset that she said the word Taliban, but the truth is, 21st century policies and leaders do not respond to give women access to birth control do not—
BLACKBURN: The 21st century women—well, most (INAUDIBLE) are in line—
BRAZILE: —access to abortion if they are victims of rape and—
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: More of the American people—yes, they are. Yes, they are.
BRAZILE: Giving women the exception or giving women the right to have the full range of services—
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: —that she made is inappropriate.
BRAZILE: It was a contrast not a comparison.
BLACKBURN: That's why Hillary is so far—it was a comparison. She was down in the polls—
BRAZILE: Let's see who wins the conversation when it comes to—
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: We're going to win that conversation.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: The (INAUDIBLE) are going to agree with us.
BRAZILE: All across this country, Jake, Republicans are trying to restrict, trying to—
BLACKBURN: That is wrong.
BRAZILE: —defund planned parent. Planned Parenthood which provides—
BLACKBURN: Yes, we do. Planned Parenthood doesn't need the money.
BRAZILE: —mammogram services.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: No, 94 percent of their business—94 percent—
BRAZILE: No, 97 percent.
BLACKBURN: Ninety-four percent is abortion services.
(CROSSTALK)
BRAZILE: Ninety-seven percent is for non-abortion services.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: For abortion services, 1800—absolutely. (INAUDIBLE). Go to their website. Their main business—they are America's biggest abortion provider.
BRAZILE: Have you visited the Planned Parenthood site? I have. I have.
(CROSSTALK)
BRAZILE: And I visited (INAUDIBLE) neighborhood. I have visited—
(CROSSTALK)
BRAZILE: —access to (INAUDIBLE)—
(CROSSTALK)
On the other hand, who knows? Whoever said whatever it was may just turn out to be right!
As you can probably see, Jake let this insulting bullshit go on for a very long time, just like in the NHL. Essentially, the two pundits were speaking at once, without even a hint of a glottal stop. This made it impossible to hear what either savant was saying.
It almost looked like Jorge Ramos had provided stage direction! Finally, Jake stepped in to stop the fight—and the ladies quickly explained that they had just been funnin’.
Or something! It was still hard to tell:
TAPPER (continuing directly): Let’s put a button on that. (INAUDIBLE) agree to disagree. We'll come back—According to the transcript, Blackburn and Brazile are going to have INAUDIBLE. Apparently, as Southern women, they do it on the INAUDIBLE!
(CROSSTALK)
BRAZILE: But we’re southern women.
BLACKBURN: That’s right. That’s right.
BRAZILE: We do it on the (INAUDIBLE).
BLACKBURN: That’s right.
(CROSSTALK)
BLACKBURN: We’re going to have (INAUDIBLE).
At this point, there was only one way to make it stop. Using all his powers and skills, Jake turned to Old Faithful:
TAPPER (continuing directly): Dan, I want to—let's bring up the poll numbers again from Iowa about Hillary Clinton.“Let's bring up the poll numbers again from Iowa about Hillary Clinton?” Every one of our fake corporate pundits knows how to CROSSTALK that!
"Now, extreme views about women, we expect that from some of the terrorist groups," Clinton said on the stump Thursday. "But it’s a little hard to take coming from Republicans who want to be the president of the United States."
ReplyDeleteAs I read this, Hillary did indeed compare Republican Presidential candidates to terrorists.
Nah, what she was clearly saying was she holds Republicans to higher standards than those terrorist and religious extremist groups.
DeleteBut tell me , is it OK for Republican candidates to just blatantly and repeatedly call Hillary Clinton a criminal?
Republicans get their poor little feelings hurt when Clinton hits them on policy, but they feel perfectly free a criminal.
***********
"We’re really not comparing the fact that she’s wiped away tens of thousands of emails that had relevant information on them because she just believes she’s entitled to do that?” he added. (New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday)
****
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump alleged late Friday that Hillary Clinton aide Huma Abedin shared classified information with husband Anthony Weiner, while also referring to the former congressman as a pervert.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/08/donald-trump-anthony-weiner-pervert-2016-election-213158#ixzz3kQRTI4yV
****
Donald Trump says he’s certain Hillary Clinton “committed a crime” with her email server — but that she might get a free pass.
As I read this, Hillary said that today's Republicans shouldn't be sounding like some of the terrorist groups on women's issues, but they are.
DeleteI agree with her. Some of the attitudes expressed by Republican candidates sound as extreme as those of Taliban or other fundamentalist groups, groups that are using terrorism to force people to adhere to their beliefs. These are backward views inconsistent with what American voters, especially women, want. In Clinton's statement, the point of commonality was with the views expressed about women -- not with throwing bombs or committing terrorist acts. Fundamentalism is fundamentalism, whether Christian or Muslim -- both come from the same old tribal practices that are inappropriate for modern times when women are no longer chattel property of their fathers or husbands.
Can you specify any of these alleged points of commonality between the views of any of the GOP candidates and those of the Taliban? And keep in mind the Taliban have not been very up front about their position on elective abortion.
DeleteBobby Jindal: Who has called for investigation of Planned Parenthood, stating that it is the baby who is the patient, not the mother. Who has referred to anchor babies and who told CPAC that women should not receive full preventive health care. "So Bobby Jindal not only signed oppressive new abortion restrictions, he signed them in a CHURCH, signaling not only his alignment in the war on women, but in the war on the United States Constitution. "
DeleteScott Walker, who is against abortion even in cases of incest or rape, who signed a law requiring women to get ultrasounds before seeking an abortion, who is against a living wage (which affects twice as many women as men), who repealed equal pay legislation in Wisconsin, who has fought public sector employment (again affecting more women than men) and put restrictions on food stamps (which more women receive than men). Walker argues that equal pay pits women against men.
Ben Carson, who says that Planned Parenthood is pushing abortions on black women to control the black population. Who says that Women's Lib created the "Me Generation". Who says the War on Women is a war on women's insides -- because women are just their ladyparts. Carson says he isn't sure violence against women is a terrible plague.
Chris Christie -- vetoed equal pay for women and funding for Planned Parenthood. Vetoed raising the minimum wage (which affects more women than men). "When women called him out for job-killing policies, he responded with a crude, sexist joke ‘something may be going down tonight, but it ain’t jobs, sweetheart’ "
Marco Rubio: "In 2013, the U.S. Senate renewed the Violence Against Women Act by an overwhelming 78-22 vote." Marco Rubio voted against it. "In 2012, Rubio was also one of 22 senators who introduced the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, a move to repeal the co-pay free contraceptives available to women as part of the Affordable Care Act. The act would give companies the power to deny birth control coverage as part of their health insurance plans based on the employers’ religious beliefs." Like Rand Paul he voted against a bill to close the gender pay gap.
Rand Paul: "It is a fact that Senator Rand Paul is “testy” (aka, petulant) with the media. But he definitely looked like a petulant teenager when he blamed Savannah Guthrie for reading his own positions out loud and asking him to account for the shifts. He looked even worse when he instructed her about how to do her job, a job he has never done – while live, on the air. He used his presumed superiority over her to talk down to her as if she were the idiot in the room. (Hint: She was not.)" "Shortly after Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) humiliated himself on national TV by attacking Savannah Guthrie on the Today show, Phillip Elliot at the Associated Press (AP) published an interview with the Senator and newly announced presidential hopeful in which he refused to say where a pregnant woman’s rights begin and those of the fetus end. The Senator referred to such rights as “details”. "
You should be getting the idea by now.
Where's the controversy over what HRC said?
DeleteSeriously, who doesn't know she's right?
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David in Cal, If the carpet slipper with the turned up toe fits, wear it.
ReplyDeleteNo, the views are not just about abortion. Some want to roll back birth control too. Some don't want women in the workplace. Some don't want women to hold office and other responsible positions outside the home. Some don't think women should wear modern clothing (no short sleeves, no tight dresses, no pants), some think they shouldn't go out or decide who to date, drink alcohol, or be sexually active (without men's permission) and if they do, they should be punished for it by having to bear the consequences if they are physically attacked by men. Some think it is OK for husbands to control and discipline wives (even beat them). Some think women should be paid less than men because they shouldn't be competing with men. Republicans vote against measures to give women equal rights on all these issues. Republicans make statements that suggest they think women should be baby factories and mothers and not do anything else.
ReplyDeleteWhen a woman dared to ask Trump a question about his attitudes toward women, he made a crude remark about her bleeding and has attempted to punish her since then for behaving like a real reporter -- asking about things women care about. He is trying to put her in her place, a place that nearly all Republican candidates agree women should be relegated to -- nice, sweet, smiling, never aggressive, never pushy, never asking for anything -- eye candy and decoration, but not effective as a reporter.
This is what Hillary is talking about. I'm glad she has raised this issue because I cannot believe Republican women don't care about how they are treated. I don't know any woman who likes having her behavior blamed on that time of the month, just because a slimy guy like Trump doesn't like what he was asked.
Bob,
ReplyDeleteStop watching cable news. You'll live longer.
If would blow his narrative.
Delete"A moment's thought ..."
ReplyDeleteWhat's that have to do with you?
Why doesn't Planned Parenthood do mammograms? Is it because the equipment is too expensive? Too much of a bother to hire mammogrammers? I've always found this odd.
ReplyDeleteMammograms have nothing to do with reproductive choice or family planning. They don't do colonoscopies or skin cancer screening either. It isn't part of their purpose, which is to give women control over their childbearing. Have never heard the name of the organization? It isn't "Ladypart Healthcare".
DeleteThank you for the snark, that helps. You can see I know the name of the organization, since I typed it.
Delete11:58,
DeleteDefund Planned Parenthood. My car wouldn't start and they didn't even try to fix it.
It is typical of the male-dominated media to treat a disagreement between women as a cat fight. Did they even try to transcribe what was said, or do they not want women viewers to think about such issues?
ReplyDeleteAs a male viewer I appreciate a good cat fight. Sometimes even the mainstream news media gets it right.
Delete"Some want to roll back birth control too. Some don't want women in the workplace. Some don't want women to hold office and other responsible positions outside the home. Some don't think women should wear modern clothing (no short sleeves, no tight dresses, no pants), some think they shouldn't go out or decide who to date, drink alcohol, or be sexually active (without men's permission) and if they do, they should be punished for it by having to bear the consequences if they are physically attacked by men. Some think it is OK for husbands to control and discipline wives (even beat them). Some think women should be paid less than men because they shouldn't be competing with men."
ReplyDeleteIn what magical corner of Narnia are the GOP candidates expressing such views?
I must be getting old. Finally, someone's found a way to resist the temptation to compare opponents to my all-time favorite evil dictator -- and it's ISIS!
ReplyDeleteEvery time I feel guilty about not watching the weekend shows (Maureen Dowd once implied it was a sign of W's lack of intelligence that he didn't), watching them again only reinforces my disgust.
Especially disheartening is the newish format of bringing back the "panel" after each interview. This is something too close to a panel of judges holding up number cards at a diving competition.
Thirty-five years ago, when David Brinkley "re-invented" the Sunday news program, all the interviews would be gotten out of the way in the first segments of the show. Then there'd be one discussion session at the end of the program. The courtly Mr. Brinkley even had a rule, written or not, that the interviewee or what he said would not be a subject for discussion. That, according to Col. Brinkley, would somehow have been rude.
Were he alive today, Chuck Barris would be suing all the Sunday shows for stealing his ideas.
I wasn't always willing to admit this, but Fareed Zakaria may have the only worthwhile Sunday show running. And I do enjoy Jake Tapper's drawings. He should give The New Yorker a try.
Then they could give David Remnick a Sunday show.
maj,
ReplyDeleteThey had their surrogates on AM radio and cable news do it--just like when they had their surrogates call me a traitor and Saddam-lover for not wanting to blow-up the Middle East and create ISIS to the tune of $2+ trillion.
Of course no one listens to these buffoons on AM radio and cable news. You'd have to believe in the magic of free markets to believe people do. .Seriuosly, what kind of businessmen pay 6-figure salaries to people to spout nonsense no one listens to?
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